Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c31.3

c31.3

Probably the most widely exerted influence in all Oriental art, is that which accompanied and followed the Aśokan Buddhist missions. To this rule Ceylon formed no exception. It must, of course, be understood that the culture which was thus carried was not Buddhist in the sense of being non-Hindu, but was rather what we ought to call Early Indian. It is this fact which explains the perfectly true statement* that for Hindu art proper, one must go to Ceylon. Mediæval and modern Sinhalese art is essentially Indian art, but it is not modern Hindu, rather it is such an art as might have survived in some yet Buddhist part of the mainland, if Buddhism had not there been entirely merged in Hinduism.