Chap. VII.] THE 1 IXE ATIT>S. 477 



eyes, and the draperies eniiclied with jewels.^ Fa IIian 

 ill the fourth century, speai^s of a iigure of Buddha 

 upwards of twenty-tliree feet in height, formed out of 

 l)hie jasper, and set witli precious stones, that sparkled 

 witli singular splendour, and which bore in its right 

 hand a pearl of priceless value.^ This may possibly 

 have been the statue of which the Mahawmiso speaks 

 in hke terms of admiration : " the eye formed by a 

 jewel from the royal head-dress, each curl of the hair by 

 a sapphire, and the lock in the centre of the forehead by 

 threads of gold." ^ 



Ivory also and sandal- wood ^, as well as copper and 

 bronze, served as materials for statues ; but granite 

 was the substance most generally selected, except in 

 tlie rare instances where the temple and the statue 

 together were hewn out of the hving rock, on which 

 occasions gneiss was most generally selected. Such are 

 the statues at PoUanarrua, at Mihintala, and at the 

 Aukana Wihara, near Wijittapoora. A still more 

 common expedient, which is employed to the present 

 time, was to form the figiu'es of Buddha wdtli pieces of 

 burnt clay joined together by cement ; and coated with 

 highly pohshed chunam, in order to prepare the surface 

 for the painter. In this manner were most probably 

 produced the " seventy-two thousand statues " ascribed to 

 Mihindo V. 



Figures of elephants w^ere similarly formed at an early 

 period.^ An image of Buddha so composed in the 12th 

 century, is still standmg at PoUanarrua ^', and every 



1 3Iahmoa)iso, cli. xxxviii. p. 258. | ^ a.d. 459. 3Iahau'anso, ch. xxxviii. 



Parmi toutes les clioses preci 

 euses qu'on y voit, il y a une image 

 de jaspe bleu liaute de deux tchang : 

 tout son corps est forme des sept 

 clioses pvecieuses ; elle est etiucel- 

 lante de splendeuretplus majestueuse 

 qu'on ne saiu-ait Texprimer. Dans 

 la main droite elle tient une perle 



p. 258. Another statue of gold, witli 

 the features and members appropri- 

 ately coloured in gems, is spoken of in 

 the second century B.C. {Mahmvanso, 

 ch. XXX. p. 180.) 



* Rajaratnacari, p. 72. 



^ A.D. 432. Rajaratnacari, p. 74. 

 Possibly the ''standing figure 



d'un prix inestimable." — Fve Koite ' of Buddha" mentioned in the Rqfa 

 Ki, ch. xxxviii. p. 0:33. vali, p. 253 



