74 



JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). 



[Vol. XIX. 



Villages in India and Ceylon"). Moreover, "the Bible and 

 Homer and the Greek poets generally are full of idyllic scenes 

 from the life of ancient Greece, Syria, and Egypt, which are 

 still the commonplace of the daily life of the natives of India, 

 who have lived apart from the corruptions of European 

 civilization" (Sir George Bird wood). It will accordingly 

 be obvious that all India and Ceylon are full of survivals 

 of the past ; but in the present Paper I shall try to trace 

 only the history of some that are specially characteristic 

 of Kandyan art. Sinhalese art and culture have an especial 

 interest and value, for in them may be found a survival 

 of the Aryan past and of the "Early Indian" or "Indo- 

 Persian" artistic traditions more free from later Puranic and 

 Mohammedan influence than anywhere in India itself. Ceylon 

 is one of those islands (other such are Iceland and Ireland) 

 which have preserved in considerable purity an earlier stratum 

 of thought and an earlier artistic tradition than any surviving 

 on the neighbouring continents. For this preservation of what 

 is elsewhere lost we owe these peoples much, for otherwise the 

 world would be vastly poorer in interest and ideals. I shall 

 now proceed to a more detailed comparison of the char- 

 acteristics of 18th century Sinhalese (Kandyan) art with the 

 art of the Bharhut sculptures. 



The sculptures of Bharhut are faithful pictures of North 

 Indian life and thought — mainly Buddhistic, it is true, 

 but essentially Indian none the less — in the second century 

 B.C. The sculptures represent real Indian art at its purest 

 and best before direct Greek influence affected figure sculpture , 

 and will I hope inspire the " pre-Raphaelites " of the 

 " Indian revival" of the future. Let us compare some of its 

 minor characteristics with what may be seen in Kandyan 

 mural paintings of the eighteenth century — e.g., those at 

 Danagirigala* and Degaldoruwa.f This comparison wiJl be 



* See Bell, " Report on the Kegalla District," p. 43. 

 t See Lawrie, " Central Province Gazetteer." p. 137. 



