London: The UK’s Royal Mint on Tuesday released first bullion bar range featuring Goddess Lakshmi as a celebration of Diwali for sale. Lakshmi bar a 20 gram gold bar with the Hindu Goddess of Wealth engraved intricately into the precious metal was designed by Royal Mint designer Emma Noble and follows a close collaboration with the Shree Swami Narayan Temple in Cardiff on its intricate design.

                  The Royal Mint fixed a retail price to the bar at 1,080 pounds as reflective of its ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion and an expansion of diverse cultural celebrations in the country. With gold being a traditional and auspicious gift during the Diwali festival, we wanted to develop a product that incorporates both beauty and tradition, but with a modern twist, said Andrew Dickey, Divisional Director for Precious Metals at the Royal Mint.

The bar is a shining example of this and we were delighted to work with Nilesh Kabaria of the Shree Swami Narayan Temple in Cardiff to ensure that we represent the Hindu Goddess of Wealth accurately and appropriately, he said. The bullion bar will also be blessed at the Shree Swami Narayan Temple’s Diwali ceremony as part of their Lakshmi Poojan, attended by Royal Mint representatives on November 4^th.

The inspiration came from Goddess Lakshmi’s important role in Hindu culture and her iconography used on auspicious gifts used to celebrate special occasions such as weddings and births, said Royal Mint. The bar represents Goddess Lakshmi with her four arms symbolic of the four goals of humanity that are considered good in Hinduism dharma (pursuit of ethical, moral life), artha (pursuit of wealth, means of life), kama (pursuit of love, emotional fulfillment) and moksha (pursuit of self-knowledge, liberation).

In Goddess Lakshmi’s iconography, she is either sitting or standing on a lotus and typically carrying a lotus in one or two hands. Her lotus carries symbolic meanings of knowledge, self realisation and liberation in Vedic context, and represents reality, consciousness and karma (work, deed) in the Tantra. She is seen surrounded by elephants, which symbolize work, activity and strength, as well as water, rain and fertility for abundant prosperity. An owl signifies the patient striving to observe, see and discover knowledge particularly when surrounded by darkness. As a bird reputedly blinded by daylight, the owl also serves as a symbolic reminder to refrain from blindness and greed after knowledge and wealth has been acquired.