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Sri Lanka Flag - Democratic Socialist Republic of
SKU: LKA35P
The Flag of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, known as the Lion, consists of gold lion passant, bearing a sword in its right fore paw, with a crimson field and four golden bo leaves in each corner. Framing the field is a yellow border. To the left are 2 vertical stripes of equal size in saffron and green, with the saffron stripe closest to the lion.
The Lion flag first appeared in Sri Lanka in 486 BC, introduced by Vijaya, the first Sri Lankan King. Years later, when King Dutugemunu initiated a campaign to defeat the Indian King Elara, who was occupying part of Sri Lanka, he carried a banner portraying a lion bearing a sword on his right forepaw along with two other symbols, the Sun and the Moon.
In 1815, when the reign of the last Sri Lankan King Sri Vikrama Rajasinghe was ended by the British and King George lll was proclaimed King of Ceylon the Lion Flag was replaced with the Union Flag and a Ceylonian Blue Ensign for local use. The Lion Flag found its way to England where it remains on display at the Royal Hospital Chelsea a nursing home for British Soldiers.
As the independence movement took shape in the early 20th century, E.W. Perera a prominent voice in the Ceylonian independence movement stumbled upon the flag during a visit to Chelsea. A picture of the Lion Flag was subsequently published in the Dinamina newspaper to commemorate 100 years of lost independence to the British. It became a rallying point that would lead to eventual independence from Britain in 1948 and the adoption of the Lion flag as the Republic’s flag in 1950. Ceylon officially changed its name to the Free Sovereign and Independent Republic of Sri Lanka in 1972 and to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka in 1978.
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