Indian 10 rupee-silver

10 rupee food for all

10 rupee: Mahatma Gandhi birth centenary 1969

Any description of India's history in the British era can never be complete without the mention of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, better known as Mahatma Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi was born in 1869 in Porbandar in Gujrat, and died in 1948 when he was shot by Nathuram Godse. Mahatma Gandhi was one who preached non-violence in an era of violence, world wars and all and successully led the country to independence through non-violent means like protests etc.

The Gandhis belong to the Bania caste and seem to have been originally grocers. But for three generations, from Mahatama Gandhi's grandfather, they have been Prime Ministers in several Kathiawad States. Uttamchand Gandhi, alias Ota Gandhi, was his grandfather.

Ota Gandhi married a second time, having lost his first wife. He had four sons by his first wife and two by his second wife.. The fifth of these six brothers was Karamchand Gandhi, alias Kaba Gandhi, and the sixth was Tulsidas Gandhi. Both these brothers were Prime Ministers in Porbandar, one after the other. Kaba Gandhi was Mahatma Gandhi's father. He was a member of the Rajasthanik Court. It is now extinct, but in those days it was a very influential body for settling disputes between the chiefs and their fellow clansmen.

Kaba Gandhi married four times in succession, having lost his wife each time by death. He had two daughters by his first and second marriages. His last wife, Putlibai, bore him a daughter and three sons, Mahatma Gandhi being the youngest.

Gandhi remained in South Africa for twenty years, suffering imprisonment many times. In 1896, after being attacked and humiliated by white South Africans, Gandhi began to teach a policy of passive resistance to, and non-cooperation with, the South African authorities. Part of the inspiration for this policy came from the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, whose influence on Gandhi was profound. Gandhi also acknowledged his debt to the teachings of Christ and to the 19th-century American writer Henry David Thoreau, especially to Thoreau's famous essay "Civil Disobedience." Gandhi considered the terms passive resistance and civil disobedience inadequate for his purposes, however, and coined another term, Satyagraha (from Sanskrit, "truth and firmness"). During the Boer War, Gandhi organized an ambulance corps for the British army and commanded a Red Cross unit. After the war he returned to his campaign for Indian rights. In 1910, he founded Tolstoy Farm, near Durban, a cooperative colony for Indians. In 1914 the government of the Union of South Africa made important concessions to Gandhi's demands, including recognition of Indian marriages and abolition of the poll tax for them. His work in South Africa complete, he returned to India.

Then Gandhi became a leader in a complex struggle, the Indian campaign for home rule. Following World War I, in which he played an active part in recruiting campaigns, Gandhi, again advocating Satyagraha, launched his movement of non-violent resistance to Great Britain. When, in 1919, Parliament passed the Rowlatt Acts, giving the Indian colonial authorities emergency powers to deal with so-called revolutionary activities, Satyagraha spread throughout India, gaining millions of followers. A demonstration against the Rowlatt Acts resulted in a massacre of Indians at Amritsar by British soldiers; in 1920, when the British government failed to make amends, Gandhi proclaimed an organized campaign of non-cooperation. Indians in public office resigned, government agencies such as courts of law were boycotted, and Indian children were withdrawn from government schools. Throughout India, streets were blocked by squatting Indians who refused to rise even when beaten by police. Gandhi was arrested, but the British were soon forced to release him. Gandhi advocate economic independence by boycotting English goods.

Gandhi became the international symbol of a free India. He lived a spiritual and ascetic life of prayer, fasting, and meditation. His union with his wife (Kasturba Gandhi) became, as he himself stated, that of a brother and sister. Refusing earthly possessions, he wore the loincloth and shawl of the lowliest Indian and subsisted on vegetables, fruit juices, and goat's milk. Indians revered him as a saint and began to call him Mahatma (great-souled), a title reserved for the greatest sages. Gandhi's advocacy of nonviolence, known as ahimsa (non-violence), was the expression of a way of life implicit in the Hindu religion. By the Indian practice of nonviolence, Gandhi held, Great Britain too would eventually consider violence useless and would leave India.

When World War II broke out, the Congress party and Gandhi demanded a declaration of war aims and their application to India. As a reaction to the unsatisfactory response from the British, the party decided not to support Britain in the war unless the country were granted complete and immediate independence. The British refused, offering compromises that were rejected. When Japan entered the war, Gandhi still refused to agree to Indian participation. He was interned in 1942 but was released two years later because of failing health.

By 1944 the Indian struggle for independence was in its final stages, the British government having agreed to independence on condition that the two contending nationalist groups, the Muslim League and the Congress party, should resolve their differences. Gandhi stood steadfastly against the partition of India but ultimately had to agree, in the hope that internal peace would be achieved after the Muslim demand for separation had been satisfied. India and Pakistan became separate states when the British granted India its independence in 1947 (see: Tryst with Destiny -- the story of India's independence). During the riots that followed the partition of India, Gandhi pleaded with Hindus and Muslims to live together peacefully. Riots engulfed Calcutta, one of the largest cities in India, and the Mahatma fasted until disturbances ceased. On January 13, 1948, he undertook another successful fast in New Delhi to bring about peace, but on January 30, 12 days after the termination of that fast, as he was on his way to his evening prayer meeting, he was assassinated by a fanatic Hindu, Nathuram Godse.

Gandhi's death was regarded as an international catastrophe. His place in humanity was measured not in terms of the 20th century, but in terms of history. A period of mourning was set aside in the United Nations General Assembly, and condolences to India were expressed by all countries. Religious violence soon waned in India and Pakistan, and the teachings of Gandhi came to inspire nonviolent movements elsewhere, notably in the U.S.A. under the civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. and in South Africa under Nelson Mandela.

Even though the greatness of Mahatma Gandhi as a leader and his impact on India's and even world's history is indisputable and unquestionable, yet there was a faction of revolutionaries in India who believed that if Gandhi had not been in the picture, there would have been a popular uprising in India and the British would have have thrown out of India long before 1947, when India eventually got its independence.

This coin was just one in a series of commemorative coins that were issued in 1969 which happens to be the centenary of Mahatma Gandhi's birth. Coins of denomination 20 paisa and 50 paisa were also minted, not to mention a 1 rupee coin of republic india.

See also:
Mahatma Gandhi 20 paise

Mahatma Gandhi 50 paise

Mahatma Gandhi 1 rupee

10 rupee: 25 years of independence

Weight: 22.5gm
Metal: 50% ASW/silver
Crown size

This coin was released on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of India's independence. India gained its independence on 15August, 1947. This coin was minted in 1972, 25 years after 1947.


See also:
25 years of independence 50 paisa

Indian 10 rupee-bimetal

Australian 50 cents

The Australian 50 cent coin has a 12-sided shape and is one of the largest circulated coins in the world today, next only to the crown.

50 cent, 2003

This coin has a theme of Australia's volunteers. The reverse shows an artwork of the volunteers from Australia in various fields.

50 cent, 2006

The reverse shows the Australian coat of arms, which includes the emu, the second largest bird in the world, which is flightless like many other birds in Australia and New Zealand. Also shown is the kangaroo, a large marsupial which happens to be the national animal of Australia. And in between the two is a shield.

50 cent, 2005: world war II

This is a commemorative 50 cent coin of Australia. The world war started in 1939 and 1945. This coin was minted in 2005, so it means its remembrance of the event, on the occasion of 60 years of the ending of the war. The coin is in remembrance, an ode to those who lost their lives in the catastrophic event which is known as world war II. Some people might say that Australia was not among one of the Axis or the Allied powers, but then they forget that Australia was a part of England in the second world war.

Australian cents

5 cent, 1968
5 cent, 2007

The reverse shows the spiny anteater, also known as an Echidna. The echidna has a small tail and a narrow beak. There are short-beaked echidnas and long-beaked echidnas. The mouth is toothless and very tiny. The body is heavy and round. Everywhere except the belly, it is covered with coarse hairs and short, pointy spines. (They're very different than the spines on a porcupine!) Each foot has five toes with strong claws. On each hind foot there is an extra long, curved claw on the second toe; the echidna uses this claw to clean between its spines.

The spiny anteater is an nocturnal animal. He becomes active at twilight and spends the rest of the night digging out ants and termites which he pulls in with his long, sticky tongue. His vision is weak, but he has a strong sense of smell and sharp hearing. The echidna can go without food for long periods of time. When threatened, the echidna can quickly roll into a prickly ball for protection.

10 cent, 1980

10 cent, 2007

What may seem like a creative design on first glance, is actually the superb lyrebird of Australia, as shown on the reverse of this 10 cent coin.

The lyrebird is another anomalic ancient creature of Australia with few close relatives. We have the Albert's lyrebird and the superb lyrebird, which is shown on the coin above. Both are known for their song, and it is the superb lyrebird which is well known for its songs, which are composed primarily of variegated mimicry. It can mimic voices of other birds and other natural sounds including flight calls of parrots and wing beats of large birds.

The lyrebirds being flightless, face predation from non-native dogs and feral cats. There is a need to protect them and their habitat.

20 cent, 1980

20 cent, 1997
20 cent, 1998

20 cent, 2001

The 20 cent coin has the platypus on the reverse. The duck billed platypus is the only egg laying mammal, an anomaly that has somehow survived all these years in the isolated location of Australia, like many other unique creatures like emu, kangaroo, marsupial lion, moa etc that are or were found in Australia and New Zealand. The platypus is the oldest mammal which is not yet extinct, and can be called a living fossil. The obverse shows queen Elizabeth.

Victoria Empress Rupee

Victoria 1 rupee: 1891

This rupee was also minted in silver.
Coins minted from 1862 through 1873 all have the date 1862.
The legend reads "Victoria Queen" for coins dated 1862 - 1876.
It reads "Victoria Empress" for coins dated 1877 - 1901.

The Rupee coin has several reverse designs, which can most easily be identified by examining the flower at the very top of the coin. There appears to be many minor varieties. Following is a description of the basic reverse types.

Reverse I - The top flower is open with long, curved petals. The "1" in the date has a flat top.
Reverse II - The top flower is closed. The "1" in the date has a slanted top.
Reverse IIa - Variant of Type II on a few 1862 Rupees. Similar to type II, but the flower buds above the "E" of "ONE" and above right of the second "E" of "RUPEE" have a pineapple-like pattern.
Reverse III - The top flower is half open. The "1" in the date (1862) has a flat top.
Reverse IV - Variant of Type II reported by W.A.T. Aves in a Feb 1984 Seabys Coins and Metals Bulletin and confirmed by collector Bob Johnston. This reverse type is so far known to exist on the Bombay Rupees for the years 1879, 1880, 1881 and 1882. Reverse IV is slightly different in many areas but the most recognizable difference is in the lotus flower to left of the date. The type II flower has five petals, while the type IV has three larger petals.

Bud patterns
Type I
Type II
Type III
Type IV

The Rupee coin has three distinct Obverse designs, which can be identified by examining the panels on the front of the dress.
Bust A - The front of the dress has 3-3/4 panels
Bust C - The front of the dress has 3-½ or 3-1/3 panels … check the flower on the right of the bottom panel … it has fewer leaves than the one in Bust A
Bust B - The front of the dress has 4-¼ panels

Bust patterns
Pattern Type A
Pattern Type B
Pattern Type C

USSR Rouble-IV

1 Rouble: Constantin Tsiolkovsky

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was a true visionary and pioneer of astronautics. He theorized many aspects of human space travel and rocket propulsion decades before others, and played an important role in the development of the Soviet and Russian space programs.

He was born on September 17,1857, in the village of Ijevskoe, Ryasan Province, Russia, the son a a Polish forester who had emigrated to Russia. He was not from a rich family, but a very large one; Konstantin Tsiolkovsky had 17 brothers and sisters. At the age of 10 he lost his hearing as the result of scarlet fever. After that he couldn't attend school, and he never recieved any formal education. The knowledge and education he attained were acheived by himself. His books were his teachers, and he read every book in his father's library. Tsiolkovsky later remembered that his hearing loss influenced greatly his future life: during all his life he tried to prove to himself and to others that he was better and more clever than others, even with his disability.

In 1873-1876 Konstantin Tsiolkovsky lived in Moscow. During this time he visited the main Moscow libraries, among them the well known Pashkov House Library. It was in this fashion that he received his self-education. While in Moscow, Tsiolkovsky was tutored by the eccentric and brilliant Russian philosopher Nikolai Fedorovitch Fedorov, who was working in a Moscow library at the time. Fedorov was a leading proponent of Russian Cosmism, and gave Tsiolkovsky a place to work in the library. In many ways, he took the place of the university lecturers that Tsiolkovsky never had access to. At the age of17, while living in Moscow, he first dreamed about the possibility of space flight. He was, in part, inspired by the novels of Jules Verne. Since that time he started to think about the problems of space vehicle design. His great purpose was not simply to go into outer space, but to live in space, for humainity to become a space civilization.

In 1876-1879, after his coming back to his father's home, he lived in Vyatka and Ryasan. After passing his exams, he recieved his Teacher's Certificate, and went to work as a math teacher in Borovsk, Kaluga Province.

In 1880-1892 Tsiolkovsky lived in Borovsk and worked as a teacher. At that time he began his scientific research in air baloon building, life in free space, aerodynamics and philosophy. It was also at that time that he married. His wife, Barbara E. Sokolova, was the daughter of the local preacher. Together, they had 3 daughters and 4 sons.

In 1892-1935 he lived and worked in Kaluga. His moving to Kaluga was the result of a teaching promotion. He lived in the house that is now a part of the museum complex with his family from the year 1904 until his death in 1935. It was here in Kaluga that he became a well known scientist, and where he wrote and published his theories of space flight and inter-planetary travels. In Kaluga he wrote his Cosmic Philosophy, and he dreamed about the far distant future of humanity, including the eventual conquest of space and our leaving the cradle of the planet Earth for the stars. He was made a member of the Soviet Academy of Science in 1919.

He received a government pension in 1920, and continued to work and write about space. Upon the publication of the works of German rocket pioneer Herman Oberth in 1923, his works were revised and published more widely, and he finally earned some international recognition for his ideas. He wrote over 500 scientific papers, and, even though he never created any rockets himself, he influenced many young Russian engineers and designers. Tsiolkovsky lived to see a younger generation of Russian engineers and scientists begin to make his visionary concepts reality. Among these was Sergey Korolev, who would become the "Chief Designer" of the Soviet space program, who launched humanity into space with Sputnik, Laika, and the launch of the first cosmonaut,Yuri Gagarin.

Konstantin E. Tsiolkovsky, the father of cosmonautics, died in Kaluga at the age of 78 on September 19,1935. He received an honored State funeral from the Soviet government. He was buried in the old Kaluga Cemetery, not far from the Museum that honors his life and work.

The tomb of Tsiolkovsky in the Old Kaluga Cemetery, near the Museum.

1 Rouble: V.I.Lenin's centenary

Reverse: Odin Rouble, or one rouble
Circumscribing lettering: 100 years of birth of Lenin
Obverse: Vladimir Illyich Lenin, leader of the Bolsheviks, the man behind the October revolution

1 Rouble: 60 years of Bolshevik revolution

The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917 was initiated by millions of people who would change the history of the world as we know it. When Czar Nicholas II dragged 11 million peasants into World War I, the Russian people became discouraged with their injuries and the loss of life they sustained. The country of Russia was in ruins, ripe for revolution.

Then came Vladimir Illyich Lenin, back from exile in the spring of 1917 and he joined the Bolshevik party(Bolshevik means majority). In October 1917, the Bolsheviks stormed the winter palace and overthrew the Czar in a coup d'etat. The new government was made up of soviets, and led by the Bolsheviks. The other party that came into prominence were the Mensheviks, meaning the minority; and a bi-party system came into USSR.

The October revolution was actually held in November but it is called so because it was the month of October according to the then calendar system in Russia

USSR Rouble-III

1 Rouble: 40 years of victory in second world war


1 Rouble: 30th anniversary of world war II
This is the world war two memorial in Volgograd, Russia.

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all of the great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. The war involved the mobilization of over 100 million military personnel, making it the most widespread war in history. In a state of "total war", the major participants placed their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities at the service of the war effort, erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources. Over seventy million people, the majority of whom were civilians, were killed, making it the deadliest conflict in human history.

The start of the war is generally held to be September 1, 1939, with the German invasion of Poland and subsequent declarations of war on Germany by most of the countries in the British Empire and Commonwealth, and by France. Many countries were already at war before this date, such as Nationalist China and Japan in the Second Sino-Japanese War, and many who were not initially involved joined the war later, as a result of events such as the German invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa), and the attacks on Pearl Harbor and British and Dutch colonies in Southeast Asia.

In 1945 the war ended in a victory for the Allies. The Soviet Union and the United States subsequently emerged as the world's superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. The United Nations was formed in the hope of preventing another such conflict. The acceptance of the principle of self-determination accelerated decolonization movements in Asia and Africa, while Western Europe itself began moving toward integration.

The history of Russia in World War 2 is still being revised. In the first decades after World War 2, the historiography of Russia's part in the war in between 1939 and the end of 1941, was largely based on a combination of the strictly censored Russian state propaganda's version and of what was known outside Russia, which was then closed behind the "Iron Curtain" of the Cold War.

Eventually, two new factors provided new insights and new proofs which enable a revision that let us get much closer to the truth.

The first factor was the great and laborious work of a few open-minded 2nd generation independent researchers like Viktor Suvorov and Mark Solonin, which applied analytic approaches to the vast scope of publicly available Russian wartime and post-war documentation and literature, detected thousands of small details of information that slipped over the years through the Soviet censorship, and processed these into coherent new insights which dramatically changed our perception of what happened, both before the German invasion (Suvorov's work), and after it started (Solonin's work).

The second factor was the partial removal of the deep cover of censorship from Russian military and state archives for a period of just five years, between the collapse of the Communist Soviet Union in 1991 and the gradual recovery of conservative nationalism in the Russian government, marked, for example, by the rise to power of Vladimir Putin, a former KGB officer. This gap of five years of relative openness was used by historians to access previously closed archives and reach documents which provide previously unavailable proofs that further support the claims of Suvorov and the other researchers. Since the mid-1990s, 'mainstream' western historiography increasingly accepts both the main claims and the main supporting facts and evidence of the pioneering work of researchers like Suvorov, and the "history as we know it" of Russia in World War 2 is being re-written.

USSR Rouble-II

1 Rouble: 175 years of battle of Borodino

This is the Raevsky monument, erected in 1911 in memory of those who died in the battle of Borodino.

1 Rouble: 175 years of battle of Borodino

Both these coins are commemoratives on the battle of Borodino. The battle of Borodino was a big battle between Russia and Napoleon.

The Battle of Borodino (Russian: Бородинская битва, Borodinskaya bitva; French: Bataille de la Moskowa), fought on September 7, 1812, was the largest and bloodiest single-day action of the French invasion of Russia, involving more than 250,000 troops and resulting in at least 70,000 casualties. The French Grande Armée under Emperor Napoleon I attacked the Imperial Russian army of General Mikhail Kutuzov near the village of Borodino, west of the town of Mozhaysk, and eventually captured the main positions on the battlefield, but failed to destroy the Russian army. About a third of Napoleon's soldiers were killed or wounded; Russian losses, while heavier, could be replaced due to Russia's large population, since Napoleon's campaign took place on Russian soil.

The battle itself ended with the disorganized Russian Army out of position and ripe for complete defeat. The state of the French forces and the lack of recognition of the state of the Russian Army led Napoleon to remain on the battlefield with his army instead of the forced pursuit that had marked other campaigns that he had conducted in the past. The battle at Borodino was a pivotal point in the campaign, as it was the last offensive action fought by Napoleon in Russia. By withdrawing, the Russian army preserved its combat strength, eventually allowing them to force Napoleon out of the country.

Poet Mikhail Lermontov romanticized the battle in his poem Borodino. Apart from these two commemorative coins, the Raevsky monument shown above has also been erected in memory of the martyrs.

USSR Rouble-I

1 Rouble: Frederick Engels

Frederick Engels or Friedrich Engels was the foremost propounder of Socialism, along with Karl Marx. USSR being a known socialist country, it is little wonder that USSR has released commemoratives on these two personalities.

Friedrich Engels, the eldest son of a successful German industrialist, was born in Barmen on 28th November 1820. As a young man his father sent him to England to help manage his cotton-factory in Manchester. Engels was shocked by the poverty in the city and began writing an account that was published as Condition of the Working Class in England (1844). He also made friends with the leaders of the Chartist movement in Britain.

In 1844 Engels began contributing to a radical journal called Franco-German Annals that was being edited by Karl Marx in Paris. Later that year Engels met Marx and the two men became close friends. Engels shared Marx's views on capitalism and after their first meeting he wrote that there was virtually "complete agreement in all theoretical fields". Marx and Engels decided to work together. It was a good partnership, whereas Marx was at his best when dealing with difficult abstract concepts, Engels had the ability to write for a mass audience.

While working on their first article together, The Holy Family, the Prussian authorities put pressure on the French government to expel Karl Marx from the country. On 25th January 1845, Marx received an order deporting him from France. Marx and Engels decided to move to Belgium, a country that permitted greater freedom of expression than any other European state.

Friedrich Engels helped to financially support Marx and his family. Engels gave Marx the royalties of his book, Condition of the Working Class in England and arranged for other sympathizers to make donations. This enabled Marx the time to study and develop his economic and political theories.

In July 1845 Engels took Karl Marx to England. They spent most of the time consulting books in Manchester Library. During their six weeks in England, Engels introduced Marx to several of the Chartist leaders including George Julian Harney.

Engels and Marx returned to Brussels and in January 1846 they set up a Communist Correspondence Committee. The plan was to try and link together socialist leaders living in different parts of Europe. Influenced by Marx's ideas, socialists in England held a conference in London where they formed a new organisation called the Communist League. Engels attended as a delegate and took part in developing a strategy of action.

Engels returned to England in December 1847 where he attended a meeting of the Communist League' Central Committee in London. At the meeting it was decided that the aims of the organisation was "the overthrow of the bourgeoisie, the domination of the proletariat, the abolition of the old bourgeois society based on class antagonisms, and the establishment of a new society without classes and without private property".

Engels and Marx began writing a pamphlet together. Based on a first draft produced by Engels called the Principles of Communism, Marx finished the 12,000 word pamphlet in six weeks. Unlike most of Marx's work, it was an accessible account of communist ideology. Written for a mass audience, The Communist Manifesto summarised the forthcoming revolution and the nature of the communist society that would be established by the proletariat.

The Communist Manifesto begins with the assertion, "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles." Marx and Engels argued that if you are to understand human history you must not see it as the story of great individuals or the conflict between states. Instead, you must see it as the story of social classes and their struggles with each other. Marx and Engels explained that social classes had changed over time but in the 19th century the most important classes were the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. By the term bourgeoisie Marx and Engels meant the owners of the factories and the raw materials which are processed in them. The proletariat, on the other hand, own very little and are forced to sell their labour to the capitalists.

Marx and Engels believed that these two classes are not merely different from each other, but also have different interests. They went on to argue that the conflict between these two classes would eventually lead to revolution and the triumph of the proletariat. With the disappearance of the bourgeoisie as a class, there would no longer be a class society. As Engels later wrote, "The state is not abolished, it withers away."

The The Communist Manifesto was published in February, 1848. The following month, the government expelled Engels and Marx from Belgium. Marx and Engels visited Paris before moving to Cologne where they founded a radical newspaper, New Rhenish Gazette. The men hoped to use the newspaper to encourage the revolutionary atmosphere that they had witnessed in Paris.

Engels helped form an organisation called the Rhineland Democrats. On 25th September, 1848, several of the leaders of the group were arrested. Engels managed to escape but was forced to leave the country. Karl Marx continued to publish the New Rhenish Gazette until he was expelled in May, 1849.

Engels and Marx now moved to London. The Prussian authorities applied pressure on the British government to expel the two men but the Prime Minister, John Russell, held liberal views on freedom of expression and refused. With only the money that Engels could raise, the Marx family lived in extreme poverty.

In order to help supply Karl Marx with an income, Engels returned to work for his father in Germany. The two kept in constant contact and over the next twenty years they wrote to each other on average once every two days. Friedrich Engels sent postal orders or £1 or £5 notes, cut in half and sent in separate envelopes. In this way the Marx family was able to survive.

Other books published by Engels include The Peasant War in Germany (1850), Anti-Dühring (1878) and the Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (1884) .

Karl Marx died in London in March, 1883. Engels devoted the rest of his life to editing and translating Marx's writings. This included the second volume of Das Kapital (1885). Engels then used Marx's notes to write the third volume that was published in 1894.

Friedrich Engels died in London on 5th August 1895.

1 Rouble: M.Y.Lermontov

Mikhail Lermontov(1814-1841) was born in Moscow. His mother, Maria Mikhailovna Lermontova, an heiress to rich estates, belonged to the prominent Stolypin family. She died of consumption in 1817. Yuri Petrovich Lermontov, his father, was a poor army officer. After the death of Maria Mihkailovna, he left his son's upbringing to Yelizaveta Alexeyevna Arsenyeva, his wealthy grandmother. In the new home Mikhail became the subject of family disputes between his grandmother and father, who was not allowed to participate in the upbringing. Lermontov received an extensive education at home, but it included doubtful aspects: in his childhood he was dressed in a girl's frock to act as a model for a painter.

Lermontov studied ethics, politics, and literature, but was expelled in 1832 for disciplinary reasons. He then went to St. Petersburg and graduated from the cadet school in 1834 with the lowest officer's rank of cornet. He was stationed in the same town with a Hussar regiment of the Imperial Guards.

From his position in the Hussars and with his early devotion to writing, Lermontov observed the social life of the wealthy. By 1832 he had already written two hundred lyric poems, ten long poems and three plays. His first verse narrative, KHADZHI ABREK, appeared in 1835. MASKARAD (1836), considered Lermontov's best drama, centers around a bracelet, mistaken identities, and jealousy. At the end a faithful wife is poisoned with ice cream by her husband. The play was first produced by V.E. Meyerhold in St. Petersburg on the eve of the Revolution in 1917. Later Lermontov's melodrama inspired Aram Khachaturian's Masquerade Suite (1944).

In 1837 Lermontov gained wider recognition as a writer. After Alexandr Pushkin was killed in a duel, he published an elegy, SMERT POETA. In it he finds, behind the blind tool of destiny, arrogant descendants "of fathers famed for their base infamies / Who, with a slavish heel, have spurned the remnants / Of nobler but less favoured families!" And Lermontov continues prophetically: "Before this seat your slanders will not sway / That Judge both just and good... / Nor all your black blood serve to wash away / The poet's righteous blood." The poem was enthusiastically received in liberal circles, but annoyed the autocratic Tsar Nicholas I. Lermontov was arrested and exiled to the Caucasus, where he with several of the members of the Decembrist anti-Nicholas I revolt.

Due to the influence of his grandmother, Lermontov was permitted to return to Petersburg. However, Lermontov's attitude toward contemporary state of affairs did not become less critical. "There was something ominous and tragic in Lermontov's appearance," said Ivan Turgenev later, "his swarthy face and large, motionless dark eyes excluded a sort of somer and evil strength, a sort of pensive scornfulness and passion." . . . . The words, "His eyes did not laugh when he laughed," from A Hero of Our Time, etc., could really have been applied to himself."

A Hero of Our Time has been characterized as the first Russian novel of psychological realism. It consists of five separate stories linked by a common hero, Grigorii Pechorin, who is young, intelligent and feels his life empty. In the foreword Lermontov writes: "A Hero of Our Time, my dear sirs, is indeed a portrait, but not of one man; it is a portrait built up of all our generation's vices in full bloom." The book involves three narrative levels, which do not follow chronological order. The first tale, 'Bela,' introduces an unnamed narrator. He tells a story, in which Pechorin steals a Circassian princess, Bela. She loves Pechorin, who after some time starts to spent his time on hunting trips. Finally she is murdered by a vengeful Circassian. In 'Maksim Maksimych' the narrator acquires Pechorin's papers. Pechorin starts his journey to Persia, tells that "I doubt whether I shall return, nor is there any reason why I should." He dies upon his return. In 'Taman' Pechorin is nearly drowned in a wretched provincial town. He has witnessed at night strange doings of local smugglers and a young girl, working for them, tries to kill him in a boat. Pechorin manages to hurl the girl into the sea. In 'Princess Mary' Pechorin asks "why it is that I so persistently seek to win the love of a young girl whom I do not wish to seduce and whom I shall never marry. Why this feminine coquetery? Vera loves me better than Princess Mary ever will. Were she an unconquerable beauty, the difficulty of the undertaking might serve as an inducement..." Pechorin has no desire to marry the Princess. In a duel he kills Grushnitsky, who has been his friend and loves the Princess. The last story, 'Fatalist' has Pechorin speculating on whether fate or change rules human existence. One of Pechorin's friends, Vulic, had earlier played Russian roulette; he survives the game but bets are made was the pistol loaded - it was. Vulic is killed on his way to home by a drunken Cossack by a sabre. "After all this, one might think, how could one help becoming a fatalist?"

During this creative period he wrote such masterpieces as The Novice, The Cliff, Argument, Meeting, A Leaf, and Prophet. In 'Clouds' (1840) the poet contrasted the clouds "free both to come and go, free and indifferent" to his fate in exile. 'The Dream' (1841) anticipated the poet's death in that remote country: "In Daghestan, no cloud its hot sun cloaking, / A bullet in my side, I lay without / Movement or sound, my wound still fresh and smoking / And drop by drop my lifeblood trickling out."

Lermontov's best-known poem, The Demon (1842), about an angel who falls in love with a mortal woman, reflected the poet's self-image as a demonic creature. The melancholic Demon, exiled from Paradise, wanders on Earth, past hope of making peace again. At night he visits Tamara who says: "Come, swear to me to leave behind / All evil wishes from this hour". The Demon promises: "You are my holy one. This day / My power at your feet I lay. / And for your love one moment long / I'll give you all eternity." His kiss like deadly poison kills Tamara, who is saved by her martyr's pain: "She suffered, loved, laid down her life - / And Heaven opened to her love!" The Demon curses his dreams of better things - "Alone in all the universe, Abandoned, without love or hope!..." Lermontov drafted the sorrowful and self-accusing poem first at the age of 14.

Because of a duel with the French ambassador's son, Lermontov was again exiled, this time to Tenginskii Infantry Regiment on the Black Sea. The regiment was almost permanently engaged on active service and for his courage Lermontov gained the admiration of his fellow officers. However, serving in the front prevented him from writing. Pretending to be ill, Lermontov returned to the health resort of Pyatigorsk, near Moscow and joined the social life of the town. He quarrelled with Major N.S. Martynov, an old acquaintance of the family, and was killed in 1841, at the age of 27, in a duel.

Indian 20 paise-commemoratives

20 paise: Mahatma Gandhi birth centenary

I would take the second part to be the head in this 20 paisa coin, which shows the bespectacled figure of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who is known throughout the world for his non-violent approach in the freedom struggle of India. He was born in 1869 and was assassinated in 1948 by Nathuram Godse, one year after India got its independence. These twenty paisa coins were thought to be made of gold as they had a gold tone and were melted down in large amounts by ignorant and stupid people.

See also:
Mahatma Gandhi 50 paise

Mahatma Gandhi 1 rupee

Mahatma Gandhi 10 rupee

20 paise fisheries

The reverse shows two fishermen casting their net. The writing in Hindi reads 'Matsya Udyog" which means fisheries industry. Fisheries comes under food and agricultural organization. This coin is only one of the many released under FAO series.

India is a peninsula and has a very long coastline. A large number of people earn their livelihood through fishing, and this also provides for the food of thousands of people in India. The fishing industry of India has grown five-fold since its independence in 1947.

see also: fifty paise fisheries coin

20 paise, world food day

World Food Day was proclaimed in 1979 by the Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). It marks the date of the founding of FAO in 1945. The aim of the Day is to heighten public awareness of the world food problem and strengthen solidarity in the struggle against hunger, malnutrition and poverty. In 1980, the General Assembly endorsed observance of the Day in consideration of the fact that "food is a requisite for human survival and well-being and a fundamental human necessity" India released commemorative coins on 16 October, 1982; and this 20paisa coin was one of those coins.

20 paisa: food for all

This twenty paisa coin, minted in 1970, was struck in brass. It has a gold tone. The obverse shows a lotus , which is the national flower of India. It also shows a sun at the top, and the legend reads food for all. The same thing is also written in Hindi. The reverse shows the denomination, the country and the four headed lion symbol. A series of coins were minted on food and related themes when India attained self sufficiency in foodgrains after a history of droughts and massive food shortages.