Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c26.24

c26.24

No yarn is now dyed locally, except occasionally with an aniline green. It seems, however, natural to suppose that the red and blue dyeing, with madder and indigo, used to be done by the weavers themselves, but evidence to that effect is very scanty. Nowadays, the red and blue yarn are purchased in Batticaloa, where they are imported from India for use by the Tamil weavers there. The blue has been difficult to obtain lately and black has been substituted, but the effect is not nearly as good. Good blue yarn is obtainable in Jaffna, and I lately supplied a quantity of this to the Talaguṇe weavers. For further remarks on dyeing see Chapter XVI.