The inscription is engraved around four sides of the smoothed upper surface of a stone seat (āsana). It was discovered in the jungle some two hundred yards to the east of the ruin known as Ran-kot-vehera in Poḷonnaruva. The inscription consists of six lines and dates from the reign of Niśśaṅka-Malla (1187-1196 A.D.). It gives an account of some of Niśśaṅka-Malla’s acts, before identifying the seat as the one which the king occupied to watch the construction of the Ruvanväli-dāgaba at Poḷonnaruva. Wickremasinghe notes that the stone-seat inscription must be earlier than the Galpota inscription (IN03081) because the latter post-dates the completion of the Ruvanväli-dāgaba. This dāgaba was built to a height of eighty cubits and adorned with a golden pinnacle, from which it gets its present name: Ran-kot-vehera (‘golden-spire-monastery’).
| Metadata | |
|---|---|
| Inscription ID | IN03086 |
| Title | Poḷonnaruva Rankot-Dāgaba Gal-Āsana Inscription |
| Alternative titles | |
| Parent Object | OB03066 |
| Related Inscriptions | |
| Responsibility | |
| Author | Don Martino de Zilva Wickremasinghe |
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| Language | සිංහල |
| Reigning monarch | Niśśaṅka-Malla |
| Commissioner | |
| Topic | gives an account of some of Niśśaṅka-Malla’s acts, before identifying the seat as the one which the king occupied to watch the construction of the Ruvanväli-dāgaba at Poḷonnaruva |
| Date: | |
| Min | 1187 |
| Max | 1196 |
| Comment | Basis for dating: reign of Niśśaṅka Malla (1187-1196 A.D.). Wickremasinghe notes that this inscription must be earlier than the Galpota inscription (IN03081) because, while the former describes the ongoing construction of Ruvanväli-dāgaba, the latter records the building’s completion. |
| Hand | |
| Letter size | 5.08 |
| Description | Letter size varies from 1 to 2 inches (2.54 to 5.08 cm). The letters resemble in type the script of other records of Niśśaṅka-Malla. |
| Layout | |
| Campus: | |
| Width | 91.44 |
| Height | 91.44 |
| Description | Six lines inscribed between ruled lines around all four edges of the smoothed upper surface of a stone-seat (āsana). The ruled lines are 2 inches (5.08 cm) apart and a blank space measuring 16 in (40.64 cm) by 15½ in (39.37 cm) has been left in the centre of the text. |
| Decoration | |
| Bibliography | |
| References | Edited in Rhys Davids 1875, republished in Müller 1883: 67, 101-102 and 135, no. 151. Re-edited by Wickremasinghe in Epigraphia Zeylanica 2 (1912-27) 134-137, no. 22. |
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| Misc notes | |