Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c8.s4.t7: 3.4.7 Sinhalese
Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c8.s4.t7
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3.4.7 Sinhalese
c8.s4.t7.1
Due no doubt to its special geographical and cultural setting, the pattern of the development of Sinhalese as an epigraphic language is entirely different from that of the NIA languages of India proper. Unlike other NIA languages, Sinhalese and its direct linguistic predecessors were the main languages of inscriptions from early times in Sri Lanka. According to Geiger and Jayatilaka's formulation,⁸⁴ the period of the Sinhalese Prakrit or Old Sinhalese inscriptions (see 3.1.4.2.2) ended about the third or fourth century A.D. and was followed by a "Proto-Sinhalese" period from the fourth to the eighth century, represented by the relatively sparse (see 4.3.7.1) epigraphic remains of that period. The more abundant inscriptions of the medieval period, especially of the ninth to the thirteenth century, represent the "Medieval Sinhalese" phase, at which stage. in Geiger's words, "the language has now become a modern Indian idiom and . . . the principal and most characteristic features of the modern language are recognisable" (op. cit., xxix).
c8.s4.t7.2
⁸⁴ In *A Dictionary of the Sinhalese Language* (see 3.1.4.2.2), xxiv–xxxi.
c8.s4.t7.3
Most of the medieval and later Sinhalese inscriptions, some of which are of great length, are on stone. They generally record foundations, grants, regulations, and other matters pertaining to Buddhist monastic establishments.⁸⁵
c8.s4.t7.4
⁸⁵ See also section 4.3.7.1 for further information.