The inscribed stone pillar was discovered by Wickremasinghe and Bell in 1891 in Buddhannehäla (Buddhanagehela) in Kun͂chuṭṭu Kōrale, North-Central Province, about seven miles north of the ruins of Padaviya. Five caves and one dāgaba were found in Buddhannehäla and the present inscription was discovered in Cave No. 3. The pillar was placed upside down to serve as a door-jamb of a Śaiva shrine of about the eleventh or early twelfth century A.D. and was evidently brought there from elsewhere. Written in the Sinhalese alphabet of the 10th century A.D., the inscription covers the four sides of the pillar. On the first side, the inscription is surmounted by a large śrī and, above that, an emblem of the sun or a lotus. On the fourth side, a crow and a dog are cut underneath the inscription to indicate that whosoever transgresses the rules enjoined shall be born in the future as these animals. The inscription records regulations concerning the management of lands (fields, water, employees, cattle, sowing). Its use of the expression abhiṣekayen daru (‘son by sacred sprinkling’) indicates the prevalence of certain Brahmaṇic or more likely northern Buddhist (Mahāyāna) rites not sanctioned in the southern Buddhist Church. The inscription is dated in the third year of the reign of His Majesty Abhā Salamevan. This name (biruda) was used by a number of Sri Lankan monarchs. It may refer in this instance to Kassapa V (r. 929-939).
[Side A] Hail! On the tenth day of the waxing [moon] of [the month of] Poson in the third year of [the reign of] His Majesty Abhā Salamevan.
Whereas, touching the tract of field, six kiriyas [in sowing extent] in the village Nānnaru of [the district] of (Da)nādakdara, as well as the gardens Asunbada-vatta, Bo-vatta, Paridevu-vatta, Endihi-vatta, (Nä)ndaḷi-(sātā-)vatta, and Nenanile-vatta, belonging to this [tract of] field, together with the grounds attached to houses and the lands outside appertaining thereto, including mī trees, tamarind trees, and the remaining minor trees bearing flowers and fruits, the Lord of Property has declared that, soon after the reverend Ha(rse), who built . . . in the Sǟgiri district [side B] and was the incumbent at Nāgiri, had enjoyed all this property, his son by sacred sprinkling, [namely,] the reverend teacher Buddhamitra shall enjoy the same. Thereafter one whom the reverend teacher, the incumbent at Sǟgiri residing at San̆gvatta, has elected, shall enjoy [the property] by living at Nāgiri–gala. The allotments in these [aforesaid] six kiriyạs shall not be appropriated; the allotments of the Vihāra [premises] shall not be appropriated, and the distribution of water shall not be appropriated. Employees in this district shall level the beds (of fields) and [side C] lead the waters to this [aforesaid] field. Allotments in the garden appertaining thereto, as well as in the grounds attached to the houses and in the lands outside, shall not be appropriated. Field-dwellers shall not enter. Carts and oxen shall not be appropriated. Ulvāḍu, perenāṭu, and (tuḍise) shall not enter. Farm labourers shall not be appropriated.
It being [so] declared, we all of us, including Mekāppar San̆g-(pa–him) of the family of Mekāppar-Vädǟrum Vijuragu [side D] and Mekāppar Kaḍusuvadurim of the family of Mekāppar-Vädǟrum Viduragu; [as well as] Kilin̆g–Goḷobä–gama Bahaṭusivim of the family of Nāvini Kitlanāvan, and Kuḍasalā Mihind of the family of Kitsen Raksamaṇa, who were deputed to set up the stone-[pillar] to the effect that all the [above-mentioned] lands should be enjoyed in accordance with these regulations, have [now] come [together] and set up this edictal stone-[pillar] in pursuance of the Mandate delivered by the Lord of Property.