An unused menu card printed on off white card 7 x 4½ ins with the arms of Patiala embossed in gilt at the head. A scarce ephemeral survival from the days of lavish princely hospitality. The use of English style armorials is something that the Princes began to adopt around the time of the great Imperial Assemblage at Delhi in 1877, although the heraldry system planned for the sub continent was never fully evolved. Patiala was the senior Sikh Phulkian state in the Punjab whose Maharaja was a Sidhu Jat with a 17 gun salute in 1900 Etymology The state's name came from the name of its principal city and capital, Patiala, which itself comes from the roots patti and ala. The word patti means "strip of land" in Punjabi, and 'ala' comes from the name of the founder of the city and Patiala state, Ala Singh, thus meaning ‘the land of Ala Singh’