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.
[Lines A 1–13] On the tenth day of the waxing moon in the month of Navāmas in the eighth year since the umbrella (of dominion) was raised by the great king Mahasen Abhā, who is a tilaka mark [of adornment] to the very illustrious kṣatriya race, who is descended from the lineage of King Okāvas, and whose head has been anointed with the supreme unction.
[Lines A 13–B 28] Whereas it was so decreed, with the unanimous assent (of the Council), by His Highness Udā Mahapā, son of the great King Sirisaṅgboyi Kasub, I, Tusä .. Pähidi, Member of the Body-guard and I, Mivugam Kit, Member of the Body-guard, both in the service of Suḷugalu Udānā, the Commander of the Body-guard and I, . . . . . Saṅgsen, in the service of (Ga)val Udā, who have come to the pamuṇu [land] possessed by Somi . . . . ṇa Kitalnā, in Aruṅgam–peḷavaga in the district of Pahaṇbhunu . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[Lines C 3–26] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . that . . . . . . . . . . and that with regard to this [land], the officers of the royal household shall not enter it; but they shall take [any dues] by being outside the boundaries of the district; and that maṅg–divä, pedivä, melātti [and other] officers of the royal household shall not enter this [land]; and that . . . . . . . shall not enter; and that . . . . . . . . . . . . and that . . . . . . . . . . . . shall not enter; and that village oxen shall not be impressed and that the officers of the de–ruvanä and de-kam-tän, are not to enter [this land] and that the tenants . . . . are not to commit theft; and that employees who live in the villages and who come hither having committed manslaughter or theft are to be removed outside the district.
[Lines D 1–17] Having enacted the above, (we further order) that having taken one hundred and fifty kaḷandas of gold as väl–mila (to be paid) to the (royal) treasury, two hundred and fifty kaḷandas of gold shall annually be taken as dues from the two harvests. The employees and tenants of Aruṅgam-peḷavaga * * * * * * *
[Lines D 24–27] . . . . . . . . . . The officers of the royal household . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . the pillar of immunity has been set up.