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Browse Items in Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting (166 total)
Sujatha, a female devotee of Buddha
Description: An episode in the life of the Buddha picked out as worthy of illustration by painters of the Kandyan period (18th to early 19th century A.D.) is the offering of alms by Sujatha. She would have been considered typical of the average female lay devotee. This painting is from the Gangarama Vihare near Kandy, Sri Lanka.
Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha
Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting
Women behind men worshipping at a Buddhist temple
Description: Among the cave paintings of Dambulla, which have been dated to the 18th century by art historians, is this illustration of four female devotees, seated behind two men, worshipping the Buddha.
Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha
Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting
A royal group worshipping at a Buddhist stupa
Description: This scene, from the Dambulla cave paintings, shows the family of Dutthagamini (a popular Sri Lankan King of the 2nd century B.C.E.) together with god Sakra worshiping at the Ruvanvelisaya, Sri Lanka. It is noteworthy that the queen stands in front of the King.
Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha
Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting
Bhikkhunis bringing a sapling of the Bodhi tree to Sri Lanka from India
Description: The only illustration in art of Bhikkhunis or Buddhist nuns during the period covered by this survey is seen at Dambulla. This painting shows the arrival of bhikkhuni Sanghamitta (the founder of the order of Buddhist nuns in Si Lanka) together with her companions, bringing with them a sapling of the Bodhi tree, the tree under which the Buddha attained enlightenment.
Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha
Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting
Women in music and dance
Description: Women in music and dance: Music and dancing were considered special accomplishments of women. Appearing as they do in temple sculpture and painting, it is mostly the devotional aspect of these art forms that is represented. However, one does also notice the purely decorative use of the female dancer in art. The expression of bhakti or devotion through music and dance is common to both Buddhist and Hindu forms of worship. Their incidence is more pronounced in the Polonnaruva and post-Polonnaruva periods.
Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha
Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting
A bronze statuette of a dancing girl
Description: This bronze figure of a female dancer was found at the Kuttampokuna or Twin ponds of the Abhayagiri monastery at Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. Some authorities believe that it was a part of a chain suspending an oil lamp. It is important to note that female dancers were considered appropriate as decorative devices in buildings associated with monasteries during the mid-Anuradhapura period to which this bronze may be assigned.
Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha
Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting
Female dancer between two male musicians
Description: This stone relief carving of a female dancer between two male musicians can be seen on the north face of the Lion Bath at Mihintale. This pond was attached to a monastic complex, and can be assigned to the mid-Anuradhapura period according to scholars.
Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha
Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting
A relief of a female dancer
Description: Seen at the Archaeological Museum at Anuradhapura is this relief of a single female dancer on an elaborately carved stone fragment, ascribed to the 8th century A.D.
Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha
Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting
A bronze dancing girl forming a section of a lamp chain
Description: Forming a section of a bronze lamp chain found in one of the relic chambers of the Sutighara Cetiya at Dadigama, Sri Lanka is a female dancer. Presently housed in the Archaeological museum, Dadigama, Sri Lanka the bronze lamp can be dated to the Polonnaruva period.
Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha
Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting
A female dancer carved on the wall of a temple
Description: Belonging to the Polonnaruva period is this somewhat fragmentary terra-cotta image of a female dancer carved on the outer side of the south wall of the Lankatilake image house at Polonnaruva.
Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha
Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting
