Persian Documents, Circa 1903

Two documents in Farsi apparently from early 20th-century India, likely c. 1903. The document with the stamp allows the bearer to carry items on a train journey, and has an English inscription reading “Written in my presence.” The second item may be a copy of an earlier document: according to an English note on the verso, it relates in some capacity to Maharaja Duleep Singh, who was the Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, King of Punjab, and Maharaja of Lahore between 1843 and 1849. The English writer indicates the original document was dated 23 Bhadon (5th September) in 1846, though the date given on the document itself is 1903. Provenance is unknown, as is whether the two documents have any connection to each other. It does appear that they were purchased together, as the stamped document also has the date 1846 written on it in modern pencil: it seems likely that a bookseller read the English note on the second document and grouped the two together under that same date.