By Darshanie Ratnawalli –
Darshanie Ratnawalli
Professor S.K Sitrampalam is the former professor of history in the University of Jaffna, a vice president of ITAK (euphemistically known as the Federal Party) and a specialist in South Asian history and Archaeology. He can be relied on… To take your breath away by bizarre displays of ignorance that is hard to explain away even with the excuse; ‘nationalist historian’. Unless ‘nationalist historian’ is a polite euphemism that really means ‘unsound operative’. Here is a demonstration from his “Tamils of Sri Lanka: Historical Roots of Tamil identity” (2003).
“At this juncture it is pertinent to quote Geiger who studied the Sinhala language in depth. He has divided its development into three phases. They are: Sinhalese Prakrit (3rd century B.C – 4th century AD), proto–Sinhalese (4th century AD – 8th century A.D) Sinhalese proper (after 8th century A.D). Elu, is the original language from which the later Sinhalese developed. However, data from the Brahmi inscriptions show that the Elu would have been either old Tamil or a dialect of Tamil. In the light of the evidence from the Brahmi inscriptions it is now evident that the proto–Sinhalese speakers, namely the Elu speakers came into contact with Prakrit, the language of Buddhism.”
The only appropriate way to respond to this is to imagine that one is a pre-school teacher and Professor Sitrampalam a tiny tot. “Oh honey” one would say “Come here. Sit. Wait let me wipe that jam off. You want to know what Elu is? You know ‘Dharma’? It’s Sanskrit. ‘dhamma’ is the Pali form. Dam and daham are the Elu forms. Shall we see what the Old Sinhala or Sinhalese Prakrit form is? Here, this is the glossary of Inscriptions of Ceylon Vol. 1[i]. Page 110. It’s ‘dama’- truth, law, religion, virtue, etc. It can be seen in inscription number 923 as ‘dama-katika’- the expounder or preacher of religion. Shall we see the actual inscription? Here let me…there’s jam on your fingers. ‘Damakatika Tisa….Pusaha (Tisaha lene)’.
Shall we move on to another book[ii]? Turn to “Works and Persons in Sinhala Literary Culture” by Charles Hallisey. “Sinhala literary culture during these centuries (he means between 10th and 15th centuries AD honey. It’s in the previous paragraph) was internally diglossic, employing one “alphabet” for writing Sinhala poetry and one for Sinhala prose. The script was the same for both; the difference between the two was the number of permitted letters (aksaras), prose, having fifty seven, against thirty-six for poetry. The alphabet for poetic Sinhala (elu) prevented the use of many Sanskrit loanwords (tatsamas) because it lacked letters for the aspirated consonants of Sanskrit, although Sanskrit loanwords became as common in Sinhala prose as they later were in the literatures of other local languages else-where in South Asia. Sanskrit loanwords apparently became common in spoken Sinhala too, as well as in Sinhala Buddhist discourse: the Sanskritic dharmaya (Truth, the Buddha’s Teaching) is far more common than daham or dähäm, found in elu, whereas there is no tatsama in Sinhala from the Pali equivalent, dhamma.”
Shall we look for more Elu words then? You are not tired? Page 117, IC-I. Sanskrit and Pali bhūmi . Means land? It’s bima in Elu. It’s bumi in Old Sinhala (without the aspirate you know honey what they call ‘the mahaprana bha’ in Sinhala?)
Here this is inscription 1215. See the term “bumi dine”? And this 1226; “bumi karahaka dine”.
And the Sanskrit dīrgha is dīgha in Pali. Long, tall. Can you guess what that is in Elu? No? Look in p 111. Now tell. Digu good boy! Now what is it in Old Sinhala? Diga without the aspirate or the mahaprana.
Remember that man whose name was Cumaratunga Munidāsa? He was often called Munidas. Because of his Elu aspirations. Sanskrit dāsa or dāsya, Pali dāsa, Elu das. And in Old Sinhala it was dasa again without the long vowel.
And where in the world did you get the idea that Elu is another name for Proto-Sinhala (“it is now evident that the proto–Sinhalese speakers, namely the Elu speakers came into contact with Prakrit, the language of Buddhism”???) Who told you that? I see no citation for that. Did you think that up yourself? Honey, then you haven’t understood the basics. Go to the blackboard. Write ‘Sinhalese Prakrit (300 BC- 400 AD)’. Draw a horizontal arrow from it. After the arrow write ‘Proto-Sinhala (400 AD-800 AD)’. Another horizontal arrow from that (No! no more jam until you get this) then write ‘Sinhalese Proper (800 AD to present)’. What the arrows mean honey is that Sinhalese Prakrit evolved into Proto-Sinhala, which evolved into Sinhalese proper. See these two dolls? Imagine these two are Sinhalese Prakrit speakers. 700 years pass (I will wave this scarf to show 700 years passing) and hey presto, these two dolls are now…what? Proto-Sinhala speakers, that’s right! So how can they come into contact with Prakrit again? Through time travel? Honey where did you get your PhD? Poona? An excellent university I am sure. You want to be a credit or a discredit to them? Credit? Then pay attention without looking at the Jam cupboard.
Now darling, the second fatal error you are making is in saying “Prakrit, the language of Buddhism”. Honey, it’s the other way around. Prakrit was the language of the land, which became the language of Buddhism when it arrived around 3rd century BC. By the time Buddhism arrived the language called Sinhalese Prakrit was already here, had been here for a few centuries knocking against the palettes of the people and changing into a language distinct from all Indo-Aryan languages of North India. Honey all this time have you been thinking that the monks brought the language here in the 3rd Century BC? Now don’t deny it. You have written; “The study of Brahmi inscriptions shows that monastic language of Prakrit gradually spread to the population over a period of centuries, a process similar to the process of Sanskritisation.” And who do you cite as your authority for this? Susantha Gunetilleke: 1980[iii]!!!. A non-specialist source. (Honey where did you get that PhD again?). Your homework today. Write the following passage from James Gair; 1981, “Sinhala, An Indo Aryan Isolate” twenty times.
“Sinhala tradition has it that the group that brought the languages with them arrived on the date of the parinibbhāna (final passing away) of the Buddha, traditionally 544-543 B.C. As a matter of fact, somewhere around that time does appear to be a reasonable date, since we have inscriptions in Old Sinhala dating from the early second or late third centuries B.C., and by that time the language had already under-gone important changes that made it distinct from any of the Indo-Aryan languages of North India.[iv]”
I know it is a lot of words. But it’s for your own good. We don’t want your colleagues cutting you dead in conferences do we? Or worse, to snigger behind your back? All right, have some jam now.
*The writer can be found at http://ratnawalli.blogspot.co.uk/and rathnawalli@gmail.com
[i] Inscriptions of Ceylon, Volume I, Early Brahmi Inscriptions, S. Paranavitana: 1970
[ii] Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions from South Asia. Edited by Sheldon Pollock. University of California Press, 2003
[iii] Susantha Goonetilleke, Sinhalisation: Migration or Cultural Colonization? Lanka Guardian Vol. 3, No. I, May I, 1980, pp. 22-29, and May 15 1980, pp. 18-19
[iv] “For the present, it would appear that Sinhalese-Prakrit was considerably removed from the Indian Prakrits in the second century BCE (when the earliest Brāhmī cave records appear). This would mean that after the introduction of one or more forms of Prakrit in the island, changes had taken place over a considerable period, perhaps two or more centuries. In all probability, the origin of Sinhalese-Prakrit in the island dates back to a time before the arrival of Prakrit-speaking Buddhist monks in the third century BCE”. –(P 91, The Evolution of an Ethnic Identity, K. Indrapala, 2005)
Benjamin / August 18, 2013
Pls visit the page ,CT’s
northern Sinhaliztion -important new message included among the comments
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Rita / August 18, 2013
pl give the weblik
thanks
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Drummond / August 18, 2013
Your loud bray and pursuit could never scare away the predators.
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Mohammed / August 18, 2013
Ratnavalli seems to be an expert in building Himalayas out of molehills. What she is doing is, picking up some small errors made long ago by some historians and enlarging it beyond proportion to make them look guilty. The biggest joke is, who is Ratnavalli (not fit even to be a pre-school teacher) and who is a professor with a PhD, I do not think any of these professors (except a few charlatans like Michel Roberts, Bandu de Silva, et al) would even bother to read what this Valli amma writes.
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Bacchus Spooten / August 18, 2013
Even the 40 year exile Bandu de Silva showed a typical spoof of history with a scratched piece of pottery from Jaffna in vain to enjoin the deeds of Tanjantenna to the land rushing Sangha Sabha.
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Sanath / August 18, 2013
If you want to confirm Sinhala as a people in flesh and bone post-Mahanama era prove it, otherwise never struggle to jargon on your wits to prove that Elu is Sinhala, for there never existed a Script or a form of vocabulary as such or never ever approach Buddha or Buddhism to support your convoluted thesis.
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Suresh / August 18, 2013
Ratnavalli,
When the Buddhist missionary monk Mahinda came to Sri Lanka, he spoke to prince Tissa and his people in Deepa Basa (language of the Island). If the language of the island was Sinhala, then why didn’t the author of Mahavamsa say so?
During the 20th century, Some Europeans such as Wilhelm Geiger, who studied the language of the Island divided the newly developed language (Sinhala) into many phases and labeled the Prakrit spoken by the people in ancient time as Sinhala Prakrit because he believed that the present Sinhala language evolved into many stages from it. Dr. Senarat Paranavithana who followed Geiger called it old Sinhala instead of Prakrit Sinhala. That does not mean that the language Deepa Basa or Prakrit (Pali/Sanskrit) was Sinhalese and the people who spoke Deepa Basa during that period were Sinhalese.
The Prakrit (Pali/Sanskrit) language used in the inscriptions and for place names, etc in the North only tells us that both Buddhism and Jainism flourished in that area during the early historic period. It does not tell us about the ethnicity of the people who lived there whether they were Sinhalese, Tamils or others (such as Nagas).
None of the ancient historical Artifacts (Objects/Monuments/Buildings/Rock Carvings), cave & stone inscriptions, etc says anything about ethnicity (Sinhala, Tamil, etc). The transition from Prakrit (Pali/Sanskrit) to Tamil (place names) happening in post 17th century does not mean that the Sinhalese were replaced by the Tamils in the 17th century. There is no solid evidence to prove that the Sinhalese lived in the North until the 17th century.
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Spiel Harvard / August 18, 2013
Prakrit, Sanskrit, Apabrahmsa, Pali and even Latin were artificial scripts which never created a perfect grammatical formulation, which was used only by scribes for documenting purposes. Laymen never used these critical scripts in their daily tasks to write of their vocabulary, and the dialect of the commons were never affected or intruded by these languages unless otherwise used for administrative, medicine or astrology in specific times for archival purposes. Thus, the trend of the usage of these scripts died along while only artificial words of nouns and pronouns survived from them to this day in old manuscripts.
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Ravi / August 18, 2013
The biggest mistake that the people like Wilhelm Geiger, Senarat Paranavithana and many others who studied the ancient language of the Island in the 20th century did was, they only learned Pali, Sanskrit and Sinhala. They never bothered to learn Tamil (Old & new). The island of Lanka was believed to be a plural society (multi-ethnic) even during the ancient period. The interpretation would have been different if Wilhelm Geiger, Senarat Paranavithana, et al knew the Tamil language as well. Even today, the armatures like Ratnavalli are totally illiterate when it comes to Tamil but talks as if they are expert linguists. Even though there are enough Language scholars, etymologists epigraphists, and archeologists in the South Asian region, the research done until now on languages in this region is still at its early stages. There is a lot more research to be done to come to conclusions.
Let’s see what the Sinhala academics/scholars are saying about the Sinhala Language:
According to Dr. C.E. Godakmubara, the Sinhala Grammar Sidathsangarawa was based on the Tamil Grammar Virasolium in the 11th A.D.
Sinhala scholar Mudliyar W. F. Gunawardena at a lecture delivered at Ananda College on 28.09.1918 had stated,
The science of examination of the structure of a sentence is called its grammar. The grammar of the Sinhala language is Dravidian. He further said, the Sinhala language is primarily a Dravidian language. The structural foundation of Sinhala is Dravidian while the super-structure is Indo-Aryan.
Prof. J. B. Dissanayake in his book Understanding the Sinhalese states, ‘Sinhala occupies a unique position among the languages of South Asia because of its close affinity, with two of the major linguistic families of the Indian sub continent Indo-Aryan and Dravidian’
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Native Vedda / August 18, 2013
Ravi
Please add another scholar linguist W S Karunatillake, to your list.
He published a book in 2011 which deals with Middle Indo Aryan, Sinhala, and Tamil.
Details:
Link
Published by Godage International Publishers
In his preface at the bottom he writes, “sabbe satta bhavantu sukhitatta, May all beings be happy”
Among twenty chapters you will find two which deals with “Chapter 19, Tamil Influence on Structure of Sinhalese Language” and “Chapter 18, Pronounce of Address in Tamil and Sinhalese a Sociolinguistic Study”.
Interesting read.
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Native Vedda / August 18, 2013
Ravi
Sorry there are twenty five chapters in the book.
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Ravi / August 20, 2013
Thanks Native!
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Jim softy / August 18, 2013
I don’t know any thing about linguistics. I have read, that Sinhala is classified under Indo-Iranian-english Language family while Tamil is From the Dravidean language family.
Now, you say, Sinhala is based on Tamil Grammatical rules. ?
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Native Vedda / August 18, 2013
Jim softy
“I don’t know any thing about linguistics.”
Seriously do you know anything at all?
“Now, you say, Sinhala is based on Tamil Grammatical rules?”
Refer to W S Karunatillake’s book, Link.
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Ahmed / August 19, 2013
Jim Softly Is a specialist on Islam and Quran. Everyone here salute him for that. He is one thousand times enlightened about Quran than any Muslim on earth.
Now he looks like an idiot talking about Sinhala linguistic history Give a chance to Walli Amma Let her shine like how you shine talking about Islam and Quran.
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Lamagoris / August 19, 2013
…and still you didn’t get enlightened by the sage Nativity’s words.
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M.SIVANANTHAN / August 19, 2013
Who did the classification?
Sinhala grammar is not like English but follow the rules of Tamil grammar. To know the truth you have learn Tamil grammar.
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Kautilya / August 18, 2013
Paranavitana could read Tamil quite well although he could not speak it
or follow a conversation. Even many Colombo Tamils of that era could not speak Tamil, or new just enough to address servants with the “inga va” type of contemptuous Tamil.
However, I believe people like Godakumbure, Vimalananda tennakoon, and others knew enough Tamil for their work. Tamils simply do not know history, but some like to believe that Tamil is even older than Sumerian!!
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Native Vedda / August 18, 2013
Kautilya
“but some like to believe that Tamil is even older than Sumerian!!”
Sinhala/Buddhist believe the first ape spoke Sinhala and practiced Sinhala/Buddhism.
Tamil/Saivaite believe the first ape spoke Tamil and practiced Saivaism.
Christian believe the first ape spoke Latin and practiced Christianity.
Muslims believe the first ape spoke Arabic and practiced Islam.
You can believe in any of the above if you are unsure about your own history.
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Lanka Liar / August 20, 2013
No wonder they are all apes. Native what about you?
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Native Vedda / August 20, 2013
Lanka Liar
“Native what about you?”
I am native Vedda
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APCD / August 20, 2013
He is ‘Apey Veddah’.
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Native Vedda / August 21, 2013
APCD
“He is ‘Apey Veddah’”
Eureka
No amount of your affection would persuade me to annul my claim over my ancestral land.
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ken robert / August 20, 2013
Chanakya/kautilya
Mr Sarath Paranavithana could read tamil well although he coud not speak it.
I quote William Osler’s words about medicine.
” to practice medicine with out books is to sail in uncharted sea. To study medcine without seeing patients is not going to sea at all”
You, walli, Mr Paranavithana should study what is already available that is tamil without extrapolating half baked theories about sinhala brahmi and maga sinhale wanhsa katha.
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Guruge / August 20, 2013
But Professor Senarath Paranavithana couldn’t read Tamil nor understand either, the writer of Historical Fiction in Sanskrit.
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Native Vedda / August 21, 2013
Guruge
By any chance you are related to Ananda Guruge who wrote critic of Senarath’s conclusions.
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Mohammed / August 18, 2013
Very good question Suresh.
If the language of the 2nd CBC was known as Sinhala, why the hell did Mahinda thero call it Dipa basa and NOT Sinhala basa? Why did not at least Ven. Mahanama mention that what Mahinda thero called as Dipa basa is actually Sinhala basa? Why wait till the 20th CAD for Wilhelm Geiger to call it Sinhala Prakrit and Senarat Paranavithana to call it old Sinhala?
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Native Vedda / August 18, 2013
Mohammed
Why didn’t Mahanama write the fiction Mahawamsa in Sinhala if the entire population of the island was Sinhalese?
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Wakkaraprushti / August 19, 2013
What a mother of all thoughts. NatKing, what’s the size of your brain?
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Native Vedda / August 19, 2013
Wakkaraprushti
“What a mother of all thoughts. NatKing, what’s the size of your brain?”
Size does not matter.
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ken robert / August 21, 2013
Suresh
I had the opportunity to read wilhem geiger’s book on “a grammar of sinhalese” today. Mr geiger clearly state in page 3 of the book that his observation sre based on mahavamsa and it is quite possible this is quite possibly hypothetical and based on mythology.
He also categorise the evolution of possibly the sinhalese grammar into four stages.
Namely sinhalese prakrit, proto sinhalese, medieval sinhalese and modern sinhalese. He argues for the classification based on morphological and phonological similarities between brahmi found in srilanka and elsewhere.
He was aware of his short comings of his classification especially when he mentions the evidence for protosinhalese text is poor.
Furthermore I could not find any evidence that brahmi inscriptions in found Srilanka are related to sinhala. I may be wrong.
With regard to structures sinhalese grammar, I think basic set up is the same as dravidian languages( subject+ object+verb). But erudite sinhala linguistic scholars such W S Karunathilaka may have different opinion.
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Native Vedda / August 21, 2013
ken robert
“But erudite sinhala linguistic scholars such W S Karunathilaka may have different opinion.”
You should read his recent book “Link”.
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ken robert / August 21, 2013
Native vedda
Hopefully I should get hold of this book soon. I want to thank rathnawalli and all of the commentators for increasing my appetite to learn on Indian languages.
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Native Vedda / August 21, 2013
ken robert
I wish all the best in your future endeavours.
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Native Vedda / August 21, 2013
ken robert
If you are looking for my people, here is one piece of gleaned from
Early Settlements in Jaffna An Archaeological Survey – July 1987.
By P Ragupathy
This is what he wrote under plate 179:
A drummer from Karainagar, Jaffna.
Being one of the aborigines of Jaffna, the drummers (Parayars) still retain a dialect which has a number of archaic Tamil words and a few Prakrit words. Besides drumming at funerals and folk temples they were heralds and traditional weavers. Some mong them practiced native medicine and astrology. The chief of this community used to maintain genealogical records of the vellala chieftains. Even today they have their own shrines dedicated to the deity of Valliayakkan (Val lyakkan – mighty Yaksha) and the priest is known as Valluvak Kurukkal.
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James / August 22, 2013
ken Robert
If you want to know the Tamil history in Sri Lanka, I strongly recommend you to read:
‘A comprehensive history of Tamils in Sri Lanka from (C. 300 B.C – C. 2000 A.D)’ by Dr. M Gunasingam’s. He has done an extensive research from the primary sources.
Also,
‘The Evolution of an Ethnic Identity, the Tamils of Sri Lanka (300 B.C.-1200 A.D.)’ by Dr. Karthigesu Indrapala
(You can buy them from Amazons, it is worth the money).
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ken robert / August 24, 2013
Thanks James
It will be an interesting. I will remember the names and hopefully find time to read them.
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Suresh / August 21, 2013
ken robert
Emperor Asoka sent the Buddhist missionary monks to both South India and Sri Lanka. They not only introduced Buddhism but also the Pali language (Magadi Prakith), Asokan Brahmi script and the Buddhist culture.
There is nothing called Sinhala Brahmi or Tamil Brahmi. The cave writings and stone inscriptions found in both South India and Sri Lanka were written using the same script (Asokan Brahmi) and the language used was either Prakrit or Tamil. The so called ‘Sinhala’ Prakrit was found not only in Sri Lanka but also in South India.
In the late 19th century CE, the German Pali scholar Willim Giger classified the language that developed in the island into four periods:
* Sinhala Prakrit (until 3rd century CE)
* Proto-Sinhala (3rd – 7th century CE)
* Medieval Sinhala (7th – 12th century CE)
* Modern Sinhala (12th century – present)
The above was Willim Giger’s own assumption which was happily accepted by the Sinhala Archeologists/epigraphists like Senarat Paranavitana who concluded that the Brahmi inscriptions found in the caves of Sri Lanka were an old form of Sinhalese (old Sinhala). However, it was found that very similar cave inscriptions are also in existence in South India.
The actual language called Sinhala started developing only in the 7th century CE and first appeared only in the 8th century CE Sigiri mirror wall writings. What is known as Elu developed even later and appeared only in the 9th century CE. What existed before the 7th century CE was only Prakrit and Pali and written in the Brahmi script which was common to both Tamils and others. The same Prakrit and Pali were also found in South India.
If the Sinhala language existed in the 5th century AD, Ven. Mahanama and others would not have written the Deepavamsa and the Mahavamsa in a language (Pali) that nobody (layperson) can understand. The same goes to the Buddhist scriptures Tripitaka. If the Sinhala language existed during that period, why did they write in a language (Pali) that nobody (layperson) can understand?
This Ratnawalli is only a half baked researcher. She has a selected few writers (limited reading) as her favorites and she believes everything what they say as gospel truth. From her articles it is very clear that she is working against the minorities (Tamils and Muslims) or rather buttering the majority to earn her daily bread.
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ken robert / August 22, 2013
Suresh
” she is working against the minorities or rather buttering the majority to earn her daily bread”.
I think Mahavamsa is the primordial evil preventing the unity in our wonderful country. I could forgive monks from poor socio economic background for their ignorance. But not ratnawalli or prof sitrampalam if they tread the path of ambiguity or biased reviews.
PS: I read prof sittampalam’s views on roots of tamils
I do not think one could equate the culture and language of prehistoric australoid people to ‘dravidian linguistics’. Although genetic evidence is mounting that the so called lower castes in south india including srilanka are probably the original inhabitants as ‘oracle’ native vedda prophesied.
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Native Vedda / August 22, 2013
Suresh
“There is nothing called Sinhala Brahmi or Tamil Brahmi. The cave writings and stone inscriptions found in both South India and Sri Lanka were written using the same script (Asokan Brahmi)”
The renowned Professor K Rajan has contributed immensely to the study of Brahmi. He would not be too happy about your comment. Please refer to his articles.
Damili Graffiti and Cave Records
in
Early Historic Tamil Nadu 300 BCE – 300CE
Essays Commemorating Prof K Kailasapathy
Edited by K Indrapala
Archaeological Context of Tamil Brahmi Script – Some Issues
in
Ulakac Cemmolikal Karuttarankak Katturaikal
Edited by Prof K A Gunasekaran
International Institute of Tamil Studies
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Ravi / August 22, 2013
ken Robert
The German Pali ‘scholar’ Wilhem Geiger was just another Orientalist who misinterpreted the history of the island. To do a deep study of the language and history of the island he should have studied both North and South Indian languages and also the history of both North and South India. Unfortunately, he was only interested in the Indo-Aryan languages. The interpretation would have been different if Wilhelm Geiger had learned the Dravidian languages and the history of South India.
The colonial Orientalist ‘scholars’, who were enthusiastic to invent Indo-Aryan cousins in this part of the world, created enough myths in that process for Brahmanism in India and Sinhala-Buddhist elitism in Sri Lanka. It was in these early colonial writings, largely based on the uncritical acceptance of the local chronicles, that a new perspective of the ancient history of the island began to develop. The view that the Sinhalese were the ‘proper inhabitants’ of the island in ancient times and that the Tamils were invaders came to dominate colonial historical writings. In addition, since the Sinhala language was more of Indo-Aryan in nature, the British declared that the Sinhalese were Aryans from North India and the Tamils were Dravidians from South India. In recent years, several anthropologists and historians have shown how this perspective came to be developed in the colonial writings. It was only in the 19th century AD, the Sinhalese started to believe the myth that they are Aryans from North India and the proper inhabitants of Sri Lanka where as the Tamils are Dravidians and outsiders.
It is important to note that the Aryan theory was not merely something imposed from above by Orientalist ‘scholars’. It was eagerly welcomed by most Sinhala scholars who found the Aryan theory flattering in that it elevated them to the ranks of the kinsmen of their rulers. The combined result of the forces at work was the mischievous oversimplification of Sri Lankan History that the Sinhalese are Indo-Aryans who came from North India in the 6th century BC and the Dravidian Tamils are later migrants who came as invaders, traders and mercenaries to snatch a part of the promised land of the Sinhalese away. Influenced by the colonial historiography, the Sinhalese declared that they were indigenous to the island (first arrivals/natives), and that the Tamils were invaders (came later) from South India. The above facts and the non-existence of Tamil Buddhists during the colonial period (due to the aftermath of the 10th century Chola invasion) led the 19th century European Pali ‘scholars’ to assume and subsequently the present day Sri Lankans to believe that the ancient Buddhists and the Buddhists Kings of Sri Lanka were none other than Sinhalese. In Sri Lanka, any person who adopts Sinhala as mother tongue ipso facto is an Aryan. Most of the Sinhalese cannot even think/believe that there were Tamil Buddhists in the early period. If there were Buddhist remains in any part of Sri Lanka, by default it belonged to Sinhalese (only) and if there were Hindu remains it belonged to Tamils (only) whereas the Sinhalese worship most of the Hindu Gods.
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ken robert / August 23, 2013
Ravi
Thank you for interesting thoughts infuence and mind set of western scholars looking into Srilankan history. Proliferation of sinhala names such as Ariyadasa, Ariyaratne, and more interestingly Ariyawanhsa could be attributed to this.
More ever, jaffna kings also wanted to cash into this with by naming themselves Ariyachakravarty.
This is why politicians love stir the minds of gullible people. A prime example is Karunanithi
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Native Vedda / August 23, 2013
Ravi
“The above facts and the non-existence of Tamil Buddhists during the colonial period (due to the aftermath of the 10th century Chola invasion)”
The 1871 Census recorded at least 12,000 Tamil Buddhists in the island.
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karl singham / August 23, 2013
An excellent summary of the issue. I would add however from the middle of the 19 th century GERMAN philologists were obsessed with the Aryan theory and some of them even proposed that the Aryans originated in India and migrated westwards.Max Muller,an early proponent of some of these theories,later repudiated them.Serious scholars don’t subscribe to these theories any more but they have achieved a certain status in Sri Lanka.The modern follower of these theories was of course was Hitler and his henchmen.
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Rita / August 18, 2013
Valli amma is going to write more … as she is prompted by the Rajapakses.
I wish she uses her intelligence and time to look at the present plight of the country – North, East, South and West- and try to do something about it.
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Garusinghe / August 18, 2013
‘I wish she uses her intelligence’
You must be kidding Rita.
This Ratawalli so far wrote three or four boring craps.
I am sure most of the readers gave up reading after the very first para. She copies some baseless trash from the web and from some books. did you notice that most of the stuff are copied from some unknown prof’s and Doc’s.
She is an amature who is been paid to divert and twist the history. Mulliayawaikkal LEELA is her only fan. Does that ring any bell to you?
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Native Vedda / August 18, 2013
Garusinghe
“This Ratawalli so far wrote three or four boring craps.”
Reading her articles is not fun, rather I find commenting on those “boring craps” is fun. Please don’t deny me the pleasure.
She is only a child.
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Garusinghe / August 18, 2013
Native Vedda – Certainly, reading her articles is not fun. You need lot of patience. Its ideal if you are an eccentric fellow.
:) Probably I got tempted with the ‘crap’ as you had fun with the crap.
I think you meant ‘a child’s brain’.
BTW, Iam reckon that your ancestors too had similar hair. Better check your family tree with a Walli name.
/
Native Vedda / August 18, 2013
Garusinghe
“BTW, Iam reckon that your ancestors too had similar hair. Better check your family tree with a Walli name.”
Please don’t judge my people by her hair.
It would be the ultimate insult to my people comparing them to your people as you know we are not stupid as Tamils or Sinhalese.
/
Garusinghe / August 19, 2013
Native Vedda,
‘It would be the ultimate insult to my people comparing them to your people as you know we are not stupid as Tamils or Sinhalese’.
With all due respect, I admire your people than all others. Your people never impeached a chieftain so unfairly with a bigus unbalanced PSC. Your Chieves or verdinayakayos didnt build namesake ports or destroyed the jungles, rain forests. Never did treasure hunts or ask for loans or took mega tours with a begging bowl. So I adire your people.
Why do you feel that its an insult when I compared Walli to your clan? I said that because this broad looks to me like that. Perhaps your gals were much prettier.
Didnt you say below that ‘I see discrimination against my people’?
I too enjoy your humor Vedda.
/
Vita Tan / August 18, 2013
There was one Wolingabijja around for sometime in CT, and vanished. By the way, what’s in this ‘Hair’?.
/
Vita Tan / August 18, 2013
Boring the crap for leisure too could be an added fun.
/
Jim softy / August 19, 2013
NAtive Vedda, an idiot like you cannot read academic stuff when mixed with sarcasm.
/
Native Vedda / August 19, 2013
Jim softy
“NAtive Vedda, an idiot like you cannot read academic stuff when mixed with sarcasm.”
Academic stuff should remain purely academic, when layered with sarcasm it becomes a tragic comedy.
For instance incidents of your interventions in theses columns are tragic but comical. Ultimately you appear pathetic.
/
Kumar / August 18, 2013
Let me extract all the words (examples) that the pre-school teacher Ratnavalli was teaching the tiny tot Professor Sitrampalam in the order Sanskrit, Pali, Sinhala Prakrit (old Sinhala), Elu, and Tamil (Tamil was added by me).
1. Sanskrit : Dharma Pali: dhamma Sinhala Prakrit (old Sinhala): dama Elu: Dam/daham Tamil: Dharmam
2. Sanskrit : bhūmi Pali: bhūmi Sinhala Prakrit (old Sinhala): bumi Elu: bima Tamil: bumi
3. Sanskrit : dīrgha Pali: dīgha Sinhala Prakrit (old Sinhala): Diga Elu: Digu Tamil: Deerka
4. Sanskrit : dāsa/dāsya Pali: dāsa Sinhala Prakrit (old Sinhala): dasa Elu: das Tamil: das/dasan
According to Ratnavalli,
‘By the time Buddhism arrived the language called Sinhalese Prakrit was already here, had been here for a few centuries knocking against the palettes of the people and changing into a language distinct from all Indo-Aryan languages of North India.’
Even a child looking at the above words will understand that there is hardly any difference (except a slight variation in pronunciation) between Sanskrit, Pali, Sinhala Prakrit (old Sinhala), Elu and Tamil. How can one say that Sinhalese Prakrit already existed and is distinct from all Indo-Aryan languages by looking at the above? On the other hand, Tamil also seems to be very much similar. What is the connection between all these languages for them to look and sound very similar?
When the oldest language of the island, the so called ‘Sinhala Prakrit’ sounds very similar to Sanskrit, Pali and Tamil, how can one say that it has no connection with any Indian languages (Indo-Aryan/Dravidian)?
Ratnavalli seems to be bluffing, we cannot even call her an amateur.
/
Jim softy / August 18, 2013
Even a child looking at the above words will understand that there is hardly any difference (except a slight variation in pronunciation) between Sanskrit.
Kumar:
Read above and see you are contradicting yourself.
DO you think, All these Hela – ELu, PRakit, Pali ans Sanskrit in order to be different those have to be as different as English, Tamil, Russian, German and Spanish ?
/
Fun Thrifty / August 19, 2013
You seems too indifferent in your wits Ma’am.
/
Silva / August 19, 2013
Contrary to what this article says, from Kumar’s analysis it is very clear that Prakrit-Sinhala/old Sinhala is an offshoot of Sanskrit, proto–Sinhala is an offshoot of Sanskrit and Pali and Elu is an offshoot of Sanskrit, Pali and Tamil.
/
Native Vedda / August 19, 2013
Silva
How did you arrive at your conclusion?
/
Sivali / August 20, 2013
Pidgin of a Jargon.
/
Native Vedda / August 20, 2013
Sivali
I understand the end product however I was interested in his methodology and evidence.
/
Ravi / August 20, 2013
Ratnawalli,
“Prakrit was the language of the land, which became the language of Buddhism when it arrived around 3rd century BC. By the time Buddhism arrived the language called Sinhalese Prakrit was already here, had been here for a few centuries knocking against the palettes of the people and changing into a language distinct from all Indo-Aryan languages of North India.”
Sinhalese Prakrit was the language of the island from 300 BC- 400 AD.
Can you prove the above is true?
Why not list around 30 words from the so called ‘Sinhalese Prakrit’ and their equivalent words from Sanskrit, Pali and Tamil to see how distinct they are from each other. Kumar has listed all the words that you have given and they do not look or sound very distinct from each other. How come the so called ‘Sinhalese Prakrit’ that existed in the island even before Pali arrived sound very similar to Pali?
You are saying Geiger studied the Sinhala language in depth. How deep was it? Why a German? Why not a Sri Lankan? Was this German guy an expert in Sanskrit, Pali, Sinhala, Tamil and other South Asian languages to come to conclusion that it was a deep study. How reliable were these orientalist ‘Scholars’?
Why do we have to listen to another white man (Charles Hallisey) to understand that “Sinhala literary culture during 10th and 15th centuries AD was internally diglossic, employing one “alphabet” for writing Sinhala poetry and one for Sinhala prose?
Where are all the Sri Lankan Sinhala scholars?
Do you expect that the historians like Sitrampalam should have read all the books written by every dick, tom and harry?
Grow Up Ratnawalli, GROW UP!
/
Genny / August 18, 2013
CT – You should stop publishing this ladies article as it all fiction built from lies.
/
Native Vedda / August 18, 2013
Genny
Come on let her have fun.
Readers never took me seriously, why on earth you consider her typing a serious intellectual exercise?
I see discrimination against my people.
/
Utkrushtavanna / August 19, 2013
I admire your serious fun, an added pillar to the CT’s columns.
/
Senerath K / August 18, 2013
I second this CT.
Total crap this woman writes.
They all are busy changing the History, Mahawansha
Heritage of the land.
Did anyone confirm to me here that did that
Jack Anthony related Rajapaksas to the Suddhodhana?
I sawthe Dutugamunu blunder this jocker mnade.
Walli Jackson Ranawaka would be an ideal team!
/
Nava Yapa / August 19, 2013
They are chosen to be the court jesters at the upakarrya of King Kakille XXII of Eludveepaya.
/
ParaKumba / August 19, 2013
Meaning matched _ Eludveepaya = ‘GotaIsland’
/
Jim softy / August 19, 2013
Sanarath K.
You and every other idiot who have written here mostly abuse her because you people can not and are not capable of defending against her argument by counter-argument.
You all prove that you are just chicken in front of this educated woman.
/
Senerath K / August 19, 2013
Checken? JIm, I hate to be a Cock in front this your so called educated woman.
Well for you all you those who support your extreme movements are fair and good and educated. You know what Mervyn Silva is also an educated minister for you along with the Aircon, Laptop Lawyer.
/
Mohammed / August 18, 2013
You are right!
She is spinning left, right and center and calling her story as history.
History should be used for academic purpose and should not be allowed to abuse by such amateurs for political reasons. This is nothing but Polemics and well qualified historians do not engage in such cheap arguments. Historians like Indrapala, Sitrampalam and others will be laughing at this if they happen to read this rubbish.
As Native Veddha said, she is only a kid (writing in kid’s language) and from all the comments it is clear that most of the readers are having fun. Good entertainment!
/
Native Vedda / August 18, 2013
Mohammed
“most of the readers are having fun. Good entertainment!”
Mind you it is also free.
/
M.SIVANANTHAN / August 18, 2013
Sri Lanka and South India are close neighbours for thousands of years. Hela or Elu was the language of the area.
Now the Tamil fools cry ELU is theirs and Sinhala fools cry HELA is theirs.
Current language based racist politics needs more racist investions.
Valli Amma:(My mother’s name)
Did you find Hela and Elu was SAME or different?
I asked you to explain the origins of HERATH MUDIYANSES among Sinhalese.. You never explained.
If you are not capable of explaining the existing people, why are you barking so much with your useless politics based research?
Paranawitana invented Gemunu’s tomb with carbon dating.. It was a joke. Have you any plan to do the same inventions?
/
Jim softy / August 18, 2013
As far as I know Sri Lanka is called Hela diva. Are you implying that South India was also Heladiva ?
/
Big Busty / August 19, 2013
Sri Lankot was called Kela Duva which in time became Hela Diva and eventually would become Hollapu Duva.
/
ken Robert / August 20, 2013
Big busty
Are you a sinhalese poet?
Ken
/
M.SIVANANTHAN / August 19, 2013
Hela(Elu) was the language of a Diva. So, it is hela Diva. South India is not an island but Hela(Elu) was the language of the area too.
/
Jim softy / August 19, 2013
So, what is Diva ?
why Maldivian language is called DIVEHI ?
/
Monolith / August 19, 2013
Diva is the tongue you twist.
/
M.SIVANANTHAN / August 19, 2013
DIVA=Island, Theevu.
Divehi has the same. Maldives is also an Island nation.
/
Divine / August 19, 2013
Diva is an island where tourists Dive & Snorkel.
/
Jim softy / August 20, 2013
Diva:
Sanskrit words has more than one meaning depending on where you use it.
/
Pingala / August 21, 2013
‘Diva’ is a female opera singer (prob. Kuveni) who possessed a quirky screamy cry in her renderings, is the reason for which prompted Vijaya to abandon her.
/
Helga / August 19, 2013
Helu means naked in the Elu dialect, as most of the island’s inhabitants walked naked, and Arabs called them ‘Helu’ or ‘Heluva'[beautiful].
/
Silva / August 18, 2013
I saw in her previous article, Ratnawalli calls K. Indrapala as incompetent, zero holistic knowledge and so on but here she is quoting the writings of the same K. Indrapala to her advantage.
This fits into the Sinhalese adage “Kanda hitunama ‘Kabaragoyath’ penne ‘Talagoya’ wagey” (When one feels like eating even the [poisonous] water monitor appears like the [relished] ‘iguana’). How well it fits scholastic circles represented by the likes of Darshanie Ratnawalli!
/
Suresh / August 18, 2013
Silva,
The worst part here is, she is quoting Indrapala out of context. You should read at least the whole page of what Indrapala has written on the subject to know what exactly he is saying. This is not at all scholastic.
/
Native Vedda / August 18, 2013
Silva
You mentioned ‘Kabaragoyath’ as ‘iguana” actualyy it is komodo dragon.
Average size
Green Iguana 6.6 ft
Komodo Dragon 10.6 ft
/
Piranha / August 18, 2013
What a bore this Ratnavalli is.
She has a lovely Tamil name though – irathinavalli.
Her forefathers must have been Tamil.
/
ken robert / August 18, 2013
Piranha
Valli was the playful concubine of lord muruga according to mythology. I believe valli’s sensationalistic writing provides a chance for us to fantasise about origin of dravidian and indoaryan languages.
I could see the deep seated prejudice to tamil among the phony writers (valli, ranawaka, jackson, sl gunasekara axis). My suggestion to vallli is to learn to read and write in tamil before commenting on linguistics , ethnological studies. . Please leave the intepretation ancient languages and the chronology of the evolution of sinhalese or sinhala names of tamil towns to the experts.
I can see the commentators are fluent in tamil as well as sinhalese which allows them to take a neutral view rather than slandering a professor for presumed mistakes.
/
Jim softy / August 19, 2013
Professor S.K Sitrampalam is the former professor of history in the University of Jaffna, a vice president of ITAK:
Professor S.K Sitrampalam is the former professor of history in the University of Jaffna, a vice president of ITAK (euphemistically known as the Federal Party) and a specialist in South Asian history and Archaeology. He can be relied on… To take your breath away by bizarre displays of ignorance that is hard to explain away even with the excuse; ‘nationalist historian’. Unless ‘nationalist historian’ is a polite euphemism that really means ‘unsound operative’. Here is a demonstration from his “Tamils of Sri Lanka: Historical Roots of Tamil identity” (2003
Rathanvalli point is this Prof. Sitrampalam used his position to write false in a book.
Even in the past, books had been written in order to sling mud at very respectable people. In this situation, This Tamil guy, I would not say him an intellectual or a Prof, In order to promote Tamil Tribalism.
In the same way, Rathnawalli is being abused here because she expressed her views and the way she wanted to use the language.
Anyway, I get Rathanwalli’s point. this Prof guy behaved like a little child or simply like an idiot.
/
History / August 18, 2013
Statement on the Status of Tamil as a Classical Language
April 11, 2000
Professor Maraimalai has asked me to write regarding the position of Tamil as a classical language, and I am delighted to respond to his request.
I have been a Professor of Tamil at the University of California, Berkeley, since 1975 and am currently holder of the Tamil Chair at that institution. My degree, which I received in 1970, is in Sanskrit, from Harvard, and my first employment was as a Sanskrit professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1969. Besides Tamil and Sanskrit, I know the classical languages of Latin and Greek and have read extensively in their literatures in the original. I am also well-acquainted with comparative linguistics and the literatures of modern Europe (I know Russian, German, and French and have read extensively in those languages) as well as the literatures of modern India, which, with the exception of Tamil and some Malayalam, I have read in translation. I have spent much time discussing Telugu literature and its tradition with V. Narayanarao, one of the greatest living Telugu scholars, and so I know that tradition especially well. As a long-standing member of a South Asian Studies department, I have also been exposed to the richness of both Hindi literature, and I have read in detail about Mahadevi Varma, Tulsi, and Kabir.
I have spent many years — most of my life (since 1963) — studying Sanskrit. I have read in the original all of Kalidasa, Magha, and parts of Bharavi and Sri Harsa. I have also read in the original the fifth book of the Rig Veda as well as many other sections, many of the Upanisads, most of the Mahabharata, the Kathasaritsagara, Adi Sankara’s works, and many other works in Sanskrit.
I say this not because I wish to show my erudition, but rather to establish my fitness for judging whether a literature is classical. Let me state unequivocally that, by any criteria one may choose, Tamil is one of the great classical literatures and traditions of the world.
The reasons for this are many; let me consider them one by one.
First, Tamil is of considerable antiquity. It predates the literatures of other modern Indian languages by more than a thousand years. Its oldest work, the Tolkappiyam,, contains parts that, judging from the earliest Tamil inscriptions, date back to about 200 BCE. The greatest works of ancient Tamil, the Sangam anthologies and the Pattuppattu, date to the first two centuries of the current era. They are the first great secular body of poetry written in India, predating Kalidasa’s works by two hundred years.
Second, Tamil constitutes the only literary tradition indigenous to India that is not derived from Sanskrit. Indeed, its literature arose before the influence of Sanskrit in the South became strong and so is qualitatively different from anything we have in Sanskrit or other Indian languages. It has its own poetic theory, its own grammatical tradition, its own esthetics, and, above all, a large body of literature that is quite unique. It shows a sort of Indian sensibility that is quite different from anything in Sanskrit or other Indian languages, and it contains its own extremely rich and vast intellectual tradition.
Third, the quality of classical Tamil literature is such that it is fit to stand beside the great literatures of Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Chinese, Persian and Arabic. The subtlety and profundity of its works, their varied scope (Tamil is the only premodern Indian literature to treat the subaltern extensively), and their universality qualify Tamil to stand as one of the great classical traditions and literatures of the world. Everyone knows the Tirukkural, one of the world’s greatest works on ethics; but this is merely one of a myriad of major and extremely varied works that comprise the Tamil classical tradition. There is not a facet of human existence that is not explored and illuminated by this great literature.
Finally, Tamil is one of the primary independent sources of modern Indian culture and tradition. I have written extensively on the influence of a Southern tradition on the Sanskrit poetic tradition. But equally important, the great sacred works of Tamil Hinduism, beginning with the Sangam Anthologies, have undergirded the development of modern Hinduism. Their ideas were taken into the Bhagavata Purana and other texts (in Telugu and Kannada as well as Sanskrit), whence they spread all over India. Tamil has its own works that are considered to be as sacred as the Vedas and that are recited alongside Vedic mantras in the great Vaisnava temples of South India (such as Tirupati). And just as Sanskrit is the source of the modern Indo-Aryan languages, classical Tamil is the source language of modern Tamil and Malayalam. As Sanskrit is the most conservative and least changed of the Indo-Aryan languages, Tamil is the most conservative of the Dravidian languages, the touchstone that linguists must consult to understand the nature and development of Dravidian.
In trying to discern why Tamil has not been recognized as a classical language, I can see only a political reason: there is a fear that if Tamil is selected as a classical language, other Indian languages may claim similar status. This is an unnecessary worry. I am well aware of the richness of the modern Indian languages — I know that they are among the most fecund and productive languages on earth, each having begotten a modern (and often medieval) literature that can stand with any of the major literatures of the world. Yet none of them is a classical language. Like English and the other modern languages of Europe (with the exception of Greek), they rose on preexisting traditions rather late and developed in the second millennium. The fact that Greek is universally recognized as a classical language in Europe does not lead the French or the English to claim classical status for their languages.
To qualify as a classical tradition, a language must fit several criteria: it should be ancient, it should be an independent tradition that arose mostly on its own not as an offshoot of another tradition, and it must have a large and extremely rich body of ancient literature. Unlike the other modern languages of India, Tamil meets each of these requirements. It is extremely old (as old as Latin and older than Arabic); it arose as an entirely independent tradition, with almost no influence from Sanskrit or other languages; and its ancient literature is indescribably vast and rich.
It seems strange to me that I should have to write an essay such as this claiming that Tamil is a classical literature — it is akin to claiming that India is a great country or Hinduism is one of the world’s great religions. The status of Tamil as one of the great classical languages of the world is something that is patently obvious to anyone who knows the subject. To deny that Tamil is a classical language is to deny a vital and central part of the greatness and richness of Indian culture.
Sincerely,
George L. Hart
Professor of Tamil
Chair in Tamil Studies
/
georgethebushpig / August 18, 2013
Brilliant!
CT please re-post this as an article; it does not do justice to relegate this rich and concise scholastic essay to the comments section. This essay helps dispel some of the ignorance being put forward by pop-linguists and self-proclaimed archeologists.
Regards
GTBP
/
Kautilya / August 18, 2013
Ms. Ratnavalli has not said that Tamil is NOT a classical language.
She has pointed out that Sitrampalam is a historian who knows little about ancient history, or ancient languages. This is unfortunately true of many historians who specialize in in some period.
What Ms. Ratnavalli needs to appreciate is that Prof. Sitrampalam is no ordinary historian. His job is to write history to support the claims of “exclusive tamil homelands” put in place in 1949 in the Maradana resolution of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu kadchi that was rejected by the Tamils in 1952, but revied with the healp of Sinhalese violence provoked by Tamil sathygarhas etc.,and finally brough to full life at Vaddukkoddai (Batakotte according to a well-known place-names website, http://dh-web.org/place.names/, and indeed, also according to the Wikipedia, tamilnet etc).
So Sitrampalam and other recent Jaffna Historians have an agenda. There is nothing wrong in having a clear agenda and even selecting facts to fit in with a hypothesis to test a hypothesis. But such academic nicieties have been buried by the political agenda as Prof. Sitrampalam is a part of the ARASU team.
Their agenda is to giving the SriLankan Tamil ethinc entity an antiquity going far beyond the Singhalese claims. This is different and goes even deeper than from the classical credentials of the Tamil language which George Hart puts to the beginning of the Cankam period around 2nd cnetury BCE. Prof. Sitrampalam and the tamil Arasu p[eople want to claim that the people who were there prior to the legendary Vijaya were Tamils. The Native Vedda who write in these columns and merely attempts to shield facts by ridiculing Darshani because she is a woman, also seem to believe that he comes from those ancient people. So these people are evn more extreme than E.M.V.Naganathan who claimed that he is a direct descendant of a Chola Aristocrat.
Prof. Sitrampalam and other Tamil nationalists did not study James Gier or the compilations of Paranavithana and Nicholas, (or the 1030 early Brahmi inscriptions were published by Dr.S.Paranavitana in “Early Brahmi inscriptions of Ceylon”the inscriptions etc). They turned away from them and just poo-poohed the stuf and weaved their own myths. No matter there was no Tamilkam mentioned in the Asokan inscriptions etc., and that there are only a handful of tamil inscriptions, or none at all which are really as old as the Sinhala inscriptions.
But, in hindsight. Tamil Nationalists could have done better by following Ponnambalam. Their’s has been very bad strategy!
James Gier says that Sri Lanka had already acquired a distinct linguistic strain by as early as the 3rd century BCE. Aha, Sitampalam could have claimed that this distinct strain is nothing by Eelam Tamil, distinct from the south indian Tamil Nadu classical tamil that George L. Hart is talking about. Indeed, as Ponnambalam used to assert in his speeches of the 1930s, Vijaya was Vijappan, Panndy-aiyhan and so on all the way through KasiAppan etc, where the mahavamsa is actually copy of a now extinct Tamil history known as the Eela-itikacam (இதிகாசம்) stolen by the Sinhalese after defeating Ellanan and then recasting it as THEIR history! Why aren’t there enough inscriptions in tamil?
Surely, just as in Knayakumari, they have all gone under the sea as Tamil settlements were along the coast!
Ponnambalam and others did tell such tall tales in the 1930s; they claimed that the Tamils were the pure descendants of the early people, while the Sinhalese were a “mongrel race. The latter claim stated at a meeting in Nawalapitiya set off the first Sinhala-Tamil riot in 1939 (a short modern account is found in Dr. Jane Russell’s book on Communal politics in the Donoughmore Era …).
So, Miss Ratnavalli, take note. History has to have a purpose and a use. The goods have to be delivered to suite the client. Sitrampalam is modifying history for a valid political purpose. And why not? The English do it, The French do it; the Americans and Japanese do it. The Sinhalese do it. The UN does it. And as you saw in Kuragala the Muslims, and even Bastians and Sudharshan Senevis do so!
/
Native Vedda / August 20, 2013
Kautilya
“Why aren’t there enough inscriptions in tamil?”
To prove what?
Have you looked for them yourself?
I will make your life bit easier by introducing you to a number of eminent scholars.
Tamil Traders in Sri Lanka and SinhalaTraders in Tamil Nadu
By Osmund Bopeararachchi
The Angam a Common Factor of the Middle Ages of Kerala and Lanka
By M D Raghavan
Jaffna Epigraphy
By Indrapala
Tamil Inscriptions and Research on Eela History
By S Pathmanathan
An Inscription of Tampalakamam
By S Pathmanathan
Padavia Inscriptions
By S Pathmanathan
Skanda As Guardian God of Lanka – The Significance of the Budumuttava Inscription
By S Pathmanathan
Sanga Period Culture in Poonahari – some Archaeological Evidences
By P Pushparatnam
Muruga Worship as Gleaned from Sri Lankan Tamils Old Coins
By P Pushparatnam
Tamil Place Names As Gleaned From The Brahmi Inscription of Sri Lanka
By P Pushparatnam
An Etymological Study of Some Topolographical Names in South Ceylon
By J R Sinnathamby
Some Aspects of Dravidian Architecture and Sculpture and Their Impact on Ceylon
By L S Dewaraja
Vel in Sri Lanka Brahmi Inscriptions
By Poongundran
South Indian Corporate Commercial Organisations in South and South East Asia
By W M K Wijetunga
Language Variations In Sri Lanka Tamil Inscriptions
By A Veluppillai
Kauti my elders asked me to pass this info-card to you. This is only the first of a series of info-cards that they are planning to introduce to you.
PS
They hope these research papers would help you to look at the history in a completely fresh manner. However I don’t agree with them.
Anuradhapura Nanku Naataar and other Inscriptions
By K Indrapala
Jaffna Inscriptions
By K Indrapala
Eelanattu Tamil Inscriptions
B K Indrapala
/
Cincinattus / August 21, 2013
Kautiya, can you explain this please?
But, in hindsight. Tamil Nationalists could have done better by following Ponnambalam. Their’s has been very bad strategy!
I may add just as the other historians you mention,you are also distorting to suit your own agenda.
GGP’s foolish remark was made in respone to Anagarika Dharmapala’s equally foolish theories about the pure ARYA SINHALA RACE–influenced by Hitler’s mentors,no doubt.
These political processes are never one sided affairs AS
Newton taught us every action has an equal and commensurate reaction as very propagandist and yarn spinners like Ratnavaali should realize.One poisonous theory evokes a counter theory and the cycle goes on poisoning everything on the way.
The Mahavamsa’s
mixture of facts and fiction was used by Sinhala nationalist to claim hegemony and the Tamil nationalists came up with their own mixture.And reading Ratnavalli one can see that the poisoning goes on.
/
Jim softy / August 19, 2013
History:
when NASA sent one satellite to the outer space looking for intelligent living beings they sent some language recordings from Earth into the outer space.
Sinhala was selected as one language. did they Select Tamil also as one language ?
/
Native Vedda / August 19, 2013
Jim softy
“Sinhala was selected as one language.”
I need to confirm it with my elders.
However, soon as a language Sinhala is going die. It is going to die because of people like Jimmy, Navin, SWRD, Ranawaka, Mahinda and other stupid Sinhalese and their devious attachment to the language.
Probably the language preservation society could have recommended NASA carried this language for posterior research.
/
RAJA / August 21, 2013
Tamil was one of the languages that was sent to space.
This is the first time I am hearing that Sinhala was sent.
This must be verified.
/
Teetotaler / August 21, 2013
I knew of only a Malayalee have a tea stall in the moon.
/
Vedic Nuance / August 21, 2013
Didn’t you notice the Veddah’s vedic lines, ‘NASA carried this language for posterior research’.
Defenition: Nasa using this language to research of the posterior.
/
Native Vedda / August 21, 2013
Vedic Nuance
“Defenition: Nasa using this language to research of the posterior.”
I meant nothing of the sort.
You have a dirty mind. Do some Pooja and fire ritual (homa) to cleanse your key board.
/
Bullwet / August 21, 2013
I suggest sprinkling some (Komium) will relieve of the ill effects.
/
Native Vedda / August 22, 2013
Bullwet
“I suggest sprinkling some (Komium) will relieve of the ill effects.”
I am sorry, is it Ko ma yam or Ko mi um?
/
Jim softy / August 20, 2013
History:
here the question is not your credentials.
The use of Credentials to write falsehood and sacrificing academic integrity to promote Tribalism.
/
georgethebushpig / August 18, 2013
Dear Ms. Ratnawalli,
The scholarship you claim is illustrated by the condescending tone you write with. I have to admit though that it did intrigue me sufficiently enough to actually take the time to visit your blog and website.
The conclusion I have drawn is that we would all be better off if you didn’t try to pit your wits against intellectuals with credentials but just stuck to writing about your [Edited out]. The latter being a whole lot more of a rounded analysis and an indication that you are abreast of things.
http://ratnawalli.com/2009/07/the-first-man-to-look-upon-my-naked-virgin-breasts-and-compliment-them-was/
Regards
GTBP
/
Native Vedda / August 18, 2013
georgethebushpig
“The latter being a whole lot more of a rounded analysis and an indication that you are abreast of things.”
You are a dirty old man.
You seem to enjoy her yellow journalism and secretly admire her ability to titillate old men.
Do have fun.
/
Rutger / August 19, 2013
Sex and Sensibility goes hand in a latex-glove.
/
georgethebushpig / August 19, 2013
Native Vedda,
Oh yeah oh jah yeah!
Regards
GTBP
/
Native Vedda / August 19, 2013
georgethebushpig
“Oh yeah oh jah yeah!”
You are indeed a dirty old man.
I admire your honesty.
/
georgethebushpig / August 19, 2013
Gee Native Vedda irony doesn’t seem to be your forte no?
/
Obamascare / August 19, 2013
Definitely, Niferex-150 Forte the Polysaccharide-Iron Complex will handsomely energize him.
/
Native Vedda / August 19, 2013
georgethebushpig
“Gee Native Vedda irony doesn’t seem to be your forte no?”
I hate to agree with you.
/
ken robert / August 18, 2013
Georgethebushpig
The tail piece about tits in her blog was quite interesting. I am sure ratnawalli has a great future in sensual and erotic literature
Kind regards
Robert
/
Kautilya / August 18, 2013
It is a common Hindu tradition to degrade and shout down women to a lower level.
When a Jaffna family walks along a road, the man leads, then a respectful distance behind him you find the wife.
During the Eelam wars, it was seen that the Woman walked first, and then, many yards behind her, there came the Master followed!.
Western media pointed out that women were emancipated unter the LTTE!
However, when a visiting Colombo journalist asked the Tamil man why he has accepted the indignity of allowing the woman to go in front, he answered , Antho!,
Dorei, ummmmm, ummmm, not like those days, now there are land mines, no?
/
Kautilya / August 18, 2013
Note that Antho அந்தோ is a word peculiar to Jaffna Tamil (not found in Tamil Nadu), and borrowed from the Sinhalese language. But then Prof. Sitrampalam can claim that the chicken came before the egg.
/
Crabinacius / August 19, 2013
You gotcha a lot to ponder: Antho = Anther, Anthony, Anthology, Anthropology, Undie;Antalya(Anatolia); Andam(end),Aandie(begger) [Tamil]; Andhaa(blind),Anda(egg) [Hindi], Anduwa, Aanduwa, Anguru, Anduru, Andabera, [Sinhala]; Anda (egg), G)Andoo(Asshole)[Hindi], .
/
Native Vedda / August 19, 2013
Kautilya
“Note that Antho அந்தோ is a word peculiar to Jaffna Tamil (not found in Tamil Nadu),”
Come on Kauti,Jaffna Tamils don’t use Antho in their day to day communication.
The word is reserved for literature, drama, old Tamil films, and old poetry. The word Antho அந்தோ is common to Tamils in Tamilnadu and Sri Lanka.
/
Kautilya / August 19, 2013
Good for native veddhha. It is indeed used in drama in Sinhala but its sinhala form “Aho”, Anddo, Andomai etc are found in colloquial Kandyan.
But I was reciting a bit of drama!
I am gald that native Veddha has a sharp mind. No wonder he succeeded insurviving in the Bintenna since the time of Ku-veni selling old cars and amassing a fortune in Kolompu.
/
M.SIVANANTHAN / August 19, 2013
What is the sinhala meaning of the word “antho”?
/
Monolith / August 19, 2013
Ado [(Y)okohama].
/
Caterpillar / August 21, 2013
A dyslexic Yokohama omitted the Y.
/
Vikataperumal / August 19, 2013
Pottaya.
/
ken robert / August 19, 2013
Kautilya
Don’t show your ignorance by trying to write in colloquial tamil. Looking at the criminal rates in different districts will tell the plight of women srilanka.
The bottom line is that if one has been told by many commentators that he/she is not capable to write a topic in a public domain that is not his/her speciality, and the writer does not show willingness to listen, unfortunately comments about what he/she is good at will follow.
I suggest you should visit her blog and read her epics! (Ravings of a strange woman)
/
Mohammed / August 19, 2013
georgethebushpig
Ratnavalli is obsessed or have a fetish for old intellectuals with credentials such as a PhD (Professor in history). Since they are too old to admire her tits, she has taken an agrasiive path to pit her wits against them. You are clever enough to discover this secret.
/
Boaringer / August 19, 2013
Bushypig, how dare you intrude into her matinee show musicals? The rounded things and bresty analysis is her genuine symptoms of psychosis.
/
Dodang / August 19, 2013
Really then Citravalli is being busted!
/
Mattala / August 20, 2013
Citravalli, Matalang the Robinhood’s mother?
/
Jella / August 18, 2013
Ratnavelli
Are u a schizophrenic???????????
/
Kautilya / August 18, 2013
Only a bi-polar would ask such questions from a Schizophrenic.
Take some Lithium man.
/
Kepler / August 19, 2013
That sound like a battery cell, why not fix it in your free slot to charge yourself.
/
ken robert / August 19, 2013
Kautilya
It seems that you know treatment of some psychiatric conditions. However I beg to differ with ratnawali trying to portray the antiquity of sinhalese language by quoting unsubstiated time scale for ancient sinhalese from its origin from brahmi.
As previously mentioned any writer could make mistakes and ratnawali may be right in pointing out that Buddhism adopted prakrit and not vice versa.
However it is pure intellectual dishonesty to present assumptions as truth and present a biased view without embracing the possibility that sinhalese and tamil are sister languages.
/
Kautilya / August 19, 2013
Ken talks of “unsubstiated time scale for ancient sinhalese from its origin from brahmi.”
Sinhalese is a language, Brahmi is a script. One didn’t come from the other at any time scale.
You too need to join Ratnavalli’s class and sit with Sitrampalm and eat Jam.
/
ken robert / August 19, 2013
Kautilya/ chanakya
Thank you for your correction and agreeing with the audience about Ms Ratnawalli.
I do not claim to be an expert in epigraphy of ancient languages, however I suggest you should read what is written below by native lankan which is quite persuasive and probably spoke my mind with regard to evolution of south asian languages.
/
Chrisha Simmons / August 19, 2013
The Comments Moderator:
Request Censorship george-the-bushpig’s Comment above – PLEASE.
Thank You.
/
Skraapolinarius / August 19, 2013
CT: I object your honour. Bushpigs too are animals with a democratic mindset, whatever they poo and whatever they eat of are of their piggest choice.
/
georgethebushpig / August 19, 2013
Dear Chrisha,
Pray tell, may I ask why?
I was only acknowledging that she had made a couple of valid points in her article about her breasts. Let’s not make mountains out of molehills now shall we, by asking for censorship?
Regards
GTBP
/
Jim softy / August 19, 2013
GTBT:
You show that you are intimidated by this woman.
So, what is your point except you showing are that human thrash who can not argue with a woman about a particular subject. Instead you get into abuse.
did she argue about anything of yours if you have one ?
/
Toga / August 19, 2013
Whats of that ‘One’, Big Busty???
/
georgethebushpig / August 19, 2013
Dear Softy,
It’s not a woman thing. It’s about an ignorance thing.
The point being that one should explore and excel in what you are knowledgeable on. What I have done is acknowledge what Ms. Ratnawalli is good at (and she can thank me some other time about increasing traffic to her website).
What she is not good at is history; it has become patently clear given the responses on this topic by erudite scholars.
Regards
GTBP
/
Kekille / August 19, 2013
George – Is Walli a BB?
If so iam on her side.
Sorry for Pole-vaulting.
/
Grammersevaka / August 19, 2013
So, you admire the molehill of a breast than a mountain of it, eh!
/
Jamballs / August 19, 2013
Dasavalli, do know that Citrapalam could be juiced but cannot be jammed.
/
Kautilya / August 19, 2013
Indeed, not Jam. But Citapalam can be made into Mamalade.
/
Sugar Daddy / August 19, 2013
Oh, those sour things!!!
/
Native Vedda / August 19, 2013
Kautilya
“Indeed, not Jam. But Citapalam can be made into Mamalade.”
Could be pickled.
/
Silva / August 19, 2013
Ratnavalli,
As Jamballs said, you better be careful, while you feed Sitrampalam Jam, he might feed you Juice.
/
M.SIVANANTHAN / August 19, 2013
Paranavitana, though an academic, immersed himself in racism to support and destroy history in favour of Sinhala racism at the expense of government of Sri lanka. Changing Elara tomb to Gemunu tomb was his racist achievement which destroyed the tradition of paying homage to Elara tomb by the people of Rajarata for 2500 years after King Gemunu requested them to pay homage to Elara.
Who did hire Ratna Valli Amma now?
Ratnavalli Amma is still unable to explain the “Herath Mudiyanse” among Sinhalese. Can any one? Because many talk so much about history?
Now the Sinhalese try every way to “separate” them from Tamil. Then why cant Tamils do the same?
Ratnavalli Ammaa’s problem is some sort of Sinhalization.
/
Native Vedda / August 19, 2013
M.SIVANANTHAN
Please don’t be hard on her.
You will be held responsible for depriving us of much needed free fun.
/
Jim softy / August 19, 2013
SIVANATHAN:
You are just barking and not you are not talking any thing related to the subject in the article.
/
M.SIVANANTHAN / August 19, 2013
Barking.. what are you doing?
/
Panagkottaya / August 19, 2013
Native Veddah, So you know how to write Tamil? Why then go under the name Veddah?Does ‘Native’ mean to explain it? Why not declare yourself openly? We knew all along that you are our man.
/
Odiyalist / August 19, 2013
He is a well versed amateur scholar, an Interlingual professor of a higher caliber in contrast to many a dweeb.
/
Native Vedda / August 20, 2013
Odiyalist
I love your stupid Tamil people for they do not know whether they are coming or going. I also love your stupid Sinhalese brethren for their equally stupid actions.
My elders tell me many incidents which took place following the enforcement of Sinhala only language act.
Apparently zealous Sinhala enforcers of the act were quick to realise the huge potential for Sinhalaisation of the entire island. One was the new numbering system for vehicle registration. Earlier it followed the UK, Alpha Numerical system which was considered to be unpatriotic.
The faceless little Sinhala/Buddhist people behind the desk came up the most stupid idea, introduced Sinhala Sri replacing English alphabets.
The stupid Tamils protested against the changes.
The Sinhala Sri is almost similar to 7th Century Pallava Grantha Sri.
Sinhalese enforced Pallva Sri and the Tamils protested against their own heritage.
Seriously Sinhalese and Tamils are irredeemably stupid people.
/
RMV / August 20, 2013
Way back the Number Plate SRI was called ‘Crab’ by westerners for they cannot spell the crazy character. Nowadays, most of the crazy Cree of Bree Lanka once becomes elite are prefixed with a ‘Sri’.
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Native Vedda / August 20, 2013
RMV
The story didn’t end there.
The stupid Tamils then used to drive with two number plates one in Sinhala and the other in Tamil. After sometime they were bored with their own “peaceful protest” and dropped their Tamilness from their cars.
More interestingly I rarely see any Sinhala Sri registration numbers.
/
Native Vedda / August 19, 2013
Panagkottaya
“Native Veddah, So you know how to write Tamil? Why then go under the name Veddah?”
You write in English are you an Englishman?
What a stupid question? This can come only from stupid Tamil/Sinhalese.
FYI my elders are versed in several languages including Tamil and Sinhalese.
/
Native Lankan / August 19, 2013
According to historians, it was only during the 9th century AD, the term Nagas totally disappeared from the stone inscriptions and the two major ethnic groups Hela/Sihala and Demela clearly appeared. Historians believe that the Nagas were assimilated into the two major ethnic groups Hela/Sihala and Demela. The Archeologist/Historian Dr. Parnawitharana says, “We know next to nothing about the pre-historic autochthonous people of Sri Lanka. They could have been the ancestors of the present day Sinhalese and Tamils.” As per Prof. K. Indrapala, ‘The Sinhalese and Tamils of Sri Lanka are descended from the common ancestors who lived in the country in prehistoric and proto-historic times and have a shared history going back to over two thousand years’. If we agree with these historians, the people who call them Sinhalese and Sri Lankan Tamils today originate from the same stock. What is seen from the evidences is that the Tamil identity of Sri Lanka was not only parallel to the Sinhala identity but also parallel to that of the Tamils of Tamil Nadu. It is not merely an extension of the Tamil identity of Tamil Nadu. The Sri Lankan Tamil social formation is an evolution and is a result of people interacting with the land of Sri Lanka throughout its phases of history. Analyzing the Sinhala writings called Vittipota, W.A. De Silva states that from very early times the island was colonized by people from all parts of India. Therefore those inhabiting this country should not say that they belong to some one particular family or race.
Elu/Helu/Sihala language was found for the first time only on the 8th century AD Sigiri mirror wall and not before that. Prakrit (Sanskrit/Pali), Tamil and a very few words from unknown origin appear to have influenced the formation/evolution of the Elu/Helu language.
There is no doubt that the ethnic identity ‘Hela/Sihala’ found in inscriptions for the first time in 9th century AD evolved in Sri Lanka and nowhere else, so did the language ‘Elu/Helu’ and later ‘Sinhala’ but, before 9th century AD, the term Hela/Sinhala was not found anywhere.
Therefore, the concepts of a fully evolved ‘thoroughbred Hela/Sinhala race’ and a ‘thoroughbred spoken/written Elu/Helu/Sihala language’ before the 9th century AD are pure assumptions and cannot be proved. The form Hela appears for the first time for the geographical identity of the island in 8th century AD Sigiri Graffiti and Elu/Helu for the name of the language only after the 9th century AD Sinhala literature. The earliest Elu/Helu writings such as Siyabaslakara and Elu Sandas Lakuna do not lead us beyond the 9th Century AD. There was NO Elu/Hela/Sinhala literary work (other than Pali) found before this period. (Elu Bodhi Vamsa, Elu Akaradiya, Elu Hathvanagalu Vansaya, Elu Umanda, Elu Daladavansa Kavya, Elu Silowa, Elu Silo Sathakaya, Helusuthra, etc were all written very much later).
/
The Book of Elu / August 19, 2013
The people were named ‘Elu’ in the older times for they were subjugated and shepherded by the opportunist Monks in the pastures of a concocted Buddhism.
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Silva / August 19, 2013
Ratnavalli,
You suck at history or rather the historical fiction (what you write here) but you seem to be very good at sensual and erotic literature. You can write beautiful fiction centering you on many old professors with PhD and create very sensual and erotic stories.
My advice to you is, leave this historical fiction and start with sensual and erotic fiction, I am sure you will earn fame and fortune in a very short period.
BTW, you seem to be knowing a lot about POONA. What is your connection with Poona? Did you study in Poona?
/
Native Vedda / August 19, 2013
Silva
“My advice to you is, leave this historical fiction and start with sensual and erotic fiction,”
georgethebushpig
and other old men would be happy to work for her as Literary Agent, of course free of commission.
/
Nat King Cole / August 19, 2013
In other words….’Gigolos’?
/
Ahmed / August 19, 2013
No offense but this could be a case for Walli Amma professor wanna be to do some research.
While I was traveling across India, In the state of Andrapradesh suddenly I could partially read sign boards and bill boards. I asked my guide what language is this. I was told this is TELUGU language. Actually I was reading Sinhala alphabets. How come most of the alphabets and the phonetics are identical. This is impossible.
All I know is Telugu people are also known as Sakkili people in Sri Lanka. They use to be part of Colombo municipality SBC (Shit Bucket Carriers). If Walli Amma is from St. Bridget Convent it is purely a coincident.
On a lighter note, if we let loose MR in Andrapradesh with his current attire no one will believe he is from Sri Lanka. He is so local. He looks 100% like a villain in TELUGU movies.
Sinhala having so many close relationship with Davida language yet what is the connection with TELUGU? Is it possible a good % of the Sinhala are actually TELUGU origin?
Another interesting thing I noted the TELUGU people have high regards for Sri Lanka. They consider Sri Lanka to be rich and wealthy country. This is the belief from Ancient times and we fools believed it is the streets of London that is paved in gold.
/
Jim softy / August 19, 2013
what ever it is muslims are only 1400 years on earth, where ever they are and they know their grand parents came from the arab lands initially.
Tamils cannot be unique to Sri Lanka as they are living in Tamilnadu.
Sinhala people are a mix. Sinhala language is not anything else, it has evolved into a specific language what ever you people try to oppose. Sinhala books were available as far back as 421 AC (visuddhimaggha). The monk wrote it came to Sri Lanka from South India (he is not Tamil but dravidian). HE translated tripitaka into Pali from Sinhala (what ever that Sinhala was).
Languages are dynamic because of that what Rathanwalli says should be correct. If Sinhala has closeness to Indian languages that is not something to be amazed.
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Native Vedda / August 19, 2013
Jim softy
“If Sinhala has closeness to Indian languages that is not something to be amazed.”
Therefore you are an Indian, please go back to your homeland.
/
Jim softy / August 20, 2013
Native Veddha and all other Idiots who talk out of the topic:
You all are children fighting for JAM.
Idiots, the topic is not about whether Sinhala language is foreign etc., etc.
It is the Tamil professor’s tribalism over his academic integrity. He used his position to lie.
/
Native Vedda / August 20, 2013
Jimmy
Since we are not discussing Islam here why are you wasting your time in this thread?
Please go away.
/
Punnakkarmaya / August 20, 2013
Singholy language is artificial, not commonly happenining in any part of the world but in Sri Lanka. In India the attempts to artificially inseminate languages proved failure except Urdu.
/
Native Lankan / August 20, 2013
The Mahavihara monks of Anuradapura maintained Pali chronicles in Sri Lanka which were intended primarily to record the activities of the Theravada Buddhists. The set of Chronicles on which the historians of Sri Lanka have placed their reliance for the study of the Island’s story are Dipavamsa (5th century A.D), the Mahavamsa (6th century A.D), and the Culavamsa (12th century A.D) written in Pali. There is also a commentary to Mahavamsa written in Pali by an unknown Buddhist monk in the 13th century AD known as the ‘Tika’ or Vansatthappakasini to explain/interpret the verses in Mahavamsa. It is the Tika that talks about a mysterious “Sihala atthakatha” (Vamsa text known as original source) that has disappeared after the Mahavamsa was written. This is the reason why the Sinhalese claim that the Pali chronicles were originally written in Sinhalese Prakrit. Similarly, the Pali Cannon (Buddhist scriptures Tripitaka) was also written in Pali. The Sinhalese believe that Arahant Mahinda Thero preached Buddhism in Sinhalese Prakrit and the Tamil Bikku Buddhagosha translated them from Sinhalese Prakrit to Pali during during the reigns of Walagambha. This is the reason for calling the Pali Cannon and the Pali chronicles of the Mahavihara as the chronicle of the Sinhalese.
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Mohammed / August 20, 2013
This is extremely funny. The Pali speaking missionary monk Mahinda (sent by Emperor Asoka) preached Buddhism in Sinhalese Prakrit because the Sinhalese cannot understand Pali. The Tamil monk Buddhagosha translated them from Sinhalese Prakrit back to Pali. WHY? During the reigns of Walagambha, were the Sinhalese able to read and understand Pali?
This is the reason why our Walli amma says, Sinhalese Prakrit was the language of the Island (Deepa Basa) and which became the language of Buddhism when it arrived around 3rd century BC.
Walli darling, who told you all this rubbish?
Mahanama Thero (the great mythologist)?
Wilhelm Geiger (inventor of Sinhalese Prakrit)?
Senarat Paranavithana (inventor of Old Sinhalese)?
If Deepa Basa (language of the island) was Sinhalese around 3rd century BC when Buddhism was introduced, then why the hell didn’t Mahanama Thero, the author of Mahavamsa say so?
Oh darling, what is that sticky stuff around your mouth? Definitely, it is not jam. Did Sitrampalam feed you juice?
/
Native Vedda / August 20, 2013
Mohammed
“Walli darling, who told you all this rubbish?”
You are patronizing.
The eccentric old chap Bandu de Silva/No Ethnologist perhaps.
By the way I like him and strangely I don’t know why.
/
Lella / August 20, 2013
For his charmingly departed hairstyle?
/
Native Vedda / August 20, 2013
Lella
“For his charmingly departed hairstyle?”
Perhaps as a self appointed Sinhala historian he writes fantastic stories.
I love stories.
/
Silva / August 20, 2013
I am a layman and I prefer the Vamsa Katha (chronicles) and the Tripitaka (Buddhist scriptures) in its original form written in my language and not in Pali. I cannot read or understand Pali. Why did Ven. Mahanama thero and others translate the Vamsa Katha from Sinhala to Pali and why did that Tamil Bikku Ven. Buddhagosha thero translate the Tripitaka from Sinhala to Pali. Didn’t they know that these were written for the Sinhalese? Where are the original Vamsa Katha and Tripitaka written in Sinhala? Did someone burn them? Where were all the Sinhalese people at that time? Why did they let this happen? Now we do not have any evidence to prove that they were originally written in Sinhala.
/
Namboodiri / August 21, 2013
Majority of all Singhalese did not have a script to write their native tongue in the very olden days like the Malayu languages. Sinhala (as a script) although it had Tamil, besides writing was only adapted from Malayalam and Thai until very recently about 400 years ago to give it an alien skin. (Apart from the influence of Tamil, Pali, Telugu, Malayalam, Bangla, Thai, Sanskrit etc., modern Sinhala wouldn’t have survived for being lacking of words in it’s vocabulary). In the olden days only scribes interpreted the Pitakas and Puskolas along with the comics of Jataka Katha to the laymen in Aavasa, Chaitanya and Viharas.
—————————-
Do you know:
-In Ghana they call the sour sop ‘Aatha’.
-The Malayalam ‘Madi’ (enough) is ‘not enough’ in Sinhala.
-The Bangla ‘Bath’ is the same cooked-rice Sinhalese eat of.
-Interestingly, the Mon’s (Yunanese/Chinese)of Thailand & Burma a cashew fruit is called a ‘Sinhala mango’.
/
Surpanaga / August 21, 2013
Since North Indians hated Ravana they named his Island in a derogatory term ‘Langa’ in their manuscripts, with due respect to the Indian undies the ‘Langooty’ (it should be considered the geophysical position of Lanka is located in the scrotal position of India). While being sheepish to perceive of the disparaging name endowed on them, rather the ‘Elu’ people felt manumitted from the ‘Elu’ label and were overjoyed to enjoy their new identity ‘Langa’ within their proud bosom ever after.
/
Dumbakoshaya / August 20, 2013
431 A.C. = approx. 1500 years, the start of the Muslim era. Like Persian scholars used Arabic to document their data, Like Scientists use Latin to prescribe matters of archaelogy, zoology etc., Like a typist using Pitman’s shorthand in dictation; The Kalabhra Dravidians used Pali to document the sutras as the sheepy ‘Elu’ was just a language with a tiny dictionary.
/
ponkoh sivakumaran / August 19, 2013
Thanks Valliammal for proving beyond doubt that (1) Sinhala is a foreign language (2) Buddhism is a foreign religion and (3) that you are inept at history. Why do you have to cite two white men to support the rubbish you have to say. At least Prabhakaran and Rajapakse taught us to be proud of ourselves and do our killing by ourselves.
/
Panagkottaya / August 20, 2013
Native Vedda,
You seem to be doing some reading these days not dependent on elders. Good sign!The brain seems to be de-contracting!Anyway,be careful.Do not accept ‘versions’/opinions/ speculations as truths. Treat them for what they are, who ever expresses them,PhDs like Sitrmpalam or any others.I asked you to declare yourself as a Panagkottaya rather than hide under your Vedda screen.
P.S.
So your Veeda elders learnt Sinhala and Tamil?How ancient were they?
/
Native Vedda / August 20, 2013
Panagkottaya
“You seem to be doing some reading these days not dependent on elders.”
Sorry, I don’t read but listen to my elders who have accumulated wealth of knowledge and information over many centuries. They think I am still bit thick and immature. I agree with them.
“.I asked you to declare yourself as a Panagkottaya rather than hide under your Vedda screen.”
You sound more like a Kavun than a Panagkottaya.
My declared purpose in this forum is to insult the Tamils and Sinhalese as much as possible, because they deserve it. I believe I am the right Veddah to do it as my elders are too polite and patient to deal with the irredeemably stupid people.
Remember Scott, “Comments are free facts are sacred”.
“Do not accept ‘versions’/opinions/ speculations as truths.”
“Silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
Do you or do you not agree with Mahatma Gandhi?
/
Acer / August 20, 2013
Not that ancient as your Assus.
/
ken robert / August 20, 2013
Jim Softy
It may be true that learned professor’ writing may have a hidden agenda. I did not have the book, I don’t posssess the knowledge and necessary skills for a critic in history. However I woould have expected that
When one criticise especially on academic topics,
1. He/she is well versed in the topic
2. He/She should not present assumptions as truth.
3. Show intellectual humility during criticism
4. Show willingness to embrace uncomfortable truths
Ms Ratnawalli’s discussion is none of that why I believe that the author’s skills remind the works of D H Lawrence, Shoba Dee and more recently E L James.
/
Native Vedda / August 20, 2013
ken robert
“I don’t posssess the knowledge and necessary skills for a critic in history”
Don’t worry about these things.
You can write anything and say anything as long as you cater/satisfy their political need and mood of the stupid people.
The stupid Tamils and Sinhalese are so gullible you can sell anything to these people.
Note earlier I was trying to sell a non existent car to Kautilya, he almost bought it.
I must warn you, you will be in trouble if you attempt to tell the truth.
/
K.A Sumanasekera / August 21, 2013
Looks like Native can’t keep away from our charming young archeological anthropologist.
/
Ahikuntik / August 21, 2013
Let her first decipher your anthropology and evolution from Pygmy Marmoset to a Sumanasekera.
/
ken robert / August 21, 2013
Sumane
It is not a girl thing!. But what she/he writes. People could write what they want in their uncle’s newspaper. This is an internet forum where editors donot need to go for breakfast with president.
/
Bedrock Barney / August 21, 2013
Minister Mervyn Silva still speaks proto-Sinhalese, we should get his opinion.
/
yarlpadi / August 22, 2013
Ratnavalli’s original way of dealing with sources,her truly creative approach to linguistics and innovative and imaginative etymology and deep expertise in ethnography and history deserves a name of its own and should be used when such a complex argument is presented with the zeal of a recent convert and in a crudely abusive and self- righteous style. I suugest “VALLYISM”.I am sure that she may have some objections to this since the first part is in Tamil but she has to learn to live with it.
/
Native Vedda / August 22, 2013
yarlpadi
“I suugest “VALLYISM”
May I propose an alternative title:
Irathinology of Vallyism.
/
James / August 22, 2013
Ratnawalli
“Prakrit was the language of the land, which became the language of Buddhism when it arrived around 3rd century BC. By the time Buddhism arrived the language called Sinhalese Prakrit was already here, had been here for a few centuries knocking against the palettes of the people and changing into a language distinct from all Indo-Aryan languages of North India.”
According to you, Sinhala Prakrit was the language of the land until 3rd century BC when Buddhism arrived. What reliable evidence do you have to prove this?
The Brahmi inscriptions found in the caves of Sri Lanka during the 3rd century BC were written in Prakrit (Indo-Aryan language). Only some learned people (members of the clergy and those close to the kings) are able to write such a language. How can we be so sure that Prakrit was the spoken language before the 3rd century BC? It could have been a language used only for writing. The North Indians who arrived as traders before the 3rd century BC would have introduced the Indo-Aryan Prakrit (what you call as Sinhalese Prakrit) to the island but we cannot say for sure that it was the spoken language of the land.
There were several tribes living in the Island. For example, the Nagas not only lived in both Sri Lanka and South India but they were also moving back and forth between Sri Lanka and South India.
What language did they speak?
Prakrit? Tamil? We will never know.
How can we say ‘Prakrit was the language of the land’?
We are not sure if it was spoken in the island or only used for cave writing.
How can we say ‘Prakrit became the language of Buddhism’?
Buddhist scriptures were all written in Pali.
How can we say ‘when Buddhism arrived the language called Sinhalese Prakrit was already here’?
Who came up with the term ‘Sinhalese’ Prakrit and why?
As you say, if the learned historians, archeologists and epigraphists are making mistakes, how can we rely on all what is assumed as the true history of the land?
Please answer these in your next article.
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Native Vedda / August 22, 2013
James
“Please answer these in your next article.”
She never answers any question, she is only a child.
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Mohammed / August 23, 2013
James,
You have raised a very good point. It is not correct to assume that the language of the cave writings (Prakrit) using Bhrami script was actually the spoken language of the land before and until 3rd century BC when Buddhism arrived.
In the 19th CAD, Wilhelm Geiger studied the language of the majority (Sinhala) and gave some name labels. He assumed the earliest language in the island (found in the cave inscriptions) as prakrit (Sinhala).
The island was multi-ethnic (several tribes) even during the ancient period and therefore there would have been many languages.
Why should we consider as gospel truth the assumption what this one and only person (European/German) Geiger made in the 19th CAD to rename the ancient language (found in the cave inscriptions)as (Sinhala) Prakrit? We are not sure if the language spoken in the island (Dipa Basa) and the language used for cave inscriptions were the same (Prakrt). If the Divpa Basa was Prakrit and if the Prakrit was Sinhala then why was it not mentioned in any of the artifacts, structures, stone incriptions and chronicles as so. Ven. Mahanama could have said in the Mahavamsa, it was Sinhala Basa instead of saying Dipa Basa.
The problem is, when things are in their advantage, our Sinhala-Buddhist ‘scholars’ will accept anything without any questions or try to support it by using incorrect arguments.
As you said, our walli amma should answer these questions if she believes Geiger’s assumptions as gospel truth.
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Defender of Sitramplam / August 22, 2013
Whatever one may say about the “eccentric old chap” (N.V.) Bandu de Silva,now hibernating somewhere(or has he run away from the white van?), as it seems, it must be said in fairness, he gave credence to Sittrampalam for saying that “a Buddhist formation developed into a major formation parallel to other major formations in south India, whereas the Jaffna Tamil formation remained as a lesser formation. But he (Sitrampalam) gave to this “lesser ” Jaffna Tamil formation a separate identity, separate from that of South India and that of the Sinhalese in the south”. The presence of a Major status to the Buddhist formation could not be denied in view of the strong Brahmi Practrit evidence, literary and the evidence of monuments.
Bandu made the observation, however, that it was very clear that Sitrampalam could not offer more than a conjecture and its flaws were obvious. He(Sitrampalam) has not even found a way out to find an explanation for the ‘lesser’ status of the Jaffna Tamil formation which he admits. He merely states that “It IS THE CONSIDERED OPINION OF MANY THAT THERE WERE DEFINITLEY INFLUENTIAL TAMILS IN THE NORTH OF SRI LANKA AT LEAST TWO HUNDRED YEARS BEFORE CHRISTIAN ERA.” His evidence for the “lesser” Tamil formation in Sri Lanka was nothing but Mahavamsa, the chronicle that Tamils cannot do without, said Bandu.
Was it because if his eccentricity that he gave credence to Sittrampalam for saying so?
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Native Vedda / August 23, 2013
Defender of Sitramplam/No Ethnologist/Bandu
On
Sunday, June 23, 2013
The Sunday Times reported:
RASSL lecture: ‘Distortions in Recent History Writings’
The Royal Asiatic Society Sri Lanka (RASSL)’s monthly Public Lecture will be on “Distortions in Recent History Writings” by Bandu de Silva, former Ambassador on Monday, June 24 at 5 p.m. at the Gamini Dissanayake Auditorium, No. 96, Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha, Colombo 7. The lecture is open to all.The lecture covers recent writings principally by K. Indrapala, K. S. Sitrampalam and Anton Sebastian. The speaker was a lecturer in history at University of Peradeniya before he joined the Foreign Service.”
Re writing history used to be a cottage industry until Bandu and other like minded Sinhala/Buddhists automated it into a mass producing industry, because there was huge market among the stupid Sinhala/Buddhists.
The above Sunday Times news gives a clear proof of those revisionist historians’ intentions. I have no issue with their judgments, sometimes you get it right other times wrong.
One can argue for or against judgments, supported by various evidences newly unearthed or otherwise, however one cannot against one’s intentions which used to be hidden but not anymore.
In this respect Bandu’s work is good for the Sinhala/Buddhists’ intentions, a process of manufacturing consensus, but very bad for the people and country.
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ken robert / August 24, 2013
Native vedda
I stumbled upon a website by royal asiatic society with brammi scripts during internet search to find more about ‘ sinhala’ brammi. I saw brammi scripts and their inference but authors of web site, apparently clever enough to state that script could be interpreted in various ways!.
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Native Vedda / August 26, 2013
ken robert
Here is one website which I think is useful to access old research articles:
http://www.dlib.pdn.ac.lk:8080/jspui/
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Indooors / August 26, 2013
Ken
Read more of the powerful language of the Mithila City:
Maithili, is spoken by 32 million people in India and by 2.8 million people in Nepal (Ethnologue). It has a long literary tradition. Maithili is derived from Avahattha, the Maithil Apabhramsha, which is derived from Magadhi Apbhramsha. The main characteristics of Magadhi Prakrit is to mutate ‘r’ into ‘s’, the ‘n’ for n, of ‘j’ for ‘y’, of ‘b’ for ‘y’ In the edicts of Ashoka the change of ‘r’ to ‘h’ is established. Mahavir and Buddha delivered their sermons in the eastern languages.
The earliest recorded epigraphic evidence of the script is to be found in the Mandar Hill Stone inscriptions of Adityasena (c. 7th century A. D.), now fixed in the Baidyanath temple, Deoghar.
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Mohammed / August 23, 2013
Regarding proto–Sinhalese and Elu for Sinhala prose and Sinhala poetry, Ratnawalli is quoting two westerners Wilhelm Geiger and Charles Hallisey.
Where are all the Sinhalese scholars, linguists, etymologists, and epigraphists gone? Why only westerners?
Why she has taken only Sitrampalam to feed jam? Is it because he happens to be a Tamil? Why not feed the same jam to the Sinhalese ‘scholars’?
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