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.
| Metadata | |
|---|---|
| Inscription ID | IN03061 |
| Title | Jētavanārāma Slab Inscription 1 of Mahinda IV |
| Alternative titles | |
| Parent Object | OB03041 |
| Related Inscriptions | IN03062 |
| Responsibility | |
| Author | Don Martino de Zilva Wickremasinghe |
| Print edition recorded by | |
| Source encoded | |
| Digitally edited by | |
| Edition improved by | |
| Authority for | |
| Metadata recorded by | |
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| Authoriy for improved | |
| Language | සිංහල |
| Reigning monarch | Mahinda IV |
| Commissioner | |
| Topic | 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 |
| Date: | |
| Min | 975 |
| Max | 991 |
| Comment | Basis for dating: reign of Mahinda IV (called by his title Siri Saňgbo Abā). 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. What remains tells us that the record was promulgated on the tenth day of the waxing moon in the month of Poson (May-June). The regnal year of Siri Saňgbo Abā may be the eighth, the same as that of his second inscription at this spot (IN03062). |
| Hand | |
| Letter size | 2.54 |
| Description | Letter size varies from ¼ to 1 inch (0.635 to 2.54 cm). Sinhalese alphabet of the 10th and early 11th centuries A.D. |
| Layout | |
| Campus: | |
| Width | 119.38 |
| Height | 187.96 |
| Description | 55 lines inscribed on a stone slab. Each line is placed within a ruled space, 3.175 cm wide. The surface of the slab is damaged, rending the inscription is partly illegible from line 19 to the end. |
| Decoration | |
| Bibliography | |
| References | Edited by Wickremasinghe in Epigraphia Zeylanica 1 (1904-12): 213-229, no. 19. |
| Add to bibliography | |
| Misc notes | |