The inscription is covers all four sides of a quadrangular stone pillar, which stood in the early twentieth century in a corner of a room in the Kacceri (Government Agent’s Office) at Mannar. It is said to have been found in Māntai or Tirukkētīśvaram (or possibly in the bund of the Giant’s Tank) but the precise circumstances of its discovery are not recorded. The inscription details a grant of immunities to three villages on the northern coast, belonging to the house of meditation (piyangala) named Baha-durusen (Bhadra-sena) in the Mahā Vihāra. The text is dated on the tenth day of the dark fortnight of the month of Mädindina (March–April) in the twelfth year of King Siri Saṅgbo. Since the palaeography belongs to the late ninth or early tenth century A.D., it is likely that the king in question was either Sena II or Kassapa IV, both of whom used the biruda Siri Saṅgbo. Paranavitana (Epigraphia Zeylanica 3, pp. 102–103) favours Kassapa IV on the grounds that the executor of this grant – a minister named Paṇḍirad Dāpuḷu – is also mentioned in the same capacity in the Mäḍirigiriya Pillar Inscription (IN03070), which is dated to the third regnal year of Kassapa IV’s immediate successor, Kassapa V. While the same minister could easily have served both Kassapa IV and his successor, it is highly unlikely that he could have held office from the twelfth year of Sena II’s reign until the third year of Kassapa V’s – a period of more than fifty years.
Metadata | |
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Inscription ID | IN03109 |
Title | Mannar Kacceri Pillar Inscription |
Alternative titles | |
Parent Object | OB03089 |
Related Inscriptions | |
Responsibility | |
Author | Senarath Paranavitana |
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Language | සිංහල |
Reigning monarch | Siri Saṅgbo (Kassapa IV?) |
Commissioner | |
Topic | grants immunities to three villages on the northern coast, belonging to the house of meditation (piyangala) named Baha-durusen (Bhadra-sena) in the Mahā Vihāra |
Date: | |
Min | 923 |
Max | 924 |
Comment | The text is dated on the tenth day of the dark fortnight of the month of Mädindina (March–April) in the twelfth year of King Siri Saṅgbo. Since the palaeography belongs to the late ninth or early tenth century A.D., it is likely that the king in question was either Sena II (866–901) or Kassapa IV (912–929), both of whom used the biruda Siri Saṅgbo. Paranavitana (Epigraphia Zeylanica 3, pp. 102–103) favours Kassapa IV on the grounds that the executor of this grant – a minister named Paṇḍirad Dāpuḷu – is also mentioned in the same capacity in the Mäḍirigiriya Pillar Inscription (IN03070), which is dated to the third regnal year of Kassapa IV’s immediate successor, Kassapa V (929–939). While the same minister could easily have served both Kassapa IV and his successor, it is highly unlikely that he could have held office from the twelfth year of Sena II’s reign until the third year of Kassapa V’s – a period of more than fifty years. |
Hand | |
Letter size | 5.08 |
Description | Letter size varies from 1½ inch to 2 inches (3.81 cm to 5.08 cm). Sinhalese alphabet of the late 9th or early 10th century A.D. |
Layout | |
Campus: | |
Width | 19.05 |
Height | 167.64 |
Description | 86 lines covering all four sides of a quadrangular stone pillar (27 lines on the first three sides, 5 lines on the final side). |
Decoration | A monk’s fan (vaṭahapata) is engraved beneath the inscription on the fourth side of the pillar. |
Bibliography | |
References | Edited and translated by S. Paranavitana in Epigraphia Zeylanica 3 (1928-33) 100-113, no. 5. |
Add to bibliography | |
Misc notes |