No. 57.— 1906.] 



PROCEEDINGS. 



91 



frescoes dealt with Sinhalese history, and he thought the presumption 

 was in favour of the°view that Sinhalese artists went to Ajanta and 

 painted these frescoes, and not that Indian artists came to Ceylon. 

 While he expressed his great satisfaction at the very able start which 

 Dr. Coomaraswamy had made, and which he hoped would culminate in 

 his magnum opus, he hoped he would find an opportunity to modify 

 that not very broad statement that in his belief the Sinhalese paintings 

 were not painted by artists of the country. They might, he urged, 

 have been painted by a school of artists also existent in India, and he 

 asked his audience to fancy any one 1,000 years after this ven- 

 turing to differentiate between English and American paintings. 



Mr. W. A. de Silva said it was stated in the lecture that Bud- 

 dhist images were of the Grecian type, or commenced b}^ Grecian 

 artists. There was a reference in old books to images being made in 

 gold and sandalwood ; and it was quite possible images had been made 

 for quite several hundred years before that period. 



With regard to the Sigiri paintings he had quite a different theory, 

 with which he did not think either Dr. Coomaraswamy or Mr. Fernando 

 would agree. He thought they were neither Sinhalese nor Indian. 

 He thought they were Mongolian, because he had seen a representation 

 like that in a dance in Siam — a dance which belonged to the Celestial 

 regions. The same dress, the same lotus flowers, and the same poses 

 were seen in that dance, so that it might be quite possible that these 

 particular paintings might have been done by the Chinese. They knew 

 from history that there were a number of Chinese artists in Ceylon, 

 and they had a record of their having decorated Dondra Temple. 



He admitted that the Portuguese and I >utch had some influence, not 

 on Kandyan but on the low-country art, and he had seen in one or two 

 instances figures with skirts, and all kinds of different hats and 

 umbrellas. He thought that had come from the introduction of 

 Western art. The chittra-warfuwa in the low-country, if he was asked 

 to make a human form, wanted to put all sorts of ornaments on it ; 

 and if he drew a tree he put in lots of branches. He had seen in 

 temples pictures representing kings and princes of the olden times 

 mentioned in the sacred books. They were all wearing modern dress — 

 some of them with trousers and coats ! That was undoubtedly the 

 influence exercised by the Portuguese and Dutch. 



He thought that the Sigiri paintings were quite different from the 

 ideal paintings that were extant in India and Ceylon, and not done by 

 any Aryan or Indian, but by the Chinese artists who were employed to 

 paint realistic figures in the kings' palaces. 



Mr. P. E. Pieiris referred to a curious ornament — a cobra's head — 

 to which Dr. Coomaraswamy had alluded in his lecture. It might 

 interest the lecturer to know that at a temple four miles from Kegalla, 

 projecting from a wall, there were snakes' heads — hooded cobra. He 

 asked the priest if he could explain the significance, but, of course, he 

 could not. If Dr. Coomaraswamy visited the spot, in all probability 

 he would be in a position to give them much more information. 



As regards the influence exercised by the Portuguese and Dutch 

 on Sinhalese art, he was entirely in disagreement with Mr. Anthonisz. 

 These°people were too busy cutting the throats of their (the Sinhalese) 

 ancestors, in stealing the little money their ancestors had, and in 

 deposing their kings and ransacking their palaces, and he did not 



