mask (ansiktsmask)

1916.9.27

Name and identification of character
Kolam mask depicting a queen, Bisava/Devi muna (Sin.).

Context
This character appears in the preliminary portion of a Kolam performance. The mask is very tall and heavy. Dancers therefore use it only when the royal party perambulates in the dance arena, prior to the performance of separate stories. The lower layers of the mask are hollowed and cover the entire head of the dancer. The mask is one of the most prominent ones in a Kolam repertoire. Names of three queens are associated with this mask. They are Kalinga Devi/Bisava, Maha Sammata Devi/Bisava, and Malukerthi Devi (vide Preface). As usual, the mask is taken off the dancer (all female characters are enacted by females) and is placed near the mask of the king, while the rest of the dances are enacted.

Material
Wood, Vel-kaduru (Nux vomica).

Iconography
This is mask is, as 1916.9.26, a tall and hollowed mask with a detachable spire in several layers, with a small pinnacle at its crest. The lower part of the crown, on which the detachable top is placed, is not detached from the head, as is the case of 1916.9.26. But the carver has crafted the face, head and the lower tier of the crown in one block of wood for which great skill in craftsmanship is required. The crown is ornately carved and decked with excessive foliage and flower designs typical of the Kandyan art form. What is unusual is the presence of four sculpted figures of females on the layer above the forehead band. These are the nari lata (Sin.) figures, who can be characterised as both naturalistic as well as anthropomorphic (vide Preface). Nari lata is a creeper maiden. The figures are sculpted within circular patterns of foliage, their hands clutching the branches for support. Although, in the Umlauff Catalogue the figures are suspected to be Buddhas (¿4 sitzende Figuren ­ Buddhas?¿), it is not so. There is another such figure sculpted in the same position at the back of the head, almost on the opposite side of the main face. This figure is also bare breasted and sports a dress which is in the nature of a dancing girls skirt. The face is lemon yellow, touched with pink. The ears are sculpted with earrings with a flower design.

23 02 2000
Dr. M. H. Goonatilleka