SOAS Research Online

Abstract

In this study an attempt is made to examine the evolution of the Sinhalese script from the sixth to the tenth century A.D. which period is considered the transitional period in the development of the Sinhalese script. A brief survey of the preceding period is essential to facilitate a proper understanding of the period under consideration. Hence the first chapter in this study is devoted to a description of how the Brahma script came to Ceylon and how it underwent a gradual evolution there. The second and the third chapters discuss the evolution of the Sinhalese script in the sixth and seventh centuries, and compare the similarities and differences that can be observed between it and the Indian scripts of this period. The fourth chapter examines the external influences that helped in the development of the Sinhalese script in the sixth and seventh centuries. We describe how the Brahmi script gradually changed, giving rise to Sinhalese letters, and in this respect the basic changes that took place during the fourth and fifth centuries are also taken into consideration. The fifth chapter describes the evolution of the Sinhalese script in the eighth century while the sixth chapter describes the same in the ninth and tenth centuries. The ninth and tenth centuries are treated in one chapter since no basic differences in features can be observed in the characters of these two centuries. The seventh chapter is devoted to the important features in the evolution of the Sinhalese script in the eighth, ninth and tenth centuries. A comparison is also made between the Sinhailese and the Pallava Grantha script which influenced the change from the old script to the modern Sinhalese script.