No. 33.— 1886.] THE VEDDAS OF CEYLON. 



381 



of to-day differs from the old Anglo-Saxon. According to 

 him the name of Elu is identical with the word Sinhala, 

 as the Sinhalese call themselves, which borrowed from the 

 Sanskrit is by the uneducated generally pronounced Hinliala; 

 it stands for the old word Hela or Helu, and this again for a 

 still older Sela, which leads us back to the Pali of Sihala. 

 The old tradition, according to which the founder of the 

 Sihala dynasty (Wijaya) came from Lala, a district of Magadha 

 (Behar) in India, agrees very well with the fact that according 

 to another tradition Pali was originally a Magadha dialect. 

 Pali and Sinhalese are so nearly related that one might 

 almost believe at the first glance the latter to be derived from 

 the former, but on closer inspection we should see that Pali, 

 in which the teachings of Buddha were written, represents 

 only the dialect of one district of Magadha. Hence Sinhalese 

 is one of the native Aryan (Sanskrit) languages of India, and 

 very ancient. For it is absolutely identical with the Elu of 

 the fifth and sixth centuries A.C., which is found also on the 

 rock inscriptions of Mihintale of the second or third century. 

 The early establishment of the language is explained by the 

 fact that Mahinda, at the beginning of the third century B.C., 

 translated a Buddhist work from the Pali into the Sinhalese, 

 thereby making the latter the written language. 



What place the Vedda language holds relatively to this is still 

 in the highest degree dubious. In Ceylon itself the opinion 

 has long prevailed* 5 that it is a broken or corrupted Sinhalese. 

 Mr. Baileyt also adopted this opinion, although he considers 

 the Veddas as descendants from an ancient Tamil population. 

 But he found in their language numerous Hindu words — 

 personal names — corresponding often to the names of Hindu 

 gods or goddesses. Hence he was inclined to assume an 



* Knox, I. c, p. 104. Mr. Justice Starke, Journal of the Ceylon 

 Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1853, p. 80. G-illings, id., p. 81. 



f Bailey, I. C, pp. 297,305, 309. He mentions especially that the so-called 

 elk of Ceylon (Musa Aristotelis) is in Vedda language called " gawra," 

 which reminds one of the gaur (Bos gaurus) of Hindustan. But to be 

 sure the pengolin (Manis pentadactylos) is also called "gal gawra." 



31—87 d 



