Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c14.2

c14.2

The *Mayāmataya* is, according to the account which the unknown writer gives of his work, a translation into Sinhalese of an original work written in Sanskrit *ślokas*, made in *Śaka* 1756 (A.D. 1837). The authorship of the original work is ascribed to the *ṛishis*; its date is quite uncertain, but it is probably not less than several centuries old, and contains matter that may be much older. The work is intended for architects, but it is rather an astrological handbook and guide to the reading of omens than a manual of craftsmanship Maya-like the Sāriputra or the Vaijayantaya. The work is badly arranged, and full of contra-dictions and redundancies, and even considered apart from these defects, appears to contain much that is puerile and superstitious. The chief subjects dealt with are the propitiation of nature spirits who may be injured or offended at various stages of the work, practical advice as to the planning of a house and laying out of a town, and information as to auspicious and inauspicious omens, and astrological information as to what are favourable times for beginning the different kinds of work. The Sinhalese builder is still careful to begin his work at an auspicious hour, and believes that the neglect of this precaution would be disastrous. But the elaborate ceremonies connected with the felling of the ‘auspicious post’ (magul kapa) are never now observed in the case of ordinary houses, and even in the eighteenth century they would only have been observed in the case of very important buildings, and when felling the ȩhala gaha for the perahera.*