Rupee

From Open Encyclopedia

"Rs" redirects here. For other uses, see RS.

Image:Indian Rupee.jpg The Rupee (₨ or Rs.) is the common name for the currencies used in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Mauritius, and the Seychelles; in Indonesia the unit of currency is known as the rupiah and in the Maldives the rufiyah. The Pakistani rupee and the Indian rupee are subdivided into one hundred paise or pice (singular paisa).

The origin of the word "rupee" is found in the Sanskrit word rūp or rūpā, which means "silver" in many Indo-Aryan languages such as Urdu. The derivative word Rūpaya was used to denote the coin introduced by Sher Shah Suri during his reign from 1540 to 1545 CE. The original Rūpaya was a silver coin weighing 178gm. The coin has been used since then, even during the times of British India. Formerly the rupee was divided into 16 annas, 64 paise, or 192 pies. Decimalisation occurred in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in 1869, India in 1957 and in Pakistan in 1961.

Large denominations of rupees are often counted in lacs or lakhs (100,000) crores (10,000,000) and arabs (1 billion).

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Rupees

Formerly used Rupees include:

Fictional Rupees

Rupees are also the unit of currency in the Legend of Zelda videogame series created by Nintendo. See Rupee (Legend of Zelda).

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External links

Picture of original Rupiya introduced by Sher Shah Suri

Rupees
Indian rupee \| Mauritian rupee \| Nepalese rupee \| Pakistani rupee \| Seychelles rupee \| Sri Lankan rupee \| Indonesian rupiah \| Maldivian rufiyaa
Formerly used rupees include: Burmese rupee \| French Indian rupee \| German East African rupie \| Gulf rupee \| Portuguese Indian rupia
History of the rupee