In the year 1338, the Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta stood in the bustling markets of Bengal and observed a startling economic reality: the Islamic gold dinar, the standard currency of the Muslim world, had been completely displaced by a local silver coin known as the taka. This was not merely a minor regional preference but a fundamental shift in how trade functioned across the Indian subcontinent. The taka had become the heartbeat of commerce, so deeply embedded in daily life that it served as the primary symbol of sovereignty for the Sultan of Bengal. By the 15th century, the Sultanate of Bengal had established at least 27 mints across its provincial capitals, ensuring that the silver tanka flowed freely from the Himalayan foothills to the Bay of Bengal. The currency was so iconic that a surviving 15th-century silver tanka from the reign of Jalaluddin features a striking image of a lion, a visual testament to the power and independence of the Bengal Sultanate.
The Delhi Mint and The Tughluq Gamble
The story of the taka began in earnest in the 13th century when Sultan Shams al-Din Iltutmish of the Delhi Sultanate standardized the currency to reflect the dual heritage of Muslim settlers and native Indian populations. The basic unit was a silver tanka weighing exactly one tola, or 11.2 grams, composed of 96 rattis of silver. These coins bore the name of the Caliph al-Muntasir and the Sultan's title, al-sultān al-a'zam, while the reverse side displayed the Islamic declaration of faith or the phrase in the time of the Imam. However, the currency's history took a volatile turn under the rule of Muhammad bin Tughluq in the 14th century. Facing a severe shortage of precious metals, Tughluq attempted a radical monetary experiment modeled after the paper money systems of the Mongols in China and Persia. He minted the tanka in copper and brass, claiming its value was backed by gold and silver reserves in the imperial treasury. The scheme collapsed into chaos, leading to the downfall of the Tughluq dynasty and the fragmentation of the empire into regional states like the Bahmani and Gujarat Sultanates, each of which continued to mint their own versions of the currency in the name of their rulers.The Silk Road Silver Standard
Beyond the borders of India, the taka became the invisible currency of the Himalayan Silk Road, connecting Tibet and Nepal through centuries of trade. In the 16th century, Lhasa Newar merchants from Nepal introduced the tanka standard to the prosperous Kathmandu Valley, where it was modeled on the currencies of Delhi, Bengal, and the Mughal Empire. King Indra Simha of Nepal struck the first Nepalese tanka in 10 grams of debased silver, creating minor denominations as small as one three-hundred-twentieth of a coin. The currency's influence extended even further into Tibet, where the Tibetan tangka served as an official currency for three centuries. The Tibetan government began minting its own tangka in 1763, and by 1792, the Qing dynasty, which held suzerainty over Tibet, established mints in the region. These Sino-Tibetan tangka coins carried Chinese language inscriptions, bridging the gap between the Himalayan kingdoms and the Chinese empire. Banknotes were subsequently issued between 1912 and 1941 in denominations of 5, 10, 15, 25, and 50 tangka, proving that the currency had evolved from a simple silver coin into a complex financial instrument.