[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Architecture and art](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art) › [Mediaeval Sinhalese Art](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.coomaraswamy-1908) › c19.40 # Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c19.40 Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c19.40 - **Language:** English ### [c19.40](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.coomaraswamy-1908.c19.40) The essential points in the traditional representations were summarised in mnemonic verses, for example, “This is the appearance of Viṣṇu, two hands, a chank, a discus, a head-dress, a crown, ear-flowers, a golden garment, his colour blue, his vehicle the \*garuḍa\*” (Rūpāvaliya, v. 57). Such mnemonic verses correspond to the memory verses of the early literature, and may once have been transmitted orally in the same way. Thus the Dīpavaṃsa, I., 29, describes the \*satsatiya\* thus: “The throne, the sanctuary, the cloisters, the gem palace, the \*ajapala\* (tree), the (\*nāga\*) mucalinda, together with the Khirapala (grove) as the seventh.” But all this is subservient to the idealism and the living tradition. From the verse alone, a quite inadequate figure of Viṣṇu would be drawn, just as from the verse alone, a very poor idea of the \*satsatiya\* would be gathered. Each had to be filled in by the artist, whether painter or reciter, as best he knew. - [Previous: c19.39](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.coomaraswamy-1908.c19.39) - [Next: c19.41](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.coomaraswamy-1908.c19.41) - [Up: c19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.coomaraswamy-1908.c19) ## Linked texts (1) - [Dīpavaṃsa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.theravada_postcanon.vamsa.dipavamsa) — Pāli --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.coomaraswamy-1908.c19.40](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.coomaraswamy-1908.c19.40) · Pramāṇa