Indian anna

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An 1835 quarter ānā.
Holed quarter ānās from 1943 and 45

An Anna (Hindi: आना ānā) was a currency unit formerly used in India, equal to 1/16 [1] rupee. It was subdivided into 4 Paise 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 its currency in 1957.

Sometimes, 50 Paise is colloquially referred to as 8 ānās (Atthanni in Hindi and Urdu, and Ettu ānā, pronounced "Enimidi ANaalu" in Telugu, "Ettna" in Tamil, Malayalam and Entu AaNe pronounced as "EntaNe" in Kannada) and 25 Paise as 4 ānās (Chawanni in Hindi and Urdu, and Naal ānā, pronounced "Naalna" in Tamil and Malayalam, and Naalku Aane pronounced as "Naalkane" in Kannada).

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.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Anna (coins).
  1. ↑ "Republic India Coinage". Accessed 14 July 2011.

See also

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