Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c24.3

c24.3

The general duties of potters have been enumerated on p. 25, above. Like other craftsmen, potters held land either directly from the Crown, from the proprietor of a nindagama or the grantee of a royal village, or from a vihāra or dēvāle. Every manor had not only its smith to make and mend the tools of the grantee, a washer to wash the clothes, and other service tenants, but also a potter, ‘to fit them with Earthen Ware.’ He, like other tenants, supplied the king or lord with earthenware as service rent, but was paid for work done for others. The baḍahēla-badda formed one of the 14 Departments of Public Works; the contingent from the Four Kōrales is described as follows:—