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Sandakada Pahana Moonstone — Cover

About Sandakada Pahana Moonstone

The sandakada pahana — the carved granite semicircular moonstone laid at the foot of Anuradhapura-era temple stairways — is one of the great achievements of Sinhalese Buddhist stone art. Concentric bands of flame, an elephant-horse-lion-bull procession, a ring of hansa swans, and a central half-lotus are cut in low relief into weathered, lichen-darkened granite.

This design system distills that worn-stone threshold into a digital language: graded gray tones standing in for value rather than hue, soft directional relief shadow, stone grain, and strict concentric semicircular geometry. There is no color accent anywhere — depth comes entirely from light raking across carved granite.

Learn more about the Sandakada Pahana Moonstone style

Origin
Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka (Buddhist temple thresholds)
Era
pre-1900 (Anuradhapura period, c. 8th–10th century granite carving tradition)
Key figures
Anuradhapura-era temple stone-carvers · anonymous Sinhalese master masons
Movements
Sinhalese Buddhist temple architecture · Anuradhapura granite relief carving

Sandakada Pahana Moonstone design spec

Colors

Background
Surface
Primary
Secondary
Accent
Text

Typography

Cormorant GaramondHeadings
Noto SerifBody
Noto Sans SinhalaMono
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Styles similar to Sandakada Pahana Moonstone

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