1982 - 1985 : Sri Lanka
Historical and Archaeological
20 Rupee note

The Central Bank of Ceylon (CBSL) issued in 1983 April, for circulation, a 20 Rupee Currency Note in a series of Notes that started in 1981 on theme Historical and Archaeology of Sri Lanka
images/1985_01_01_lkha_20r_uvf.jpg images/1985_01_01_lkha_20r_uvb.jpg
Click on image to see Note Security under Ultra-Violet illumination
Images on Front and back are identified in Sinhala, Thamil and English in increasing Font size printed next to it.
Predominant Color :Front - Violet with Green blue brown and red for image on right
:Back - Violet with Green blue and brown background decorate.
Size: 137 x 70 mm
Front: Landscape
Within a decorative border and center, Numeric 20 at all four corners. At upper center the value රුපියල් විස්සයි in Sinhala. இருபது ரூபாய் in Thamil, and TWENTY RUPEES in English, at bottom center.
In Top center in Sinhala, ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව, இலங்கை மத்திய வங்கி in Thamil and CENTRAL BANK OF CEYLON in English in next two lines with decreasing font size.
Next in even smaller font thr Legality Legend in 3 lines
ශ්‍රී ලංකාණ්ඩුව වෙනුවෙන් නිකුත් කරන ලද මේ
මුදල් නෝට්ටුව ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඇතුළත ඕනෑම මුදල් ගණනක්
ගෙවිම සඳහා නිතියෙන් වලංගුය
Two Facsimile signatures above මුදල් ඈමති, and next මහ බැංකුවේ අධිපති.
Below Date 198Y-01-01
Horizontal Serial number on lower left of center and upper right.
At right is image of the famous Moonstone from the Queen's Pavilion in Anuradhapura with caption bottom left of it in Sinhala සදකඩ පහණ, අනුරාධපුර., Thamil சந்திர வட்டக்கல், அனுராதபுரம்., and English MOONSTONE, ANURADHAPURA.
Braille:Three small squares printed in relief incorporated vertically on the right hand side border of the note.
Back: Portrait
Within a decorative border, Numeric 20 at top left and Bottom right. ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව in Sinhala, இலங்கை மத்திய வங்கி in Thamil and CENTRAL BANK OF CEYLON in English, in 3 lines of decreasing font size, centered on top.
රුපියල් විස්සයි in Sinhala. இருபது ரூபாய் in Thamil, and TWENTY RUPEES in English, in 3 lines of decreasing font size justified on bottom.
At center is image of the oldest stupa in Anuradhapura, built by King Devanampiyatissa for Prince Mahinda, son of Emperor Asoka of India, who introduced Buddhism to Sri Lanka in the 3rd century BCE. with caption bottom left of it in Sinhala ථුපාරාම දාගැබ, අනුරාධපුර., Thamil தூபாராம, தாதுகோபுரம், அனுராதபுரம்., and English THUPARAMA DAGOBA. ANURADHAPURAA.
Two cataliya orchids below.
At bottom centered just below horizontal decorate in small script
BRADBURY WILKINSON.
Watermark: Lion standing on hind legs facing left with bent whip in right paw, Lion Lighter with outline including whip darker than paper.
Security Thin polyester thread of 1 mm width embedded in note. Micro-printing background pattern.
UV Printing: Front: Signature, Date and Serial Numbers, in Green. On right outlines of large Flag Lion with Sword in raised right paw in yellow with large numeric 20 highlighting design at center.
Back: Highlight of tree and background of Stupa and Orchids in Greenish Yellow.
Latent image: Within the pair of decorates in the motif at front bottom center, the Numeric value 20 written with horizontal lines on vertical line background, as seen on this 1200 dpi scan on right.

Denom.Date on
BankNote 
Finance MinisterCBSL GovernorFirst Serial #Mintage
in K
Rs.20 1982-01-01 Ronnie de Mel Warnasena Rasaputram F/1   000001 10,000
Rs.20 1985-01-01 Ronnie de Mel Warnasena Rasaputram F/11 000001 30,000
Minister of Finance Governor
Central Bank of Ceylon
1982-01-01, 1985-01-01
Ronnie de Mel Warnasena Rasaputram

Text edited from book Sri Lanka Currency of Recent Times 1938 - 1985 by Mr. T M U Sallay 1986 CBSL Colombo.
The note was scanned at 300 dpi and displayed at 50 dpi.