Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c16.18

c16.18

Before finally leaving the subject of stonework it is necessary to refer to the smaller *Domestic* domestic and religious purposes for which stone articles are employed. The commonest *stonework* of these perhaps is the curry stone (*kuḍu-miris-gala*), a plain slab and roller for compounding the ingredients of ‘sambol,’ a preparation of condiments eaten with curry. Somewhat more elaborate are medicine stones (*bet-gal*) used in the preparation of herb and mineral medicines, and for the grinding of colours by painters. In form and use these *bet-gal* resemble the pestle and mortar of Europe, but the mortar is flatter. The pestle is often grotesquely carved. Two *bet-gal* are shown in Pl. LII., 6, the pestles carved into heads and the four angles of the mortar with cobra hoods. Somewhat similar in purpose are the sandal wood grinding stones (*handun-gal*), on which sandal wood is rubbed down with water to prepare the fragrant paste so often referred to in Indian poetry. The stones are circular in outline, something like a bread platter, but having the upper side, on which the wood is rubbed, quite smooth but carved below with three low legs, an elaborate central pattern, and *pala peti* chamfer (see Pl. LII., 7). The *kurukkan-gala* is a quern or hand mill for grinding *kurakkan*, the grain chiefly grown in hillside cultivation.