Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c32.20

c32.20

There are other examples of the survival of the early use of impermanent materials. In the sixteenth century A.D. the Portuguese in the Southern Province, “proceeded to destroy the idols [of the Viṣṇu dēvāle] of which there were more than a thousand of diverse shapes, some of clay, some of wood, some of copper, and several of gilt.”‡ None of stone are mentioned; what should we know of the existence of those idols, had we not the Portuguese record to inform us?