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Origins of Bhutanese coinage

5 December 2008

It began as barter, evolved into voluminous trade, which necessitated the invention of currency. Coins were thus born, of bronze, silver and gold. From coinage to stocks and bonds, the little metal has had a history full of heads and tails. Manju Wakhley reports from the University of Oxford.

Nicholas Rhodes, a numismatist, presented a talk on the coinage and currency of Bhutan at the Oriental Club in London. He is an independent scholar, recognized internationally as a leading expert on the coinage of the whole Himalayan region and of North East India. He is also the secretary general of the Oriental Numismatic Society and his articles have been published widely in academic journals including publication by the Centre for Bhutan Studies. The Bhutan society in the UK also knows him as a founding member and its first treasurer.

Nicholas was introduced to Bhutan through his wife. He first travelled to the country in the 1960’s. Nicholas says, “Coins are important contemporary documents that shed light on many aspects of a country’s political and economic history. They also demonstrate technological capability and illustrate aspects of religious iconography.” There are four serious numismatists of Bhutanese coins- a German, two Brits and a Bhutanese.

Many people take up coin collection as a hobby. What do Bhutanese coins say about the Bhutanese? It is amazing how oblivious to coins, currency and money Bhutan was as a country- happily cocooned as it was. The first traveller to mention trade in Bhutan was Ralph Fitch in 1583. He spoke about trade of silk, gold, musk and yak tails from Tibet and grain, cotton, cloth and silver from India. Bhutan being strategically located functioned as a trade route to Tibet from India. Trade from Phari in Tibet, through Paro and down the valley, through Chhukha to Cooch Behar, the plains of India. Silver arrived in Bengal from Burma and South America in those days, the increased supply of silver and the economic power of the monasteries in Tibet encouraged this trade. Cooch Behar benefited from this trade by banning exports of foreign coins and bullion and all the silver sent to Tibet via Bhutan had to be struck into coins of Cooch Behar.
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The Portuguese travellers, Cacella & Cabral, travelled to Tibet up this trade route in 1626, providing the western world with its first glimpse into Bhutan and the first description of Zhabdrung Nawang Namgyal. Meanwhile, trade had reduced due to political instability in Tibet, while the Fifth Dalai Lama was gaining temporal supremacy, the volume of silver coins issued in Cooch Behar decreased.

Bhutanese coins were first mentioned in the biography of the first Zhabdrung; in 1619, the people of Chhukha gave the Zhabdrung a bag full of silver coins. These were melted and used to build a silver reliquary for the ashes of his father. In the 18th century there are several references to coins in Bhutanese texts when coins known as Ma Tam, the earliest coins, were given to both monks and laymen by the Desi. Gifts of Ma Tam were also given by the public to high officials. If Ngultrum means silver coin, Ma Tam meant copper coins for the word contained depicts the colour red. One Ma Tam would fetch two apples or a glass of milk. Be Tam, from Tibet, was the form in which taxes were paid in Merak Sakteng around 1907.

In 1774, the “British annexed Cooch Behar, and protected it from invasions from Bhutan.” They did not approve the Narayani Rupee which was of lower standard and competed with British Indian coins so they closed the mint in the 1780s. This caused problems for Bhutan as the Desi sent surplus silver to Cooch Behar for coin production. Coins were mainly used for ceremonial purposes and as a store of value, not for use as “money.”

Tuner in 1783 said, “That the absence of money in a society excludes, in a proportionate degree, depravity of morals and vices of various kinds, is in some measure exemplified in Boutan.”

The compensation collected for the annexation of the Duars, Rs 50,000, usually ended up being intricate doma- panney holders. Such was the importance of money in the Bhutanese community. There are stories of Bhutanese marching into the border adorned in their lovely attire, hanging bows, arrows and patang which seems to have scared the Indian counterpart and the Bhutanese would plant a staff in the ground demanding coins to the staff’s level. It worked well but when British India took over, the notorious Bhutanese tricks were over with.

Such incidences prompted the Bhutanese to come up with their own designs and die and coins and money and in subtle ways the Bhutanese were already becoming economically conscious.

Bhutanese coins slowly evolved, as they stopped replicating designs and came up with their own creative ideas, such as the inclusion of unique symbols like the Dungkar and the Dorje. Some depictions and symbols in the coins suggests that at a certain point in history there were two influential parties, perhaps the Paro and the Tongsa Penlops or maybe regents or the monastic body, since the coin has a dot on one sample and a cross on the other. Coins were a symbol for showcasing authority and power.

Monetization began in the 1950s. Government officers were paid in cash and the Indian currency was mainly used. There are coins produced in the Royal Mint, London in 1966 and the Calcutta Mint in 1974/75 which were never released in Bhutan. The 1979- Five Chhetrum from a UK mint had a rotated design due to a die error and was not used. Bhutan Sertum or gold coin was struck in 1970 at Switzerland and depicts a Bhutanese woman. The first Bhutanese banknote was released in 1974 coinciding with the Fourth Druk Gyalpo’s coronation. (Bhutan now has two new notes recently introduced in commemoration of His Majesty the Fifth King’s coronation, which come in denominations of Nu 50 and Nu 1,000) Nicholas’ message to the Bhutanese was simple. “Value your heritage.”

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Comments

5 Responses to “Origins of Bhutanese coinage”

  1. Simar Kohli on December 5th, 2008 9:46 pm

    A very well structured dip into the past – interesting pictures of the coins could help understand better for the powerful words would compliment it.
    An article as nice as this demands better and higher resolution photos.
    Regards,
    Simar Kohli

  2. garab on December 7th, 2008 12:04 am

    quite a history,Nicholas was right when he said”value your heritage”.you are a page turner,I have reasons to visit this blog very often.

  3. kinley on December 7th, 2008 12:20 pm

    I completely agree with Simarji. keep writing!

  4. kado on December 13th, 2008 2:31 pm

    everry time i see same provelum there are many dzongkha word wich cant be discrive well in english langauge, if writer dont write the mening of word, many west people will naver know what we are writting also, for eg word like chukha = name of place, but many people arround world, will naver have clue of the word, big issue, but small mistake,

  5. Manju on March 30th, 2009 3:15 pm

    The photographs added here are extras and the one that got printed on paper just matches the wordings rightly. As for resolution the pictures were taken from a powerpoint presentation hence it is pixelated. Thank you for the comments.

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