Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c11.s1.39

c11.s1.39

Much the same is true of doves (kobeyiyō), pigeons (paravi), cocks (kukulō) and kovulu mentioned in verse 14 of the Gaṇa Devi Heḷḷa, which describes the decoration of the young god’s palace thus: “after the walls were daubed with clay, and smoothly plastered with lime, a painter was engaged, who painted pictures of makaras, hamsas, gavaras, leopards and lions, peacocks and parrots, ringdoves and cocks, pigeons and pretty kovulu.” Kandyan painters, indeed, show quite a Chaucerian love of birds, and constantly introduce them in their designs, in association with flowers and foliage (Pl. XIV., 7). The different kinds of birds seen in the ceiling painting reproduced on Pl. XV. are drawn with great spirit and observation.