Where Tourists Dare To Tread #2

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Ages ago, I had occasion (privileges of a job) to walk on the service path of an electric power plant intake channel ... all the way out to the edge of the coral reef surrounding the island.

I was standing on land a coupla meters above sea level and, with a typhoon just a day or two passed, the spray from the waves flew all over the place ... landing, from time to time, behind me.

I looked back, and noticed my two companions standing way behind me. I suggested that they move up by me to get a better look, and they replied "Nah, that's okay, we know the ocean a little too well".

That all came back to me when I noticed these folks waltzing out onto a narrow pier in strong surf.

Obviously, they did not have Mike & Sue to talk some sense into them.

The card is manuscript dated 19250722, postmarked 19250725 VIAREGGIO // LUCCA, and postmarked 19250726 ROMA // CENTRO.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viareggio ... Viareggio is a seaside city in Tuscany, Italy,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucca ... Lucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio, in a fertile plain near the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital of the Province of Lucca.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey





I am pretty sure that these are the first overprinted stamps I've ever found on a postcard:

King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy
Country: Italy
Series: Overprinted
Catalog codes:
Michel IT 217
Stamp Number IT 150
Yvert et Tellier IT 169
Unificato IT 175
Issued on: 1925-05
Expiry date: 1926-06-01
Emission: Definitive
Perforation: 14
Printing: Typography
Size: 20 x 24 mm
Colors: Grey
Face value: 10 Italian centesimo
Print run: 44,000,000
Watermark: crown

@ikeyPikey



There is much left to see for ikeyPikey, says Rogue Joy.

Here is an Indian postal card from Bhiwani to Fatehpur, franked with Br. India 1905 ¼ on 1902 ½A SG 148/Sc 77 and canceled with Smith type A24A combined datestamp and obliterator of Bhiwani dt. August 22,1905.

Is it just me? Or, do most languages appear more attractive to most people when they are not distracted by knowing what is written?

Q/ What is the origin of the practice of over-lining each word?

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

This card shows two different Indian scripts.

The manuscript writing along the address lines, is in Modiya or Mahajani script, a tachygraphic manifestation of Devanagari script and a derivative of Kaithi script, used by the merchant community of Marwar and the adjoinung area, to keep accounts, send daily treasury reports and business mail, and the printed text is in Devanagari script.

The characteristic continuous lines above the words in Modiya script were to keep the text in linear structural form, which developed in late 17th century and it is different from the overlining (the specific term for these lines is shirorekha which literally means headline) of the words in Devanagari, which traces its origin from the evolution of Nagari script, a derivative of Brahmi script, in 1st cent.

The card was sent to one Ramchand in Fatehpur of Shekhavati (there were/are several Fatehpurs in India).

The characters at the beginning of the address, are indicative of the number 74½ which was a common practice in North and West India to write it on postal articles, to incur the "curse of Chittaur" on anyone other than the addressee or the delivery postman (who would often read them aloud to the recipients and their families), opening and/or reading the contents of the mail.

The story behind this is that due to the indiscriminant forced conversion of Hindu Brahmans to "religion of peace" Islam as the state policy by Abul Muzaffar Muhi ad Din Muhammad (1618–1707), alias Awrangziyb, VI Mu#289;al Emperor (1658–1707), the sacred threads called yajnopavit worn (cross-body from left of neck) by Chittaur Brahmans, given at the time of initiation ceremony called upanayan, were collected from their corpes as they refused to get converted, which all collectively weighed 74½ man (~2757kg).

Thus it became legend that anyone opened mail with written 74½ on it, would attract the sin accumulated by Awrangziyb by the atrocity committed against Brahmans of Chittaur by collecting 74½ man of sacred threads from their deadbodies.

Here are the transliteration and translation of the printed text.
I cannot post transcriptions as the site does not support Unicode. I have been explained by Don/51studebaker that given the financial condition to run SCF, this cannot be done.

Transliteration
Dhok#257; kh#257;e hue gr#257;hak ek daf#257; ham se bh#299; m#257;l ma#7749;g#257;kar dekhe, sarvaprak#257;r k#299; ch#299;je kif#257;yat bh#257;v se bhej#299;
j#257;t#299; hai. Aur Wil#257;yat se bh#299; ma#7749;g#257;kar d#299;i j#257;t#299; hai. Bhajanl#257;l Govindk#257;, M#257;rw#257;r#299; Baz#257;r Mumba#299;

Translation
Duped customers can try ordering goods from us once. All items are sent at cheap rates.
Also items can be supplied imported from foreign.
Bhajanlal Govindka (name of the trader)
Marwari Bazar, Mumbai (address)

Damn, I was I thinking?
Here is the transliteration without vowel diacritics.

Transliteration
Dhoka khae hue grahak ek dafa ham se bhi mal mangakar dekhe, sarvaprakar ki chije kifayat bhav se bheji
jati hai. Aur Wilayat se bhi mangakar dii jati hai. Bhajanlal Govindka, Marwari Bazar Mumbai

A fullsome answer, Joy!

The overlining still has me scratching my head (in straight lines).

I could understand the practice arising in an environment where lined paper was unknown, but why do it on a post card with pre-printed lines? Habit?

And the way that the overlining matches the word suggests that the word is written first, and the overlining applied after, to wit:

- the line(s) is always of the same length of the word to be written, and

- the line(s) never seem to have an uneven point that would suggest that, after the line turned-out to be too short, it was lengthened.

I can understand making the line so as to guide the writing of the words - scribes I know scratch guidelines into parchment, just to keep things nice & neat - but to make the line after writing the word suggests some other purpose.

German is justifiably famous for those very, very long words, so I could understand a German overlining a word so that the reader would know that it was to be read as one, long word.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey