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The Flag of Sri Lanka, also called the Lion Flag, consists of gold lion passant, holding a sword in its right fore paw, in front of a crimson background with four crimson bo leaves in each corner. Around the background is a yellow border, and to its left are 2 vertical stripes of equal size in saffron and green, with the saffron stripe closest to the lion.

It was adopted in 1950 following the recomendations of a committee appointed by the 1st Prime Minister of Sri Lanka D.S. Senanayake.

Contents 1 Symbolism 2 History and Myths 3 Development of the myths 4 References 5 External link

[edit] Symbolism

The National Flag of Sri Lanka is expected to represent the country and its heritage and be a rallying device that integrates the minorities with the majority. However due to the racial connotations attached to the lion symbol on the flag this design has been contentious since its adoption in 1950. As such it fails to be a rallying device for the nation and fails to integrate the minorities with the majority.

The symbols on the flag have now been given distinctive meanings but it cannot be said that such interpretations have historical justification or that they are universally accepted. For instance the assertion that the lion’s tail stands for the Noble eightfold path is an insult to Buddhism. Similarly the curly hair of the lion supposed to represent the curious trinity Religious observance, wisdom and meditation appears to be Sila, Samadhi and Panna in a mixed up sequence with an erroneous translation.

Symbol	Represents
The lion	The Sinhalese race
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 eight fold 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 race
The vertical green stripe	The Muslim race
The border round the flag	Other minor races.
The crimson background	Other minor religions

[edit] History and Myths

Many modern myths have been spun around this flag and the first is that Vijaya, the first King of the Sinhalese people, arrived in Sri Lanka in 486 BCE, with a lion flag and that since then the Lion symbol played a significant role in the history of Sri Lanka. It is also claimed that the lion flag was used extensively by monarchs who followed Vijaya and it became a symbol of freedom and hope. However there is absolutely no historical evidence to justify such claims. On the contrary, the Kings and Queens Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa do not claim to be Sinhalese but have consistently claimed in their inscriptions to be from the Kshatriya race and Indian Sun Dynasty and Lunar Dynasty. The ancient Mahavamsa chronicle of Sri Lanka too refers to them in the same way. Accordingly their royal symbols were the Sun and the Moon. The Lion was not a royal symbol for these monarchs and they used the lion image on foot-stones at entrances to buildings and on urinal-stones. The lion appears to have been an important symbol only for the Indian born Kalinga king of Sri Lanka Nissankamalla (1187-1196 ) who claimed to hail from Sinhapura (lion city).

The second myth is that the legendary King Dutugemunu carried with him a banner with a sword bearing lion when he embarked on his campaign to defeat King Elara. However although Dutugemunu is the hero of the Mahavamsa ,the great chronicle says nothing about a lion flag or a lion race. Those who believe this myth refer to a mural at the ancient Dambulla cave temple but they fail to say that although the temple is ancient, the particular mural is only from the British period.

The third myth is that it was the banner of the last King of Sri Lanka, Sri Vikrama Rajasinghe (1798-1815). Quite apart from the fact that he too was not a Sinhalese but an Indian Nayakkar king, there is no historical evidence to say that he used a lion flag as his royal standard. Again to the contrary, eye witness accounts from the period say that the king’s banner was the sun and moon banner and that various other flags with animal motifs were also used. And indeed many flags with various animal motifs have been found in Kandy and elsewhere.An examination of Sri Vikrama Rajasinghe’s throne makes its quite evident that his royal emblems were the Sun and the Moon. The lion designs on the throne with floral streams spewing forth from their mouths are merely decorative motifs. Also these lions have no resemblance to the one on the Independence flag. This same observation applies to the symbols on the kings palace located to the left of the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy.

The fourth is that the flag had bo-leaves at the four corners from its inception to represent Buddhism. The bo-leaves replaced the finials in the corners only in 1972 but even the Sri Lanka Government Web Portal promotes these myths

[edit] Development of the myths

The opportunities offered by the liquor trade in the 19th century had produced a new class of wealthy Sri Lankans. Some of the liquor dealers to amass large fortunes during this period were Wevage Arnolis Dep (whose daughter Helena married timber trader Don Philip Wijewardene the ancestor of J. R. Jayawardene and Ranil Wickremasinge) and Don Spater Senanayake the Father of D. S. Senanayake. The second generation of these families were striving hard at the turn of the century to gain power and status through divisive means such as religious controversies, temperance movements and anti-Muslim riots.

The Mudaliyar class was disdainful of this new class of rich Govigamas and Sir Christoffel Obeyesekere the prominent member from the Mudaliyar class referred to these new rich Govigama D. S. Senanayake, his two brothers F.R and D.C and others as “a few who are nobodies, but who hope to make somebodies of themselves by disgraceful tactics”. It’s this outburst by Sir Christoffel that gives Kumari Jayawardena the title for her insightful book on this period, ‘Nobodies to Somebodies - The Rise of the Colonial Bourgeoisie in Sri Lanka”.

The search for a Sinhala racial flag by this group led to E. W. Perera’s discovery in 1909 of three Kandyan flags taken by Captain Pollock in 1803, at the Chelsea Royal Hospital. They were hopelessly faded and could be found only by the name plates on the wall. Perera sketched a lion flag not from the flag but from the identifying plaque on the wall and rejected the official colour copies of these flags procured by the crown agents for the Colombo Museum as inaccurate and useless. However he readily accepted an illustration commissioned by D. R. Wijewardene which is the Flag of Ceylon from 1948-1951 illustrated above. (Perera 3). Further, the lion on the Sri Lankan flag has no resemblance to any of the lion motifs or lion flags from Sri Lanka’s history. It appears to have been inspired by the designs of European heraldic lions. See Lion (heraldry). It should also be noted that according to the plaques on the wall, the royal standard of Sri Vikrama Rajasinghe was not the flag copied by Perera, but the martial flag illustrated on the right. Perera has totally omitted this flag and has not even include an illustration of it in his book.

D. R. Wijewardene issued a special edition of his Sinhala newspaper Dinamina, on March 2, 1915 to mark the centenary of the ‘end of Sinhala independence’, and promoted this Lion flag in colour on the front page with portraits of the last King and Queen of Kandy. The main purpose of E. W. Perera’s ‘Sinhalese banners and Standards’ published in 1916 too appears to be the promotion of this Lion Flag as the royal flag of Sri Lanka. However after preparing the background for adopting this flag as the flag of independent Sri Lanka, Wijewardene and Senanayake (from the same kin group) enlisted the obliging Muslim Mudaliyar A. L. Sinnelebbe, the Member of Parliament for Batticaloa to move a motion in parliament calling for the adoption of this flag. As such this was the flag hoisted by D. S. Senanayake at the independence festivities on February 04, 1948.

[edit] References

• Perera E. W. 1916 Sinhalese Banners and Standards
• Sri Lanka Government Web Portal
• Lanka Library
• The Sri Lankan Lion flag -how it came to be

[edit] External link

• Lion Flag as depicted in the Constitution of Sri Lanka

National flags	National coats of arms
Flags of sovereign states	Coats of arms of sovereign states
Flags of dependent territories	Coats of arms of dependent territories
Flags of unrecognized states	Coats of arms of unrecognized states
Flags of micronations	Coats of arms of micronations
Flags of formerly independent states

da:Sri Lankas flag

de:Flagge Sri Lankas es:Bandera de Sri Lanka it:Bandiera dello Sri Lanka he:דגל סרי לנקה hu:Srí Lanka zászlaja ms:Bendera Sri Lanka nl:Vlag van Sri Lanka ja:スリランカの国旗 pl:Flaga Sri Lanki pt:Bandeira do Sri Lanka ru:Флаг Шри-Ланки fi:Sri Lankan lippu sv:Sri Lankas flagga