Sinhala Proverbs

Proverbs are mostly colloquial utterances people often use to give added meaning to their talk. They are by nature highly meaningful and beautiful, their titillating effect making your interlocutor grasp the meaning you intend to convey with a load of enjoyment . 

There are of course many proverbs we generally use directly taking the idea from English ones. These are not originally Sinhala proverbs but those translated by speakers having a knowledge of English. ‘People who live in glass houses should never throw stones’ is one which seems to have influenced the Sinhala expression! ‘Veeduru geval’. ‘Even dogs bark near their homes’ is a vernacular proverb we use which is probably a ‘loan’ from the English one ‘Each dog barks in its own yard’. ( Vijaya Jayasuriya- The Island Sunday Magazine)

Fables - UPAMA  KATHA

Fables are one type of folklore.  They were began as oral storytelling. Fables often serving two purposes: entertainment and education.  Fables are short stories with moral or lessons.  The lessons may be stated at the beginning, middle, or the end of the tale.  Sometimes, they are less obvious.  The characters are usually animals, but they can also be objects (Sun,Moon,tree,Sea) or people.  The plot is simple, the characters few, and the conflicts are usually limited to a single problem.  However, the meaning is very complex.  Beneath every fable is another story being told about the behavior of humans.   Some fables are told in prose, like a story. Others are told in verse, a poem.  And some, like the panchatantra tales from India and Jathaka Stories in Sri Lanka , are sometimes told in both prose and verse.