Eighteenth Century Dutch Missionaries and Their Contribution for the Advancement of Sinhala Literature

ABSTRACT: Sri Lanka’s contacts with some European countries during 16th to 19th Centuries led to makenumerous socio-cultural changes in the country. From 1656 to 1796 AD, the Dutch ruled the MaritimeProvinces in Ceylon. The objective of this study is to identify the contribution of Dutch Missionaries for theadvancement of Sinhala literature. During this period, a new genre was introduced and the method of bookproduction transformed from labor-intensive methods to mechanical reproduction ways and establishedentrepreneurship in book production. Dutch is the second European nation who captured and ruled some areasof the island of Sri Lanka, then called Ceylon. Their influence was one of the key factors of changing the socioeconomic and cultural elements of the island. The impact of the Dutch rule in Ceylon had been studied anddiscussed in various ways by several scholars. The objective of the present study is to shed some light on theliterary activities and scholarly contribution made by the Dutch Missionaries during the said period. Since itsinception, Sinhala literature has had a content related to Buddhism and all the other cultural modes of theSinhalese, except Buddhism, are related to Sanskrit literature. Although the subject matter of Sinhala literaturewas taken from Pāli literature, the literary techniques and the writing styles can be considered as same as theSanskrit literature.This situation was changed only with the influence of Europeans. The foremost role ofchanging the existed facet of Sinhala literature was played by the Dutch. Data were gathered by Libraryreference and content analysis of the relevant texts was conducted as the qualitative research method. Thefindings exhibit that the transformation of the cosmology and the belief system of Sinhalese from an orientalHindu-Buddhist to the Judeo-Christian system and the development of new lexicon and diction in Sinhalaliterature resulting in a changing of the cultural value of the book and creating a new reading public.

Key words: Dutch Missionaries, Sinhala Literature, Book production, Labor-intensive, Mechanicalreproduction