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JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLGN). [VOL. XII. 



Syllabus. 



I. — Sinhalese language : — 



1. Basis, Elu. 



2. Words, Sanskritic. 



3. Characters, Karnataka. 



II. — Sinhalese people are a mixture of : — ■ 



1. Yakkas or Elus. 



2. Semi-Telugus, 



3. Tamils. 



4. Telugus. 



III. — Sinhalese dress : — 



1. Low-country, Malay dress. 



2. Kandyan women, Indian costume. 



4. The following note contributed by the Hon. Mr. 

 PaNABOKKE was also read by Mr. F. H. M. Corbet by per- 

 mission. Mr. Panabokke wrote : — 



WE do not think it requires a great effort to prove that all 

 the writers on the early history of Ceylon are agreed that 

 this Island was inhabited before the Vijayan era. 



The Bamdyana, according to native chroniclers, was 

 composed in the year 2,387 B.C. It treats, as we all know, 

 amongst other things, of the war waged between Rama and 

 Ravana, a king of Ceylon. It is a palpable truism which 

 requires no proof that for a conquest, the existence of 

 a people should be presupposed. The theory that the 

 inhabitants of this Island before the Vijayan period were 

 Yakku, whereby we understand non-human beings or demons, 

 will not be seriously stated as a fact. 



Writers, both European and native, have in the present 

 century conclusively demonstrated that the aboriginal 

 inhabitants were human beings. 



Taking then these two facts for granted, that Ceylon was 

 inhabited, and inhabited by human beings, the questions 

 which suggest themselves to us are, who were those ab- 

 origines ? and where did they come from ? 



The late Hon. James de Alwis, that eminent scholar, in his 

 Introduction to the Sidat Sangardwa (at page XII.) reasons 

 thus : — 



Situated at no great distance from the Indian Peninsula, probably 

 joined to it by an isthmus which has been washed away ; and invited 

 by the advantages which it possessed, amongst which were its elephants 

 and pearls, not to mention the fertility of its soil, the salubrity of its 

 climate, and the richness of its natural productions, it is but reasonable 

 to suppose that the Indians (unquestionably a very ancient race of 

 people) had settled in Ceylon before the period referred to (i.e., 

 Vijayan period) ; if indeed their settlement was not coeval with their 

 occupation of India. 



