1000 Rupees 2009. The Ushering of Peace and prosperity to Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka
| in Krause book | Number: 122b |
| Years of issue: | 17.11.2009 |
| Edition: | 25 000 000 (10 000 in folders) |
| Signatures: | Finance Minister: Mahinda Rajapaksa, CBSL Governor: Ajith Nivard Cabraal |
| Serie: | Commemorative issue |
| Specimen of: | 20.05.2009 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 157 x 78.5 |
| Printer: | De la Rue Lanka Currency and Securities Print (Pvt) Ltd, Malawana |
* All pictures marked 
are increased partially by magnifying glass, the remaining open in full size by clicking on the image.
** The word "Specimen" is present only on some of electronic pictures, in accordance with banknote images publication rules of appropriate banks.
Description
Watermark:
Cornerstones. The Sri Lanka Lion (Panthera leo sinhaleyus), with sword (from coat of arms).
In top right corner - The Sri Lanka Lion (Panthera leo sinhaleyus), with sword (from coat of arms). About the lion, please, read, description of watermark here!
Avers:
Commemorative issue to Mark The Ushering of Peace and Prosperity to Sri Lanka.
On November 17, 2009, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka issued this banknote, 1,000 rupees, to commemorate the victory over the rebel movement LTTE (Tamil Eelam Liberation Tigers). It is dated 2009-05-20, that is, two days after the end of the war.
On right side is Percy Mahendra Rajapaksa, with arms raised, on the background of the flag of the country.
It is the first time since 1954, that an image of a living person has been used on Lankan currency notes. Previously only portraits of British King George VI (1941-1951) and Queen Elizabeth II (1952-1954). Late Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike appeared on some currency issues from 1961 to 1975. The new currency note resembles the 1970 issue in which a portrait of the Late S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike with his hand raised was issued. That issue was withdrawn from circulation when it was deemed inappropriate by authorities to have a symbol "the hand" of the ruling SLFP political party prominently on currency issue.
Percy Mahendra Rajapaksa (Sinhala: මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ, Tamil: மஹிந்த ராஜபக்ஷ; born 18 November 1945) is a Sri Lankan politician serving as Leader of the Opposition since 2018, and has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Kurunegala since 2015. He served as the President of Sri Lanka and Leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party from 2005 to 2015.He became the leader of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna in 2019, spliting the Sri Lanka Freedom Party.
A lawyer by profession, Rajapaksa was first elected to the Parliament of Sri Lanka in 1970, and he served as Prime Minister from 6 April 2004 until his victory in the 2005 presidential election. He was sworn in for his first six-year term as president on 19 November 2005. He was re-elected for a second term on 27 January 2010. He was defeated in his bid for a third term in the 2015 presidential election by Maithripala Sirisena and left office on 9 January 2015.
Several months after leaving office, Rajapaksa unsuccessfully sought to become Prime Minister in the 2015 parliamentary election, where the United People's Freedom Alliance was defeated. He was, however, elected as Member of Parliament for Kurunegala District.
On the 26 October 2018, Rajapaksa was appointed as Prime Minister by President Maithripala Sirisena after the United People's Freedom Alliance withdrew from the unity government. Incumbent Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe refused to accept the dismissal stating that it was unconstitutional, resulting in a constitutional crisis.
Two no-confidence motions brought against Rajapaksa were passed by the Sri Lankan Parliament on 14 and 16 November 2018. Both were rejected by President Sirisena stating that proper procedures were not followed. On 3 December 2018, a court suspended Rajapaksa's powers as Prime Minister and ruled that his cabinet could not function until its legitimacy was established. Rajapakse resigned as Prime Minister on 15 December 2018, with Ranil Wickremesinghe re-appointed as Prime Minister, and Rajapaksa appointed Leader of the Opposition. 
Map of Sri Lanka, with the rising sun in the background.
Centered is the Punkalasa Guard stone. The traditional symbol in Sinhalese art is Pankalas or a pot of prosperity. Sign of good luck and abundance, represented by a decorative pot of flowers.
Guardstones (doratupala figures or muragal) are one of the finest creations of ancient Sinhalese artwork. Guard stone carved with pot of plenty is an expression of prosperity and it is associated with the belief of ushering prosperity to the building throughout the year. The best example of a guard stone with a pot of plenty is seen at the Abhayagiri archeological complex.
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.
Numeric 1000 at upper left and lower right. At bottom letf corner is the value රුපියල් දාහයි in Sinhala, ஆயிரம் ரூபாய் in Thamil and One Thousand Rupees in English, of decreasing font size.
ශ්රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව in Sinhala at Top center, with smaller இலங்கை மத்திய வங்கி in Thamil and English CENTRAL BANK OF SRI LANKA on next line.
Legality Legend in 3 lines
"ශ්රී ලංකාණ්ඩුව වෙනුවෙන් නිකුත් කරන ලද මේ
මුදල් නෝට්ටුව ශ්රී ලංකාව ඈතුළත ඕනෑම මුදල් ගණනක්
ගෙවිම සඳහා නිතියෙන් වලංගුය"
In English: "Issued on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka
Banknote legally valid for payment in Sri Lanka".
Revers:
On the banknote is a photo montage of the Toppigal rock and the Mavil Oya reservoir, which were important milestones in the Eeelam War IV.
The center piece is an images of five soldiers raising the national flag. The pose has clearly been plagiarized from the iconic World War II picture of five American Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima in 1945. The faces are not south-asian (they don't have slant eyes for example), and the helmets, dress and boots unlike those currently used by SLA. In any case it must be just a drawing since the basic perspective is also wrong, such as the legs in front are significantly smaller than the legs behind. The CBSL Press release nor the folder stated the name of the designer, as is customary. I am unofficially told it was Central Bank artist Mr Kelum Gunasekera.
The banknote also shows the military equipment of the Sri Lankan army - a tank, boats, a helicopter, airplanes, a ship.
Lower, right of center is the Mavil Aru Reservoir and the Sluice Gate.
Mavil Aru (Mavil Oya) is a small ancient reservoir near Somapura in the the historic Seruwawila Viharaya area. According to legend, Mavil Aru Reservoir goes back as far as 3rd century where king Mahasen (276-303) had built the canal called a ‘Gal Ela’ (now Kallar Ela) from Maha Villuwa (Mavil Aru) Reservoir to another reservoir in Seruwila to develop paddy fields through out the area.
After the fall of the Polonnaruwa Kingdom with the attack of the Kalinga Maga in 1215, the Sinhalese migrated to the other areas with the destruction of reservoirs and waterways by the invading forces. By end of 19th century this area was sparsely populated by few Muslims and Tamils living on out chena cultivation.
In 1928, the British governor Herbert Stanley brought in a Tamil force from Jaffna and Batticaloa and attempted to repair the Mavil Aru (Mavil Oya) Reservoir to expand the rice production to feed the growing estate Tamil population which have been brought from India. But this project failed and the British abandoned this attempt.
21 years after this attempt, in 1949, The new Prime Minister of Independent Sri Lanka initiated a project to re build the Mavil Aru (Mavil Oya) Reservoir and was soon completed. To farm the vast jungles using this water, people from all over the country were given land and new towns were developed. Since then Mavil Aru (Mavil Oya) reservoir continued to support the paddy fields invisible to everybody except the surrounding farmers.
Then within few weeks which followed 21st July 2006, Mavil Aru became a household name of every Sri Lankan. LTTE, the ruthless terrorist organization responsible for thousands of death of Sinhala and Tamil citizens closed the Mavil Aru Sluice Gate during a mutual cease fire agreement. This stopped water flowing on to Kallar Ela denying water to about 15,000 farming families in Kallar, Seru Nuwara, Seruwila, Dehiwattha and Neelapola areas. After repeated failed attempts to get LTTE to open gates, the Sri Lankan army launched a operation capture the Mavil Aru area and take the gates under government control. This small operation developed in to a major offensive by the government forces by August and on 16 May 2009 the president of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksha declared military victory over the LTTE terrorist outfit after completely wiping out the leadership.
The Mavil Aru Sluice gate stands alone today as a landmark for resiliency of the people of Sri Lanka. (amazinglanka.com)
The Sinhala name “Thoppigala” and the Tamil name “Kudumbimalai” translate to “hair-knot” rock. The British called this spectacular monadnock “Baron’s Cap”.
The Thoppigala inselberg standing at 543 m above sea level is the highest peak far and wide between Dimbulagala near Polonnaruwa and the East Coast. The nearest village is Manamptiya in 14 km distance, which was developed under the Mahaweli irrigation scheme. Thoppigala is part of the traditional Weddah country in the vicinity of the Maduru Oya National Park. It was a perfect hunting area due to the abundance of deer. Elephants and leopards are roaming in the wilderness between Thoppigala and Maduru Oya.
Thoppigala rock is surrounded by protected typical dry zone scrub jungle are of about 400 square kilometres. It became a nature conservation project called Thoppigala Heritage Park, opened in April 2013.
The Thoppigala Heritage Park is the result of a cooperation of Dilmah Conservation and the Forest Department with the support of the Sri Lankan Army. Dilmah Conservation is a social fund of the Dilmah tea company engaged in eco-friendly projects working towards a more sustainable use of the environment in partnership with IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) At the beginning, Dilmah Conservation supported the protection of wild elephants, further Dilmah Conservation projects were focused on the eco-friendly development of the Northern and Eastern Provinces after the end of the civil war, taking into consideration needs of local communities. Accordingly, the Thoppigala nature conservation project was developed to extend economic support to the people of the region. Already in 2012, Dilmah Conservation commenced a programme to plant 20,000 native trees in the area to improve the habitat for birds and other animals, but also fruit varieties such as cashew nut, for the economic benefits to the locals. Products of the villagers are sold in shops in the Heritage Park. The Park was conceptualised by the architect Nihal Bodhinayake of Nihal Bodhinayaka Associates, who also designed the ambitious “The Fortress” Hotel in Kogalla. That first Dilmah Conservation Heritage Centre is the centrepiece of the Thoppigala Heritage Park. It presents the natural environment of Sri Lanka and its biodiversity in a series of 3 dimensional models and other educational features.
The Heritage Park also contains the Thoppigala memorial, dedicated to the lives lost during the decisive battle of the Sri Lankan armed forces against the last LTTE terror guerilla camp in the Eastern Province.
For nature lovers visiting the protected jungle area, rest room facilities and a cafeteria are available near the Centre. Besides the bungalows, A fully functional camp site is accessible by four-wheelers.
There are guided adventure walks and an obstacle course with 28 different obstacles. Cycling off-road is allowed in certain areas, canoeing is possible on a nearby water body.
The main nature trail leads to the top of Thoppigala peak. The distance from the visitors’ center to the base of the Thoppigala rock is about 1 km, this first part of which is passable for jeeps. There are lots of caves at the base of the rock, once used as hideouts of guerilla fighters. Starting at the base, there is a path winding uphill, with a stairway and a new ladder placed by the army to tackle the most difficult part. At the very top there are the remnants of a small ancient dagaba as well as a single tree called “Ehela”. Highöight of course is the 360 degree panorama. (www.lanka-excursions-holidays.com)
Numeric 1000 at upper left and lower right. රුපියල් දාහයි in Sinhala, ஆயிரம் ரூபாய் in Thamil and One Thousand Rupees in English, in 3 lines of decresing font size at lower left.
ශ්රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව in Sinhala, ஐந்நூறு ரூபாய் in Thamil and CENTRAL BANK OF SRI LANKA in English, in 3 lines of decresing font size, in top right corner.
Comments:
Commemorative issue to Mark The Ushering of Peace and Prosperity to Sri Lanka in my collection.
This note has also been subject to much parody.
A few days after it was issued on 2009 November 21st, a LTTE Fantasy Padody Note was published online by www.eelamhomeland.com.
A few years later in 2012 February-March when the Sri Lankan Rupee devalued by 15% in 6 weeks, Cartoonist Dharshana Karunathilake published this Cartoon in the Sunday Lakbima. When I first saw it in 2016 June, among a collection of his cartoons I thought it reflected the dramatic defeat of Rajapaksa Presidecy on 2015 January 8th, after calling elections 2 years early on the advice of an Astrologer.
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