( 17 ) 



Fourth Progress Report on the excavations at Anuradhapura and 

 the North-Central Province (Sessional Papers, 1892). 



In the large glass shade over this case are shown numerous 

 ancient images, mostly sedent figures of Buddha, including eight 

 thin gold images of Buddha, filled with clay, from Panduwas 

 Nuwara, and above these a similar gold figure from Tissamaharama 

 and gold and crystal dagabas from Anuradhapura. At each end 

 of the cover inside there is a bronze Buddha on a throne backed 

 by a well executed arch called " makara torana." These are 

 called "Enthroned Buddhas." There are also figures of Krishna 

 playing with a ball, and of the goddess Pattini, the latter from 

 Trincomalee. On the top of the case there is a large sedent 

 bronze Buddha of unique design in the attitude of teaching, 

 holding a flower (?) in the left hand. This was discovered twelve 

 miles from Badulla along the new road to Batticaloa, and was 

 presented by G. F. K. Horsfall, Esq., in 3876. On either side of 

 this image there are two common village coloured wood-carvings, 

 one representing a large cobra, the other Buddha seated upon the 

 folds of a cobra and protected by its expanded hood. The latter 

 is called a " Serpent-canopied Buddha." 



TABLE CASE XIX. 



A selection of silverware occupies the two halves of this case, 

 and in the glass shade above there is a set of Tamil silver bangles, 

 anklets, and toe rings. 



Besides some richly damascened Kandyan knives, embossed 

 silver tobacco boxes, and Dutch relic in the form of a silver plate 

 presented by a former Dutch Governor of Ceylon to the person 

 named in the inscription, the principal object in the case is a pair 

 of handsome silver ola covers with bejewelled button. They 

 consist of bars of wood painted with dagaba devices on the under 

 side and overlaid with sheets of beaten silver. 



TABLE CASE XX. 



ExaiiipJes of Clietty, Tamil, Sinhalese, and Moorish .Jewellery.— 



The large gold ornaments are represented here by silver-gilt 

 replicas. " Chetty" or "Chitty" is the name applied in India to 

 all members of the trading castes in the Madras Provinces. The 

 Colombo Chetties, a caste from Tinnevelly, emigrated to Ceylon 

 about the middle of the sixteenth century. Their language and 

 customs are Tamil. 



From an ethnographical point of view among the most interesting 

 objects in this case are the Sinhalese "nawaratna" rings set with 

 the nine principal gems, or as near an approximation as is possible 

 or can be afforded. The nine gems stand for the nine planets 

 (including sun and moon), and the ring is worn as a corrective 



D 105-04 



