256 JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [YOL. XIV. 



Buddhist temple on Pidurd-gala, the rocky hill situated a 

 mile to the north of Sigiri Rock. 



Viewed from the ground the fair ladies, as distinguished 

 from their duskier handmaids, would appear to be unclothed 

 above the waist ; but a close examination supports the 

 counter-supposition (highly probable on other grounds), in 

 view of the 1 known penchant for ultra-diaphanous garments 

 shown by Oriental sculptor and painter alike in by-gone 

 days — a " strange conceit " which art works of ancient India 

 too amply illustrate. 



That the hand of time, and the ravages of birds and insects, 

 should have robbed the frescoes of much of their pristine 

 beauty is not surprising. Rather is it matter of wonder that 

 after the lapse of at least 1,400 years any should have sur- 

 vived—and that with a freshness, all things considered, 

 simply marvellous. 



In 1889 Mr. A. Murray, of the Public Works Department, 

 managed to get into the larger " pocket " " B "; and brought 

 away copies, done in coloured chalks, of thirteen of the 

 seventeen frescoes in that cave, i.e., all except Nos. 14, 15, 

 16, and the single hand (No. 17), which are painted on the 

 rock wall and roof outside the floor line. These crayon 

 drawings are at this moment hanging in the Colombo 

 Museum. 



As an heroic first attempt to reproduce the frescoes carried 

 out under conditions which rendered full success hopelessly 

 impossible* Mr. Murray's efforts are beyond praise.t " Com- 

 parisons " — have we it not on the authority of the inimitable 

 Dogberry — "are odorous." I desire to make none. That 

 under circumstances more favourable the Archaeological 



* Season — during June's gale ; position — cramped, lying on back or side 

 material — crayons ; time — one week. 



t It must always remain a source of deep regret that Mr. Murray should 

 have permitted the tracing paper for his copies to be affixed so clumsily 

 that in removing it the plaster has come away, leaving white-line *' frames | 

 around— and even across—the figures. Frescoes Nos. 1-13 in "pocket" 

 " B " are thus pitiably disfigured. Photographs C 635-643, taken in 1896, 

 show up the evil markedly. 



