The inscription is engraved on a series of slabs originally built into an inside wall of the so-called Häṭa-dā-gē, ‘the Shrine of Sixty Relics’, at Poḷonnaruva. It was discovered by S. M. Burrows in 1885, along with another inscription in the vestibule of the shrine (IN03079) and one in the adjoining portico (IN03078). Consisting of eight lines, the inscription dates from the reign of Kīrti-Niśśaṅka-Malla (1187-1196 A.D.) and provides a tactfully worded exhortation to Buddhist monks to exercise care in the selection of persons for admission to the priesthood and to desist from doing things contrary to the teaching of the Buddha.
| Metadata | |
|---|---|
| Inscription ID | IN03080 |
| Title | Poḷonnaruva Häṭa-dā-gē Inside Wall Inscription |
| Alternative titles | |
| Parent Object | OB03060 |
| Related Inscriptions | |
| Responsibility | |
| Author | Don Martino de Zilva Wickremasinghe |
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| Language | සිංහල |
| Reigning monarch | Niśśaṅka-Malla |
| Commissioner | |
| Topic | provides a tactfully worded exhortation to Buddhist monks to exercise care in the selection of persons for admission to the priesthood and to desist from doing things contrary to the teaching of the Buddha |
| Date: | |
| Min | 1187 |
| Max | 1196 |
| Comment | Basis for dating: reign of Kīrti-Niśśaṅka-Malla (1187-1196 A.D.). |
| Hand | |
| Letter size | 3.81 |
| Description | Letter size is on average between 1 and 1½ inches (2.54 and 3.81 cm). The letter type is precisely the same as the inscriptions on the portico and in the vestibule of the Häṭa-dā-gē (IN03078 and IN03079). |
| Layout | |
| Campus: | |
| Width | 124.46 |
| Height | 45.72 |
| Description | 8 lines engraved on a series of now fragmentary slabs. The slabs were formerly built into the inside wall of the Inner Shrine at the so-called Häṭa-dā-gē, ‘the Shrine of Sixty Relics’, at Poḷonnaruva. The lines are engraved on a smooth surface within ruled lines. |
| Decoration | |
| Bibliography | |
| References | An incomplete transcript and translation were published in Burrows 1887: 74. Edited and translated in full by Wickremasinghe in Epigraphia Zeylanica 2 (1912-27) 96-98, no. 16. |
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| Misc notes | |