A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c14.s4.22

c14.s4.22

Ancient paintings are necessarily so rare that a work hitherto unpublished cannot be passed over, although it is of but slight intrinsic importance.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.