Indian Antiquary Vol 60

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 259

DECEMBER, 1931)
SORAPS OF TIBETO-BURMAN FOLKLORE
229
The Tibetan monetary scale, however, is not so complicated as many an European and Asistio scale in civilised countries has been in quite recent times. See Temple, Obsolete Tin Currency and Money in the Federated Malay States, 29 ff. .
The Tibetan trangka appears to be connected with a universal Asiatic unit of coinage, the taká : Indian tanka, Siamese, tickal: Persian, dáng : Russian, dengi ; Burmese, dinga. See Indian Antiquary, XXVI, 235 ff.
As to debasing silver, & common practice everywhere, the alloy in Burmese silver under native rule varied in 1885 from 21 % to 90 % Indian Antiquary, XLVIII, 11.
There was under native rule some confusion in the name of the half-rupee but none in practice. Thus 10 mú made 1 kyat, which represented the Indian Government rupee. So 5 mi=balf a rupee. But in India 16 annas made 1 rupee ; 80 8 annas=half a rupee. This the Burmese understood, but in conversation they always called the 8 anna-piece 5 mupiece. There was no practical confusion as the terms 8 annas and 5 mů were mere conventions and the coins they represented were always understood.
3. Prices. "If the accommodation (p. 155) in a Tibetan rest house is poor, and service practically non-existent, yet we certainly could not complain as to the amount we had to pay as nela, or rent, which, apart from supplies purchased, was only & chegya or half a trangka, approxi. mately 1 d., and this for a party of five."
4. Distance. “The Tibetans are, indeed, extraordinarily inexact (p. 190) in their methods of measuring. For calculating distance I heard mention of only three terms. One of these was kostsa, literally, the distance the voice carries, but which in practice seemed to vary from one to five hundred yards. The second was isapo or tsasa, or a half march, ranging from five to ten miles, and finally a shasa, a full march, which meant anything from ten to twenty miles."
The Tibetans, however, do not seem to be more inexact than other nationalities in measuring distances. Anything approaching exactitude in measuring a mile in England is comparatively quite recent, not 200 years old. So the measurement of a kos (now two English miles) in India is still often very vague"Clodhoppers ” all over the world are very vague in measuring distances.
In Burma says Shway Yoe, The Burman, 552,"& stone's throw is from 50 to 60 yards and a call' about a couple of hundred yards : 'a musket's sound' is half an English mile :
morning meal's distance' is as far as a 'man can walk between sunrise and breakfast time,' say six English miles : a mui, the eighth of a taing, is a quarter of a mile : a mah is half a mile : & nga-mú, literally 5 mt, is half a taing or English mile."
5. Time. “As regards time (p. 191) they are equally vague, though they have a larger number of terms. Among the phrases I heard most frequently employed in this connection were :
nyima = daytime.
, Isen or gongmo = night-time. chake-tangpo = first cock-crow. chake-nyipa = second cock-crow. torang
= just before dawn : 'false dawn.' tse shar = sunrise, lit., ' peak-shining.' shokke = early morning. tsating
= late morning. nyin-gung = midday. gongta
= afternoon. 8a-rip
= dusk. nam-che = midnight.