Vessagiri, or more commonly in Sinhalese Vessagiriya, is the traditional name of a forest-bound cluster of rocks in Anurādhapura. The site features three hummock-boulders of gneiss rock in a line from north to south (Rock A, Rock B and Rock C). The hummocks are surrounded by the ruins of a monastery, which had its cells in the caves of Rocks B and C (twenty-three caves in total). Some of the caves are inscribed with dedications to the Buddhist priesthood, plus there are a number of other rock inscriptions at the site. In addition, two inscribed slabs associated with Vessagiri are preserved in the museum at Anurādhapura. One of the slab inscriptions (IN03023) is of the king Dappula V (A.D. 940-952) and records a royal offering to the Virāṅkurā monastery. The second slab is inscribed on its front and back with inscriptions of the king Mahinda IV (975-991) detailing benefactions made to the clergy of the monastery Bo-Upulvan-Kusub-giri Vehera. The inscription on the back of this slab is dealt with here (see IN03024 for the inscription on the front).
| Metadata | |
|---|---|
| Inscription ID | IN03025 |
| Title | Vessagiri Slab 2 Inscription B |
| Alternative titles | |
| Parent Object | OB03020 |
| Related Inscriptions | IN03024 |
| Responsibility | |
| Author | Don Martino de Zilva Wickremasinghe |
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| Language | සිංහල |
| Reigning monarch | Mahinda IV |
| Commissioner | |
| Topic | benefactions made to the clergy of the monastery Bo-Upulavan-Kasub-giri Vehera |
| Date: | |
| Min | 985 |
| Max | 985 |
| Comment | Basis for dating: intrinsic. The inscription records a benefaction made on the 5th day of the waxing moon of the month of Durutu (Sept.-Oct.), in the 10th year of the reign of Mahinda IV (r. 975-91). |
| Hand | |
| Letter size | >2.1 |
| Description | According to Wickremasinghe, the letters have the same form as but are slightly bigger than those in Vessagiri Slab 2 Inscription A (see IN03024). |
| Layout | |
| Campus: | |
| Width | 53.3 |
| Height | 127 |
| Description | Dimensions approximate. Fourteen lines, only partially legible. The first eight lines are boldly carved but the letters in the next six are very faint (Wickremasinghe gives only a tentative reading of these lines). |
| Decoration | |
| Bibliography | |
| References | Edited by Wickremasinghe in Epigraphia Zeylanica 1 (1904-12): 38-39. |
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