Community: Sri Lanka epigraphy

This inscription is engraved on a stone slab preserved in the Archaeological Museum at Anurādhapura. The slab’s original provenance is not known, the museum’s records stating only that it was removed to the museum from the Government Agent’s premises at Anurādhapura. It appears that the slab was previously used as a tread in a flight of steps. The inscription consists of two lines and can be assigned on palaeographic grounds to the end of the seventh century A.D. It declares that the step on which it is written was the gift of an individual, presumably a monk, named Daḷanā.

This inscription is incised on a rock situated to the west of the ruined stupa at Mädagama Vihāra in the Tisāva Kōraḷē of the Kuruṇǟgala District. Another inscription (IN03181) is written on the same rock in an almost identical script. Both inscriptions deal with matters related to the freeing of slaves and can be dated on palaeographic grounds to the seventh century A.D.

This inscription is incised on a rock situated to the west of the ruined stupa at Mädagama Vihāra in the Tisāva Kōraḷē of the Kuruṇǟgala District. Another inscription (IN03182) is written on the same rock in an almost identical script. Both inscriptions deal with matters related to the freeing of slaves and can be dated on palaeographic grounds to the seventh century A.D.

This inscription is engraved on a rock near the ruined stupa at a place called Veherakema in the heart of a dense forest, about six miles to the south-east of Lahugala in the Pānama Pattu of the Batticaloa District. It can be assigned on palaeographic grounds to around the seventh century A.D. and records that a ruler named Vahaka Maharaja caused a caitya to be built at the Macaḷa-vehera, which was presumably the name of the ancient monastery at this site. From his adoption of the title maharaja, it is clear that Vahaka was an independent ruler but Paranavitana could find no reference to a king of this name in the chronicles. He was perhaps a prince who, in the unsettled political conditions which prevailed in Anurādhapura during the greater part of the seventh century, set himself up as an independent sovereign of Rohaṇa, within which principality the inscription lies.

This inscription is one of several incised on the steps leading to a ruined shrine near the reconstructed porch known as ‘the Stone Canopy’ or ‘Burrows’ Pavilion’ in the area of the Abhayagiri vihara at Anurādhapura. Eight of these inscriptions remain legible. On the basis of palaeographic evidence, they can be dated to the second half of the sixth century or the first half of the seventh century. They register grants of money by various individuals to the Abhayagiri-vihāra for the maintenance of slaves.

This inscription is one of several incised on the steps leading to a ruined shrine near the reconstructed porch known as ‘the Stone Canopy’ or ‘Burrows’ Pavilion’ in the area of the Abhayagiri vihara at Anurādhapura. Eight of these inscriptions remain legible. On the basis of palaeographic evidence, they can be dated to the second half of the sixth century or the first half of the seventh century. They register grants of money by various individuals to the Abhayagiri-vihāra for the maintenance of slaves.

This inscription is one of several incised on the steps leading to a ruined shrine near the reconstructed porch known as ‘the Stone Canopy’ or ‘Burrows’ Pavilion’ in the area of the Abhayagiri vihara at Anurādhapura. Eight of these inscriptions remain legible. On the basis of palaeographic evidence, they can be dated to the second half of the sixth century or the first half of the seventh century. They register grants of money by various individuals to the Abhayagiri-vihāra for the maintenance of slaves.

This inscription is one of several incised on the steps leading to a ruined shrine near the reconstructed porch known as ‘the Stone Canopy’ or ‘Burrows’ Pavilion’ in the area of the Abhayagiri vihara at Anurādhapura. Eight of these inscriptions remain legible. On the basis of palaeographic evidence, they can be dated to the second half of the sixth century or the first half of the seventh century. They register grants of money by various individuals to the Abhayagiri-vihāra for the maintenance of slaves.