This inscription is engraved on all four sides of a quadrangular stone pillar, which has been broken into two nearly equal pieces. These pieces are now joined together and preserved in the Archaeological Museum at Anurādhapura. The fragments were discovered in the vicinity of Niśśaṁka Malla’s Council Chamber on the embankment of the Tōpāväva at Poḷonnaruva, as recorded in the Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of Ceylon for 1909, p. 39. However, it seems that the pillar did not originate in this location and was instead brought there from somewhere else to serve an architectural purpose, possibly as a tread in a flight of steps.
The inscription is dated in the fourth year of a king referred to by his viruda title of Abhaya Salamevan. H. C. P. Bell (Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of Ceylon for 1909, p. 39) identified this monarch with Kassapa V (r. 929–939) but, as there is nothing besides the palaeography to aid this identification, we cannot be quite certain. Senarath Paranavitana suggests that, paleographically, the record could equally be ascribed to Dappula V (r. 940–952). Both Kassapa V and Dappula V used the viruda title of Abhaya Salamevan.
The inscription records the grant of immunities to certain lands held by an individual, whose name is not clearly legible, as a pamaṇu (freehold) on condition of paying, annually, one pǟḷa of dried ginger to a hospital founded by Doti Valaknä. The custom of freeholders paying a small quit-rent to a religious or charitable institution was relatively common in medieval Sri Lanka and there are a number of surviving inscriptions recording such arrangements, the vast majority of which are written in a similar style. Indeed, in the ninth and tenth centuries, there seems to have been a specific formula for such documents. However, the present inscription departs almost entirely from this familiar model, using instead a much rarer formulation (see Misc. Notes for more detail). Senarath Paranavitana identified only two other fragmentary inscriptions that follow the same pattern as this record. One was from Rajamahavihāra at Vihāregama in the Dam̆badeṇi Hatpattu of the Kuruṇǟgala District (IN03159); and the other was found at a place named Mäda-Ulpota in Gan̆gala Pallēsiya Pattuva, Mātalē East (IN03160). These two inscriptions, though not of much interest in themselves, enabled Paranavitana to decipher certain sections of the present inscription where the writing is not clearly legible.
| Metadata | |
|---|---|
| Inscription ID | IN03158 |
| Title | Poḷonnaruva Council Chamber Pillar Inscription |
| Alternative titles | |
| Parent Object | OB03130 |
| Related Inscriptions | |
| Responsibility | |
| Author | Senarath Paranavitana |
| Print edition recorded by | |
| Source encoded | |
| Digitally edited by | |
| Edition improved by | |
| Authority for | |
| Metadata recorded by | |
| Authority for metadata | |
| Metadata improved by | |
| Authoriy for improved | |
| Language | සිංහල |
| Reigning monarch | Abhaya Salamevan (Kassapa V or Dappula V) |
| Commissioner | |
| Topic | records the grant of immunities to certain lands held by an individual, whose name is not clearly legible, as a pamaṇu (freehold) on condition of paying, annually, one pǟḷa of dried ginger to a hospital founded by Doti Valaknä |
| Date: | |
| Min | 800 |
| Max | 950 |
| Comment | Basis for dating: palaeography. The inscription is dated in the fourth year of a king referred to by his viruda title of Abhaya Salamevan. H. C. P. Bell (Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of Ceylon for 1909, p. 39) identified this monarch with Kassapa V (r. 929–939) but, as there is nothing besides the palaeography to aid this identification, we cannot be quite certain. Senarath Paranavitana suggests that, paleographically, the record could equally be ascribed to Dappula V (r. 940–952). Both Kassapa V and Dappula V used the viruda title of Abhaya Salamevan. |
| Hand | |
| Letter size | 5.08 cm |
| Description | Letter size varies from 1½ to 2 inches (3.81 to 5.08 cm). Sinhalese script of about the ninth, or early tenth, century. |
| Layout | |
| Campus: | |
| Width | 29.21 |
| Height | 175.26 |
| Description | 114 lines in total engraved across all four sides of a quadrangular stone pillar (27 lines on the first side, 29 lines on the second, 30 lines on the third and 28 lines on the fourth). At some point in the past, the pillar was broken into two unequal pieces but it has since been repaired. Due to weather damage, the text on the upper part of the first side of the pillar is difficult to decipher, as is most of writing on the third side and a few lines at the top of the second and fourth sides. |
| Decoration | |
| Bibliography | |
| References | Discovery recorded in the Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of Ceylon for 1909, p. 39. Edited and translated by Senarath Paranavitana in Epigraphia Zeylanica 4 (1934–41): 34–49, no. 5. |
| Add to bibliography | |
| Misc notes | The custom of freeholders paying a small quit-rent to a religious or charitable institution was relatively common in medieval Sri Lanka and there are a number of surviving inscriptions recording such arrangements, the vast majority of which are written in a similar style. Indeed, in the ninth and tenth centuries, there seems to have been a specific formula for such documents. They open with the date in the regnal year of the reigning monarch and, after giving the names of the land and the institution or person concerned, mentioned the order delivered, with the consent of the Council, by the king or the heir-apparent granting the immunities specified. The inscription then names the officials who were deputed to proclaim the edict in the village concerned and gives details of the immunities, such as the dues from which the land was exempted or the officials whose entry to the estate in question was forbidden. Sometimes the names of the officials precede the details of the immunities; sometimes it is the other way around. Such edicts are referred to, in the documents themselves, as attāṇi, pärahär, attāṇi-pärahär, abhaya or samvatā.
However, the present inscription departs almost entirely from this model. The order is not delivered by the king, nor by the heir-apparent, but by some dignitary whose personal name is given, rather than his official title. No mention is made of the Council. The order is addressed to certain officials, two of whom are referred to by their names. These two named individuals were the administrators of the districts in which the lands concerned were situated. The other minor officials are merely referred to by the names of their offices. Then follow the details regarding the tenure of the land and the immunities to which it was entitled. After this occurs the statement that the pillar was set up, at the request of the first-named of the officials to whom the order was addressed, so that the notice of kings may be received and the land may become a pamaṇu (free-hold). The regnal year and the date are given towards the end of the document, which is referred to as arak (‘protection’), rather than using any of the technical terms mentioned above.
Senarath Paranavitana (Epigraphia Zeylanica 4, p. 37) identified only two other fragmentary inscriptions that follow the same pattern as the present record. One was from Rajamahavihāra at Vihāregama in the Dam̆badeṇi Hatpattu of the Kuruṇǟgala District (IN03159); and the other was found at a place named Mäda-Ulpota in Gan̆gala Pallēsiya Pattuva, Mātalē East (IN03160). |