A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c8.159

c8.159

Shrines of the Hindu gods find honoured places among the Buddhist buildings, Vishnu, for instance, being regarded as the protector of Ceylon, and worshipped in subordination to Buddha. Hindu temples intended for Brahmanical worship, as practised by the Tamil invaders, also exist. One illustration of such a temple at Polonnāruwa, dedicated to Siva, and dating probably from the eleventh or twelfth century, may be given to show how far the Ceylonese Hindu buildings resemble the South Indian Chola types.² The Tivanka Vihārē at Polonnāruwa, built by Parākrama Bāhu, and generally miscalled the Thūpārāma, has a high pyramidal roof in Dravidian style, and, generally speaking, the Polonnāruwa buildings have a distinctly Dravidian character, but the huge Dravidian gateways (*gopuram*) are unknown in Ceylon.