Sinhalese people
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The Sinhalese people, also known as the Sinhalese are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group native to the island of Sri Lanka. Historically, they were known as the Sinhala or the Lion People. They are the largest ethnic group in Sri Lanka, constituting about 75% of the Sri Lankan population and number more than 15.2 million.
Sinhalese children in folk costume
Ruins of the Royal palace of Polonnaruwa
An ola leaf manuscript written in Sinhala.
The Temple of the Tooth was renovated during the Buddhist revival.
Sinhala language
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Sinhala, sometimes called Sinhalese, is an Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken by the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka, who make up the largest ethnic group on the island, numbering about 16 million. Sinhala is also spoken as the first language by other ethnic groups in Sri Lanka, totalling about 2 million speakers as of 2001. It is written using the Sinhala script, which is a Brahmic script closely related to the Grantha script of South India.
There are 1,500 poems written in the 6th-10th centuries on the Sigiriya Mirror Wall. These poems are believed to have been composed by pilgrims who came to visit the Buddhist monastery of Sigiriya, which was active at this time.
Letters of the Sinhala script.