Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c18.s2.2

c18.s2.2

Verses 1—30 give very detailed measurements of the head and features, body and limbs, hands and feet. The dimensions are slightly less than those above detailed: thus the breadth of the back between the armpits is two faces (of twelve *aṅgal* each only), the middle finger six *aṅgal* long instead of six *aṅgal* and four barleycorns, and so on. Verse 30 concludes: “all the rest not described may be suitably supplied.” Verses 30—43 treat of the plumb lines and measurements to be made thereby. Reference is made to the part ‘slightly slanting,’ this seems to refer to a slight bend in the waist, which, like the ‘sway’ in thirteenth-century Gothic work, gives grace and delicacy. I do not think that reference is here intended to the markedly curved figures known as *trivaṅka** (triple-curved).