Sunday special--History of Indian Money!
The word "sura'je" is derived from a Sanskrit word "rūpaalu", which means "wrought silver, a coin of silver", in origin an adjective meaning "shapely", with a more specific meaning of "stamped, impressed", whence "coin". It is derived from the noun rūpa "shape, likeness, image". The word rūpa itself could have Vedic roots
Vedic origin is Sanskrit rūpá, n.,m. a form, beauty (Rigveda), rūpaka adjective and n.,m. a particular coin Pañcatantra, rūpya,*rūpiya-, adj. beautiful, bearing a stamp Pāṇini., n. silver Ma
Arthashastra, written by Chanakya, prime minister to the first Maurya emperor Chandragupta Maurya (c. 340–290 BCE), mentions silver coins as rupyarupa, other types including gold coins (Suvarnarupa), copper coins (Tamararupa) and lead coins (Sisarupa) are mentioned. Rupa means form or shape, example, Rupyarupa, Rupya – wrought silver, rupa – form.
Sher Shah Suri, during his five-year rule from 1540 to 1545, set up a new civic and military administration and issued a coin of silver, weighing 178 grains, which was termed the Rupiya. The silver coin remained in use during the Mughal period, Maratha era as well as in British India. Among the earliest issues of paper rupees include the Bank of Hindostan (1770–1832), the General Bank of Bengal and Bihar (1773–75, established by Warren Hastings), and the Bengal Bank (1784–91).
The Indian rupee was a silver-based currency during much of the 19th century, which had severe consequences on the standard value of the currency, as stronger economies were on the gold standard. During British rule, and the first decade of independence, the rupee was subdivided into 16 annas. Each anna was subdivided into either 4 paisas or 12 pies. So one rupee was equal to 16 annas, 64 paises or 192 pies. In 1957, decimalisation occurred and the rupee was divided into 100 naye paise (Hindi/Urdu for new paisas). After a few years, the initial "naye" was dropped.
For many years in the early and mid-20th century, the Indian rupee was the official currency in several areas that were controlled by the British and governed from India; areas such as East Africa, Southern Arabia and the Persian Gulf.
In 19th century the Britishers introduced paper money into the subcontinent. The Paper
Currency Act of 1861 gave the Government the monopoly of note issued throughout the vast expanse of British India.
Below are the interesting facts about how Indian currency notes have evolved over the ages into the rupee of today.
The earliest issuers of coins in the world are the
Ancient Indians along with Chinese and Lydians from the Middle East.
The first Indian coins were minted in the
6th Century BC by the Mahajanpadas (the Republic Kingdoms of ancient India) known as Puranas, Karshapanas or Panas.
These coins have irregular shapes, standard weight and are made up of silver with different markings like
Saurashtra had a humped bull, Dakshin Panchala had a Swastika and Magadha had several symbols.
The Turkish Sultans of Delhi had replaced the royal designs of Indian kings with
Islamic calligraphy by the 12th Century AD. The currency was made up of Gold, silver and copper known as
Tanka and lower valued coin known as
Jittals.
The Mughal Empire from 1526 AD
consolidated the monetary system for the entire empire. In this era
evolution of rupee occurred when Sher Shah Suri defeated Humayun and
issued a silver
coin of 178 gms known as rupiya
and was divided into 40 copper pieces or paisa and during the whole Mughal period silver coin remained in use.
During the British East India Company i.e. 1600,
The Mughal currency remained popular but in 1717 AD, Farrukh Siyar the
Mughal Emperor gave permission to the Britishers or the English
to coin Mughal money at the Bombay mint. Then British
gold coins were termed as Carolina, the silver coins as Angelina, the
copper coins as cupperoon and the tin coins as tinny.
In the 18th Century, the Bank of Hindostan General Bank in Bengal
and the Bengal Bank became the first banks in India to issue paper currency i.e. during this time paper money was first issued in British India.
This is the first note issued by the Bank of Bengal of Two Hundred and Fifty Sicca Rupees note, September 3, 1812.
With the Coinage Act of 1835,
uniform coinage throughout the country comes. And in 1858, Mughal
empire subsequently ended and British crown gained control over one
hundred princely states
and so, the images on the coins were replaced by portraits of the Monarch of Great Britain Supremacy.
The king George VI replaced the native designs on banknotes and coins but after the
revolt of 1857, he made the Rupee as the official currency of colonial India.
In the honour of
Queen Victoria in 1862, series of bank notes and coins were issued with the Victoria portrait.
Finally, the Reserve Bank of India was set up in 1935
and empowered to issue Government of India notes. It had also printed
10,000 rupee notes and was later demonetised after Independence.
And the first paper currency issued by RBI was a 5 rupee note bearing King George VI’s portrait, in January 1938.
After gaining Independence in 1947 and in
1950s when India become Republic,
India’s modern Rupee reverted back to the design of signature Rupee coin.
The symbol chosen for the paper currency was the Lion capital at Sarnath which replaced the George VI series of bank notes.
So, the first banknote printed by the Independent India was a 1 rupee note.
Do you know the history of 1 rupee note:
One rupee note was issued on 30 November,1917 under the British Raj.
During the first world war British domination was there. At that time
one rupee coin was a silver coin. But because of the war, condition
became worse and one rupee coin of silver was not able to generate. And
due to this first time in front of people one rupee note issued and the
image of George V was inbuilt in the note. Printed
in England this one rupee note value was very less as compared to
others.
The highest denomination of the Indian rupee
that can be printed today is ₹2000. However, back in 1938, the Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) had printed currency notes with a denomination of
₹5,000 and ₹10,000. These notes were demonetized
in 1946 and later reintroduced in 1954. In 1978 these were again
demonetized.
2. Paper currency notes
In the 18th century, the first paper currency
notes were printed by private banks like Bank of Hindustan, Bank of
Bengal, Bank of Bombay and Bank of Madras. After the Paper Currency Act
was passed in 1861, only the Government of India
had the monopoly to print currency notes.
3. One rupee note
The first banknote printed in independent India was a one rupee note.
Only Re. 1 notes and coins in India are
signed by the Finance Secretary as they are printed by the Central
Government. All other Indian currency notes in India are printed by RBI.
4. Its not the paper
Rupees is Not made of paper! Your currency is composed of cotton and cotton rag.
5. Pakistan’s dependence after Independence
Even after Pakistan separated from India,
after independence, it depended on the Indian currency. How? They
stamped Indian rupee notes with ‘Government of Pakistan’ until they had
enough of their own currency.
6. ₹1000 coins
The Coinage Act of 2011 allows issuing of coins up to a denomination of ₹1000.
7. The symbol (₹)
The rupee symbol was designed in 2010 by
designer D.Udaya Kumar. The symbol is a combination of the Devanagari
and Latin script for letter ‘Ra’. The parallel line gives the symbol a
look of the Indian tricolor.
8. 17 languages
8. 17 languages
Total 17 Languages appears out of which 15
languages appear in the language panel of banknotes in addition to Hindi
prominently displayed in the centre of the note and English on the
reverse of the banknote.
9. Mahatma Gandhi’s image
The image of Mahatma Gandhi on the currency
notes is not hand-drawn. It is a copy of a photo which was taken in
1947. In the original photo, Gandhiji is smiling at a person nearby. The
photo was cropped to be used on Indian rupee
notes.
10. For visually handicapped
For the visually impaired people There is an
identification mark (different geometrical shapes) on the left hand side
of each note in the form of raised print (intaglio) – a diamond for
₹1000, circle for ₹500, triangle for ₹100, square
for ₹50, rectangle for ₹20 and none for ,₹10.
(For new 500 & 2000 rupee note
there is intaglio printing of Mahatma Gandhi portrait, Ashoka Pillar
emblem, bleed lines, circle with ₹ 500 in the right & bleed lines
and identity mark Horizontal rectangle with ₹2000 in raised
print on the right to enable the visually impaired person to identify
the denomination.)
11. In 1917, the ₹ was mightier than the $. 1 ₹= 13 USD to be precise.
To type the symbol of the rupee, you need to press 'Ctrl+Shift+$'.
Searched,Compiled and Illustrated by Tejinder Kamboj
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