Question

why is this syntax not legal..? Can you throw some light on what is the design issue in not allowing HashMap to be static with declarations like this.?

static HashMap<String,  String> map2 = new HashMap<String,  String> ();

Answer 1

static HashMap<String,  String> map2 = new HashMap<String,  String> (); 

is perfectly valid provided you have this code at the class level and not in a method.

Where do you have this?

After your update:

You have the variable declared at the method level, static variables are not allowed at the method level.

static variables are class variables. One per class. So it does not make sense to have variables that are visible only inside a method, that is going to die after the method is done, to be ‘class level’. At least thats how Java sees it.