states with weak or fractured identities tend to feature animals and natural objects. In Sri Lanka, I noted, the paper currency contains scenes from wildlife and generic figures in traditional dress. It’s a beautiful country, with the kindest people you’ll ever meet, but it’s deeply divided and scarred by inter-ethnic hatred, and the banknotes reflect that sad fact: any historical individual would be too divisive for its population, unacceptable to at least one group.