IN03063 Vēvälkäṭiya Slab Inscription of Mahinda IV

Engraved on a large stone slab, the inscription was discovered by Goldschmidt in 1875 at Vēvälkäṭiya, a small village in Pahala Kǟňdā Tulāna in Kǟňdā Kōrale, about 21 miles to the north-east of Anurādhapura. It was subsequently examined by Müller in 1883, who noted that “Wewelkaeṭiya” is situated “11 miles from Madawacci on the Horowapotāna road”, and then by Bell in 1891. The inscription consists of 45 lines in the Sinhalese alphabet of the 10th and early 11th centuries A.D. It deals with the administration of criminal justice in the dasagama of Kibi-nilam district in Amgam-kuḷiya in the Northern Quarter. The exact meaning of the term ‘dasagama’ is unclear. Wickremasinghe suggests that it may refer to a system of dividing the country into groups of ten (dasa) villages (gama) for administrative purposes. Despite the uncertainty around this term, the inscription gives us information concerning the Sinhalese law relating to crimes and wrongs and the administrative methods that prevailed in the 10th and 11th centuries.