Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c8.s2.10

c8.s2.10

“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.”*