Rating: Not rated
Tags: India, History, Lang:en
Summary
Sri Lanka's historical and cultural heritage covers more
than 2,000 years. Known as Lanka--the "resplendent land"--in
the ancient Indian epic Ramayana, the island has numerous other
references that testify to the island's natural beauty and
wealth. Islamic folklore maintains that Adam and Eve were
offered refuge on the island as solace for their expulsion from
the Garden of Eden. Asian poets, noting the geographical
location of the island and lauding its beauty, called it the
"pearl upon the brow of India." A troubled nation in the 1980s,
torn apart by communal violence, Sri Lanka has more recently
been called India's "fallen tear, the history book on Sri
Lanka, also provides you; the entire art and culture, Sri Lanka
economy, Sri Lanka government, Sri Lanka travel guide, Sri
Lanka people and tradition.
**
ORIGINS
Ancient Indian and Sri Lankan myths and chronicles have been
studied intensively and interpreted widely for their insight
into the human settlement and philosophical development of the
island. Confirmation of the island's first colonizers--whether
the Sinhalese or Sri Lankan Tamils--has been elusive, but
evidence suggests that Sri Lanka has been, since earliest
times, a multiethnic society. Sri Lankan historian K.M. de
Silva believes that settlement and colonization by Indo-Aryan
speakers may have preceded the arrival of Dravidian settlers by
several centuries, but that early mixing rendered the two
ethnic groups almost physically indistinct