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
Inscription ID IN03149
Title Kaṭugaha-Galgē Pillar Inscription
Alternative titles
Parent Object OB03124
Related Inscriptions
Responsibility
Author Senarath Paranavitana
Print edition recorded by
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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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