Currency - Sri Lanka - 20 Rupees - Year 2010

Item Code: 170/LK-1

Year	2010   (Date of Issue: 1 January 2010)
Obverse	Recent and an early view of the Port of Colombo. Nymphalid butterfly, the Baronet (Symphaedra nais). Sri Lanka Serendib Scops Owl (Otus thilohoffmanni). The Sri Lanka Lion or Ceylon Lion (Panthera leo sinhaleyus) bearing a sword.
Reverse	Guard stone with a Punkalasa (Pot of plenty), a symbol of prosperity. Ves Netumadancer and a Geta Bera drummer. Liya Vela, a stylised floral motif, appears along the right side of the note.
Size	127 x 67 mm
Watermark	Serendib Scops Owl, "20" and cornerstones.
Singnature	Mahinda Rajapaksa (His Excellency the President and Minister of Finance); Mr. Ajith Nivard Cabraal (Governor of the Central Bank).

Obverse description

Port of Colombo 

The Port of Colombo (known as Port of Kolomtota during the early 14th Century Kotte Kingdom) is the largest and busiest port in Sri Lanka. Located in Colombo, on the southwestern shores on the Kelani River, it serves as an important terminal in Asia due to its strategic location in the Indian Ocean. During the 1980s, the port underwent rapid modernization with the installation of Cranes, Gantries and other modern-day terminal requirements. Currently with a capacity of 5.7 million TEUs and a dredged depth of over 15 m (49 ft), the Colombo Harbour is one of the busiest ports in the world, and ranks among the top 35 ports. It is also one of the biggest artificial harbours in the world handling most of the country's foreign trade. It has an annual cargo tonnage of 30.9 million tons. The port is also the naval base for Sri Lanka Navy Western Fleet under the Commander Western Naval Area (COMWEST). The Port of Colombo is home to the second tallest building in South Asia and is the center for many commercial interests.

Nymphalid butterfly

The Nymphalidae is the largest family of butterflies, with about 6,000 species. They live on all continents except Antarctica. They are commonly known as nymphalids, brushfoots, or brush-footed butterflies. Brushfoots get their name from their front pair of legs. This pair of legs is reduced. They do not have claws at the end. Only the middle and last pair of legs are used for walking. This is why they are called brush-footed butterflies or four-footed butterflies.

Many species are brightly colored and include popular species such as the emperors, admirals, tortoiseshells, and fritillaries. Most hold their colourful wings flat when they are at rest. However, the underwings are often dull; in some species they look just like dead leaves, or are much paler. So when they raise their wings in the normal butterfly position, this cryptic effect helps the butterfly disappear into its surroundings. 

Reverse description

Ves dance

"Ves" dance, the most popular, originated from an ancient purification ritual, the Kohomba Yakuma or Kohomba Kankariya. The dance was propitiatory, never secular, and performed only by males. The elaborate ves costume, particularly the headgear, is considered sacred and is believed to belong to the deity Kohomba.

Only toward the end of the 19th century were ves dancers first invited to perform outside the precincts of the Kankariya Temple at the annual Kandy Perahera festival. Today the elaborately costumed ves dancer epitomizes Kandyan dance.

Geta Bera

This is the main drum used to accompany dances in the Kandyan or the Hill Country tradition. This drum is turned out of wood from Ehela, Kohomba or Kos tree. The drum tapers towards the ends and on the right side, the opening is covered with the skin of a monkey while the opening on the other side is covered with a cattle skin. The strings that are used tighten the sides are from a deer skin. A student who begins his training in the use of the Geta Bera has to practice twelve elementary exercises.

Guardstones (Ancient Muragala)

The guardstone or “muragala” were one of an association of three aspects of sculpture that adorned the entrance to buildings in ancient times, the other two being the moonstone (Sandakada Pahana) and balustrade (Korawak Gala). The guardstones, which provided a support to the heavy stone balustrade, were plain in the beginning. Later they came to be sculptured with symbols significant of prosperity and protection.

Punkalasa: Guard stones had gone through three major stages in their development. Using the punkalas design was the first stage in this development.

In ancient days, there was a custom to keep pots of water with flowers (usually of the coconut palm variety) and budded twigs in front of buildings on important occasions. Even nowadays, such pots known as punkalas, are kept in front of wedding poruwas and also used at other important occasions.Ancient architecture may have been designed to bring prosperity to buildings all throughout the year. Examples of carved punkalasa guard stones can be seen in the archaeological museum in Anuradhapura. The “pots of plenty” in these specimens are placed on a lotus-moulded pedestal.

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