The inscription was discovered in 1896 by the Archaeological Commissioner, H. C. P. Bell, at Bilibǟva in Ihala Kälǟgam Tulāna, about fifteen miles to the south-west of Anurādhapura. Engraved on three sides of a stone pillar, it consists of 80 lines in the Sinhalese alphabet of the latter half of the 10th century A.D. The text is dated to the seventh year of king Abhā Salamevan’s reign and records a grant of immunities to Mahagǟpiyova, a village in the district of Pirivatu in the Southern Quarter, dedicated to the Kasub-Senevirad-pirivena which Sak-Senevi San̆galnāvan had built in the Mahāvihāra. Wickremasinghe suggests that the biruda Abhā Salamevan refers in this instance to Kassapa V.
| Metadata | |
|---|---|
| Inscription ID | IN03072 |
| Title | Bilibǟva Pillar Inscription |
| Alternative titles | |
| Parent Object | OB03052 |
| Related Inscriptions | |
| Responsibility | |
| Author | Don Martino de Zilva Wickremasinghe |
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| Language | සිංහල |
| Reigning monarch | Abhā Salamevan |
| Commissioner | |
| Topic | records a grant of immunities to Mahagǟpiyova, a village in the district of Pirivatu in the Southern Quarter, dedicated to the Kasub-Senevirad-pirivena which Sak-Senevi San̆galnāvan had built in the Mahāvihāra |
| Date: | |
| Min | 900 |
| Max | 1000 |
| Comment | Basis for dating: palaeography. The inscription is dated to the seventh 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 | 3.81 |
| Description | Letter size varies from 1 to 1½ inches (2.54 to 3.81 cm); Sinhalese alphabet of the latter half of the 10th century A.D. |
| Layout | |
| Campus: | |
| Width | 30.48 |
| Height | 182.88 |
| Description | 80 lines engraved on three sides of a stone pillar (27 lines on the first side, 31 lines on the second and 22 lines on the third). According to Wickremasinghe, the inscription is not deeply engraved and the surface of the pillar does not appear to have been properly prepared. |
| Decoration | A dog and a crow are engraved beneath the inscription on the third side of the pillar. Bell also mentioned a sun, moon and vaṭāpata (Buddhist monk’s fan) engraved on the fourth, uninscribed side of the pillar. |
| Bibliography | |
| References | Edited by Wickremasinghe in Epigraphia Zeylanica 2 (1912-27) 38-43, no. 8. |
| Add to bibliography | |
| Misc notes | |