Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c11.s1.90

c11.s1.90

Artificial trees of silver, with silver leaves, or of cheaper materials (Pl. VIIA., in front of left knee of seated image) are often placed before an image as auspicious symbols of the famous wish-conferring tree of plenty, the *kalpa druma* of Indra’s sphere. So also we read in the Mahāvamsa, of jewelled, ornamented trees. Parākrama Bāhu I., for instance “caused a theatre to be built, the Sarassati Maṇḍapa, hard by his palace, so that he might listen to the sweet and melodious singing of divers singers, and witness the delightful dance. It glittered with golden pillars all around, and pleased the mind with the paintings that described the events of his own life. And it was adorned with an imitation of the ‘wish-conferring tree of heaven’ (*kap-ruka*). The trunk and the branches thereof glittered with gold, and were ornamented with a multitude of divers kinds of birds of beautiful workmanship. It shone with divers kinds of ornaments, such as ear-rings and bracelets and garlands of pearls and the like, and with beautiful garments made of linen and China silk, and such like”(Mahāvamsa, Ch. LXXIII.) Jewelled representations of *bo*-trees were also made; for an early record of such, see p. 5 above.