Lauri Hulak (Stick Post) - Nepal Pre Postal

Maharaja Jung Bahadur Rana (1846-1877)

The process of the development of postal system was carried on during the time of Surendra Bikram Shah (king of Nepal, 1847 to 1881) by the legendary Jung Bahadur Kunwar Rana (Prime Minister, 1846 to 1877). It has been stated that Jung Bahadur initiated a new type of postal system called Lauri Hulak (Stick Post). There was an official order that the travellers were required to volunteer in carrying the letters to respective destinations. In Lauri Hulak the letters were tied up around a stick which would be kept at the cross–roads in deserted manner and the passers–by are needed to carry that stick up to another cross–road as far as they would find convenient on their respective destinations. Then, another traveller, who is going to next cross–road needs to carry it to next point until the letter reaches to its final destination. This system was also quite effective although there was very high risk of letters being lost in transit. It is believed that Jung Bahadur Rana transmitted the news to other parts of the country of his appointment to premiership by using Lauri Hulak, which proved to be quite effective. Furthermore, black seal documents of Jung Bahadur and his sub–ordinates regarding the postal management in Nepal are also strong evidences of the development of the then postal scheme in Nepal.

The stick post did not use any special markings. In the middle of the envelope one can find traces of the stick in which it was clamped. So these envelopes are easy to forge