IN03148 Devanagala Rock Inscription of Parākramabāhu I

The inscription is engraved at the bottom of the rock-cut steps on the south-western side of Devanagala, a rock situated about three miles to the south-east of Māvanälla in the Galboḍa Kōraḷē of the Kǟgalla District. These steps lead to the summit of the rock, upon which are the ruins of a massive stone building called Paraṇa Vihāra, an old dāgäba, and an image house of Kandyan style. The inscription was first noticed by Edward Müller in his Ancient Inscriptions in Ceylon (1883: 60, 87, 120, no. 135), although he did not recognise the text’s historical significance, which was subsequently highlighted by H. C. P. Bell in his Report on the Kegalla District of the Province of Sabaragamuwa (1904: 73–76).

The inscription is dated to the twelfth year of Parākramabāhu I. This king ascended to the throne in 1153 A.D., hence the inscription must have been engraved in 1164–1165 A.D. It registers a grant of certain lands by the king to the general Kit Nuvaragal (Kitti Nagaragiri) in recognition of the latter’s services in an expedition against the Rāmañña country in the Pagan kingdom (modern-day Burma/Myanmar). The inscription provides valuable information about this expedition. It indicates that the campaign took place in or shortly before the twelfth year of Parākramabāhu’s reign and enables us to identify the Pagan monarch at the time of the conflict Alaungsithu (r. 1112–1167 A.D.). These details are not mentioned in the account of the expedition in the Mahāvaṁsa. Alaungsithu is referred to in the inscription as ‘Bhuvanāditta’, a title which, although applied to several Pagan kings, was particularly associated with him.