The Lion Flag

I know what you’re thinking; this post is probably going to be incredibly boring given that it’s about a flag. You also might be picturing me looking like Sheldon Cooper in the series Big Bang Theory doing an episode of ‘Fun with Flags’. Let me comfort you by telling you that this post isn’t a dull piece of writing about the Sri Lankan Flag. Instead, it’s about the lion on the Sri Lankan flag and how it came to be there.

The lion on Sri Lankan Flag

From what I know, Sri Lanka doesn’t [and has never had] any lions living in its jungles and forests. So how and why is there a lion on the Sri Lankan Flag, why do we call ourselves the lion nation and why does our beloved cricket team have a mascot that’s a lion? It seems like there should be one logical explanation for all of this, but there isn’t. There are many different stories and myths that people talk about.

I first got the idea to blog on this subject when one of my clients asked me why there was a lion on the Sri Lankan Flag. I was replying with my version of the story [more of a myth because it isn’t technically possible] about how we are descendent from lions, when the tour guide nudged me and said that it wasn’t the correct story. I was crushed and slightly confused because that was what I had learned in school [although, I could be wrong because I rarely paid any attention during the history lessons]. As soon as I got back home, I did a little research to find out the truth when I stumbled across many different stories.

The most common is the story of Vijaya, the first king of Sri Lanka. It is said that when he first arrived in Sri Lanka, he brought with him a flag with a lion on it and that since then the lion flag has been a significant feature in Sri Lanka’s history.

What Vijaya's flag was said to look like

Another theory is that because the lion is a symbol of bravery, it is a good representation of the brave Sri Lankan race and therefore it appeared on several flags throughout our history. Even today, when describing the significance of the different features of the Sri Lankan flag, the lion is said to represent the strength and braveness of the Sri Lankan race.

King Dutugemunu was said to have carried a banner with a lion bearing a sword when he was going to defeat King Elara. Certain people believe that this was where the lion flag was first used. Some also say that the lion flag was the royal flag of the Kotte Kingdom while others insist that it was the royal banner of Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe, the last king of Sri Lanka.

www.karava.org, a website I found while researching this topic stated that the lion didn’t stem from anything above and instead was inspired by the European heraldic lions. It presents a very strong case in backing up the theory.

The most interesting [and my personal favourite] myth is the one where we are said to be descendants from a lion. The Mahavamsa, a historical poem about the kings of Sri Lanka talks about how Princess Suppadevi of the Vanga Kingdom in India was kidnapped by a lion and got pregnant while living with it. She had twins; a boy named Singha Bahu [where Singha means lion and Bahu means Paws] and a girl named Singha Seevali. When Singha Bahu was 16, he escaped from the lion with his mother and sister. The furious lion was said to have attacked many villages while searching for them. Singha Bahu then killed his father, the lion, to save the villagers and was offered the thrown of Vanga for his act of bravery. He declined and instead found the city of Sinhapura. He then married Singha Seevali and it is said that they had thrity two children of whom the oldest was Vijaya, the first king of Sri Lanka. As we are descendants from King Vijaya, which is why we tend to call ourselves the lion nation and that is one of the stories as to why there’s a lion on our Flag.

It doesn’t matter whose story is historically accurate or whose is the ‘correct version’, the recurring theme from all the stories is that the Sri Lankan people are united, strong and brave like a lion. That is why we are the Lion Nation.