IN03159 Vihāregama Pillar Inscription

This inscription is engraved across all four sides of the upper half of an inscribed pillar situated at the bottom of the rough stone steps leading to the top of the hill at the ancient monastery known as Rajamaha Vihāra at Vihāregama in the Uḍukaha Kōraḷē West of the Dam̆badeṇi Hatpattu in the Kuruṇǟgala District. The pillar is said to have been moved to its present site from a neighbouring chena in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century but its original location is not known. The lower portion of the pillar is missing. The inscription was copied for scholarship for the first time by Senarath Paranavitana in 1931 (see Ceylon Journal of Science, Section G, vol. ii, p. 211).

The inscription is dated in the ninth year of an unnamed king who was the elder brother or cousin (bǟ) of the heir-apparent (mahapā), also unnamed, by whom the edict was issued. On the basis of the palaeography, the inscription can be assigned to a reign between Kassapa IV (r. 912–929) and Mahinda V (r. 1001–1017). Of the kings who reigned during this period, Senarath Paranavitana identified two who reigned for more than nine years and whose heir-apparent was either their younger brother or cousin, namely Kassapa V (r. 929–939) and Sena V (r. 991–1001). This inscription therefore probably belongs to one or other of these kings, although without further information it is impossible to draw any firm conclusions.

The text registers the gift of a land, the name of which is not preserved, to a person named Niligalu Bud, and the immunities granted thereto. In style, the document closely resembles the Poḷonnaruva Council Chamber pillar inscription (IN03158), many words and phrases being peculiar to both.