The inscription is engraved on a slab standing near a ruined structure at a distance of about 250 feet to the south 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 inscription consists of forty-six lines. However, the upper part of the slab is badly damaged and consequently the first twenty-nine lines of the text are largely illegible, apart from a few words here and there. Fortunately, the name of the king who issued this edict – Mahasen Maharaj – can be read quite clearly in line 9. Maha (‘Great’) is apparently used here purely as an epithet and does not form an integral part of the king’s name. His mother’s name – Vidurāräjna – is also clear and his father’s name may be read as Udā Maharaj, though not with absolute certainty. Since the inscription may be dated to the tenth century on palaeographic grounds, he was presumably one of the three kings called Sena who ruled in this period: Sena III, Sena IV or Sena V. After studying the available evidence on the parentage of these kings, Senarath Paranavitana concluded that Sena IV (r. 972–975 A.D.) was most likely candidate. The inscription is a katikā, or a set of regulations agreed upon by common consent. It seems to have consisted of three sections: (1) rules for the guidance of the monks, (2) rules dealing with the temple officials, and (3) regulations to be observed by the royal officers in their dealings with the monastery. Of these three section, only the second and third are preserved.

Epigraphia Zeylanica
Paranavitana, S. (1928-33). ‘No. 27. Kaludiyapokuṇa Inscriptions,’ Epigraphia Zeylanica 3, pp. 266–269.

[Lines 1–28] . . . . . . . . . . descended from the lineage of king Okāvas . . . . . . . . unto the great king (Udā) . . . . . . . . . . in the autumnal sky of the kṣatriya race . . . . . . . . . . having been born in the womb of Queen Vidurā . . . . . . . . . . in the lineage of the Sun . . . . . . . . . . of the raising of the umbrella [of dominion] by the great king Mahasen . . . . . . . . . . the great royal monastery of Dakiṇigiri situated in the . . . . district . . . . . . . created in the Three Jewels . . . . . . . . . . the lamps in the image house . . . . . . . . . . by being dependent on the great congregation of monks . . . . . . (the villages of . . . . . ngamu, Navāmpahangama . . . . . . rmagavūgama, Panagama . . . . . . all these including . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . in all these places, the fields to which the water of . . . . reach . . . . mortgage and freehold . . . . . . . . . . having met . . . . . not sauing . . . . . . . . should not happen; from outside . . . . . . . . . . in whatever manner . . . . . . . . . . the monastery . . . . . . . . . . the four lessons of religious discourses in three months . . . . . . . . . . their lordships . . . . . . should not reside in this dwelling-place . . . . . . . . . . their lordships, the ten novices who study religious discourses here . . . . . . . . . . to the elders in the dwelling-place wherein (they) live . . . . . . . . should be given . . . . . . . .

 

[Lines 28–32] The great congregation should be asked for their assent to ordain, as religieux, their lordships the novices who study religious discourses here, and they should be ordained as religieux by the end of the year . . . . . . Their lordships who, without reason, deprive the hired labourers and serfs of their nimi and maintenance lands (divel) and their lordships who transgress these aforesaid regulations are not to live in this dwelling-place.

 

[Lines 32–35] [Those who come] after committing homicide outside are not to be given admission. Should [tenants] commit homicide in the district, the employees should take their gedaḍ and send them away. The employees are to take their maintenance lands (divel) from (the villages) Bogamiya and Magama; neat cattle and buffaloes, serfs and men, shall not cultivate ukas and pamaṇu lands from other villages.

 

[Lines 35–40] Employees who are known [to have been implicated] in the five great crimes are not to perform [their duties in] the procession of relics. The employees who have committed any misdemeanour are not to be sent out of the district after taking any service [that they may have] in hand. Maintenance lands are not to be taken without showing accounts before the eighth day of the waning moon in the month of Vap. The employees who do not observe the former customs are not to be kept in their offices. Taxes in excess of, or less than, [what is due according to] former practice are not to be levied. The six kiriya [of fields] at Mahamaṇḍ, Vaḷamāla, and Välipungonu and [the land named] Sīmburbamarā are to be set apart for ‘ticket meals’.

 

[Lines 40–41] [Officers] are not to come from the three royal households to the estates and lands belonging to this monastery and levy workmen, perenāṭṭiyam, carts, oxen and buffaloes.

 

[Lines 42–45] I, Sumaṅga(lu) Raksa, I, Kiḷindiri Sen, and I, Kiliṅg Loke of Mahakiliṅggam who have come by the orders of Saṅgsenu, the Commander of the Body-Guard; and Kuḍasalā Kitdevu, who has come by the orders of Vaṭrak Kasbā, the Raksamaṇa,—We all of us, including the aforesaid persons—instituted these regulations in accordance with the unanimous decree delivered on the tenth day of the waxing moon in the month of Äseḷa.

 

[Line 46] Should any persons, whether they be monks or employees (of the monastery), or officers of the royal household, transgress these regulations, may they not be able to see Mete Budu.

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