1


The island of Ceylon, perhaps the most beautiful tropical country in
the world, lies near the end of the Indian peninsula but a little to
the east. At one point a chain of smaller islands and rocks said to
have been built by Rama as a passage for his army of monkeys leads to
the mainland. It is therefore natural that the population should have
relations with southern India. Sinhalese art, religion and language
show traces of Tamil influence but it is somewhat surprising to find
that in these and in all departments of civilization the influence of
northern India is stronger. The traditions which explain the
connection of Ceylon with this distant region seem credible and the
Sinhalese, who were often at war with the Tamils, were not disposed to
imitate their usages, although juxtaposition and invasion brought
about much involuntary resemblance.

The school of Buddhism now professed in Ceylon, Burma and Siam is
often called Sinhalese and (provided it is not implied that its
doctrines originated in Ceylon) the epithet is correct. For the school
ceased to exist in India and in the middle ages both Burma and Siam
accepted the authority of the Sinhalese Sangha.[10] This Sinhalese
school seems to be founded on the doctrines and scriptures accepted in
the time of Asoka in Magadha and though the faith may have been
codified and supplemented in its new home, I see no evidence that it
underwent much corruption or even development. One is inclined at
first to think that the Hindus, having a continuous living tradition
connecting them with Gotama who was himself a Hindu, were more likely
than these distant islanders to preserve the spirit of his teaching.