OB03027 Dambulla Cave Temple
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IN03032 Dambulla Rock Inscription of Kīrti Niśśaṅka Malla
The inscription of king Kīrti Niśśanka Malla is situated in the rock temple of Dam̆bulla, also called in the Mahāvaṁsa Jambukōla vihāra, on the rock to the right, immediately after passing the Muragē. It consists of 25 lines, written in the Sinhalese script of the 12th century A.D., recording the philanthropic and religious acts of the king. No date is given in the inscription. According to Wicremasinghe, the inscription was engraved between 1192 and 1197. The present inscription was previously published in 1836 in the ‘Epitome’ of G. Turnour, and then in 1840 in ‘Eleven years in Ceylon’ of J. Forbes, and in 1883 in E. Müller’s ‘Ancient Inscriptions in Ceylon’.
IN03022 Vessagiri Rock B Inscription 2
Vessagiri, or more commonly in Sinhalese Vessagiriya, is the traditional name of a forest-bound cluster of rocks in Anurādhapura. The site features three hummock-boulders of gneiss rock in a line from north to south (Rock A, Rock B and Rock C). The hummocks are surrounded by the ruins of a monastery, which had its cells in the caves of Rocks B and C (twenty-three caves in total). Some of the caves are inscribed with dedications to the Buddhist priesthood, plus there are a number of other rock inscriptions at the site.
The present inscription is engraved on the eastern face of Rock B. In 1904, Don Martino de Zilva Wickremasinghe noted the existence on an inscription – or possibly two inscriptions – in this area but he was unable to make out their contents. Two decades later, Senarath Paranavitana gave a more detailed account of the inscriptions on this part of the rock, identifying four separate records, one of which is dealt with here (for the others, see IN03169, IN03170 and IN03171). None of these four inscriptions is dated. However, they can be assigned on palaeographic grounds to the sixth century A.D. It is also significant that one (the present inscription) refers to Boya-Opulavana-Kasapi-gari (P. Bodhi-Uppalavaṇṇa-Kassapagiri) and another (IN03171) mentions Kasaba-giriye. These were alternative names for the ancient monastery of Issarasamaṇa-vihāra, which Paranavitana connects with modern Vessagiriya. This monastery was richly endowed by king Kassapa I, who renamed the foundation after himself and his two daughters, Bodhi and Uppalavaṇṇā, as reflected in the inscriptions here. Hence these records must postdate Kassapa I’s accession to the throne, which Paranavitana places around 526 A.D. All four inscriptions record how certain named individuals obtained freedom from slavery for themselves or their relatives. In one of the inscriptions (IN03171), this freedom is said to have been granted after payments were made to the monastery, suggesting that the monastery owned the slaves in question.
