I hold a sword in my right paw
 Entries in files do not indicate
my real origin. But there is enough evidence to prove that I come from
the picturesque hill capital of Kandy, Sri Lanka. Its inhabitants are
proud of its historic ancestors, its religious supremacy and its scenic
splendour. It was the last Sinhalese stronghold. Kandy is the old
capital of Kandyan Kings. This city of twenty-five thousand inhabitants
is half embowered in topical foliage, and surrounded by evergreen hills
mirrored in on artificial lake with its famous Dalada temple.
This is a noted resort of the rich man and the artist, the sick, the
lame and the lazy. The climate here is cool and bracing. In 1815, the
chiefs in revolt against Sri Vickrama Raja Sinha the last Kandyan King
succumbed to the British.
My young days were not rosy. I had to undergo lot of hardships during
British rule. Along with other fellow mates I was shipped to England and
dumped in a storeroom in Chelsea London hospital. I was treated like a
prisoner kept under house detention.
 The cold grey skies and equally cold reception which coloured people
received made me look back nostalgically, and return to the land of my
birth. My discovery from the Chelsea hospital by one of the leading
lawyers of our country, a man who had considerable influence on the
politics of his time was a thrilling event.
He treated me well. We built up a good rapport. He fell in love for
my looks. He had colour plates of me made in England on March 2, 1915,
exactly hundred years after the fall of the Kandyan Kingdom, a colour
picture of mine was displayed for the first time in the front page of a
leading newspaper in Sri Lanka, together with pictures of the last King
and Queen of Kandy. It was a silent summons to undo the tragic past.
Press publicity brought me much recognition as a public figure. The
creation of a national identity to decide upon a standard emblem for the
colony which had been an independent dominion within the Commonwealth
was in the air.
Public imagination and interest were stirred to a remarkable degree.
National sentiments were aroused and community demands were loud. The
Sinhalese used the lion as the national symbol. A lion (sinha) was the
mythical ancestor of prince Vijaya, the Ariyan conqueror of Ceylon.
The people who crossed over with him from North India (B.C. 543) bore
the name Sinhalese. The claim of the lion to dominate the scene was
discussed. The integrity of the lion flag had to be preserved but at the
same time some device, had to be introduced to satisfy the minorities.
Therefore the battle of stripes developed and finally the
introduction of the two vertical stripes one saffron and other green to
represent the Tamils and the other minorities was tattooed on my skin,
while the centre displayed a yellow lion holding a sword in the right
paw on a red background. On March 31, 1951 I was given due recognition
as the new flag of Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) as an independent dominion
and flown on the House of Parliament.
Tissa Hewavitarana
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