Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c31.17

c31.17

*Primitive motifs* *Early methods* circles, diamonds, dots and lines. These may have been characteristic even of a primitive art possessed by the pre-Sinhalese inhabitants, or they may have been brought into Ceylon at a later period with more advanced forms. Analogous to the survival of primitive patterns, is the maintenance of the once universal (pre-Aśokan) practice of building in wood. In spite of the repeated construction of stone buildings at Anurādhapura, Polonnaruva, Yāpahuva and elsewhere, the indigenous style of architecture has remained to this day one of wooden construction. Another survival from the earliest time is the continued practice of constructing images of impermanent materials as clay, brick, etc., that has continued side by side with the more familiar, but actually rarer, use of stone. The use of mud and primitive colours in the construction of *bali* images is a survival of primitive methods, exactly analogous to the corresponding beliefs that have survived side by side with the clear-cut non-animistic philosophy of Buddhism.