RBI to issue Rs 350 coin to mark 350th birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will be issuing a coin of denomination Rs 350 to mark the 350th Birth Anniversary of tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh.

The news of the coin comes amidst the government’s move to phase out coins of smaller denominations.

According to reports, the coin will be 44 millimetres in circumference. It will have the Ashoka pillar on the obverse and a picture of Takht Shri Harimandir Ji Patna Sahib engraved on the reverse.

Made up of Quaternary Alloy – Silver (50 per cent), Copper (40 per cent), Nickel (05 per cent), and Zinc (05 per cent) – the coin will weigh between 34.65 grams and 35.35 grams.

The denominational value of Rs 350 will be written below the Lion Capital.

Quoting an RBI notification, The Economic Times reports that the inscription ‘350TH PRAKASH UTSAV OF SRI GURU GOBIND SINGH JI’ shall be written in Devanagari script on the upper periphery and in English language on the lower periphery of the coin.

It says that the year ‘1666’, the birth year of Guru Gobind Singh, and ‘2016’, the 350th anniversary year shall be flanked on the left and right periphery of the coin in international numerals.

It is not clear whether the coin will be a limited edition one.

Guru Gobind Singh was born on 22 December 1666 at Patna Sahib in Bihar. He was the last living guru of the Sikh faith and introduced the Five Ks which the Khalsa Sikhs wear at all times. He fought many wars against the Mughals for the defence of Sikhism. Before his death, he enshrined the Guru Granth Sahib as the eternal Guru of Sikhism.