{"id":98163,"date":"2020-01-23T23:08:13","date_gmt":"2020-01-24T05:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=98163"},"modified":"2020-01-23T15:39:30","modified_gmt":"2020-01-23T22:39:30","slug":"sinha-kodiya-the-national-flag-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/01\/23\/sinha-kodiya-the-national-flag-2\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cSINHA KODIYA\u201d : THE NATIONAL FLAG"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane <\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It is time we\nrevived and strengthened the movement to restore and reinstate our legitimate\nnational flag, the ancient Sinha kodiya\u201d (lion flag).\nThe authentic National flag of the island consists of a yellow coloured lion\nrepresenting the Sinhala ethnicity the mainstream community of the nation, holding\na \u2018kastane\u2019 sword which is the national sword of the island in the past, on a\ndark red background, with four golden coloured \u2018bo\u2019 leaves symbolizing the four\nsublime states in Buddhism or \u2018brahma-vihara\u2019- Metta (loving-kindness), Karuna\n(compassion), Muditha (sympathetic joy) and Upekkha (equanimity).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the nation\u2019s authentic traditional national flag,\nthis popularly known Sinha-kodiya\u201d was hoisted prominently at the historic\noccasion of the signing of the Udarata Givisuma (Kandyan Convention) in 1815,\nand also at the occasion of the formal granting of political independence to\nthe country in 1948. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During the British rule of the country, the\ntraditional lion flag was replaced by the Union Jack. The nation\u2019s traditional\nlion flag that was hoisted at the Udarata Givisuma in 1815, was taken away to England\nby the British. In the early 20th<\/sup> century, this flag was recovered\nfrom the Royal Hospital at Chelsea where it had been stored. It was brought\nback to Ceylon in 1948 and was used at the ceremony granting political\nindependence to the country, and was adopted as the country\u2019s\nnational flag.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was in 1953 on the initiative of the then UNP\ngovernment headed by D.S. Senanayake, that action was taken to modify this\nauthentic traditional lion flag, with the addition of green and orange colour\nbands to represent the minority communities. This basically was a politically\nmotivated move which virtually destroyed the authenticity of this ancient\nnational insignia. More changes were effected to the flag in 1972, further\ncorrupting and shattering the wholeness and aesthetic value of this dignified\nand meaningful traditional \u2018Sinha kodiya\u2019. The addition of bands to represent\nminorities was redundant given the fact that all those who subscribe to the\nidea of a single nation, are necessarily represented in the traditional\nnational flag. History of our country reveals vividly\nthat a spirit of tolerance and accommodation of others irrespective of\nreligious or other differences has been a common distinguishing characteristic\nof the people of this country from very early times. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According\nto the Mahavamsa, the national flag of the country, during the reign of Vijaya,\nthe first king of the island was one with a prominent symbol of a lion. This\nwas 2500 years ago in the 5th<\/sup> century BCE. Since that time, the lion\nsymbol has played a significant role in the history of the country. It was used\nextensively by the kings that followed Vijaya. It is noteworthy that the flag used by King\nDutugemunu (166 to 137 BCE) or more than 2000 years ago, and by subsequent\nrulers of the country,  prominently\ndepicted the symbol of a lion carrying a sword. The most distinguishing\nfeature in the national flag, emblems and other insignia of the country from\nhistoric times, has been the figure of the lion or \u2018sinhaya\u2019. This symbol signifies\nthe national character of this island nation. A gold or yellow coloured symbol\nof a lion prominently depicted on a dark red background with yellow borders and\nfour symbols of the Bo leaf at the four corners characterized the national\nflag. Green and orange colours were never used either in the national flag nor\nin any of the national or regional emblems and other insignia of the country.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From ancient times, or for\nmore than 2200 years, the identity and character of this island nation, have\nbeen based on Buddhist norms and principles. Iinspiration for all aspects of the island\u2019s\ndevelopment – economic, cultural, social and spiritual was drawn from these\nBuddhist principles and values. Buddhist values essentially include non-violence, peaceful coexistence, compassion,\ntolerance, virtuous and simple lifestyle.   From\nancient times, with the single exclusion of the European colonial period, the\ninspiration for all aspects of the island\u2019s development- economic, cultural,\nsocial and spiritual was drawn from these social values. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is time we discard the distorted and corrupt\nversion of our rightful historic national flag. The green and orange colour\nbands should be removed from the flag so that the idea of a single unitary\nnation is reflected in the national flag. The changes made to our authentic \u2018Sinha\nKodiya\u201d in 1953, is a form of destruction of one of our nation\u2019s unique\nhistorical symbols, or in other words, one of our nation\u2019s significant visual cultural\ninsignia. monuments. No patriotic national of this country should tolerate such\nvandalism in a country that values its ancient cultural wealth which has given\nthe country its unique identity as a nation. We should not further delay the\nresurrection of our traditional national lion flag. It is the most significant\nof the nation\u2019s insignia. It is an essential step towards preserving our\nnation\u2019s cultural heritage. Such action is required to protect our national\nheritage in order to enhance our pride and dignity as a nation, and to build unity,\nself-energy among the people of Sri Lanka. It is a relevant step given the\nunequivocal national cultural revitalization taking place in the country since the emergence in recent times of a forward-looking, strong\npatriotic national leadership.    <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr.\nDaya Hewapathirane <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane It is time we revived and strengthened the movement to restore and reinstate our legitimate national flag, the ancient Sinha kodiya\u201d (lion flag). The authentic National flag of the island consists of a yellow coloured lion representing the Sinhala ethnicity the mainstream community of the nation, holding a \u2018kastane\u2019 sword which is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-daya-hewapathirane"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98163\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}