10 Rupees Sambuddathva Jayanthi

The 2011 Sambuddathva Jayanthi issue commemorates the 2,600th anniversary of the Buddha's attainment of enlightenment, a milestone the Sri Lankan government marked with considerable ceremony given the country's Theravada Buddhist majority. Sri Lanka's claim to an unbroken lineage of Theravada practice — traced to the missionary journey of Mahinda, son of Ashoka, in the 3rd century BCE — lent the anniversary particular national significance beyond the purely religious.

Nickel plated steel rather than cupronickel, a cost-driven substitution the Central Bank had been phasing into circulation coinage since the mid-2000s.