A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c8.148

c8.148

The *dāgabas*, huge masses of masonry, wonderful as stupendous monuments of laborious engineering, are not in themselves interesting as examples of architectural art. The work of the artist must be sought in the numerous and splendid associated buildings. The stone railing never attained in Ceylon the development which in India made it the vehicle for much of the highest art of the country. The only considerable example in the island, situated at Anurādhapura, and discovered and rebuilt by Mr. Bell, was a well-designed structure of uncertain date, perfectly plain, as at Sānchī, except for sculptured guard-posts at the entrance. It surrounded a rectangular pillared hall, not a *dāgaba* (Fig. 18).¹ The monasteries and temples connected with the *dāgabas* included every variety of edifice needful for the accommodation of thousands of monks and for the ritual of a highly ceremonial religion.