Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c29.s1.3

c29.s1.3

The loom (Pl. IV.) is a low horizontal contrivance, something like the loom used in cotton weaving, but much more primitive. There is no *alvala*, or pit for the weaver's feet; the operator squats on the mat itself, supported by a few flat logs between it and the ground. The pattern is picked up with a weaver's lath (*vema*); this lath, having an eye at one end, seryes as a bodkin* with which to draw the weft threads through the warp. A sleay (*alu karala*) similar to the cotton weavers', but not suspended, is used to drive the weft home. The raising and separation of alternate warp threads to form a 'shed' is effected by a very primitive type of heddles (*veḷa-kaḍḍuva*). The loops of the heddles, through which the warp threads pass, do not move. Every alternate warp thread passes through a loop. The separation of alternate threads to form the shed, is effected by the movement of two wooden rods, placed on the far side of the tripod; of these rods one (*uttara-pata* or *konṭaliya*) rests on the warp, the other (*pannam-baṭe*) passes between alternate threads of it. Relative movement of these rods raises and separates alternate threads on the near side of the heddles. The warp is carried on two rods, *koṭṭa kūra* and *andina kaṇḍa*. The first of these, on the left in Pl. IV., is tied to a stouter rod (*heḍa kaṇḍa*), and this is fastened to sticks firmly driven into the ground. At the other end, the *andina kaṇḍa* is tightly strained by two cords (*kaḍu-pā-lanu*) attached to two posts (*kalāl-kaṇu*) in the ground. The heddles are supported by a tripod arrangement of sticks (*tun-pā kolle*), which is shifted along as the work progresses.