Coin making Takshal or mint

The Bangla word Takshal which is "mint" in English, is a place where money is coined, especially under state authority.

Since Muslim rule in Bengal was established in 1205 by Ikhtiyar Uddin Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji, the rulers started making coins from the capital and other important administrative and commercial cities. As the empire expanded, so did the number of mints.

The first Takshal of the then Bengal was situated in Lucknow, the capital of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Sonargaon as a city of Takshal also started its journey from the time of Sultan Shamsuddin Firoz Shah (1301-1322). There is also evidence of having Takshal in different cities of the region including Fatehabad (Faridpur), Chatgaon (Chattogram), and Muzaffarabad (Patia Upazila) at different times.

There were Takshals in different parts of India during the Mughal period. However, Takshal was at Patna under Subedari of Bengal-Bihar-Orissa because during the Mughal period, especially during the reign of Aurangzeb, the city of Patna was the centre of trade and commerce in eastern India.

Jannatul Naym Pieal. TBS Sketch.

After 1757, Mir Jafar handed over the coinage permit to Robert Clive in Calcutta. Later that year the first Takshal was built in Calcutta. It was located next to the old fort near the present GPO of Calcutta. Mint workers were brought here from Murshidabad and all these machinery and currency experts were brought from Europe. The first coin made in this mint is now preserved in the British Museum.

Meanwhile, during the reign of Mughal Subahdar Islam Khan of Bangla, Dhaka Fort located in the modern Dhaka Central Jail area opposite Chawkbazar, was used as a prison and Takshal. This Takshal was used by the English. But in 1796, when all the Takshals were closed from the Bengal Province, the Takshals of Murshidabad and Patna were closed forever. Dhaka Takshal was closed in 1797. Now there is no Takshal in this 400-year-old town.

At present, there is only one Takshal in Bangladesh named The Security Printing Corporation (Bangladesh) Limited which is one of the 70 private and public currency note printing presses in 200 independent countries around the world.

The Takshal officially started its journey in Gazipur in 1989. However, in 1981, Tk1 and Tk10 notes were printed here experimentally. At present all currency notes in Bangladesh are printed in this mint. This is also the origin of all commemorative notes. However, no coin is made in this mint.

The Takshal, situated on about 66 acres, is adorned with trees. You can hear the twittering of birds in the trees. Although the main purpose of the Takshal was to print currency, various important government documents are printed here, including internal resources department savings certificates, non-judicial stamps, revenue stamps, documents used in courts, commemorative stamps, envelopes, the national board of revenue tax labels, bank cheque books, prize bonds, export development bureau GSP forms, mark sheets and certificates of public examination, etc.

Besides, certificates of many colleges and universities are also printed here upon special request.