Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c6.49

c6.49

From this period dated the division of what had been one people, into ‘Kandyan’ and ‘Low-country’ Sinhalese. The Sinhalese in the immediate vicinity of Colombo and along the coast were soon driven to make peace, and even allied themselves with the Portuguese, often turning nominal Christians and adopting Portuguese names to curry favour, or under compulsion. The same process was continued in the time of the Dutch successors of the Portuguese. But the greater part of the Sinhalese people, the hardy mountaineers of the interior, preserved their independence, keeping the foreigner at bay for more than 200 years after the first landing of the Portuguese. They have had their reward; for in spite of the progress of denationalisation even amongst these, there are still preserved amongst them sufficient traces of the old national life, sufficient remains of skilful craftsmen’s handiwork, to enable us to form an estimate of the Sinhalese as a live and individual people, with a national character and national art; an individuality and art which is it more difficult and often impossible to trace in the low-country districts long subjected to western influence.