The anatomy of the new Rupee symbol
Gakwer commenters, this one’s for you.
The new winning Rupee symbol picked from a public competition held in India appears to capture the outline of the Roman letter R, but this symbol minus the lower stroke is actually the Devnagari alphabet that produces the “ra” sound.
This “ra” alphabet with the addition of the “oo” vowel (to make it sound “roo”) has been in use for a symbol-like abbreviation for “Rupee” in Devnagari text. I’ve highlighted that abbreviation below, which is a sample of Fedra Hindi, a modern Devnagari typeface developed by The Indian Foundry.
Personally, I would have preferred the Devnagari abbreviation itself as the official currency symbol, but here is the breakdown of the new one:
The top stroke is part of the script itself—each letter has a stroke along its top edge, and each word is grouped by connecting these strokes (some letters have a broken stroke, as you can see in the Fedra Hindi sample set). A second stroke has been added to utilize the native stroke in making a double-stroke “we speak of finance!” gesture.
Interestingly, from a Western typography point of view, the symbol is top heavy, and it produces a visual discomfort. Add to it a Devnagari typography point of view, however, and I (very) reluctantly think “genius”: it forgoes the appearance of being neutral and asserts an independent identity of the Devnagari script, all the while modernizing the script with the addition of a single stroke to an existing letter and adding a pinch of “universalism”. But the visual makeup of this symbol simply cannot be grasped as intended without being familiar with the visual system of the Devnagari script (ask Emmanuel Kant).
However, this particular rendition of the Rupee symbol does not read like a professional typographical work, but then it’s meant to be flexible enough to be used in various typographic treatments, much like other currency symbols.
In summary, children, the new Rupee symbol is a bleak version of Mr. Tumnus: two flat horns with a profile of sturdy goat legs.
