Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c13.35

c13.35

Dāgabas in particular were covered with pure white lime plaster, and were almost too dazzling to look at in the bright sun. The effect of a white dāgaba shining far away amongst the green rice-fields is often most beautiful. But it is now usual to mix a large proportion of Ricketts’ blue with the white, which thus loses all its purity and beauty. There were various methods of preparing the fine plaster. The best method of preparing lime plaster, was to mix lime and sand with a solution of astringent barks. Mr. S. D. Mahavalaṭenna has given me the following details: Take equal quantities of husks of very tender cocoanuts, bark of *Araḷu* or *Haritaki* (*Terminalia chebula*), Nuag (Ficus bengalensis), Kahata, Bo-asvatta (Ficus religiosa), and Goḍapara fruit (Dillenia retusa). Architect- Cut these up and pound them well in a wooden mortar; pour in about four gallons of ture water to ten lbs. of this mixture and keep it all in a vessel for about a month to ferment. Add some Araḷu nuts, say a hundred to the gallon of water. Strain the liquor and use that Plaster instead of water in preparing the mortar—three of fine sand to two of shell-lime, or two of sand to two of rock lime, is the proportion said to have been in use in the ancient time. Mortar thus prepared should be kept moist for about twenty days before using; and when using, kitul-peṇi or treacle, kaippu kaduru or catechu, and gingelly oil are mixed up with the liquor and used to moisten the mortar. If a superior gloss is required as in ornamental work, the white of eggs is added. But the use of eggs is of quite modern origin. Cinnabar, orpiment, etc., can be used to give different colours to the mortar.