The inscription is engraved on a stone pillar, which now stands outside the cave at the ancient site known as Kaṭugaha-galgē (Katugahagalge) or Aturugiri Vihāra, situated about five miles to the north of Buttala in the Kan̆dukara Kōraḷē of the Ūva Province. The cave is situated on the steep side of a huge granite rock on top of which there is a small stupa now renovated. A part of the cave has been walled, in comparatively recent times, to form a shrine and six cells as living quarters for the monks. In front of the cave are remains of ancient structures, the stonework of which is plain and archaic and bespeaks an early date. The pillar, which has been broken into two unequal fragments, was not originally situated here, having been removed to this site from a neighbouring chena sometime in the nineteenth century.
Two other known pillars bear inscriptions identical to this one. One stands in the vicinity of the colossal stupa at Yudaganava, which is about four miles to the south of Katugahagalge, having been brought there from the neighbouring jungle in 1924. The other was found at Väligatta in Hambantoṭa district and now forms part of the collection at the Colombo Museum. In August 1927, Senarath Paranavitana visited Yadaganava and Katugahagalge and found that the pillars at these two places, as well as the one from Väligatta, were gavu (P. gāvuta) stones set up by Kāliṅga Cakravartti, i.e. Niśśaṁka Malla, who reigned from 1187 to 1196 A.D. H. W. Codrington subsequently brought to light six more of these gāvuta pillars in the same locality, most of them in a fragmentary condition. Codrington’s paper on these pillars, dealing particularly with the information they yield on the precise length of the yojana and gāvuta (ancient units of measure), was published in the Ceylon Journal of Science (Section G), vol. ii, pp. 129–134. Of all of these pillars so far known, only on the Katugahagelge pillar is the inscription completely preserved. The inscription indicates the pillar marked a gāvunta and it also includes a short homily addressed to the people of Rohaṇa and an account of the achievements and deeds of king Niśśaṁka Malla.
Metadata | |
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Inscription ID | IN03149 |
Title | Kaṭugaha-Galgē Pillar Inscription |
Alternative titles | |
Parent Object | OB03124 |
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Responsibility | |
Author | Senarath Paranavitana |
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Language | සිංහල |
Reigning monarch | Niśśaṁka Malla |
Commissioner | |
Topic | indicates the pillar marked a gāvunta and includes a short homily addressed to the people of Rohaṇa, plus an account of the achievements and deeds of king Niśśaṁka Malla |
Date: | |
Min | 1187 |
Max | 1196 |
Comment | Basis for dating: reign of Niśśaṁka Malla (r. 1187–1196 A.D.) |
Hand | |
Letter size | 3.81 cm |
Description | The letters are about one and a half inches (3.81 cm) on average in height. Sinhalese script of the twelfth century A.D. |
Layout | |
Campus: | |
Width | 26.67 |
Height | 182.88 |
Description | 57 lines engraved on two sides of a stone pillar (35 lines on the first side, 22 lines on the second). The letters of the inscription are engraved between parallel lines two inches (5.08 cm) apart. The pillar has been broken into two unequal fragments, the fracture damaging line 31 on the first side. The rest of the inscription is in a very good state of preservation. |
Decoration | |
Bibliography | |
References | Recorded in Müller 1883: 68, no. 155, but no text or translation is provided. A preliminary account of the inscription was included in the Epigraphical Summary published in the Ceylon Journal of Science (Section G), vol. ii, part I (1928), pp. 19–20, prior to the publication of Senarath Paranavitana’s edition and translation in Epigraphia Zeylanica 3 (1928–33): 325–331, no. 35. |
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