Funday Times

A series by Gaveshaka in association with Studio Times
The sittara’s doings in the early days
Like other forms of art and culture, painting too prospered with the introduction of Buddhism. It is recorded that after sending Arahat Mahinda to Sri Lanka, his father, Emperor Asoka sent eighteen guilds of artists, craftsmen and painters. By that time the power of art to promote piety among the Buddhists had been accepted in India. Historical records indicate that by the time Arahat Mahinda beathed his last at Anuradhapura, there was an art gallery (‘chittasala’) in the ancient capital.

The painter was called the ‘sittara’ in Sinhala. With rock caves becoming the abode of monks and their use as places of worship, early painters did their paintings on the rock surface. Later the temple wall became the canvas while religion was the sole theme of the sittara’s paintings. With his paint brush he turned the walls into chronicles in colour whereby the devotees could relate sacred stories. That is how Jataka tales (stories from the Buddha’s previous lives) became the main theme of temple paintings. Art became a medium by which the devotee could be taught a lesson or a moral. The average person could be taught to lead a very good life without committing sins, through art. A story was related in the most attractive way.

As renowned writer D. B. Dhanapala described, such art had to be traditional in style, decorative in execution, idealistic in conception and symbolic in design. He quoted the example of how a tree was drawn: The many impressions created in the mind were converted to many irregular growths of branches and leaves. The artist would have one particular pattern, a standard style and a typical arrangement. The tree on the temple wall was thus not a typical tree but a symbol and an ideal. So was the treatment of the lotus.

When he depicted the Buddha, the artist exaggerated the size and form. The figure was made more than twice the normal size. He created a spiritual symbol.

In choosing his colours, the painter showed a preference for different shades of yellow and red. This choice of colours is explained by the fact that very often he worked in a dimly lit cave. Once the surface was dark, he had to find colours, which would be seen well by the devotee, who would also get an impression at first glance. Bright colours caught the eye in the subdued light.

The Tivanka shrine at Polonnaruva, referred to as the ‘Tivanka Pilima-ge’ belongs to the 12th century. Sri Lanka’s first Archaeological Commissioner, H.C.P. Bell considered the paintings in this shrine as the best in any medieval temple in the country. He said these rivalled some of the best at the famous cave temples of Ajanta.

It was also customary for the painter to create a mass composition. See the picture at Degaldoruwa cave temple in the Kandy district. It shows a large picture composed of a number of lesser pictures in a kind of montage of movement showing the development of a story. The most important incident of a story took the most prominent place with the lesser important ones around it. There were no regular lines to divide one picture from the other. Some kind of a natural screen was created by painting a tree, a river or a pillar between the scenes. This is nicely illustrated in the Mulkirigala temple painting used here. Note the size of the squirrel on the tree and the way he is perched on a branch. Incidentally, Mulkirigala in the deep-south is a prominent low country temple where wall paintings in the hill country style can be seen. Situated near Tangalle, this temple has some very interesting paintings of Jataka stories.

The tradition of drawing Buddhist paintings on temple walls continued throughout the centuries. Prominent painters have done some excellent work in temples in the not too distant past. George Keyt’s paintings at the Gotami Vihara in Borella created quite a stir since he moved away from tradition and evolved his own style to depict the life of the Buddha. The creations by Soliyas Mendis at the Kelaniya temple show another style, which has been highly accepted and acclaimed. More recently Somabandu Vidyapati completed a whole set of new paintings at Bellanwila Raja Maha Vihara. A visit to these temples will give you a fine idea of trends in Buddhist painting while learning a lot about the life of the Buddha and history of Buddhism in Sri Lanka.

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