Text and pix by Sugath Perera

ecently we got an opportunity to visit a temple which can be in a sense compared to an Art Gallery. When you go towards Rajagiriya from Borella town after a few yards, you will find Gothami Road.

When you go along that way you can see Gothami Viharaya. When we reached the temple it was about 4 p.m. There are rooms (Aawaasa Ge) constructed for monks opposite the entrance gate. The Buddhist shrine, the ‘Bo’ tree and the Chaithya are on the right side. We saw some devotees sweeping the ‘Bodhiya’ premises. We were anxiously waiting to see the drawings in the ‘Budu Medura.’

We met the Chief Incumbent of the temple Venerable Thelwaththe Naagitha to get permission to see the drawings.  “You can see the pictures but I can’t give permission to take photographs,” the priest said.

The frescoes at Gothami Vihara is famous because of the veteran artist George Keyt. Except paintings at Kelani Vihara drawn by Soliyas Mendis, Gothami Vihara paintings are the most prestigious paintings among modern Vihara paintings.

Geroge Keyt has painted those pictures between 1939 and 1942. Though not a Buddhist, he had later studied Buddhism in depth.

Work of Keyt

George Keyt was honoured as first modern artist in our country between 1901 and 1993. He had helped Lionel Wendt to form the 43 Group. It is George Keyt who introduced modern art to Sri Lanka.

He is considered to be the modern artist who pursued the paintings style (cubism) of Pablo Picasso.

“Venerable Naagitha Thera, I have heard this temple is called ‘Peiris Nonage Pansala.’ Why is that?”  I asked.

“The land of the temple has been donated by Mrs. Apaloniya de Soysa Peiris. She is Sir James Peiris’ mother. This temple had been earlier named ‘Abhinawaramaya’ and later to fulfil a request by Mrs. Peiris, the temple had been re-named in memory of Lord Buddha’s step mother, Gothami, the priest said.

“This road had earlier been named differently?” I asked.

“Yes, it was Yakbedda Paara. According to a legend this road was infested with demons. Due to this, in ancient times people had not travelled along this road as they were scared of the devils after 4 p.m.,” the priest said.

We next went into the Buddha shrine. The paintings of Gothami Viharaya are different from other Vihara paintings, the content is different from others.

Normally temple paintings depict the Jaathaka  (details of the births of Bodhisathva who aspired to become the Buddha) stories. But Gothami Vihara paintings portray the special occasions of the Bodhisatva and Lord Buddha. For instance: The birth of Prince Siddhartha up to the demise of Lord Buddha (Maha Pari Nibbaana).

I casually looked at the painting depicting the wedding ceremony of princess Siduhath and princess Yasodara. Yashodara was painted in black colour, I wonder what the reason for that was.

‘I have heard that as Geroge Keyt’s wife was a dark lady,   Keyt has painted the picture of Yashodara in black colour,’ I said.

“People say so,” the priest replied with a smile. ‘I have seen Keyt’s views on that idea in a newspaper. Is this what Keyt has said?” the priest questioned.

In Buddhist literature the figure of princess Yasodara is described in different ways. So I wanted to paint the figure of Yasodara with special facial features that other Indian women didn’t have.

I wanted to highlight princess Yasodara’s beauty. I have seen several women in India. They have a skin that attracts men. Yasodara was born in Nepal to a high- caste family. I just conjectured, guessing that Yasodara would have been a lady with a fair complexion.

The other speciality of these paintings is the continuous flowing of the lines. Unlike in traditional temple paintings, that incidents are depicted separately. The Gothami paintings are drawn as one frame.

I asked, “when you look at the paintings of female dancers, apart from getting the idea of frustration about Sansaara (the cycle of rebirth), you get lustful, erotic feelings that bind you to mundane life.

Then Ven. Naagitha Thera with a smile said, these paintings are inclined more to artistic aspects than to religious concepts.

“In early stages there were various objections against these paintings,” the priest said confirming my belief.

World famous

The paintings Maara Parajaya (overpowering of worldings - ideas on the occasions of attaining ‘Buddhahood’)

Damsak Pewathum Suttra (first sermon of Lord Buddha), Sathara Pera Nimithi (The four omens Prince Siduhath was confronted with when he was on an outing) are special types of paintings.

The priest said some paintings of the lotus and lotus leaves painted thought to be by Keyt are world famous paintings by Manju Sri.

“We have spent nearly Rs. 2,000,000 to conserve these pictures. It is our duty to protect these valuable works of art for posterity. Therefore we don’t allow anyone to take photographs of the paintings,” the priest said.

“I gazed again at the ‘yasodara picture’ and returned after worshipping the priest.