Personally I cannot see it as a lotus, though no doubt it is the nearest that could be made to such a flower. To me it appears exactly like a "Tudor rose" in stone. The Lotus Bath is not at the extreme end of the discoveries in this direction. Returning from the dell where it lies, we penetrated farther northward along the made path. A strong warm smell, unmistakably "wild beast," set us sniffing until the tiny hoof-marks of some deer showed up in the soft mud of the footway and explained it. They had passed that way between our coming and going, not five minutes' interval. Soon we came out into a raw new clearing decorated by stubs of destroyed trees. At the south end is a circular brick building with trees clutching at the life of it. This is another Watedagé, and is a fine object lesson in the work to be overcome by the Survey authorities. Not so very unlike this must the glorious recovered Watedagé near Thuparama have looked before restoration! At the far end of the clearing stands Demalamaha-seya, built on the same plan as Jetawanarama and Thuparama. There is something impressive in the fact of these three great temples standing at equal distances in a north and south line, and a study of their similarities and differences would be instructive. Demala is larger than the last named, being more nearly the size of Jetawanarama, which it resembles also in its interior arrangements. The entrance is very perfect and almost the same in construction. Inside, at the west end of the shrine, is also a huge upright statue of Buddha. When undamaged this must have been forty-one feet high. The top of the head was at some time wantonly broken, the rest fell in a monsoon rain, and one crystal eye was found, minus its pupil, in the rubbish below. But the chief glory of Demala once lay in its fresco paintings, with which the walls were literally covered. "All else was-by the latest architect -subordinated to providing the fullest wall-space for the display of paintings intended to cover every inch of surface, perhaps to the very soffit of the vaulted roof." In 1885 Mr. Burrows unearthed the vestibule and found some of these paintings. Those farther inside were laid bare in 1909. These paintings represent stories from the Jataka tales of the Bodhisavata and legends of Buddha's temple in Ceylon : "Never was a greater wealth of exquisitely painted scenes from the Buddhist legend ever presented than at this mediæ val viharé of Polonnaruwa . . . here set down in coloured fresco with a naturalness, spirit and technique that tell the story with unerring fidelity. There are paintings still left at Demala-maha-seya which rival some of the best in the cave temples at Ajanta ! (1909 Report.) The general tints, as is usual, are orange and red, but here and there these are supplemented by a pale greenish-blue, which tint is used, as at Sigiriya, to represent darker people, such as attendants. The Cingalese, like the Burmese, judging from their paintings, picture themselves as a light-skinned race, though not with so much reason. Of all the stories, that of the hare (the coming Buddha in that form) is probably most familiar to Europeans. The hare having nought else to give to the hungry wayfarer, offered her own body, and to glorify the feat the figure of the hare appears in the moon's disc in the sky as a reflected image shines in a silver mirror." The representation of this tale is on the south wall. A full account of the frescoes, with the stories they tell, is to be found in the 1909 Report. This temple is not mentioned in the Mahawansa. Experts think that the original construction may be assigned to Wijaya Bahu I (A.D. 1065), grandfather of Parakrama I, but this is merely judging from the style of ornamentation of the outer walls. These are as rich in ornament as those of Jeta wanarama, and contrast with the comparative simplicity of Thuparama. Though of Hindu design, the temple was Buddhist, as is shown by the statue and fresco decoration. Not very far to the south of the Lotus Bath, and east of the path, is a huge, shapeless mass, once a dagaba; this is called to-day Unagala Vehera, but Mr. Bell says that this is the true Demalamaha-seya, the largest dagaba of all, "1,300 cubits round about," a Ceylon builder's cubit being equal to 2 feet. This dagaba was built by Parakrama; the name Damilo corrupted to Demala embodies the fact that Tamils who had been taken prisoners were employed upon its construction. These three great fanes, Thuparama, Jetawan |