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.
[Lines 1–2] Hail! In the time of the third year after the raising of the umbrella by the great king Sirimekavaṇa Aba son of the great king Mahasena.
[Lines 2–6] Two hakaḍas (cartloads) and ten amaṇas of paddy, six amaṇas of udi and ten amaṇas of beans were deposited [with the stipulation that the capital should] neither be spent nor decreased, by Devaya the son of Sivaya, a member of the Council of Ministers, residing at the village of Kaḍubala, with the assembly of the merchants’ guild at Kaḷahumana [situated] in the northern quarter of the city; and were granted for the purpose of conducting the holy vassa in the new monastery of Yahisapavaya.
[Lines 6–10] Of the aforesaid two hakaḍas and ten amaṇas of paddy, the interest at the principal harvest (piṭadaḍa hasa), the interest at the secondary harvest and the interest at the intermediate harvest [amount to] twenty-five amaṇas of paddy. Of the aforesaid six amaṇas of udi, the interest is one amaṇas and two pekaḍas of udi. Of the aforesaid ten amaṇas of beans, the interest is two amaṇas and two pekaḍas of beans.
[Lines 10–14] Of the above-mentioned deposit, the capital should be left unspent and from the interest received, the expenses for two and a half hakaḍas of boiled rice, atarakaja, dishes taken with atarakaja, curd, honey, sweets, sesame, butter (?), salt, green herbs, and turmeric should be given at the refectory of the monastery, . . .
[Lines 14–17] [The above] were granted to the new monastery at Yahisapavata so that the interest may be taken and appropriated for the use of the great community of monks who perform the holy vassa on the twelfth day of the bright half of the month of Nikamaniya in every succeeding rainy season.