the story of how the sinhalese got there is told in the Mahavamsa a Buddhist pali take that recounts the story of prince Vijaya fleeing his kingdom in mainland

the story of how the sinhalese got there is told in the Mahavamsa a Buddhist pali take that recounts the story of prince Vijaya fleeing his kingdom in mainland India and arriving in sri lanka. The northern folks, the tamils are there because sri lanka used to be physically connected to Tamil nadu in recent history, like just a few centuries ago