Sinhala people

විකිපීඩියා, නිදහස් විශ්වකෝෂය වෙතින්
වෙත යන්න: සංචලනය, සොයන්න
Sinhala
Anagarika Dharmapala.jpgAhubudu2.jpgD S Senanayake.jpgKumar Sangakkara.jpgM.Wickramasinghe.jpg
Rajasimha-II.jpgPrasanna Vithanage.jpg45pxMahinda Rajapaksa 2006.jpg45px
45pxOsaka07 D7A Susanthika Jayasinghe medal.jpg45pxNadeeka Perera.jpg
Row 1: Anagarika Dharmapala • Arisen Ahubudu • Don Stephen Senanayake • Kumar Sangakkara • Martin Wickramasinghe

Row 2: Rajasinghe II • Prasanna Vithanage • Ernest de Silva • Mahinda Rajapaksa • Wimalaratne Kumaragama
Row 3: Rosy Senanayake • Susanthika Jayasinghe • Swarna Mallawarachchi • Nadeeka Perera • Sirimavo Bandaranaike
සමිපූර්ණ ඡනගහනය Sinhalese
estimated - 14 million
විශාල ඡනගහනයක් වෙසෙන ප්‍රදේශ {{{popplace}}}
භාෂා Sinhala, English, Tamil
ආගම් Buddhism - School of Theravada
Minority Christianity and Hinduism.
ඤාති ඡන වර්ග Sri Lankan people,Sri Lankan Tamil,South Indian Tamil, Indo-Aryans, Bengali people

The Sinhalese are the indigenous [1] poeple of Sri Lanka, constituting 74% of the population. They speak Sinhala language [2] an Indo-Aryan language, and number approximately 14 million.

පටුන

[සංස්කරණය] Origin of name

The Sinhalese are also known as "Hela" or "Sinhala". These synonyms find their origins in the two words Sinha (meaning "lion") and Hela (meaning "pristine"). The name Sinhala translates to "lion people" and refers to the myths regarding the descent of the legendary founder of the Sinhalese people, the prince Vijaya. The royal dynasty from ancient times on the island was the Sinha (Lion) royal dynasty and the word Sinha finds its origins here.

[සංස්කරණය] Geographic distribution

[සංස්කරණය] Sri Lanka

Percentage of Sinhalese people per district based on 2001 or 1981 (cursive) census.[3]

Within Sri Lanka the majority of the Sinhalese reside in the south, central and western parts of the country.

[සංස්කරණය] Diaspora

As with many of the people from former colonies, Sinhalese have emigrated to several countries. There are small communities in the UK, Australia, United States and Canada with Sinhalese ancestry. In addition to this there are many Sinhalese, who reside in the above mentioned countries and countries in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Europe, temporarily in connection with empolyment and education. They are often employed as guest workers in the Middle East and professionals in the other regions.

[සංස්කරණය] History

මේවාත් බලන්න: History of Sri Lanka

[සංස්කරණය] Prehistory

Wiki letter w cropped.svg This section requires expansion.

The oral tradition of the Sinhala people also speaks of many royal dynasties prior to the Sinha royal dynasty: Manu, Tharaka, Mahabali, Raavana; the Sinhalese have spread to other countries like India including Indus Valley Civilisation of Harappa[4], Egypt, Iraq, Mauritius, Maldives etc.

In the pre-historic period the island was mainly inhabited by indigenous Hela people known as Yakka & Naga people who spoke Elu language (ancient form of Sinhala). Legendary accounts recorded in the Indian epic saga, the Sanskritic Ramayana, discuss tales of deities battling over the fate of the ancient island of Heladiva (also known as Lankapura), including that of the legendary Hela emperor Raavana who ruled ten teritories including India.[5]

Valuable evidence of the pre-historic period of Sinhalese was completely destroyed by Tamil invaders & Europeans who invaded Sri Lanka.

[සංස්කරණය] Ancient history

About the 5th century BCE, settlers from North-Eastern India [6] reached the island of Sri Lanka. This group of settlers is referred to as prince Vijaya and his entourage in the chronicle Mahavamsa. These new settlers merged with the native Hela tribes known as Yakka, Naga and a new nation called Sinhala came to exist[7]. In the following centuries, there was substantial immigration from Eastern India-Bengal (Kalinga, Magadha)[8] which led to an admixture of features of Eastern Prakrits.

The early recorded history of the Buddhist Sinhalese is chronicled in two historic documents, the Mahavamsa, written in Pāli around the 4th century BC, and the much later Chulavamsa (probably penned in the 13 century CE by the Buddhist monk Dhammakitti). These are ancient sources which cover the histories of the powerful ancient kingdoms of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa. The Mahavansa describes the existence of fields of rice and reservoirs, indicating a well developed agrarian society.

Buddhism was introduced to the Sinhalese from India by Mahinda, son of the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka the Great, during the 3rd century BC. Buddhism has since been closely tied to both the Sinhalese identity and the history of Sri Lanka. To this day Buddhism has survived in Sri Lanka while it was forcibly rooted out in other parts of the subcontinent, hence Sri Lanka is the last bastion of Theravada Buddhism in South Asia.

[සංස්කරණය] Medieval history

සැකිල්ල:Empty section

[සංස්කරණය] Modern history

The Sinhalese are identified through their Sinhala language and ancestral heritage as well as their Buddhist faith. These culture complexes set them apart from the main ethnic minority of Sri Lanka, the Sri Lankan Tamils.

A policy of universal healthcare provision has raised average life expectancy to 72 years. Female emancipation reflects many social changes including greater parity between the sexes. Prominent female politicians include former Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike and President Chandrika Kumaratunga. The Sinhalese have a stable birth rate and a population that has been growing at a slow pace relative to India and other Asian countries. The Sinhalese make up about 74% of the Sri Lankan population. The life expectancy has gone up because of the state funded health care.

[සංස්කරණය] Genetic Studies

[සංස්කරණය] Unearthing the roots of an island nation

A study using the ground-breaking technique of dental morphological analysis indicates that ancestors of the present day Sinhalese could have established the island’s megalithic culture. It also concludes that the inhabitants of the Indus Valley Civilisation of Harappa had dental traits resembling Sinhalese much more closely than Tamils or other Dravidian speaking populations. This evidence emerges from the work of American anthropologist Dr. Diane Hawkey. Her thesis is titled ‘Out of Asia: Dental Evidence for Affinities and Microevolution of Early Populations from India/ Sri Lanka.’

To draw her conclusions, Dr. Hawkey had compared the teeth of pre-historic and early iron age groups of Sri Lanka with the present communities as well as ancient and modern populations in India, South East Asia, Australia and the Middle East.

Dr. Hawkey shows that the skeletal remains at Pomparippu clearly indicate they possessed dental traits much more similar to Sinhalese than Tamils, Veddas or the more primitive Balangoda Man.

In fact, dental morphology shows a close affinity between the Sinhalese and the Austro-Asiatic people of Eastern and North Eastern India. This implies they are of common stock. Dr. Hawkey’s study also debunks the myth that Dravidians are descended from the inhabitants of the great pre-historic Indus Valley Civilisation of Harappa. It concludes that Harappans and East Indian Austro-Asiatics resemble Sinhalese in dental traits much more than Sri Lankan Tamils, peninsular Indians or South Indian tribal groups.[9]

[සංස්කරණය] Relationship to other ethnic groups in Sri Lanka

A study looking at genetic variation of the FUT2 gene in the Sinhalese and Sri Lankan Tamil population, found similar genetic backgrounds for both ethnic groups, with little genetic flow from other neighbouring Asian population groups.[10] Studies have also found no significant difference with regards to blood group, blood genetic markers and single-nucleotide polymorphism between the Sinhalese and other ethnic groups in Sri Lanka.[11][12][13] Another study has also found "no significant genetic variation among the major ethnic groups in Sri Lanka".[14]. This is further supported by a study which found very similar frequencies of alleles MTHFR 677T, F2 20210A & F5 1691A in South Indian tamil, Sinhalese, Sri Lankan tamil and Moor populations.

[සංස්කරණය] Relationship to East Asians and Roma

The Sinhalese are likely to have received little or no genetic flow from neighboring East or Southeast Asian populations,[15] and have closer affinities to Western Eurasia. This is supported by study looking at protein and blood group loci that suggests the Sinhalese are closer to Iranians and Afghans than to Mongoloids.[16] and comparisons of root and canal morphology of Sri Lankan mandibular molars.[17]

A 2003 Nature study found the Romani language to be most closely related to Sinhalese language.[18] In addition the Romani people and Sinhalese both have a high requency of Haplogroup H (Y-DNA).[19] The Sinhalese and Sinti Roma also have a high frequency of Haplogroup R2 (38% and 53% respectively), as do West Bengalis of which the sinhalese are related to.[20][21] These haplogroups are thought to have arisen 25,000-30,000 YBP.[22][23] Therefore the Sinhalese and Roma may both be related to the same group of paleolithic inhabitants that lived in Central India 25,000 years ago.

[සංස්කරණය] Skin pigmentation

In 2008 a study looked at SLC24A5 polymorphism which accounts for 25-40% of the skin complexion difference in Europeans and Africans[24] and up to 30% of skin colour variation in South asians.[25][26] The study found that the rs1426654 SNP of SLC24A5, which is fixed in European populations[27] and found more commonly in light skinned individuals than dark skinned individuals (49% compared to 10%), has a frequency of ~50% in the Sinhalese and ~30% in Sri lankan tamils.[26] This allele could have arised in the sinhalese due to migration or strong selection factors.

[සංස්කරණය] Culture

මූලික ලිපිය: Culture of Sri Lanka

Sinhalese culture features a wide variety of folk beliefs and rituals traditionally. Folk songs were sung by workers of various trades in the past to accompany their work. Buddhist festivals are dotted by unique music using traditionally Sinhala instruments. More ancient rituals like tovils (Devil exorcism) continue to enthrall audiences today.

Concerning popular music, Ananda Samarakoon developed the reflective and poignant Sarala gee style with his work in the late 1930s/early 1940s. He has been followed by artists of repute such as W. D. Amaradeva, Nanda Malini, Victor Ratnayake, T. M. Jayaratne, Sanath Nandasiri, Sunil Edirisinghe, Neela Wickremasinghe, Gunadasa Kapuge, Malini Bulathsinghala and Edward Jayakody.

Dramatist Ediriweera Sarachchandra revitalized the drama form with Maname in 1956. Also the same year, film director Lester James Peries created the artistic masterwork Rekava which sought to create a uniquely Sinhala cinema with artistic integrity. Since then, Peries and other directors like Vasantha Obeysekera, Dharmasena Pathiraja, Mahagama Sekera, W. A. B. de Silva, Sunil Ariyaratne, Siri Gunasinghe, G. D. L. Perera, Piyasiri Gunaratne, Titus Thotawatte, D. B. Nihalsinghe, Ranjith Lal, Dayananda Gunawardena, Mudalinayake Somaratne and Prasanna Vithanage have developed an artistic Sinhala cinema.

[සංස්කරණය] Language

මූලික ලිපිය: Sinhala language
The spread of Sinhalese language in the United States

The Sinhalese speak Sinhala, also known as "Helabasa"; this language has two varieties, spoken and written. Sinhala was influenced by many languages, prominently Pali, the sacred language of Southern Buddhism, and Sanskrit. Many early Sinhala texts such as the Hela Atuwa were lost after their translation into Pali. Other significant Sinhala texts include Amāvatura, Kavu Silumina, Jathaka Potha and Sala Liheeniya. Sinhala has also borrowed words from Dravidian languages of South India and the colonial languages Portuguese, Dutch, and English.[28] In 2009 the Sinhala language won international recognition as one of the most creative in the world.[29]

[සංස්කරණය] Literature

මූලික ලිපියන්: Sri Lankan literature සහ Sinhalese literature

Sinhala literature dates back to antiquity with the Mahavamsa and the Culavamsa. Buddhism (which was a later development of Hinduism) did not overtake Hinduism in India, but Sri Lanka (and the Sinhalese) converted to Buddhist culture through history remaining a centre of Buddhist scholarly activities.

Folk tales like Mahadana Mutha saha Golayo and Kawate Andare continue to entertain children today. Mahadana Mutha tells the tale of a fool cum Pandit who travels around the country with his followers (Golayo) creating mischief through his ignorance. Kawate Andare tells the tale of a witty court jester and his interactions with the royal court and his son.

In the Modern period, Sinhala writers such as Martin Wickremasinghe and G. B. Senanayake have drawn widespread acclaim. Other writers of repute include Mahagama Sekera and Madewela S. Ratnayake. Martin Wickramasinghe wrote the immensely popular children's novel Madol Duwa. Munadasa Cumaratunga's Hath Pana is also widely known.

[සංස්කරණය] Dress

Traditionally during recreation the Sinhalese wear a sarong, (sarama in Sinhala). Men may wear a shirt with the sarong, while women wear a tight-fitting, short-sleeved jacket. In the more populated areas, the Sinhalese men also wear Western-style clothing wearing suits while the women wearing skirts and blouses. However for formal and ceremonial occasions women wear the traditional Kandyan (Osaria) style, which consists of a full blouse which covers the midriff completely, and is partially tucked in at the front. However, modern intermingling of styles has led to most wearers baring the midriff. The Kandyan style is considered as the national dress of Sinhalese women. An example of its use is the Uniform of air hostesses of Sri Lankan Airlines.[30]

[සංස්කරණය] Religion

මූලික ලිපිය: Buddhism in Sri Lanka
ගොනුව:DSCN1365.JPG
The Buddha statue at Mihintale.

Most of the Sinhalese follow the Theravada school of Buddhism. In 1988 almost 93% of the sinhalese speaking population in Sri Lanka were buddhist.[31] Buddhists include various religious elements from Hinduism in their religious practices and ancient indigenous traditions of godlings and demons, which are native to the island.[32][33][34] Sinhalese Buddhists worship Hindu gods such as Vishnu, who has a special place in their religious practices, since he is entrusted with both protecting Buddhism in the island and the island itself. He is also recognised as bodhisattva, or "awakening being" to Sinhalese Buddhists.[32][33]

There is also a siginifiant Sinhalese Christian community, in the maritime provinces of Sri Lanka.[35] Christianity was brought to the Sinhalese by Portuguese, Dutch, and British missionary groups during their respective periods of rule.[36] Sinhalese Christians mainly follow Roman Catholicism, followed by Protestantism.[31] Their cultural centre is Negombo.

Religion is considered very important among the Sinhalese. According to a 2008 Gallup poll, 99% of Sri Lankans considered religion an important aspect of their daily lives.[37]

[සංස්කරණය] Architecture

මූලික ලිපිය: Architecture of ancient Sri Lanka
මේවාත් බලන්න: Ancient constructions of Sri Lanka සහ Ancient stupas of Sri Lanka
ගොනුව:JetawanaStupa1.JPG
Jetavanaramaya stupa in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka is the second largest brick structure in the world

සැකිල්ල:Empty section

[සංස්කරණය] Arts

සැකිල්ල:Empty section

[සංස්කරණය] Sports

සැකිල්ල:Empty section

[සංස්කරණය] Cuisine

සැකිල්ල:Empty section

[සංස්කරණය] Names

සැකිල්ල:Empty section

[සංස්කරණය] Education

මූලික ලිපිය: Education in Sri Lanka

The Sinhalese have a long history of literacy and formal learning. Instruction in basic fields like writing and reading by Buddhist Monks pre-date the birth of Christ. This traditional system followed religious rule and was meant to foster Buddhist understanding. Training of officials in such skills as keeping track of revenue and other records for administrative purposes occurred under this institution.[38]

Technical education such as the building of reservoirs and canals was passed down from generation to generation through home training and outside craft apprenticeships.[38]

The arrival of the Portuguese and Dutch and the subsequent colonization maintained religion as the center of education though in certain communities under Catholic and Presbyterian hierarchy. The British in the 1800s initially followed the same course. Following 1870 however they began a campaign for better education facilities in the region. Christian missionary groups were at the forefront of this development contributing to a high literacy among Christians.[38]

By 1901 schools in the South and the North were well tended. The inner regions lagged behind however. Also, English education facilities presented hurdles for the general populace through fees and lack of access.[38]

[සංස්කරණය] Major Holidays

Wiki letter w cropped.svg This section requires expansion.
Elephants at the Esala Perahera.
මූලික ලිපියන්: Sri Lankan festivals සහ Sinhala and Tamil New Year

The celebration of the New Year on April 14 is an important tradition.[39]

[සංස්කරණය] See also

[සංස්කරණය] References

සැකිල්ල:Cleanup-link rot

  1. ↑ http://www.lankalibrary.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=588%7CUnearthing the roots of an island nation
  2. ↑ Ethnologue report for language code:sin
  3. ↑ " Department of Census and Statistics
  4. ↑ http://www.lankalibrary.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=588%7CUnearthing the roots of an island nation
  5. ↑ http://sriravana.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=2
  6. ↑ http://www.lankalibrary.com/books/sinhala.htm
  7. ↑ The story of prince Pandukabhaya
  8. ↑ http://www.lankalibrary.com/books/sinhala_history.htm
  9. ↑ http://www.lankalibrary.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=588%7CUnearthing the roots of an island nation
  10. ↑ Soejima M, Koda Y (December 2005). "Denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography-based genotyping and genetic variation of FUT2 in Sri Lanka". Transfusion 45 (12): 1934–9. doi:10.1111/j.1537-2995.2005.00651.x. PMID 16371047. 
  11. ↑ http://www.jstor.org/stable/2799860?seq=5
  12. ↑ Saha, N. (1988). "Blood genetic markers in Sri Lankan populations—reappraisal of the legend of Prince Vijaya". American Journal of Physical Anthropology 76 (2): 217. doi:10.1002/ajpa.1330760210. PMID 3166342. 
  13. ↑ Dissanayake VH, Giles V, Jayasekara RW, et al. (April 2009). "A study of three candidate genes for pre-eclampsia in a Sinhalese population from Sri Lanka". The Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Research 35 (2): 234–42. doi:10.1111/j.1447-0756.2008.00926.x. PMID 19708171. 
  14. ↑ Ruwan J. Illeperuma, Samudi N. Mohotti, Thilini M. De Silva, Neil D. Fernandopulle, W.D. Ratnasooriya, Genetic profile of 11 autosomal STR loci among the four major ethnic groups in Sri Lanka, Forensic Science International: Genetics, Volume 3, Issue 3, June 2009, Pages e105-e106
  15. ↑ Soejima, Mikiko; Koda, Yoshiro (2006). "Population differences of two coding SNPs in pigmentation-related genes SLC24A5 and SLC45A2". International Journal of Legal Medicine 121 (1): 36. doi:10.1007/s00414-006-0112-z. PMID 16847698. 
  16. ↑ Roychoudhury AK, Nei M (1985) Genetic relationships between Indians and their neighboring populations. Hum Hered 35:201–206
  17. ↑ Peiris, Roshan; Takahashi, Masami; Sasaki, Kayoko; Kanazawa, Eisaku (2007). "Root and canal morphology of permanent mandibular molars in a Sri Lankan population". Odontology 95 (1): 16. doi:10.1007/s10266-007-0074-8. PMID 17660977. 
  18. ↑ Gray, Russell D.; Atkinson, Quentin D. (2003). "Language-tree divergence times support the Anatolian theory of Indo-European origin". Nature 426 (6965): 435. doi:10.1038/nature02029. PMID 14647380. 
  19. ↑ Kivisild T, Rootsi S, Metspalu M, et al. (February 2003). "The genetic heritage of the earliest settlers persists both in Indian tribal and caste populations". American Journal of Human Genetics 72 (2): 313–32. doi:10.1086/346068. PMID 12536373. 
  20. ↑ Sengupta, S; Zhivotovsky, L; King, R; Mehdi, S; Edmonds, C; Chow, C; Lin, A; Mitra, M et al. (2006). "Polarity and Temporality of High-Resolution Y-Chromosome Distributions in India Identify Both Indigenous and Exogenous Expansions and Reveal Minor Genetic Influence of Central Asian Pastoralists". The American Journal of Human Genetics 78: 202. doi:10.1086/499411. 
  21. ↑ http://www.ethnoancestry.com/index_files/index_data/Haplogroup_R2_Manoukian.pdf
  22. ↑ http://www.ethnoancestry.com/index_files/index_data/Haplogroup_R2_Manoukian.pdf
  23. ↑ Achilli A, Rengo C, Magri C, et al. (November 2004). "The molecular dissection of mtDNA haplogroup H confirms that the Franco-Cantabrian glacial refuge was a major source for the European gene pool". American Journal of Human Genetics 75 (5): 910–8. doi:10.1086/425590. PMID 15382008. 
  24. ↑ http://www.gnxp.com/blog/2005/12/race-is-skin-deep.php
  25. ↑ http://scienceblogs.com/gnxp/2007/09/why_brown_people_are_different.php
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Soejima M, Koda Y (January 2007). "Population differences of two coding SNPs in pigmentation-related genes SLC24A5 and SLC45A2". International Journal of Legal Medicine 121 (1): 36–9. doi:10.1007/s00414-006-0112-z. PMID 16847698. 
  27. ↑ http://hgdp.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/alfreqs.cgi?pos=46213776&chr=chr15&rs=rs1426654&imp=true
  28. ↑ http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Rwanda-to-Syria/Sinhalese.html
  29. ↑ http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2009/11/30/sinhala-accepted-one-world%E2%80%99s-most-creative-alphabets
  30. ↑ http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Rwanda-to-Syria/Sinhalese.html
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/lktoc.html
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 Buddhism transformed: religious change in Sri Lanka, by Richard Gombrich, Gananath Obeyesekere, 1999
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 http://www.kataragama.org/docs/popular-religion.htm
  34. ↑ http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Rwanda-to-Syria/Sinhalese.html
  35. ↑ http://www.everyculture.com/South-Asia/Sinhalese-Religion-and-Expressive-Culture.html
  36. ↑ http://www.jstor.org/stable/178949?seq=19
  37. ↑ http://www.gallup.com/poll/114211/Alabamians-Iranians-Common.aspx
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 38.2 38.3 de Silva, K. M. (1977). Sri Lanka: A Survey. Institute of Asian Affairs, Hamburg. ISBN 0-8248-0568-2. 
  39. ↑ http://www.webquarry.com/~raditha/srilanka/new-year.html

[සංස්කරණය] Other references

  • Diane Elizabeth Hawkey. Out of Asia: Dental Evidence for Affinities and Microevolution of Early Populations from India/ Sri Lanka (Arizona State University, 1998)
  • Gunasekera, Tamara. Hierarchy and Egalitarianism: Caste, Class, and Power in Sinhalese Peasant Society (Athlone, 1994).
  • Roberts, Michael. Sri Lanka: Collective Identities Revisited (Colombo-Marga Institute, 1997).
  • Wickremeratne, Ananda. Buddhism and Ethnicity in Sri Lanka: A Historical Analysis (New Delhi-Vikas Publishing House, 1995).

[සංස්කරණය] External links

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