Sinhalese

Epigraphica Zeylanica

The University of Cambridge, England has 274 volumes of ‘Epigraphica Zeylanica’ with over 3000 inscriptions from Ceylon (that is more inscriptions than the whole of mainland China has, even though Sri Lanka is only 1/2 the size of the state of New York), including one dating back to 6th century BC. Over 2000 of these have been deciphered, indicating the consistent development of the Sinhalese language.

Irrigation

“Neither in the lands of their (i.e. of the Indo-Aryan settlers) origin nor in South India did there develop an irrigation system of the magnitude or the complexity of that which the Sinhalese afterwards constructed in Ceylon; nothing comparable & contemporaneous (i.e.1st century A. D. – 12th century A. D.) with the ancient dam, canal & tank system of Ceylon, mingling the water of rivers flowing in different directions is known in continental India“

(A Short Account of the History of Irrigation Works, C. W. Nicholas, JRASCB 1960, 43-69)

“In no other part of the world are there to be found within the same space, the remains of so many works of irrigation, which are, at the same time, of such great antiquity, & of such vast magnitude as Ceylon. Probably no other country can exhibit works so numerous, & at the same time so ancient & extensive, within the same limited area, as this island“

Colonial Governor of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Sir Henry Ward (1885-1860)

Architecture

“The constructive & artistic genius of the Sinhalese race proceeded in the following century (i.e.2nd century B. C.) to develop the design to an extent not found elsewhere. The most important examples erected in Ceylon are comparable with the greatest pyramids of Egypt. The two largest dagobas at Anuradhapura surpass in contents, three exceeded in height all but the two enormous pyramids Khufru & Khafra at Gizeh“

(Ancient Ceylon, H. Parker, 262)

Literature

“One of the greatest contributions of the Sinhalese people to the cultural development of South & South East Asia & to world literature is the creation of a historic literature. It is well-known that on the Indian sub continent before the invasion of the Islamic conquerors virtually no historic literature had developed… Sri Lanka tells a different story. In the Dipavamsa & Mahavamsa & in various other Sinhalese texts, we are given an account of the political & cultural history of the island from earliest times until the present time“

(Wilhelm Geiger – His Life & Works, Heinz Bechert, 2nd ed., 69)

Colonization

“The Sinhalese voluntarily surrendered their island to the British Sovereign with full reservation of their rights & liberties. They may thus claim to be one of the few ancient races of the world who have not been conquered.“

(Sketches of Ceylon History by Sri Lankan-then called Ceylonese-Tamil scholar Ponnambalam Arunchalam, 1906)

“The Sinhalese people are not, in my opinion, happier or better than they were in the eighteenth century. Talk of progress, & the reality, are not the same. Civilization is supposed to advance by the creation of new desires, to gratify which the individual must endeavour to improve his position. But in reality it is not quantity, but quality of wants that may be taken as evidence of progress in the Art of Living. No one acquainted with modern Sinhalese taste will pretend that it gives evidence of any improvement in the quality of wants. Indeed, it is sufficiently obvious that quantity, variety, & novelty are not really compatible with quality.“

Mediaeval Sinhalese Art: Sri Lankan – then called Ceylonese – Tamil scholar Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy (1908) comparing the period prior to British rule with the period of British rule.

Buddhist Bhikkus (monks)

“Go and talk to the yellow robed and tonsured recluse – not of course through an interpreter, or out of a book of phrases: you must know not only his language but something of Buddhist ideas; and you must speak to him as man to man, not as the wise to the barbarian. You will certainly be courteous; for whatever else a Buddhist Bhikkhu may be, he will be sure to give proof of courtesy and a dignified demeanour. And it will be strange if you do not find a new world of thought and of feeling opening out before you.“

Rhys Davids, Professor of Pali in the University of London at Manchester during 1882-1904

http://www.mysrilankaholidays.com/ancient-glory.html

The Singalese are a courteous & ceremonious people, & whilst they attend most particularly to all their minute distinctions of caste & rank, they are mutually respectful: the man of rank is not arrogant, nor the poor man servile; the one is kind & condescending, & the other modest & unpresuming. The friendly intercourse of different ranks is encouraged by religion, & strengthened by the circumstance, that, on one side there is nothing the great are so ambitious of as popularity; & on the other side, nothing the people are so desirous of as favour.

Above is an extract from
An Account of the Interior of Ceylon & of Its Inhabitants with Travels in that Island By
JOHN DAVY, MD. FRS. 1821

John Davy (1790-1868) was a British doctor and amateur chemist, and brother of the noted chemist Sir Humphry Davy, and cousin of Edmund Davy.

John Davy was born in Penzance, Cornwall. He assisted his older brother Humphry at the Royal Institution of Great Britain for two years before heading to Edinburgh University, where he earned his degree in medicine in 1814. Davy is perhaps most noted for his discovery of phosgene in 1812, and which name he coined. He also discovered silicon tetrafluoride.
Upon graduation, Davy joined the British Army Medical Department and became Inspector General of Hospitals. He used his position to travel to a great number of the English colonies, including India, Ceylon, and Barbados.
In 1834 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. From 1836 to 1840 he produced nine volumes on the collected works of his brother. After a brief time spent living in the West Indies, Davy returned to England, where he died in 1868.
In 1863 he discovered that eggshells have about 8,000 pores that are large enough for oxygen to flow in and carbon dioxide to flow out by pumping pressurized air into an underwater egg and watching thousands of tiny bubbles appear on the surface of the shell.

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From the native chronicles we find, that the ancestors of a people whom Britons long regarded as savages, & for some time treated as slaves, existed as numerous & comparatively civilized nation at a period antecedent to the discovery of Great Britain & its semi-barbarous inhabitants.
The ancient & continued annals of the Cingalese race have been preserved for upwards of twenty-three centuries, & describe the erection or formation of all those extensive works, cities, tanks, temples,-whose ruins & numerous inscriptions remain to verify the historical records. For a great proportion of that long period the natives of Ceylon will be found to have remained stationary, or to have retrogated in arts, perhaps in intelligence; whilst Britons, advancing in civilization with extraordinary rapidity,benefiting by experience, & improving in policy, have voluntarily abandoned their arbitrary rule in the island, for a mild, free, but still efficient Government. From this circumstance Ceylon is already advancing beyond that barrier of mediocrity, which in Asia seems to have arrested mind & manners at a particular point of civilization.

ABOVE IS THE BEGINING OF 1st CHAPTER OF ‘ELEVEN YEARS IN CEYLON” BY MAJOR FORBES, LONDON, 1840

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