Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c10.s1.20

c10.s1.20

*Workshop* It should be pointed out that in the case of such pupils as we are considering, a general *education* and religious education was imparted at the same time, similar to that given in *pansala* schools. Reading, writing and arithmetic were thus taught; the latter was essential for the purpose of the astrological calculations required to determine favourable times for the commencement of important works, and for the understanding of the measurements given in the technical books referred to. The rules for drawing figures necessitated the construction and use of scales. A good deal of geometry of a practical character was also learnt in connection with the construction of repeating patterns. The master craftsman had thus a small school where technical instruction was given in addition to an ordinary education. The relation between master and pupil remained to the last, one of affectionate reverence. It was customary for the pupil to offer whatever he earned to his teacher, who, unless specially asked, returned the greeting and the gift with the same grave courtesy with which it was offered. A friend of mine, now over fifty, tells me that he always observes this custom with his father (now over eighty), who was his teacher. The whole system was indeed mainly one of hereditary transmission of a craft or ‘mystery’; and though other pupils were admitted, the master was loth to reveal his last secrets save to a son, or perhaps to a faithful pupil at the completion of his course. If the pupil was an outsider, his father from time to time made presents to the teacher, and at the conclusion of the period of instruction some more substantial gift, such as a buffalo. As the pupil grew up, he continued to work for and with his teacher, and thus the tradition was perfectly transmitted. It is indeed a strange thing for anyone used to the eclecticism of modern Europe to be brought face to face with strong living traditions in this way; for in Europe “whatever of art is left which is in any sense the result of continuous tradition is, and long has been, so degraded as to have lost any claim to be considered art at all”; while the only art existing in Ceylon, worthy the name of art, is strictly traditional.