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A Review of The Religious World of Kiirti Srii: Buddhism, Art, and Politics in Late Medieval Sri Lanka
The Religious World of Kiirti Srii: Buddhism, Art, and Politics in Late Medieval Sri Lanka.
By John Clifford Holt. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996, x + 147 pages, ISBN 0-19-510757-8, $26.95
Reviewed By Mahinda Deegalle
Foreign Researcher,
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
Visiting Research Fellow,
Aichi Gakuin University, Japan
mahinda@dpc.aichi-gakuin.ac.jpThe Religious World of Kiirti Srii discusses an important transition period in late medieval Sri Lankan Buddhism; it documents scholarly and religious practices of Sri Lankan Buddhists at the crossroads of encountering Western influences. This is an important work both as an account of temple paintings and as an analysis of political implications of religious works.
Holt analyses extensively the profile of Kiirti Srii Raajasinha (1751–1782 CE), a late medieval Sri Lankan king who had great influence on the development and the preservation of Buddhist religious practices in the Kandyan kingdom. When Sri Lankan monastic Buddhism was at a point of disappearance due to the fact of not having higher-ordained (upasampadaa) monks to perform Buddhist ecclesiastical (Vinaya) acts, this king saved Sri Lankan Buddhist tradition by inviting Thai Buddhist monks. By providing facilities to restart higher-ordination rites (upasampadaa) in Kandy in 1753, Kiirti Srii renewed Sri Lankan Theravaada Buddhist tradition. Monastic continuity through upasampadaa is crucial for Theravaada traditions in South and Southeast Asia, which emphasize the presence of active higher-ordination lineage. In the reign of Kiirti Srii, Buddhism was at the point of extinction since monastic communities lacked any fully-ordained members, and also, most members did not possess the seriousness that is required for proper religious practices—it had the Buddhism of Ga.ninnaansee, a group of half-monastic and half-lay practitioners. (For further information, see The Ga.ninnaansee: A Peculiar Development of the Sangha in Eighteenth Century Sri Lanka. By K. N. O. Dharmadasa. Studies in Buddhism and Culture: In Honour of Professor Dr. Egaku Mayeda. Tokyo: Sankibo Busshorin, 1991. Pp. 161–174). Through royal patronage, Kiirti Srii revived Buddhism and most religious practices that survive even today after a long process of appropriation and revision, which some have dubbed as Protestant Buddhism, and which have their origins at the time of Kiirti Srii.
Holt's primary purpose has been to illustrate the importance of temple paintings in understanding Sri Lankan Theravaada and arts and crafts in the Kandyan kingdom. Through an analysis of temple paintings, Holt wants to see the way Sri Lankans became and lived as Buddhists. He emphasizes paintings as the most easily understood expressions of Buddhist religiosity (p. 95). According to Holt, paintings functioned as the most important didactic devices to instill the classical Buddhist world view among Sinhala Buddhists and, as cultic religious expressions, paintings clearly illustrate not only the fundamental mythic history of Theravaada but also the basic behavioral actions and cognitive tenets (p. 93).
The Religious World of Kiirti Srii contains six chapters, entitled "Kiirti Srii's Predicament," "Discourses of a Buddhist King," "A Visual Liturgy," "Royalty Reborn," "Implications for Theory and Method," and "Ethnic Identity and Ethnic Alienation." The appendix presents material evidence from two famous temples—Gangaaraama and Ridii Vihaara—to demonstrate the generous religious activities of Kiirti Srii. In addition, this text includes fifty plates in total, sixteen in color! They depict a variety of themes: sixteen sacred places in Sri Lanka (So.losmasthaana), Gotama's meeting of twenty-four previous Buddhas (Suuvisi Vivara.na), several jaataka stories exemplifying the ten perfections (Vessantara, Sutasoma, Uraga, Khantivaada), scenes from Buddha's biography such as defeating Maara, seven weeks of contemplation (sat sati), his renunciation of worldly happiness and preaching the first sermon, scenes from the Mahaava.msa (plate 20–22), illustrations of thousand Buddhas and Bodhisattva Metteyya (plate 43), and two illustrations of Kiirti Srii himself (plate 1–2).
According to Holt, The Religious World of Kiirti Srii is neither concerned primarily with philosophical ideas or philological issues nor concerned solely with social history, but comprises an interdisciplinary study of what it meant to be Buddhist in the midst of European colonialism (p. v). It is written primarily for undergraduate and graduate students of religion to explain classical Buddhist world views (p.v) and to show the substance and patterns of classical Buddhism in its late medieval Sinhalese cultural guise (p. vii).
Why did Holt choose Kiirti Srii? The answer is simple. According to Holt, Kiirti Srii was the paradigmatic model of the Sinhalese cultural guise of classical Buddhism. Kiirti Srii not only expressed a classical understanding of Buddhism but also appealed to various paradigmatic discourses of kingship (p. 3). Holt believes that the kingship of Kiirti Srii is formally framed in Asokan, Sakran, Manu, and Mahaasammatan terms (p. 37). This assertion of royal models, however, raises one problem. How can one king, Kiirti Srii, fit into all these models which are mutually incompatible? At least, an Asokan model seems to be historical; however, all other three models (Sakran, Manu, and Mahaasammatan) are ahistorical. These latter three models work on mythical level. Treating three mythical models with a more realistic and historical Asokan model on an equal basis seems to be methodologically somewhat problematic. This rhetoric of kingship models seems to astray the reader in knowing real Kiirti Srii.
The concluding chapter, "Postscript: Ethnic Identity and Ethnic Alienation," associates some events of modern ethnic struggle between the majority Sinhalese and the minority Tamils with historical events which occurred in the eighteenth century. In terms of scholarly contribution to the study of the issue of religion and politics, this brings out new dimensions. Holt is right in pointing out that the current ethnic problem in Sri Lanka is based less on religious grounds but more on economic factors. Holt asserts that the role of religion in Sri Lankan ethnic conflict has been somewhat overemphasized and the deep-seated causes of ethnic alienation are more economic in nature than religious (p. 98). As Holt rightly points out, this aspect has been neglected in previous scholarship.
On the whole, The Religious World of Kiirti Srii is easy to read and accessible to average students of history of religions and Buddhism. This work could be easily combined with two previous works—The Perfect Generosity of Prince Vessantara, By Margaret Cone and Richard F. Gombrich. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977; and Peintures murales du Sri Lanka: Ecole Kandyan XVIII–XIX siecles. By Marie Gatellier. 2 vols. Paris: Ecole Francaise de l'Extreme Orient, 1991—which help in understanding temple paintings in Sri Lanka and their relationship to Buddhism and various methods used in explicating its doctrines.
Holt's The Religious World of Kiirti Srii is an important contribution to the study of Theravaada in the eighteenth century Sri Lanka. However, finally, I should note that a few diacritical mistakes here and there (e.g., Kirti 4ri [p. vii], Khaantivaada [p. 79, plate 49], Buddhavaacana [p. 92], Buddhacaarita [p. 69, plate 12]) disturb the reader. In addition, the readers would have been benefited if complete citations, including the page numbers of original Sinhala prose texts such as the Puujaavaliya (p.69) were given.
