NO. 5. — 1850.] THE ELTJ LANGUAGE. 291 



s35c3 ©33 tsstf <^^C3<5 



3. The word "hedahili " is produced by substitution.* 

 &>iq ....q®qt£ 



The above conveys both a rule of grammar and an 

 eulogium upon the female sex. In either sense it is 

 grammatically correct, in both senses it is elegant, and in 

 neither is it defective in imagery. 



These lines afford us an opportunity to ascertain the date 

 of the " Sidatsangarava." For although many a Sinhalese 

 scholar believes that the grammarian who professes to 

 write his work upon the precepts of (( unerring custom " 

 after the established usage of eminent writers, has borrowed 

 most of his illustrations — such as >2£>stf or q^sS* — from the 

 Kaviyasekare, yet I think, apart from the modernism of the 

 style of the last-mentioned work, — a fact which sufficiently 

 refutes the above opinion, — there is almost conclusive evi- 

 dence to support the more generally prevailing belief that 

 " the last-mentioned work was in point of date subsequent to 

 that of the grammar." I say there is nearly conclusive 

 evidence, because the poet, in reference to the verb in the 

 stanza under consideration, places it in the seventh section 

 or chapter of grammar — a division which, as far as my 

 inquiries have extended, is to be found in no other work on 

 grammar except the " Sidatsangarava " Taking then, the 

 date of the grammar to have been before the Kaviyasekare? 

 we are by no means at a loss to say that it was written 

 after the KavsUumana, from which the grammarian has 

 quoted the following passage :— 



^d^gfig fg)o®C5D^ <^S3®©33q ZfiiBOiZ3i&. 

 She came slowly, according to the king's wish, and hid 

 herself aside, &c. 



* As by ades (a term of grammar for giving possession to one sound 

 a different one) q^cS^ becomes eaiqeSg, so the naturally unbelieving 

 sinful woman was imbued with faith. 



57—87 m 



