S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike (1899–1959) and his newly
formed Sri Lanka Freedom Party won a landslide elec-
tion on promises of “Sinhala only” as the national lan-
guage and Buddhism as the state religion. This
posture on language and religion (the basic con-
stituents of ethnic identity in South Asia), as well as
other subsequent “Sinhala Buddhist” based education
and economic policies, were enacted to redress per-
ceived inequalities resulting from earlier British colo-
nial policies that had favored Tamil interests and
disenfranchised the Sinhalese. In turn, these changes
became reasons for Tamil alienation, feeding an en-
during ethnic conflict dividing Sinhalas and Tamils
during the final decades of the twentieth century. In
this context, some influential Buddhist monks have
colluded with Sinhala politicians to resurrect the an-
cient rhetoric of the Mahavamsaand proclaim Lanka
as the exclusive and predestined domain of the Bud-
dhadharma. Others have marched for peace and co-
existence.
See also:Mainstream Buddhist Schools; Sinhala, Bud-
dhist Literature in; Sri Lanka, Buddhist Art in
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Kong: Visual Dharma Publications, 1990.JOHNCLIFFORDHOLTSRI LANKA, BUDDHIST ART INDuring the twenty-five hundred years of Sri Lanka’s
history, its royal capital has been located in a number
of places. In chronological order they were Anuradha-
pura (ca. 500 B.C.E.–1000 C.E., North-Central
province); Polonnaruva (1000–1235 C.E., North-Cen-
tral province); Dam ̆badeniya (1232–1272 C.E., North-
Western province); Yapahuwa (1272–1284 C.E.,
North-Western province); Kurune ̈gala (1293–1341 C.E.,
North-Western province); Gampola (1341–1411 C.E.,
Central province); Kotte (1411–1597 C.E., Western
province); and Kandy (1480–1815 C.E., Central
province). Sri Lanka’s Buddhist art is often analyzed in
terms of these different periods. Of these eras, the
Anuradhapura and Polonnaruva periods offer the most
important surviving examples of early Buddhist art.
The instability of the kingship and the wars that pre-
vailed during the other periods resulted in less art sur-
viving from those eras.
Of these less copious periods, the Yapahuwa rock
fortress is a remarkable monument from the Yapa-
huwa period. From the Kandy period, the king’s palace
and the Tooth-Relic Temple at Kandy, one of the most
important Buddhist PILGRIMAGEsites in the country,
have survived. Gadaladeniya and Lankatilaka, twoSRILANKA, BUDDHISTART IN