The inscription is engraved on the rock wall of a cave situated about 400 feet to the south-west of the stupa in the ruined monastery at Kalupokuṇa or Kaludiyapokuṇa, which lies on the slopes of a range of hills known as Eravalagala, about a mile and a half to the south-east of Kum̆bukkan̆danvaḷa, in the Vagapaṇaha Pallēsiya Pattu of the Mātaḷē District. The text contains sixty-seven lines, divided into five columns of unequal dimensions. It is dated on the fifth day of the bright half of the lunar month Poson in the eighth year of King Sirisaṅgbo. This biruda was used by a number of kings and it is not possible to identify definitively which one is intended here. However, on palaeographic grounds, Senarath Paranavitana suggests that the monarch in question may be Sena II (r. 866–901) or Kassapa IV (r. 912–929), more probably the former.
The inscription records the gifts made by different individuals for providing food to the inmates of the Dakiṇigiri monastery. The major part of the record is concerned with the gift of a person named Daḷanā, who invested twenty-three kaḷan̆das of gold for the daily supply of two aḍmanā of rice and one aḍmanā of curd and who stipulated that, in the event of dissension among the inmates of the of the monastery, the food intended for them should be thrown to crows and dogs. Evidently, Daḷanā was of opinion that if the members of the saṅgha quarrelled amongst themselves, they were less worthy of the offerings of the pious than such animals.
Metadata | |
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Inscription ID | IN03138 |
Title | Kaludiyapokuṇa Cave Inscription |
Alternative titles | |
Parent Object | OB03113 |
Related Inscriptions | |
Responsibility | |
Author | Senarath Paranavitana |
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Language | සිංහල |
Reigning monarch | Sirisaṅgbo |
Commissioner | |
Topic | records the gifts made by different individuals for providing food to the inmates of the Dakiṇigiri monastery |
Date: | |
Min | 800 |
Max | 950 |
Comment | Basis for dating: palaeography. The inscription is dated on the fifth day of the bright half of the lunar month Poson in the eighth year of King Sirisaṅgbo. This biruda was used by a number of kings and it is not possible to identify definitively which one is intended here. However, on palaeographic grounds, Senarath Paranavitana suggests that the monarch in question may be Sena II (r. 866–901) or Kassapa IV (r. 912–929), more probably the former. |
Hand | |
Letter size | 5.08 cm |
Description | The letters are about two inches (5.08 cm) on average in height, except for the last eight lines of the third column, which are written in smaller letters. Sinhalese script of the ninth century A.D. |
Layout | |
Campus: | |
Width | 182.88 |
Height | 182.88 |
Description | 67 lines engraved in a somewhat careless manner on the rock wall of a cave. The text is divided into five columns of unequal dimensions, containing 18, 17, 21, 6, and 5 lines respectively. The first column measures 6 feet (182.88 cm) by 1 foot 4 inches (40.64 cm), the second 5 feet by 1 foot 5 inches (43.18 cm), the third 6 feet (182.88 cm) by 1 foot 1 inch (33.02 cm) and the fourth only 1 foot 4 inches (40.64 cm) by 8 inches (20.32 cm). The fifth column is engraved in the intervening space between the third and fourth columns and measures 1 foot 3 inches (38.1 cm) by 5 inches (12.7 cm). |
Decoration | |
Bibliography | |
References | Edited and translated by S. Paranavitana in Epigraphia Zeylanica 3 (1928-33) 253–269, no. 27. |
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Misc notes |