WikiPortallus: Flag of Sri Lanka.html

Flag of Sri Lanka

Use

Civil and state flag and civil ensign.

Proportion

1:2

Adopted

May 22, 1972

Design

Dark red rectangular panel bordered yellow containing a yellow lion passant holding a sword upright in its right fore paw, and four pipul leaves, one in each corner, and next to the hoist two vertical stripes, green and orange, also bordered yellow together.

Use

Naval ensign.

Proportion

1:2

Adopted

1972

Design

White with the national flag in the canton.

History

When Vijaya, the first King of the island of Sri Lanka, arrived in Sri Lanka in 486 BCE, he brought with him a flag with a symbol of a lion on it. Since then the Lion symbol played a significant role in the history of Sri Lanka. It was used extensively by monarchs who followed King Vijaya and it became a symbol of freedom and hope. When the legendary King Dutugemunu embarked on the campaign in which he defeated the Indian King Elara, who had occupied part of Sri Lanka, he carried with him a banner which portrayed a lion carrying a sword on his right forepaw along with two other symbols, the Sun and the Moon.

The banner was in use until 1815, when the reign of the last king of the Kandyan Kingdom, King Sri Vikrama Rajasinha was brought to an end when the Kandyan nobility signing of the Kandy convention on 2 March thus proclaiming King George III as King of Ceylon and replaced the Lion flag with the Union Flag as the national flag of Ceylon. The government of British Ceylon used its own flag. The Lion Flag was taken to England and kept at the Royal Hospital Chelsea. As the years passed, the design of the flag was forgotten by the Sri Lankan public.

Then, as the independence movement in Sri Lanka gained strength in the early 20th century, E. W. Perera, a prominent figure of the independence movement with the help of D. R. Wijewardene, the press baron, discovered the original Lion flag in Chelsea. A picture of it was subsequently published in a special edition of the Dinamina newspaper to mark 100 years since the end of Sri Lankan independence. The Lion flag then became a centrepiece of attraction to the public, who for the first time since the fall of the Kandyan Kingdom were now aware of its actual design.

In 1948 the flag was adapted as the national flag of the Dominion of Ceylon, however the flag underwent several changes in 1953 and again in 1972.

Symbolism

The National Flag of Sri Lanka represents the country and its heritage as rallying device that integrates the minorities with the majority race.

Most symbols in the flag have been given distinctive meanings.

Symbol	Represents
The lion	The Sinhalese ethnicity
The bo leaves	Buddhism and its influence on the nation. They also stand for the four virtues of Kindness, Friendliness, Happiness and Equanimity.
The sword of the lion	The sovereignty of the nation
The tail of the lion	The noble eightfold path of Buddhism
The curly hair on the lion's head	Religious observance, wisdom and meditation
The beard of the lion	Purity of words
The handle of the sword	The elements of water, fire, air and earth
The nose of the lion	Intelligence
The two front paws of the lion	Purity in handling wealth.
The vertical orange stripe	The Tamil ethnicity
The vertical green stripe	The Muslim faith and Moor ethnicity
The yellow border round the flag	People from other cultures living in Sri Lanka
The crimson background	Other minor religions and ethnic groups, Portuguese/Dutch Burghers. Also refers to the rich colonial heritage and background of the country.