This inscription is engraved on a stone slab found to the left of the flight of steps at the entrance to a ruined structure on the site of an ancient monastery situated in the Pānama Pattu of the Batticaloa District, about a mile to the south of the eighth mile-stone on the road from Potuvil to Vällavāya. The ancient name of this monastery was Rūṇu-maha-vehera; it is now known as Magul-maha-vihāra. The present inscription can be dated, on palaeographic grounds, to the fourteenth century. It is written as a palimpsest over a long tenth-century inscription which has thus been obliterated, save for thirteen lines at the end. The later inscription records that Rūṇu-maha-vehera, the ancient monastery at the site, was completely renovated by Vihāra-mahā-devī, the consort of the two brother kings named Pärakumbā, after it had fallen into ruin and that she endowed it with lands for its maintenance. Since these brothers are described in this inscription as ruling over Rohaṇa, it seems likely that they were local princes whose authority was confined to this region, rather than paramount sovereigns of Sri Lanka.
| Metadata | |
|---|---|
| Inscription ID | IN03188 |
| Title | Magul-maha-vihāra Slab Inscription of Vihāra-mahā-devī |
| Alternative titles | |
| Parent Object | OB03149 |
| Related Inscriptions | |
| Responsibility | |
| Author | Senarath Paranavitana |
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| Language | සිංහල |
| Reigning monarch | |
| Commissioner | |
| Topic | records that Rūṇu-maha-vehera was completely renovated by Vihāra-mahā-devī, the consort of the two brother kings named Pärakumbā, after it had fallen into ruin and that she endowed it with lands for its maintenance |
| Date: | |
| Min | 1300 |
| Max | 1325 |
| Comment | Basis for dating: palaeography. The inscription refers to two brother kings named Pärakumbā. Since these brothers are described in this inscription as ruling over Rohaṇa, it seems likely that they were local princes whose authority was confined to this region, rather than paramount sovereigns of Sri Lanka. These princes do not appear to have been mentioned in any other historical sources, hence the dates of their joint reign are not known. |
| Hand | |
| Letter size | 5.08 cm |
| Description | The letters are not uniform in size, varying from 1 to 2 inches (2.54 to 5.08 cm) in height. |
| Layout | |
| Campus: | |
| Width | 67.31 |
| Height | 127 |
| Description | 20 lines shallowly engraved on the front of a stone slab. The inscription has suffered from weather damage, which has rendered some letters in lines 2, 7, 12–13 and 15–18 illegible. It is written as a palimpsest over a long tenth-century inscription which has thus been obliterated, save for thirteen lines at the end. |
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| Bibliography | |
| References | In 1929, Senarath Paranavitana compiled a tentative account of the inscription, based on a defective estampage, for inclusion in the Ceylon Journal of Science, Section G, vol. ii, part II (p. 106). A few years later, he published a more detailed and accurate account of the inscription, including an edition and a translation, in Epigraphia Zeylanica 4 (1934–41): 161–169, no. 19, I. |
| Add to bibliography | |
| Misc notes | The inscription states that Rūṇu-maha-vehera was originally founded by king Dāsen-käli (Dhātusena, who reigned circa 516–526). However, the chronicles do not credit Dhātusena with the establishment of this vihara. On the contrary, the Mahāvaṁsa and the Pūjāvalī attribute the foundation of Ruhuṇu-vehera, which is undoubtedly identical with the Rūṇu-maha-vehera of the present inscription, to king Dappula I, a rule of Rohaṇa who held the throne at Anurādhapura for a short period in or about 661 A.D. There is thus a discrepancy between the chronicles and the epigraph. The confusion may result from the fact that Dappula I is called ‘Dāpulusen’ in Sinhalese writings, which is obviously similar to ‘Dāsen-käli’. As the relevant passages in the chronicles predate the present inscription by about a century, they should perhaps be given more weight but, since the foundation of the monastery occurred six hundred years or more before any of these accounts was written, none of them may be considered wholly reliable. |