r/sinhala

Context- After the fall of Mauryas, who left their influence on Sri Lanka and Maldives, Maharashtri Prakrit, the Satavahana court's lingua franca reached Sri Lanka and Maldives via Konkan merchants and Buddhist monks from ports like Sopara. This left phonological imprints in Elu (proto-Sinhala)—e.g., /r/ > /l/ (Skt. rāja > lā), geminate stops—inherited into modern insular languages, distinct from eastern Magadhi Prakrit's traits. https://archive.roar.media/english/life/history/sri-lankas-megalithic-burial-grounds?

Today, all four Mahl, Sinhala, Marathi and Konkani are considered cousins (sometimes sisters) within the southern / Insular Indo‑Aryan family

https://www.hinduscriptures.in/today-s-bharat/languages/languages-of-lakshadweep?