Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c11.8

c11.8

SUN and MOON. The symbols of the sun and moon, the physical vestures of the great beings that control them, may be mentioned here. They are cut on sannas and on boundary stones as symbols of eternity, and are represented as a plain disc and crescent, the circle sometimes with human features. Used as a charm or protection, on a divi-niya-pota (cheetah’s claws mounted as a child’s pendant), they are seen in the example of Pl. XLVIII., 9. But the circles in Figs. 15 and 17 (same Pl.) represent not the sun, but the disc of Viṣṇu, a weapon resembling the Sikh quoit. When used on a larger scale in painted decoration, the sun has always a full round face with human features (as in Pl. XVI.; and the moon has in it the figure of a hare (see below, p. 89). The symbols of the sun and moon are among the 108 magul-lakuṇu (Fig. 69). The sun and moon are never worshipped with offerings, but are often invoked as guardians and protectors, especially in religious agricultural songs.