This text is the inner inscription on the upper surface of a stone slab found lying on the maḷuva or terrace of the so-called ‘Kiri-vehera’ dāgaba in Poḷonnaruva, about eight or ten yards to the south-east of its south altar. The slab has two inscriptions. The first or outer inscription is engraved around all four edges of a large rectangular area, which covers almost the entire surface of slab. The second or inner inscription is engraved around all four edges of a smaller rectangular area, which is set within the first inscription. An ornamental border of swans (haṁsas) and foliage surrounds the outer inscription and a conventional crab and fish pattern frames the inner one.

 

Both inscriptions date from the reign of king Niśśaṅka-Malla. It is obvious from the contents of the two texts and from the few stumps of pillars still existing round the slab that it was originally situated inside a kūḍama or pavilion structure similar in style to the one at the Rankot-dāgaba (OB03067) and built about the same period, namely, between 1191 and 1196 A.D. The inscribed slab must have been the flagstone of a raised seat within the pavilion, from which the royalty was wont to worship the relics enshrined in the Kiri-vehera-dāgaba opposite.

 

The text of the first or outer inscription is the same as the Poḷonnaruva Stone Bath Slab Inscription (IN03088), the only exception being the concluding clause which indicates the pavilion (kūḍama), as the one from which His Majesty Kīrti Niśśaṅka-Malla worshipped the (Buddhist) relics.