Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c27: Chapter XV. Embroidery
Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c27
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Chapter XV. Embroidery
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EMBROIDERY is one of the least known of Sinhalese crafts, or at least remained so until the publication of an account written by Mrs. Coomaraswamy in the "Ceylon National Review," No. 2, 1906. "This," says Mrs. Coomaraswamy, "is how I first came to hear of such embroidery. I was staying at Haldummulla; we had a visit from an ex-Āracci of a neighbouring village, who brought with him some of his household treasures to show us. Among them was a large bag, made of fine blue cloth with embroidered work on it in red and white cotton. He explained this was a precious possession which no money would make him part with, and that it had been in his family for generations. This was my first experience of this kind of work and I thereupon made up my mind to get to know more about it. Some months after this I saw another bag, and then found out that although this kind of work is now almost unknown, yet here and there in out of the way villages old men can be found who know the stitches, although they have almost given up making anything now. Many other things I also found out—how that it is owing to modern conditions of life that this fine art has fallen into decay; that now, even if people would work at it, they cannot; the cloth cannot be got, the colours cannot be got, the cottons cannot be bought, and the things that used to be made have gone out of fashion. The cotton was grown by the people themselves, they used to dye it with home-made dyes, and weave it into the cloth they wanted. Now all this is past; the fine blue hand-made cotton cloth that used to be universal, is now to be obtained only with the greatest difficulty, if at all. It is no longer made and dyed by the Sinhalese themselves."
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There seem to have been, in the case of weaving, two classes of work done, the first limited in amount, for the Court and aristocracy, and Indian in style, the second more strictly indigenous. The *hannali*, or tailors proper, were few in number, and held lands in respect of which it was their duty to make "the splendid and barbarous dresses of the king and his court" (Davy). As tenants of dēvāles and vihāras they had to prepare sacred vestments, curtains, flags, etc., and to assist in decorating the car. As tenants of lay proprietors, they had to make up the *pacca heṭṭaya* (brocade jacket), gold embroidered *toppiya* (square hat of the chieftain), and to embroider jackets for the wives and daughters. The materials used by such tailors were largely of Indian origin, as red felt, velvet, tinsel, the brocades used for jackets, or the gold thread for embroidering hats and ceremonial fans.
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The chief examples of the more elaborate 'tailor-made' embroidery now met with, are hats and ceremonial fans (*sēsat*). Mr. A. Ratvatte has a four-cornered *toppiya* worn by Migastēnna Adigār, made of red velvet, with gold passing. On Pl. XLI., 2, is illustrated a similarly embroidered large *sēsata* or processional 'banner' or 'fan' from the Mahā Dēvāle, Kandy. The basis is red velvet, with gold and silver thread passed over cords, and appliqué of green velvet in enclosed areas. The reverse is of blue velvet, with sun, moon and stars in metal. Diameter 34 inches.
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The more purely Sinhalese embroidery, corresponding to the homespun cotton manufacture, and executed in the home-made materials, appear to have been done mainly by the dhobies (*radav*, washermen) who had charge of all matters connected with cotton cloth, not merely its washing, but also the 'getting up' of Kandyan hats, preparation of decorations (*reli-palama*), supply of cloths for use on special occasions, and embroidery of betel-bags, cotton jackets, handkerchiefs, etc. At the present day a few dhobies may be found who understand some of the old stitches, and who make small betel-bags out of such materials as they can obtain, but I have not met with any *hannali* practising their craft even in a degenerate form. The following are specimens of dhoby tenancies: "Hēnayalāgē holds a Hēnaye Paṅguva (oa. 3p. ol. fields and oa. op. 4l. gardens). Services (commutable for Rs. 17.65):
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Embroidery to give two *piruvaṭa*, one for the *mulṭen-ge* and the other for the Kapurāla ; for the *perahera* to make up for the two Kapurālas two hats and two jackets and to supply them with one *piruvaṭa* each ; to give *piruvaṭa* for the people who carry the *randoli*; for the *perahera* to put up a *viyana* at the *dēvāle*; to spread *piyavili* and supply *dambu*; when the Basnāyaka Nilame visits the *dēvāle* to prepare lodgings; to wash the *tira*, *haḷu*, and other cloths of the *dēvāle*; at the *perahera* to present a *toppiya* to the Basnāyaka Nilame.” At Mivatura, a dhoby tenant held an acre of field. His services (commutable for Rs. 11·70) were: to wash curtains, hangings, and sacred napkins during two consecutive months, receiving food and two seers raw rice for starch and sixpence to buy blue and soap; to spread cloths supplied by temple at the elephant shed for the festivals and ten days of *perahera*; to present to the Diva Nilame a Kandyan hat (Lawrie’s Gazetteer, pp. 660, 600).
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Materials The materials used were the white, blue, and red cotton cloth made in the villages, and cotton thread of the same colours, also very rarely a small amount of coloured silk. The most characteristic work is entirely executed in the blue, red, and white cottons.
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Things em- The embroidered objects most often seen are betel-bags (*buḷat-payi*) of all sizes; less common broidered are kerchiefs or napkins (*lēnsu*), caps (*ispay*), jackets (*heṭṭa*), pillow cases (*koṭṭa ura*), *pacisi* cloths, saddle cloths (*palas*). The betel-bags (Pls. XXX.—XXIII.) vary in size from small ones carried in the waist belt, to very large ones, four feet or more in length. The latter were carried by a servant in processions or on journeys, slung over the shoulder. Noblemen were never without an attendant carrying their betel-bag (see above, pp. 33, 34) and lime-box; less important personages carried their own. The large bags are exactly the same in construction as the small ones—a bag of oval shape made of blue cloth lined with undyed cotton cloth, which opens nearly half way down the whole length at the sides; the inner part is separated into two divisions. The inner division, again consisting of a double piece of cloth, is also used as a pocket, called *hora payiya*, ‘hidden pocket’; it has a very small opening at the upper end, through which spices, money and other valuables are put. Larger things were carried in the two outer pockets. The handle is made of embroidered cloth, or of a band of plaited cord, and is finished off at the end with a beautifully and ingeniously worked, and very hard, ball (*vēgeḍi-bōrale*) and tassel (*pohoṭṭuva*). The outside of the bag is embroidered on both sides in red and white cotton with conventional designs, sometimes very elaborately. Bags of later make are often done in red cloth, probably because the blue hand-made cloth could no longer be obtained; some of these are equally good, the tradition both in design and stitches being for some time well maintained. Few or no good bags are now made, partly owing to the lack of proper materials. One of the most perfect small bags I have seen was of red hand-made cloth embroidered entirely with silk, the use of which is very exceptional. I have referred to the plaited cord of which the handles are sometimes made; for this, cotton cord of two colours is plaited into a thick stout flat braid which is very handsome and durable. It may be mentioned that similar plaited cord strings, but round, of two or three colours are made by priests for ola book strings (*poṭ-lanu*).
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The embroidery of bags consists generally of a centre design, floral or otherwise, framed by three or more borders parallel to the edge of the bag. Of these borders the innermost is almost always *pala peti*, the largest *liya-vēla*, the others a variety of *havaḍiya* or *gal-binḍu* pattern. A limited amount of coloured silk is sometimes used; the small bag of Pl. XXX., 1, is exceptional in having embroidery entirely in silk. It may be noted that silk is frequently mentioned in the Mahāvamsa, but never with any suggestion of its being an indigenous product. The edges of bags are either bound with woven braid, which was made in a great variety of designs, or stitched over with the peculiar ‘centipede’ binding stitch described below.
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Less common than the oval bags, are square ones. These are made from a square piece Embroidery of material, the four corners of which are drawn together for the attachment of the handle, consisting of four cords instead of the two of oval bags.
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Jackets worn by govi-vamsa ladies were generally embroidered. The left-hand girl’s dress Jackets on Pl. II. shows a bodice embroidered with flowers and parrots, probably in gold thread, and perhaps the work of the regular tailors. On Pl. XXX., 2, is shown a part of a jacket sleeve, copied from one said to have been worn by a queen in the eighteenth century; it is of particularly admirable design. In my own collection are two similar cotton jackets, each with a mante, the one embroidered with blue and red cotton, the other with red cotton and gold thread. The latter has at the back, an embroidered design of bō-leaf and two birds affronted.
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Jackets worn by devil-dancers in Sabaragamuva and the low country are often well embroidered, either with thread in the style of the betel-bags, or with appliqué. On Pl. XXIII., 1-3, are illustrated a fine embroidered dancer’s jacket, the ‘Gara-yakshaya’* costume. This consists of a red hand-made cotton cloth skirt and jacket, the skirt with three flounces. The jacket fastens behind. The whole is covered with very elaborate blue and white cotton appliqué embroidery, the edge of the applied cloth being turned in and sewn with white cotton. The design on the chest (‘flower in vase’) might almost be called ‘braided,’ as it is executed by sewing down very narrow strips of applied cloth following the pattern. In the photograph the blue appliqué hardly shows, but follows the white outline just inside it.
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Appliqué work is also found on a larger scale, on flags and pillow cases. Appliqué flags are not often well made, and may represent an attempt to find a substitute for the more satisfactory dye-painted flags formerly used. The embroidered flags done for the Kandy Art Association recently, have been of very poor workmanship.
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Very few pillow cases (koṭṭa ura) have remained to us, but those that have are generally of Pillow cases one type—a centre piece of blue cloth, embroidered with a design, and a border three or four inches wide, of a patchwork of red, white, and blue squares of cotton cloth. Probably an earlier type was one with an embroidered border instead of the patchwork, just as the later type is the kind completely made of patchwork; but I have never seen one. But as we find woven pillow cases of the same shape and size with patterns all over, it is very probable that the better examples used to be embroidered all over.
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A saddle cloth (palasa) in red cloth, embroidered in white and blue cotton, was exhibited by Nikaveva Disāva at the Exhibition of Kandyan Art in January, 1906.
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The only embroidered caps met with, are those known as ispayya (Pl. XXX., 3). These are Caps the “Countrey Caps” described by Knox as resembling mitres (p. 34, above). The flaps are thinly quilted, and the cap finely embroidered in coloured silks. There is one of these caps in the Kandy Museum; the one illustrated was lent by Mr. T. B. Keppiṭipola.
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‘On occasions of ceremony,’ says Davy, ‘when full dressed, the men cover the body with a short jacket; and those who have the privilege, lay aside the handkerchief for a cap, and decorate themselves with gold chains and girdles.’
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Embroidered kerchiefs, napkins and shawls are met with. The kerchiefs and shawls may Shawls and have been worn on the head or thrown over the shoulders as an ura malaya. The most napkins elaborate shawl I have seen, indeed almost the only example, is illustrated on Pl. XXVIII., 4. This shawl, the property of the Daḷadā Māligāva, measures 49 inches square, the border two inches wide. The centre is occupied by drawn thread-work, the circles in blue, red, or silver thread. The inner border, a series of little trees, is done in gold thread, outlined Embroidery alternately in blue and red. The flowers of the outer border are red, with a gold centre; the leaves outlined blue. The shawl appears to consist of linen. Smaller kerchiefs or napkins are not so rare (Pls. XXVIII., 2, 3, and XXXIII., 4, 5); there are at the Māligāva a considerable number, ranging in size from 13 to 24 inches square. They are embroidered in red and blue. The material is usually cotton, occasionally linen. Fine drawn thread-work resembling lace is sometimes found, and round the outer edge there is sometimes a fringe of needlework ‘lace’ (Pl. XXVIII., 2 and 3). Very characteristic of these napkins is a peculiar style of embroidery in which both sides are made exactly alike (as in certain types of Kashmir shawl). The effect is evidently obtained by working in even stitches equal on back and front, with spaces between, which are afterwards filled when going over the work a second time. Many of the designs so worked resemble, and are perhaps copied from, the elaborate interlacing patterns of the woven cloth. The purpose of the small napkins was for use in covering offerings, and similar ceremonial purposes. On Pl. I., the left-hand figure represents an officer carrying some ceremonial object under an embroidered napkin, with tassels. So used, the napkin is called *pesa lensuva*.
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∗ Gara yaka is a house demon. See D. de S. Gooneratne, J.C.B.R.A.S., Vol. IV. p. 35.
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Fig. 141. Stitches used in Sinhalese embroidery: 1-4, Binding stitches: 1, 2, and 3 are single double and triple buttonhole stitches; 4, an elaborated herring-bone. 5, 6, Chain stitch, plain and elaborated. 7, Border pattern in two colours. 8, Herringbone or feather stitch. 9, Buttonhole stitch gusset. 3A, reverse of 1, 2, 3. 4A, 6A, 8A, reverse of 4, 6, 8.
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Stitches The stitches most used are illustrated in Fig. 141. Most of the work is done with chain stitch. If the background is blue, the pattern is outlined in white and red chain stitch, the red inside, the white outside. The double outline is a very characteristic feature. The borders of betel-bags are also separated from each other by three rows of chain stitch, red or blue between two white lines. The stitch is often complicated by intertwining red or blue threads, or one thread of each colour, as the work proceeds, as indicated in Fig. 141, 6. Embroidery Binding stitches are especially characteristic and well developed. Fig. 141, No. 1, shows a stitch used for binding together the outer cloth and the lining of the upper part of a betel- Stitches bag, along the opening. It gives a firm edge, and is easy to work. The first stitch goes straight through the edge of the stuff; the second catches up the threads where they cross in the middle, as shown in the figure, without going through the cloth again. The stitches shown in Fig. 141, Nos. 1-4, are all binding stitches, and must be imagined as binding over the raw edges of cloth, or covering a seam; they are drawn quite flat for the sake of clearness. In these figures, small Roman figures indicate the order of making the stitches. Thus in 1, the needle, inserted at 1., goes from 1. to 11. in front, then from 11. to 111. through the thickness of the material, and then between 111. and 1v. two buttonhole stitches are made, looping into the first stitch. Each loop of the succeeding stitches embraces the loop immediately preceding. In 2 and 3, the single loop is replaced by two and three loops respectively. The two last especially make a very firm and useful edge. They are sometimes strengthened and elaborated by intertwining a coloured thread along each side, below the edge of the material. No. 2 is called amu karala, ‘amu ear’ (ear of corn).
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No. 4 is the most complicated of all, and appears to be peculiar to Sinhalese embroidery. Centipede It is called pattēya (centipede) or mudum męsma (back-bone stitch); it is an elaborated stitch herringbone. Two needles are in use together; sometimes even the three colours are worked together. This stitch is most often used for binding the outer edges of large and small betel-bags.
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The method of working is as follows: at 1. the white thread is brought to the front, the needle is again inserted at 11. and brought out at 111., on a line with 1. on the other side of the seam; it then goes back to 1v. on a line with 11. on the right-hand side, and is brought out at v., at a little distance below 1. v1., v11. and v111. are the same repeated, but after v111. the needle is brought out at 1x. at some distance below v., leaving space for two other stitches between; these stitches are begun below v., with a different coloured cotton, generally red, and worked exactly the same as the first four stitches; after they are completed the first needle is taken up again, the thread of which comes out on the right-hand side, at 1x., just below the two stitches of the red colour. The next stitch is a little different, in that the needle does not go back to the extreme outside on the left but catches down a stitch at about a quarter the width of the whole, as can be seen in the diagram. It then takes a slanting direction behind the material, coming out below the red stitches, still on the left side; the needle is shown in this position. Exactly the same is done on the right-hand side, and so on. The thread always goes back to its own colour, that is if the white thread is being worked it catches down a white stitch on the opposite side and so with the red. The backs of the stitches are seen in No. 4A. If three colours are used, then more space must be left for the insertion of four stitches between v. and 1x. instead of two only.
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No. 5 is the ordinary chain stitch which is used so much in this work. Chain stitch No. 6 is also a chain stitch, but with coloured threads intertwined, one on each side of the needle as it is worked. Sometimes a red thread is used on one side and a blue on the other. No. 6A shows the back of Nos. 5 and 6.
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No. 7 is a very usual combination of two kinds of stitches; it consists of two Y-shaped stitches held down by a stitch at the top and bottom, thus forming a square, this is then filled in with a satin stitch of a different colour. This satin stitch is often used for filling in small squares and other spaces.
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A buttonhole stitch is often used for the conventional foliage when it needs filling in as can Buttonhole be seen in the beautiful border of Pl. XXXII., 9. The design of this particular border stitch *Embroidery* is outlined in white and filled in with a red buttonhole stitch which widens or narrows according to the space needed to be filled. It has a very rich effect.
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*Seams* No. 8 is a feather stitch used occasionally for filling in a space; 8A is the back of the stitch. No. 9 shows the method employed in joining the seams of a *tuppoṭiya*. The seams are sewn close together though not overlapping, and at each end the seam widens out into a kind of gusset, the space being filled up with a buttonhole stitch worked as shown, though often with much thicker and closer stitches. At the end of the seam this gusset may be one or two inches wide. It is a most satisfactory way of joining two pieces of cloth; there is no puckering and it is extremely strong. A simple cross stitch is rare.
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In appliqué work there are two or three ways of stitching on the applied cloth: the edges are always carefully turned in, and may then be bound by hemming, by an even running close to the edge, or by chain stitch.
Linked texts (1)
- Mahāvaṃsa — Pāli