Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c15.73

c15.73

Nearly entire shells were used as the bowls of water dippers (kinisi, Pl. XIII., 6-9), the wooden handles, almost always beautifully carved, being passed through and pegged inside. The dippers, however, were not only of use in the kitchen, but were a special piece of ecclesiastical furniture, used by priests for taking water from a bowl, or a well; to fill a kotalaya, or to pour over the feet before entering the vihāra; but the use is not in any sense ‘sacrificial’ as indicated in the official description of the beautiful ivory kinissa at South Kensington* (Pl. XLI).