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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Baron Trump" data-source="post: 20926900" data-attributes="member: 560472">සිංහ මිත්‍යාව-THE LION MYTHහලො යාළුවනෙ. කොහොමද ඉතිං?? මන් එළකිරියට අළුතෙන් ආවෙ. Guest User කෙනෙක් විදියට කාලයක් ඉඳන් එළකිරි එක දන්නවා. ඔන්න මගෙ පළවෙනි ත්‍රෙඩ් එක විදියට මන් පළ කරන්නෙ සිංහයාගෙ මිත්‍යාව ගැන ලියවිච්ච ලිපියක් .මන් ලියපු එකක් නෙමෙ උස්සපු එකක්. මෙ ලිපිය අනුව අපෙ සිංහ කොඩියට සිංහයා සංකල්පය අපෙ රටෙ එකක් නෙමෙළු ,ඔය පරණ රුපියල් 10 කොළය හා බොහො පෞරාණික ස්ථාන වල දක්නට ලැබෙන සිංහ රුවත් අපිට ආවෙ චීන සංකල්පයකින් ළු. කැමති නම් කියවන්න එහෙමත් නැත්තම් අදහසක් දෙන්න මේ ගැන . History and MythsMany modern myths have been spun around the Lion  flag which was adopted in 1950 as the National flag of Sri Lanka. Myth #1 The  first myth is that Vijaya, the first King of Sri Lanka, arrived in Sri  Lanka in 486 BCE, with a lion flag and that since then the Lion symbol  played a significant role in the history of Sri Lanka. It is also  claimed that the lion flag was used extensively by monarchs who followed  Vijaya and it became a symbol of freedom and hope. There  is absolutely no historical evidence to justify such claims. On the  contrary, none of the Kings and Queens of Anuradhapura or  Polonnaruwa have ever claimed to be Sinhalese. But they have  consistently claimed in their inscriptions to be from the <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120126135918/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kshatriya" target="_blank">Kshatriya</a> race and the Indian <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120126135918/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Dynasty" target="_blank">Sun Dynasty</a> and <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120126135918/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Dynasty" target="_blank">Lunar Dynasty</a> (see quotes from ancient Sri Lankan stone inscriptions in <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120126135918/http://karava.org/sun_and_moon" target="_blank">Sun & Moon symbols</a>). The  ancient Mahavamsa chronicle of Sri Lanka too refers to the ancient  kings and queens of Sri Lanka, not as Sinhalese, but as Kshatriyas from  the Solar and Lunar dynasties. Accordingly their royal symbols  were the Sun and the Moon. The Lion was not a royal symbol for these  ancient monarchs and they used the lion image on foot-stones at  entrances to buildings and on urinal-stones. The lion appears to have  been an important symbol only for the Indian born Kalinga kings of Sri  Lanka, particularly king  Nissankamalla (1187-1196 ) who claimed to hail  from Sinhapura (lion city). Nissankamalla and other Kalinga monarchs  used the lion symbol extensively and popularised it's use during their  reigns. The Karava <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120126135918/http://karava.org/jaffna_kings" target="_blank">Singhe dynasty </a>of  Jaffna (which succeeded the Kalinga dynasty rulers of Jaffna) too  appear to have used the lion symbol as evidenced by the name of the  dynasty and  the crest of their Karava descendants. Intermarriage with  the Kalinga royal families could explain the transfer of their symbolism  to the Karavas and explain the existence of ancient Karava Lion flags  in Sri Lanka. (see illustrations of ancient Karava Lion flags at the end  of the page) The lion was also the symbol of the south Indan  Pallava kings. Pallava coins with the Pallava lion emblem are found in  Sri Lanka too and these coins are knowingly or unknowingly mistaken by  some as Sinhalese lion coins. The Sinhalese word for "Throne' , Sinhasana is probably derived from Tamil Singasanam and could have been popularised by the <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120126135918/http://karava.org/jaffna_kings" target="_blank">Singha dynasty </a>of Jaffna and the connected Karava <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120126135918/http://karava.org/kings_of_kandy" target="_blank">Raja-Singhe kings </a>of Kandy. It is interesting to note that Dona Catherina the sole heiress to the Kandyan kingdom is referred to in Sinhalese as Kusumasana Devi (ie queen of the Flower throne) Myth #2 The  second myth is that all, or at least a majority, of the Sinhala  speaking people in Sri Lanka are  descendants of Vijaya and that their  original ancestor was a Lion. According to history, there  was no such Mega Sinhala race in Sri Lanka until the British period.  And the fact that most castes have their own origin stories proves this.  For Instance the Salagamas caste traces it’s origin in Sri Lanka to Nambudiri and other Saligrama Brahmins who came over from <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120126135918/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malabar" target="_blank">Malabar</a> (i.e. <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120126135918/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerala" target="_blank">Kerala</a>)  at the invitation of king Vathhimi Buvenekabahu of Sri Lanka. The  ‘muni’ clan names of the Salagamas bear testimony to their Brahmin  origins. The Durava Caste traces its origins from the Nagas and retinues of Pandyan consorts. The Navandanna caste traces it’s origin to Vishwakarma.  According to J. Kulatilleka, the Deva Kula (Also known as Wahumpura,  Hakuru etc)  are descended from a deified ruler of Sabaragamuwa named  Sumana. (Ravaya 30 August 1998). According to Warnapurage Lal  Chandrasena of Wellawatte, the Sunnakkara Kula (Also known as Hunu)  are descended from the traditional architects and Engineers of Sri  Lanka (Ravaya 13 September 1998). According to T. Jinadasa Fernando  Municipal Councillor of Telawala Moratuwa, Kumbal Kula  (Also known as Badal, Badahela etc.) are descended from the first humans  to graduate from wild men to humans who cooked their food in clay pots;  Cultivating and other occupations are breakaways from this first  quantum leap. (Ravaya 18 October 1998). According to I. Gunaratna of  Malvana,  the Bathgama caste is descended from the  original  pre- Vijayan, Yakka (also called Yaksha) inhabitants of Sri  Lanka; They were expert Artificers. (Ravaya 13 December 1998). The 'Govi Caste',  according to the Janawamsayaa and other sources, sprung from the feet  of Brahma as this fourth category was the lowest of the four caste  groups. And the modern Govigama caste is an identity created during the British period by the De Saram Mudaliar family of mixed origins. (see <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120126135918/http://karava.org/govigama" target="_blank">Govigama</a>)  Many successful individuals of unknown provenance joined the Govigama  group during the British period.  Several other castes trace their  origin to the guilds that arrived with the sacred Bodhi tree. Interestingly  not a single caste has an origin  story connecting it to Vijaya or a  beastly lion ancestor. And according the Mahavamsa the term Sinhala  could be applied only to the  initial royal family and not to the  population at large. And according to the chronicles Vijaya did not  father a successor. Myth #3 The  third myth is that the legendary King Dutugemunu  carried with him a  banner with a sword bearing lion when he embarked on his campaign to  defeat King Elara. However although Dutugemunu is the  hero of the Mahavamsa , that great chronicle says nothing about a lion  flag or a lion race. Those who believe this myth refer to a mural at the  ancient Dambulla cave temple but they fail to realise that although the  Dambulla temple is ancient, the particular mural is only about 200  years old and from the British period. Myth #4 The fourth myth is that a Lion flag was the royal banner of the Kotte kingdom. There  is absolutely no evidence to support such a claim. A fake flag of a  whip bearing lion is now being popularized as the ancient flag of the  Kotte kingdom but there is absolutely no historical evidence as to the  existence of such a flag in the Kotte kingdom. On  the contrary the literature of the period including the Sandesha Kavya  say that the rampart of the Kotte kingdom was adorned with Tiger faces (Puli mukha in Thisara sandesha) and that <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120126135918/http://karava.org/the_makara" target="_blank">Makara flags </a>(Muvara dada in the Kau Silumina and min dada in the Thisara Sandesha) of victory flew over the city of Kotte. The Thisara Sandesha says that the <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120126135918/http://karava.org/garuda_flag" target="_blank">Garuda flag </a>was  a royal flag of the Kotte kingdom. It is important to note that both  the Makara flag and the Garuda flag are traditional flags of the Karava  community. The coins issued by King  Parakramabahu VI for the kingdom of Jaffna did have a Lion on it. But  that was because the reigning royal dynasty of Jaffna at that time was  the <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120126135918/http://karava.org/jaffna_kings" target="_blank">Karava Singha (Lion) dynasty</a>.  The lion on the coins probably gave them more acceptability in the  region. More importantly we need to note that the coins issued by  Parakramabahu Vi  for the Kotte kingdom did not have a lion on them. See  illustrations. Myth #5 The fifth myth is that a Lion flag was the royal banner of the last King of Sri Lanka, Sri Vikrama Rajasinghe (1798-1815). Firstly, King Sri Wikrama Rajasinghe and the other Kandyan kings were not Sinhalese. They were Indian  Kshattriya <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120126135918/http://karava.org/kings_of_kandy" target="_blank">Vaduga</a>  kings.  Secondly there is no historical evidence to say that King Sri  Wikrama Rajasinghe used a lion flag as his royal standard. The royal  grants of the king nor the literary work from the period talk about a  lion or a lion flag. European eye witness accounts from the period say  that the king’s banner was the Sun and Moon banner and that various  other flags with animal motifs were also used. And indeed many flags  with animal motifs (swans, peacocks, deer, bears, lions, elephants,  leopards, cranes and numerous other birds etc ) have been found in Kandy  and elsewhere. Percival writing in 1805 refers to flags with the  sun emblem being carried before Sri Vikrama Rajasinha (AD 1798 - 1815),  the last king of Kandy (Percival, Account of the Island of Ceylon,  pp 267, 268). It is interesting to note that the lion flag which is now  believed to have been the personal banner of the king is not mentioned  by  Percival or any others. Going back a few centuries to 1639,  the reign of king Rajasinghe II, which is a century before the Nayakkar  dynasty inherited the Kandyan kingdom, we see that the Sun and Moon flag  was the flag carried in the vanguard of royal pageants (Abeyawardana p  145) Although  the lion was not a heraldic symbol of the Kandyan  kings, the Lion was indeed a very important heraldic symbol for the  Dutch. The Dutch who were ruling the coastal areas during the Kandyan  period. Their heraldic lion is to be found on almost ail Dutch coins  (see illustrations further down) issued during that period (17 - 18th  centuries). The use of lion imagery by the Dutch had nothing to do with a  Sinhala race. The lion was a prominent Dutch royal symbol and it was  used by the Dutch also on coins issued by them in other colonies in Asia  and even as far as America (see illustration further down). Inevitably  the Dutch flags of the period too would have had similar lions on them.  One of the few surviving Dutch flags illustrated on the right column  confirms this. As such the prevalent use of lions by the Dutch appears  to have had an influence on Kandyan flags too. The Kandyan flags with  lions and other animals with European style iconography might even have  been drawn by European captives living in the Kandyan kingdom or done by  local artists who were inspired by the novel Dutch designs.   Myth #6 The sixth myth is that the flag had bo-leaves at the four corners from its inception to represent Buddhism. The bo-leaves in the four corners replaced the European style finials ('Banku Kakul'  in Sinhala language) only in 1972. But this myth and the others appear  even on government documents and web sites and have been repeated so  often that they are now accepted as fact by many. Development of the 'Lion flag' myth The  opportunities offered by the liquor trade in the 19th century had  produced a new class of wealthy Sri Lankans. Some of the liquor dealers  to amass large fortunes during this period were Don Spater Senanayake  (see his details under <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120126135918/http://karava.org/mudaliyars" target="_blank">Mudaliyars</a>)  the Father of D. S. Senanayake and Wevage Arnolis Dep (whose daughter  Helena married timber trader Don Philip Wijewardene the ancestor of J.  R. Jayawardene and Ranil Wickremasinge) At the turn of the  century, the second generation of these families were striving hard to  gain power and status through divisive means such as religious  controversies, temperance movements and anti-Muslim riots. The older class of Dutch and British appointed  <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120126135918/http://karava.org/mudaliyars" target="_blank">Mudaliyars </a>were disdainful of this class of new rich people who were clamouring to join the 'Govigama identity' (see <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120126135918/http://karava.org/govigama" target="_blank">Govigama</a>)  created by the Mudaliyar class.  Sir Christoffel Obeyesekere the most  prominent member from the Mudaliyar class referred to these new rich  group; D. S. Senanayake, his two brothers F.R and D.C and others as “a few who are nobodies, but who hope to make somebodies of themselves by disgraceful tactics”.  It’s this outburst by Sir Christoffel that gives Kumari Jayawardena the  title for her insightful book on this period, ‘Nobodies to Somebodies -  The Rise of the Colonial Bourgeoisie in Sri Lanka'. The search  for a 'Sinhala' racial flag by this group led to E. W. Perera's so  called discovery of three Kandyan flags in England. These were flags  taken away by Captain Pollock in 1803, and hung at the <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120126135918/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_Royal_Hospital" target="_blank">Chelsea Royal Hospital</a>  alongside other captured flags, colonial trophies from many other  colonies. Perera was neither a historian nor an expert on flags but had  been sent to England by the Wijewardene / Senanayake cabal to promote  their political agenda. However permission for Perera's trip to England  had been obtained by saying it was for 'research at the British  Museum' . As such on his return, in 1916  E. W. Perera published the book 'Sinhalese Banners and Standards;  with a commercially designed, spurious lion flag as it's frontispiece.  The book promoted  a concocted case to accept that flag as the national  flag. The three Kandyan flags "discovered" by Perera at the  hospital  were hopelessly faded and could be identified only by the name  plates on the wall. Perera admits that the flags were too faded even to  get a sketch from them. He says that he sketched the lion flag not by  looking at the flag but from the identifying plaque on the wall.  However  the official colour copies of these flags procured by the crown  agents for the Colombo Museum had been rejected by Perera saying they  were inaccurate and useless. (Perera 3). In their place Perere chose the  commercially designed and drawn spurious lion flag. Bishop Edmund  Peiris who also saw the flags confirms that that all three flags were  hopelessly faded. According to him two of the flags hung by the second  window on the left as you enter and the third hung from the organ loft  which then contained lumber. In the office of the Chelsea Hospital  Bishop Peiris had seen the record of colour sketches of all the flags in  the Hall. This record had been titled  “Collection of trophies  deposited in the Royal Hospital, Chelsea / copied from the original book  of Drawings and Descriptions arranged and compiled in 1841 by S. Ford,  Captain of Invalids / 1861” (Peiris 271). As  such it is indeed surprising that E. W. Perera  chose to reject the  official colour copies of the lion flag procured by the Crown Agents and  instead readily accepted an illustration privately commissioned by D.  R. Wijewardene. A commercial artist had drawn it for a private  firm in  London and  E. W. Perera used it as the frontispiece for his book on  ancient flags and it was used as  the Flag of Ceylon from 1948-1951  It should  also be noted that according to the wall plaques at the Chelsea Royal  Hospital,  the royal standard of Sri Vickrama Rajasingha was not the  flag copied by Perera but the martial flag illustrated on the right  column here. Perera has totally omitted this flag and has not even  include an illustration of this flag in his book. Further, the  lion on the Sri Lankan flag does not resemble  any of the lion motifs  from Sri Lanka’s history(see examples below). The lion on the flag is  clearly a design inspired by  European heraldic lions. (See European  heraldic lions below). As admitted by Perera himself in his book , it is  a design drawn by a commercial British artist. As such the European  nature of the lion is to be expcted. On March 2, 1915, D. R.  Wijewardene issued a special edition of his Sinhala newspaper Dinamina,  to mark the centenary of the so called ‘end of Sinhala independence’,  and promoted this Lion flag in colour on the front page with portraits  of the last King and Queen of Kandy. Ironically neither the king nor the  Queen were Sinhalese. They were The Vaduga king Sri Wikrama Rajasinghe  and his Chief Queen Rengammal. The main purpose of E. W. Perera’s  ‘Sinhalese banners and Standards’ published in 1916 too appears to be  the promotion of the spurious Lion Flag as the royal flag of Sri Lanka. However  after preparing the background for adopting this flag as the flag of  independent Sri Lanka, the Wijewardene / Senanayake cabal enlisted the  obliging Muslim <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120126135918/http://karava.org/mudaliyars" target="_blank">Mudaliyar </a>,  A. L. Sinnelebbe, the Member of Parliament for Batticaloa to move a  motion in parliament calling for the adoption of this flag. As  such this was the flag hoisted by D. S. Senanayake at the independence  festivities on February 04, 1948. This Lion flag has been a bone of  contention from day one and is still an obstacle to national integration  and peace. References <ul style="text-align: center"> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Abeyawardana H. A. P. 1978 Kadaim Poth Vimarshanaya (A critical study of Kadaim poth) Department of Cultural Affairs Sri Lanka</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Paranavitana Senerat 1967 Sinhalayo Colombo  </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Perera E. W. 1916 Sinhalese Banners and Standards, Colombo</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Peiris Bishop Edmund 1976 The   Drum Flag  Malalasekera Commemoration Volume, Colombo</li> </ul> </blockquote>

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