Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c11.s1.70

c11.s1.70

PICCA MALA. The ‘jessamine’ (Jasminum sambac) is a form used with great charm in vihāra decoration, especially as a background to paintings or bas-relief images of gods Pl. XIV., 5). Figure 32 shows a very graceful use of picca mala in the decoration of a wooden book cover (pot-kambiya). The pattern is always drawn with great freedom, in a style like that of ‘brushwork’ as taught in the West. Observe that in Fig. 32 the flowers are in bud (keḱulu mala) but they are more often drawn in half open profile (pipicca mala) as shown on the right. The flower itself was much cultivated for floral offerings; it was the duty of certain tenants (mala-karayo) to keep the king supplied. The King, says Knox, had these flowers “brought to him every morning, wrapt in a white cloth, hanging upon a staff, and carried by people, whose peculiar office it is. . . . These Officers hold land of the King for this service: their Office is, also to plant these Flowers, which they usually do near the Rivers where they most delight to grow.”