The rupee was the major silver coin of India, and in use far beyond the borders of the Indian subcontinent. Rupees circulated in Nepal, Bhutan and Sikkim, on the Seychelles, on Mauritius and in East Africa. They were even used for a while in what is Iraq today, along the Persian Gulf, in Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan. This rupee from 1991 bears the image of India's Prime Minister Rajiv Ghandi, who was assassinated that year by political extremists.