Originally a silver coin of Portuguese India, struck principally at Goa, with a value of sixty Reis, and in some localities of fifteen Bazaruccos. "

It appears to have been issued early in the seventeenth century, and specimens occur dated as early as 1642 and counterstamped v.o.c. by the Dutch, for use in Ceylon. The Tanga Cruzada has the value on one side, and a cross with the four figures of the date in the angles on the reverse.

In 1787 the Tanga was made a copper coin. The original divisions were halves and quarters, and to' these were added later pieces of one sixth, one eighth, one twelfth, one eighteenth, and one twentieth.

The name is probably derived from Tan- kah, a coinage introduced by the Patan Sultans of Dehli during the fourteenth century. See Thomas, Chronicles of the Pathan Kings of Dehli, 1871, (pp. 116-117), and R.C. Temple, The Indian Antiquary (xxvi. 235-245). "