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Sri Lanka Sri Lanka

Geographical Location of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is an island country located in Indian Ocean to the south of India and separated from India by Palk Strait. It is also known as the Island of Serendipity. Srilanka lies just above the equator between 5° 55'N and 9° 55' N and between the eastern longitudes 79° 42' and 81° 52'. The maximum length and width of Sri Lanka is 435 km and 225 km respectively. Total area of Sri Lanka is 65610 sq km (Land area: 64740 sq km, Water area: 870 sq km).

The National Flag of Sri Lanka

The National Flag of Sri Lanka has been designed with great care and purpose. It not only represents the country and her heritage, but is a rallying device that integrates the minority races with the majority race. The present day National Flag is an improvisation of the civil standard of the last king of Sri Lanka, Sri Wickrama Rajasingha. The civil standard had a passant royal lion with a sword in it's right fore paw at the center, and a bo-leaf on each of the four corners on a plain border. The lion flag lost it's significance after the British conquered Sri Lanka in 1815. It was the Union Jack which was hoisted in its place. When Sri Lanka gained her independence from Great Britain on February 04, 1948, it was the lion flag (the same as the standard of the last king of Sri Lanka) which was hoisted once again. The first Prime Minister of independent Sri Lanka, D.S.Senanayake, appointed a committee to advice the government on the design of a new national flag. The design approved by the committee in February 1950 retained the symbol of the lion with the sword and the bo-leaves from the civil standard of the last king of Sri Lanka, with the inclusion of two verticle stripes green and orange in color. the significance of each symbol of the national flag is as follows: The lion in the flag represents the Sinhala race. The sword of the lion represents the sovereignty of the country. The noble eight fold path of Buddhism is signified by the lion's tail. Curly hair on the lion's head indicates religious observance, wisdom and meditation. The beard denotes purity of words. The handle of the sword highlights the elements of water, fire, air and earth. The nose indicates intelligence. The two front paws purport to purity in handling wealth. The verticle stripe of orange represent the minority Tamil race and the green verticle stripe the minority Muslim race. The four virtues of kindness: KINDNESS, FRIENDLINESS, HAPPINESS, EQUANIMITY are also represented in the flag. The border round the flag, which is yellow in color, represents other minor races. The bo-leaves at the four corners of the flag represent Buddhism and it's influence on the nation. They also stand for the four virtues - Kindness, Friendliness, Happiness and Equanimity. The maroon colored portion of the flag manifests the other minor religions.


Masks in sri lanka

A MIDNIGHT ceremony. Crowds milling, bodies slick with sweat in the tropical night. Torches lining an earthen arena. A patient is dazed with illness, propped on a low seat. The rhythmic beat of drums. The smell of smoking resin. A figure enters, back first and the rhythm of the drums changes, intensifies. The figure whirls and the patient is suddenly presented with the face of his tormentor! The yakun natima, or devil dance ritual of Sri Lanka, is nothing if not full of drama. Not just a charade or interval designed to entertain, the yakun natima is a carefully crafted ritual with a history reaching far back into Sri Lanka's pre-Buddhist past. It combines ancient Ayurvedic concepts of disease causation with deftpsychological manipulation. Lasting up to twelve hours, it mixes raucous humour with deep-rooted fears to create a healing catharsis for both patient and community. But while the beating of the bereya drums, the torchlight, and the smoky resin contribute to the aura of the night's magic, it is the masked face of the edura, or exorcist/shaman, that personifies the power of the moment-the devil incarnate (1). It is the mask or vesmuna which localises the fears and anxieties of both patient and audience. To the Sinhalese, it is this face, carved of wood, with bulging eyes, protruding nose and gaping mouth, disfigured and fierce, which represents both cause and cure (2).


Nature of Sri Lanka

Alawathugoda World wide presents you a nature of Sri Lanka and about the beauty of Badulla and Nuwaraeliya Districts of Sri Lanka. Horton Plains and Worlds End are beautiful places of Sri Lanka. Horton Plains are Natural and most attractive place. Most tourists are like to visit those places. Horton plain is a highest plane of Sri Lanka. That place has highest gap called "Worlds end" and very beautiful waterfall called "Bakers Waterfall". Border of Badulla and Nuwaraeliya Districts you have to see many nice places. There are cool villages of Sri Lanka that is Ohiya village, Pattipola village and Ambewela Village. Ambewela also hill country cool village and Milko milk powder factory and Ambewela New Zealand farm is situated there. Badulla and Nuwaraeliya districts has many waterfalls and mountains. Highest mountain of Sri Lanka is "Piduruthalagala" mountain. 2nd and 3rd are "Thotupala" mountain and "Kirigalpottha" mountain. Highest Railway station above sea level of Sri Lanka is "Pattipola". It is 1892m. Pattipola has very dark railway tunnel. That Tunnel Identify as "Tunnel 18" because that tunnel is 18th from Colombo. This is brief account of some place Nature web site describes more places, waterfalls and mountains of Sri Lanka as well. See the all pages under the Nature web site....