Today I want to take a sojourn from the topic that is currently in vogue and talk of my favorite subject – Bhutan’s ancient coins.
My deep and unremitting research into our coinages has taken me on journeys that I never imagined I would undertake – read volumes and volumes of material until my eyes became bleary. But I have managed to untangle some of the web of confusion surrounding our ancient coins. And I have interacted with a number of coin collectors and historians around the world who helped me become more knowledgeable and who sharpened my senses - to look beyond the stated and the written.
It is my hope that among the last confusions or uncertainties on the subject is the matter concerning the coin variety that the Western writers, historians and collectors have categorized as “Retrograde Sa” coin. This is a coin variety where the alphabet "Sa" is depicted on the reverse of the coin – with a mirrored "Sa" sitting to the right of the Cooch Bihari word “Ndra”.
Two days back, as I began the final process of sorting out the coin varieties and sub-varieties. I began to segregate the “Retrograde Sa” coins. I paused and looked at the coins and pondered:
What the dang hell is Retrograde?
I looked up the dictionary and find that the term “Retrograde” describes a planetary movement – a state in which a planet is in motion in a particular direction. The dictionary explains the term as follows:
“Moving in the opposite direction to that of most other stars, planets etc.”
I realized that the term “Retrograde” thus couldn’t accurately describe the coin variety. I embarked on some experiments. I selected two Sa coins – one with “Sa” rendered normally and another with “Sa” in a “Retrograde” position. I then opened the images in PhotoShop and flipped them horizontally – with the following results:
Next, I printed the alphabet “Sa” on a sheet of paper and took it to be projected against a mirror in the bathroom, with the following result:
With all the above experiments, I am now clear in my mind what the coin should be called. It cannot be called a “Retrograde Sa” coin because "Retrograde" describes an object that is in a state of motion and not an object that is static. Thus I am going to coin a new phrase for the coin - “Mirrored Sa” Maartang.
Just to be sure that I am not making a mistake, I referred to five different scripts of the Himalayan region - to see if there is a "Retrograde Sa" in any of them. There are none.
The final question that now perplexed me is:
Did the die engraver make a mistake in engraving the “Mirrored Sa” die? Or was the erroneous depiction a deliberate act – to introduce a new variety.
This question will have to remain buried in history because we will never know.
actually I think the word "Retrograde" is officially part of the vocabulary numismatics (study of coins). on the Wikipedia page "History of coins", the first image itself is of a Greek coin with retrograde marking (mirrored Greek letters). this seems to be because of how minting was done back in the day, not a mistake, just limitations of technology.
ReplyDeleteDear Anon,
ReplyDeleteThank you for passing by and leaving a comment. I know that the term “Retrograde” has been employed for a long time to describe Bhutanese Maartangs with a mirrored “Sa” on the reverse of a coin. But it would not be correct to allow things to remain uncorrected – history is forever subject to rewriting when new discoveries are made.
According to the Dictionary, the term “Retrograde” is employed to describe a planetary movement in a particular direction. Thus it is my belief that a static alphabet “Sa” cannot be termed “Retrograde” since it is not in motion.
My book will carry a chapter on the subject of “Retrograde Sa”. In it I will certainly ensure that what I am now going to call “Mirrored Sa” was originally categorized as “Retrograde Sa” – to give continuity to the inference of the word among numismatic circles.
There are many other problems with the written history of Bhutanese coins. For instance, I am also not going to use the term “Deb Rupee”. Firstly, it is not correct that all the silver coins were hammered by the Debs or, as the British and foreign writers have called them, Deb Rajas. The term that was employed during those days to describe the country’s secular rulers, beginning from 1651, was: Druk Desi. The early silver coins were even more abundantly struck by the Poenlops, Dzongpoens and even perhaps by the temporal rulers – the Je Khenpos.
Secondly, “Rupee” is a monetary unit of India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, and the Seychelles – not Bhutan’s. Thus it should not be applied to describe a Bhutanese coin. In reference to Bhutanese coins, the terms employed should be Ngueltang, Maartang, Zangtang, Sertang Thala and Tikchang.
Unfortunately even the term “Ngultrum” to describe our paper currency is wrong. It actually translates to: “Silver Coin”. There is a term few know of its existence – “Shog Lor” – meaning paper money. But I am still trying to find out what Lor stands for. "Shog" is paper.