ශ්‍රී ලංකා මාතා ....... අප ශ්‍රී....... ලංකා නමෝ නමෝ නමෝ නමෝ මාතා

Origin of Sri Lanka Matha  

The song was officially adopted as the national anthem of Ceylon on November 22, 1951, by a committee headed by Sir Edwin Wijeyeratne. The anthem was translated into the Tamil language by M. Nallathamby.

The first line of the anthem originally read: Namo Namo Matha, Apa Sri Lanka. There was some controversy over these words in the 1950s, and in 1961 they were changed to their present form, Sri  Lanka Matha, Apa Sri Lanka, without Samarakoon's consent. Samarakoon committed suicide in 1962 apparently due to the change in words. The Second Republican Constitution of 1978 gave Sri Lanka Matha constitutional recognition.

Sri Lanka Matha (Mother Sri Lanka)

 

Sinhala Lyrics of the Anthem

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 හේද දුරැර දා නමෝ නමෝ මාතා

අප ශ්‍රී........ ලංකා නමෝ නමෝ නමෝ නමෝ මාතා

  

English lyrics of the anthem

Sri Lanka Matha, 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, jeewanaye Matha!

Piliganu mena apa bhakthi pooja,

Namo Namo Matha.

Apa Sri Lanka,

Namo Namo Namo Namo Matha

Obawe apa widya, Obamaya apa sathya

Obawe apa shakti, Apa hada thula bhakthi

Oba apa aloke, Aapage anuprane

oba apa jeewana we, Apa muktiya obawe

Nawa jeewana demine

Nnithina apa Pubudu karan matha

Gnana weerya wadawamina ragena yanu

mena jaya bhoomi kara

Eka mawekuge daru kala bawina

yamu yamu wee nopama

Prema wada sama bheda durara da

Namo Namo Matha

Apa Sri Lanka,

Namo Namo Namo Namo Matha.

English translation

Mother Lanka we salute Thee!

Plenteous in prosperity, Thou,

Beauteous in grace and love,

Laden with grain 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,

Lanka! we worship Thee.

Thou gavest us Knowledge and Truth,

Thou art our strength and inward faith,

Our light divine and sentient being,

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, Mother, to fullest freedom.

Tamil lyrics of the Anthem

ஸ்ரீ லங்கா தாயே - நம் ஸ்ரீ லங்கா நமோ நமோ நமோ நமோ தாயே நல்லெழில் பொலி சீரணி நலங்கள் யாவும் நிறை வான்மணி லங்கா ஞாலம் புகழ் வள வயல் நதி மலை மலர் நறுஞ்சோலை கொள் லங்கா நமதுறு புகலிடம் என ஒளிர்வாய் நமதுதி ஏல் தாயே நமதலை நினதடி மேல் வைத்தோமே நமதுயிரே தாயே - நம் ஸ்ரீ லங்கா நமோ நமோ நமோ நமோ தாயே நமதாரருள் ஆனாய் நவை தவிர் உணர்வானாய் நமதோர் வலியானாய் நவில் சுதந்திரம் ஆனாய் நமதிளமையை நாட்டே நகு மடி தனையோட்டே அமைவுறும் அறிவுடனே அடல்செறி துணிவருளே - நம் ஸ்ரீ லங்கா நமோ நமோ நமோ நமோ தாயே நமதோர் ஒளி வளமே நறிய மலர் என நிலவும் தாயே யாமெல்லாம் ஒரு கருணை அனைபயந்த எழில்கொள் சேய்கள் எனவே இயலுறு பிளவுகள் தமை அறவே இழிவென நீக்கிடுவோம் ஈழ சிரோமணி வாழ்வுறு பூமணி நமோ நமோ தாயே - நம் ஸ்ரீ லங்கா நமோ நமோ நமோ நமோ தாயே