CHAP. VII.] 



THE FIXE AKTS. 



491 



ing, and till a higher claimant appears, the distinction 

 of the discovery may be permitted to rest with the 

 Singhalese. 



Style of Ornament. In decorating the temporary tee, 

 which was placed on the Kuanwelle dagoba, prior to its 

 completion, the square base was painted with a design 

 representing vases of flowers in the four panels, sur- 

 rounded by " ornaments radiating like the five fingers." l 

 This description points to the " honeysuckle border," 

 which, according to Fergusson, was adopted and carried 

 westward by the Greeks, and eastward by the Buddhist 

 architects. 2 It appears upon the lat column at Allaha- 

 bad, which is inscribed with one of the edicts of Asoka, 

 issued in the 3rd century before Christ. 



The spire itself was " painted with red stick-lac," 

 probably the same prepara- 

 tion of vermilion as is 

 used at the present day on 

 the lacquered ware of Bur- 

 inah, Siam, and China. 3 

 Gaudy colours appear at all 

 times to have been popular ; yellow, from its religious 

 associations, pre-eminently so 4 ; and red lead was applied 

 to the exterior of dagobas. 5 Bujas Eaja, in the 4th cen- 

 tury, painted the waUs and roof of the Brazen Palace 



FRO^i THE CAPITAL OF 



1 Mahawatiso, ch. xxxii. p. 193 ; 

 ch. xxxviii. p. 258. 



2 FERGTJSSON'S Handbook of Archi- 

 tecture, vol. i. ch. ii. p. 7. 



3 A species of lacquer painting is 

 practised with great success at the 

 present day in the Kandyan pro- 

 vinces, and especially at Matelle, the 

 colours being mixed with a resinous 

 exudation collected from a shrub 

 called by the Singhalese Wfel-koep- 

 petya (Croton laccifentni). The 

 coloured varnish thus prepared is 

 formed into films and threads chiefly 

 bv aid of the thumb-nail of the left 



hand, which is kept long and uncut 

 for the purpose. It is then applied 

 by heat and polished. It is chiefly 

 employed in ornamenting the covers 

 of books, walking-sticks, the shafts of 

 spears, and the handles of fans for the 

 priesthood. The Burmese artists who 

 make the japanned ware of Ava, use 

 the hand in laying on the lacquer 

 which there, too, as well as in China, 

 is the produce of a tree, the Melano- 

 rh<ea fflabra of Wallich. 



4 Rajaratnacari, p. 184. 



5 jMahav-anso, ch. xxxiv. p. 212. 



