The art and architecture of India - Buddhist, Hindu, Jain (Art Ebook)

PART SIX
INDIAN ART IN CEYLON AND SOUTH-EAST ASIA
CHAPTER 20
CEYLON
The beginnings of civilization in the island of
Ceylon are known only by the legend that in the
fifth century B.C. a Prince Vijaya from the
Ganges country espoused a native princess and
established a Singhalese dynasty. It is only with
the accession of Devanam-Piyatissa (247-207
B.C.) that we may speak with any certainty of the
history of the island and its art. The reign of this
king witnessed what was perhaps the single
most important event in Singhalese culture : the
visit of the son of the Emperor Asoka, Mahinda,
and the introduction of Buddhism by this
missionary prince. Anuradhapura was then
made the capital of the island, and there a slip
of the original bodhi tree at Gaya and the
religion it typified, introduced by Mahinda,
took root. One other early Singhalese king is
worthy of mention, Duttha Gamani (101-77
B.C.), who is known as the Asoka of Ceylon for
his zeal in the propagation of Buddhism.
In the period of more than twelve hundred
years, from the times of Duttha Gamani until
the final renaissance of the thirteenth century,
the inspiration for both sculpture and architecture
came from India; especially, as we shall
see,
from the Later Andhra civilization of the
eastern coast. In the second century Singhalese
monks were in residence at Nagarjunakonda. 1
Also throughout this period the Singhalese
were almost continuously engaged in repelling
the incursions of the Tamils of South India; as
early as the eighth century Anuradhapura had
finally to be abandoned to these invaders from
the mainland; Polonnaruwa, which succeeded
as the centre of government and religion, was
taken by the Tamils in the fifteenth century.
There ensued a melancholy period, in which the
older capitals and, indeed, the whole fertile
portion of the North gradually reverted to
jungle. There, the ancient temples and palaces
have slept amid the forest greenness until their
ruins were gradually recovered in the course of
excavations in the last hundred years.
Ceylon provides a setting particularly congenial
to the study of Buddhist art, not only
because of its great beauty and the amiability of
its people, but also because there, in the great
veneration accorded the ancient monuments by
the people - sometimes carried to unfortunate
extremes of renovation - the student feels that
the subject is much more part of a living tradition
than in the deserted Buddhist foundations
of India, only a very few of which, such as the
famous temple at Bodh Gaya, are maintained in
worship today.
We are in a remarkably fortunate position in
the study of art in Ceylon in having for our
reference the Mahdvamsa, the Great Chronicle
of Ceylon, which, based on earlier recensions,
gives a precise account of the reigns and building
activities of the Buddhist kings through the
fourth century. A later chronicle, the Culavamsa,
carries the history into the eighteenth
century. Often these descriptions are invaluable