Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c6.74

c6.74

Something must be said of the history of the arts during the last century. That history has been one of continuous decline. Those who read the following chapters and perceive how the religious, artistic and national life of the people formed together the expression of one culture which all classes shared, will understand how impossible it was that the arts should continue to flourish under foreign rulers, ignorant of, and in the main opposed, to the perpetuation of that culture and religion. What befell the royal craftsmen when the Buddhist king was replaced by the Christian Governor? How could there continue that identification of sentiment between ruler and craftsmen which made possible the building of Gaṅgārāma, the Daḷadā Māligāva, or the last festival at Asgiriya? Imagine the effect on English art if English independence had ceased in the reign of Henry III., and the Government had passed into the hands of a nation of materialists*—Westminster Abbey left unfinished, Gothic art no more the vehicle of the national religious sentiment. One of the most sympathetic and cultured of recent Colonial Secretaries of Ceylon, was able to enquire after two years in Ceylon, what a Jātaka might be. Now it is quite natural that an ordinary educated Englishman should lack that knowledge, but for the ruler of a Buddhist people to do so is altogether incongruous and improper. Such an one cannot enter into the life of the people, or be a guide or father to them; at the worst they will imitate him for interested reasons, at the best they will ignore him altogether.