Reconstructing the population history of the Sinhalese, the major ethnic group in Śrī Laṅkā
Prajjval Pratap Singh,
Sachin Kumar,
Nagarjuna Pasupuleti,
P.R. Weerasooriya,
George van Driem,
Kamani H. Tennekoon,
Niraj Rai,
Gyaneshwer Chaubey,
R. Ranasinghe
Affiliations
Prajjval Pratap Singh
Cytogenetics Laboratory, Department of Zoology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, India
Sachin Kumar
Ancient DNA Lab, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow 226607, India
Nagarjuna Pasupuleti
Department of Applied Zoology, Mangalore University, Mangalore 574199, India
P.R. Weerasooriya
Institute of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Colombo, No. 90, Cumaratunga Munidasa Mawatha, Colombo 03 00300, Śrī Laṅkā
George van Driem
Institut für Sprachwissenschaft, Universität Bern, Länggassstrasse 49, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
Kamani H. Tennekoon
Institute of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Colombo, No. 90, Cumaratunga Munidasa Mawatha, Colombo 03 00300, Śrī Laṅkā
Niraj Rai
Ancient DNA Lab, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow 226607, India; Corresponding author
Gyaneshwer Chaubey
Cytogenetics Laboratory, Department of Zoology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, India; Corresponding author
R. Ranasinghe
Institute of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Colombo, No. 90, Cumaratunga Munidasa Mawatha, Colombo 03 00300, Śrī Laṅkā; Corresponding author
Summary: The Sinhalese are the major ethnic group in Śrī Laṅkā, inhabiting nearly the whole length and breadth of the island. They speak an Indo-European language of the Indo-Iranian branch, which is held to originate in northwestern India, going back to at least the fifth century BC. Previous genetic studies on low-resolution markers failed to infer the genomic history of the Sinhalese population. Therefore, we have performed a high-resolution fine-grained genetic study of the Sinhalese population and, in the broader context, we attempted to reconstruct the genetic history of Śrī Laṅkā. Our allele-frequency-based analysis showed a tight cluster of Sinhalese and Tamil populations, suggesting strong gene flow beyond the boundary of ethnicity and language. Interestingly, the haplotype-based analysis preserved a trace of the North Indian affiliation to the Sinhalese population. Overall, in the South Asian context, Śrī Laṅkān ethnic groups are genetically more homogeneous than others.
