Black Tang-Ka Public Deposited
The basis of the coinage of Tibet. It is a silver piece containing a considerable amount of alloy, the value of which is nominally six Annas, though, as a rule, three of them are exchanged for an Indian Rupee, i.e., sixteen Annas.
The subdivisions of the Tang-Ka are made by cutting up the coin itself. These divisions are : Sho-Kang, 2/3 of a Tang-Ka equal to 4 Annas. Chhi-Ke, 1/2 " " " 3 " Kar-ma-nga, 1/3 " " " 2 " Kha-Kang, 1/6 " " " 1 Anna. Khap-chhe, 1/12 " " " 1/2 "
The principal varieties of the Tang-Ka are the following :
Ga-den Pho-dang Tang-Ka, which was struck at the Ga-den palace at Lhasa, about 1750.
Kong-par Tang-Ka, minted at Giamda on the borders of the Province of Kong- bo, and dated in Tibetan figures.
Pa-nying Tang-Ka, meaning " old Ne- palese " coinage, commonly called Ang-tuk (q.v.), and termed Mohar by the people of Nepal.
Nag-tang, or black Tang-Ka, a name given to the Nepalese coinage of Ranjit Malla Deva, bearing the Newar dale 842, or 1722.
Cho-tang, or " cutting Tang-Ka." A Nepalese coin since the Gorkha conquest, not struck for currency in Tibet, but gen- erally current. Conf. Walsh, Coinage of Tibet , in Memoirs Asiatic Society of Ben- gal , 1907 (ii.), and Wood, in American Journal of Numismatics , 1912. For ex- tensive historical references concerning the name, see R. C. Temple in The Indian Antiquary (xxvi. 235-244).
- Frey's Dictionary (American Journal of Numismatics, Vol. 50, 1916)