SINHALESE LANGUAGE. 



145 



that 'the Sinhala was derived from the Sanskrit.' He moreover 

 perceived not the identity of the Elu with Sinhala; nor could he 

 distinguish the Pali forms in the ancient Sinhalese from the Sans- 

 krit forms which predominated in our modern dialect. One would 

 have supposed that the share he had had in the publication of the 

 Balavatara could not fail to enlighten him on the subject. But 

 such, unfortunately, was not the case. He recognized 'the elements 

 of two distinct dialec ts, in the national language of Ceylon. Ono 

 he pronounced the Elu, and the other the Sinhala, The former 

 he regarded as 'the remains of the language originally spoken, 

 i. e. by the aboriginal inhabitants ; and the latter, as the language 

 introduced after the Vijayan conquest.* 



The subsequent labours of the Rev. S. Lambrick (1834), as well 

 as those of an anterior date (1821) of the Rev. John Callaway 

 were of little avail. The Dictionary of the latter was intended for 

 elementary schools. The Grammar of the former, by his adoption 

 of the forms of language current amongst the vulgar, rendered but 

 little assistance to the Philologer. His denial, moreover, of the 

 existence of the passive voice, which he must have daily found in 

 the Sinhalese Version of the Lord's prayer, only gave those who 

 placed the Sinhalese in the South-Indian class an additional handle 

 in support of their incorrect theory. 



History, too, was then in its infancy. Upham's works published 

 in 1833 tended rather to mislead than to direct the European 

 mind. No effort was made to set Sinhalese history in its true 

 light until Tumour entered the field of Oriental literature. The 

 commencement of true historic knowledge may be regarded from 

 the date (1837), when he published the Mahavansa, and exhibited 

 the value of the Pali, not only in regard to chronological and his- 

 torical researches, but also in point of philological investigations, f 



* For explanation of the terms Elu and Sinhala see Sidatsangara p. xxvii et 

 seq. 



f The learned author of the Dravidian Comparative Grammar in fixing the 

 date of Dravidian Civilization preparatory to an investigation into the origin 

 of the Dravidian language, says: 'I am inclined to look to Ceylon for the best 

 means of arriving at -an approximate date.' p, 81. 



V 



