On the 147th Birth Anniversary of “Mahatma Gandhi”, www.mintageworld.com launched a docudrama on the history of the various stamps, coins and currency notes being launched to celebrate his life, philosophy and triumph of Indian Freedom Struggle.

October 2016, Mumbai: On 2nd October 1869, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, more commonly known as ‘Mahatma’ was born in Porbandar, Gujarat, in North West India, into a Hindu Modh family. Employing nonviolent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The Title Mahatma applied to him first in 1914 in South Africa, is used worldwide.

A personality of such a stature is respected all over the world even today for leading the Indian independence movement in a rather unconventional way. More than 350 postal stamps have been issued by different countries to pay tribute to this visionary leader.

Some of the Unique Stamps, coins and currency notes launched to celebrate his life, philosophy and triumph of Indian Freedom Struggle:

Stamps:

In 1969, India Post honored Mohandas Gandhi on his birth centenary by issuing four stamps:

A 20 paisa stamp portrays Gandhi with his wife Kasturba.

A 75 paisa stamp depicts his head profile.

1 rupee stamp shows Gandhi with his walking stick.

5 rupees stamp illustrates him with the charkha.

 On 2nd October 1980, 50th Anniversary of Dandi march was celebrated by issuing a beautiful 35 paise, square shaped, commemorative se-tenant stamp.

In 1980, The Deep-mauve & Gold coloured stamp, designed by A. Ramachandran was issued by Indian security press, Nashik. 25 se-tenant stamps were printed on each sheet and a total of    20, 00,000 stamps were issued.

In 1980, A First Day Cover designed by CharanjitLal shows the replication of Gandhiji message to the world along with the with artist sketch of Gandhiji marching feet against the background of a crowd scene symbolizing nation & solidarity with the Mahatma March.

In 1994, On the occasion of Gandhi’s 125th birth anniversary, a 6 and 11 rupees stamp portraying various aspects of Gandhi’s life was issued by India Post.

In 1995, Two joint-issue se-tenant stamps by India and South Africa were issued on the completion of the 125th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

In 1995, the cancellation mark was issued on first day cover which portrays a line drawing of the Pietermaritzburg railway station at which Mahatma Gandhi’s historic journey to Satyagraha began.

On 6th April 2005, A se-tenant block of 4 stamps were issued to celebrate the 75th anniversary of this significant event. The four stamps included a black and white picture of the Marchers led by Gandhi; a snapshot of the Headlines in ‘Bombay Chronicle’ of 1903 and 1920; a map of the course traversed during the March and the Writings of Gandhi dated 5-4- 1903.

In 2011, India Post released the world’s first khadi stamp album honoring Mahatma Gandhi. The miniature stamp sheet contains a Rs. 100 stamp printed diagonally on a Khadi cloth, with a stylized image of Gandhi spinning cloth outside the Sabarmati Ashram.

In 2015, India Post issued a beautiful miniature sheet with a Rs. 25 and Rs. 5 stamp to commemorate 100 years of Gandhi’s return.

In 2015, A First Day Cover has a cancellation mark portraying a young Gandhi with an image of a ship below it was issued.

On 15th October 2015, a miniature sheet of two Rs. 5 stamps featuring Gandhi and Charkha were released. The stamps show two popular types of Charkha, the Peti and the Bardoli with Gandhi’s quote ‘The call of spinning wheel is the noblest of all because it is the love and love is swaraj’.

Coins:

In 1969, Coins of 1 and 10 rupees, and 20 and 50 paisa released by Reserve Bank of India, in the same year honor Gandhi too. The obverse has the denomination and Ashokan Pillar while the reverse shows an image of Gandhi, the year 1869 to 1948, and the words ‘Mahatma Gandhi’ in Hindi and English.

In 1997, On the occasion of 50th Anniversary of Independence in 1997, a 50 paise commemorative coin was issued for general circulation depicting the Dandi March sculpture.

In 2005, A special commemorative 5 rupee coin was issued to mark the 75 th Anniversary of Dandi march. The coin’s reverse depicts Gandhi leading the marchers. Simultaneous a 100 rupee coin was issued that had the same inscriptions but of a large size and a metal composition of silver, copper, nickel and zinc as part of proof and uncirculated sets.

 In 2008, The South African Mint brought out Rand 1 silver and Rand 5 and Rand 25 gold coins. These Protea series coins named after South Africa’s national flower illustrate Gandhi with his signature on the reverse and the flower on the obverse.

In 2015, A Rs. 10 bi-metallic coin was also issued for the same cause by the Reserve Bank of India to commemorate 100 years of Gandhi’s return to India.

Currency Notes:

In 1969, Government of India released 1, 2, 5, 10 and 100 rupees notes on Gandhi’s birth centenary. The Rupee 1 note contains an image of Gandhi’s 1 rupee commemorative coin while the other notes have an image of Gandhi reading a book in the centre on its reverse. A total of 13 languages can be found on these notes signifying the diversity of India’s dialect.

In 1987, The Gandhi series 500 rupee banknotes were first issued featuring the same Dandi March statue on its reverse too. The color of the note was revised once in 1992 and the second time in 2002. The design is still in circulation with many unique security features that were added in the year 2005 and 2012.

From the 1990s until present, every Indian paper currency of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 rupees have Mahatma Gandhi’s portrait.

Gandhi suffered six known assassination attempts during the course of his life. During the first years of the Second World War, Gandhi’s mission to achieve independence from Britain reached its zenith with the Quit India Movement. On 30th January 1948, whilst Gandhi was on his way to a prayer meeting at Birla House in Delhi, Nathuram Godse managed to get close enough to him in the crowd to be able to shoot him three times in the chest, at point-blank range. 

Known as ‘the father of the nation’ this simple, modest man changed the world with his ideologies and philosophies. As he rightly said, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

To watch this docudrama, please click on the following link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-N8sqTG5Fg

 www.mintageworld.com : is the World’s 1st online museum for Vintage Coins, Stamps & Currency Notes, In the near future they will launch many docudramas based on global historical dates, events and personalities