The inscription is engraved around all four edges of the smoothed upper surface of a quadrangular slab, which once formed the top flagstone of a raised seat (āsana). It was examined by H. C. P. Bell sometime between 1901 and 1905. The slab was then lying inside a ruined shrine referred to by Bell as Śiva-Devālaya No. 1 and situated a little to the south of the main group of Buddhist ruins on the raised quadrangle near Tōpaväva. The stone is badly worn, rendering a considerable portion of the inscription totally illegible. However, what remains readable clearly shows that the text agrees almost word for word with the Poḷonnaruva Stone Bath Slab Inscription (IN03088), the only exception being the concluding sentence which indicates the inscribed seat or āsana as the one which king Niśśaṅka-Malla used to occupy when performing the function of lustral bathing (nānu ) at the ceremony of propitiating the nine planetary gods (nava-graha-śānti). Niśśaṅka-Malla reigned from 1187 to 1196 A.D. No specific date is given in the inscription but the text must have been composed after the fourth year of the king’s reign because it refers to his visit to Anurādhapura, which took place in his fourth regnal year.

Metadata
Inscription ID IN03089
Title Poḷonnaruva Śiva-Devālaye Slab Inscription
Alternative titles
Parent Object OB03069
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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 indicating the inscribed seat or āsana as the one which king Niśśaṅka-Malla used to occupy when performing the function of lustral bathing (nānu mē) at the ceremony of propitiating the nine planetary gods (nava-graha-śānti)
Date:
Min 1191
Max 1196
Comment Basis for dating: reign of Niśśaṅka Malla (1187-1196 A.D.). No specific date is given in the inscription but 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.
Hand
Letter size 2.54
Description Letter size varies from ½ to 1 inch (1.27 to 2.54 cm). The type of the script is the same as that of the other records of king Niśśaṅka-Malla.
Layout
Campus:
Width 157.48
Height 83.82
Description 5 lines engraved between ruled lines on the smoothed upper surface of a quadrangular slab, which once formed the top flagstone of a raised seat (āsana). The inscription is written around all four edges of the slab, leaving a blank space of 3 ft 8½ in (113.03 cm) by 1 ft 6 in (45.72 cm) in the centre. The stone is badly worn, rendering a considerable portion of the inscription totally illegible.
Decoration
Bibliography
References Edited by Wickremasinghe in Epigraphia Zeylanica 2 (1912-27) 146-148, no. 25.
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Misc notes

The stone is badly worn, rendering a considerable portion of the inscription totally illegible. However, what remains readable clearly shows that the text agrees almost word for word with the Poḷonnaruva Stone Bath Slab Inscription (IN03088), the only exception being the concluding sentence.