IN03073 Äṭavīragollǟva Pillar Inscription

The inscription is engraved on a pillar which was found lying by the side of the pin-pāra, the village-road of Äṭavīragollǟva, about eleven miles from Madawacci in Kaḍawat Kōrale. It was first read by Dr. Goldschmidt and then by Dr. Müller, who published a rough transcript, with a translation of the first side only, in 1883. The Archaeological Commissioner, H. C. P. Bell, re-examined it in 1890. Engraved on four sides of a quadrangular pillar, the inscription is written in the Sinhalese alphabet of the 10th century A.D. The stone is split at the top, resulting in the obliteration of several lines of the inscription on the first and fourth sides of the pillar. The inscription is dated to the tenth year of the reign of king Abhā Salamevan and records a grant of immunities to the village Velangama belonging to the Sirisan̆gbo-rad-pirivena (possibly the Sirisaṅghabōdhi-parivēṇa built by Aggabōdhi I in the 7th century A.D.). From the inscription, we also learn that Abhā Salamevan was the son of the king Abhā Siri Saňg-bo, who ransacked the Pāṇḍya country and obtained a victory in the ninth year of his reign. Here, the biruda Abhā Siri San̆g-bo refers to Sēna II, whose son was Kassapa IV. However, Wickremasinghe identifies the Abhā Salamevan in this inscription with Dappula V, a grandson of Sēna II. Either Wickremasinghe is mistaken in this identification or the inscription should read ‘grandson’ instead of ‘son’.