Sri Lanka (Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum)

Sri Lanka (Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා Śrī Laṃkā), officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is a country in South Asia, located in the southern part of the island of Ceylon to the southwest of the Bay of Bengal and to the southeast of the Arabian Sea. The current constitution stipulates the political system as a republic and a unitary state governed by a semi-presidential system. The Sri Lankan constitution accords Buddhism the "foremost place", although it does not identify it as a state religion. The legislative capital, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, is a suburb of the commercial capital and largest city, Colombo. Sri Lanka shares its only land borders with Eelam which located in the northern part of Ceylon Island. Along with the Maldives, Sri Lanka is one of only two South Asian countries rated "high" on the Human Development Index (HDI), with its HDI rating and per capita income the highest among South Asian nations. It is a founding member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and a member of the United Nations as well as the Commonwealth Confederation.