Did Sinhalese or Tamils appear first in Sri Lanka?
Gouri Shanker, 10+ years in historical linguistics.- Dravidian languages
Today Tamil language in Sri Lanka is spoken in many regional dialects. These dialects and the Sinhala language have evolved only in Sri Lanka, hence both Tamil and Sinhala dialects are native to Sri Lanka.
Next, whose ancestors came first? Tamils or Sinhalese? The earliest inhabitants were neither Indo-Aryan nor Tamils. The island was supposedly inhabited by mythical Yakshas and Nagas when Vijaya and his followers arrived by boat in 483 BCE (Law, 1947, p50: Geiger, 1908). Now, there is archaeological evidence of human settlements in Sri Lanka before the Indo-Aryan settlers came.
Source: Ibbankatuwa Ancient Burial Site | AmazingLanka.com
However, there is no conclusive evidence of Tamil presence in Sri Lanka before the Indo-Aryan arrival. There are no such references in the early Tamil literature. Moreover the earliest inscriptions found in the island are Prakrit.
“The earliest (600-500 BC) inscriptions on pottery are in Indo-Aryan Prakrit. So far none of them are in Dravidian. It appears to corroborate the [prevailing] view that Indo-Aryan was pre-dominant from at least as early as 500 BC in Sri Lanka” (Deraniyagala, 1996).
Prior to the arrival of Indo-Aryan settlers, there is a good evidence of human habitation. The remains of Balangoda Man have been dated to 38,000 years before present. Prehistory of Sri Lanka 1 : the beginning of a long journey
Skeleton of Balangoda Man. Source: Chandima, B. A. Prehistory of Sri Lanka 1 : the beginning of a long journey
In addition, there is archaeological evidence of early Iron-Age settlements.
According to Deraniyagala (1996), “Archaeological evidence of early settlement, dating to ca. 1000-800 BC, is found at Anuradhapura. It was already a town (cf. Allchin 1989: 3). By 700–500 BCE, the settlement exceeded 50 ha in area.”
Next, who were these early settlers? Their ethnicity and the languages remain unknown because they didn’t leave any inscriptions. They could be Dravidians, Indo-Aryans or Austro-Asiatic people. Some have speculated that they could be the hill people of South India like the Pazhaiyars (Palaiyars).
Source: Restoration of the Great Silk Road possible
According to Deraniyagala (1996), “the protohistoric Sri Lanka has attracted many traders and settlers from India and outside due to its favourable location for long-distance trade between Southeast Asia and West Asia. It has plenty of rain forests, pearls, copper, cinnamon and other spices. There is even some evidence of early trading with pharaonic Egypt”.
List of References
Allchin, F. R. (1989). City and state formation in Early Historic South Asia. South Asian Studies 5 (pp. 1-16).
Chandima, B. A. Prehistory of Sri Lanka 1 : the beginning of a long journey
Deraniyagala, S. U. (1996). Director-General of Archaeology, Sri Lanka. Proceedings of the xiii Congress, Forli’-Italia. PRE- AND PROTOHISTORIC SETTLEMENT IN SRI LANKA
Geiger, W. (Ed.) (1908). Mahavamsa: Great Chronicle of Ceylon (Vol. 63). H. Frowde.
Law, B. C. (1947). On the chronicles of Ceylon. Asian Educational Services (p. 50).
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