The inscription is engraved on a smooth raised panel on the roof of a cave in the scarp near the summit of the north-westerly side of Dim̆bulā-gala (referred to in the text as Dum̆bulā-gala), a range of hills about ten miles to the south-east of Poḷonnaruva or sixty miles from Anurādhapura in the same direction. The Archaeological Commissioner, H. C. P. Bell, recorded the inscription during his exploration of the locality in September 1897. The text seems to be complete but its unusual ending raises the possibility that it is in fact continued on other nearby panels. Consisting of seven lines, the inscription records that Sundara-mahādevī, the chief queen of Vikrama-Bāhu I and the mother of Gaja-Bāhu II, caused the construction of a road at Dum̆bulā-gala between Sanda-maha-leṇa (the great Moon-cave) and Hiru-maha-leṇa (the great Sun-cave); that she had it paved with stone and had also cave temples built with statues, dāgabas, and sacred bodhi trees; and that she further testifies to a certain benefaction which she had made to Demaḷǟ-pähä.
The text gives the date of this benefaction as the twenty-seventh year after the coronation of Jaya-Bāhu I. However, as Wickremasinghe points out, Jaya-Bāhu I’s reign is believed to have lasted considerably less than twenty-seven years: he ascended to the throne in 1110 and was deposed the following year by his nephew Vikkrama-Bāhu I. The latter reigned for a number of years before being succeeded in 1132 by his son Gaja-Bāhu II, who in turn ruled until 1153. By this chronology, the twenty-seventh year after Jaya-Bāhu’s coronation would have been around 1137, when his great-nephew Gaja-Bāhu II was on the throne. Wickremasinghe therefore dates the present inscription to Gaja-Bāhu II’s reign. Assuming this interpretation is correct, it is highly curious that the inscription’s date should be given from the coronation of a deposed (and by this point deceased) king.
Her Majesty Sundara-mahādevī who surpasses (the goddess) Śrī in beauty and gracefulness, who is directly descended from the Solar dynasty which belongs to the lineage of Suddhodanā that has sprung from the royal race of Okkāka, who became the chief queen of king Vikkama–Bāhu born of crowned parents, and gave birth to Gaja–Bāhu–deva: [this queen] seeing the hardship of people who, like old folk, hang on to chains and tread the path between the Sanda–maha–leṇa (the great Moon-cave) and Hiru–maha–leṇa (the great Sun-cave) at Dum̆bulāgala, where 500 members of the ‘Great Community’ reside and where also relics of the body of our Lord Buddha are enshrined, caused the stones to be cut and the path (thus) improved.
Then at the Cave she had statues, dāgabas, and great bodhi-trees established and gave to it (i.e. the cave) the name Kāliṅga–leṇa. And on the uposatha day of the bright half of (the lunar month) Poson (May – June) in the twenty-seventh [regnal] year of Jaya–Bāhu–Vat–himiyan–vahanse, she caused the construction of sacred kusalān (vessels?) at Demalǟ–paha, and for the purpose of offering (therein) gruel and boiled rice granted them (to the Monastery) so long as the world exists. To this effect we are Sundara–mahādevī.
Other versions
Her Majesty Sundara-Mahā-devī, chief queen of king Vikumbā who .. .. .. .. the crown which he had received and mother of Gaja-Bāhu Deva, who surpasses the goddess Śrī in her beauty and is directly descended from the Solar dynasty, which belongs to the lineage of Sudonā that has sprung from the Okkāka royal race—[this queen] caused the construction of a road between Sanda-maha-leṇa (the great moon-cave) and Hiru-maha-leṇa (the great sun-cave) at Dum̆bulā-gala, where 500 members of the ‘Great Community’ reside and where relics of the body of our Lord Buddha also exist, and had the street paved with flagstones . . . . . . . . . Then she had caves established with statues, dāgabas and sacred bodhi trees. Adjoining Kalin̆gu-leṇa (Kāliṅga-cave) also, on the uposatha day of the bright half of (the lunar month) Poson [May–June], in the twenty-seventh year of [the reign of] the munificent king Vijaya-Bāhu Vat-himi, she caused the construction of sacred kusalān (vessels?) for the Demaḷǟ-pähä (monastery), and, after making an offering of gruel [in them], dedicated them [to it] so long as the world exists. To this effect Sundara-Mahā-devī herself [testifies].