KING CRAFTSMEN.

the goldsmith brought his image, the prince found fault with it, and sent him to fetch the image placed in the royal chamber. At first mistaking this image for a daughter of the gods, he feared to touch it; but being sent to fetch it a second time, he brought it; it was placed in a car and sent to the Queen Mother with the message, "When I find a woman like this, I will take her to wife.'

This story is no doubt legendary, but shows at least that at the time of its composition the practise of a craft was not considered derogatory to the honour of a prince. A more historical mention of a royal craftsman is the reference to King Jetthatissa of Ceylon, in the Mahavamsa. 'He was," says this chronicle, "a skilful carver. This monarch, having carried out several arduous undertakings in painting and carving, himself taught the art to many of his subjects. He sculptured a beautiful image of the Bodhisatta so perfect that it seemed as if it had been wrought by supernatural power; and also a throne, a parasol and a state room with beautiful work in ivory made for it."

For other instances of royal craftsmanship, we may turn to the Arabian literature. Sir Richard Burton, speaking of the conversation between the fisherman and the Caliph in the tale of Nur-al-din Ali and the Damsel al-Jalis, says:

"Most characteristic is this familiarity between

KING CRAFTSMEN.

the greatest man then in the world and his pauper subject. The fisherman alludes to a practice of Al-Islam, instituted by Caliph Omar, that all rulers should work at some handicraft in order to spare the public treasure. Hence Sultan Mu'Ayyad of Cairo was a calligrapher who sold his handwriting, and his example was followed by the Turkish Sultans Mahmud, Abd-al-Majid and Abd-al-Aziz.”*

Another royal craftsman is spoken of in The Three Princes of China "t; the Shaykh's independent point of view is especially noteworthy. The tale is not, of course, historical, but reflects an idea which evidently appeared quite reasonable to the audience.

A certain Sultan fell in love with a Badaw girl who was standing with the Shaykh her father considering his retinue. After returning to his palace, the Sultan sent for her father, and asked the girl in marriage. The The Shaykh, however, answered: "O, our Lord the Sultan, I will not give up my daughter save to one who hath a handicraft of his own, for verily trade is a defence against poverty, and folk say :-Handicraft an it enrich not still it veileth (poverty)." The Sultan remonstrated : O, man, I am Sovran and Sultan, and with me

* " Arabian Nights," Vol. II.

† Burton, Supplemental Nights, V. 222.

A CITY REBUILT.

is abundant good"; but the Shaykh replied, “O, king of the age, in king-craft there is no trust." Whereat the Sultan "presently summoned the Shaykh of the mat-makers and learnt from him the craft of plaiting, and he wove these articles of various colours, both plain and striped."

So much for princely craftsmen in the East.

One extract from the Sinhalese chronicles will show how real could be the royal appreciation of the arts and crafts; it is a message from Vijaya Bāhu to his father, Parākrama Bahu II., who reigned in the thirteenth century. It relates to the rebuilding of a city that had been laid waste by foreign enemies, and subsequently abandoned altogether. "There are now," runs the message, "in the city of Pulatthi, palaces, image-houses, viharas, parivenas, cetiyas, relic-houses, ramparts, towers, bird-shaped houses, mansions, open halls, preaching halls, temples of the gods, and the like buildings, whereof some are yet standing, although the trees of the forest have grown over and covered them. Others thereof are fast falling, because that the pillars thereof are rotten and cannot support them. Others, alas! are bent down with the weight of huge walls split from top to bottom, and are tumbling down because that there is nothing to bear them up. Sad, indeed, is it also to see others,

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unable to stand by reason of decay and weakness, bending down to their fall day by day, like unto old men. Some there are with broken ridge poles and damaged beam ends, and some with roofs fallen down and the tiles thereof broken. In some the tiles have slipped through the breaches of the decayed roof, and in others only the walls and pillars remain. Some there are with fallen doors, and doorposts that have been displaced, and others with loose staircases and ruined galleries. Of some buildings there only remain the signs of their foundations, and in others even the sites cannot be distinguished. What need is there of further description? This city, which is now so ugly and displeasing to the eye, we purpose to make beautiful and pleasant. Let the king grant us leave thereto, and let the feast of coronation be held in the great city afterwards." And so, as the chronicle tells us, he did indeed; for "he gathered together smelters, turners, basket makers, blacksmiths, potters, goldsmiths, painters, porters, labourers, slaves, outcastes, skilful bricklayers, masons, carpenters, and divers workers in stone. And, further he assembled all sorts of blacksmiths' tools, such as bellows, sledge-hammers, pincers, and anvils; and also numerous sharp saws, adzes, axes, wood-cleavers, stone-cutters' chisels, knives, hammers, spades, mats, baskets, and the like;

FEUDAL CRAFTSMEN IN CEYLON.

all these son."*

Idid he send unto his royal

Let us examine in slightly greater detail the organisation of the king's craftsmen, that is the State craftsmen, in Ceylon, as it existed up to the day on which the British Governor replaced the Kandyan king. It must be first understood that the organisation of society was altogether feudal. The possession of land was the foundation of the king's right to the services and contributions of the people, and vice versa. For all land held, service was due from the tenant to the king, that is to the State. The lands and services were inseparably associated, and as a rule descended from father to son in the same family, and this remained the same even when the services were bestowed by the king on individuals or given to religious foundations. There was thus no free trade in land; and every man had his place in the society, and his work. Landholders were classed in accordance with the services due from them. The vast majority were cultivators, whose duty it was to keep the State granaries well supplied; others were the soldiers, the musicians, the washermen, the servants, the potters, and weavers, and the craftsmen proper, viz.: the carpenters, gold

* Mahavamsa, Ch. LXXXVIII.

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