No. 5.— 1850.] THE ELU LANGUAGE. 



241 



ON THE ELU LANGUAGE, ITS POETRY AND 

 ITS POETS. 



Br James De Alwis, Esq. 



{Read February 23, 1850.) 



Contents. 



The apparent inattention to the study of the Sinhalese — The present 

 low state of learning in the towns — The Elu defined — The derivation 

 of the terms Elu and Sinhala — The apparent difference between the 

 old and the new styles in prose accounted for and exemplified — The 

 general destruction of the Sinhalese literary records— That Elu and 

 Sinhalese are synonymous terms proved — Authorities cited — That the 

 Elu and the Sanskrit had one common origin — The Sinhalese alphabet 

 analysed — The formation of the letters pointed out — The Sanskrit and 

 Pali characters embodied in the Sinhalese alphabet — The sound of / 

 found in the Sanskrit — Prose writings in the Sinhalese classified — 

 Examples — The Sinhalese poetry defended against slights with which 

 it is treated by Europeans — Similarity of thought between English and 

 Sinhalese poetry instanced — Translation of English and Sinhalese 

 poetry— The translated Holy Scriptures — The different kinds of poetry 

 — Examples and rules of versification — Three diagrams — The SDadsa 

 poem with a translation — Yuvala verses — An attempt to ascertain the 

 date of " Sidat Sangarava" — Several species of puns in poetry, with exam- 

 ples — Acrostics — The twenty-six Sinhalese epithets for Buddha in 

 general critically translated and explained — Sinhalese dialogues ex- 

 plained and illustrated — A. few rules of Sinhalese prosody — The eight 

 rythmical feet in poetry — Native prejudices against some — Examples — 

 The evil characters, &c, — The diagram called <£©so(3 explained — The 

 four YavaTian — Examples— Brief notices of the poets and their work?, 

 with an attempt to ascertain their dates — " Kavyasekara" — "Selalihini- 

 sandesa " — " Parawisandesa " — " Moggallayana Patipanchika" — the 

 " Pera Kumba Sirita " — " Kowulsandesa," ( To be continued.) 



