The inscription is engraved on a quadrangular stone pillar, which was at the Archaeological Museum at Anurādhapura in around 1930, as recorded by S. Paranavitana in Epigraphia Zeylanica (vol. 3, p. 126). Paranavitana also reported that the pillar was said to have been discovered in the jungle to the west of the Jaffna road, not far from the town of Anurādhapura. The pillar is inscribed on all four sides but only one side remains legible, the writing on the other three having been almost completely obliterated. The legible portion of the inscription consists of thirty-eight lines and represents the introductory part of the text. It includes a date in the second year of king Dāpuḷu Abahay, whom H. C. P. Bell identified as Dappula V (r. 940–952 A.D.). As the bulk of the inscription is no longer legible, the purpose of the text is not entirely clear. However, the damaged text on the third side of the pillar appears to mention the boundaries of a certain land, suggesting that – like the majority of pillar inscription of the period – the inscription was probably concerned with a grant of immunities.
Metadata | |
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Inscription ID | IN03112 |
Title | Anuradhapura Pillar Inscription of the Reign of Dappula V |
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Parent Object | OB03092 |
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Responsibility | |
Author | Senarath Paranavitana |
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Language | සිංහල |
Reigning monarch | Dappula V |
Commissioner | |
Topic | possibly a grant of immunities, although it is impossible to be certain as large portions of the inscription are no longer legible |
Date: | |
Min | 941 |
Max | 942 |
Comment | Basis for dating: intrinsic. The inscription is dated in the second year of king Dāpuḷu Abahay, whom H. C. P. Bell identified as Dappula V (r. 940–952 A.D.) |
Hand | |
Letter size | 3.81 cm |
Description | Letter size vary in height from one to 1½ inches (2.54 to 3.81 cm). Sinhalese alphabet of the first half of the 10th century A.D. |
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Campus: | |
Width | 20.32 |
Height | 182.88 |
Description | 38 lines inscribed on one side of a quadrangular stone pillar. The inscription was originally continued on the other three sides of the pillar but the writing on those sides is no longer legible, having been almost completely obliterated. |
Decoration | |
Bibliography | |
References | Edited and translated by S. Paranavitana in Epigraphia Zeylanica 3 (1928-33) 126-131, no. 8. |
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Misc notes |