National Anthem of Sri Lanka
After independence was granted to Sri Lanka (at the time known
as Ceylon) in 1948, the need for a national anthem arose. As a result of a
contest, Ananda Samarkone’s contribution, written in Sinhala, was chosen as the
new anthem. It was first performed on the fourth anniversary of independence in
early 1952. There was some controversy with the early lyrics, and they were
slightly changed in the early 1960s, against the author’s wishes.
The anthem is usually performed in Sinhala, but lyrics also
exist in Tamil, the country’s other official language, and are usually
performed in Tamil speaking areas of the country. Despite a government official
openly opining that the Tamil lyrics should be scrapped, a public backlash
forced a reversal on this position, and the Tamil lyrics remain official.
National Anthem
Sri Lanka Matha,
CHORUS:
Apa Sri Lanka,
Namo Namo Namo Namo Matha.
Sundara siri barini,
Surendi athi Sobamana Lanka
Dhanya dhanaya neka mal pala thuru piri, jaya bhoomiya ramya.
Apa hata sapa siri setha sadana, jee vanaye Matha!
Piliganu mana apa bhakti pooja,
Namo Namo Matha.
Obave apa vidya obamaya apa sathya
obave apa shakti apa hada thula bhakti
oba apa aloke apage anuprane
oba apa jeevana ve apa muktiya obave
Nava jeevana demine nithina apa
Pubudu karan matha
Gnana veerya vadavamina ragena yanu
mana jaya bhoomi kara
Eka mavekuge daru kala bavina
yamu yamu wee nopama
Prema vadamu sama bheda durara da
Namo Namo Matha
English Translation
Mother Sri Lanka
CHORUS:
Our Sri Lanka
We salute Thee, Mother!
Plenteous in prosperity, Thou,
Beauteous in grace and love,
Laden with corn and luscious fruit
And fragrant flowers of radiant hue,
Giver of life and all good things,
Our land of joy and victory,
Receive our grateful praise sublime,
We salute Thee, Mother!
Thou gavest us Knowledge and Truth,
Thou art our strength and inward
faith,
Our light divine and sentient being,
Our breath of life and liberation.
Grant us, bondage free, inspiration.
Inspire us for ever.
In wisdom and strength renewed,
Ill-will, hatred, strife all ended,
In love enfolded, a mighty nation
Marching onward, all as one,
Lead us to fullest freedom
We salute Thee, Mother!
Sri Lankan
ශ්රී ලංකා මාතා
අප ශ්රී… ලංකා නමෝ නමෝ නමෝ නමෝ මාතා
සුන්දර සිරිබරිනී සුරැඳි අති සෝබමාන ලංකා
ධාන්ය ධනය නෙක මල් පලතුරු පිරි ජය භුමිය රම්යා
අප හට සැප සිරි සෙත සදනා ජීවනයේ මාතා
පිළිගනු මැන අප භක්තී පූජා
නමෝ නමෝ මාතා
අප ශ්රී … ලංකා නමෝ නමෝ නමෝ නමෝ මාතා
ඔබ වේ අප විද්යා
ඔබ මය අප සත්යා
ඔබ වේ අප ශක්ති
අප හද තුළ භක්තී
ඔබ අප ආලෝකේ
අපගේ අනුප්රාණේ
ඔබ අප ජීවන වේ
අප මුක්තිය ඔබ වේ
නව ජීවන දෙමිනේ නිතින අප පුබුදු කරන් මාතා
ඥාන වීර්ය වඩවමින රැගෙන යනු මැන ජය භූමී කරා
එක මවකගෙ දරු කැල බැවිනා
යමු යමු වී නොපමා
ප්රේම වඩා සැම භේද දුරැර දා නමෝ නමෝ මාතා
අප ශ්රී… ලංකා නමෝ නමෝ නමෝ නමෝ මාතා
