Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c7.130

c7.130

"Besides the relation in which the priests stand to their tenants as landlords, and the religious influence of their possession, they have other holds on the affection of the people. Their pansalas are the schools for village children, and the sons of even the superior headmen are very generally educated at them. They have also, frequently, some knowledge of medicine, and when this is the case they generally give the benefit of their advice gratuitously, which the vedarāla seldom do. Add to this that, as every revenue officer who has ever attempted to induce the natives to exert themselves for their own good knows, the priests are generally, when properly applied to, foremost with their money, if rich, or with their influence or both, in furthering every scheme for local improvement; and from what has been stated, it will be evident that not only is it their interest to be kind and considerate to their tenants, but that they generally are so, and that their influence among the people is, in a social point of view, usefully employed" (quoted S.T. Report, 1872), p. 448. There was thus a close parallel between the position of the incumbent of the village vihāra, and that of the parish priest of mediæval England; he, too, had tithes and rents to gather in, and he taught the children at the church door, as the Buddhist priest did in the pansala. Each at his best, represented to the community the true ideal of the man of religion