UK Royal Mint Releases Goddess Lakshmi Gold Bar For Sale Ahead Of Diwali

Uniting British minting excellence and time-honoured traditions, the UK Royal Mint’s first bullion bar range featuring the goddess went on sale on Tuesday ahead of the Diwali celebrations.

London: Goddess Lakshmi, the spiritual embodiment of prosperity, wealth and good fortune, is worshipped by the Hindus across the world.

Uniting British minting excellence and time-honoured traditions, the UK Royal Mint’s first bullion bar range featuring the goddess went on sale on Tuesday ahead of the Diwali celebrations.

READ: Diwali 2021: When Is Diwali? Know Lakshmi Puja Timings, Vidhi & Rituals

Designed by Royal Mint designer Emma Noble, the bar depicting a new and exclusive design is retailing at 1,080 pounds.

The Lakshmi bar, a 20 gram gold bar with the Hindu goddess of wealth engraved intricately into the precious metal, follows a close collaboration with Cardiff’s Shree Swaminarayan Temple on its intricate design.

The Royal Mint has described the bar as reflective of its ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion and an expansion of diverse cultural celebrations in the country.

Andrew Dickey, Divisional Director for Precious Metals at the Royal Mint, said 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, PTI reported.

Stating the bar is a shining example of this, he added the Royal Mint was delighted to work with Nilesh Kabaria of the Shree Swaminarayan Temple in Cardiff to ensure that we represent the Hindu goddess of wealth accurately and appropriately.

The bar features an Om symbol on its gift packaging and follows the success of the Mint’s 1 gram and 5 gram gold bars in henna-inspired packaging launched last year.

The bullion bar, which can be bought from the official Royal Mint website, will also be blessed at the Shree Swaminarayan Temple's Diwali ceremony as part of their Lakshmi Poojan.

The Royal Mint representatives will attend the Lakshmi Poojan on November 4.

Nilesh Kabaria, from the temple, said it is wonderful to see an international brand such as the Royal Mint taking such a considered and active approach to celebrate the Hindu culture within their product range.

“I love the intricate detail that Emma has been able to include on such a small surface, and on my recent visit to see the bar being struck, I was amazed to see the final version with every detail in perfect harmony,” he added.

The bar represents 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 fulfilment) and moksha (pursuit of self-knowledge, liberation).

In 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.

The goddess is seen surrounded by elephants symbolizing 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. The owl also serves as a symbolic reminder to refrain from blindness and greed after knowledge and wealth has been acquired.