In 1971, the erstwhile province of East Pakistan became the independent nation of Bangladesh with the Pakistan Rupee as its interim currency. The taka became Bangladesh's currency in 1972, replacing the Pakistani rupee at par. The word "taka" is derived from the Sanskrit term tanka which was an ancient denomination of silver coin. The term taka was widely used in different parts of India but with varying meanings. In north India, taka was a copper coin equal to two paise and in the south, it was equal to four paisa or one anna. It was only in Bengal and Orissa where taka was equal to rupee. In all areas of India, taka was used informally for money in general. However, Bengal was the stronghold of taka.
The rupee was introduced by the Turko-Afghan rulers and was strongly upheld by the Mughals and the British rulers. The Bengali people always used the word taka for the rupee, whether silver or gold. Ibn Battuta, the Arab traveller, noticed that, in Bengal, people described gold coins (Dinar) as gold tanka and silver coin as silver tanka.
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