Polonnaruwa Era had Paintings Too! Not Just Rock Carvings and Inscriptions. Thivanka Pilimage Paintings Reproduced in Colombo Museum


Mideaval Polonnaruwa, at first glance, seems to be but carvings of and on stone, and rocks. It is very easy to forget that Paintings also were a thing in this era, until one steps into the Thivanka Pilimage, now a ruin with am intact stone roof, and notable for having a modern metal roof and scaffolding to protect it further. Upon entering inside, where photography is prohibited, one might get to glance at some of these Paintings in the very dim light, most of which are in dark corners and cannot be seen from the main sanctum. One may forget about the Paintings even existing after leaving the Pilimage.


That is until realising that these paintings have been re-created and are on display in the Colombo museum.. available for all see it's beauty, and how tall and big they are, in full illumination. As a kid, one would glance and pass this gallery, as it would just say "Thivanka Pilimage Art" and it just doesn't sound too significant. It's only after visiting the Pilimage, and realising that, hey, this is art from Polonnaruwa era.. that it becomes significant, as it should be. Which is why, I added the photos of the site and the recreated paintings in this post.







Polonnaruwa wasn't a colorless place, it however didn't occur to me till a year ago. A visit to the ancient tech museum showing how these places looked like at their prime, like the Vatadage.. and these recreated paintings in this gallery are good reminders of that. Polonnaruwa era wasn't just rock carvings, who knows, maybe they would've painted over everything, and we just wouldn't have the traces of dyes left. Lankathilake, the Gam Viharaya, Vaijayantha Prasada have known remnants of such paintings too.




Not relevant to Polonnaruwa, but I'm bringing up because it's interesting. [This ](https://www.reddit.com/r/AncientIndia/s/TO07LCzGon) is a fresco from [North sub-shrine of the Talgirishwara temple, Panamalai, Tamil Nadu, India](https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/ic/id/7921/), from what was Pallava Empire in around 800s AD. At a glance, it looks like a Sigiriya fresco, and looks as if it were the same artform. Sigiriya frescoes were also from the same century, so it's rlly cool to see the same fresco tradition, the same artstyle, being in both 800s AD Anuradhapura and Pallava, across borders.
 

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