Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c7.52

c7.52

Reference must be made to the Muhammedan element in the population. Before the fifteenth century the trade of the island had passed almost entirely into the hands of Arabs who traded on the Indian seas. The trade included pearls, gems, spices, and elephants. Later, there was much rivalry between these people and the Dutch. Arab adventurers settled on the Indian and Ceylon coasts, intermarried with the inhabitants and became important elements in the population. They were reinforced by coast Moormen from Southern India, most of whom were actually converts; at present a majority of Ceylon Moormen are certainly of Tamil extraction.* A few of the Muhammedan communities were settled in the interior, and owed services to the King, chieftains, or even to Buddhist temples, chiefly the conveyance of grain on pack bulls.