The evolution of Bangladeshi currency notes and what it says about our past 

What do you see when you hold a currency note in your hands? Well, one artist once told The Business Standard that he is astonished by the colours and he wanted to recreate those colours himself. 

For the notaphilists or the numismatists, it may be the numbers that fascinate them more. Some may look at the paintings or the illustrations, while the architects may look at the architectural structures used. 

But for us, it is the stories, the symbols that these paper currencies hold. For example, Bangladeshi currency notes have boats, fish, paddy, fishermen, village life, farmers etc images that symbolise the country and its people. 

Every time the political regime or the governor of the Bangladesh Bank of this country changed, so did our currency notes. Achia Khanom Likhon, the curator of Taka Museum of the capital said, "Money is one language that everyone, whether s/he is educated or not, understands. So currencies are a great medium of communication and that's why we find certain messages and images on the notes."

Rahman Azad holds a catalogue of Bangladeshi currency notes. Photo: Noor A Alam/TBS

During our research for this story, we came across an interview where Kazi Golam Mustafa, the designer of our very first currencies and postal stamps, told the interviewer from BTV that he has created art that people carry in their pockets every day. 

It made us think, how have these exchangeable paper notes evolved over time? What is the story behind them?

The history 

After the partition of India and Pakistan, the banking system brought two branch offices of the erstwhile State Bank of Pakistan established in July 1948: one was in Bangladesh (former East Pakistan) and the other was in West Pakistan (present Pakistan).

But then the East Pakistan wing used the Pakistani rupee as we didn't have any currencies of our own. Bangla was one of the two official languages of the Pakistan union between 1956 and 1971. So in East Pakistan, the Pakistani rupee was used but it had taka written on it. 

The central bank of Bangladesh or the Bangladesh Bank was formed on 16 December 1971 after the liberation war ended. But the banknotes of Pakistan continued to be used in Bangladesh for approximately three months after independence. Eventually, the authorities decided to issue our very own banknotes. 

The beautiful Tk2 note arrived in 1988 and it had the language martyr monument on the front. This little salmon pink note was recognised as the most beautiful note in the world at a Russian online entertainment outlet in 2012. 

On 4 March 1972, the official notes or taka of Bangladesh were introduced, replacing the Pakistani rupee. And from then on, in the last 50 years, Bangladesh Bank has printed currency notes of over 10 series and in an array of designs. 

Currently, Bangladesh has eight currency notes (Tk5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000). Printing of Tk1 and 2 have already stopped; and slowly the use of these notes that are already in use is being replaced with coins and the Tk5 note is also on its way into oblivion.

The first series or 'The map series' 

At first Tk1, 5 and 100 notes were introduced, followed by the addition of Tk10 notes. These are considered emergency issued banknotes and are popularly known as the "Map Series" as these notes had the map of Bangladesh imprinted on its left side. 

Except for the Tk1 note, the other three notes had the portrait of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on the right. The Tk1 note was in dark grey and khaki colour.  

On the left-hand side of the "observe surface" (the front side), the map of Bangladesh is in a circular grey panel and on the right-hand side, a prominent denominational pattern beholds the number 1 with 'one taka' written both in English and Bangla. The font was also similar to the Indian currencies. 

And on the "reverse surface" (the backside), the note says the People's Republic of Bangladesh both in English and Bangla. In the centre of the note, there is a bold denominational figure where 1 is written in Bengali, superimposed on a rosette. On both sides of the rosette, there are panels with guilloche patterns. 

The other three notes of the map series are also similar with the map of Bangladesh on the left and the portrait of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on the right of the observe panel. Unlike the Tk1 note, these three have Bangladesh written on the back both in English and Bangla. 

The Tk5 note has a tint of sea-green, yellow, purple and maroon. The reverse side has a rosette design in the centre encircled with flanks on the left and right rosette superimposed with the number 5 in Bengali and English. 

Tk10 note is probably the most colourful one of this series with salmon pink, green, purple and navy blue. And the Tk100 note is dark khaki, brown and a hint of green in colour. Both of these notes have guilloche patterns on the back. 

This series of notes have white borders and minimal security features. While the Tk5, 10 and 100 notes have a security thread running across the note on the right side, Tk1 does not have any such features. 

This series was designed by the Indian security printing press, which was located at Nashik in the state of Maharashtra; 185km northeast of Mumbai. 

As Bangladesh did not have a security printing press of its own, the government had to consult the Indian printing presses to print the notes. But there were rumours that the printing plates were stolen and fake notes were being printed. That is why after just three months of printing the Map Series, the government decided to withdraw the notes. 

The second series and Paan (betel leaf) 

In one of his interviews on BTV, designer Kazi Golam Mustafa said that Bangladesh Bank formed a committee for currency designs at that time that consisted of Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin, Patua Qamrul Hasan and Qayyum Chowdhury. 

They then invited Mustafa, the young artist of Bangladesh who worked in the Pakistani security printing press during 1964-65. He designed the second series of notes.

KG Mustafa explained in an interview with Prothom Alo, "It took me two months to complete the four final designs of Tk1, 5, 10 and 100. A.N. Hamidullah, the first governor of Bangladesh Bank was elated to see my designs. The designs were first sent to Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmed and then to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. They were all very happy with it." 

Dark purple and khaki coloured Tk1 note of this series has a hand holding opulent stalks of paddy on the front side and the back, it has our national emblem on the right side. 

The second series of our currency notes were printed by Thomas De La Rue of England. The first note of this series was the Tk10 note on 2 June 1972. A beautiful green note with paan leaves on the corners. Well, this has a story behind it. 

KG Mustafa recalled the connotative meaning in a Prothom Alo interview. In 1965 when he was in West Pakistan, one paan seller uttered the word 'Bangal paan' in a sarcastic tone as they were talking about the origin of the betel leaves. That incident made an impact on Mustafa.

Later when he was in Bangladesh designing the country's first currency notes, he thought of the paan incident and decided to glorify 'paan' as the pride of Bengal and incorporated that in our notes. The paan first appeared in the 10 paisa coin. And then he added that magnificent leaf to the notes as well.  

The Tk10 and 100 notes have rivers, boats and farmers on the back. All these symbolise Bengali traditions as a nation.

Left Mujib and right Mujib

Apart from the paan feature, there is another interesting aspect of this series. 

Back in 1972-73, the government signed currency printing agreements with Thomas De La Rue and Bradbury Wilkinson (both British printers) at the same time. Both of them printed the same notes with different designs almost at the same time. As a result, two different series were circulating at the same time. 

In the Tk10 note of that series, there is a difference in the placement of the portrait of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. As the notes were published from two different presses, one press decided to print the portrait on the right side of the note and the other press printed the portrait on the left side. That is why the series became commonly known as the 'left Mujib-right Mujib' series. 

Achia Khanom explained "It was done deliberately so that they could distinguish who printed which notes. It was almost like a competition so that if one of them printed badly, the other one would not be blamed."

The 'left Mujib' Tk10 notes had a picturesque rural landscape of riverine Bangladesh on the backside. While the 'right Mujib' notes had a scene of a vast paddy field with farmers harvesting paddy.

The 'Left Mujib' Tk5 note had pineapples on the front corners where the number 5 was written. And on the back, it had our national flower 'shapla' or water lilies with corn and 'sika' or macrame jute hangers on the corners. 

The other interesting fact about this series is the use of symbols of Bengali tradition like 'kula' or rattan dish on Tk5 note. This vibrant red-orange coloured note has kula and fish on the corners of the front side and a functioning industrial building on the back.   

1975: The change of colour and there was no Bangabandhu

The year Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family were murdered changed the history of Bangladesh as well as its currencies. 

During 1976 a completely new series of notes was introduced, with the exception of the Tk1 note. The notes of this issue are notable as they did not have any image of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, whose portrait had dominated all issues of the Bangladesh Bank until then.

Instead of Bangabandhu's portrait, all the notes had Tara Mosque of Dhaka on the front side, and on the back, it bore the previously used scenes and images. 

The most fascinating factor was the change of colours, especially in the Tk10 note. The green notes turned blood red as if to symbolise the grave murders in the history of this country. 

For the first time, Tk50 and 500 notes were added. 

Mosques and architecture on the currency notes

From 1976 to 1997, Bangladeshi currency notes had various mosques and architectural structures on them. As mentioned earlier, Tara (Star) mosque was the first one to appear on the notes. 

Then we could see the Kusumbag Mosque on the Tk5 note, Atiya Jame Mosque of Tangail on the Tk10 note in 1978, Choto Sona Mosque on the Tk20 note in 1979, Shaat (seven) Gombuj Mosque of Dhaka on the Tk50 note in 1979, Shaat Gambuj Masjid on Tk100 note in 2001, Baitul Mukarram mosque on Tk10 note in 2011 to name a few. 

Later in 1982, the National Martyrs' Memorial in Savar was completed and it was 1987 when that monument was first used in the Tk50 note. 

The beautiful Tk2 note arrived in 1988 and it had the language martyr monument on the front. This little salmon pink note was recognised as the most beautiful note in the world at a Russian online entertainment outlet in 2012. 

It was in the year 1997 when Bangabandhu reemerged in the currency notes. 

The polymer notes

In 2000, the government issued polymer Tk10 notes as an experiment, similar to the Australian dollar. 

According to notaphilists, after the severe flood of 1998, the government thought of bringing notes that will not get wet in the water as cash was given to the flood-affected people with other relief goods.

On the front side, this pink coloured note had a portrait of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the National Mosque. On the reverse side, it had photographs of the National Parliament Building and the National Monument.

As security features, this note bore the national flower 'shapla' in an oval shape with a clear window on the right side of the note and the 'see through' image of numeral '10' in Bengali above the picture of the National Mosque.

But these notes proved unpopular, maybe because they did not have enough security features and could be faked and perished easily. These polymer notes were withdrawn and later in 2006, the paper Tk10 notes made a comeback.  
 
The further evolution of our currency notes

In 2011, Bangladesh Bank began issuing a new series of notes of Tk2, 5, 100, 500, and 1000. All are dated 2011 and feature a portrait and watermark of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, along with the National Martyr's Monument in Savar at the centre front.
 
On 7 March 2012, The bank issued a new Tk50 note. The note bears the portrait of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the National Martyr's Monument in Savar on the front. 
 
On the back of the note, Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin's famous painting "Ploughing" is used. But unfortunately, there was a mistake in the spelling of the name of the artist. And also the design said 'shilpy' instead of Shilpacharya. The notes were withdrawn and a new set of Tk50 was printed with the corrections. 
 
On 7 March 2019, Bangladesh Bank released new Tk100 notes, which had the same design as the 2011 version, but had better security features, and were made of a different material.
 
On 15 December 2019, Bangladesh Bank issued new Tk50 banknotes, with the same design as the 2011 version, but had a different colour (orange, brown and fluorescent yellow-green), and a slightly different design in some parts.
 
In 2008, the government issued Tk1000 notes and in 2020, on the birth centenary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the government issued Tk200 notes. The Tk200 note bears a portrait of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on both sides and a landscape picture of a village, river and boats.