₨500 — Five Hundred Rupees
The artwork
Front: Mount Everest fills the left panel in engraved grey — the mountain that replaced the king's portrait on Nepali money after 1958 BS-style royal issues ended. The Devanagari legends read श्री नेपाल राष्ट्र बैंक above the promise to pay रुपैयाँ पाँच सय, five hundred rupees, over a golden hill landscape with monastery buildings. A metallic oval patch sits at centre, the Governor's signature (गर्भनर) beneath the text, and the serial in Devanagari numerals with a घ prefix.
Back: Two tigers padding down to water, heads lowered to drink, engraved in warm brown against a pale wash — Nepal's Bengal tigers of the Terai lowlands. NEPAL RASTRA BANK arches above, RUPEES FIVE HUNDRED below, with 2012 A.D. spelled out beneath. At left, the bank's seal carrying the motto असतोमा सद्गमय; at right, 500 set in a deep green guilloche rosette. Temple pillars and cornice frame the whole panel.
In circulation
The Everest design replaced royal portraiture on Nepali notes after the monarchy was abolished, and 500-rupee notes of this pattern circulated through the 2010s in successive dated printings, of which this is the 2012 issue. Later 500s carry revised backs and the updated map of Nepal, but notes of this type remain legal tender.
Details
- IssuerNepal Rastra Bank (श्री नेपाल राष्ट्र बैंक), guaranteed by the Government of Nepal
- CurrencyRupee (₨)
- DenominationFive Hundred Rupees
- Collectedon the Nepal journeys, 1993–2014
- SeriesEverest type, dated 2012 A.D. on the reverse
- SignatureGovernor, Nepal Rastra Bank
- WatermarkMount Everest, in the blank panel at right of the face
- SecurityMetallic foil patch at the centre of the face; vertical thread through the text panel