This fragmentary inscription is engraved on all four sides of the upper part of a stone pillar. The text originally continued on the lower part of the pillar, which is missing. Hence there are significant lacunae within the inscription. The surviving fragment of the pillar was first highlighted for scholarship in the Ceylon Journal of Science, Section G, vol. ii, p. 221. It is said to have been found in a land named Malhēna or Polgasyāya. In the 1930s, it was lying in the maṇḍapa of the modern dēvāle at Gonnǟva in the Dēvamädi Kōraḷē of the Kuruṇǟgala District (probably Gonnawa at 7.596588, 80.240385 or possibly Gonnawa at 7.518511, 80.107520), as Senarath Paranavitana recorded in the fourth volume of Epigraphia Zeylanica (p. 186). The inscription is dated in the eighth year of a king referred to by his throne name of Abhā Salamevan and contains a decree of the heir-apparent Udā (Udaya) granting immunities to a pamuṇu lank belong to a person named Agbo Mugayin Varadāṇa. The script used in the record belongs to the tenth century A.D. There are two Sinhalese kings of this period who, according to the order of succession, were entitled to the throne name (viruda) of Abhā Salamevan and who also had princes named Udaya as heirs-apparent. These were Dappula V (r. 940–952) and Sena III (r. 955–964), both of whom enjoyed reigns exceeding eight years in duration. It is not possible to say which of these two monarchs is the king mentioned in the present inscription. Since their reigns were only separated by three years, palaeography cannot be used to help settle the matter.
On the tenth day of the waxing moon in [the month of] Baga in the eighth year of His Majesty Abhā Salamevan . . . . . . in the Maha–miṇilǟ District, which was assigned, by means of the geṭi seal, by His Highness Udā Mahapā, as a pamaṇu [land] to Agbo Mugayin Varadāṇa, so that it may be possessed on condition that a share [consisting] of one amuṇa [of paddy] for one kiri [of field] at each harvest gathered be given to the Inner Monastery of the Mahā–vihāra . . . . . . We, the aforesaid persons including Kiliṅg Dēviyal–deṭu, in the service of . . . . lnā Bosat–detu and Kuḍsalā Devu, in the service of Agboyā Rakṣamaṇa, the Chief Secretary, conjointly [order] that, regarding all lands included in this kuliya, they should not be entered by väri and perenāṭṭu, . . . . . . that gifts, toll dues, suvar and mahavar should not be levied, that one shall not enter [this land] sounding tuḍi and soli [drums], that those who have come after committing murder should not be arrested in this village, that deruvanä shall not enter, that royal messengers shall not enter cracking whips, that kuḍasalā and officers in charge of royal conveyances shall not enter, that . . . . . in the localities of the twelve great reservoirs . . . . . . and that water should be given so as . . . . . .