SRI LANKA AND THE SPHINX
Another occurrence of lions with human faces is found in early Buddhist
foundation deposits from Sri Lanka. These are ritual relics placed in the
ground as part of the foundation of shrines and temples. In Buddhist
cosm, for a large extend based on concepts originally rooted in Hindu
teaching, four animals stood symbolically for the four cardinal directions.
These were the horse, the bull, the elephant and the lion.
The lion represented the northern cardinal point. Among
several of the Buddhist foundation deposits discovered in the first half of the
twentieth century in Sri Lanka, dating to the early periods of Buddhist history
in the island, the lions have been depicted with human heads. In the tradition of
South India the purushamriga is also connected to the northern
cardinal direction.
The relationship between the sphinx and Buddhist symbolism in Sri Lanka
remained in existence over the past 2000 years. This is for instance shown
through some of the symbols depicted on the banners of shrines. Several
banners depict the sphinx as striding or as brandishing a sword.
This existing connection is also confirmed by a reference found in a text
on sculpture and iconography. Ananda K. Coomaraswamy
quotes the Rupavaliya’s description of the
‘nara-simha’, the ‘lion with a man’s head’.
“…reddish brown down the knees, with fair nails, hair falling on
the back, dazzling with divine ornaments, beautiful eyes like the
petals of a lotus, expert at emitting flames of fire, possessing hot
and cold disposition like the Sun and Moon, with curved teeth
projecting outside the lips, with a tuft of hair on the crown,
bestowing all good.”
Sculpted examples of sphinxes are also found among both Buddhist and
Hindu art from Sri Lanka.
