Elu is the name given to the ancient form of the Sinhala language. R.C Childers in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society states that Elu (also Helu) "is the name by which is known an ancient form of the Sinhalese language from which the modern vernacular of Ceylon is immediately recieved, and to which the latter bears is of the same relation that the English of today bears to Sinhala...The name Elu is no other than Sinhala much succeded, standing for an older form, Hĕla or Hĕlu, which occurs in some ancient works, and this again for a still older, Sĕla, which brings us back to the Pali Sîhala." Sinhalese or Sinhala (සිංහල, ISO 15919: , IPA: [], earlier referred to as Singhalese) is the mother tongue of the Sinhalese, the largest ethnic group of Sri Lanka. ...

Elu is considered by some scholars to be a type of Prakrit while others contend it is entirely native to Sri Lanka. The Hela Havula are a Sri Lankan literary organization that advocate the use of the Elu terms over the Sanskritic ones. Elu is often referred to by modern Sinhalese as "Hela Sinhala", meaning original Sinhala. Prakrit (also spelt Pracrit) (Sanskrit: , original, natural, artless, normal, ordinary, usual, i. ... The Hela Havula is a Sri Lankan Sinhalese literary organization founded by Munidasa Cumaratunga. ...