NGULTRUM / CHHETRUM: When & Why

Few of the remaining puzzles that I was faced with in my relentless research into everything related to Bhutan’s ancient hammered coins was the issue relating to when the terms NGULTRUM and CHHETRUM were coined and came into use. This was important since Bhutan formerly did not express our coins in any unit of currency. It was simply called “Maartang”, or red coin. Even when the Second King introduced modern milled silver coins for the first time in 1929, they were simply called “Thala” but inscribed with the words “Jatum Chaed” - or half Indian Rupee, on the reverse of the coin.

The right way and the wrong way of spelling

Until the terms Ngultrum and Chhetrum came into use, the Bhutanese used a variety of terms to describe money:

Ngingtang    Old Coin

Maartang    Red Coin

Zangtang    Bronze Coin

Ngueltang    Silver Coin

Sertang            Gold Coin

Thala            Half Rupee

Tikchang    Nickel Thala

Tiru                    Money

Shiki            1⁄4 Ngultrum

Shog Lor            Paper Money 

The term “Shiki” is the closest to the use of a monetary unit - it literally means "quarter of a Ngultrum", or 25 units of a currency.

There were two other terms that were in use to describe coins that were current in ancient Bhutan: "Baltang" and "Boetang". However, I am not referring to them since they were/are coins belonging to foreign countries.

Exactly when the terms Ngultrum/Chhetrum came into use is rather confusing. According to the accepted official version, they were coined and used upon the introduction of our paper currency in 1974. However, historical written records show that the terms were in existence more than a decade before 1974.

The abbreviated terms Nu. and Ch. appears in the earliest definitive stamps of Bhutan - a set of seven stamps - issued in 1962. This conclusively proves that the terms were coined in or before 1962, and not in 1974, as recorded.

Bhutan's earliest postage stamps issued in 1962. They bear the abbreviations Nu. and Ch. - twelve years before the issue of our earliest bank notes in 1974 for which history records that the terms Ngultrum and Chhetrum were coined.

What is intriguing is this: Why were the currency units Ngultrum/Chhetrum coined and used, when Bhutan did not have a designated currency in place? Why did it become necessary to introduce these units of currency? My persistent deep delve finally connects me to a collector of Bhutanese stamps and an accomplished historian from the Netherlands - Mr. Leo van der Velden - who offers the following interesting theory.

Certain articles in the successive treaties with British India government, followed by that with the government of independent India tended to give rise to some ambiguity as to the true standing of Bhutan - is it an independent state, is it not?. Thus, foremost in the minds of the Bhutanese monarchy was the need to assert the Kingdom of Bhutan’s status as an independent state, with the right to self-determination. One of the means to make that assertion was seen to be to obtain memberships to world bodies such as the Colombo Plan, the UPU and the United Nations.

Bhutan gained membership to the Colombo Plan in 1962. It now began to work on becoming a member of the UPU (Universal Postal Union). As a rule, to become a member of the UPU a country must be a member of the UN. However, an independent country could also become a member, as long as it has the support of two-thirds of existing UN members. Other requirements were supposedly that a country should have a postal service in place and should have postage stamps already printed and in use. Bhutan did not have those - thus the next step on the journey towards qualifying to become a Member of the UPU was to print our own stamps and set up a postal service. Bhutan achieved both of the requirements in 1962 - we issued our first postage stamp in 1962. In the same year we also set up our first post office in Phuentsholing.

Obviously internationally recognized postage stamps have to be denominated in units of the country’s currency. We did not have currency units those days. Thus, according to Mr. Leo van der Velden, Bhutan coined the terms Ngultrum and Chhetrum to meet the requirement of having to denominate the stamps.

A PROBLEM HALF A CENTURY OLD: Coining of the terms Ngultrum/Chhetrum may have gotten us our membership to the UPU but in our desperation to do so, we have been stuck with an anomaly that, to this day - after half a century - remains uncorrected/unrectified:

We are calling our paper money : Ngultrum = Silver Coin; and

We are calling our metal coin         : Chhetrum = Half Coin

Bhutan's paper currency superimposed with metal coin. Note the mistakes - both in English, and also in Dzongkha - both on the metal coin, as well as on the bank note.