An anna (or ānna) was a

currency A currency is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general definition is that a currency is a ''system of money'' in common use within a specific envi ...

unit formerly used in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

, equal to of a

rupee Rupee (, ) is the common name for the currency, currencies of Indian rupee, India, Mauritian rupee, Mauritius, Nepalese rupee, Nepal, Pakistani rupee, Pakistan, Seychellois rupee, Seychelles, and Sri Lankan rupee, Sri Lanka, and of former cu ...

. It was subdivided into four pices or twelve

pie A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit (as in an apple pie), nuts ( pecan pie), fruit preserves ( jam tart ...

s (thus there were 192 pies in a rupee). When the rupee was decimalised and subdivided into 100 (new) paise, one anna was therefore equivalent to paise. The anna was demonetised as a currency unit when India decimalised its currency in 1957, followed by Pakistan in 1961. It was replaced by the 5-paise coin, which was itself discontinued in 1994 and demonetised in 2011. The term anna is frequently used to express a fraction of . ''Anna'' is derived from the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

, meaning "food". There was a coin of one anna, and also half-anna coins of copper and two-anna pieces of silver. With the rupee having been valued to 1s 6d and weighing 180 grains as a 916.66 fine silver coin, the anna was equivalent to d (one penny and half a farthing). Hence the 2 anna silver coins were of low weight (22.5 grains = 1.46 g). Anna-denominated postage stamps were issued during the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

by the government of British India as well as by several princely states, and after independence until decimalisation of the currency by India and Pakistan.

Notation

The first number is the number of rupees, the second is the number of annas (), the third is the number of paisas (), and the fourth is the number of pies (). Examples are given below. *Rs 1-15-3-2 = Rs 1.9947 *Rs 1-8-3 = Rs 1.546 *Rs 1-4 = Rs 1.25

Coins

File:Reverse of the copper One Twelfth Anna.jpg, One Twelfth Anna ( Anna) coin of 1903 File:Obverse of the 1906 One Quarter Anna of India portraying the bust of Edward VII.jpg, Obverse of the 1906 quarter anna, with the bust of

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second child ...

File:2 Indian anna (1919).jpg, 2 Indian annas (1919). File:Ana Naya Paisa Conversion Table.jpg, Annas - Paisa Conversion Table. Image: East India Company - Quarter Anna 1835.JPG, An 1835 quarter anna.

Stamps

File:1865ca Half India SG54 boxN°2.jpg , Half anna stamp of British India File:A stamp.JPG , One anna stamp of Alwar File:307-Railway-Centenary-India-Stamp-1953.jpg , Two anna stamp of independent India File:Pakistan1948-1952.jpg , One anna and one and a half anna stamps of independent Pakistan

References

{{Rupee Historical currencies of India Coins of India Rupee

Notation

Coins

Stamps

See also

References