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 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.

66

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, Parakrama 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,

A CITY REBUILT.

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 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 . . . did he send unto his royal son."*

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.

FEUDAL CRAFTSMEN

smiths, masons, ivory carvers, armourers, founders and painters, altogether perhaps a tenth of the population. All of these owned service to the king in respect of the lands they held. The lands descended in the family from generation to generation, and were cultivated by the owners. Everyone was thus directly dependent on the land for his living. The craftsmen, however, were not serfs, nor adscriptus glebæ, as a tenant had always the right to refuse service and surrender his land. This, however, only happened in rare instances, as during the last king's reign, when too arduous services were sometimes required. Of temple tenants, Knox remarked that their duties in this life were so easy, that they might expect to suffer for it in the next! But hereditary social status and landholding went very much together, and to surrender the family service land would have been the last thing desired by a Kandyan craftsman. If, by chance, the succession failed, this would be remedied by adoption of a pupil and heir of the same caste.

The State Craftsmen fell into two groups, those of the "Four Workshops" (Pattal Hatara), who worked always at the palace, and those of the separate districts, who had to do certain shares of work at the palace, but were more often at home, where they had to work for the local officials; and those of the artificers' department (Kottal-badde).