July 8, 1909 J 



NA TURE 



39 



THE SINHALESE PEOPLE AND THEIR ART. 



TO many it will appear that in this work Dr. 

 Coomaraswamy has attempted too much ; cer- 

 tainly the three purposes for which he tells us the 

 book has been written have so little in common that a 

 book which even in measure shall satisfy all three 

 cannot be otherwise than loosely knit and somewhat 

 amorphous. This volume, we are told, is written 

 " first of all for the Sinhalese people as a memorial of 

 a period which at present they are not willing to 

 understand. . . . Secondly it is meant for those in 

 East and West who are interested in the reorganisa- 

 tion of life, and especially of the arts and crafts under 

 modern conditions. Thirdly, an endeavour has been 

 made to render it as far as possible of value to the 

 anthropologist, and to students of sociology and folk- 

 lore." It seems verv doubtful whether the Sinhalese 

 peoole, with the possible exception of a few of the 

 '• educated " of whom Dr. Coomaraswamy speaks 

 with scant sympathy, will appreciate the effort made 

 for (heir benefit, and thoueh there is much of interest 



The arts and crafts of Ceylon, as they exist at the 

 present day, represent the result of the action of 

 western influence on the mediaeval conditions which 

 prevailed until the British occupation of Kandy, less 

 than a century ago. It is with the remains of this 

 late-lasting mediaeval culture that Dr. Coomaraswamy 

 mainly deals, and we are thus given an account of the 

 work of the craftsmen of a feudal period in which 

 there was no great attainment in fine art, brought 

 about by the genius of a few men, but in which there 

 was a widely spread popular art largely based upon 

 early Indian traditions, for " Sinhalese art is essen- 

 tially Indian, but possesses Ihis special interest, that 

 it is in many ways of an earlier character, and more 

 truly Hindu — though Buddhist in intention — than any 

 Indian art surviving on the mainland so late as the 

 beginning of the nineteenth century. The minor arts 

 and the painting are such as we might expect to have 

 associated with the culture of Asoka's time, and the; 

 builders of Barahat. ... It was the art of a poor 

 people, the annual income of whose kings did not irt 



g^i:*■i; ! jj±*J!? ' ^'^lL^ 



;r%B-'-'r8f'''i8*Si.'u,|.--,J,- 



JK-Jt- i*i:.>ai..i»i:..jv...:ni,.j*u...iii^m.-jt.:.iti ..^ -». t^^i^^skJiL^ 



Fig. I. — Verandah Ceiling Painting, Dalada jMaiigawa, Kandy. iglh Century. Now destroyed. From " Medistval Sinhalese Art.'" 



to the folklorist and anthropologist in this sumptuous 

 volume, it is as a work of art done for art's sake that 

 the work is most interesting and valuable, and cer- 

 tainly few will be found to imitate Dr. Coomara- 

 swamy's example at a time when publishers tell us 

 {Editions de luxe do not sell. 



Not only the contents of the book preach the gospel 

 •of art, but, as it has been printed by hand on hand- 

 made paper, it is itself an excellent example of the 

 point of view which, since this is a pioneer work, the 

 author has been free to express with the least possible 

 constraint. It is, indeed, in the fact that so much 

 new ground is broken that the high merit of this 

 volume lies, for it is certainly the first time that a 

 detailed account of the arts and crafts of a small area 

 in the East has been given, and it is well to remember 

 that the culture here described was really limited to 

 some two million people, inhabiting, roughly, two- 

 thirds of an island, itself about the size of Ireland. 



1 "Mediseval Sinhalese Art." By Ananda K. Coomaraswamy. Pp. 

 xvi-}-34o : 5^ plates. (Broad Canipdcn, Glos. ; Essex House Press, Norman 

 ■Chapel, 1908.) Price 3/. 3J. net. 



NO. 2071, VOL. Si] 



the eighteenth century amount to 2000L in money, 

 besides revenue in kind." 



The first chapter of Dr. Coomaraswamy's book is 

 devoted to the Sinhalese people and their history. The 

 next chapters discuss the social organisation of 

 Sinhalese society, and while the difficult question of 

 caste is but lightly touched upon, considerable space 

 is devoted to the personal services rendered to the king 

 and his high chiefs. This account shows how true 

 was Knox's narrative, and it is pointed out that 

 Sinhalese villages were self-contained to such a degree 

 as to be dependent upon the outside world for little 

 but salt. The religion of the people is rapidly 

 sketched, and certainly too little stress is laid on the 

 large element of demonism — " devil-worship " — in the 

 actual working religion of the Sinhalese. A most 

 interesting account is given of the ni'tru mangalaya, 

 or " eye ceremony," by which the image in a temple is 

 dedicated. This consists essentially in the painting of 

 the eyes of the image, when the figure, before this, 

 " not accounted a god but a lump of ordinary metal " 

 (Knox), becomes so full of power that in some cases 



