This inscription is engraved on all four sides of a quadrangular stone pillar, which was discovered at the eastern porch of the Quadrangle at Poḷonnaruva and afterwards moved to the Archaeological Museum at Anurādhapura. The pillar’s base and capital are both missing and it seems to have been utilised as a lintel, for on one side are two square mortice holds, which were obviously intended for fitting it to the two door-jambs. H. C. P. Bell included the pillar in the list of inscriptions copied between 1901 and 1905 in the Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of Ceylon for 1905 (p. 40, no. 42). The inscription can be assigned to around the tenth century A.D. on palaeographic grounds. It is dated in the second year of a king styled Sirisaṅgbo, whom Bell identified with Mahinda IV (r. 975–991 A.D.). However, this identification is untenable, since the mother and father of the king in question are named in the inscription as Saṅgā-räjna and Mihind-maha[rad] respectively. In the tenth century, only two kings were sons of a monarch called Mihind (Mahinda). These were Sena V (r. 991–1001) and Mahinda V (r. 1001–1037), the two sons of Mahinda IV. The former used the viruda title Salamevan and cannot therefore be identified with the Sirisaṅgbo referred to here. Instead, the monarch of the present inscription must be Mahinda V, who was entitled to the name of Sirisaṅgbo from his place in the order of succession. The inscription records a grant of immunities to land in the village of Muhund-naru, in the Eastern Quarter, belonging to a pirivena, of which the name is obliterated, in the monastery called Mahamevnā Tisaram.
[Lines A 1–27]. On the eighth day of the waxing moon in the month of Äsäḷ in the second year after the raising of the umbrella [of dominion] by the great king Sirisaṅgbo who is descended from the lineage of Okāvas, the pinnacle of the very illustrious kṣatriya race; who is, by [right of] descent, the lord of the young damsel, the land of Lakdiv; who has come in succession from Sudonā, the banner of the Sähä race in which was born the Chief of the Sages, the Refuge of the World, who is adorned with [a pair of] lotuses, which are his two feet, made beauteous by swarms of bees, which are the jewels on the diadems of nāgas, gandharvas, gods and brahmas; who, by the fire of his majesty caused burning on mountain peaks which are the crowns of the [other] kings of Laṅkā; who is the pinnacle of the Kāliṅga royal house; and who was born unto the great king Mihind in the womb of queen Saṅgā.
[Lines A 27–C 6]. In accordance with the decree of unanimous assent declared, after making salutations [to the king], that an edictal pillar should be set up, I, Maha . . . . . . and I, Damgamu Siva and I, Mahakiliṅgam Ni . . . . Members of the Bodyguard, [all] in the service of Nilgonnā Agbonā; and Kuḍsalā–vatkämi Saṅghay, in the service of Vaṭrak Kasbā Araksamaṇa—We all of us—in accordance with the decree of unanimous assent declared after making salutations [to the king, order] that in regard to all those lands included within the four boundaries of the five payalas from Muhundnaruva in the Eastern Quarter given to the . . . . . . pirivena in the great royal monastery of Mahamevnā Tisaram, [the said lands] are, not to be entered by maṅggiv and piyagiv, not to be entered by melāṭsi and other officers of the royal household, not to be entered by väri and perenāṭṭiyam, not to be entered by deruväna and dekamtän; that carts, oxen and buffaloes are not to be impressed.
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[Lines C 29–D 9]. We, all of us, [namely], I, Kiliṅggam Devu . . . . . . . . . and Kuḍsalā Saṅghay in the service of Vaṭrak Kasbā Araksamaṇa, gave these immunities as a brahmadeyah gift in the form of an edictal pillar, in accordance with [the decree] of unanimous assent declared after saluting [the king].