A social media post claims that Nepal gave respect to Lord Buddha by releasing currency notes with Buddha’s image. The post shares a set of currency notes which has Buddha images on them. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Nepal government has printed currency notes with Buddha images.
Fact: Nepal government hasn’t released any currency note with Lord Buddha’s image. In 2013, Nepal’s Central Bank released a 100 rupee note featuring Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha. According to news reports, earlier in 2007, Nepal government has made a futile attempt to introduce currency notes with Lord Budda’s image. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
The viral image showing Buddha’s photo on a currency note is digitally created and the Nepal government has not released any such currency notes with Buddha’s photo.
A search on Nepal’s Central Bank website did not yield any specimen of a currency note with an image of Lord Buddha on it.
However, we could find a 100 rupee Nepali note featuring Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha. According to news reports, this currency note was introduced in 2013.
If there is any such currency note with Lord Buddha’s image, it would have been featured on the Central Bank’s website or news agencies would have reported it. But, we could neither find any such note on the Central Bank’s website nor any such news reports.
Earlier in 2007, the Nepal government made a futile attempt to introduce currency notes with Lord Budda’s image. According to news reports, in January 2007, a cabinet meeting approved Nepal Rastra Bank’s (Central Bank) proposal to use the Buddha’s picture replacing those of King Gyanendra (here & here).
A month later in February 2007, they retracted back on this and decided to replace the picture of King Gyanendra with that of Mount Everest on the 10-rupee notes. “We decided to go in for Sagarmatha instead of the Buddha because some Buddhist religious organizations were against having his picture on currency notes,” the then Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat told Reuters.
Further, Narayan Prasad Pokhrel, Deputy Spokesperson, and Information Officer of the Central Bank of Nepal, speaking to Vishwas News, clarified that the viral images as fake. Hence, it is clear that the Nepal government has not released currency notes with Buddha’s image and the viral images are digitally morphed.
To sum up, the Nepal government did not release currency notes featuring Buddha’s image.
