Pyroxene granulites of intermediate to felsic composition comprise a major part of the Precambrian terrain exposed in southern Sri Lanka. Chemical characteristics and field relations reveal that there are two closely associated groups of granitoids both occurring as discrete layers or deformed bodies. Granitic-adamellitic rocks are more common and can be distinguished from tonalitic-trondhjemitic rocks. Granitoids of these two groups and minor metabasalt and metadiorite/meta-andesite have been subjected to high-grade metamorphism and were mapped as charnockite or charnockitic rocks. Rocks of granitic composition are mostly meta-aluminous and, in the AFM diagram, fall in the tholeiitic field. These rocks are mainly A-type granites characterized by high K2O/Na2O, FeO/MgO and high Zr, Nb and LREE contents, most belonging to the relatively Ce- and Y-enriched A2-type. Tonalitic rocks are meta-aluminous to per-aluminous and display a calc-alkaline trend. These rocks are classified as I-type, although some of them have very low K2O and REE contents.