Community: Sri Lanka epigraphy

H. C. P. Bell  discovered the present inscription in 1910 in what was then believed to be the Jētavanārāma dāgaba. This dāgaba has since been shown to be part of the Abhayagiri vihara. The record consists of 16 lines of the top side of a slab, which has been reused to form one of the flag-stones of the pavement at the south altar of the dāgaba. Written in the Southern Brāhmī alphabet of the latter part of the 2nd or the first half of the 3rd century A.D., it records donations from the king Maḷu-Tisa to the Utara-maha-ceta, identified with the Abhayuttara-mahā-cētiya of the Abhayagiri-vihāra, as well as water regulations.

Engraved on a large stone slab, the inscription was discovered by Goldschmidt in 1875 at Vēvälkäṭiya, a small village in Pahala Kǟňdā Tulāna in Kǟňdā Kōrale, about 21 miles to the north-east of Anurādhapura. It was subsequently examined by Müller in 1883, who noted that “Wewelkaeṭiya” is situated “11 miles from Madawacci on the Horowapotāna road”, and then by Bell in 1891. The inscription consists of 45 lines in the Sinhalese alphabet of the 10th and early 11th centuries A.D. It deals with the administration of criminal justice in the dasagama of Kibi-nilam district in Amgam-kuḷiya in the Northern Quarter. The exact meaning of the term ‘dasagama’ is unclear. Wickremasinghe suggests that it may refer to a system of dividing the country into groups of ten (dasa) villages (gama) for administrative purposes. Despite the uncertainty around this term, the inscription gives us information concerning the Sinhalese law relating to crimes and wrongs and the administrative methods that prevailed in the 10th and 11th centuries.

The inscription is engraved on a slab found lying what was at the time believed to be the Jētavanārāma area, not far from the ‘stone canoe’ (trough) on the outer circular road in Anurādhapura. This area has since been shown to be the Abhayagiri monastery complex. The slab appears to have been erected very soon after a similar inscribed slab (IN03061) found in the same area. The present inscription consists of 60 lines in the Sinhalese alphabet of the 10th and early 11th centuries A.D. The middle part of the slab is damaged, rending the inscription is largely illegible from line 6 to line 39. The inscription does include a date but, due to the damaged condition of the slab, the year – tentatively read by Wickremasinghe as the eighth of Mahinda’s IV’s reign – is unclear. The text starts with a short account of Mahinda IV and his charitable works. It then deals principally with the regulations instituted by Mahinda IV at the Abhayagiri-vihāra soon after completing the reparation of the dāgaba and other buildings attached to the monastery. The stone statue of Buddha mentioned in line 45 of the inscription may be the same as the one that was seen by the Chinese pilgrim Fâ-hien at the Abhayagiri-vihāra when he visited Ceylon in the 5^th century A.D.

The inscription is engraved on a slab found lying in what was at the time believed to be the Jētavanārāma area, not far from the ‘stone canoe’ (trough) on the outer circular road in Anurādhapura. This area has since been shown to be the Abhayagiri monastery complex. The slab was examined by Bell in 1890. The inscription consists of 55 lines in the Sinhalese alphabet of the 10th and early 11th centuries A.D. The surface of the slab is damaged, rending the inscription is partly illegible from line 19 to the end. The date of the inscription is given in lines 43 and 44 but the name of the king and the number of the regnal year are in great part obliterated. The text gives an account of the Abhayagiri-vihāra and a general survey of the charitable acts of Mahinda IV (called by his title Siri Saňgbo Abā), as well as the religious monuments he erected and repaired.

The inscription is situated on a rock at the vāṇa or “spill-water” of an abandoned tank known as Pālu Mäkiccǟva. The tank is situated in the jungle, about 120 yards off the high road to Trincomalee, 16 miles from Anurādhapura. The inscription is composed of six lines, written in Southern Brāhmī alphabet of the latter part of the 2nd century A.D. It records the donation of 5000 kārṣāpaṇas from king Gamiṇi Abaya to the Buddhist priesthood of Tubaraba (Thūpārāma). Gamiṇi Abaya (or Gajabāhuka Gāmaṇī Abhaya) is described as having created the Vaḍamanaka tank in the Upala district but not the Pālu Mäkiccǟva tank, which he appears only to have repaired or deepened. The inscription identifies the Pālu Mäkiccǟva tank as the Abhivaḍḍhamānaka-vāpi tank and says that it was constructed by Gamiṇi Abaya’s grandfather.