The National Flag of Sri Lanka has been designed with great care and purpose. It not only represents the country and her heritage, but is a rallying device that integrates the minority races with the majority race.
The present day National Flag is an improvisation of the civil standard of the last king of Sri Lanka, Sri Wickrama Rajasingha. The civil standard had a passant royal lion with a sword in it's right fore paw at the center, and a bo-leaf on each of the four corners on a plain border.
The lion flag lost it's significance after the British conquered Sri Lanka in 1815. It was the Union Jack which was hoisted in its place.
When Sri Lanka gained her independence from Great Britain on February 04, 1948, it was the lion flag (the same as the standard of the last king of Sri Lanka) which was hoisted once again.
The first Prime Minister of independent Sri Lanka, D.S.Senanayake, appointed a committee to advice the government on the design of a new national flag. The design approved by the committee in February 1950 retained the symbol of the lion with the sword and the bo-leaves from the civil standard of the last king of Sri Lanka, with the inclusion of two verticle stripes green and orange in color. the significance of each symbol of the national flag is as follows:
The lion in the flag represents the Sinhala race.
The sword of the lion represents the sovereignty of the country.
The noble eight fold path of Buddhism is signified by the lion's tail.
Curly hair on the lion's head indicates religious observance, wisdom and
meditation.
The beard denotes purity of words.
The handle of the sword highlights the elements of water, fire, air and earth.
The nose indicates intelligence.
The two front paws purport to purity in handling wealth.
The verticle stripe of orange represent the minority Tamil race and the
green verticle stripe the minority Muslim race.
The border round the flag, which is yellow in color, represents other minor races.
The bo-leaves at the four corners of the flag represent Buddhism and it's influence on the nation. They also
stand for the four virtues - Kindness, Friendliness, Happiness and Equanimity.
The maroon colored portion of the flag manifests the other minor religions.
The national flag was hoisted for the first time on March 3, 1950.
How many other National Flags have given a due place to minorities? Can somebody please help Me with the answer?
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