Muttusvami Dikshita: Rs 250 coin rules notified, design set

The Centre has notified rules for a Rs 250 commemorative coin honouring Muttusvami Dikshita, with the Ministry of Finance prescribing its design, metal composition and weight in a notification dated 30 October 2026. Published in the Gazette of India that day, the rules provide for a coin marking the occasion described as his 250th Janmotsava, or birth anniversary.

The ministry’s Department of Economic Affairs issued notification G.S.R. 959(E) under clauses (d) and (e) of Section 24(2) of the Coinage Act, 2011. The Coinage (Issue of Commemorative Coin on the occasion of 250th Janmotsava of Sri Muttusvami Diksita) Rules, 2026 took effect on publication in the Official Gazette.

Rule 2 directs that the coin be minted for issue under the Central Government’s authority. The notification establishes the specifications for its manufacture; it does not announce that the coin is available for purchase.

A four-metal coin with a 35-gram standard weight

Under the ministry’s rules, the coin must be circular, with an outside diameter of 44 millimetres and 200 serrations, the grooves along its edge. Its prescribed composition is 50 per cent silver, 40 per cent copper, 5 per cent nickel and 5 per cent zinc.

The notification describes this mixture as a quaternary alloy, meaning an alloy made from four metals. It is therefore not a pure-silver coin, despite silver accounting for half its standard composition.

The Second Schedule fixes the standard weight at 35 grams. It also specifies the permitted manufacturing variation, using the legal term “remedy allowed”. This is the tolerance within which the finished coin’s weight and silver content may differ from the standard.

For weight, the schedule permits a variation of one-hundredth above or below the standard, expressly allowing a range from 34.65 grams to 35.35 grams. For silver content, it permits between 498 and 502 parts per 1,000. These are manufacturing limits, not separate versions of the coin.

Portrait, anniversary inscription and national emblem

The First Schedule sets out the design for both faces. The obverse, or front, will carry the Lion Capital of the Ashoka Pillar at its centre, with the national motto beneath it. Bharat in Devanagari script will appear along the left periphery and India in English along the right.

The ministry’s design also places the rupee symbol and the denomination below the Lion Capital.

On the reverse, the commemorative face, Dikshita’s image will occupy the centre. An anniversary inscription in Devanagari will run along the upper periphery, with an English inscription identifying the occasion along the lower periphery. The year 2026 will appear below the portrait, according to the schedule.

The notification describes these elements in words. It does not include a reproduced image of the finished coin.

The musical legacy and the anniversary dates

The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts identifies the composer, also known as Muthuswamy Dikshitar, as one of the Trinity of Carnatic music. Its programme for the Guruguha Music Festival on 30 September 2012 records his lifespan as 1775-1835 and his birthplace as Tiruvarur.

According to that programme, his compositions were mostly in Sanskrit and used Guruguha as his composer’s signature. The centre’s account also links his work to his extensive travels and study of religious texts, noting that compositions often conveyed the histories of temples and shrines he visited.

The centre describes several musical influences on his work. It says his stay in Varanasi exposed him to Hindustani music, while exposure to Western music at a young age brought Celtic and Baroque influences into his compositions.

The anniversary chronology is distinct from the date of the coin rules. An invitation issued by the National Gallery of Modern Art, Bengaluru, in collaboration with INTACH Bengaluru Chapter, scheduled a commemoration of 250 years of Muthuswami Dikshitar for 19 April 2025. The invitation highlighted the way his compositions combined melody, rhythm and devotion with descriptions of temple architecture.

The finance ministry’s notification nevertheless specifies the anniversary wording and a 2026 inscription. It does not explain the timing of the coin notification relative to the commemoration scheduled in 2025.

Denomination does not establish the selling price

The Rs 250 denomination in the rules is not a published retail price. The Department of Economic Affairs identifies commemorative-coin issuance and the fixation of fair selling prices among the responsibilities of its Coin Section.

A separate departmental document, the Policy for Costing of a Commemorative Coin dated 10 October 2019, described a cost-plus approach: recovering production costs and adding a profit margin. That policy listed metal, labour, design, packaging and overhead expenses among the pricing components, alongside postal charges and tax.

The 2019 document also stated that the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited would begin production and fix selling prices after a gazette notification, with the price finalised before sales commenced. It provides background on the department’s costing framework, but does not establish a price or production status for this coin.

The 30 October notification names no particular mint and gives no production quantity, booking arrangements, retail price or public sale date. Those details remain outside the rules it has notified.