Moonstones - What are they?
These beautifully carved, halfmoon shaped stones at the base of Important sites scattered around Sri Lanka are called Moonstones. I rather like them, so I thought I'd tell you a little about them.The Sinhala for the moonstone is Sandakadapahana (Sanda-Moon, Kada-Half, and Pahana-Stone). Moonstones are Tessentially richly decorated in concentric semi circular bands of low relief carvings of flowers, creepers, birds and animals. Many scholars regard moonstones as some of the finest examples of the ancient Sinhalese artists, which is the reason for reference to them in the Mahavamsa itself.The ancient Sinhala people venerated the sun as giver of life, fertility and growth. The sun was given a predominant place in their poetry, paintings, sculpture, flags, etc. Its importance is such that their main cultural and social celebration, the Sinhala New Year, around the 14th of April each year, is...
