Chasing a challenging target of 275, India completed their long-awaited victory, with a huge six by captain Mahindra Singh Dhoni, with ten balls to spare in the day-night final of the mega event.
It was for the first time that a host country won the final of the World Cup and India also became the first Asian country to become the champions twice.
India were the third country to lift this title two or more times after Australia (four) and the West Indies (two).
The architects of India’s historic win were Gautam Gambhir, who scored 97 off 122 balls with nine boundaries, and Dhoni, who remained unbeaten on 91, made from 79 balls with eight fours and two sixes.
India's start was disastrous when Virender Sehwag was lbw for nought second ball to Lasith Malinga.
Later, Sachin Tendulkar also departed after a brief, 14-ball innings of 18 runs when he steered fast bowler Lasith Malinga through the off-side only to be caught behind by Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara to leave India 31 for two.
Earlier, Mahela Jayawardene reached his 14th one-day international century in 84 balls with 13 fours.
He remained not out on 103, made from 88 balls as Sri Lanka finished on 274 for six in their 50 overs after captain Kumar Sangakkara won the toss and elected to bat first in the All-Asia final of the mega event.
Jayawardene secured the unwanted record of becoming the first man to score a hundred in a World Cup final yet finish on the losing side.
All five previous tons in the fixture -- by Clive Lloyd (West Indies, 1975), Vivian Richards (West Indies, 1979), Aravinda de Silva (Sri Lanka 1996), Ricky Ponting (Australia, 2003) and Adam Gilchrist (Australia 2007) had been made in winning causes.
India's left-arm seamer Zaheer Khan dried up the flow of runs with three successive maiden overs at the start and his two wickets made him the tournament's leading bowler alongside Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi with 21 wickets each.
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