A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c14.s4: Section V. Ceylon
A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c14.s4
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Section V. Ceylon
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Having been constrained to comment upon the long-continued neglect of the Ajaṇṭā and Bāgh paintings, and the failure of the authorities of the Native States concerned to take the simple measures needed to save priceless works from destruction, it is a pleasure to turn to Ceylon and recognize the well-considered and successful policy of the island government with regard to the closely related frescoes at Sīgiriya.³
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³ Sīgiriya; also written Sīgiri, Seygiri, Hīgiri, Sīgiri-gala, Sīgiri-nuwara, and, in inscriptions, Sīhigiri. The name, in all its forms, means ‘Lion-hill’, with reference to the passage connecting the galleries, which was wrought in the shape of a gigantic lion. The hill stands in the Inamaluwa Koralē of the Mātalē District, Central Province, about twenty miles almost due west from the mediaeval capital, Polonnāruwa.
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The marvellous citadel at that place, perched upon the summit of an isolated, tower-shaped hill, 600 feet high, and rising abruptly from the plain, was constructed as an impregnable refuge by the parricide king, Kāsyapa I, who reigned from A. D. 479 to 497. The rock-cut galleries leading to the tyrant’s aerie having crumbled away in the course of ages, the summit had become inaccessible save to occasional adventurous cragsmen. The work of excavation, repair, and restoration undertaken in 1895 by the Government of Ceylon was carried on systematically under the capable guidance of Mr. H. C. P. Bell, Archaeological Commissioner, until its completion some ten years later, as recorded in Sessional Paper XX of 1909. The paintings, with which alone we are now concerned, have been secured by wire nettings and other devices in such a way that ‘they can be examined closely, without difficulty, and in perfect safety; from one end of the caves to the other they are for ever secure from further damage’. The story of the operations, as related in Mr. Bell’s *Reports*, terminating with the document cited above, is a most interesting record of successful wrestling with formidable engineering difficulties, and of the completion of a well-devised plan, without parsimony and without extravagance.
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The paintings are found in two irregular rock-chambers, usually described as ‘pockets’, situated on the western cliff, about fifteen yards above the floor of the southern end of the gallery. Six such ‘pockets’ exist, but the remains of painting are confined to four, and those of any importance exist only in ‘pockets A and B’—two rough, natural chambers forming a cave 67½ feet in length, divided into two sections by a cramped ledge. ‘Pocket B,’ 41¼ feet long, is comparatively roomy, whereas ‘Pocket A’, 26¼ feet in length, is cramped.
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The paintings comprise twenty-one half or three-quarter-length female portraits, besides the hand of another figure. Seventeen of these are in ‘Pocket B’ and only five in ‘Pocket A’. The figures in the more spacious chamber B are mostly above life-size, while those in chamber A, where space was limited, are below life-size.
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In 1889 Mr. A. Murray succeeded with great difficulty in obtaining copies of thirteen figures in either pastel or coloured photographs, now preserved in the Colombo Museum. His meritorious work, performed when the ‘pockets’ were all but inaccessible, has been superseded by a magnificent series of facsimile copies made in oils on canvas by Mr. Perera, which also are exhibited at Colombo. These copies, which are described as reproducing with minute accuracy every detail of the originals in size, colour, and all other respects, have been carefully photographed. Some of the photographs have been reproduced in Mr. Bell’s *Reports* and Mr. Havell’s book, and a selection is now given from copies liberally supplied by the Government of Ceylon.
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The paintings were executed on a carefully prepared surface formed by the application of fine lime-plaster from a quarter to half an inch thick laid on a bed about half an inch in thickness, composed of tempered clay mixed with kaolin, and strengthened by the admixture of rice-husks, with, perhaps, some cocoa-nut fibre. Mr. Bell believes that the pictures were wrought in tempera on a dry surface. The process, possibly, did not differ much from that used at Ajaṇṭā. Except that Fig. 14 in 'pocket B' has a black background, the range of colours is confined to three—red, yellow, and green. The blues, so conspicuous at Ajaṇṭā and Bāgh, are absent.
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PLATE LVIII. Sīgiriya frescoes; ‘Pocket B’, Figs. 3, 4. (Photo. 1113, A. S., Ceylon.)
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The subject is a procession of noble ladies carrying flowers, and attended by female servants, all moving in the direction of the Pidurāngala Buddhist temple to the north of the hill, as if about to make offerings at that shrine. All the figures are fully clothed from the waist downwards in coloured *kambaiyas*, and above the waist in short-sleeved jackets made of the finest material, and in some cases barely indicated by a line of deeper colour.
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The noble ladies are painted in pale yellow or orange, their attendants being distinguished by a greenish complexion. All the women are decked with a profusion of ornaments. Each ends below in a cloud-like mass, a peculiarity best explained by Mr. Bell's suggestion that it is due to the irregular form of the cramped rock space available, on which the artist could not have drawn the legs without unsightly distortion. The suggestion made by another author that the clouds are intended to indicate the divine character of the personages appears to be incorrect. In accordance with the usual Indian practice, the figures were first outlined in red and black, and then painted in, not necessarily by the same hand. In one instance it is apparent that the outline was not exactly followed.
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The photographs selected give a good idea of the style. Figures 3 and 4 in Plate LVIII seem to me to be the best. Figures 7 and 8 (Plate LIX) are nearly as good. The drawing of Figures 11 and 12 (Plate LX) is not so satisfactory.
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The date of the frescoes in the closing years of the fifth century is fixed with sufficient accuracy by the known limits of the reign of Kāśyapa I, A. D. 479 and 497. They are, therefore, practically contemporary with the paintings in Cave XVI at Ajaṇṭā; and all critics recognize the fact that the art of Sīgiriya is closely related to that of Ajaṇṭā. For instance, the lady carrying a lotus in Plate LIX, may be compared with the similar figure in Cave II at Ajaṇṭā, as reproduced in Griffiths, Plate XXXI. But the limitation of the colours and the total absence of blue in the Ceylonese paintings are important differences, and I do not think that the Sīgiriya work equals the best at Ajaṇṭā. Mr. Havell is bold enough to credit the ladies of Sīgiriya with 'Botticellian grace', a criticism which may not meet with universal acceptance. But, whatever may be the final verdict of experts as to the intrinsic merits of the Ceylonese paintings, there can be no doubt that they are extremely remarkable productions of their age, and well deserving of careful study and serious criticism. There is nothing to indicate who the Ceylonese artists were, whence they came, or how they learned their skill.
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The Sīgiriya figures, although by far the most important and interesting, are by no means the only remains of ancient painting in the island. Numerous traces of early wall-paintings have been detected at Anurādhapura, of which the best preserved are those on the walls of the detached building ('frontispiece' of Smither)
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[Figure: PLATE LIX. Sīgiriya frescoes; ‘Pocket B’, Figs. 7, 8.
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on the eastern side of the Ruwanweli *dāgaba*. Besides white, three primary colours, yellow, red, and blue, are used, the yellow and blue being sometimes combined to pro-
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FIG. 211. *Kinnara* and lotuses: Ruwanweli, Anurādhapura. (Smither, Pl. XXXII, Fig. 1.)
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FIG. 212. Dwarf: Ruwanweli, Anurādhapura. (Smither, Pl. XXXII, Fig. 3.)
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duce green. Yellow in various shades is the favourite, and was obtained from the natural arsenic sulphide called orpiment. The blue is indigo, not lapis lazuli.
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The style of the specimens reproduced in colour by Mr. Smither is distinctly antique and closely allied to that of the later Ajaṇṭā paintings, being characterized, as they are, by bold free-hand execution of curves, with a truthful and at the same time decorative treatment of plant motives. Two examples are offered, Figs. 211, 212, which may be dated at any time from the sixth to the eighth century. The date of the building of the *dāgaba*, of course, gives no clue to the date of mural decorations, which, in all probability, were retouched from time to time on the old lines. The colours are white and tints of brownish yellow.
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[Figure: FIG. 213. Cave painting at Tamankaḍuwā (Pulligoda galkanda). (Photo. 272 A. of A. S., Ceylon.)]
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Ancient paintings are necessarily so rare that a work hitherto unpublished cannot be passed over, although it is of but slight intrinsic importance. Mr. Bell discovered two caves at a place called Tamankaḍuwā (Pulligoda galkanda), in a southerly direction from Kudā Ulpota and Dimbulāgala, North Central Province, one of which contains a painting of five men, with halos and conical head-dresses, seated in an attitude of adoration. The colours are said to be 'well preserved', but no further details are recorded, and the 'short inscription' in the adjoining cave does not appear to have been deciphered. The age of the painting, therefore, is doubtful, but, so far as I can judge from a photograph, it must be of early date, possibly of the seventh century (Fig. 213). It may, however, be later.
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Burgess, J.—*Notes on the Buddha Rock-Temples of Ajaṇṭā, their Paintings and Sculptures, and on the Paintings of the Bagh Caves, &c.* (small 4to, paper, Bombay Gov. Central Press, 1879). Griffiths.—*The Paintings of the Buddhist Cave-Temples of Ajaṇṭā, Khandesh, India* (2 vols., atlas fol.; Griggs, London, 1896). Herringham, Mrs.—'The Frescoes of Ajaṇṭā' (*Burlington Magazine*, vol. xvii (June, 1910), pp. 136-8, with 2 plates). Bell, H. C. P.—*Annual Report Archaeol. S., Ceylon, 1905* (Sessional Paper xx, 1909). Smither.—*Architectural Remains, Anurādhapura, Ceylon* (printed by order of the Ceylon Government, atlas fol., boards, *n. d.*, but published in 1894).