The slab was seen by Wickremasinghe in the Archaeological Commissioner’s Office at Anurādhapura. Its original location is uncertain but, as it was placed together with objects from Puliyaṉ-kuḷam, a small village situated two and a half miles north-east of Anurādhapura, it is assumed to have come from the same locality. The material from Puliyaṉ-kuḷam included several inscribed slabs from the piḷima-gē and the stone revetment of the dāgaba, three of which were marked ‘C/6’, ‘C/7’ and ‘C/8’. The present inscription is marked ‘D/8’. It is written in the Sinhalese alphabet of the 12th and 13th centuries A.D. and records the good deeds of the queen Līlāvatī, wife of King Parakkama Bāhu I. It tells us that she ruled the island with the aid of a Council of Ministers and that she built an almshouse in Anurādhapura. There is no date given in the inscription but her reign can be dated by other sources. Līlāvatī was on the throne first from 1197 to 1200 A.D., secondly in 1209 and lastly in 1211. The present grant was probably made during the first period, when the government was administered by Kitti Sēnāpati.
[Lines 1-7] Her Majesty Abhā Salamevan Līlāvatī, the most preeminent in the royal line of the illustrious Okkāka dynasty, who shines with a multitude of all-pervading virtues, and who has reached the [farthest] shore of all arts, has justly and fairly attained to the sovereignty of Tri-Siṁhala, which came to her by hereditary succession, and has brought it under one canopy [of dominion].
[Lines 7-12] By creating a Council of wise, brave, and faithful ministers, she has freed her own kingdom from the dangers [arising] from other kingdoms, and [thus] placing the people and the Buddhist Church in a peaceful state. Her Majesty reigns in accordance with the ten virtues belonging to royalty.
[Lines 12-21] For the purpose of giving alms to the full satisfaction of the poor that throng into Anurādhapura from various quarters, she caused an almshouse with the title of Pala-balavi-mēdhāvi to be established, protected, and maintained. And for the supplying of spices and the like [required] for it, she caused the platform called Pala-balavi-mēdhāvi to be built in the neighbourhood of the almshouse by traders of divers countries.
[Lines 21-29] Her Majesty [thereafter] granted in perpetuity three yāḷas ‘sowing-extent’ [of land] from the tract of fields at Hakara-goḍa, one from Kiliṁnā-viyaḷa, 30 serfs, 150 [head of] oxen and buffaloes. And she did [all] this in order that alms might be given constantly.
May future sovereigns also, having regard to the good of the two worlds, keep it up as it has been kept up, and [continue to] give their protection.