Odyssey of the Lion Flag

~ We reproduce an article that appeared in The Sunday Times Millenium Supplement, Past Times

"If we are going to have a flag ceremony at all, I want the Lion Flag hoisted. When we lost our country, when the people chose the King of England as their sovereign, this was the flag of the last Kandyan King who was dethroned. That was pulled down. Now that England is transferring sovereignty to the people of this Island, I want England also to replace that flag along with the sovereignty that they are giving us back. It is for this main reason that we intend hoisting this flag on Independence Day….
"By hosting this flag let us show Britain that they have transferred sovereignty to us, and let the people out side know about it. If we are to have a flag hoisted on Independence Day it must be this flag and no other flag."

Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake uttered these words in a statement he made on the floor of the House of Representatives on January 16, 1948 (just two weeks before Independence Day) winding up a debate on a motion brought forward by the M.P. for Batticaloa, A. Sinnalebbe. The motion read:

"That this House is of opinion that the Royal Standard of King Sri Wickrama Rajasinha depicting a yellow lion passant holding a sword in its right paw on a red background, which was removed to England after the Convention of 1815, should once again be adopted as the official flag of Independent Ceylon."

J.R. Jayewardene who was Minister of Finance in the Senanayake Cabinet, claimed in a newspaper article, that he was responsible both for drafting the motion and for persuading the member to move it.

"The debate was animated and showed the sharp differences of opinion. The Sinhalese nationalists wanted the Lion Flag, unaltered, to fly over the whole land; the Marxists preferred the 'Hammer and the Sickle' flag; the minorities who were anxious to co-operate with the Sinhalese preferred to alter the Lion Flag and accept it with alterations that would represent their interests; the Tamil leaders who wanted a federal state preferred a totally new flag," he wrote. (Daily News, February 3, 1985).

In the State Council, Mr. Jayewardene (Member for Kelaniya) himself had raised the issue of the Lion Flag during the Budget Debate in September 1945. He said, "The Lion Flag held sway over three portions of Ceylon - Ruhuna, Rajarata and Mayarata. It is a yellow flag with a lion in the centre. If you go to the Sanchi Stupa in India which was supposed to have been built in the time of Emperor Asoka, you will find there was a beautiful decoration, a carving on stone of the picture of Vijaya landing in Ceylon, and in Vajaya's band you find a man carrying this flag. And that is over 2,100 years old. I don't think there is any other country in the world which has such an ancient recorded flag, and I do not see any reason why this flag should not be made in Ceylon, or should not be ordered out by the Government Stores, if it cannot be made by Government, and why it should not be made the central and predominant feature of any decorations done by Government."

He added that since there was a Ceylonese Financial Secretary (Sir Oliver Goonetilleke) with "some spark of national patriotism", he could see that the flag be brought into the island and used in all public decorations.

D.S. Senanayake

In the early years of the 20th Century, two Ceylonese students studying in England, E.W. Perera and D.R. Wijewardene had obtained a picture of the flag and included it in a book on 'Sinhalese Banners and Standards' compiled by the former. In the introduction to the book, he described how the royal standard of Sri Wickrama Rajasinha, King of Kandy (1798- 1815), the flag which he felt was the most important in the collection, was found.

"While in London, in 1908, I attempted to trace the Sinhalese royal flag, from a statement made by Bennet that the banner of the last King of Kandy was deposited at White hall, together with the eagles of Napoleon. The search at the United Service Museum was fruitless. A gleam of hope raised by a statement of an official of that institution that some of the flags had been removed to Chelsea Hospital was dispelled the next moment by the positive assurance that no Kandyan flags were among the number … I discovered the missing banner quite unexpectedly at the Chelsea Hospital. Acting upon a suggestion of the late Lord Stanmour (the Hon. Sir Arthur Gordon), who evinced a lively interest on the subject, the writer visited that institution and was rewarded with the discovery of three Ceylon banners. A coloured key-plate on the wall led to the discovery of the flags, which were hanging on the Great Hall, along with other standards and the eagles of Napoleon."

He stated that the royal flag was copied in colour by Messrs Southwood & Co. for Mr. Wijewardene who permited Mr. Perera the use of the flag in the book.

Thus the Lion Flag replaced the British flag, the Union Jack, flown as our national flag during the days of the British, in February 1948.

A few days after his statement in Parliament the Prime Minister announced the appointment of a committee to advise the Government on the question of the National Flag. The members were S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, G.G. Ponnambalam, T.B. Jayah, Col. J.L. Kotelawala, Dr. L.A. Rajapakse, Senator S. Nadesan and J.R. Jayewardene. After inviting public views, the committee (with Nadesan dissenting) recommended the adoption of the Lion Flag in its entirety, with the addition of two vertical stripes, green and saffron of equal size to represent the minority communities.

Article of the 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka declares that "the National Flag of the Republic of Sri Lanka shall be the Lion Flag depicted in the Second Schedule."

In addition to the two stripes representing the minorities, motifs of Bo leaves in the four corners represent Buddhism, which according to Article 9 of the Constitution shall be given the foremost place while assuring to all religions the rights granted by Articles 10 & 14 (1) (e) (DCR)

"If we are to have a flag hoisted on Independence Day, it must be this flag and no other flag"