Indian Sculpture and Painting, Illustrated by Typical Masterpieces, with an Explanation of their Motives and Ideals c10.154

c10.154

The subject of these Sîgiri paintings cannot be easily determined from the fragments which are left. Mr. H. C. P. Bell, Archæological Commissioner of Ceylon, supposes that they represent “a procession of the queens and princesses of Kâsyapa’s Court, with their attendants, on their way to worship at the Buddhist *vihare* at Pidurâ-gala, the hill lying about a mile to the north of Sigiriya,”¹ but his explanation of the figures being cut short at the waist by cloud effects—that it was done to economise space—is not artistically convincing. The most that can be said is that, though apparently floating in the clouds, they appear to be human beings carrying the usual floral offerings to a Buddhist shrine. They could hardly be celestial beings, like the *vidyâdharas*, which attended on Buddhist divinities, because the principal figures are themselves attended by servants.