Kandyan chief processing to a temple

This painted terracotta tile likely has its origins in a class of painted temple décor produced in association with temples in the Kandy district of Sri Lanka. The painting style and narrative treatment best relate to late Kandyan-period temple interior murals, such as preserved at Degaldoruwa Vihara, at Amunugama, Kandy, in the later 18th or early 19th century. Here we see a Kandyan nobleman named in the accompanying inscription as [-------] nayaka, no doubt one of the famed noble family names, in procession with his regalia (a sesat, radiant sun parasol) and militia (holding lances, tomara), being received by a temple assistant holding a lamp, referred to in the inscription as a ‘messanger’ (payyinda kaaraya). The reference to “deevaale” is to a temple or shrine that the Kandyan Chief is visiting imminently.