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Flags of the Kingdom of Kandy

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Flag of the Kingdom of Kandy
UseCivil flag and ensign
Proportion2:3
Relinquished1815

The Kingdom of Kandy used a veriety of flags at both national and provincial level. The kingdom succeded from the Kotte Kingdom in around 1469, continued the use of the heraldic emblems of Kotte.

Royal Flags

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The royal family and their flags took pre-eminence over all.

Sri Rajadhi Rajasinha (1782-1798)

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  • An earlier version of the Royal Standard carried by the envoys of the king to the Dutch Governor in 1785
    An earlier version of the Royal Standard carried by the envoys of the king to the Dutch Governor in 1785

Sri Vikrama Rajasinha (1798-1815)

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The flag of Sri Vikrama Rajasinha (1798–1815), the only flag of a Sri Lankan monarch so far known to be in existance. A fragment of a manuscript on flags in the library of the Malwathu Maha Viharaya records: "The Sinhalese royal standard: a banner bearing the device of a lion holding a sword in its right paw. This was the flag of Sri Vikrama Rajasinha, (1798-1815) who became the Sinhalese King."[1] This flag was lost when it had been picked up from the battle ground at Hanwella Fort in 1803 by British Capt. William Pollock when Sri Vikrama Rajasinha and his forces had to retreat during the Battle of Hanwella of the First Kandyan War.[2]

This flag was rediscovered in 1908 by E. W. Perera, along with two other Sinhalese flags, at the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London. At the time Perera found the flag, he had to repair it and prepare a sketch for publication as it was already in a very bad state of preservation and unsuitable for photography. In 1916 E. W. Perera reproduces a sketch of the flag, without colours, in plate No. 100 in his well-known monograph, Sinhalese Banners and Standards published in 1916.[2][3]

Edward W. Perera writes about this flag:

By rare good fortune, as stated in the Introduction, the writer discovered three Sinhalese banners at the Chelsea Hospital in 1908, two of them being representations of the royal standard. The design on one of them was completely faded, but the identity of the flag was made clear by a drawing in water colour hung upon the wall- gu., a lion pass. or, holding in the dexter paw a chowry of the last...

The other was the banner of the last King of Kandy, Sri Wikkrama Rája Sinha (1798-1815), who surrendered in 1815 at the fall of Kandy. Together with the eagles of Napoleon, it was deposited at Whitehall Chapel, thence removed to the United Service Museum, and later to the Chelsea Hospital. This flag has since been renovated, and the emblem is clearly discernible, a lion passant holding a sword in its right paw, as described in the Malwatte manuscript. For the capture of Kandy, in 1815, Sir Robert Brownrigg, Bart, was granted by royal letters patent, as an honourable augmentation, the flag of the Kandyan monarch.[1]

Edward W. Perera, Sinhalese banners and standards (1916)

This flag had been in possession of a doctor in Colombo until June 1990 with his sudden death his wife, a Swiss lady, left the island for permanent settlement in switzerland taking the flag with her.

Senarath Panawatta, a former curator of the Kandy National Museum, later confirmed the authenticity of this flag as an original artifact. Panawatta identified it as the civil standard of the Kandyan kings, a flag that continued to be used during the reign of Sri Vikrama Rajasinha. He also clarified that this flag is distinct from the Sinhalese Royal Flag, which serves as the basis for the modern national flag of Sri Lanka, now modified with the addition of two stripes.[2]

  • Photograph of the Royal Standard of the Kandyan kings
    Photograph of the Royal Standard of the Kandyan kings

Disavani flags

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The Kandyan kingdom was divided into 21 provinces, 12 Disavanis and 9 Ratas. Ratas were smaller admistrative divisions in close proximity to the central governement and governed by a Rate Mahatmaya, while Disavanis were larger, further away and governed by a Dissava (governor), acting as a representative of the king.[4] Each disavani and rata was divided into Korales and the Korales in turn were divided into Pattu (singular, pattuva). Each pattuva consisted of a large number of villages which varied in extant and composition.[5]

Each Disavani was entitled to have a distinct flag and each Disava was preceded by his particular flag while he was travelling in his disavani symbolizing their power and authority. Rate Mahatmaya had vastly lessor power and authrity including that of not having the right to a flag.[6][7]

Flag Date Use Description
Maha Disavani[8]
- 19th Century Flag of the Satara Korales[N 1] Ira Handa Maha Kodiya (Sun and Moon Flag)
Sun, moon and stars, on a white field[9][10][11]
- 19th Century Flag of the Sat Korales[N 2] Siṇhayâ Maha Kodiya (Lion Flag)[10][11]
- 19th Century Flag of Uva Haṇsayâ Maha Kodiya (Swan Flag)[10][11]
- 19th Century Flag of Sabaragamuwa Kaha Paṭa Redi Maha Kodiya (Yellow Slik Flag)[10][11]
Sulu Disavani
- 19th Century Flag of Matale Sudu Maha Kodiya (White Flag)[10][11]
- 19th Century Flag of the Tun Korales[N 3] Bhéruṇḍaya Pakshiya Maha Kodiya (Flag)
A Bhéruṇḍa (double headed eagle), a spread eagle[9][10][11]
- 19th Century Flag of Valapane Mayura Maha Kodiya (Peacock Flag)[10][11]
- 19th Century Flag of Udapalata Neḷum-mal Maha Kodiya (Lotus Flag)[10][11]
- 19th Century Flag of Nuvarakalaviya Gajasiṇha Maha Kodiya (Gajasimha Flag)[10][11]
- 19th Century Flag of Vellassa Kotiyá Maha Kodiya (Tiger/Leopard Flag)[10][11]
- 19th Century Flag of Bintanna Girawá Maha Kodiya (Parrot Flag)[10][11]
- 19th Century Flag of Tamankaduva Valahá Maha Kodiya (Bear Flag)[10][11]

Other flags

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Other offices of the Kandyan Government also had their own flags as well as hereditary clans and castes. We know that temples and monasteries too had special banners.[12]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Four Korales
  2. ^ Seven Korales
  3. ^ Three Korales

References

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  1. ^ a b de Vries 2012.
  2. ^ a b c Kuruluwansa 2008.
  3. ^ Perera 1916.
  4. ^ Kulasekera 1984, p. 19.
  5. ^ Kulasekera 1984, p. 36.
  6. ^ Kulasekera 1984, p. 37.
  7. ^ Kulasekera 1984, p. 334.
  8. ^ Bell 1904, p. 2.
  9. ^ a b Bell 1904, p. 3.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Bell 1904, p. 126.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Dewaraja 2018, p. 35.
  12. ^ Seneviratne 1988.

Bibliography

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Books
  • Bell, H. C. P. (1904). Report on the Kegalla District of the Province of Sabaragamuwa, 1892. Colombo: George J. A. Skeen, Government Printer. Retrieved 18 January 2025.
  • Perera, Edward Walter (1916). Sinhalese banners and standards. Colombo: Printed by H.C. Cottle, Government Printer, Ceylon. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
  • Dewaraja, Lorna Srimathie (2008). The Kandyan Kingdom of Sri Lanka, 1707 - 1782 (2. rev. ed.). Colombo: Lake House Investments. ISBN 9555520186.
  • Dewaraja, Lorna Srimathie (2018). The Kandy Äsaḷa maha perahära (First ed.). Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publications. ISBN 9789556653779.
Other
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