Saurashtra (also Soruth and Sorath) is a former state of India, located on the Kathiawar peninsula of western India. It is now part of the state of Gujarat.

Its capital was Junagarh.

After India's independence in 1947, 217 princely states of Kathiawar were grouped together to form Saurashtra. The capital of Saurashtra was Rajkot. On November 1, 1956, Saurashtra was merged into Bombay state. In 1960 Bombay state was divided along linguistic lines into the new states of Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Saurashtra is also the name of an Indo-Aryan language of Kathiawar. See Saurashtra language.

Postage stamps

The first postage stamps of the state were issued for Junagarh in 1864. They consisted of three lines of Hindi script in colorless letters on black, and were produced by handstamping with watercolor ink. A second issue, in 1868 used colored letters, printed in black or red on several colors of paper.

The issue of 1877 was the first to include Latin letters; the circular design included the inscription "SORUTH POSTAGE" at the top, and "ONE ANNA OF A RUPEE" (or "FOUR ANNAS...") at the bottom. Some of these were surcharged in 1913-14, followed by redesigned stamps in 1914.

The next issue came in 1923, and featured a portrait of Nawab Mahabat Khan III, along with the inscription "SAURASHTRA POSTAGE". A set of eight stamps in 1929 including pictures of Junagarh, the Gir Lion, and the Kathi Horse in addition to the Nawab. In 1937 the 1a value was reissued reading "POSTAGE AND REVENUE".

The united state did not design any of its own stamps, but before adopting the stamps of India, Saurashtra issued a court fee stamp overprinted for postal use, then created more 1-anna stamps by surcharging three stamps of the 1929 issue.

Reference

• Ron Wood, Soruth (Handbook of Indian Philately, Series 2, Hampshire, UK: The India Study Circle for Philately, 1999)