The flag of Sri Lanka, also called the Lion Flag , Sinhala Flag, consists of a yellow lion, holding a kastane sword in its right fore paw, in front of a dark red background with four golden bo leaves, one in each corner. Around the background is a yellow border, 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 represents the Sinhalese ethnicity and the bravery of the nation and its yellow color represents Buddhism while the four Bo leaves represent four main concepts of Buddhism Mettā, Karuna, Mudita and Upekkha. The orange stripe represents the Tamils, the green stripe represents Moors, and the maroon background represents the majority Sinhalese, like the lion.The flag has a yellow border representing unity and Buddhism .
It was adopted in 1950 following the recommendations of a committee appointed by the 1st Prime Minister of Ceylon, The Rt Hon D.S. Senanayake.