Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c7.142

c7.142

Were it not, indeed, for the work lavished on Buddhist temples in Ceylon, and the offerings made to the priesthood, this book might have been left unwritten. We shall see that the landholding craftsmen were practically state-endowed; and in return their work was done essentially for the people themselves, whose palaces and picture galleries were the vihāras and dēvāles where they worshipped, and with which their festivals were associated. Luxury was little, and the amount of fine art absorbed and hidden away by royalty and other wealthy persons was small compared with that belonging to the Church and so to the whole folk. Just so was it in mediæval Europe; art was for the people, and no lack of it. Now it is otherwise, and art is for the rich only, and hard to come by.