Browse Archive Items (166 total)

A scene from a Jataka Story

Description: This is a scene from the Vessantara Jataka (one of the former birth stories of the Buddha) painted on the walls of the Madawela vihara at Bokkavela in the Kandy district. While noting the social differences among women themselves, the maid clothed only waist downwords, performing service tasks, and the queen sitting away from it all, one is also made aware of the role differences between male and female, the King appearing as the primary decision maker with the queen playing a secondary role.…
Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha

A scene from a Jataka Story

Description: This one-time queen turned beggar, carrying her crippled lover, an illustration of the Cullapaduma Jataka (one of the former birth stories of the Buddha) at the Tivanka Image House.
Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha

Paintings at the Tivanka Image House, life of the Buddha

Description: Many of the 12th and 13th century A.D. paintings at the Tivanka Image House in Polonnaruva are faded. However, some episodes from the life of the Buddha as well as Jataka stories can be identified. This scene shows a group of elite women associated with the events preceding the birth of prince Siddhartha.
Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha

Three women of different social grades

Description: In India, narrative sculpture is as old as Buddhist art itself, the impact of which was no doubt felt in Sri Lanka. This marble relief which belongs to the Amaravati art tradition of the early centuries of the Christian era appears to have been imported from India. The plaque was found in 1986 during excavations associated with the Cultural Triangle Project, near the so-called Buddhist Railing site close to the Jetavanarama stupa. The scene, which probably illustrates an episode in the life of…
Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha

The female in narrative art

Description: The female in narrative art: A useful source for the study of conceptual positions regarding women in early Sri Lankan society is narrative art, which is largely in the form of painting. Unfortunately the chronological distribution of this material is extremely uneven, being weighted on the last two centuries of the period dealt with in this survey. Very little of the narrative paintings of the earlier period has survived.
Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha

Mythical creatures (part female and part bird) - Kinnaris

Description: Painted on the ceiling of the ground floor of the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy is this group of Kinnari (female Kinnara) maidens in combination.
Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha

Mythical creatures (part female and part bird) - Kinnaris

Description: This is a 17th century A.D. wood carving of a Kinnari (female Kinnara) holding a musical instrument at the Ambakke devalaya, Sri Lanka.
Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha

Mythical creatures (part female and part bird) - Kinnaris

Description: Exhibited at the Museum in the Isurumuniya temple premises is this group of Kinnaras among whom is a Kinnari (female Kinnara). Traditionally they are thought to be heavenly musicians. Here the male carries a musical instrument. The stone carving has been dated to about the 5th or 6th century A. D.
Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha

Composite figures (part female) - Narilata

Description: An elaborate narilata motif which consists of the central female forms and a host of other female heads within the creeper design is seen painted on the wooden ceiling of the ground floor of the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy, Sri Lanka. It is a rare form of the narilata motif and serves a decorative purpose.
Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha

Composite figures (part female) - Narilata

Description: This comb with a carving of a Narilata is one of a large selection of ivory combs of the Kandyan period exhibited at the Colombo National museum.
Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha