Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c6.2

c6.2

THE Sinhalese people are inhabitants of Ceylon, but not all the people of Ceylon are Sinhalese. The etymologically identical word ‘Ceylonese,’ however, is used to describe all persons born in Ceylon, whether Sinhalese, Tamil, Eurasian or otherwise, except Europeans. The word Cingalese is an old-fashioned and less correct spelling of Sinhalese. Of the three and a half millions forming, in round numbers, the population of Ceylon, two and a third million are Sinhalese inhabiting the southern two-thirds of the island, and rather less than one million are Tamils, living mostly in the north, on the east coast, and in Colombo. The remaining population consists of Moormen (Muhammedans of Tamil extraction for the most part), Burghers (mixed descendants of Dutch settlers), Malays, Eurasians, Europeans and a few others. Of the influence exerted by these groups of people on Sinhalese art, we shall need to consider only the Tamil; for on the one hand Ceylon lies outside the range of the Muhammedan conquests and influence, and for the rest, we must carefully avoid the manifestations of European influence if we are to see Sinhalese art at its best and purest. Fortunately, in the 18th century this influence had scarcely at all affected the art of the Kandyan province, although well marked in the low-country. As an introduction to the study of Sinhalese art as it existed in the latter half of the 19th century, the present chapter provides a brief history of the Sinhalese people, especially in respect of the history of the arts and crafts amongst them.