From the semi-legendary golden-lion banner of the ancient Sinhalese kingdom of Anuradhapura, through a South Indian conquest, a restored medieval kingdom, a long chain of shifting capitals, a highland kingdom that outlasted two European empires, successive Portuguese, Dutch, and British colonial administrations, independence as a Commonwealth dominion, and finally a republic under a new name — ten flags across roughly 2,400 years, anchored throughout by one enduring symbol: a lion bearing a sword.
That lion is the thread running the whole way through. Sinhalese royal tradition traces it to the island's own founding legend, and while no flag actually survives from the earliest centuries, the same gold lion — formalized under the Kingdom of Kandy and carried into the modern national flag adopted at independence — is still at the center of Sri Lanka's flag today, alongside stripes added since 1951 to represent the island's Tamil and Muslim minorities.
Scope of this page: the island of Sri Lanka (historically Ceylon), c. 377 BCE–present, ten political entries. Dates for the earliest Sinhalese kingdoms follow the traditional chronology preserved in the island's own chronicles (the Mahavamsa and related texts) and should be read as the conventional reckoning rather than as independently attested fact. A note on overlap: for roughly two and a quarter centuries (1592–1815) two flags flew over the island at once — the Kandyan lion banner in the independent highland interior, and successive Portuguese, Dutch, and British colonial flags on the coast. This page cannot show two simultaneous tracks in one column, so the Kingdom of Kandy entry and the Portuguese entry below it are placed by narrative sequence rather than strict start-date order; each entry's text flags exactly where the overlap runs. Part of a larger atlas — see the linked pages at the bottom.
Two divides, four centuries apart
Sri Lanka's own real coastal outline, split into the pieces that were, at different points, ruled by entirely different powers: successive European colonial administrations on the coast against the independent interior Kingdom of Kandy in the central highlands (1592–1815) — and, over a century and a half later, the government in Colombo against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's de facto administration of the Tamil-majority north and east during the 1983–2009 civil war. Press play, or drag the slider.
Kandy was never conquered by any of the three earlier European powers. The Portuguese and Dutch both controlled only the coastal lowlands; Kandy held out as a fully independent kingdom until the British finally took it in 1815 — the first time in over two centuries that one power ruled the whole island. That single-government status held for over a century and a half, until the LTTE's insurgency carved out its own de facto state across the Jaffna peninsula and the eastern coast from the mid-1980s until its military defeat in 2009. The borders below only solidify for the spans the pieces were genuinely governed apart.
2009–present
Kingdom of Anuradhapura
Schematic internal partition on a real traced coastal border — the coast/Kandy dividing line approximates the historical highland frontier, and the north/east line approximates the LTTE's Vanni-Jaffna-Batticaloa control area during the civil war; neither is a surveyed boundary.
How we know this. 10 of 10 eras on this page carry an evidence panel (2 attested, 2 reconstructed, 6 not yet checked). Only the ones marked attested are confirmed by the sources named under them; where sources disagree or a claim could not be confirmed, the panel says so.
maroon lion panel with sword and four bo leaves, green and orange hoist stripes
Migration & conquest:Emigration: Tamil refugees fleeing the civil war (1983–2009)Emigration: labor migration to the Gulf states (1980s–)
Who & why: a new constitution on 22 May 1972 renames Ceylon as the Republic of Sri Lanka, replacing the British monarch as head of state with a Sri Lankan president while remaining in the Commonwealth. The republic's early decades are dominated by the 1983–2009 civil war between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who fought for an independent Tamil state in the north and east; the conflict ends with the LTTE's military defeat in May 2009. The flag itself is untouched by the war and has not changed since 1978, when a second constitution again renamed the country the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka without altering the banner.
What it represents: Wikipedia and Flags of the World both say the four corner motifs of the lion panel were replaced in 1972 by bo (sacred fig) leaves (Wikipedia: four spearheads became bo leaves; first flown 22 May 1972). The current design is a gold lion bearing a sword on maroon, framed in gold, with green (Moor/Muslim) and orange (Tamil) hoist stripes, as Wikipedia describes it.
Attestedhow we know this
Wikipedia's infobox gives the adoption as 22 May 1972. Flags of the World's history page says the amended flag, with the stylised corner leaves redrawn as natural bo leaves, was first unfurled at the Republic Day celebrations on 22 May 1972, and that the flag is incorporated in the Second Schedule of the constitution of 9 September 1978; the main FOTW page's 1978 is that constitution date.
Not established: The two FOTW pages differ on the year (1978 on the main page, 1972 on the history page); 1972 is given by Wikipedia and the history page. Only the date and the bo-leaf change were compared; the colours were not checked against a specification, and a further small change to the leaves and background shade in 1978 is mentioned by FOTW contributors.
Paint guide
Proportions1:2, fixed by law.
LayoutGreen stripe, then orange stripe, at the hoist; maroon field with gold border carrying the passant lion (holding a kastane sword) and a bo leaf in each corner.
Maroon#7C2331
Gold#EAB308
Green#007749
Orange#FF7900
the 1951 lion flag with hoist stripes, before the 1972 bo leaves
1948 – 1972
Dominion of Ceylon
DominionD. S. SenanayakeNo official state religion (dominion era)
Migration & conquest:Emigration: repatriation of Indian Tamils to India (1964–)
Ruling house:House of Windsor
Who & why: Ceylon gains independence from Britain on 4 February 1948 as a self-governing dominion within the Commonwealth, keeping the British monarch as head of state represented by a governor-general. At independence the new government revives the Kandyan lion as the national flag, but without any stripes; after protests from Tamil and Muslim political leaders that the plain lion flag represented only the Sinhalese Buddhist majority, the government adds the green and orange vertical stripes in March 1951 to represent the Muslim and Tamil communities.
What it represents: the maroon panel, gold lion, and kastane sword are carried over directly from the Kandyan kingdom's own banner; the 1951 stripes are the first change to the design, made explicitly to broaden what the flag stands for. Flags of the World adds that the 1948 flag was first a lion flag with a yellow border and corner motifs, and that the two hoist stripes were added when Parliament adopted the committee's flag on 2 March 1951, because the 1948 design was unpopular with minorities; Wikipedia's text gives 1953 in one place and 1951-1972 in its gallery. The sources read do not say the 1948 lion was identical to the Kandyan banner.
Attestedhow we know this
Wikipedia: 16 Jan 1948 motion by A. Sinnalebbe to make the Lion Flag national; flag adopted for the Dominion; its gallery dates a version 1951-1972 while its text says changes in 1953 and 1972. FOTW: Lion Flag flew at independence 4 Feb 1948; a committee chaired by S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike designed a gold lion on dark red with yellow border; two stripes (green, yellow/orange, each 1/7) added when Parliament adopted the flag on 2 March 1951 to represent Muslims and Tamils.
Sri Lanka — Flags of the World (CRW Flags) compiled
Not established: 1951 vs 1953 date conflict inside Wikipedia; FOTW and Wikipedia differ on the 1948 corner motifs.
Paint guide
Proportions1:2.
LayoutAs the 1972 flag above, but without the four bo leaves (added 1972); plain lion only from 1948–51, stripes added 1951.
Maroon#7C2331
Gold#EAB308
Green#007749
Orange#FF7900
blue ensign, Union Jack canton, colonial badge in the fly
1796 – 1948
British Ceylon
ColonyFrederick NorthOfficial religious neutrality
Migration & conquest:Immigration: Indian Tamil plantation laborers (1830s–)
Ruling house:House of HanoverHouse of Windsor
Who & why: British forces seize the Dutch maritime provinces in 1796 during the French Revolutionary Wars, formalized by the 1802 Treaty of Amiens, and Ceylon becomes a Crown colony administered directly from London rather than through the East India Company. In 1815 the British depose the last Kandyan king and annex the highland kingdom under the Kandyan Convention, ending the entry above and uniting the whole island under a single government for the first time in its history. British rule brings plantation agriculture (coffee, then tea and rubber), a road and rail network, and the administrative and educational institutions the independent state inherits in 1948.
What it represents: the standard colonial blue ensign form, a Union Jack canton on a blue field with the colony's badge in the fly, shown here schematically. Flags of the World (quoting David Prothero) dates the badge, an elephant before a dagoba, to about 1875-1948 for the government Blue Ensign, so the badge is not evidenced for 1796-1875. Wikipedia says the Union Flag replaced the Kandyan royal standard in 1815 and lists colonial flags for 1815-1875 and 1875-1948 without design detail; neither source states 1796 as a flag date.
Not yet checked against sourceshow we know this
Wikipedia: the Union Flag replaced the Kandyan royal standard in 1815; colonial flags are shown for 1815-1875 and 1875-1948 without design description. FOTW (British Ceylon page, quoting David Prothero): the colonial badge, a brown elephant before a dagoba on dark blue in a red ring, was used in the fly of the Blue Ensign of government vessels from c.1875 to 1948 and on the governor's Union Jack.
Not established: The blue ensign with the colonial badge is established only for c.1875-1948; nothing read gives the flag for 1796-1875, and 1796 is not a flag date in either source (1815 is when the Kandyan flag fell). The Blue Ensign appears here as a government ensign; use as the colony's general flag was not read.
Paint guide
Proportions1:2, standard colonial ensign ratio.
LayoutBlue field, Union Jack canton, circular colony badge centered in the fly.
Ensign blue#1E2F96
Jack red#A4302A
Jack white#F4EFE1
Dutch tricolor with the VOC (Dutch East India Company) monogram
1658 – 1796
Dutch Ceylon
ColonyRijcklof van GoensDutch Reformed Church (official)
Who & why: the Dutch East India Company (VOC), invited by the King of Kandy to help expel the Portuguese, instead takes the coastal territory for itself, completing its conquest of the last Portuguese strongholds by 1658. Dutch Ceylon runs almost entirely as a VOC commercial enterprise focused on the cinnamon trade, governed from Colombo, and — as under the Portuguese before them — the Dutch never subdue the interior: the Kingdom of Kandy, from the previous entry, remains independent in the highlands throughout this entire period, fighting repeated wars with the VOC that neither side wins outright.
What it represents: the Dutch Prince's Flag/tricolor (here shown in its later red-white-blue form) flown with the VOC monogram marking company rather than state territory, the standard practice across all VOC possessions in Asia. The sources read do not cover the Dutch period: neither Wikipedia nor Flags of the World describes Dutch or VOC flags in Ceylon.
Not yet checked against sourceshow we know this
Wikipedia (Dutch Ceylon) calls the territory a governorate of the Dutch East India Company and its infobox shows the company flag, a tricolour with the VOC monogram. Flags of the World (VOC page) is a contributor discussion; one contributor says the VOC monogram was rarely used abroad on the 17th-century paintings he saw, and another quotes Brownell that the flag flown was either the Netherlands flag or the company's version of it with the cypher.
Not established: No source says which of the two flags was flown in Ceylon, or from 1658 to 1796 specifically; the page's claim that the monogram flag marked company rather than state territory is not stated. The VOC flag shown here as the era's flag rests on a Wikipedia infobox image.
Paint guide
Proportions2:3, typical Dutch flag ratio.
LayoutHorizontal red-white-blue tricolor, VOC monogram centered on the white band.
Red#A4302A
White#F4EFE1
Blue#204B5C
white field, red cross of the Order of Christ — the mark Portuguese ships and forts flew across Asia
1505 – 1658
Portuguese Ceylon
ColonyLourenço de AlmeidaRoman Catholicism (official)
Who & why: a Portuguese fleet under Lourenço de Almeida reaches the island in 1505 seeking the cinnamon trade, and Portugal builds a fort at Colombo by 1517, gradually extending control over the coastal lowlands and the Kingdom of Kotte through alliance and conquest across the 16th century; King Dharmapala's 1597 bequest of Kotte's territory to Portugal on his death completes their hold on the coast. Portugal never conquers the interior highlands: the Kingdom of Kandy, described in the entry above, holds out as an independent Sinhalese kingdom throughout this entire period and repeatedly defeats Portuguese expeditions sent against it.
What it represents: no separate flag existed for "Ceylon" specifically under Portuguese rule; ships, forts, and trading posts across the Portuguese Asian empire flew variants of the white flag bearing the red cross of the Order of Christ, the military order that financed and blessed Portugal's maritime expansion. The sources read do not cover the Portuguese period or any Order of Christ flag in Ceylon, so the statement that no separate flag existed is not backed by them.
Not yet checked against sourceshow we know this
Neither Wikipedia nor FOTW's Sri Lanka pages describe a Portuguese flag for Ceylon. Flags of the World's Portugal pages say the red cross of the Order of Christ was used on the Discovery ships as flag and on sails, over white, green or gyronny backgrounds.
Not established: A Portuguese flag specific to Ceylon, and the claim that none existed, are not covered. The Order of Christ flag is shown for Portuguese ships in general; use on forts in Ceylon was not read. Wikipedia's Portuguese Ceylon infobox shows the 1640 Portuguese flag, not an Order of Christ flag.
Paint guide
ProportionsNo fixed ratio recorded for colonial-era use; shown at 3:2.
LayoutWhite field, red cross pattée (simplified here as a plain cross with a white keyline).
White#F4EFE1
Cross red#A4302A
Kandyan lion flag — gold sword-bearing lion on maroon, framed in gold
1592 – 1815
Kingdom of Kandy
Kingdom, independentVimaladharmasuriya IBuddhism (Theravada, state religion)
Ruling house:Nayakkar dynasty (Kandy)
Who & why: as the coastal Kingdom of Kotte collapses under Portuguese pressure through the 1590s, Kandy — a highland principality already established since the 15th century — becomes the last fully sovereign Sinhalese kingdom, consolidating under King Vimaladharmasuriya I around 1592. Kandy holds out in the mountainous interior for over two centuries, defeating Portuguese and later Dutch expeditions and playing each colonial power off against the other, until internal court politics and a final British campaign end its independence with the Kandyan Convention of 2 March 1815 — a date remembered as the end of nearly 2,400 years of Sinhalese self-rule on the island. Note that Kandy's own span runs concurrently with the Portuguese and Dutch coastal entries below and after it on this page, not after them; the overlap is real and is explained in each entry.
What it represents: the Kandyan kings' banner — a gold lion holding a kastane sword on a maroon field, framed in gold — is the direct ancestor of Sri Lanka's modern national flag, carried forward essentially unchanged at independence in 1948. Wikipedia attributes the standard of Sri Vikrama Rajasinha to the Kingdom of Kandy (shown c. 1798-1815) and says the lion design was used until 1815; Flags of the World calls the Kandy lion flag Ceylon's national flag before 1815. Neither gives a flag date for 1592-1798.
Not yet checked against sourceshow we know this
Wikipedia: the standard of Sri Vikrama Rajasinha served as the Kandy kingdom's flag (c.1798-1815) and the lion design was used until 1815. Wikipedia's Flags of the Kingdom of Kandy, citing E. W. Perera (1916) and a Malwatte manuscript, describes the flag of Sri Vikrama Rajasinha (1798-1815) as a lion holding a sword, rediscovered at the Royal Hospital Chelsea in 1908, and shows an earlier royal standard of 1785. FOTW (history page, quoting DK Pocket Book 1997): the lion flag was used as the national flag of Ceylon before 1815, with temple finials, not bo leaves, in the corners.
Not established: The sources give the lion flag only from 1785 to 1815; no source read gives a Kandyan flag for 1592-1785. The 'unchanged to 1948' descent is not stated: Wikipedia says the Royal Standard basis of the modern flag was modified, and FOTW dates stripes to 1951.
gold sword-bearing lion on maroon, unbordered — reconstructed for the Kotte-era kingdoms
1236 – 1592
Later Sinhalese kingdoms (Dambadeniya, Gampola, Kotte)
Kingdom, independentVijayabahu IIIBuddhism (Theravada, state religion)
Who & why: after Polonnaruwa's decline, the Sinhalese royal capital shifts repeatedly — to Dambadeniya, then Yapahuwa, Gampola, and by the early 1400s to Kotte, near modern Colombo — under renewed pressure from South Indian raids and, later, the arrival of the Portuguese in 1505. Kotte becomes the dominant Sinhalese kingdom of the era but fragments under succession disputes and Portuguese interference through the 16th century, with the highland principality of Kandy growing steadily more independent as Kotte weakens, setting up the transition to the entry below.
What it represents: Wikipedia shows historical flags for the Kingdoms of Gampola (c. 1341-1408), Kotte (c. 1412-1597) and Sitawaka (c. 1521-1594) with no design description. Flags of the World says some older Kotte-era flags showed a whip where the sword normally appears, so a settled lion-and-sword emblem is not established by the sources read. The page's drawing is a reconstruction.
Reconstructionhow we know this
Wikipedia shows flags for Gampola (c. 1341-1408), Kotte (c. 1412-1597) and Sitawaka (c. 1521-1594) without describing them. FOTW: some older Kotte-era flags showed a whip instead of a sword, undated.
Sri Lanka — Flags of the World (CRW Flags) compiled
Not established: Dambadeniya not covered; no source states a settled lion-and-sword emblem for the period.
Paint guide
ProportionsN/A — no fixed flag recorded; shown as a reconstructed device.
LayoutMaroon field, passant lion holding a sword.
Maroon#7C2331
Gold#EAB308
gold lion on maroon, restored after Chola rule — reconstructed
1070 – 1236
Kingdom of Polonnaruwa
Kingdom, independentVijayabahu IBuddhism (Theravada, state religion)
Who & why: Vijayabahu I drives out the occupying Chola administration in 1070 after a seventeen-year campaign, restoring independent Sinhalese rule and moving the capital inland to Polonnaruwa, safer from coastal raids than Anuradhapura. The kingdom reaches its peak under Parakramabahu I (1153–1186), who unifies the island and builds an extensive irrigation network, but repeated South Indian invasions and succession struggles weaken it through the 1200s, and the capital is abandoned by 1236 as the court shifts west to Dambadeniya.
What it represents: royal tradition carries the gold lion forward from Anuradhapura as the restored kingdom's own emblem; as with the entry before it, no flag survives from this period and the design here is an informed reconstruction based on the same lion tradition later fixed by the Kandyan kings. The sources read do not cover the Polonnaruwa period; neither describes a flag for it.
Not yet checked against sourceshow we know this
Neither Wikipedia's Flag of Sri Lanka nor FOTW's Sri Lanka pages describe a Polonnaruwa-period flag. Wikipedia's Kingdom of Polonnaruwa article, searched for flag, banner, standard and lion, has no flag in its infobox and no text on one. FOTW's history page (lk_his) mentions a lion on 'older Kotte era flags' with a whip in place of the sword, which is a later kingdom.
Not established: Lion emblem continuity from Anuradhapura to Polonnaruwa is not covered by any source read; the silence of Wikipedia's kingdom article is not evidence of no flag.
Paint guide
ProportionsN/A — no attested flag; shown as a reconstructed device.
LayoutMaroon field, passant lion (no sword attested this early).
Maroon#7C2331
Gold#EAB308
gold field with the Chola dynasty's tiger emblem — reconstructed
993 – 1070
Chola conquest
Foreign conquestRajaraja IHinduism (Shaivism, state religion)
Migration & conquest:Conquered by: Chola Empire (993–1070)
Ruling house:House of Chola
Who & why: the Chola dynasty of southern India, under Raja Raja I, invades and sacks Anuradhapura around 993, and his son Rajendra I completes the conquest of the Sinhalese kingdom by around 1017, annexing the island's northern and central regions as a Chola province administered from Polonnaruwa. Sinhalese resistance continues from the south throughout, and the occupation ends when Vijayabahu I finally expels Chola forces in 1070, opening the entry below.
What it represents: no Ceylon-specific Chola banner is separately attested; the tiger was the dynasty's own royal emblem across its South Indian and Sri Lankan territories alike, shown here on the Chola dynastic gold as an informed reconstruction of the ruling power's own symbol rather than a locally documented flag. The sources read do not mention a Chola tiger banner or any Chola flag for Ceylon.
Not yet checked against sourceshow we know this
Neither Wikipedia nor FOTW's Sri Lanka pages mention a Chola flag in Ceylon. Wikipedia's Chola dynasty article shows an Uttama Chola silver coin found in Sri Lanka bearing the dynasty's tiger emblem.
Not established: The tiger is attested as a Chola emblem on a coin found in Sri Lanka, but a Chola banner for Ceylon, or a tiger on a gold field, is not described. The Polonnaruwa row (era-1070) found nothing new in Wikipedia's kingdom article or on FOTW.
Paint guide
ProportionsN/A — no attested flag; shown as a reconstructed dynastic device.
LayoutGold field, dark red-brown tiger emblem (the Chola royal symbol).
Gold#C9A13C
Tiger red-brown#8A2A1E
the legendary golden lion banner — informed reconstruction, not a surviving artifact
c. 377 BCE – 993 CE
Kingdom of Anuradhapura
Kingdom, independentPandukabhayaBuddhism (state religion from c. 250 BCE)
Ruling house:Lambakanna dynasty
Who & why: Sinhalese tradition, recorded centuries later in the island's chronicles, traces the kingdom to Pandukabhaya's founding of Anuradhapura as his capital around 377 BCE, and further back still to the semi-legendary Prince Vijaya, said to have arrived from India and become the island's first Sinhalese king around the 6th century BCE — a founding story, not an independently datable event. Anuradhapura goes on to anchor Sinhalese Buddhist civilization for well over a thousand years, developing major irrigation works and monasteries, before South Indian pressure culminates in the Chola sack of the city around 993, opening the entry above.
What it represents: Wikipedia says a mural in Dambulla Cave no. 2 shows King Dutugemunu (c. 162 BC) campaigning against Elara under a banner bearing a lion holding a sword, and calls it the only ancient representation of the lion flag; it also links the lion to the Mahavamsa's Prince Vijaya. So the lion banner has an ancient depiction in the sources read, not only a Kandyan one. Neither source describes a flag for the whole span 377 BCE-993 CE, and the drawing here is a reconstruction.
Reconstructionhow we know this
Wikipedia: a Dambulla Cave no. 2 mural shows Dutugemunu (c. 162 BC) under a banner with a lion holding a sword, the only ancient representation of the lion flag (lion defaced in 1957); lion linked to Prince Vijaya in the Mahavamsa. FOTW does not cover this period.
Sri Lanka — Flags of the World (CRW Flags) compiled
Not established: Dating of the mural and any flag for 377 BCE-993 CE needs an archaeological source; FOTW silent.
Paint guide
ProportionsN/A — no attested flag from any point in this span.
LayoutMaroon field, gold lion (no sword attested this early), following later Kandyan tradition.
Maroon#7C2331
Gold#EAB308
Reading the tags
Kingdom, independent — sovereign under its own crown
Foreign conquest — ruled by an outside power's own crown
Colony — administered by a European colonial power
Dominion — self-governing within the Commonwealth, shared crown
Republic — sovereign state under its own head of state
Leader — the named ruler most associated with the era's start
State religion — the official/established faith, not the population's
Find the records
Family history research for Sri Lanka lives in a different project, Record Atlas, which maps which archive actually holds the paper for a given place and era.