The Travancore rupee was a type of currency issued by the erstwhile

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princely state A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, subject to ...

Travancore The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. A ...

, which was primarily located in the modern Indian state of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South Ca ...

. The rupee was largely a newer currency in comparison to the older currencies of Kerala such as the ''Fanams'', ''Achus'', ''Chuckrams'' as well as the ''Kasu'' (or Cash). Its creation was probably intended for the increased trading with

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

and the high-value transactions therein. Travancore Rupee - Front

The Travancore Rupee was the highest denomination of currency issued for general circulation. The highest face value issued was the '1/2 rupee'. While there had been plans to introduce 'One Travancore Rupee', this was never done. The half-rupee and the quarter-rupee remained the highest values issued for circulation. The Travancore Rulapee was issued until 1946 CE (1121 M.E. or Malayalam Era), remaining in circulation till 1949. It was replaced by the

Indian rupee The Indian rupee ( symbol: ₹; code: INR) is the official currency in the republic of India. The rupee is subdivided into 100 '' paise'' (singular: ''paisa''), though as of 2022, coins of denomination of 1 rupee are the lowest value in use ...

following Travancore's accession into

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

Inscriptions

Issues of the Travancore Rupee often had the names or insignia of the reigning monarch in English. The reverse features inscriptions in the native language of

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam wa ...

as well as the royal insignia of Travancore. The inscriptions are largely a direct translation of the front of the coin. The year, when printed on the coins was based on the

Malayalam calendar The Malayalam Calendar is a sidereal solar calendar used in Kerala. The origin of the calendar has been dated to 825 CE, the beginning of the Kollam Era. There are many theories regarding the origin of the era, but according to recent schola ...

(and corresponding Malayalam Era - M.E.) which begins circa 825 CE. Therefore, the year of issue of the coin can be found by adding 825 to it. Example - The year of issue of a coin showing 1000, will be 1825 C.E.(or A.D.). Therefore, the year of issue of the coin with the year 1116, as depicted in the images, will be 1940-41. Unlike the

Indian Rupee The Indian rupee ( symbol: ₹; code: INR) is the official currency in the republic of India. The rupee is subdivided into 100 '' paise'' (singular: ''paisa''), though as of 2022, coins of denomination of 1 rupee are the lowest value in use ...

issued by the

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and other princely States of India, the Travancore Rupee was subdivided into 7 Travancore Fanams. These ''Fanams'' were further sub-divided into 4 ''Chakrams'', each of 16 ''Cash''. We can see these sub-divisions in the following table - As of the early 1900s, silver coins were issued in the denominations of Rupee and ''Chakrams''. Their various values included 2 chakrams, 4 chakrams, 1/4 rupee (7 chakrams) and 1/2 rupee (14 chakrams). The cash or ''kashu'' coins were largely copper coins. They were struck in values of 1 cash, 4 cash and 8 cash. The exchange rate with the

British Indian rupee British trading posts in the Indian subcontinent were first established by the East India Company (EIC) early in the seventeenth century, which quickly evolved into larger colonies covering a significant part of the subcontinent. Early settlement ...

was set at 1 British Indian rupee = 28 chakram, 8 cash; equivalently, 1 Tranvancore rupee = 15 annas, 8.63 pies of a British Indian rupee.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Travancore Rupee Currencies of the British Empire Modern obsolete currencies Kingdom of Travancore 1949 disestablishments in India Economy of Kerala Historical currencies of India

Inscriptions

See also

References