Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c7.61

c7.61

The great simplicity of ordinary life must always be kept in mind. The house was a one-storied timber and mud wall building with thatched roof, and if belonging to a man of some importance consisted of a number of rooms arranged about an inner square verandah (the floors being daubed with cow-dung to keep them clean and smooth), within which, again, was a square yard (*hatares-midula*) open to the sky, where sometimes a few potherbs might be grown. The rooms were rather dark, having unglazed windows on the inside only, for the sake of privacy. The poorest house, however, had but one room, few more than two or three, except the *valavva* or 'manor house' of a great man. Ordinary houses were not often made by the craftsmen, but each man put up his own, the *kapurala* performing the necessary ceremonies. A verse from a Cambridgeshire traditional song, 'Ground for the Floor,' exactly describes the situation within: