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Sinhala (Siṁhala) is a Sanskrit term; the corresponding Middle Indo-Aryan (Eḷu) word is Sīhala. The name is a derivative of siṁha, the Sanskrit word for 'lion'. [ 12 ] The name is sometimes glossed as 'abode of lions', and attributed to a supposed former abundance of lions on the island.
The Sinhalese people (Sinhala: සිංහල ජනතාව, romanized: Sinhala Janathāva), also known as the Sinhalese or Sinhala people are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group native to the island of Sri Lanka. [15][16] They are the largest ethnic group in Sri Lanka, constituting about 75% of the Sri Lankan population and number more ...
Sri Lanka, [ b ] historically known as Ceylon, [ c ] and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian peninsula by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait.
John Still in 1907 wrote, "The whole face of the hill appears to have been a gigantic picture gallery... the largest picture in the world perhaps". [12] The paintings would have covered most of the western face of the rock, an area 140 m (460 ft) long and 40 m (130 ft) high. There are references in the graffiti to 500 ladies in these paintings.
The main languages spoken in Sri Lanka are Sinhala and Tamil. Several languages are spoken in Sri Lanka within the Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, and Austronesian families. Sri Lanka accords official status to Sinhala and Tamil, with English as a recognised language. The languages spoken on the island nation are deeply influenced by the various ...
In Ptolemy's world map from 2 century CE, the place was named 'Anourogrammoi.' Thus, It is believed that the expansion of this earlier smaller settlement called Anuradhagrama into a city during the reign of Sinhalese king Pandukabhaya (474–367 BCE ) in 437 BCE caused the change of the name to Anuradhapura.
v. t. e. The Sinhala script (Sinhala: සිංහල අක්ෂර මාලාව, romanized: Siṁhala Akṣara Mālāva), also known as Sinhalese script, is a writing system used by the Sinhalese people and most Sri Lankans in Sri Lanka and elsewhere to write the Sinhala language as well as the liturgical languages Pali and Sanskrit. [3]
Mahāvaṃsa (Sinhala: මහාවංශ (Mahāvansha), Pali: මහාවංස (Mahāvaṃsa)) is the meticulously kept historical chronicle of Sri Lanka until the period of Mahasena of Anuradhapura. It was written in the style of an epic poem written in the Pali language. [1] It relates the history of Sri Lanka from its legendary beginnings ...