Language: සිංහල

Ruwanwelisaya, Anuradhapura

Ruanweli Dagoba, c. 1891. Image from: Ricalton, James, (1891). ‘The City of the Sacred Bo-Tree (Anuradhapura),’ Scribner’s Magazine 10, pp. 319–336, image opposite p. 328.

The inscription is engraved on two fragments of a broken pillar, which were found lying amidst a heap of debris on the pavement about midway between the western and southern altars of the Ruvanväli-sǟya in Anuradhapura, a few yards from the stone votive dāgäba. In all probability, the pillar belonged to one of the many small shrines which once stood on the spacious platform where the fragments were found. The inscription records the gift of the pillar by an individual (or individuals) from the town of Mahila. It is dated in the reign of king Buddhadāsa (341–370 A.D.).

Thuparamaya, Anuradhapura

The inscription is engraved on a stone slab, which was discovered in October 1926 when the foundation of the western side of the enclosing wall of the Thūpārāma in Anuradhapura was cleared. The slab was set up vertically on the inner face of the foundation such that only about one foot (30.48 cm) of the slab would have been visible above the original ground level. The inscription is a grant issued by king Gajabāhu I (r. c. 113 – c.135 A.D.), who is referred to here by the name of Gamiṇi Abaya, as in many of his other inscriptions. The text tells us that the king granted certain incomes derived from the Goṇagiri-utaviya (a tank or a tract of paddy fields) to the monks of the Raṭaṇa Araba monastery. The royal grant ends after the fourteenth letter of the sixth line where traces of two short vertical strokes used as punctuation marks are seen. The rest of the record is in the nature of a postscript added later – but not far removed in time from the original grant, as there is no appreciable difference in the script – to the effect that the city accountant, whose name is not preserved, gave in exchange the water-revenue of the Nakaravavi tank (Nuwara Wewa).

The inscription is covers all four sides of a quadrangular stone pillar, which stood in the early twentieth century in a corner of a room in the Kacceri (Government Agent’s Office) at Mannar. It is said to have been found in Māntai or Tirukkētīśvaram (or possibly in the bund of the Giant’s Tank) but the precise circumstances of its discovery are not recorded. The inscription details a grant of immunities to three villages on the northern coast, belonging to the house of meditation (piyangala) named Baha-durusen (Bhadra-sena) in the Mahā Vihāra. The text is dated on the tenth day of the dark fortnight of the month of Mädindina (March–April) in the twelfth year of King Siri Saṅgbo. Since the palaeography belongs to the late ninth or early tenth century A.D., it is likely that the king in question was either Sena II or Kassapa IV, both of whom used the biruda Siri Saṅgbo. Paranavitana (Epigraphia Zeylanica 3, pp. 102–103) favours Kassapa IV on the grounds that the executor of this grant – a minister named Paṇḍirad Dāpuḷu – is also mentioned in the same capacity in the Mäḍirigiriya Pillar Inscription (IN03070), which is dated to the third regnal year of Kassapa IV’s immediate successor, Kassapa V. While the same minister could easily have served both Kassapa IV and his successor, it is highly unlikely that he could have held office from the twelfth year of Sena II’s reign until the third year of Kassapa V’s – a period of more than fifty years.

Badulla Pillar Inscription, Badulla

The inscription covers all four sides of a stone pillar, which was found in 1857 near the Horaboraväva (Horaborawewa or Soraborawewa). Situated about three miles to the north-east of Mahiyaṅgaṇa, this tank is the most important of the ancient irrigation works in the province of Ūda. Writing about the Horaborawewa in 1857, John Bailey, then Assistant Government Agent at Badulla, described the pillar as lying in the midst of a forested area, which he speculated was once a range of paddy fields (Sessional Papers 1857, quoted in Herbert White, Manual of the Province of Uva [Colombo: H. C. Cottle, 1893], p. 33). However, when the tank was restored in 1870, the pillar was removed to Badulla and set up near the junction of the Kandy and Baṇḍāravela roads. It stood in this location for over fifty years without attracting any scholarly or antiquarian attention until H. W. Codrington made an eye-copy and transcript of the inscription in 1920.

Containing two hundred and three lines and close to two thousand akṣaras, the text is the longest known pillar inscription in Sri Lanka. The inscription is dated in the second year of Siri Saṅg-bo Udā. Paranavitana identifies this king as Udaya III and, following Hultzsch, dates the start of his reign to 941 A.D., making the date of the inscription about 942 A.D. On palaeographic grounds, the text may be ascribed to the middle decades of the 10th century A.D. The inscription outlines certain rules enacted for the administration of a village named Hopiṭigamy in the Sorabara division. These rules take the form of a charter granted by the king to some mercantile corporations at the place. They enrich our understanding of the lives of peasants and traders in tenth-century Sri Lanka, demonstrating – for instance – that local mercantile corporations were empowered to levy fines, arrest murderers and assist royal officers in the administration of justice.

The sannasa (land grant) is engraved on both sides an oblong copper-plate. There are fifteen lines of text on the observe and a further fifteen lines on the reverse. Writing in the late 1920s, Codrington recorded that the plate “has for many years been in the possession of Mr W. P. Ranasinha, Notary Public”. The latter’s son – A.G. Ranasinha Esq., C.M.G., C.B.E. – lent it to an exhibition organised by the Historical Manuscripts Commission in 1952.

The sannasa records a grant of land to two Brahmans – one Potā Ojjhalun and his nephew Avuhaḷa Ojjhalun of the Śān̆ḍiḷya gotra. As the sannasa relates, these Brahmans served as chief purohita “until His Majesty our King Mahā Parākrama Bāhu…had worn the crown fifty-five times” (i.e. had reigned for fifty-five years). Kings of this period wore the state crown every year on the anniversary of their coronation, hence a king who wore the crown fifty-five times must have reigned for fifty-five years. In recognition of their service, the Brahmans received for their maintenance the village of Oruvaḷa in Aturugiri Kōralē. Subsequently another king made this village a perpetual dānakṣetra in favour of the nephew and also granted him another village in the neighbourhood. Avuhaḷa Ojjhalun, not content, applied either to the same king or to one of his successors for a copper-plate charter confirming that the land held by him was permanently declared a dānakṣetra subject to an annual payment of fifteen fanams to the god Vishṇu. In answer to this request, the present sannasa was issued by king Siri San̆gabo Śrī Parākrama Bāhu at Jayavarddhanapura Kōṭṭē in the fourth year of his reign.

Codrington identifies Mahā Parākrama Bāhu – the king served by the two Bhamans – as Parākrama Bāhu VI, who reigned from 1412 (or 1415, according to certain historical sources) until 1467 A.D. However, the identity of Siri San̆gabo Śrī Parākrama Bāhu – the king who issued the sannasa – is less certain. Kings Parākrama Bāhu VII, VIII and IX are all possibilities, although it is most likely to have been one of the first two. On palaeographic grounds, Codrington favours Parākrama Bāhu VIII. Oruvaḷa (Oruwala), the village mentioned in the grant, is situated near Aturugiriya, about three miles south-south-west of Nawagamuwa.