This inscription was discovered by the Archaeological Commissioner, Senarath Paranavitana, in 1951 at Paṇḍuvasnuvara, otherwise called Parākramapura, which was the capital of the Principality of Dakkhiṇa-deśa for a time during the medieval period. Paṇḍuvasnuvara is situated in the Girātalana Korale of the Devamädi Hatpattu in the Kurunǟgala District, some twenty-two miles from Chilaw on the Wariyapola road. The inscription is engraved on a stone slab, which was found at an ancient site to the south of the Citadel. Its discovery is mentioned in the Archaeological Survey of Ceylon Annual Report for 1951 (p. 6). The record is dated in the fifth year of the Kalinga ruler Niśśaṅka Malla, who is here given the biruda Parākramabāhu. Since this ruler ascended to the throne in 1187 A.D., the date of the inscription is to be placed in the year 1191 A.D. or 1192 A.D. This dating is confirmed by the astronomical data given in the inscription. On the basis of this data, the equivalent date of the record would be either Thursday 7 January 1188 or Thursday 3 January 1191, the second of which does indeed fall in the fifth year of Niśśaṅka Malla. The purpose of the inscription is to record the benevolent deeds of a military general called Matimāṉapañacara alias Kulaṉtey. This general can be identified with Lak Vijayasinha, who is mentioned in the slab inscriptions of Niśśaṅka Malla at Polonnaruva.

Metadata
Inscription ID IN03227
Title Panduwasnuwara Tamil Slab Inscription of Niśśaṅka Malla
Alternative titles
Parent Object OB03180
Related Inscriptions
Responsibility
Author K. Kanapathi Pillai
Print edition recorded by
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Language தமிழ்
Reigning monarch Niśśaṅka Malla
Commissioner Matimāṉapañacara alias Kulaṉtey (Lak Vijayasinha)
Topic records the benevolent deeds of a military general called Matimāṉapañacara alias Kulaṉtey
Date:
Min 1191
Max 1191
Comment The record is dated in the fifth year of the Kalinga ruler Niśśaṅka Malla, who is here given the biruda Parākramabāhu. Since this ruler ascended to the throne in 1187 A.D., the date of the inscription is to be placed in the year 1191 A.D. or 1192 A.D. This dating is confirmed by the astronomical data given in the inscription. On the basis of this data, the equivalent date of the record would be either Thursday 7 January 1188 or Thursday 3 January 1191, the second of which does indeed fall in the fifth year of Niśśaṅka Malla.
Hand
Letter size
Description Letter size not reported. Tamil script of about the 12th century A.D., with Grantha characters mixed up here and there.
Layout
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Description Campus dimensions not reported. 22 lines engraved on a stone slab, clearly incised between ruled lines.
Decoration
Bibliography
References The discovery of the inscription is mentioned in the Archaeological Survey of Ceylon Annual Report for 1951 (p. 6). Edited and translated in Pillai (1960) 157–162.
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Misc notes

Niśśaṅka Malla is referred to in the present inscription as Teṉṉilaṅkai kōṉ, which K. Kanapathi Pillai translates as ‘the king of Laṅkā of the South’. The phrase ‘Teṉṉilaṅkai’ could mean ‘South Laṅkā’, ‘Laṅkā of the South’ or ‘the beautiful Laṅkā’ but Pillai judges that the first of these alternative interpretations does not seem to suit the context. Although there was some political disunity during Niśśaṅka Malla’s reign, there is no evidence that the island of Laṅkā was formally divided into north and south. Indeed, the whole island had been united during the reign of Niśśaṅka Malla’s predecessor Parākramabāhu I and Niśśaṅka Malla is described in other inscriptions as having subjugated the whole of Laṅkā. Hence Pillai prefers to translate ‘Teṉṉilaṅkai’ as ‘Laṅkā of the South’, which refers to the location of the island, rather than a particular part of it.