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.

Epigraphia Zeylanica
Wickremasinghe, Don Martino de Zilva. (1912-27). ‘No. 25. Poḷonnaruva: Śiva-Devālaye Slab-Inscription,’ Epigraphia Zeylanica 2, p. 148.

[Lines 1-3] Hail! Prosperity! His Majesty Śrī Vīra Kāliṅgā Laṅkeśvara ApratiMalla NiśśaṅkaMalla Śrī ParākramaBāhu Cakravarti having toured round and throughout Laṅka in one year was pleased to inspect 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 4-5] 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 seat on which His Majesty, who has [thus] made conquests in all directions, is pleased to complete the function of lustral bathing (when) attending the ceremony of propitiating the nine planetary gods.

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