Ola leaf

[2] It is believed that three thousand years ago the seven rishis, sages, wrote everyone's fortunes on the leaves.

The evolution of the script to the present shapes may have taken place due to writing on ola leaves.

When drawing vertical or horizontal straight lines on Ola leaf, the leaves would have been ripped and this also may have influenced Sinhala not to have a period or full stop.

Period and commas were later introduced into Sinhala script after the introduction of paper due to the influence of Western languages.

[citation needed] The Mukkara Hatana, an ola-leaf manuscript now in the British Museum states that King Parakramabahu IV granted it to the Karavas.