‘The Pasts of the National Flag’
‘The Pasts of the National Flag: Some unorthodox views on the invention of Tradition’ will be the theme of the 78th monthly lecture of the National Trust – Sri Lanka.
The lecture will be delivered by Prof. Gananath Obeysekere on Thursday, October 29 at the HNB Auditorium, 22nd Floor, HNB Towers, 479 T.B. Jayah Mawatha, Colombo 10 at 6.30 p.m.
One of the features of the modern-nation state is the presence of a national flag. One cannot understand the modern nation-state without its symbols of unity enshrined in the flag and the national anthem.
Flags of all types are found everywhere in Sri Lanka but not as a national flag, namely, one that symbolizes the unity of a nation. Because the nation-state is a recent historical phenomenon, national flags must express that newness.
In the Lecturer’s view it is a misconception that the current national flag of Sri Lanka was exceptional in this regard and was the flag of the Tri Sinhala, that is, Rajarata (Pihitirata), Maya and Ruhuna.
He will demonstrate that while the lion flag and other representations of the “people of the lion” (Sinhala) were everywhere, the unity of the Tri Sinhala from very ancient times was represented by the sesata, the white parasol or umbrella as far back as Dutugemunu and up until the reign of the last king Sri Vikrama Rajasinha.
As far as he is aware, none of the great hatan kavi (war poems) of the Kotte and Kandy periods mention a national flag. Hence one must be careful in imagining the present national flag as something that existed in the past at all times.
Ironically the lion with the sword is visually near identical with the Coat of Arms of the Netherlands and maybe the Dutch borrowed it from us during their hundred year stay in the low-country or maybe not.
Gananath Obeyesekere is a Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, Princeton University from where he retired in 2000 after having taught there for 20 years.
He obtained his BA in English literature with first class honours in 1955 from the University of Ceylon and his PhD from the University of Washington in 1964.
He has taught in the University of Peradeniya, the University of Washington and the University of California, San Diego.
His latest book The Doomed King: requiem for Sri Vikrama Rajasinha, is ready for publication. The contents of this lecture are extracted from it.