The inscription is engraved on a low flat hummock of gneiss rock, about eight feet to the south of the ruins of a small rubble-built stupa. The hummock is known locally as Tōṇigala (Thonigala) or Nāgaragala and lies in the jungle about 6 miles (9.5 km) from Vavuniya on the Horowpotana Road, close to the border between Northern Province and North-Central Province. The inscription was recorded by Henry Parker in 1886 and listed in the Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of Ceylon for 1892 but no attempt was made to interpret the text before Senarath Paranavitana’s edition in the early 1930s (Epigraphia Zeylanica 3, pp. 172–188). The inscription is dated in the third year of Śrīmeghavarṇṇa (Sri Meghavarna), the son of Mahāsena, who reigned in the fourth century A.D. It is a private document, and the king’s name is introduced only for purposes of dating. The text records that a certain minister deposited some quantities of grain and beans with a guild in the northern quarter of the city with the stipulation that the capital should remain unspent and the interest should be utilised for providing meals to the monks of the Yahisapavata monastery during the vassa season of every year. The inscription describes how much interest is to be taken and outlines the different kinds of provisions to be supplied for feeding the monks.

Metadata
Inscription ID IN03124
Title Tōṇigala Rock Inscription of Śrīmeghavarṇṇa
Alternative titles
Parent Object OB03100
Related Inscriptions
Responsibility
Author Senarath Paranavitana
Print edition recorded by
Source encoded
Digitally edited by
Edition improved by
Authority for
Metadata recorded by
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Language සිංහල
Reigning monarch Śrīmeghavarṇṇa (Sri Meghavarna)
Commissioner
Topic records that a certain minister deposited some quantities of grain and beans with a guild in the northern quarter of the city with the stipulation that the capital should remain unspent and the interest should be utilised for providing meals to the monks of the Yahisapavata monastery during the vassa season of every year
Date:
Min 300
Max 400
Comment The inscription is dated in the third year of Śrīmeghavarṇṇa, the son of Mahāsena. This king reigned in the fourth century A.D. (possibly ca. 301–328). He was a contemporary of the Indian emperor Samudragupta.
Hand
Letter size 7.62
Description Letters are on average 3 inches (7.62 cm) in height. Sinhalese script of the latter half of the fourth century A.D.
Layout
Campus:
Width 289.56
Height 304.8
Description 17 lines engraved on the surface of a low, flat rock. The inscribed area has irregular dimensions, owing to the fact that the rock was not smoothed prior to inscription, which forced the engraver to write around uneven parts of the surface. The opening lines (lines 1–4) are the longest, each measuring around 9½ feet (289.56 cm) in length; lines 5–16 are on average 7 feet (213.36 cm) long; and the final line, consisting of only eight letters, is 2 feet (60.96 cm). The first twelve lines are well-preserved while the last five lines are more weatherworn, but the entire record remains legible, apart from a few letters in line 13.
Decoration
Bibliography
References Edited and translated by S. Paranavitana in Epigraphia Zeylanica 3 (1928-33) 172–188, no. 17.
Add to bibliography The inscription was first recorded by Henry Parker in 1886; it was subsequently listed in the Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of Ceylon for 1892, following the production of an eye-copy by Don Martino de Zilva Wickremasinghe. Another, more accurate eye-copy was produced under the supervision of H. C. P. Bell in 1894. However, no attempt was made to interpret the inscription before Senarath Paranavitana’s edition in the early 1930s (Epigraphia Zeylanica 3, pp. 172–188). For Parker’s comments see: Lewis, John Penry. (1895). Manual of the Vaṇṇi Districts, Vavuniya and Mullaittivu, of the Northern Province, Ceylon. Colombo: H. C. Cottle, p. 313.
Misc notes