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kids in front of the dutch church
Approaching Kalutara
Big TUSKERNational Flag of Sri Lanka
The flag as can be seen attached consists of a red(dish) rectangular panel bordered yellow containing a yellow lion passant holding a sword upright and four pipul leaves, one in each corner, and next to the hoist two vertical stripes, green and orange, also bordered yellow together.
The design of this flag has evolved gradually in an attempt to achieve national unity since the country, then known as Ceylon, gained its independence from Britain in 1948. Originally, the flag's central emblem was a gold lion and sword on a red field, derived from the flag of the Sinhalese kingdom of Kandy. As a consequence, it was not popular with the minority groups in the country, and so was amended in 1951 to include a green and orange band, to represent the Muslim and Tamil communities respectively. Finally, when the country adopted the local name of Sri Lanka in 1972, the flag was modified once more, with four leaves of the Pipul tree, a Buddhist symbol, added to the four corners of the dark red panel. This version of the flag was in official use from 1978.
The lion emblem of the Kingdom of Kandy comes with special meanings:
* The eyes - Vigilance and Forward Vision of the State
* The hair brushed in the forward direction - Bravery
* The sword - defense of the homeland and implementation of the laws of the land. (In some older Kotte era flags, the sword was replaced with a Whip)
* The multiple lines of hair seen on the head of the lion - Nobility
* The Equality of height between the head and the tail - The equality between the ruler and the rules.
* The strong paws of the lion - The strength of the Sri Lankans
* The Four Temple finales (or koth) - Buddhism being the national religion of Sri Lanka Extracted from Flags Of The World
