Sorting Out The Confusion: Is It Koch Bihari Or Is It Bhutanese?

Dear Mr. Goron,

Thank you for your prompt response to my mail. I was hoping that you might be able to help me - given that I am told you catalogued the coin collections of the late Mr. Nicholas Rhodes – considered among the top authorities on ancient Bhutanese coins. I am saddened to learn that your cataloguing work did not include his Bhutanese coins.

I needed a second opinion on the silver “Ma Tang” of late Mr. N. Rhodes, currently lodged at the SPINK, UK. Thus far, it was/is accepted that the silver “Ma Tang” is Bhutanese and, perhaps, even our earliest coinage. Then, a few days back, I unearthed a doctoral thesis paper by an Indian PhD student, submitted during 2015, part of which reads as follows:

The use of the term Ma-tang is interesting and may well be explained by looking at the coins themselves and in particular the full coin or half coin of Prana Narayan who ruled between 1633 and 1665. These as do the earlier rupees of Lakshmi Narayan have prominent letter “Ma” coin at the top right of the obverse legend. This letter although written in Bengali would have been easily recognized by the Bhutanese so that probably caused the coins to be referred to as “Ma-tang” or “Ma tam” as it is unlikely that they could have read any part of the legend.”

In the above, it is categorically implied that the coin is NOT Bhutanese. I disagree with him - but it is my believe that any, and all contrarian views, deserve a respectful consideration. Thus I wrote to Mr. S K Bose. Sadly I am not satisfied with his reply either - it appears that he did not find it necessary to study the matter with greater care. He writes:

“Thank you for your mail. The question of any discussion with Late N. Rhodes never arises as the coin photograph given by you relates to Harendranarayana (1783-1839 AD), whereas Prananarayana ruled Koch kingdom during 1633-1665 AD. Most of the silver tanka of Prananarayana bear a Bengali letter MA on the reverse of the coin wherein the name of the ruler is there.”

In the above Mr. S K Bose is categorical that the coin in question is that of Maharaja Prananarayana (1633-1665) of Koch Kingdom, and that the “Ma” on its reverse is Bengali.

Having looked at the coins of Maharaja Prananarayana of Cooch Bihar, I agree with Mr. Bose that some of Prananarayana’s coins are indeed inscribed with the Bengali alphabet “Ma” but other than the alphabet itself, everything else is totally different. Shown below is one of the coins of Prananarayana:

One of the Silver Tankas of Maharaja Prananarayan of Koch Kingdom with the Bengali alphabet "Ma" on top right of Reverse

I disagree with both the thesis writer and Mr. S. K. Bose. To me the alphabet “Ma” on the silver "Ma Tang" in the collection of late Mr. Rhodes is exactly how we Bhutanese write the alphabet - the Bengalese write it entirely differently. Further, they ignore the other even more prominent marking on the coin’s obverse - inside the Bengali alphabet “Cha” - the numeral “1” or “Chiig” in Bhutanese. There is simply not a shred of doubt that the numeral is Bhutanese, and not Bengali. Please see the following:

Silver "Ma Tang" - with unmistakably Bhutanese alphabet "Ma" on the Reverse and numeral "Chiig" on the Obverse

So, for me, I am totally in agreement with Mr. Rhodes - the silver “Ma Tang”, which in later years came to be called “Nyingtang Ghatikhap” by the Bhutanese, is beyond doubt - Bhutanese.

Bye and take care and, once again THANK YOU for your time and effort.