The inscription is engraved on a fragment of a stone slab found in the Tōpaväva village. The fragment originally formed part of a flagstone in the rectangular bath on the promontory at Tōpaväva. Numerous baths were discovered on the promontory in 1901. The other fragments of the flagstone are missing but Wickremasinghe was able to reconstruct the slab’s inscription after recognising that it was the same as the Rankot-dāgaba pillar inscription (IN03087), except for the concluding sentence which states the purpose for which the cistern was used by king Niśśaṅka-Malla. This king reigned from 1187 to 1196 A.D. No specific date is given in the inscription but, as Wickremasinghe notes, the text must have been composed after the fourth year of Niśśaṅka-Malla’s reign because it refers to the king’s visit to Anurādhapura, which took place in his fourth regnal year, and to his later tours of inspection.

Epigraphia Zeylanica
Wickremasinghe, Don Martino de Zilva. (1912-27). ‘No. 24. Poḷonnaruva: Stone Bath Slab-Inscription,’ Epigraphia Zeylanica 2, p. 145.

[Lines 1-11.] His Illustrious Majesty Vīra Kāliṅga Laṅkeśvara ApratiMalla NiśśaṅkaMalla ParākramaBāhu Cakravartī was pleased to tour round and throughout Laṅkā, inspecting completely, like a ripe nelli fruit in his hand, villages, market towns, seaport towns, cities, and many other localities of note in the three kingdoms [of Ceylon], including Devunuvara (i.e. Dondra), Käläṇi, Dam̆bulu, and Anurādhapura, as well as those places difficult of access either on account of water, mountains, forests, or marshes. He gave security to all animals in Rantisä, Miṇihoru, Gan̆gataḷā, Padī, and many other great tanks in the three kingdoms.

 

And he ordered that they should not be killed. He abolished for all times the visam̆buru-vata and the dues on places under chēna cultivation. From punishments and the like he exempted the inhabitants who were reduced to straitened circumstances through various [kinds of] oppression, imprisonment, and chastisement, as well as through the seizure of entire personal property, such as cattle, buffaloes, &c., in the days of former kings. And he bestowed on them gifts of pearls, precious stones, corals, and such other jewellery in abundance.

 

He gave them also cattle, buffaloes, money, and grain, male and female serfs, divel villages and permanent grants, together with various sorts of clothes, ornaments, and gold and silver vessels. Placing [in this manner] all the inhabitants in comfortable circumstances, he freed the land of Laṅkā from the thorns of lawlessness and kept it in a peaceful state.

 

[Thereafter] being desirous of single combats, he proceeded to the Pāṇḍyan country in the great [continent of] India, attended by his fourfold army of elephants, chariots, cavalry, and infantry.

 

[Lines 11-14.] Seeing [however] no adversary equal to him, he was pleased to exact tribute from the Coḷa, the Pāṇḍya, and various other countries.

 

And this is the bathing-pond in which His Majesty Śrī Vira Kāliṅga Laṅkeśvara ApratiMalla NiśśaṅkaMalla Śrī ParākramaBāhu Cakravartī, who has [thus] made conquests in all directions, is pleased to complete [the ceremony of bathing?].

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