Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c9.31

c9.31

The indigenous craftsmen and the newly-arrived Tamils worked together side by side. They did not always agree, as we learn from the case of one Vaḍugē Anura Appa of Hārispattuva who in A.D. 1765 made a complaint regarding tools stolen from him and from a certain Demaḷa Baḍala (Tamil goldsmith), and also against the Demaḷa Baḍala himself (Lawrie’s Gazetteer, p. 354); ill-feeling between the old-established craftsman and the newly-arrived ‘Tamil goldsmith’ evidently existed! Nevertheless, the craftsmen thus from time to time imported, very soon became part and parcel of the Kandyan Sinhalese people, Buddhist by faith; the style and feeling of their work was modified under the influence of the living local tradition, something of the Hindu-Dravidian element being lost, and the Buddhist-Aryan acquired. It is remarkable indeed, that the local tradition should have so successfully and continuously preserved its vitality and individuality.