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The territory of Jammu and Kashmir is bordered by China on the north and east, and by Pakistan on the west. It is contiguous with India only on South where the State of Himachal Pradesh forms its border.

The history of this territory goes back to the early Christian centuries. But here it would be enough to know that it was one of the provinces under the Mughal Empire. On the decline of the Mughal power, the territory was annexed to the Afghan kingdom. In 1819, it was conquered by the Sikhs. From them, in 1845, it came into the hands of the British. In 1846, the British gave Kashmir to Gulab Singh, the Dogra ruler of Jammu and he was confirmed Feudatory Chief under the British domination holding the joint territories of Jammu and Kashmir. The successors of Gulab Singh held these territories in their possession till 1947. In that year, its ruler opted to merge with the Indian Republic.

In 1877, during the reign of Maharaja Ranbir Singh, the successor of Maharaja Gulab Singh, the State of Jammu and Kashmir had issued its own notes in the denominations of 1, 2, 5,10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1,000 Rupees. The States Treasuries used these notes in making payments to public on behalf of the Government, instead of paying cash. These notes were not redeemable in cash, they could only be returned to the treasuries in payment of theGovernment dues. In effect, the notes were a kind of advanced receipt of unspecifiedGovernment taxes, levies and other dues. In this way, the notes were meant to replenish the State treasury.

The notes were issued some time in the month of Vaishakha of Vikram Samvat 1934(March-April 1877), but they do not bear any date. The biographer of Maharaja RanbirSingh, B.P. Sharma says that these notes remained current till 1897 and ceased when theBritish coinage was introduced in the State. But this is quite unlikely. An earlier biographerof the same ruler, Thakur Kahan Singh Dillewali informs that the notes were current only fora very short period. The notes were not popular with the public. This is evident from thevery fact that they were never re-issued and the notes that were printed at the beginning,did not enjoy a wide circulation. Several hundreds of the unissued notes still lay in thereserves of the Sri Pratap Museum, Srinagar.

The notes of all the denominations were printed uniformly on the paper measuring 2.05cms x 1.3 cm that was imported and watermarked with the Royal insignia and the year1877. A very simple machine was used to print these notes. It consisted of two zinc blocksand a slotted plate having a handle. It is on display at the Sri Pratap Museum, Srinagar.One of the two zinc blocks, which may be called ‘ground block’ was printed in dull gold inkand the other that contained the text was printed in black ink. The slotted plate was used inbetween the two blocks. The same blocks were used for printing notes of alldenominations. The second block had slots, where the denominational figures and wordswere inserted to denote the different denominations.

The word Shrikara was printed in centre in ornate and bold Nagari letters. It stands for theSanskritized version of the Persian ‘Sarkar,’ meaning Government. Above it was placed a rayed human face, representing 'Sun’, the presiding deity of the ruling Dogra family. On the either side of this sun emblem, were narrow rectangular panels for the serial numbersto be written in hand. The two ends at the top had hexagonal blank panels; like-wise at thetwo ends at the bottom were circular blank panels. All these four panels were meant for thesignatures of the officers, functioning at the finance department. In between hexagonal and circular panels, on the two sides were a row of three circular panels, placed vertically, for the denomination in numerals in three different scripts - Urdu, Hindi and Takari. Below the
Shrikar panel was the inscription Jammu Kashmir Tibbet Wagairah (Jammu, Kashmir, Tibetand other territories) in Takari script. Below this inscription were three rectangular panels, almost equal in size. The central panel was meant for putting the departmental seal. The two side panels had the identical Persian inscriptions - Jammu Kashmir and the date.Denominations in Urdu and Hindi words were repeated in the space on the either side
between the Shrikar panel and the denominational circular panels.

In the lower left circular panel, all the notes uniformly have the signature of Kripa Ram, theDiwan (Chief Minister) of the State. The other three panels had the signatures of threedifferent officers of the Department. The designations of these signatories are not available. But on one note, the signature of Chaube Ganesh Prasad is seen with the word Mohtamin in top right panel. On another note an illegible signature in English with the words ‘Supt. S.D.’, is noted which perhaps meant ‘Superintendent, Shrikar Department’. Since Mohtamin also meant ‘Superintendent’, it may be inferred that this space was meant for the signature of the Superintendent of the Currency Department or Treasury. On a third note, the bottom right panel has the name Munshiram with the designation Daftari, which meant Recordkeeper.

So, quite likely, this space was meant for the signature of Record-keeper or the Accountant. No note has disclosed any indication of the officer who signed the top left panel.Not unlikely, this space might have been reserved for the signature of the Treasury Officer. The central area, which was to be impressed at the time of issue, discloses that there were two centres of issue - Jammu and Srinagar. The seals of both the places and the identical contents Muhar Shrikar qalemrau followed by the place name Jammu or Kashmir and the year 1934.