The national flag in legend and history

The National Flag that will be hoisted at the Independence Day celebrations tomorrow is not the flag that Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake hoisted on February 4, 1948, the day we got independence from British rule.

The flag Prime Minister Senanayake hoisted was the Lion Flag (Sinha Kodiya), the Royal Standard of Sri Wickrama Rajasingha, the last king of Kandy, and of Lanka. It has a golden lion holding a sword in its right paw, on a maroon background, with a gold border and four stylised bo leaves in the four corners.

After the first parliament was elected in August 1947, and D.S. Senanayake was elected prime minister, the British Government informed the Ceylon Government that the country would be granted independence, that is the right to rule and conduct its own affairs.

Preparations began for the celebrations which were scheduled for February 4, 1948. The Government was in a quandary. "What flag shall we hoist on that day, when the Union Jack is lowered, marking the end of British rule?" The British national flag is known as the Union Jack.

Since March 2, 1815 when the Kandyan Chiefs signed the convention (agreement between the chiefs and the British Governor), the Union Jack was the national flag of Ceylon, a colony of the British Empire.

I am sure you have been told or you have read that Wariyapola Sumangala Thera, who was waiting in the crowd outside the Magul Maduwa (audience hall) where the chiefs were assembled, pulled down the Union Jack that was hoisted outside the Magul Maduwa.

Now, while this big question was troubling the Prime Minister and his Cabinet, Mudaliyar A. Sinnelebbe, MP for Batticaloa, moved the following motion in Parliament: "This house is of opinion that the Royal Standard of Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe, depicting a yellow lion passant (walking) holding a sword in the right paw, on a red background, which was taken to England, should once again be adopted as the official flag of Ceylon."

I.E.. Goonesinha, Member of Parliament for Colombo Central, seconded the motion and it was passed. Accordingly, it was agreed to hoist the Lion Flag of Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe on Independence Day, 1948.

On that day, when after 133 years, the Lion Flag went up the flag post on that historic site, where the Independence Hall now stands, in the North (Jaffna) the Nandi Flag was hoisted in protest. The flag has Nandi, the sacred cow in the centre.

The people of the north felt that the Lion Flag did not belong to them, hence it could not be a national flag.

So, a committee was appointed to go into this question. This National Flag Committee comprised S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, John Kotalawela, J.R. Jayewardene, T.B. Jayah, G.G. Ponnambalam, S. Nadesan, all MPs and Dr. Senarath Paranavitane, Archaeological Commissioner who was appointed Secretary of the Commission.

After two years, the committee presented its recommendation on February 13, 1950. The National Flag that we use now is, as recommended by that committee. "A lion in gold on a crimson background.

Four Bo leaves at the corners, two vertical stripes of equal size in saffron and green to represent the minority communities, Tamils and Muslims. A gold border runs round the flag." The 1978 Constitution also declares that the National Flag of the Republic shall be the Lion flag.

Our Lion Flag has had an interesting history. It was taken away to England soon after the convention of 1815. No one knew what happened to it and no one seemed interested, until the end of that century or the beginning of the 20th century, when national feelings were awakening.

You may have heard of E.W. Perera. He was truly a great national leader. He was called Lion of Kotte and his home in Kotte is now a museum. It was this same E.W. Perera who took a petition to the Secretary of State for Colonies, hidden in his shoe in 1915.

When he was a student in London in 1908, he read in a book on Ceylon that the flag of the last king of Kandy was deposited in a museum in Whitehall (Whitehall is that part of London where the Government offices are). But it was not there.

Then someone else gave a tip that, it was in the Chelsea hospital. E.W. Perera visited the place and to his surprise, found not one flag, but three. They were hanging in the great hall along with other banners and the Eagle of Napolean.

Says E.W. Perera: "They were hopelessly faded, the third could only be recognised after being renovated. Two were clearly representations of the Royal banner and the other probably the banner of the Atapattu 'Lekam.'

E.W. Perera sketched the flags from the key-plate. The Royal Flag was copied in colour shortly after by Messrs Southwood and Co of Regent Street, London for D.R. Wijewardene, who was also a student then in London.

E.W. Perera describes his search for and discovery of the flag in the book Sinhala Flags, Banners and Standards he compiled and which the Colombo Museum published in 1916.

The lion has a special place in our history and our heritage. There is a legend that Vijaya, banished from his native land, came by sea and landed at Tambapanni, in the northwest of our island, and immediately planted a flag on the beach.

In the stone archway at Sanchi in north-west India, built by King Asoka, there is a carving of Prince Vijaya landing in Lanka, one of his companions is carrying a flag. It is not certain whether the flag has the figure of a lion. If it does, then, our Lion flag (Sinha Kodiya) is the oldest national flag on record.

This quotation is from E.W. Perera's book: "The three lions on the gateway of Sanchi have been identified as the royal arms of Ceylon, as the peacock on it signifies the banner of the Maury dynasty.

The arch contains a representation of the dispatch of the Bo-tree to Ceylon and the symbols on either side of the panel depict the Standards (royal flag) of Asoka and the Sinhala monarch Devanampiya Tissa.

"This is the first representation we have of the Sinhala Royal Standard. The lion was the national symbol from the fabled origin of the Sinhala monarch Vijaya, from the king of beasts. Even the Mahavihara, the Buddhist monastery at Anuradhapura, was laid out in the shape of a lion."

The flag of the kings of Jayawardenapura, Kotte, had a lion. One of the poems written during the period, the Perakumba Sirita describes the flag with the lion, fluttering on the northern ramparts. The Dambulla vihara built by King Keerthi Sri Rajasingha, (1747-82), centuries after King Dutugemunu, preserves an old tradition.

One fresco shows the fight between Dutugemunu and Elara. Both (or their elephants) are carrying their respective standards, Dutugemunu's flag has a lion and the sun and moon symbols.

E.W. Perera states further in his book that a fragment of an ola manuscript on flags he found in the library of the Malwatta Vihara, records that a banner bearing the symbol of a lion holding a sword in the right paw was the flag of Sri Wickrama Rajasingha.

A Belgian physician who visited Ceylon in 1687 describes the royal standard carried in a military pageant held by the Dutch, in memory of King Rajasingha II (1634-87). "It was a red lion on a gold field."

Our flag has seen many changes over the centuries. One record says the royal flag had a red lion holding a sword in the right paw, on a white field.

Whatever, the colour of the lion or the background, the lion has been for over 20 centuries, the symbol on the flags of the kings of Lanka, and now on the flag of the Republic of Sri Lanka.

Sumana Saparamadu
 

Six decades of freedom

A historic day marking a significant event will dawn tomorrow as the people of our land unite to celebrate yet another Independence Day.

Six decades have passed since our motherland was finally freed from hundreds of years of foreign rule. It didn't come about without a struggle, but there was very little blood shed when compared to many other countries that had to virtually turn to violence to become independent countries.

The British who ruled our country at that time certainly didn't give us the right to rule our motherland on a platter. Our forefathers had to struggle for this freedom we enjoy and boast of today.

As we prepare to mark the 60th Independence Day Anniversary of our motherland tomorrow, let's refresh our minds today with the many events that led up to this D-day and also the valiant roles played by many important people from all communities to make this freedom a reality.

It is indeed heartening to note that sixty years ago, the Sinhalese, Tamils and Burghers Muslims all struggled as one and spoke with one voice to free Mother Lanka from foreign rule.

But alas! Today this unity is no more; there's an ethnic war to divide the country that we all once struggled to free, together. There's animosity between the very communities that once stood united to gain independence.

Let's hope that when we celebrate Independence Day tomorrow, we could put our ethnic differences aside and rise as one nation to usher in a peaceful and prosperous era for our motherland, like the patriots of the past era.

As you are the next generation that will inherit this land, take this opportunity to extend a hand of friendship to all communities and think as Sri Lankans, not as Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims or Burghers, to develop our beloved country.

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Foreign rule

* Our motherland came under foreign rule with the invasion by the Portuguese in 1505. The first Portuguese fleet that arrived in our land was led by Lorenzo de Almeida.

* The Dutch who arrived in our shores to conquer Ceylon then overthrew the Portuguese in 1658 after a six-month seige.

* The Dutch were eventually driven away by the British in 1796. They then controlled the maritime provinces for 19 years.

* The British invaded the Kandyan Kingdom on February 1815.

* British Imperial rule prevailed in this country for no less than 150 years.

Kandy - the last bastian to fall

* The last Sinhala King to rule Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon) was Sri Vira Parakrama Narendrasinha (1706-1739). He was popularly known as Kundasale Rajjuruwo (King of Kundasale).

* The Kandyan Kingdom was ruled thereafter for 76 years by Malabar Kings from South India who were Hindus.

* Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe was the last King to rule the Kandyan kingdom before it came under British rule, ending 2,357 years of local rule. The King was taken prisoner and deported to Vellore, South India.

* The King died in 1832

Governance (Pre - Independence)

* The first British Governor appointed to Ceylon was Frederick North (later Earl of Guildford).

* Ceylon became a colony of the British Empire in 1815 and remained so until February 4, 1948.

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Road to freedom

* One of the earliest struggles against the colonial powers was the 1818 Uva-Wellassa rebellion. It was following this. Rebellion which was crushed by the then British Governor Brownrigg that Keppetipola Monarawilla was beheaded. Today he is a national hero.

* In 1848, hundred years before we finally gained independence, another rebellion took place in Kandy. Its leaders Puran Appu and Gongalegoda Banda were captured by the British who shot and killed them, making them heroes of our motherland today.

* There were many others who continued this struggle for freedom over the years. Some of these patriots were: D. S. Senanayake, F. R. Senanayake, Ponnambalam Arunachalam, D. B. Jayatilleke, Ponnambalam Ramanathan, Al Haj T. B. Jayah, Razik Fareed, G. G. Ponnambalam, S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, Anagarika Dharmapala, Migettuwatte Gunananda Thera, Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala Thera, Arthur V. Dias, D. R. Wijewardene, E. W. Perera, James Peiries, W. A. Silva, Colvin R. de Silva and Sir Muthu Coomaraswamy.

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First Cabinet

* D. S. Senanayake was invited to form a Cabinet after the first parliamentary elections in Ceylon held from August 15 to September 20, 1947.

* Of all the British colonies, Sri Lanka was the first country to get voting rights.

* The first Cabinet was sworn in on February 4, 1948.

The Prime Minister, Minister of Defence and External Affairs was D. S. Senanayake, Dudely Senanayake was the Minister of Agriculture and Lands, while S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike became the Minister of Health and Local Government. J. R. Jayewardene was the Minister of Finance.

The other Cabinet members were: G. E. de Silva, Sir Oliver Goonetilleke, (E. A. P. Wijeratne took over his portfolio in July), R. S. S. Gunawardene, T. B. Jayah, Col. J. L. Kotelawala, E. A. Nugawela, Dr. L. A. Rajapakse, K. C. A. Ratnayake, C. Sittampalam and C. Sundaralingam.

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Independence Square

Located at Torrington Place, Colombo 7, it has become the main venue for Independence Day Celebrations for many years.

However, the first ceremony attended by the Duke of Gloucester, (representing his brother King George VI of England) was held at this site with the national flag being hoisted for the first time, in an improvised pavilion as the present structure was constructed only after that to commemmorate the event.

Today it has also become the venue of many national events and also the cremation site for many important people. The first Prime Minister D. S. Senanayake is also buried here.

First Independence Day

* Under the Independence Act, February 4, 1948 was referred to as the 'Appointed Day.'

* First day of freedom was declared a public holiday with celebrations continuing until the opening of the Dominion Parliament on February 10.

* With the booming of salutary guns at 7.45 a.m. on February 4, 1948, the country's new status, the Dominion Ceylon, was announced.

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Father of the Nation

D.S. Senanayake

* Don Stephen Senanayake was the first Prime Minister of Independent Sri Lanka (Ceylon).

* Was born on October 20, 1884 in Botale, Meerigama.

* Studied at S. Thomas College, Mount Lavinia.

* Entered public life by associating with the Temperance Movement, which wasn't held in favour by the British government.

* Was responsible for building many tanks for agriculture and also contributed to the promotion of national literature.

* Died in 1952.