New book on betel bags

Ancient and Traditional Betel - Bags in Sri Lankan Museums

Ancient and Traditional Betel - Bags in Sri Lankan Museums is the latest publication of the Department of National Museums. It is written by the retired Director of National Museums Dr. P.H.D.H. De Silva with Dayananda Peiris of the Ethnological Division of the Colombo National Museum. The monograph consists of 180 pages with nine text figures and 72 colour plates. It is at the National Museum.

None of the earlier authors such as James Cordiner, John Davy, J.W. Bennett and Emerson Tennant who wrote about the betel chewing habit among the Sinhalese has mentioned about the local betel- bags. Robert Knox makes a passing reference when he wrote about " a boy holding a small bag containing betel leaves and nuts waiting upon the chief." Ananda Coomaraswamy (1907 and 1908) refers briefly to oval-shaped betel-bags embroidered on blue cloth and to square betel - bags, the latter he thought were somewhat rare.

In 2008 Greeta Geyzel described 28 betel - bags in the custody of the Colombo National Museum in her publication. Traditional Textiles in the Colombo National Museum.However, the monograph by Dr. De Silva with Peiris describes the entire collection of betel-bags totalling 79 betel-bags in the custody of all the National Museums in the island and with the Folk Museum, Anuradhapura.

Included in the introductory chapter are several illustrations of 12th century bronze, wheel - shaped lime boxes recovered during excavations carried out at Panduvasnuwara, Jetawana Dagaba site at Anuradhapura and at the ancient city of Polonnaruwa. Small betel-bags or wallets, some carried at the waist - the small hambili (females) and bulat - payi (males) and the larger bulat - malla made out of 'pan' (a variety of grass), kukul vel (Cane species), cloth, two made of silver and one of brass are described in Chapter 2. Pyramid - shaped cloth betel-bags, both square and oval - shaped the Veda - malla are described in Chapter 4.

The remaining Chapters are devoted to embroidered betel - bags differentiated on the basis of shape, type of handles, colour and type of fabric used and the designs employed.

All in all, this monograph attempts to highlight the skill and ingenuity of our traditional craftsmen who have transformed what were items of daily use to objects of great beauty.