This inscription is engraved on a large stone slab in the pavement of the Ruvanvälisǟya at Anurādhapura in close proximity to its southern vāhalkaḍa. A short donative records that the slab was incorporated into the paving at this spot in the ninth century. Before that, the slab seems to have served as the landing above a flight of steps in some old building. The inscription consists of twenty-two lines and was evidently never completed, since the last line ends abruptly before coming to a period and the horizontal partitions that separate the lines of writing are only complete up to the fourteenth line. It seems that, for some reason or other, the engraving of the inscription was interrupted before the final touches could be completed, perhaps as a result of the many internal revolutions and foreign invasions that marked the early thirteenth century in Sri Lanka. Although the inscription was apparently in relatively good state of preservation when it was discovered for scholarship in the nineteenth century, it has since suffered considerable damage, largely as a result of carts having been driven over the slab during the restoration of the dāgäba. The language of the inscription is Sinhalese, although it also includes a large proportion of Sanskrit words. The record is dated in the second year of Kalyāṇavatī (r. 1202–1208) and gives an account of the offerings made to the Ruvanvälisǟya by a minister called Vijayānāvan, his wife and his sister’s son. Vijayānāvan is described as having administered the treasuries of kings, including Parākramabāhu.
On the eleventh day of the waxing moon in the month of Äsaḷa in the second year of Her Majesty Abhaya Salamevan Kalyāṇavatī—under the asterism Visā—Bhaṇḍārapotä Pirivatubim Vijayānāvan who, having administered the treasuries of kings, including His Majesty the Emperor Siri–saṅgabo Parākramabāhu, has abundant faith in the Three Jewels, is endowed with faith and intellect and is resplendent with a multitude of royal favours—Sumedhādevī, the wife of this [Vijayānāvan] and Laṁkā-adhikāra Koṭadanavu Devalnāvan, the sister’s son of this [same dignitary]—these three personages, having heard, from various learned men versed in the scriptures, of the distinguished offerings made to the Holy Ruvanmäli by various kings beginning with King Duṭugamuṇu, were imbued with pleasure and [thinking] that it would be well if [they] performed a special offering unlike others, placed [on the stūpa] a special mantle made of about eight thousand eight hundred and eighty pieces of clothes of diverse sorts, distinctively decorated [the stūpa so that it appeared] like a reflection of the Cūḍāmaṇi-caitya, caused to be drawn [thereon], with about five yāḷas of rice [flour], the sixteen auspicious objects; beautified and (illuminated ?) it with fragrant flowers and lamps of scented oil; decorated the streets with flags, banners and arched gateways formed of plantain trees; made offerings incessantly during a week on the first court-yard with, as it were, a great flood of eatables and milk-rice; offered camphor-lamps, in earthen pans placed at [intervals of] each cubit on the third, the lowermost, terrace, with two thousand kaḷandas of camphor; caused offerings to be made of numerous . . . . . . lamps including ägǟ; gave to the servitors who performed various types of work, rings set with precious stones for their hands and cloths of gold, and, giving wearing apparel to their wives, pleased them, too; through graciousness pleased with [gifts of] gold those who are in the service of the temple, [to wit], scribes, gentlemen, appraisers, Brāhmaṇas, pasakun, painters, dancers, singers, drummers, sakundurayan, paṁcayan, the women who fill the foot-basin with water, the auspicious female slaves who looked after the precincts of the stūpa, the garland-making women, the perfumers and others; listened to the Thūpavaṁśa on the platform of the Ruvanmäli itself and made appropriate offerings to the reciters of sacred texts; caused various offerings, including offerings of camphor lamps, banners, &c., to be made to the Holy Thūpārāma and the Sacred Śrī Mahābodhi; gave great largesses to the resident monks led by the venerable elders of the seven confraternities, [also] gave cīvara robes and caused a share of the merit to be transferred to all the varied [ghosts of] the departed, whether of their kindred or not . . . . . . which has been done having caused abundant joy to the great multitude of people who heard of these offerings, as well as to themselves . . . . . .
Other versions
Bhanḍárapotẹ Piriwatubím Wijayánáwan, who carefully guarded the treasures of the Imperial Lord Siri Sanga Bó Purakkrama Báhu and other princes—who was highly pleased with the three gems—was endowed with faith and a clear intellect, and was illumined with the rays of royal favour—(this personage) together with his mother Sumédhádévi and his nephew who held the offices of Adikárama of Lańká and Principal of the Koṭadanaw temple, having learned from many paṇḍits who were conversant with Buddhist literature and had offices conferred on them, what kind of offerings had been made to the venerable Ruwanmẹli (Dágaba) by Duṭugẹmuṇu and many other princes, were transported with joy, and having resolved to make a grand offering superior to the offerings of others, encased (the dágaba) beautifully with about 8,880 cloths of various sorts: highly decorated it so as to look like the reflected image of a crown-jewel monument: caused mortar (prepared) from five yálas of good rice to be applied thereto: made it lovely with odoriferous flowers, scents, and lamps: adorned the streets with…..., flags, banners, plantain-trees, triumphal arches, &c.: made on the first terrace offerings of various eatables and lumps of milk-rice constantly (pouring in) like a great flood during a week: honored it by lighting with 2,000 kalandas of camphor many thousands of lamps, inclusive of festoons of lamps and lamps of earthen vessels placed at intervals of one cubit on the third floral attar in the lower part of the dágaba: made presents of rings for the fingers set with stones, and of golden apparel for the different kinds of workmen and labourers: gave garments to their wives and rejoiced their hearts: and pleased with (gifts of) gold the writers, the overseers, the appraisers of property, Brahmins, cooks, painters, dancers, singers, tom-tom beaters, conch-blowers, players on the five kinds of musical instruments, ? persons who applied combs and unguents to the cavities (in the dágaba), the female servants with auspicious marks on them who took care of the terrace, florists, perfumers,...... Moreover having heard the Thúpawan̥sa (the history of the dágabas) while yet on the terrace of the Ruwanmẹli Dágaba, they made suitable offerings to the clever preachers of Dharma, and honored the Thúpáráma and the illustrious and venerable Bó tree with many lamps lit with camphor, flags, &c. To the residents of the seven monastic establishments, amongst whom the priests were the foremost, they gave much alms, and cloths for making yellow robes, (and) imparted the merit (thus acquired) to their kinsmen, strangers, and all the different kinds of Prétas, experiencing great joy themselves, while they caused the same to the mass of the people who heard of these offerings which were made under the asterism Visá on the 11th day of the bright half of Ẹsaḷa in the second year of Her Majesty Abhayasalaméwan Kalyáṇa-watí.
Abhaya Salamewan . . . . . . . . . the lord in the eleventh day in the second half of Aesaḷa . . . . . . . . . His Majesty Siri sangabo Parākramabāhu cakrawarttī the lord including the princes . . . . . . . protecting with the three gems . . . . . . . . . . . . resplendent the heap of prosperity in the bhaṇḍāra book surrounding the earth Wijaya . . . . . and his mother Sumedhā, the goddess, and having made their brother lord of Laṁkā for giving things . . . . . . three people . . . . . . . . . . beginning with the King Duṭugaemuṇu, lord of the Ruanwæli having heard of the exquisite honour done to it by many princes he was pleased to favour in an extraordinary way . . . . . . . . . . . in different manners 8880 measures, by (giving) clothes . . . . . . . . . . having made an image of the caitya and having decorated it . . . . . five yālas of rice, sixteen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . having decorated it with sweet smelling flowers, having adorned it with flags, banners, and arches, having offered, without interruption, a hundred garlands like the great ocean . . . . . . . . . . . . . two thousand kaḷandas of camphor, having offered from cubit to cubit kaluwael and camphor incense, including this, having offered many lamps, having given to the working people that did much work . . . . . . . . gold (?) clothes and to their wives clothes for wearing, and having made them satisfied, having . . . . . . . to the writers staying in the wihāra, to the . . . . . . . . the brahmans, the pasakas, the painters, the goldsmiths, the musicians, the tom tom beaters, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . the servants of the feast garlands . . . . . . . . . . . . having made them satisfied with gold, having given it to the terrace of the Ruanwæli, having heard the Thūpawaṃça, having saluted those who recited the dhamma, having offered incense to the Thūpūrāma and to the sacred bo-tree, having made the theras propitious by seven gaṇas (?) . . . . . . . . . . . . .