Sri Lanka (officially known as the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka) is an island country in South Asia, located in the Indian Ocean to the southwest of the Bay of Bengal and to the southeast of the Arabian Sea. The island is historically and culturally intertwined with the Indian subcontinent, but is geographically separated from the Indian subcontinent by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait. The legislative capital, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, is a suburb of the commercial capital and largest city, Colombo.
Sri Lanka
The national symbols of Sri Lanka are the national anthem, flag, emblem, flower, tree, bird, butterfly, gemstone and sport. They represent the country and its people within Sri Lanka and abroad as well as traditions, culture, history and geography. Several other symbols do not have official acknowledgment as national symbols but are considered national symbols at the local level. The Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka sets out the national flag, the national anthem, the national day and the national language. The constitution was promulgated by the National State Assembly on 7 September 1978. On 14 November 1987 the Sri Lankan Parliament passed the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka, which made both Sinhala and Tamil the national languages.
Read moreThe flag of Sri Lanka is also called the Lion Flag, consists of a gold lion holding a kastane sword in its right fore-paw in a maroon background with four gold bo leaves in each corner. This is bordered by gold, and to its left are two vertical stripes of equal size in green and saffron, with the saffron stripe closest to the lion. The lion and the maroon background represent the Sinhalese, while the saffron border and four Bo leaves represent Buddhism and the four Buddhist concepts of Mettā, Karuṇā, Muditā and Upeskhā respectively. The stripes represent the two main minorities: the orange representing the Sri Lankan Tamils and the green representing Muslims. It was adopted in 1950 following the recommendations of a committee appointed by the 1st Prime Minister of Ceylon, D.S. Senanayake.
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