512 



SCIENCES AND SOCIAL ARTS. 



[PART IV. 



CHAP. X. 



SINGHALESE LITERATURE. 



THE literature of the ancient Singhalese derived its 

 character from the hierarchic ascendancy, which was 

 fostered by their government, and exerted a prepon- 

 derant influence over the temperament of the people. 

 The Buddhist priesthood were the depositories of all 

 learning and the dispensers of all knowledge : by the 

 obligation of their order the study of the classical Pah l 

 was rendered compulsory upon them 2 , and the books 

 which have come down to us show that they were at the 

 same time familiar with Sanskrit. They were employed 

 by royal command in compiling the national annals 3 , and 

 kings at various periods not only encouraged their la- 

 bours by endowments of lands 4 , but conferred distinction 

 on such pursuits by devoting their own attention to the 

 cultivation of poetry 5 , and the formation of libraries. 6 



The books of the Singhalese are formed to-day, as they 

 have been for ages past, of olas or strips taken from the 

 young leaves of the Talipat or the Palmyra palm, 

 cut before they have acquired the dark shade and 

 strong texture which belong to the full-grown frond. 7 



1 Pali, which is the language of 

 Buddhist literature in Siam, Ava, as 

 well as in Ceylon, is, according to 

 Dr. MILL, "no other than the Ma- 

 gadha Prakrit, the classical form in 

 ancient Behar of that very peculiar 

 modification of Sanskrit speech which 

 enters as largely into the drama of 

 the Hindus, as did the Doric dialect 

 into the Attic tragedy of Ancient 

 Greece." In 1820 MM. BunNorjr 

 and LASSEN published their learned 

 " Essai sur le Pali" but the most am- 

 ple light was thrown upon its struc- 

 ture and history by the subsequent 

 investigations of TUBNOUK, who, 



in the introduction to his version of 

 the Mahaivamo, has embodied a dis- 

 quisition on the antiquity of Pali as 

 compared with Sanskrit (p.xxii. &c.). 



2 Rqjaratnacari, p. 106. 



* Ibid., p. 43-74. 

 * 4 Ibid., p. 113. 



5 Rajavali, p. 245 ; Mahawanso, 

 ch. liv., Ixxix. 



6 PMjavali, p. 244. 



7 The leaves of the Palmyra, simi- 

 larly prepared, are used for writings 

 of an ordinary kind, but the most 

 valuable books are written on the 

 Talipat. See ante, Vol. I. Pt. I. ch. iii. 

 p. 110. 



