The major portion of the conservation program at Dambulla is focused on its murals. By comparison, the murals at Dambulla are much more recent and less extensive than those at Ajanta, and they cover less than one-tenth of the painted area of those at Dunhuang, but they are still one of the largest preserved groups of late-period rock and wall paintings in the South Asian region outside the Himalayan zone. The murals belong to a pan-regional tradition that extends across South and Southeast Asia, especially in Southern India, Sri Lanka, Burma, and Thailand. Dambulla is undoubtedly one of the finest and most impressive expressions of this tradition.
The paintings, which are inside the five main rock temples, belong almost entirely to the post-classic Central Kandyan school of the late eighteenth century This school of painting derives its name from the city of Kandy, capital of the last Sri Lankan kingdom of the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, now also a Unesco World Heritage Site. Fragments of much earlier painting are found just below the drip ledge, outside the present facade, while the presence of an earlier layer of painting below the present painted surface is seen in a few areas and still awaits detailed investigation.
The eighteenth-century murals form the most important artistic heritage of Dambulla. They constitute more than 80% of the surviving paintings, about three-quarters of which are in an excellent state of preservation, covering an area of approximately 3,044 m1, incorporating the five shrines. The largest of the shrines is Vihara 2 (Figs. 5-8)—an elaborate complex of paintings, sculpture, and architecture and one of the most ambitious undertakings of the Kandyan artists. Vihara 3 is the next in size and retains its eighteenth-century character. Each of the three smaller shrines (Viharas 1, 4, and 5) has been substantially retouched or repainted or, as in the case of Vihara 1, is in a poor state of preservation.
The paintings consist of mineral and organic pigments2 laid on top of kaolin (a word derived from “Kao-ling,” a hill in Jiangxi Province in southeast China, where this fine white clay was originally obtained), the paint-receiving layer. The kaolin is laid on a mud-plaster ground applied to the rock or wall surface. The mud plaster has organic admixtures and a plant-gum glue, probably derived from the sap of the wood apple (Feronia elephantum) (Weerasinghe 1987).
The major conservation problems at Dambulla (Fig. 9) are:
Figure 9
Conservation problems: detachment, water seepage, salt efflorescence, biological growths, insect damage, and darkening of the surface by soot from oil lamps.
Variations in addition to “material fatigue” factors, which are poorly understood
2. Water seepage through the rock ceiling (treated in some areas over the centuries by the painters themselves who painted noniconic scenes, such as fish in water and floral awnings, which could be easily retouched or repainted), resulting in salt efflorescence on the surface
3. Biological growths and biodeterioration, caused mainly by fungi and encouraged by the humid conditions and the high sugar, or carbohydrate, content of the binding medium
4. Insect damage in the form of nest building on the painted surface or by penetration into the plaster
5. Human damage caused by devotees and visitors touching the painted surface or by soot from oil lamps (the lamps are no longer a problem, but the damage still needs rectification)
One of the major problems for conservation of the site, not just at Dambulla but on a national scale, is inadequacy in four general areas: skilled human resources, institutional frameworks, policy prioritization, and resource allocation. These factors are all necessary in dealing with mural and polychrome sculpture conservation programs in a situation where there are, in a preliminary listing, more than 650 freestanding and rock temples with paintings in need of conservation.
Early mural conservation measures that had been taken at Dambulla in the pre-1983 period, since about the 1960s, mainly involved (1) cleaning with a xylene and ammonia solution in water, (2) application of a protective coating of polyvinyl-acetate emulsion, and (3) removal of insect nests. The basic strategy of the present Cultural Triangle Project's mural conservation program has been to emphasize investigation, protective conservation, and urgent remedial measures rather than cleaning or reintegration. The work undertaken can be summarized as follows: 3 1 4
4. Cleaning and reintegration: very little cleaning and reintegration has been undertaken, as it was felt that this was not an urgent measure, and there is no attempt at this stage to fully reintegrate the painted area
5. Training and human resource development: since its inception, the project has paid special attention to training and upgrading and to the development of institutional measures to remedy the national shortage of scientific workers at all levels, especially by combining the training program with project implementation
6. Copying: a copying program, in which the entire complex of paintings is being copied on canvas, is nearly complete and will be displayed and archived in the museum for information and study. The copies are not reconstructions; rather, they document the murals in their actual condition at the present time
World History
