Indian anna
Encyclopedia
Currency
In economics, currency refers to a generally accepted medium of exchange. These are usually the coins and banknotes of a particular government, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply...
unit formerly used in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, equal to 1/16 rupee
Rupee
The rupee is the common name for the monetary unit of account in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, Mauritius, Seychelles, Maldives, and formerly in Burma, and Afghanistan. Historically, the first currency called "rupee" was introduced in the 16th century...
. It was subdivided into 4 Paise
Paisa
The paisa is a monetary unit in several countries. Linguistic variants of paisa include poisha and baisa . In India, Nepal and Pakistan, the paisa currently equals of a rupee. In Bangladesh, the poisha equals of a Bangladeshi taka...
or 12 Pies (thus there were 64 paise in a rupee and 192 pies). The term belonged to the Muslim monetary system. The ānā is not commonly used since India decimalised
Decimalisation
Decimal currency is the term used to describe any currency that is based on one basic unit of currency and a sub-unit which is a power of 10, most commonly 100....
its currency in 1957.
Sometimes, 50 Paise is colloquially referred to as 8 ānās (Atthanni in Hindi and Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
, and Ettu ānā, pronounced "Ettna" in Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
, Malayalam
Malayalam language
Malayalam , is one of the four major Dravidian languages of southern India. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India with official language status in the state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry. It is spoken by 35.9 million people...
and Entu AaNe pronounced as "EntaNe" in Kannada
Kannada language
Kannada or , is a language spoken in India predominantly in the state of Karnataka. Kannada, whose native speakers are called Kannadigas and number roughly 50 million, is one of the 30 most spoken languages in the world...
) and 25 Paise as 4 ānās (Chawanni in Hindi and Urdu, and Naal ānā, pronounced "Naalna" in Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
and Malayalam
Malayalam language
Malayalam , is one of the four major Dravidian languages of southern India. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India with official language status in the state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry. It is spoken by 35.9 million people...
, and Naalku Aane pronounced as "Naalkane" in Kannada
Kannada language
Kannada or , is a language spoken in India predominantly in the state of Karnataka. Kannada, whose native speakers are called Kannadigas and number roughly 50 million, is one of the 30 most spoken languages in the world...
).
There was a coin of one ānā, and also half-ānās of copper and two-ānā pieces of silver. The term ānā is frequently used to express a fraction of 1/16. Thus an Anglo-Indian speaks of two ānās of dark blood (an octoroon), a four-ānā (quarter) crop, an eight-ānā (half) gallop.
See also
- Indian coinageIndian coinageCoinage of India, issued by Imperial dynasties and smaller middle kingdoms of India began during the 1st millennium BC, and consisted mainly of copper and silver coins in its initial stage. Scholars remain divided over the origins of Indian coinage...
- British Indian coinsBritish Indian coinsThe British East India Company established its initial settlement in Surat in 1612, and started minting coins from the mid 17th century. The early European style coins were not popular outside their jurisdiction, and in 1717 the British obtained the right to strike their own rupees in the name of...
- History of the rupeeHistory of the rupeeAncient India, presently modern states of Pakistan and north-western India, was one of the earliest issuers of coins in the world , along with the Chinese wen and Lydian staters....