Kings on Nepali Currency: Notes, Coins & the 2007 Everest Switch

Since October 2007, Nepali banknotes no longer carry the portrait of a living person. The reigning motif on the front of every current denomination is Mount Everest (Sagarmatha), the world's highest peak, which replaced the portrait of King Gyanendra shortly before Nepal became a federal democratic republic in May 2008. This makes Nepal one of the countries whose everyday paper money celebrates a natural landmark rather than a head of state.

The banknotes are issued by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the central bank of Nepal, which was established on 26 April 1956 (Baisakh 14, 2013 BS) under the Nepal Rastra Bank Act, 1955. Before NRB existed, Nepal's first paper notes were put into circulation by the government treasury, the Sadar Muluki Khana, and were signed not by a bank governor but by the Kajanchi, the treasury head who was traditionally a high Hindu priest.

The current family of notes runs from 5 rupees up to 1,000 rupees (5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1,000). Alongside Mount Everest, the notes depict temples, monuments and Nepali wildlife such as the one-horned rhinoceros, tiger and Himalayan animals, reinforcing national and natural identity in place of a royal figure.

For roughly six decades, portraits of the ruling Shah monarch defined Nepali paper money. The tradition began under King Tribhuvan Bir Bikram Shah, whose image appeared on the first notes issued from 1945. Those early notes, printed at the Indian Security Press in Nashik, circulated before a central bank existed, which is why they were authorised through the royal treasury rather than by NRB.

King Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah, who succeeded Tribhuvan in 1955, was the first monarch whose notes were issued by Nepal Rastra Bank after 1956. His portraits ran in two broad styles: one showing him in Nepali civilian dress with the daura-suruwal and dhaka topi, and a later series depicting him in military uniform. King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah (reigned 1972–2001) followed, with early notes showing him in military uniform and later ones wearing the traditional plumed Nepali crown adorned with bird-of-paradise feathers.

The last king on Nepali notes was Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah, who took the throne in 2001 after the royal palace massacre. His notes largely reused Birendra's designs with the portrait swapped. As Nepal's political transition advanced, the legends on later notes dropped explicit royal references, and low denominations associated with the monarchy were phased out ahead of the switch to Everest.

The single most searched turning point in Nepali banknote history is the 2007 change from a royal portrait to Mount Everest. In October 2007, Nepal Rastra Bank issued a new 500-rupee note on which King Gyanendra's portrait was replaced by an image of Mount Everest, and royal symbols and the king's name were removed from the note's legend. This was a deliberate signal of the country's move from monarchy toward a republic.

The change did not happen overnight across all denominations. Further notes of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 1,000 rupees carrying Mount Everest and without references to the king followed in 2008, the same year the monarchy was formally abolished. Nepal was declared a Federal Democratic Republic on 28 May 2008 (Jestha 15, 2065 BS), ending 240 years of Shah rule that had begun with Prithvi Narayan Shah's unification of Nepal.

In 2012, Nepal Rastra Bank released a revised series that kept the Everest theme but added English inscriptions and the date of issue on the reverse, refining rather than replacing the post-royal design. Since then, the Everest motif has been the constant identity of Nepali currency, and no reigning or living individual has been restored to a circulating note.

While circulating notes moved away from portraits, Nepal Rastra Bank has continued to honour specific historical, royal and religious figures on commemorative coins. These are legal-tender collector coins struck in limited numbers, usually in silver, gold or cupronickel, and issued to mark anniversaries, jubilees, coronations and international events. Unlike everyday coins, they carry high face values relative to their size and are aimed at collectors and institutions.

Royal commemoratives were common in the monarchy era. Coins were struck for King Mahendra's coronation around 1956 and, notably, a 25-rupee silver crown was issued for King Birendra's coronation in 1974 (2031 BS), produced in both a standard and a proof version. A 10-rupee silver coin bearing King Mahendra was also issued for the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) programme in 1968 (2025 BS), part of a global series linking coinage to food security.

Religious and cultural figures feature prominently on modern NRB commemoratives. To mark the 18th SAARC Summit hosted by Nepal in 2014, NRB issued a silver coin depicting Gautam Buddha and Mayadevi, tying the currency to Lumbini as the Buddha's birthplace. In 2019, NRB released commemorative coins for the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism, including silver pieces of 2,500 and 1,000 rupees and a 100-rupee cupronickel coin, reflecting Nepal's shared religious heritage with the wider subcontinent.

The unifier of modern Nepal, Prithvi Narayan Shah, whose silver mohar coinage from around 1770 (Saka era 1692) began the Shah monetary tradition, has also been honoured on commemorative issues that connect today's currency to the founding of the nation. NRB has continued this practice into the republican period with themed coins for jubilees, constitutional milestones and cultural celebrations, typically ranging from a few rupees up to several thousand rupees in face value.

Nepal's everyday coins tell a parallel story to the banknotes. During the monarchy, low-denomination circulating coins carried royal names and, in some series, royal portraits, echoing the notes of the same era. A famous one-year oddity is the 4-paisa coin of 1955, popularly called the 'Nepal Bullet Paisa' because it was struck from World War II rifle cartridge cases used by Gurkha soldiers, minted for a single year due to limited material.

Regular Nepali coins have historically been issued in paisa denominations (1, 5, 10, 25, 50) and in 1, 2, 5 and 10-rupee pieces, though the smallest paisa coins have effectively disappeared from daily use as prices rose. After 2008, republican-era circulating coins, like the notes, dropped the reigning monarch and instead carry national emblems and denominations rather than a personal portrait.

For collectors and students, the distinction matters: regular coins are struck in large numbers for commerce, while commemorative coins are the medium through which NRB continues to name and honour specific figures. This is why a query about 'who is on Nepali currency' has two answers, depending on whether one means the notes and coins in a wallet today, or the special coins issued for the record and for collectors.