[Footnote 2:  Rajavali, p. 222.]

The construction of both these descriptions of temples was improved in later times, but no examples remain of the ancient chaityas or built temples in Ceylon, and those of the rock temples still existing exhibit a very slight advance beyond the rudest attempts at excavation.

On examining the cave temples of continental India, they appear to exhibit three stages of progress,—­first mere unadorned cells, like those formed by Dasartha, the grandson of Asoca, in the granite rocks of Behar, about B.C. 200; next oblong apartments with a verandah in front, like that of Ganesa, at Cuttack; and lastly, ample halls with colonnades separating the nave from the aisles, and embellished externally with facades and agricultural decorations, such as the caves of Karli, Ajunta, and Ellora.[1] But in Ceylon the earliest rock temples were merely hollows beneath overhanging rocks, like those still existing at Dambool, and the Aluwihara at Matelle, in both of which advantage has been taken of the accidental shelter of rounded boulders, and an entrance constructed by applying a facade of masonry, devoid of all pretensions to ornament.

[Footnote 1:  See FERGUSSON’S Illustrations of the Rock-cut Temples of India, Lond. 1845, and Handbook of Architecture, ch. ii. p. 23.]

The utmost effort at excavation never appears to have advanced beyond the second stage attained in Bengal,—­a small cell with a few columns to support a verandah in front; and even of this but very few examples now exist in Ceylon, the most favourable being the Gal-wihara at Pollanarrua, which, according to the Rajavali, was executed by Prakrama I., in the 12th century.[1]

[Footnote 1:  Mahawanso, ch. lxxvii.]

Taking into consideration the enthusiasm exhibited by the kings of Ceylon, and the munificence displayed by them in the exaltation and extension of Buddhism, their failure to emulate the labours of its patrons in India, must be accounted for by the intractable nature of the rocks with which they had to contend, the gneiss and quartz of Ceylon being less favourable to such works than the sandstone of Cuttack, or the trap formations of the western ghauts.

Oil-painting.—­In decorative art, carving and moulding in chunam were the principal expedients resorted to.  Of this substance were also formed the “beads resplendent like gems;” the “flower-ornaments” resembling gold; and the “festoons of pearls,” that are more than once mentioned in describing the interiors of the palaces.[1] Externally, painting was applied to the dagobas alone, as in the climate of Ceylon, exposure to the rains would have been fatal to the duration of the colours, if only mixed in tempera; but the Singhalese, at a very early period, were aware of the higher qualities possessed by some of the vegetable oils.  The claim of Van Eyck to the invention of oil-painting in the 15th century, has been shown