Located at Prabhadevi in central Mumbai, the temple’s idol of Shree Siddhivinayak was carved out of a single black stone with the trunk on the right. This is considered a rather unusual appearance of Lord Ganesh. The upper right and left hands hold a lotus and an axe respectively while the lower right and left hands hold a rosary (japmala) and a bowl full of ‘modak’ respectively. On the forehead of the deity is an eye, which almost looks like the third eye of Lord Shiva. On both sides of the Lord Ganesh idol are placed one idol each of goddesses Riddhi and Siddhi and it is because of these two deities along with that of Lord Ganesh that the temple is called the Siddhivinayak Ganapati Temple. These goddesses signify sanctity, success, wealth and prosperity.

Built from a winning entry by architect George Wittet in 1909, the museum offers insights into the rich past of the country with its archaeological artefacts sourced from various excavated sites. It was opened to public on January10, 1922. This includes antiquities from the Buddhist monasteries of Gandhara, now in Pakistan, and the pottery and terracotta figurines from Harappa and Mohenjodaro dating back to about 3000 BCE. The museum mainly houses sculptures from the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Kashmir. Some of the other galleries showcase miniature paintings, decorative objects made out of wood, jade and ivory, etc.

Inaugurated on November 18, 2004 by the then president of India, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, the RBI Monetary Museum is a valuable addition to the Reserve Bank of India’s economy and finance-related functions and commercial activities. As the custodian of the country’s monetary heritage, the museum is an effort to document, preserve and present India’s currency system to the public. It was conceived as a part of the RBI’s educational and outreach programme.

The museum has been divided into many different sections and together they present a permanent and itinerant display of representative collection of original coins, notes and financial instruments which take the visitors down 2,500 years. The first section named ‘Ideas, Concepts & Curiosities’ introduces the visitor to how the money originated and evolved and how it is transformed from the concrete to the abstract i.e. the age of the good old barter system to electronic money. The next section of the Indian coinage traces the evolution of coined money from 6th century BCE to the present with exhibits of select coins along with a chronology of events and the timeline marking the important historical events.