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Encyclopedia > Flag of Sri Lanka
Flag ratio: 1:2
Flag ratio: 1:2
Flag of Ceylon from 1948-1951
Flag of Ceylon from 1948-1951
Flag of Ceylon between 1951 and 1972
Flag of Ceylon between 1951 and 1972

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 golden 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. Image File history File links Flag_of_Sri_Lanka. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Sri_Lanka. ... Image File history File links FIAV_110100. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Ceylon. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Ceylon. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Binomial name Ficus religiosa Linnaeus The Bodhi or Bo or Peepul tree (Ficus religiosa), is a species of fig (Family Moraceae) and a sacred tree for Buddhists. ...


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

Contents

History

When Vijaya, the first King of the Sinhalese people, 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 Vijaya and it became a symbol of freedom and hope. When the legendary King Dutugemunu embarked on the campaign in which he defeated of the Indian King Elara, who had occupied part of Sri Lanka, and thereby united 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. There is a story about Vijaya and his men landing on the shores of Sri-Lanka. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Elara is a moon of Jupiter. ...


The last Sri Lankan King to use the flag was King Sri Vikrama Rajasinghe, who was also the last King of Sri Lanka. When his reign was brought to an end by the British in 1815, they proclaimed King George III as King of Ceylon and replaced the Lion flag with the Union Flag as the national flag of Ceylon, government of British Ceylon used its own flag. The Lion Flag was taken to England and kept at the Royal Hospital Chelsea a Royal Military Hospital in Chelsea. As the years passed design of the flag was soon forgotten by the Sri Lankan public. Flag Ratio: 1:2 The Union Flag (also known as the Union Jack; see discussion below) is the national flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. ... The Arms of the Ceylon Government(1875-1948) The British started their rule in 1798. ... Figure Court of Royal Hospital Chelsea The Royal Hospital Chelsea is a retirement home and nursing home for British soldiers who are unfit for further duty due to injury or old age, located in the Chelsea region of central London. ... Statue of Thomas More on Cheyne Walk. ...


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, 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 centre piece of attraction to the public, who for the first time since the fall of the Kandyan Kingdom were now aware of its actual design. Figure Court of Royal Hospital Chelsea The Royal Hospital Chelsea is a retirement home and nursing home for British soldiers who are unfit for further duty due to injury or old age, located in the Chelsea region of central London. ...


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 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 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 ethnicity
The vertical green stripe The Muslim faith and Moorish ethnicity
The yellow border round the flag The Buddhist clergy
The crimson background Other minor religions

The Sinhalese are the main ethnic group of Sri Lanka. ... Sri Lankan Tamils also, Ceylonese or Ilankai Tamils are today a trans-national minority, and are Tamil people from Sri Lanka. ... There is also a collection of Hadith called Sahih Muslim A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Persian: Mosalman or Mosalmon Urdu: مسلمان, Turkish: Müslüman, Albanian: Mysliman, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of the religion of Islam. ... An ancient Buddha statue from Aukana Sri Lanka // Buddhism in Sri Lanka is primarily of the Theravada school, and constitutes the religious faith of about 70% of the population[1] According to traditional Sri Lankan chronicles (such as the Dipavamsa), Buddhism was introduced into Sri Lanka in the 2nd century...

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Flags of Sri Lanka
  • Sri Lanka Government Web Portal
  • Lanka Library
  • The Sri Lankan Lion flag -how it came to be

Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... The Wikimedia Commons (also called Wikicommons) is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. ...

External link

  • Lion Flag as depicted in the Constitution of Sri Lanka


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Afghanistan · Armenia · Azerbaijan1 · Bahrain · Bangladesh · Bhutan · Brunei · Cambodia · China [People's Republic of China (Hong Kong • Macau) · Republic of China (Taiwan)] · Cyprus · Egypt1 · Georgia1 · Greece1 · India · Indonesia1 · Iran · Iraq · Israel (see also Palestinian territories) · Japan · Jordan · Kazakhstan1 · Korea (North Korea · South Korea) · Kuwait · Kyrgyzstan · Laos · Lebanon · Malaysia · Maldives · Mongolia · Myanmar · Nepal · Oman · Pakistan · Philippines · Qatar · Russia1 · Saudi Arabia · Singapore · Sri Lanka · Syria · Taiwan · Tajikistan · Thailand · Timor-Leste (East Timor)1 · Turkey1 · Turkmenistan · United Arab Emirates · Uzbekistan · Vietnam · Yemen1 The Dannebrog, national flag of Denmark, is the oldest state flag still in use. ... This gallery of sovereign-state flags shows the flags of sovereign states in the list of sovereign states. ... This overview contains the flags of dependent territories. ... This overview contains the flags of self-proclaimed states that have declared their independence, exert control over (at least part of) the claimed territory and population, but have not been acknowledged as independent states by the international community at large. ... This gallery contains the flags of states that were (at least de facto) independent in the past. ... A modern coat of arms is derived from the medi val practice of painting designs onto the shield and outer clothing of knights to enable them to be identified in battle, and later in tournaments. ... This gallery of sovereign state coats of arms shows the coat of arms of sovereign states in the list of sovereign states. ... This overview shows the coat of arms of dependent territories. ... This overview contains the coats of arms of self-proclaimed states that have declared their independence, exert control over (at least part of) the claimed territory and population, but have not been acknowledged as independent states by the international community at large. ... This is a gallery of international and national flags used in Asia. ... Civil and state flag and ensign. ... The flag of the HKSAR Flag ratio: 2:3 The HKSAR and the PRC flags brandishing at the patio of the Legislative Council. ... National flag. ... Proportions 1:2 The Palestinian flag was originally designed by Sharif Hussein for the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire in 1916. ... Please see: North Korea: Flag of North Korea South Korea: Flag of South Korea Unification Flag This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Flag of North Korea was adopted on September 8, 1948, as the national flag and ensign. ... The flag of South Korea has three parts: a white background; a red and blue taegeuk in the center; and four black trigrams, one in each corner of the flag. ... Flag ratio: 2:3 The script on the flag is Arabic, written in the Thuluth script. ... Flag ratio: 1:2 The flag of East Timor was adopted in 2002. ... National flag and ensign. ...


1 Transcontinental country. A transcontinental country is a country belonging to more than one continent. ...


  Results from FactBites:
 
Sri Lanka - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (19532 words)
Sri Lanka's citizens enjoy a long life expectancy, advanced health standards, and one of the highest literacy rates in the world despite the fact that the country has one of the lowest per capita incomes.
Because Sri Lanka was the seat of the Southeast Asia Command, a broad infrastructure of health services and modern amenities was built to accommodate the large number of troops posted into all parts of the country.
Sri Lanka exercised its new foreign policy in 1962 by organizing a conference of neutralist nations to mediate an end to the SinoIndian border war of 1962.
Flag of Sri Lanka - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (134 words)
The flag of Sri Lanka was adopted in 1948.
When Sri Lanka gained its independence in 1948 as Ceylon, it adopted the ancient flag of the kingdom of Kandy, which consisted of a red field with a gold lion and sword in its centre.
In 1972, when the country changed its name to Sri Lanka, four leaves of the pipul tree were added to the corners of the red panel to represent the majority Buddhist community.
  More results at FactBites »


 

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