Sign of the Times: Symbolizing the Indian Rupee

By Supriya Savkoor

(Credit: Ravindraboopathi)

Recognize any of the following symbols?
€, ¥, $, £, ₦,₮, ₩,฿, ₴, ₫, ₭

I haven’t embedded any secret or scrambled messages in there nor am I cursing at you in Swahili. Rather, these icons represent a handful of currency symbols from around the world. I even threw in the currencies of Mongolia, Laos, and the Ukraine. Not that these relatively small countries aren’t entitled to their money, but I use them as a point of comparison to India, the world’s largest democracy and second most populous country. India’s currency is called the rupee, but for centuries since its inception in the 16th century, the rupee didn’t have an official symbol, and was simply abbreviated as “Rs” in front of the numeric amount, as in Rs20.

Then came spring 2009, when the Indian government announced a contest in search of the ideal symbol. The finance minister suggested whatever new symbol is adopted should reflect the country’s culture and ethos. By summer 2010, some 3,000 entries had poured in (not much, really, when you consider the country’s population of 1.2 billion). Of those 3,000, five were shortlisted. On July 15, 2010, the government made its choice:

₹

Designed by architect and visual communicator, Udaya Kumar, the new symbol combines the Devanagari letter र (pronounced “ra”) and the Latin capital letter for “R” without that vertical bar at the left. Kumar added the parallel lines at the top of the symbol, he said, to denote the tricolors of the Indian flag.

India rolled out the new rupee symbol over the next six to 24 months, first on coins in 2011, then on bills in 2012. Banks started printing the new symbol on checks, shopkeepers on their price tags, and international newspapers within their business pages. Even Apple and Windows computer operating systems updated their code (i.e., Windows 7 and iOS 5 and above) to support the new symbol in different fonts.

And if money talks, the Indian rupee could tell some good stories.

Ancient India, along with ancient China and Lydia (a kingdom in what is modern-day Turkey), was one of the earliest issuers of coins. The term “rupee” comes from the Sanskrit word “rupya,” meaning coin, and “rupa,” meaning silver. In the 15th century, when the Pashtun leader Sher Shah Suri, founder of the Sur Empire in India, introduced the first rupee coin, he based its value on silver. Though the price of silver fell tremendously in the 19th century, successive dynasties and conquerors kept the rupee going, from the Moghuls, the Danish, French, and Portuguese, the English, and right through to Independence and beyond.



A silver rupee from the Mughal Empire,
minted under Akbar's reign (1556–1605). {{PD-1923}}



French Indian rupee from 1938
(Credit: Banque de L'Indochine, image by India Post)



From the East India Company in 1835 (Credit: Ranjithsiji)



George V on the silver rupee coin from 1918 (Credit: Almazi)

After Independence in 1947, the Indian government replaced King George VI’s mugshot with the Asoka lions, which remains a national symbol.

Many countries and regions use or have used the rupee as their currency as well, including Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Nepal, Burma, Bhutan, the Persian Gulf, East Africa, Italian Somaliland, and on and on.



A Sichuan rupee, struck in Chengdu, for use in Tibet.
(Credit: Clemensmarabu)

Reverse of the Sichuan rupee (Credit: Clemensmarabu)



A Rs100 note from Mauritius (Credit: Avedeus)

A Rs1000 note from Pakistan, with a portait
of founding father Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

(Credit: Adnan Asim)



A pre-2001 Nepalese rupee, with King Bipendra’s portrait,
before the political change from monarchy to republic caused
the government to abolish monarchs’ pictures on currency.
(Credit Bill Clement)



The rupee in the Seychelles

The first rupee coin, made of nickel, issued in Pakistan in 1948
(Credit: Almazi)

The Japanese forged Indian rupee notes in Burma during World War II as part of a propaganda war.

A Burmese Rs10 note issued by the occupying
Japanese Army, circa 1943. (Credit: Bill Clement)

And now, finally, the Indian rupee has a currency symbol. Perhaps the beginning of a glorious new chapter?



Crossing the Line

By Alli Sinclair 

Alli is entertaining international guests this week so we're running a post from a couple of years ago. Enjoy!

The Cessna putters along the stony runway, strong wind gusts pushing the tail off course. Just when I think the pilot will abandon the take-off, he guns the engine. I suck in my breath and grab the sides of the cracked leather seat I’m sitting on. With eyes squeezed shut, the flying tin can shudders beneath my feet and finally builds to a quaking crescendo. When we’re airborne, I pry one eye open and figure if I’m going to die, then it might as well be with a bird’s eye view of one of the ancient world’s unsolved mysteries-the Nazca Lines in Peru.

Luckily, the plane steadied and I made the journey safely, but I’d already forgotten my fear of dropping out of the sky like bird doo-doo once I got my first glimpse of the mysterious lines that can only be seen from the sky. Listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, the Nazca lines are situated on an arid plateau 250 miles (400km) south of Lima and date back to between 400 and 650 AD. There are hundreds of geometric shapes, which include drawings of hummingbirds, spiders, monkeys, fish, sharks, and llamas.

No one knows for sure who made the shallow lines, but scientists agree the lines were made by removing the red rocks on the surface of the earth to expose white rocks beneath. From the ground, these lines appear to be a mish-mash with no apparent rhyme or reason. But from the air, these odd patterns take on a totally different meaning. The two most well-known lines are the 295 feet (90m) high monkey an extravagantly curving tail and a condor with a 426 feet (130m) wingspan.

Discovered in 1927 by passengers on a commercial flight taking a new route, the Nazca Lines have baffled anthropologists, archaeologists, and ethnologists, as well as lay men. Many have tried to discover the who the creators are for what reason the lines exist, but to date, but to date, no one has any concrete answers. Here are just a few of the theories that have been put forward:

Maria Reiche, a German mathematician, spent her life studying the lines and claimed the indigenous people of Nazca created them as a way of communicating with their gods in the sky and also as an astronomical calendar for agriculture.

In the 1970’s, American Jim Woodman tested out his theory that the creators of the lines used balloons made of fine Peruvian cotton and reed baskets. He asked the Aymara Indians to make a hot air balloon that could have been used by the Nazca people from that time period. From the sky, he could see the lines clearly but without using technology, he couldn’t signal those on the ground as to where to move the rocks. His theory literally blew sky high when the balloon caught fire and the two pilots made a narrow escape.  

Swiss author Erich von Däniken held a theory that a long time ago, aliens visited earth. After the aliens disappeared the Nazca people made the lines in the hope they would get the message and return. Many people like to poo-poo this theory, but those who believe it will very quickly point out the spaceman figure on a hill near the main lines.

Anthropologist William H. Isbell believes the kings of Nazca ordered the people to make these lines because if the commoners were working, then they couldn’t procreate. And if they couldn’t procreate then their inadequate stores of food would become strong enough to sustain a limited population. 

Anthropologists Markus Reindel and David Johnson believe the lines are markers for subterranean water. The figures show the water stream, and zigzag lines show where they end. American Professor of Anthropology, Anthony Aveni has a similar belief but adds that the lines are connected with calendar, water, and mountain deities. It’s with this belief, he feels the Nazca people celebrated a water cult and used the figures and lines for ceremonial dances.

John D. Miller analyzes ancient buildings worldwide and has discovered they often hold a value of 177 feet. He bases his theories on several holy numbers and units of measurement and believes the Nazca Lines fit within the 177 feet model. 

The Code of Carl Munck believes ancient sites around the world are precise positions on a global, coordinated system in relation to the position of the Great Pyramid of Giza. An ancient system called Gematria or Gematrian numbers are found in ancient myths and religions, including the Bible, and according to Gematria experts, the Nazca Lines fall neatly into this patterning.

Phew! And this is just a short list of theories. It’s very easy to Google to your heart’s desire to find out more. For me, floating with the birds, staring wide-eyed at the lines below, wondering who, why, and how, was an experience I’ll never forget. Maybe one day, we’ll find discover the real reason behind the Nazca Lines, but for now, I’m happy to analyze the theories and come to my own conclusion. And in case you’re wondering, I did kiss the ground when we landed.

Azadi Tower—Gateway to Tehran

Azadi Tower
Photo by Ondřej Žváček

By Heidi Noroozy

Every great city needs a symbol. Or so Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi might have been thinking when he commissioned the construction of Borj-e Shahyad Aryamehr (King’s Memorial Tower) in 1971. Built to mark the 2,500^th anniversary of the founding of the Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great, the tower was also a tribute to the shah himself. The second half of its name, Aryamehr, or “Light of the Aryans,” was one of Shah Mohammed Reza’s titles. (He was also called “Shahanshah, or “King of Kings.”) After the 1979 Islamic Revolution that deposed him, the tower was renamed Borj-e Azadi (Freedom Tower).

Shaped like an upside-down Y, the tower stands 164 feet above the peaceful oasis of a green park vast enough to shield it from the maelstrom of the city’s relentless traffic. The structure is covered by 8,000 blocks of white marble from Isfahan Province in central Iran. The complex today houses a Koran museum and audiovisual exhibition center. A fountain bubbles forth at the base of the tower, and a viewing platform at its top affords magnificent views of the city (at least when smog doesn’t get in the way). From certain angles, the building even looks a bit like a headless sphinx.

Under the arches

Azadi Tower was designed by Hossein Amanat, a 24-year-old architect who won the commission in a competition. He incorporated ancient Persian styles with Islamic and modern architecture. The chahar taq (four arches) design dates back to the pre-Islamic Sassanid period (205–261 AD), and the pointed vault in the center is an Islamic element that represents the mihrab, or prayer niche in the wall of a mosque. And the park that fills the vast square with trees, flower beds, and fountains is fine example of a Persian garden.

Amanat, a Baha’i, may have even incorporated symbols of his religious faith in the form of the auspicious number nine: The sides of the structure each bear nine grooves, and there are nine windows in the tower’s high walls. Whether or not he added this symbolism intentionally is the subject of much speculation.

During the Islamic Revolution, Azadi Tower became a focus of anti-government demonstrations, when crowds of dissatisfied citizens gathered under its arches to call for an end to the monarchy. That tradition was taken up again in 2009, when supporters of Iran’s defeated presidential candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi, congregated in the square to protest what they saw as a stolen election.

Azadi Tower at night
Photo by Alireza Javaheri

But Iran’s theocracy also claims the tower as its own, an enduring symbol of their victory over the monarchy. Pro-government demonstrations are held there, as are important national celebrations such as anniversaries of the Islamic Revolution.

On my first few trips to Iran, before a new international airport was built south of Tehran, Azadi Tower was always my first glimpse of Tehran on the road from Mehrabad Airport to my in-laws’ house. With its unusual architecture bathed in ethereal light, it stood like a beacon against the night sky, welcoming me to a city filled with exotic sights, sounds, and tastes, waiting to be explored.