CHAP. VII.] 



THE FINE ARTS. 



471 



breaking on the rock from behind which the sun rises." 1 

 The band of Devenipiatissa, B.C. 307, was called the 

 talawachara, from the multitude of drums 2 : chank- 

 shells contributed to swell the din, both in warfare 3 

 and in religious worship 4 ; choristers added then- 

 voices 5 ; and the triumph of effect consisted in " the 

 united crash of every description of sound, vocal as well 

 as instrumental." 6 Although " a full band " is explained 

 in the Mahawanso to imply a combination of " all 

 descriptions of musicians," no flutes or wind instru- 

 ments are particularised, and the incidental mention of 

 a harp only occurs in the reign of Dutugaimunu, B.C. 

 161. 7 JOINVILLE says, that certain musical principles 

 were acknowledged in Ceylon at an early period, and 

 that " pieces are to be seen in some of the old Pah 

 books in regular notation; the gamut, which was 

 termed septa souere, consisting of seven notes, and ex- 

 pressed not by signs, but in letters equivalent to their 



1 Rajavati, pp. 217, 219. At tlie 

 present day, there are four or five 

 varieties of drums in use : the tom- 

 tom or tam-a-tom, properly so-called, 

 which consists of two cylinders placed 

 side by side, and is beaten with two 

 sticks; the daelle, a single cylinder 

 struck with a stick at one end, and 

 with the hand at the other; the ou- 

 tlaellc, which is held in the left hand, 

 and struck with the right ; and the 

 berri, which is suspended from the 

 beater's neck, and struck with both 

 hands, one at each end, precisely as a 

 similar instrument is shown in some 

 of the Egyptian monuments. 



Mahawanso, ch. xvii. p. 104. 



B.C. 161. Mahawanso, ch. xxv. 

 154. 



B.C. 20. Rajavali, p. 51. 



Mahawanso, ch. xxv. p. 157. 



Mahawanso, ch. xxvi. 186. 



Mahawanso, ch. xxx. p. 180. 

 The following passage in LPHAM'S 

 translation of the Mahawanso, ch. 

 Ixxii. vol. i. p. 274, would convey 

 the idea that the /Eolian harp was 

 meant, or some arrangement of 



strings calculated to elicit similar 

 sounds: " The king Prakrama built 

 a palace at the city of Pollanarrua ; 

 and the stone works were carved in 

 the shape of flowers and creeping 

 plants, with golden networks which 

 gave harmonious sounds as if they 

 were moved by the air." 



n ii 4 



