The inscription is engraved on the surface of a low, flat rock amidst the ruins of an ancient monastery at Vihāregala. This site lies at the southern end of the Puliyankuḷam range of hills, about two and half miles to the north-west of Galenbin̆dunuväva in the Uḍḍiyankuḷam Kōraḷē of the North-Central Province, and to the east of the village named Mahakälǟgama (Maha Kelegama, 8.28531, 80.680939). The inscription records that king Gajabāhu Gāmaṇī Abhaya re-granted the Uppaladoṇika tank, originally given by King Saba, to the Ekadvāra Monastery. The king in question is Gajabahu I, who reigned from 113 to 135 A.D. An earlier inscription (IN03122) is inscribed on the same rock as the present record, recording king Saba’s original grant. The two inscriptions were first recorded in the Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of Ceylon for 1893 (p. 7). The Uppadoṇika tank to which they refer is apparently the one now known as the Pahala Kayinattama Wewa, which lies only two miles north of the ruined monastery. An inscription on the bund of the Pahala Kayinattama Wewa (IN03121) confirms that it was given by king Saba to the Ekadvāra monastery.
| Metadata | |
|---|---|
| Inscription ID | IN03123 |
| Title | Vihāregala Rock Inscription 2 |
| Alternative titles | |
| Parent Object | OB03099 |
| Related Inscriptions | IN03122 |
| Responsibility | |
| Author | Senarath Paranavitana |
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| Digitally edited by | |
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| Language | සිංහල |
| Reigning monarch | Gajabāhu Gāmaṇī Abhaya (Gaja Bahu I) |
| Commissioner | |
| Topic | records that king Gajabāhu Gāmaṇī Abhaya re-granted the Uppaladoṇika tank, originally given by King Saba, to the Ekadvāra Monastery. |
| Date: | |
| Min | 113 |
| Max | 135 |
| Comment | Basis for dating: reign of king Gaja Bahu I (113–135 A.D.). |
| Hand | |
| Letter size | |
| Description | Letter size is somewhat smaller for IN03122, which is inscribed on the same rock. Southern variety of the Brāhmī alphabet of the first and second centuries A.D. |
| Layout | |
| Campus: | |
| Width | 213.36 |
| Height | 91.44 |
| Description | 4 lines boldly engraved within the surface of a low, flat rock, immediately below IN03122. The present inscription is engraved less carefully than IN03112, using shallow letters on an undressed portion of the rock’s surface. It is, consequently, less well preserved. |
| Decoration | |
| Bibliography | |
| References | Edited and translated in Müller 1883: 28, 74, and 110, no. 11b. Revised edition and translation by S. Paranavitana in Epigraphia Zeylanica 3 (1928-33) 163–169, no. 15. |
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