Cultural Symbols In Sri Lanka

 

National Flag

The National Flag of Sri Lanka represents the country and her heritage as rallying device that integrates the minorities with the majority race.

Sri Lanka 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.

When Sri Lanka gained her independence from Great Britain on February 04, 1948, it was the lion flag of the last king of Sri Lanka 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 vertical stripes green and orange in color

National Anthem

Sri Lanka Matha is the official national anthem of Sri Lanka, sung in Sinhala. Written and composed by Ananda Samarakoon, a Lankan musician and pupil of Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore, this song was created in 1940 for a “National Anthem Competition” and officially adopted 11 years later in ‘51.

As an English colony, prior to and even just after colonialism ended in the nation (known as Ceylon at the time), the British anthem had been used. The Second Republican Constitution gave “Sri Lanka Matha” constitutional recognition

                                                         

        

                                                         Urdhva Pundra 

Urdhva Pundra  is a tilaka worn by Vaishnavas as an indication of their affiliation with Vishnu. It is generally worn on the forehead, but may also be worn on other parts of the body such as the shoulders. The markings are made either as a daily ritual, or on special occasions, and denote the particular sampradaya, or the lineage to which the devotee belongs. The different Vaishnava sampradayas each have their own distinctive style of tilaka based on the siddhanta of their particular lineage. The general tilaka design is of two or three vertical lines resembling the letter U or Y, which represent the feet of Vishnu.

Punkalasa

Pun Kalasa, which is probably Sri Lanka’s truly national art. The country presents its art mainly in terms of Anuradhapura, Dambadeniya, Polonnaruwa, Kotte, Yapahuwa, Gampola and Kandy. The artistic relics of most of these periods are restricted to paintings and sculptures.Pun Kalasa (pot of plenty) art is mainly depicted as a figure of coconut flowers on a pot. It’s considered as the sole symbol of prosperity during these times. According to Buddhist culture, a full pot depicts fertility, prosperity and wealth.

A more poetic name for Punkalasa in Sri Lanka is gok gediya. The art of making Punkalasa constructions, often done from coconut palm leaves, is known as Gokkalawa. This is a fine folk art form, using only native materials.Punkalasa artistic sculptures are found on various archaeological digs around the country. In certain cases, the sculpture has been made to stand out on a lotus. Hence historians around the world are of the same opinion that Pun Kalasa depicts prosperity and wealth.