No. 57. — 1906.] SINHALESE ART. 



75 



made in both in respect of general style and of technical 

 peculiarities. 



All artists concerned primarily with decorative art are im- 

 pressed with the necessity of filling evenly the space at their 

 disposal, avoiding any undue appearance of relief, and em- 

 phasizing the decorative nature of the work. If we examine 

 the Bharhut sculptures we shall see several examples of spaces 

 occupied by sculptured lotuses, not an essential part of the 

 design, but introduced to fill up the space and equalize the 

 distribution of light and shade on the surface (see fig. 8 from 

 Plate IX. of Cunningham's Bharhut Stupa). We find the very 

 same lotuses used in just the same way in Kandyan paintings ; 

 these rosettes or lotuses are called mala (flower) , and are put in 

 here and there wherever an unsightly gap would otherwise 

 occur ; they have no organic relation to the rest of the picture 

 (for examples see fig. 2 from Danagirigala and fig. 3 from 

 Degaldoruwa)*. We may note in passing that similar rosettes 

 are used in the same way elsewhere, as for example in early 

 Greek painting (see Percy Gardner, "Grammar of Greek 

 Art," fig. 45). 



Amongst the lotus medallions of Bharhut which have 

 parallels in mediaeval Sinhalese work there are some in which 

 the outer whorl of petals is replaced by cobra heads, all 

 turned in one direction, right or left, around the centre (see 

 figs. 4 and 5, Cunningham's Bharhut Stupa, PI. XXXVIII).; 

 in others the same forms can be recognized, but the cobra 

 heads are so much more conventionalized that recognition 

 would be difficult without the other type to guide us (see fig. 6 

 from Cunningham's PL XXXVIII.). It is worthy of note 

 that the evolution from cobras' heads to purely conventional 

 forms had already taken place at Bharhut ; and the more 

 conventional type alone survives in Kandyan art (see fig. 1 

 from wall paintings at Danagirigala ; the same form occurs 



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



