The inscription is engraved around four sides of the smoothed upper surface of an oblong stone seat (āsana), which stands near the north-east corner of the Piḷimagē (‘image-house’) in the group of ruins on the Tōpa-väva quadrangle (the Dalada Maluwa) in Polonnaruwa. According to H. C. P. Bell, the seat was brought from the shrine of Thūpārāma, where it had been improperly utilised as a flower altar. It is therefore not clear where exactly the seat originally stood. The inscription consists of four lines, beginning with a Sanskrit stanza. It records that king Niśśaṅka-Malla sat on this seat to witness the entertainments of various artists after he had returned from his campaign in India and had completed the restoration of Buddhist monuments in Ceylon. Niśśaṅka Malla reigned from 1187 to 1196 A.D. A slab-inscription at Ruvanväli-dāgaba (IN03077) states that Niśśaṅka Malla undertook the reparation of the dāgabas in Anurādhapura in the fourth year of his reign i.e. 1191-92 A.D. As the present inscription refers to this campaign of restoration, it must date from 1191 A.D. or later.

Metadata
Inscription ID IN03084
Title Poḷonnaruva Kalā-Krīḍā-Vinoda-Gal-Āsana Inscription
Alternative titles
Parent Object OB03064
Related Inscriptions
Responsibility
Author Don Martino de Zilva Wickremasinghe
Print edition recorded by
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Digitally edited by
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Language සිංහල , संस्कृतम्
Reigning monarch Niśśaṅka-Malla
Commissioner
Topic records that king Niśśaṅka-Malla sat on this seat to witness the entertainments of various artists after he had returned from his campaign in India and had completed the restoration of Buddhist monuments in Ceylon
Date:
Min 1191
Max 1196
Comment Basis for dating: reign of Niśśaṅka Malla (1187-1196 A.D.). According to a slab-inscription at Ruvanväli-dāgaba (IN03077), Niśśaṅka Malla undertook the reparation of the dāgabas in Anurādhapura in the fourth year of his reign i.e. 1191-92 A.D. As the present inscription refers to this campaign of restoration, it must date from 1191 A.D. or later.
Hand
Letter size 3.81
Description Letter size varies from 1 to 1½ inches (2.54 to 3.81 cm). The letters are of the same type used in other inscriptions of king Niśśaṅka-Malla.
Layout
Campus:
Width 190.5
Height
Description Campus height not reported. Four lines inscribed between ruled lines around all four edges of the smoothed upper surface of an oblong stone-seat (āsana). The ruled lines are 3 inches (7.62 cm) apart and a blank space measuring 4 ft 6 in (137.16 cm) by 1 ft 9 in (53.34 cm) has been left in the centre of the text.
Decoration
Bibliography
References Edited by Wickremasinghe in Epigraphia Zeylanica 2 (1912-27) 128-130, no. 20.
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Misc notes