ඉගනුම කටු ඉත්තකි එහි ඵලය මල් ඉත්තකි

iganuma katu ittaki ehi elaya mal ittaki

                                elephant flower

Not quite understanding this one either.

you have misunderstood "ඵලය". notice the first letter, its not "එ" its just "ඵ". "ඵ" sounds like "pa" which is somewhat similar to "ප".

The meaning of the phrase is. "learning is a sprig of thorns but the outcome of that is a sprig of flowers".(I'm not a good translator, but i hope you got the idea)

Dineth's translation is good.

iganuma = learning

katu = thorn

iththa = sprig, iththak = a sprig, iththaki = a sprig (completed sentence)

Learning is a sprig of thorns.

ehi = where in / even so

phalaya = consequence / reward

mala = flower, mal = flowers

iththa = sprig, iththak = a sprig, iththaki = a sprig (completed sentence)

Where in the outcome is a sprig of flowers

So, as Dineth stated: Though learning is a sprig of thorns, the consquence is a sprig of flowers.