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JOURNAL , R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XXI. 



The same primary elements of the Sinhalese language, 

 namely its relation to Sanskrit and Pali and the source of 

 Pali and Sanskrit, exist in its music also. Some of the words 

 in songs and some of the tunes are purely Sanskrit, some Pali, 

 and some purely Sinhalese; while in some songs composed 

 at a later period we find Tamil, Telugu, and Hindustani 

 words and tunes largely used, well adapted to rhyme with 

 the Sinhalese words and tunes. In the earlier poetry we do 

 not find any Sanskrit or Pali words. This proves that, 

 although Sinhalese music was added to from Sanskrit and 

 other sources, it had its own origin, which must be as old 

 as the origin of that language — the Sinhalese. 



The Sinhalese music, as it now exists in the Kandyan 

 provinces, must have been introduced during the Vijayan era, 

 to which additions must have been gradually made from South- 

 ern India. I say this because we have not yet come across 

 any song or piece of poetry that existed prior to that era. As 

 has been pointed out, the aborigines had their music, their 

 songs, and their poetry, but as we have none of their literature 

 extant, it must be concluded that their music too perished 

 with their literature ; unless, as some think, their language got 

 mixed up with the language of the conquerors, resulting in 

 the Sinhalese language that existed during the earlier part of 

 the Christian era. If this be the case, then it must be con- 

 cluded that their music itself got mixed up with that of the 

 conquerors. If Ceylon had a people that could give battle 

 to the hosts of Prince Rama as early as two thousand years 

 B.C., there must have existed a certain state of civilization 

 then. If civilization there was, there must have been music 

 also. Therefore, granting that the language of the aborigines 

 merged into that of the conquerors, the origin of at least a 

 fractional part of the Sinhalese music should be traced to that 

 period. 



However melodious Sinhalese music may be to the Sinhalese , 

 it is not possible for the European, or for the matter of that 

 to the Europeanized Sinhalese, to even partially appreciate 

 the melody. For it is a most difficult thing to understand the 

 metre, the tunes, and the rhythm of Sinhalese music, which 

 is so vastly, if not completely, different from European music. 



