Flag of Sri Lanka

The flag of Sri Lanka, also called the Sinha Flag or Lion Flag, consists of a golden lion holding a kastane sword in its right fore-paw in a maroon background with four gold bo leaves, one in each corner. This is bordered by gold, and to its left are two vertical stripes of equal size in green and orange, with the orange stripe closest to the lion.
The lion and the maroon background represent the Sinhalese race, while the saffron border and four bo leaves represent the concepts of meththa, karuṇā, muditā and upecka respectively. The stripes represent the country's two largest minority ethnicities, with the orange stripe representing the Tamils inhabitants—namely the Sri Lankan Tamils and the Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka—and the green stripe representing the Sri Lankan Moors. The golden yellow border is a catch-all representing the various minority communities of the country.

History

Monarchical Sri Lanka

As depicted on a mural in Cave no. 2 at Dambulla Viharaya, King Dutugemunu on his campaign against Elara is depicted with a banner containing a lion figure carrying a sword in its right forepaw, a symbol of the Sun and one of the Moon. This flag was known as the only ancient representation of the lion flag of the Sinhalese but in 1957, the lion figure on it was defaced by a vandal.

British colonial period

This basic design continued to be in use until 1815, when the Kandyan Convention ended the reign of the country's last native monarch, Sri Vikrama Rajasinha, replacing his royal standard with the Union Flag as the nation's accepted flag. The colonial government of British Ceylon later established its own flag, while Sri Vikrama Rajasinha's standard was taken to England and kept at the Royal Hospital Chelsea.

Sri Lanka (since 1948)

As the independence movement in Sri Lanka gained strength in the early 20th century, E. W. Perera and D. R. Wijewardena discovered the original Lioness Flag in Chelsea. A photo of it was published in Dinamina, in a special edition marking a century since the loss of self-rule and Sri Lankan independence. The flag provoked much interest from the public who, for the first time since the fall of the Kandyan Kingdom, had seen its actual design.
Member of Parliament for Batticaloa, Mudaliyar A. Sinnalebbe, suggested in Parliament on January 16, 1948, that the Lion Flag should be accepted as the national flag. In 1948, the flag was adopted as the national flag of the Dominion of Ceylon, undergoing two changes: one in 1953 and a redesign in 1972. A notable feature of the 1972 adaptation of the Kandyan standard was the replacement of the four spearheads at the flag's corners by four bo leaves, a design choice made under the direction of Nissanka Wijeyeratne, Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and Chairman of the National Emblem and Flag Design Committee.

Symbolism

According to the Buddhist Mahavamsa chronicle, the Sinhala Buddhists are descended from Prince Vijaya, whose father Sinhabahu was the son of a lion and a human princess. This myth is reflected in the national flag, with its lion symbolizing the Sinhala race.
The national flag of Sri Lanka represents the country and its heritage as a rallying device. Most symbols in the flag have been given distinctive meanings.

Symbol	Represents
The Lion	The Sinhala ethnicity and the strength of the nation
The bo leaves	The four Buddhist virtues of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity
The sword of the lion	The sovereignty of the nation
The curly hair on the lion's head	Religious observance, wisdom and meditation
The eight hairs on the lion's tail	The Noble Eightfold Path
The beard of the lion	Purity of words
The handle of the sword	The classical elements of water, fire, air and earth
The nose of the lion	Intelligence
The two front paws of the lion	Purity in handling wealth
Orange stripe	The Tamil ethnicity
Green stripe	The Moor ethnicity
Saffron border	Buddhism and unity among the people
The maroon background	The Sinhala ethnicity
The golden yellow border	Other minority communities of Sri Lanka, such as the Malays, the Burghers, the Indigenous Veddas, the Kaffirs and, the Sri Lankan Chinese, who migrated to Sri Lanka during the 17th–19th centuries.

Colours

The colors of the national flag are specified in the document "SLS 1: 2020: Specification for the National Flag of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka".

Colours scheme	Yellow	Maroon	Orange	Teal
CMYK	0-26-90-3	0-80-66-42	0-48-100-13	100-0-9-63
HEX	#F7B718	#941E32	#DF7500	#005F56
RGB	247-183-24	148-30-50	223-117-0	0-95-86
Pantone	14-0957 TCX	19-1863 TCX	16-1164 TCX	18-5322 TCX