4 



ON THE ORIGIN OF 



the fifth century before the Christian era, the Dravidians were al- 

 ready acquainted with letters. So were the Sinhalese colonists; for, 

 soon after their settlement in the island, they ' dispatched a letter of 

 invitation.'* But the two nations had no common origin. Their al- 

 phabets too are different. It would therefore be reasonable to con- 

 clude that the alphabet which the Sinhalese brought down to Ceylon 

 was, what their, earliest writingsf exhibit, the oldest form of the 

 Deva Nagari, similar to the characters of the inscriptions of Asoka. 



The following comparative table of the Sinhalese and the Tamil 

 Alphabets also proves that the former has not reached the Sans- 

 krit through a Dravidian medium. 



Vowels. 



Tamil 



— a, a, : i, i : u, 



xl : ri, ri 



: Iri lri : — 



•e : ai 



: — o 



: au : a 



— a, a .* i, 1 : u, 



u : 





— :e, 



e : ei 



: o, 6 



. au : — 





CONSONANTS. 









Gutturals, Sinh. 





k 



kh 



: g 



gh 



' n 



Ditto, Tamil 





k 









: n 



Palatals Sin. 





ch 



chh 



: j 



jh 



: n 



Ditto, Tamil 





ch 









: fi 



Cerebrals, Sin. 





t 



th 



d 



dh 



: ti 



Ditto, Tamil 





t 









: n 



Dental Sin. 





t 



th 



: d 



dh 



: n 



Ditto, Tamil 





t 









: n 



Labials, Sin. 





P 



ph 



: b 



bh 



: m 



Ditto, Tamil 





P 









: m 



Semi-vowels, Sin. 



y 



r 1 



V 







Ditto, 



Tamil 



y 



r 1 



V 



r 



} R 



Sibilants and aspirate, 













Sinh. 



s, 



sh, 



Sj h 









Tamil 













* Mahawansa p. 53. 



f See the Inscriptions at Mihintala. 



