A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c13.s6.18
A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c13.s6.18
- Language
- English
c13.s6.18
No monument in the island is more extraordinary than the gigantic ‘stone book’ (*gal-pota*) at Polonnāruwa, a monolith brought from Mihintalē, eighty miles distant, at the close of the twelfth century by Nissanka's ‘mighty men’, as recorded in a long inscription on its surface. It is nearly 27 feet long, 4 feet 7 inches broad, and varies in depth from 1 foot 4 inches to 2 feet 2 inches. The relief sculpture shown in Fig. 182 treats of the common Indian subject, elephants pouring water over Srī or Lakshmī—the goddess of good fortune. The art is not of high quality.