Banknotes from India 100 Indian rupees note 1953 Reserve Bank of India
Obverse: Arched RESERVE BANK OF INDIA with GUARANTEED BY THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT and Promise Text below it. Signed by Governor, For THE RESERVE BANK OF INDIA. Ashoka Pillar in right window, ONE HUNDRED RUPEES and SAU RUPAYA in Hindi in Central Denomination Panel. Serial numbers on top right and lower left. 100 in top left and lower right. Relief underprint of 100 below signature. Tiny ‘100’ below watermark window and Ashoka Pillar. Multicolour tint in borders.
Reverse: RESERVE BANK OF INDIA in centre, language panel on left. New vignette of two tusker elephants with trees in background and waterbody with lotus in foreground. RBI seal in lower centre. 100 in top corners. ONE HUNDRED RUPEES below language panel and SAU RUPAYA in Hindi below watermark window.
Watermark: Ashoka Pillar on left. RESERVE BANK OF INDIA in four lines in centre. 14 links in a horizontal line on top and 4 links below.
Dimensions: 17.1 X 10.7 cm.
India Banknotes - Reserve Bank of India
ND (1949-1970) "Lion Capital of Ashoka" First Issue
2 Rupees engal Tiger on left 2 Rupees Roaring Bengal Tiger facing right 5 Rupees 10 Rupees 100 Rupees Elephants 100 Rupees Hirakud Dam 1000 Rupees 5000 Rupees 10000 Rupees
Lion Capital of Ashoka
The Lion Capital of Ashoka is a sculpture of four Indian lions standing back to back, on an elaborate base that includes other animals. A graphic representation of it was adopted as the official Emblem of India in 1950. It was originally placed atop the Aśoka pillar at the important Buddhist site of Sarnath by the Emperor Ashoka, in about 250 BCE. The pillar, sometimes called the Aśoka Column, is still in its original location, but the Lion Capital is now in the Sarnath Museum, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Standing 2.15 metres (7 feet) high including the base, it is more elaborate than the other very similar surviving capitals of the pillars of Ashoka bearing the Edicts of Ashoka that were placed throughout India (including modern Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan) several of which feature single animals at the top; one other damaged group of four lions survives, at Sanchi.
The capital is carved out of a single block of polished sandstone, and was always a separate piece from the column itself. It features four Asiatic Lions standing back to back. They are mounted on an abacus with a frieze carrying sculptures in high relief of an elephant, a galloping horse, a bull, and a lion, separated by intervening spoked chariot-wheels. The whole sits upon a bell-shaped lotus. The capital was originally probably crowned by a 'Wheel of Dharma' (Dharmachakra popularly known in India as the "Ashoka Chakra"), with 24 spokes, of which a few fragments were found on the site. A 13th-century replica of the Sarnath pillar and capital in Wat Umong near Chiang Mai, Thailand built by King Mangrai, preserves its crowning Ashoka Chakra or Dharmachakra. The wheel on the capital, below the lions, is the model for the one in the flag of India.