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.

Metadata
Inscription ID IN03090
Title Poḷonnaruva Kiri-Vehera Slab Inner Inscription
Alternative titles
Parent Object OB03070
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 military successes, before stating that the pavilion was built after the king’s return from the Indian campaign, and that it was used for worshipping the (Buddhist) relics enshrined in the Kiri-vehera-dāgaba opposite
Date:
Min 1191
Max 1196
Comment Basis for dating: reign of Niśśaṅka Malla (1187-1196 A.D.). Epigraphic and archaeological evidence suggests that the inscription 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.
Hand
Letter size 5.08
Description Letter size varies from 1 to 2 inches (2.54 to 5.08 cm). Sinhalese alphabet of the latter half of the 12th century A.D.
Layout
Campus:
Width 289.56
Height 137.16
Description 16 lines engraved between ruled lines around four sides of a rectangular area in the centre of a stone slab (4 lines per side), leaving a blank space measuring 6 ft (182.88 cm) by 1 ft 3 in (38.1 cm) in the centre of the slab. The inscription is contained within an ornamental border, outside of which is another inscription and, beyond that, a further ornamental border.
Decoration The present inscription is surrounded by ornamental border featuring a conventional crab and fish pattern. This border separates the inner and outer inscriptions on the slab. Another border marks the edge of the slab; it features swans (haṁsas) running in a single file from right to left along a fillet of foliaged creeper pattern.
Bibliography
References Edited and translated by Wickremasinghe in Epigraphia Zeylanica 2 (1912-27) 148-152, no. 26. An earlier faulty and incomplete transcript and translation published in Müller 1883: 67, 102 and 135, no. 152.
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Misc notes

The text of this inscription is the same as the Niśśaṅka-latā-maṇḍapa, the only exception being the final clause.