Two Sinhalese soldiers and a labourer, Esaias Boursse, 1662 Canvas Print

Two Sinhalese soldiers and a labourer, Esaias Boursse, 1662 Canvas Print

Three men are posing in uneven terrain outside. The left man wears a knee-length hip dress (veshti, lungi), messily tied at the waist with a waistband; an open hanging short jacket with buttons and long sleeves (hettaya) and below it a Portuguese shirt (kamisaya) with wide neckline. On his left side hangs a short impact weapon in a sheath recognizable as a Javanese or Malay dagger (kris); the Dutch apparently also provided these types of weapons to members of their rental troops at Ceylon. On the head he wears a high hat with the edge folded over. The man in the middle wears only a Singalese-wrapped hip dress (veshti, lungi). The upper body is uncovered. On his left side, he also wears a kris. These two men are Singalese mercenaries (welding carines), now employed by the Dutch. They belong to the caste of goviya. The man on the right wears a hip dress (veshti, lungi) far over the knees, and a second cloth (chadar) wrapped cumbersomely around his waist. The upper body is uncovered. The head is wrapped with a cloth, loose ends hang up to its right shoulder. He's wearing sandals. It is probably a Christian from southern India or Jaffna. Sheet 71 from a sketchbook with 117 sheets.

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