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Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c8: Appendix to Chapter II

Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c8

Language
English

Contents

Appendix to Chapter II

I. Education

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In times past the education of boys was carried on by Buddhist priests at the village pansala, the home of the incumbent of the nearest vihāra, just as the village priest taught at the church door in mediæval England. This system has been already referred to, on p. 45 above. At about the age of six the boy was taken to the pansala with an offering for the teacher. At an auspicious hour the teacher took his seat and recited the first line of vowels, beginning with the words *svasti siddham*, ‘let prosperity attend’; the alphabet continues, *ayanu, ayanu*, etc., . . . ending with the words *iti siddhi astu*, ‘so let there be success!’ The alphabet first given to the pupil was written in large characters, in three lines on an ola leaf; afterwards a book was given containing the complete alphabet, including combinations of letters. The letters were learnt by loud repetition in a singsong tone; the pupil stood before the teacher holding the closed book to his forehead and so repeated his lesson. Nothing else was taught until the alphabet could be repeated without fault or hesitation. The form of the letters had next to be systematically learnt, the teacher pointed to the letters and read; ‘the letter ‘a’ is read *ayanu*,” and so on. Writing was only taught after this descriptive repetition was perfectly mastered. Writing was learnt on a narrow board, called *veḷipiḷa*, spread with sand; it stood on four legs, which were sometimes turned and lacquered; the teacher had a carved ivory style (*veḷipiḷa*) with which he traced the sign *sva*, after which he guided the boy’s hand in copying: the boy wrote with his middle finger, supported by the fore-finger and thumb: in this way, little by little, the boy learnt to write the whole alphabet, and by that time he could read short sentences: this might take six months or a year. Ola writing was taught afterwards. The boy was given a long strip of ola, untrimmed, and the teacher wrote large letters on this: the boy was given an *ulkaṭuva*, i.e., a blunt writing style, and with this he traced the letters over and over again till the leaf was cut through; this was called *saṭahan kẹpima*; the boy learnt in this way to exercise a very even pressure. Afterwards he used *karakola* (talipot leaf) not tracing but copying the *guru akuru* (letters written by the teacher) as in a copybook, writing smaller and smaller by degrees: finally he was allowed to use a sharp style (*panhinda*) and to write on *puskola* (prepared talipot leaf).

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As an example of good handwriting (on paper) may be shown the script of Fig. 3, two pages of an eighteenth century paper ‘prayer book,’ a breviary said to have been used by Narēndra Simha himself. The book is further illustrated on Pls. XVII. and XX.

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Fig. 3. Two pages of an eighteenth century paper baṇa book.

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The standard of good writing (on olas) is conveyed in a corrupt Sanskrit verse current in pansala schools:

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*Samāni samapadāni, Sāmansāni samāh sirah*
*Aksharāṇi pratiṣṭavyah, Mṛiduni lalitani ca*

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*Lesson books* ‘Well-formed letters should be similar in size, similar in their tails, and in their heads, and (written) with a light pressure.’

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The first book read and learnt after the alphabet was the *Nampota*, a list of important places and temples, practically an elementary geography of Ceylon; next came *Mangul-lakuṇu*, a description of the 216 auspicious marks on the soles of the feet of Buddha, in which book Sanskrit words appear, followed by sentences in Pali. Everything had to be learnt by heart and repeated perfectly; much or all of the material so learnt was not understood at the time, but laid a sure foundation for more advanced studies. The books next read were *Gaṇa-devi-hēlla* (account of the youth and education of Gaṇeśa), *Vadan-kavi-pota* (grammar, orthography, &c.), *Buddha-gajja* (praise of Buddha in Sanskrit), *Sakas-kaḍa* (prose with difficult combinations of words; there is a saying “the tongue that hath not uttered Sakas-kaḍa is like a white ant’s”). After these came Nāmaṣṭa (Sanskrit ślokas on Buddha, and Sinhalese paraphrase); Navaratna (‘nine gems,’ nine verses of high value uttered by nine Pandits at the court of Vikrama); Vyasakāra, Pratyaśataka, Anuruddha śataka, Bauddha śataka (or Bhakti śataka), Sūrya Sataka, Vrittamālava, Vrittamālākhyāva, Amara Siṃha (i.e., Amarakosha, the Sanskrit vocabulary), all in Sanskrit: these works completed a thorough general education; a majority of students did not, of course, proceed so far. If, however, the student was intended for a learned profession, as astrology or medicine, or for the priesthood, he now proceeded to specialise; he would read, for example, Yoga-śataka (Ariṣṭa śataka) as his first book in medicine. If intended for the priesthood he would study Pali.

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Teaching was not always carried on at the pansala: the child might be taught at home by a priest or by his own father. In the case of aristocratic families, the incumbent of the family vihāra became the child’s tutor. Otherwise, and especially if there were no pansala near, the father taught his own children in the same way.

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Children were taught to be silent in the presence of their elders, and very obedient, and remain so even when grown up. They were also expected to do their own share of household or other work at an early age, and so became capable and responsible much sooner than in Europe, where children expect all their wants attended to by their elders.

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The relation between pupil and teacher in the East is one of affectionate respect, almost of reverence. This is marked in many gracious ways; I shall not easily forget the action of a craftsman’s apprentice (a man full-grown) to whom I paid money in the presence of his teacher and of another master craftsman; taking the money in both hands he salaamed to his “gurunnanse” and gave it to him; he received the money and then gravely returned both money and salute; and so also with the other master craftsmen there.

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The old system of education above described could not have been preserved in its entirety; ‘Progress’ it is in many respects unsuited to modern requirements, besides having intrinsic faults; but it is very unfortunate that so many of its real advantages are lacking in the modern system, and especially unfortunate that an “English education” such as the Royal College provides, leaves the “educated” ignorant of everything that would appear to be of special interest and value to him, and unable to hand on to others even that knowledge which he possesses of the great world beyond, and the lesson he has learnt from a study of the history and manners of other peoples. Most stupid of all is the affectation of despising everything Sinhalese and thoughtlessly admiring everything English; reminding one of that time in England when ‘Falsehood in a Ciceronian dialect had no opposers; truth in patois no listeners.’

II. Books

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Sinhalese books are written on ‘olas,’ or strips of the leaf of the talipot palm, Corypha umbraculifera. The leaves are prepared as follows: a leaf bud of the palm is cut down just before it opens; the leaf segments are separated and the midrib removed, dividing each segment into two strips. These are loosely rolled and placed in a copper cauldron with cold water and then boiled for an hour, and afterwards dried in the sun for three days. The leaves are then again rolled, this time not singly, but in rolls a foot or so in diameter. The rolls are exposed to the dew for three successive nights, after which they become pliable. In this state they can be preserved a long time, especially if kept in a smoky place, such as the loft in a kitchen. When required for use, the rolls are taken one by one and smoothed by rubbing on a polished areca stump; the trunk is tied across two posts and the ola laid across it with a weight attached to the stalk end; the ola is then pulled up and down across the trunk until it is smooth on both sides. The leaves are next cut up into various standard sizes, the largest three spans in length, the next and most usual length for valuable books being two spans and four fingers; smaller sizes vary from eighteen inches downwards. Care is taken to make the strips of even breadth. All the leaves are then punched with the two string holes in accordance with the following rule:

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*Ayamena catur bhagam, Tribhagam punar eva ca,* *Ubhayoh sutra-madhyena, Tatha kuryat chidra-lakshanam.*

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“Fold the leaf in three and again in four and perforate between the pairs of lines formed by the folding.” The leaves are next strung on smooth rounded sticks passed through the string holes, in thick parcels between wooden covers; the four sides of the leaves are singed with a hot iron; the packet, now called *pot-gediya*, is so stored until required for use. Each leaf is a *pat-iruva*; a ‘gathering’ of eight or sixteen leaves, lettered alphabetically, is a *pat-kattuva* [Clough].

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The leaves are removed from the packet one by one and written on with a sharp style (*panhinda*): after the writing and revision an ink composed of dummala oil and lamp black is lightly rubbed on (*kalu-madinava*) with a rag and wiped with clean chaff, after which the writing stands out clearly.

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The completed book consists of the written leaves, enclosed between two wooden covers (*pot-kambi*) of the same size and shape which are painted, lacquered, carved or quite plain. Book covers are also made of ivory, and silver. A string (*pot-lanuva*), composed sometimes of cotton, sometimes of *niyanda* fibre, and often with different colored strands, passes through one set of holes and through holes in the covers, and is wound round the book when not in use. One end of the string is attached to a flat button (*pot-sakiya*), ivory, horn or metal, which prevents the string from slipping through the cover. The correct rule for thus tying up the book is given in the verse:

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*Prathame dasa-sutrani, Pañca-sutrani maddhyame* *Tripanam tripanam bandham, Mata mata vidhiyate.*

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“Ten strings at the top, five strings in the middle, three and three, and the cross strings in pairs is the rule.” The Sanskrit is apparently corrupt.

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The actual leaves of the book are rarely ornamented. The full stops, however, are sometimes rubricated, and the small space around the string-hole, which is liable to become frayed and should not be written upon, has also occasionally some decoration in red. Books of magic, such as *Bali* songs, charms and spells, are illustrated wlth pictures of demons, diagrams, etc., in plain black; but only such as can be scratched with the style upon the leaf. Horoscopes are written on full-length strips of leaf and are elaborately ornamented with geometrical decoration similarly incised. Letters were sent on strips of ola, neatly folded, and bound with narrow strips of ola, passing once or several times round, in accordance with etiquette, as given in a verse current in the pansalas:

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*Ekam satru dvayam mitram, Trini bandhum catur prabhum* *Pañca matapitabhratrinam, Shad gurum sapta bhupatim.*

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“One for an enemy, two for a friend, three for a relative, four for superiors, five for father, mother, or brother, six for the guru, seven for the king.” Knox says that the King “when he sends any Warrants or Orders to his Officers, hath his Writings wrapped up in a way proper to himself, and none else do or may fold up their leaves in that manner but he.” In some cases the actual letter was enclosed in an envelope, bearing, in addition to the address, some amount of ornament. One such in the British Museum “is decorated with scroll work . . . embroidered in gold thread with small bosses of red and blue silk.”*

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* Wickremasinghe, ‘Sinhalese Manuscripts in the British Museum,’ 1900, p. 166.

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Fig. 4. Tiringi tale: from a tracing of an old example belonging to the Nilavala Muhandirams of Maṅgalagama (pp. 57, 58); the design is somewhat inferior compared with that of Fig. 8. For explanation see pp. 65, 66. Half size of original drawing.

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