The inscription of king Kīrti Niśśanka Malla is situated in the rock temple of Dam̆bulla, also called in the Mahāvaṁsa Jambukōla vihāra, on the rock to the right, immediately after passing the Muragē. It consists of 25 lines, written in the Sinhalese script of the 12th century A.D., recording the philanthropic and religious acts of the king. No date is given in the inscription. According to Wicremasinghe, the inscription was engraved between 1192 and 1197. The present inscription was previously published in 1836 in the ‘Epitome’ of G. Turnour, and then in 1840 in ‘Eleven years in Ceylon’ of J. Forbes, and in 1883 in E. Müller’s ‘Ancient Inscriptions in Ceylon’.
| Metadata | |
|---|---|
| Inscription ID | IN03032 |
| Title | Dambulla Rock Inscription of Kīrti Niśśaṅka Malla |
| Alternative titles | |
| Parent Object | OB03027 |
| Related Inscriptions | |
| Responsibility | |
| Author | Don Martino de Zilva Wickremasinghe |
| Print edition recorded by | |
| Source encoded | |
| Digitally edited by | |
| Edition improved by | |
| Authority for | |
| Metadata recorded by | |
| Authority for metadata | |
| Metadata improved by | |
| Authoriy for improved | |
| Language | සිංහල |
| Reigning monarch | Kīrti Niśśaṅka Malla |
| Commissioner | |
| Topic | an account of the reign of Kīrti Niśśaṅka Malla and his pious acts |
| Date: | |
| Min | 1189 |
| Max | 1198 |
| Comment | Basis for dating: reign of Kīrti Niśśaṅka Malla. Wickremasinghe suggests date between 1192 and 1197 as the Ruvanväli Dāgaba inscription from the fourth year of Kīrti Niśśaṅka Malla's reign does not mention his work at the Dambulla temple. |
| Hand | |
| Letter size | 2.5 |
| Description | Sinhalese alphabet in use in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries |
| Layout | |
| Campus: | |
| Width | 106.68 |
| Height | 175.26 |
| Description | Twenty-five lines neatly engraved on a rock in the courtyard of the temple. |
| Decoration | |
| Bibliography | |
| References | Translated in Turnour 1836: 95-96. Recorded in Müller 1883: 64, 124-126, no. 143. Edited by Wickremasinghe in Epigraphia Zeylanica 1 (1904-12): 121-135, no. 9. |
| Add to bibliography | |
| Misc notes | |