Abstract:
Sri Lanka is famous for elephants from the ancient period and ivory craftsmanship was also
famous in Sri Lanka from the ancient period. Ivory craftsmanship in Sri Lanka has
significances from historical, cultural, political and economic aspects. The highpoint of Ivory
craftsmanship was the period of Kotte. But according to the literary sources it can be concluded
that ivory craftsmanship was conducted since Anuradhapura Period and at that period Buddha
statues were created from ivory. Hence, the main objective of this research is to expound the
ivory craftsmanship in ancient Sri Lanka with special reference to Anuradhapura and
Polonnaruwa periods through the collected data from literature survey method. Therefore, both
primary and secondary literary sources were used to collect data. Thus, apart from the main
objective this research will explicate about the royal patronage given to the ivory craftsmanship
in ancient Sri Lanka. Literary sources reveal the ancient Ivory craftsmanship and the objects
created from ivory craftsmanship in ancient Sri Lanka
