Vulture on Indian Postage Stamps
India is rich when it comes to biodiversity, and it boasts an impressive range and collection
of avifauna. The beauty and uniqueness of the same has made a deep impact on Indian
culture, both ancient and modern. Birds have been used as important motifs in paintings,
and their behaviour has been used as metaphors in literary texts, poems and plays. These
motifs have also carried over to the Indian postal service, in the many postage stamps
issued with birds on them.
British-era stamps in India did not feature birds or any wildlife for that matter. Post-independence,
The first recorded stamps to have
more
decorative stamps began to be
issued, adding variety to the what
had only featured heads and busts
so far.
A bird as its central motif were
the 2 anna and 14 anna stamps
issued in October 1954, celebrating
the centenary of the first postage
stamp in India. It featured a postal
carrier pigeon, but the bird itself
was purely symbolic in nature.
This pattern would continue for
a while - any birds featured on
stamps were used as a symbol for
something else. For example, the
stamp issued for Children’s Day
in 1966 again featured a pigeon,
representing peace and harmony. The first time a bird was presented
on an issued stamp, as a subject in
its own right, was in 1968. A set of
Vulture on Indian
Postage Stamps
Dr. Kanad Baidya
Text by
Meghna Mistri
April-June 2022 51
four 20 paisa commemorative stamps were issued, featuring the Red-billed Blue Magpie,
Brown-fronted Woodpecker, White-browed Scimitar and Crimson Sunbird.
We’ve mentioned a term - ‘commemorative’ stamps. What are commemorative stamps? As the name suggests, these stamps are issued to commemorate important events, people, flora and fauna. These are large, pictorial stamps with the subject of the stamp spelled out in print on the stamp. These are also issued in small quantities, and are valid only for a certain period.
The other type of stamp is a ‘definitive’ stamp. These are the comparatively smaller and “duller” everyday stamps that we are used to, with minimal text on them (usually just the denomination of the stamp and the country of issue). These are issued in large quantities, and are available and valid for a much longer period.
The first definitive stamp to feature a bird, was a 50 paisa stamp issued in 1974. It featured a flying Demoiselle Crane (though it was later claimed to be an Intermediate Egret, by the original photographer - who took it in Bharatpur). Other definitive bird stamps include a 25 paisa stamp featuring poultry, a 1 rupee stamp featuring the Sarus Crane, a 4 rupee stamp featuring the Painted Stork, and the costly Indian stamp of 50 rupee denomination featuring a pair of Asian Paradise Flycatchers.
Despite a staggeringly low number of avian stamps, there have been quite a few areas that
these kind of stamps have focused on.
There have been stamp sets issued, featuring a type of bird - like the set issued on birds of
prey in 1992, featuring the Western Osprey, Peregrine Falcon, Bearded Vulture, and Golden
Eagle. There has also been a stamp set issued based off the Ramayana; the first day cover
of the set featured Jatayu, and described the story of Jatayu’s valiant fight and ultimate
death, while trying to protect Sita.
There have also been postcards featuring birds, as well as special covers and special
post cancellation marks. A special cover depicts an event, like the one released in 2019
to commemorate International Vulture Awareness Day (celebrated on the first Saturday
in September). A special post cancellation mark is a pictorial inked marking that marks a
stamp as used, and mentions the date and place where the post was booked. Each post
office with special post cancellation marks allocated to it, has a pictorial representation
of that area on the cancellation mark. There have been special post cancellation marks
with a raptor for the birds of prey set in 1992, and with a vulture for International Vulture
Awareness Day.
Sources & References
For further details, please refer to Fantail Vol. 1, Issue 4 (Page 50).
about author
Dr. Kanad Baidya, Founder member of the Bird Watchers’ Society, is a doctor by profession. He is also the co-author of “Banglar Pakhpakhali” which some consider as the “Bible of Bengal Birds”.
Dr. Kanad Baidya, Founder member of the Bird Watchers’ Society, is a doctor by profession. He is also the co-author of “Banglar Pakhpakhali” which some consider as the “Bible of Bengal Birds”.
