The inscription is engraved on all four faces of an irregularly shaped stone slab, which was discovered in April 1931 in a garden called Baṭatum̆bagahavatta in the village of Velmilla (Welmilla) in the Rayigam Kōraḷē of the Kalutara District. According to local tradition, the villagers long ago dug a large pit near the stone in the hope of finding buried treasure. Finding none, they buried the stone in the pit, where it remained until it was brought to the surface in the 1920s. The slab was broken in two before it was buried and it has since been further mutilated into four unequal parts, one of which is now missing. After visiting the village, Senarath Paranavitana felt that the inscription was of exceptional interest and had it removed to the Colombo Museum in order to preserve it from further damage.
The inscription is dated in the eighth year of king Mahasen Abhā (Mahāsena Abhaya) who, on palaeographic grounds, must be one of the three Senas who flourished in the tenth century. The regnal year precludes Sena IV, whose reign lasted for only three years, and the mention of the heir-apparent Udā (Udaya), son of Sirisaṅgboyi Kasub (Kassapa), rules out Sena V as, although named Udaya, the heir-apparent during his reign was a son of Mahinda IV. By process of elimination, the inscription may therefore by attributed to Sena III, whose reign according to the chronicles extended for nine years and whose mahapā (heir-apparent) was a prince named Udaya. The chronicles do not record this prince’s parentage but the present inscription suggests that his father was Kassapa IV, who was known by the title of Sirisaṅgbo and whose reign was close to that of Udaya III.
The purpose of the inscription was to grant the usual type of immunities to a pamuṇu land situated in Aruṅgam-peḷavaga and belonging to a person whose name is not completely preserved. It may of interest to note that there is a village called Aruggoḍa about four miles from the site where this inscription was found, which may be related to the place called Aruṅgam-peḷavaga in the record.
| Metadata | |
|---|---|
| Inscription ID | IN03145 |
| Title | Velmilla Slab Inscription of Sena III |
| Alternative titles | |
| Parent Object | OB03120 |
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| Responsibility | |
| Author | Senarath Paranavitana |
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| Language | සිංහල |
| Reigning monarch | Mahasen Abhā (Sena III) |
| Commissioner | |
| Topic | records a grant of immunities to a pamuṇu land situated in Aruṅgam-peḷavaga and belonging to a person whose name is not completely preserved |
| Date: | |
| Min | 940 |
| Max | 941 |
| Comment | The inscription is dated in the eighth year of king Mahasen Abhā (Mahāsena Abhaya) who, on palaeographic grounds, must be one of the three Senas who flourished in the tenth century. The regnal year precludes Sena IV, whose reign lasted for only three years, and the mention of the heir-apparent Udā (Udaya), son of Sirisaṅgboyi Kasub (Kassapa), rules out Sena V as, although named Udaya, the heir-apparent during his reign was a son of Mahinda IV. By process of elimination, the inscription may therefore by attributed to Sena III, whose reign according to the chronicles extended for nine years and whose mahapā (heir-apparent) was a prince named Udaya. In H. W. Codrington’s A Short History of Ceylon (1926), Sena III’s reign is estimated as 955 until 964 A.D., whereas Senarath Paranavitana gives the dates for his reign as circa 933– 942 A.D. in the third volume of Epigraphia Zeylanica (p. 296). |
| Hand | |
| Letter size | 2.54–5.08 cm |
| Description | The letters are not of uniform size. The whole part of side A and the upper part of side C are in a larger hand, the average size of each letter being about 2 inches (5.08 cm) in height. The letters in the rest of the inscription are, on average, between 1 and 1½ inches (2.54 and 3.81 cm) in height. Sinhalese script of the tenth century A.D. |
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| Description | The inscription is engraved all four faces of an irregularly shaped stone slab, including the narrow sides. The slab has been broken into four pieces, one of which is missing. The surface of the stone has been poorly dressed and it is now badly weathered. Due to the damaged condition of the stone, a number of letters on side C are totally illegible. At the top of side B, a few letters have been destroyed by villages sharpening their knives on the stone. The missing fragment of the slab contained parts of the last four lines on side A, lines 14–21 on side B and about six lines on side D. There are 18 lines on side A. Owing to the losses and damage that the slab has sustained, it is not possible to be precise about the number of lines on the three sides but Senarath Paranavitana estimates that there were originally 30 lines on side B, 26 lines on side C and 27 lines on side D. The letters are engraved between parallel lines. |
| Decoration | The figures of a dog and a crow are engraved beneath the inscription on side A. |
| Bibliography | |
| References | Edited and translated by S. Paranavitana in Epigraphia Zeylanica 3 (1928-33) 294–302, no. 32. |
| Add to bibliography | |
| Misc notes | |