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Kutch (British India)

by Blas Delgado Ortiz

Source: Ziggiotto (1998).

The flag
Merchant Flag
Geography

See also:

The flag

The state of Kutch (Kachchh) had 21.000 sq km and 500.000 inhabitants, on the gulf with the same name. It was governed by a dynasty founded in the 16th century by Rajah Kengarji I. Kutch was one of the few states, who didn't derive their name from their capital (the capital of Kutch is Bhuj), but from their region.

Merchant Flag

by Blas Delgado Ortiz

Source: Ziggiotto (1998).

The merchant flag was the Red Ensign with on the place of the disk a crescent and a radiant sun, and over all a semicircle with the words "Kutch State", all in white. These symbols date from a long past: Rajah Kengharji carried them on his red banner with swallowtail in 1548. The standard of the rajah (and State banner) in more recent times shows on a red field the crest of the coat of arms in white: the fortress of the capital Bhuj; the crescent, symbol of the family of the moon-dynasty; a Hindu crown; and an elephant, all over a banner (sowari), on which was written the Mahi Muratah (or Mahi Maratih), or the flag with the holy fish in point. That flag, dominantly Muslim, is known from the time of Shah Jahan (second quarter of the 17th century), and its origin was Persian. It was only granted to eminent persons and to all who commanded at least 7.000 men. Consisting of a cloth - attached to a long stick and carried on an elephant - it reminded of a fish with the head of gilded copper and the body in silk. The Sindia maharajah carried it too, with the fish in brass. That banner of Kutch recalls that in 1757 the state and its Rajah Lakhaji was distinguished by the Grand Mogol. Source: Ziggioto (1998)
Jarig Bakker, 2 May 2002

by Blas Delgado Ortiz, based on Ziggioto (1998)

[Another] flag of Kutch was red with a complicated black and white device featuring a castle, a crown, a small scroll with BHUJ an elephant with a man riding it and holding a pennant and a crown. According to Ed Haynes, Kutch also used the British red ensign with the state badge added, for merchant ships. You may find in his site the flag, the badge and the ensign without the badge. The proportions of Ed's picture are strange: 75:118. Source: Ed Haynes' Indian Princely States
Jorge Candeias, 19 May 1998

Geography

Kutch was by far the largest of the states in this agency. It occupied all the Kutch region, from the Rann of Kutch to the Gulf of Kutch, in the northwest limits of the agency. It was limited by the province of Sind, the state of Jodhpur (Rajputana agency), the states of Tharad, Radhanpur, Dhragandhra and Morvi and the largest of the unlabeled territories. I found 3 cities in it's area: Bhuj, Kandla and Mandvi. Ed Haynes' 1931 data give it 8,249 sq.miles and 514,000 inhabitants.
Jorge Candeias, 19 May 1998