Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c18.s2.20

c18.s2.20

whose knowledge of Sanskrit as a language was usually slight, though they might know the text by heart. They relied on verbal glosses in the various vernaculars, Tamil and Telugu in Southern India, and Sinhalese in Ceylon. It is quite clear that the Silpa Sastras are the remains of a very carefully systematised and complete literature, and it is certain that it must have taken many centuries for them to have become so imperfect and corrupt as they now are.*