Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c26.10

c26.10

Gahōni are bell-shaped or skirt-shaped cloths used to cover baskets or pots of food or other Gahōniya offerings when carried on a yoke along the road for the king or any temple. The effect is that of a small three-flounced skirt, each flounce with a pattern border (Pl. XXIX., 6). The ‘skirt’ is really made of a single straight piece of cloth, joined up with one seam and left open at both ends; one end is turned over and gathered on a string, thus forming the waist and two of the flounces, and the third flounce is a separate piece of cloth sewn on between the two others. A wall painting at Degaldoruva (about 1786) shows a yoke (kada) and pair of gahōni suspended from a post in the royal kitchen. Every day the country people brought in such tribute of food, betel, sweetmeats, etc., to the king, the chief, or temple where their service was due; as, for instance, when bringing first fruits (alutsāl) from the temple lands to the temple or pansala. Even nowadays men may be seen carrying such loads, covered with gahōni made up of plain or printed material, but I have never seen the woven ones in use, and there are very few in existence now.