Central Bank of Ceylon
King ParakramaBahu - 1974

Currency Notes issued between 1974 August and 1977 by the Central Bank of Ceylon with the drawing of statue of Sage Pulasthi in Polonnaruwa, Sri lanka. Similar in type to notes issued in 1974 July except for the addition of printing visible only under Ultra Violet light.

images/ste/kpb/1977_08_26_kpbuv_2r_uvf.jpg images/ste/kpb/1977_08_26_kpbuv_2r_uvb.jpg
Click on image to see Note Security under UltraViolet illumination
Denomination: 2 Rupees Base Color: Brown & Lilac
Under-print: Blue & Green English : Two Rupees
Sinhala :  රුපියල් දෙකයි Thamil : இரண்டு ரூபாய்
Size : 114 x 59 mm SCWPM-lk:  72c
Back Pictorial :  Circular Buddhist shrine, Medirigiriya Vatadage in medieval City of Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka.
Deno. Date on Note Minister of Finance Governor CBC 1st Serial #000 Pcs
Rs.2 1974-08-27 N.M.Perera Herbert Tennekoon E/290 000001 60,000
Rs.2 1977-08-26 Ronnie de Mel Herbert Tennekoon E/350 000001 40,000
images/ste/kpb/1974_08_27_kpbuv_5r_uvf.jpg images/ste/kpb/1974_08_27_kpbuv_5r_uvb.jpg
Click on image to see Note Security under UltraViolet illumination
Denomination: 5 Rupees Base Color: Orange
Under-print: Aqua, Green & Brown English : Five Rupees
Sinhala :  රුපියල් පහයි Thamil : ஐந்து ரூபாய்
Size : 125 x 64 mm SCWPM-lk:  73d
Back Pictorial :  Stone Throne of King Nisanka Malla, in medieval City of Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka.
Deno. Date on Note Minister of Finance Governor CBC 1st Serial #000 Pcs
Rs.5 1974-08-27 N.M.Perera Herbert Tennekoon G/185 700001 40,000
images/ste/kpb/1975_10_06_kpbuv_10r_uvf.jpg images/ste/kpb/1975_10_06_kpbuv_10r_uvb.jpg
Click on image to see Note Security under UltraViolet illumination
Denomination: 10 Rupees Base Color: Green
Under-print: Violet, Brown & Blue English : Ten Rupees
Sinhala :  රුපියල් දහයයි Thamil : பத்து ரூபாய்
Size :  140x 70 mm SCWPM-lk : 74d
Back Pictorial :  Guard standing with pot of plenty (punkalasa) in his left hand and in the other a sprouting branch complete with leaves, buds and flowers. A pair of midgets (Bahirawa) at on either side of his feet.
Deno. Date on Note Minister of Finance Governor CBC 1st Serial #000 Pcs
Rs.10 1975-10-06 Felix R. Dias Bandaranaike Herbert Tennekoon M/239 000001 50,000
Rs.10 1977-08-26 Ronnie de Mel Herbert Tennekoon M/289 000001 25,000

Front: Line drawing of Sage Pulasthi statue (called King ParakramaBahu the Great ) facing forward, within panel on right. Similar panel for water-mark on the left. ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව in Sinhala, with இலங்கை மத்திய வங்கி in Thamil and CENTRAL BANK OF CEYLON below in English
at upper centre above

ශ්‍රී ලංකාණ්ඩුව වෙනුවෙන් නිකුත් කරන ලද මේ
මුදල් නෝට්ටුව ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඇතුළත ඕනෑම මුදල් ගණනක්
ගෙවිම සඳහා නිතියෙන් වලංගුය
in three lines. The Value in Sinhala රුපියල් in one or two lines at center. The Numeric date as Year-Month-Day with leading zero below. Facsimile Sinhala signatures above මුදල් ඈමති, on left and මහ බැංකුවේ අධිපති below to right. One Serial No at center for Rs 2 and twice on lower left and upper right for rest. Value in English RUPEES on left, at top or bottom and value in Thamil ரூபாய் on right always at bottom. All within a rectangular decorated border with Numeric Value in upper two corners and both, right or none of lower corners.
Back: Rectangular decorated border with Numeric Value in upper two corners and both, right or none of lower corners. Centered in border ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව in Sinhala,
at upper centre above on top or bottom, in Sinhala Text இலங்கை மத்திய வங்கி in Thamil and CENTRAL BANK OF CEYLON in English below. Value in Sinhala රුපියල් at Upper, lower, or right. Within border, Top or Bottom, value in English RUPEES on left, and value in Thamil ரூபாய் on right.
Ceylon Pictorial on right or centered on micro under-print pattern with colored shading.
At bottom centered just below horizontal decorate in small script
BRADBURY WILKINSON & CO LD NEW MALDEN. SURREY, ENGLAND.
Watermark: Lion standing on hind legs facing left with bent whip in right paw, Lion Lighter with outline including whip darker than paper.
Security: Metal strip same width of 1 mm for all denominations.
Micro-printing repeated in a range of varying small sizes in Sinhala text, ශ්‍රීලංකා මහ බැංකුව covering all of blank space on the back.
UV Printing: In Front UV printing on Signature, Date Serial Numbers and outline of part of central pattern
In Back Greenish Yellow band over pictorial.

Although the general layout of all the notes are similar, the shape and location of each of the elements are slightly different for each of the denominations.
Denomination Rs 2 Rs 5 Rs 10
Portrait Panel SquarishScallop Scallop
Legality lines 3 3 3
Sin. Value lines 1 1 2
Front Lower Numbers None Both Both
Back Lower Numbers Right Both Both
Front Tam. CBC Upper Left Left Left
Front Eng. CBC Upper Right Left Left
Back Sin. CBC Center Top Top arc Bottom
Back Tam. CBC UppCen LowLef LowLef
Back Eng. CBC UppCen LowRig LowRig
Front English Bottom Right Center Center
Front Thamil BotLef LowCen LowCen
Back Sinhala Center Bottom Right Right
Back English UppRig UppRig TopRig
Back Thamil Upplef UppLef TopLef
Back Pictorial Left Center Center

Minister of FinanceGovernor
Central Bank of Ceylon
1974-08-27
N.M.PereraHerbert Tennekoon
1975-10-06
Felix R. Dias BandaranaikeHerbert Tennekoon
1977-08-26
Ronnie de MelHerbert Tennekoon

The three low denominations, of this subtype post Republic with leading Zero in date and with UV printing was issued on 1 to 3 dates and signature pairs. There were three Finance Ministers and one Governors of Central Bank within 3 years. The three signature pairs three dates are represented above.

Sallay Lists G/215 - G/225 or 10 Million Rs 5 notes with date 1977-08-26. However it has been definitely established with notes that these Serial numbers were all dated 1974-08-27 It is an error in Sallay's book, is corrected in table above.

The notes were scanned at 300 dpi and displayed at 50 dpi.