Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c16.9

c16.9

In the Kurunēgala District the most important stone remains are at Riḍi Vihāra, where there is a well-built and unmistakeable Hindu temple. In the Kandy District there are temples with important stonework at Gaḍalādeṇiya and Laṅkātilaka.§ Both of these temples are very beautiful. The stonework at Gaḍalādeṇiya is mainly of fourteenth century date. Patches only of the original plaster remain, with traces of painting. Perhaps the most striking part of the stonework is the entrance porch. It is roofed by huge monoliths, resting on very large stone pillars of the usual Kandyan type, with two smaller pillars beside them, forming thus a cluster of three pillars on each side of the porch. The smaller pillars are of more archaic pattern, recalling those characteristic of the Kegalla District and Anurādhapura; this temple and that of Laṅkātilaka, indeed, as Mr. Lewis remarks, form a link connecting Kandyan architecture with the older work at Anurādhapura and Polonnaruva. At Laṅkātilaka, the ‘Brow Spot of Ceylon,’ only the foundations are of stone, the main structure being of brick, originally plastered.