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Heladiva, Sri Lanka

Last modified: 2010-08-21 by ian macdonald
Keywords: heladiva | sri lanka | sinhalese |
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[Heladiva, Sri Lanka] image by Chrystian Kretowicz, 6 July 2010

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Description of the flag

Heladiva is a nationalistic, political, and cultural movement of the majority population of Sri Lanka - the Sinhalese. You can read more at: http://sites.google.com/site/helafamily/.

"To the world, Sri Lanka was known as 'Heladiva' before the arrival of the Aryan prince 'Vijaya'. 'Heladiva' simply translates to 'the land of the Hela People', where the Hela people are the collective members of the four known tribes that existed before the invasion of Vijaya. These tribes are Naga (Serpent worshipers), Raaksha (Demon worshipers), Deva (Tribes who worshiped godly deities) and Yaksha (Demon Worshipers). The term Sinhala, which was later applied to the race of people and the language appears to have arisen after Vijaya, referred to in legend as partly descended from a lion, was coined from the joining of the Sanskrit word for Lion (Sinha) and Hela, resulting in Sinhala.

The term Hela in Sinhala - the native Sri Lankan language - refers also to the nationality of the majority Sri Lankans. The word literally means "lions' blood". " (Julian Grebe).

"Standard [flag] of the Hela depicts:
The light of Humanity (i.e. loving-kindness) is represented by the 'Sun-Face'
Wisdom (i.e. knowledge and self-actualisation) is represented by the 'Lotus flower'
Self-sufficiency (i.e. sustainable prosperity) is represented by the 'Wreath of rice-paddy'

In addition, the concept of sovereignty is represented by the 'golden-yellow border', the quality of being pristine (i.e. 'incorrupt', 'unpolluted' etc) is represented by 'the white background' and the principle of equity is represented by 'the royal-blue circle'.
Chrystian Kretowicz, 6 July 2010