This inscription is engraved on a rock situated about 200 feet (60.96 m) to the south of the vaṭadāgē at the ancient Buddhist monastery now called Nītupatpāṇa (also known Girihandu Seya) near the village of Tiriyāy (Thiriyai). This monastery stands at the summit of a hill, known by the Tamil name of Kandasāmimalai (the Hill of the Lord Skanda), about a mile to the west of the village, which is located near the sea-coast, roughly twenty-nine miles to the north of Trincomalee in the Eastern Province. The inscription was discovered in 1931, as reported in the Archaeological Survey of Ceylon Annual Report for 1931–32 (pt. IV – Education, Science and Art [J], p. 19). It can be dated on palaeographic grounds to the late seventh or first half of the eighth century A.D. and is written in Sanskrit. As B. Ch. Chhabra (1934–41: 312) has shown, the inscription is in verse, the composer having employed the Nardaṭaka metre in the first ten stanzas and the Upajāti metre in the eleventh and final stanza. The engraver has allotted one line to each stanza.
The record begins with an account of some sea-faring merchants, before launching into a long eulogy of a shrine named Girikaṇḍi-caitya. The eulogy is followed by the pious wish of the author that, by the merit he has gained by praising the shrine, the world may be freed from the miseries of existence; this wish identifies the author as a Mahāyānist, something which can perhaps also be inferred from the fact that the document is written in Sanskrit. The next portion of the inscription states that Girikaṇḍi-caitya was founded by two groups of merchants. The record ends with the Buddhist formula about the transitory nature of mundane things.
Paranavitana (1934–41: 151–160) read the names of the groups of merchants who are stated in the inscription to have built the Girikaṇḍi-caitya as Trapussaka and Vallika, which he took to be corruptions of Trapuṣa (Tapussa in Pāli) and Bhallika (Bhalluka in the Nidānakathā), two merchants who offered food to the Buddha immediately after his enlightenment and were the recipients of some his hair. This led Paranavitana to conclude that the Girikaṇḍi-caitya at Tiriyāy was founded by these merchants to enshrine the hair-relics, although B. Ch. Chhabra (1934–41: 313–314) has challenged this interpretation (see Misc. Notes for discussion).
. . . . . . by [those] who were having hearts of unceasing devotion, of pure virtue, who desired the merit of being the very first to give . . . . . . . in the Blessed One, the incomparable teacher, the ornament of Śakya kings, the Sugata . . . . . . who had excellently obtained relics . . . . . . in the presence of . . . . . . by the companies of merchants who were skilful in navigating the sea, engaged in buying and selling and who [possessed] a display of goods laden in sailing vessels of divers sorts, owing to the influence of merit, by a friendly devatā who was of their own [kin] . . . . to come . . . . . . having crossed the ocean, . . . . as performed by all the companies of merchants who were very tranquil, who possessed [various] virtues united together [in them], including the inhabitants of the city who had come [there], with unabated pleasure . . . . . . that which is known in the world as the excellent Girikaṇḍika–caitya . . . . . . . where offerings have been made, which contains charming grounds of courtyards, which is frequently worshipped with devotion by multitudes of pious men, having worshipped that excellent Girikaṇḍika–caitya . . . . . . the Great Sage, who is manifested where dwells always the Bodhisattva, the teacher, known as Avalokiteśvara‚ who is worthy to be honoured by gods and kinnaras, . . . . . . the Blessed One . . . . that Girikaṇḍika–caitya, I, too, . . . . . the Sage, too, of sweet speech, the burning poison of mental transgression . . . . . . . where the Blessed One, of very delicate body, attains indeed a corporeal splendour beautified by the brightness of golden ornaments, that excellent Girikaṇḍa–caitya‚ I, too, do worship . . . . . . . Girikaṇḍi[ka–caitya], to which divine nymphs, [bearing] scented water in receptacles made of lotus leaves from the celestial river, and carrying, held in their hands, flowers, incense, jewel-lamps, and oblations, descend gracefully from the heavenly city, and perform, with delight, the worship, of the Blessed One. . . . . . . . . . . the king of gods, too, followed by numerous attendant gods, does obeisance at the excellent Girikaṇḍika, [sounding] very lovely celestial chanks, drums . . . . . and scattering heaps of fresh flowers produced in the celestial trees . . . . . . . worshipped daily, on the great rock . . . . . [at which are] hundreds of . . . ., worthy to be honoured, prepared by the lord of the Siṁhalas and [his] people . . . . . . which causes freedom from affliction . . . . I, too, worship the [relic] of the Buddha deposited in Girikaṇḍi which is adored by multitudes of noble ones . . . . . . . of the Blessed One, which dispels all darkness, . . . . . . with mind bent on the shrine of the Girikaṇḍi–caitya . . . . . . whatever merit has been caused, by that let the miseries of existence of the world be reduced . . . . . . the Girikaṇḍi–caitya founded by the companies of merchants [named] Trapussaka and Vallika. All phenomena are transitory.