1876 Prince Kota Maharao Shatru Sal II Signed Royal Gold Silver Land Grant India

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1876 Prince Kota Maharao Shatru Sal II Signed Royal Gold Silver Land Grant India:
$775.00

For your consideration is an exceptionally rare and historically significant royal Kota State dnapatra, or deed of gift, issued during the reign of Maharao Shatru Sal II of Kota (r. 18661889) and dated Vikram Samvat 1933, corresponding to circa 18761877 CE. The manuscript is executed in a formal Kota-Rajasthani chancery hand on unusually large and heavy handmade rag paper measuring approximately 17.25 by 10 inches. Its surface is richly embellished with repeated gold floral rosette motifs together with dispersed silver-colored metallic or mica-like reflective particles embedded throughout the paper, giving the sheet the luxurious ceremonial appearance appropriate to a high-status princely-state grant.
The operative text concerns the formal granting of landed and associated revenue rights, setting out the conditions under which the holding was to be possessed and administered. The document contains repeated fiscal and administrative formulas and is authenticated by numerous chancery endorsements. Of particular importance is the bold contemporary notation (dn j), meaning essentially gift authorized or order for the grant, confirming that the underlying legal act was a state-sanctioned donation rather than merely a routine record of tenure. Additional invocatory and validation formulas, including (r Rm duh), reinforce the formal Rajput legal and religious character of the instrument.
The verso preserves large overlapping black-ink Kota State seals with multi-line Devanagari legends, together with further countersignatures, registry notations, and archival docketing. These impressions demonstrate that the manuscript passed through multiple levels of official authentication within the Kota administration. The combination of formal legal text, royal-period date, authorization endorsements, state seals, and unusually rich metallic decoration identifies the sheet as a high-level royal dnapatra / land and revenue grant issued under the authority of Maharao Shatru Sal II.
Condition is very good for its age and extensive administrative use, with the heavy rag paper remaining structurally sound, the principal text dark and legible, the gold rosette decoration substantially preserved, and the silver-colored reflective inclusions still visible throughout the sheet. Historical folds, scattered staining, seal overlap, handling wear, and multiple clerical endorsements are entirely consistent with long-term official use and archival storage. Combining a precisely datable 19th-century Kota legal context, formal state authorization, luxurious gold-and-silver decorated paper, multiple official seals, and surviving chancery endorsements, this is an important primary document of Rajputana landholding, revenue administration, and princely-state legal practice during the reign of Maharao Shatru Sal II.