Flag of Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka’s flag, the Lion Flag, has a gold lion holding a sword on a maroon panel with a bo leaf in each corner, and green and orange vertical bands by the pole, all framed in gold. The Sunday Times explains the lion with its upright sword as righteous rule and justice to all; the National Archives give the bo leaves as four Buddhist virtues; the two bands stand for the minorities, green for Muslims and orange for Tamils in Store norske leksikon (Hindus in the Sunday Times).
How to read it
Article 6 of the Constitution of Sri Lanka (1978) says the national flag is the Lion Flag shown in its Second Schedule, which is a drawing rather than a description, and the Department of National Archives says the flag conforms to Sri Lanka Standard SLS 693:1985. Store norske leksikon gives the proportions as 1:2 and the dates: the lion flag was raised at independence in 1948, gained the two stripes in 1951, and was officially adopted in its present form on 22 May 1972. The Sunday Times describes the 1951 change: the crimson ground and the gold lion stayed as before, and two vertical stripes of equal size and a gold border were added.
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The bo leaves in the corners
The four leaves replaced the four beralu ornaments in the corners, on the instructions of the flag design committee, the National Archives say. They are leaves of the pipal or bo tree, sacred to Buddhists, Store norske leksikon notes, and the Archives give their meaning as Metta (loving-kindness), Karuna (compassion), Mudita (sympathetic joy) and Upekkha (equanimity).
The last king’s flag
The lion flag without the stripes was the flag of the kings of Kandy from about 1792 to 1815, Store norske leksikon says. The Sunday Times writes that the last king, Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe, flew it, and that a hundred years after his fall the lawyer E. W. Perera found three banners at the Chelsea Royal Military Hospital in London, one of them the last king’s standard. The first Prime Minister, D. S. Senanayake, raised a lion flag like the king’s on 4 February 1948. A National Flag Committee chaired by S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike was appointed on 6 March 1948, the National Archives say.
Whom the stripes stand for
The orange and green stripes were added in 1951 for the country’s two largest minorities, Store norske leksikon says: orange for the Tamils and green for the Tamil-speaking Muslims. The Sunday Times, writing in 2008, gives green for Muslims and orange for Hindus.
Where this symbol came from
oldsymbols.comBodhi leafThe four corner leaves are bo leaves, from the pipal tree sacred to Buddhists, for four Buddhist virtues.Read next
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- The same shape in US flag variantsThin blue line flagA black-and-white American flag with one blue stripe below the stars, flown to show support for police. No law or official body defines it, and people read it in different ways.
More asian flags
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with lines or squares and rectangles.
Sources
- Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, 1978 (rev. 2015), Constitution of Sri Lanka, Article 6 and Second Schedule (English text, as amended to 2015), Constitute Project, Art. 6
- Dominion Status (Department of National Archives, Sri Lanka), Department of National Archives, Sri Lanka, online exhibition “Path to Freedom”: Dominion Status, Department of National Archives, Sri Lanka, Exhibition text
- The Lion Flag (The Sunday Times, Sri Lanka), The Sunday Times (Colombo), FunDay Times, 3 February 2008, The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka), Article text
- Sri Lankas flagg og våpen (Store norske leksikon), Store norske leksikon, “Sri Lankas flagg og våpen”, by Lars Roede, Store norske leksikon, Article text
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 13, 2026. How we research
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