Masculinity of the Lankan Lion.

The Lion Flag adopted by Ceylon at independence in 1948 was based on the Royal standard used by the last King of Kandy, Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe (1798-1815 CE). The banner was located in England by barrister-at-law Mr E. W. Perera, hanging in the Great Hall at the Chelsea Royal Military Hospital. The notice beneath intimated that they had been taken by Captain Pollox in 1803. The Royal Flag was copied by Messrs Southwood & Co. Regent Street, London, for Mr D. R. Wijewardena who published it in color in his Sinhala Newspaper the Dinamina on 1915 March 2nd, the 100th Anniversary of the fall of Kandy to the British. The Lion in the Sri Lanka Flag of probably Dutch origin is emasculated.

Before the new constitution was adopted on 1972 May 22, a new national logo was Designed by Mapalagama Wipulasara Maha Thera. under the guidance of Nissanka Wijeyeratne, Chairman of the National Emblem and Flag Design Committee.

Late Dr Roland Silva, former Director General of Archaeology told that, on May 12th while taking the new design to Prime Minister Madam Sirimavo Bandaranaike for approval, he had noticed that the lion in the logo had been masculinized, and they didn't have time to remove the addition. So they explained the issue to Sirimavo, who saw no problem and approved the logo as drawn, as seen on the image on the right.

images/lion_1972.jpg
Click to see original drawing

In research for a Lecture presented at the National Archives on 2016 January 28th, Titled "The Logo for Lanka from Ancient to Modern", I inspected the original copy in National Archives and found it to be the case. As the addition was not publicised, it is often absent or lost in the resolution.

The original document was on public display at 2023 75th Anniversary of Independence exhibition by National Archives at the Colombo National Museum 2023 February 4th to 19th.

Careful inspection of the Lion in the Logo of the 1977 CBC currency note shows that it has been drawn Masculinized, and a proper representation of the logo as approved in 1972.

Fifty years ago, before President Ranil Wickramasinghe had even joined politics and was a Law student at University of Ceylon, Colombo, we remember him saying that one of two things he will do if he ever comes to power is to Masculate the Lion in the Sri Lanka flag. So maybe Lanka can adopt the pre-colonial Sinhala lion which is well hung, as shown in a painting of the 14th Century Lankatilaka Vihara in Kandy.

Part of notes.lakdiva.org.lk a website for
Banknotes of Ceylon and Sri Lanka since 1785.