The inscription was examined in 1892 by Bell and Wickremasinghe at Ayitigeväva, a small hamlet in Kum̆bukväva Tulāna in the Kuñcuṭṭu Kōrole, about twenty-five miles north-north-east of Anurādhapura. Engraved on all four sides of a stone pillar, it consists of 65 lines in the Sinhalese alphabet of the latter half of the 10th century A.D. The inscription is dated to the fifth year of Abhā Salamevan’s reign and records a grant of immunities to a certain plot of ground, five payalas in extent, belonging to Tisaram nunnery built on the ‘Auspicious High Street’ by the Commander-in-Chief Sēna. Wickremasinghe suggests that the biruda Abhā Salamevan refers in this instance to Kassapa V.
| Metadata | |
|---|---|
| Inscription ID | IN03071 |
| Title | Ayitigeväva Pillar Inscription |
| Alternative titles | |
| Parent Object | OB03051 |
| Related Inscriptions | |
| Responsibility | |
| Author | Don Martino de Zilva Wickremasinghe |
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| Digitally edited by | |
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| Language | සිංහල |
| Reigning monarch | Abhā Salamevan |
| Commissioner | |
| Topic | records a grant of immunities to a certain plot of ground, five payalas in extent, belonging to Tisaram nunnery built on the ‘Auspicious High Street’ by the Commander-in-Chief Sēna |
| Date: | |
| Min | 900 |
| Max | 1000 |
| Comment | Basis for dating: palaeography. The inscription is dated to the fifth year of king Abhā Salamevan’s reign. Wickremasinghe suggests that the biruda Abhā Salamevan refers in this instance to Kassapa V, whose reign lasted from 929 to 939 A.D. |
| Hand | |
| Letter size | 3.08 |
| Description | Letter size is about 1 to 2 inches (2.54 to 3.08 cm). Sinhalese alphabet of the latter half of the 10th century A.D. |
| Layout | |
| Campus: | |
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| Height | |
| Description | Campus size not reported. 65 lines engraved on all four sides of a stone pillar (18 lines on the first side, 20 lines on the second, 17 lines on the third and 10 lines on the fourth). |
| Decoration | Various emblems are engraved beneath the inscription on each side of the pillar. These are: a vaṭāpata (Buddhist monk’s fan) on the first side of the pillar; a dog on the second side; a symbol possibly representing a sickle on the third side; and a sun, a moon and a crow on the fourth side. |
| Bibliography | |
| References | Edited by Wickremasinghe in Epigraphia Zeylanica 2 (1912-27) 34-38, no. 7. |
| Add to bibliography | |
| Misc notes | |