The basis of the coinage of Tibet. It is a silver piece containing a considerable amount of alloy, the value of which is nominally six Annas, though, as a rule, three of them are exchanged for an Indian Rupee, i.e., sixteen Annas.

The subdivisions of the Tang-Ka are made by cutting up the coin itself. These divisions are : "Sho-Kang, 2 / 3 of a Tang-Ka equal to 4 Annas. Chht-Ke, 1/2 of a Tang-Ka equal to 3 Annas Kar-ma-nga, 1/3 of a Tang-Ka equal to 2 Annas Kha-Kang, 1/6 of a Tang-Ka equal to 1 Anna. Khap-chhe, 1/12 of a Tang-Ka equal to 1/2 Anna "

The principal varieties of the Tang-Ka are the following :

Ga-den Pho-dang Tang-Ka, which was struck at the Ga-den palace at Lhasa, about 1750.

Kong-par Tang-Ka, minted at Giamda on the borders of the Province of Kong- bo, and dated in Tibetan figures.

Pa-nying Tang-Ka, meaning "old Nepalese" coinage, commonly called Ang-tuk (q.v.), and termed Mohar by the people of Nepal.

Nag-tang, or black Tang-Ka, a name given to the Nepalese coinage of Ranjil Malla Deva, bearing the Newar date 842, or 1722.

Cho-tang, or "cutting Tang-Ka." A Nepalese coin since the Gorkha conquest, not struck for currency in Tibet, but generally current. Conf. Walsh, Coinage of Tibet, in Memoirs Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1907 (ii.), and Wood, in American Journal of Numismatics, 1912. For extensive historical references concerning the name, see R. C. Temple in The Indian Antiquary (xxvi. 235-244).