One rupee coins: Republic India-IX

One rupee: Maharana Pratap

Maharana Pratap Singh was a ruler of Mewar and belonged to the Sisodiya clan of Suryavanshi Rajputs. Maharana Pratap Singh is believed to be the epitome of fiery Rajput pride and self-respect; he has exemplified the qualities to which Rajputs aspire for centuries. Maharana Pratap Singh was born as the eldest child among 25 brothers and 20 sisters at Kumbhalgarh on May 9, 1540 to Maharana Udai Singh II and Maharani Javanta Bai Songara (Chauhan). The birthplace of Maharana Pratap Singh is known as Juni Kacheri.

Maharana Pratap Singh, Ruler of MewarIn 1568, during the reign of Udai Singh II, the Mughal emperor Akbar conquered Chittor. The third Jauhar of Chittor became apparent, with the ladies of the fort finding safety from personal dishonour and plunged themselves into fire, while rest of the men folk sallied forth to certain death in the battlefield. Before this condition, Udai Singh and his family had moved to the safety of the nearby hills. He later moved base to another location in the foothills of the Aravalli Range. This new foundation gradually became the city of Udaipur and was accordingly named after him. Udai Singh wished Jagmal, his favorite son could succeed him but his senior nobles wanted Pratap, the eldest son, to be their king. During the coronation ceremony Jagmal was actually moved out of the palace and Pratap was deliberately made the king. Pratap did not want to go against the desire of his father but Rajput nobles convinced him strongly that Jagmal was not capable to rule in the crucial times of the day. It was the beginning of a career of struggle and hardship for Maharana Pratap Singh.

Maharana Pratap Singh never believed Akbar as the ruler of India, and kept on fighting with Akbar all his life. Akbar first tried several diplomatic ways to win over Maharana Pratap but nothing really worked. Maharana Pratap Singh maintained that he had no intention to fight with Akbar, however he could not bow down to Akbar and accept him as the ruler. There was some possibility that Maharana Pratap Singh could have become friends with Akbar, but in the invasion for Chittor Akbar had killed around 30,000 civilians, unarmed residents of Chittor only because they refused to convert to Islam. This left an ever-lasting impression on Maharana Pratap Singh`s mind and he adamant not to bow to such an injustice and cruelty.

See also: Maharana Pratap proof set

One rupee : 150 years of Indian post

The Indian Postal Service, with 155,333 post offices, is the most widely distributed post office system in the world (China is next, with 57,000). The large numbers are a result of a long tradition of many disparate postal systems which were unified in the Indian Union post-Independence. Owing to this far-flung reach and its presence in remote areas, the Indian postal service is also involved in other services such as small savings banking and financial services.

History

Ibn Battuta describes the Indian postal system in the 14th century as follows: In India the postal system is of two kinds. The horsepost, called uluq, is run by royal horses stationed at a distance of every four miles. The foot-post has three stations per mile; it is called dawa, that is one-third of a mile ... Now, at every third of a mile there is a wellpopulated village, outside which are three pavilions in which sit men with girded loins ready to start. Each of them carries a rod, two cubits in length, with copper bells at the top. When the courier starts from the city he holds the letter in one hand and the rod with its bells on the other; and he runs as fast as he can. When the men in the pavilion hear the ringing of the bell they get ready. As soon as the courier reaches them, one of them takes the letter from his hand and runs at top speed shaking the rod all the while until he reaches the next dawa. And the same process continues till the letter reaches its destination. This foot-post is quicker than the horse-post; and often it is used to transport the fruits of Khurasan which are much desired in India."

The British East India Company established post offices in Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata from 1764-1766, each serving the Bombay, Madras and Calcutta presidencies. During Warren Hastings' governorship, postal service was made available to the general public. A letter would cost 2 annas (one-eighth of a Rupee) for distances up to 100 miles (160 km). Payments would be done through copper tokens; a letter was hand stamped "post paid" if paid for, otherwise it was stamped "post unpaid" or "bearing".

In 1839, North West Province Circle was formed and since then, new Postal Circles were formed as needed. In December 1860 Punjab Circle, in 1861 Burma Circle, in 1866 Central Province Circle and in 1869 Sind Circle were formed. By 1880 circles had been formed in Oudh (1870), Rajputana (1871), Assam (1873), Bihar (1877), Eastern Bengal (1878) and Central India (1879).

Afterwards, the creation of new circles was accompanied by the merging of some circles. By 1914, there were only 7 Postal Circles — Bengal & Assam, Bihar & Orissa, Bombay (including Sind), Burma, Central, Madras, Punjab & NWF and U.P.

The different postal services include speed post, ePayment, logistics payment, e-Post, business post, media post, direct post, postal life insurance, instant money order, instant money transfer, non-postal services and adress proof cards