Material: Rock

This inscription is engraved on the perpendicular face of a rock situated about 40 or 50 yards (35 or 45 m) to the north-east of the Ambastala Dāgäba at Mihintaḷē. The epigraph has been seriously damaged by the action of the weather and possibly also by the destructive attentions of vandals, to the extent that large portions of the writing are now totally effaced and many letters are not very clear. However, with help from Sylvain Lévi, Senarath Paranavitana identified part of the inscription as a copy of the Trikāyastava, a Sanskrit hymn consisting of three Sragdharāverses adoring the three bodies of the Buddha and a fourth verse in the same metre embodying the wish of the reciter. Lévi published a version of the Trikāyastava, restored to Sanskrit from a Chinese transliteration, in 1896, and another version was published by Baron A. von Staël-Holstein from a Tibetan codex in 1911. Neither version was perfect: the Tibetan version was missing the fourth verse and, although the Chinese version was complete, Lévi was unable to recognise certain words due to the fact that the Chinese alphabet does not allow for precise transliteration of Sanskrit. Nonetheless, using these two version together, Paranavitana was able to read the Trikāyastava in the Mihintaḷē inscription, filling in those portions which are missing on the stone. The Trikāyastava starts towards the close of the sixteenth line of the inscription and is continued over the next two and three-quarter lines. The first sixteen lines of the inscription also appear to be in Sanskrit verse and may include other religious hymns. However, the inscription’s poor state of preservation means that none of these verses can be deciphered. Equally difficult to make out are the final lines of the inscription, which contain some verses in the śloka metre. These verses appear to give an account of the person who had the epigraph engraved on the stone and his religious aspirations in doing this meritorious act. His name is not preserved but he seems to have been a monk.

This inscription is engraved on a rock near the ruined stupa on the ancient site now known as Veheragala at Tim̆biriväva in the Mahapotāna Kōraḷē West of the Anurādhapura District. There are four other inscriptions on the same rock, all of which are more or less fragmentary. Written in the Brāhmī script of the early centuries A.D., these records were first brought to notice by H. C. P. Bell in 1896. The present inscription registers the gift of a tank by a lady named Anuḷabi to the monastery called Gagapavata, which was doubtless the name of the ancient vihara at the site. It is dated in the second year of King Mekavaṇa Aba, who is described as the son of the great king Sirinaka (Sirināga). Bell took Mekavaṇa Aba to the same as Sirimeghavaṇṇa, the son of Mahāsena. However, highlighting a number of flaws in Bell’s reasoning, Senarath Paranavitana argued instead that Mekavaṇa Aba should be identified with Goṭhābhaya, the father of Mahāsena. The identity of Goṭhābhaya’s father is not recorded in the chronicles but Paranavitana suggested that he may have been Sirināga II, identifying both kings as members of the dynasty founded by Vasabha. (Paranavitana’s genealogical table of this dynasty can be viewed here.)

Vessagiri rock shelters, Anurādhapura

This inscription is engraved on a small, solitary boulder near the ruined structure to the west of Rock B at the site now called Vessagiri, near Anurādhapura. The record dates from the third or early fourth century A.D. It is unusual because it records a grant of tanks and villages made by one king, presumably to the monastery on the site, but is dated in the reign of another monarch. The king who donated the tanks and villages is named as Tisa (Tissa), the son of Sirinaka and grandson of Tisa. Meanwhile, the king in whose reign the inscription is dated is called Sirinaka (Sirināga), the son of Tisa and grandson of Sirinaka. Although the repetition of family names is somewhat confusing, it appears from the text that Sirinaka, the publisher of the grant, was the son of king Tisa, the donor of the benefactions. Both kings were, it seems, named after their grandfathers and their genealogy may be diagrammatically represented as follows:

Tisa Maharaja

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Sirinaka Maharaja

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Tisa Maharaja (the donor)

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Sirinaka Maharaja (the publisher)

The identification of these kings presents no difficulty as the chronicles mention only two kings named Sirināga, who were indeed related as grandfather and grandson. The publisher of this inscription must therefore have been Sirināga II. Working backwards, his father – the donor of the grant – must have been Vohārika Tissa, who is described in the chronicles as Sirināga I’s son. This king’s personal name was ‘Tissa’ but he was given the additional epithet ‘Vohārika’ to commemorate his knowledge of the law.

This inscription is engraved on a rock by the side of the flight of steps leading to the shrines and monastic buildings at the Galapāta Vihāra, situated about two miles south-west of the Rest House at Bentoṭa in the Valallāviṭi Kōraḷē. Edward Müller published the first scholarly account of the inscription in his Ancient Inscriptions in Ceylon (1883, p. 71, no. 165). The record opens with a Sanskrit śloka in the Śārdulavikrīḍita metre, before switching to Sinhalese prose. It states that a dignitary named Mindal (Mahendra), who held the office of Demaḷa-adhikāra and was administering the Pasyodun District, founded the Galapāta Vihāra with the royal assent and with the cooperation of his mother, his nephews Kodānāvan of Miyaṅguṇubim and Vijayānāvan of Degalaturubim, and his kinsman Kaṭuvitnā Sätumba or Devu. It also gives a long list of the lands and serfs granted to the temple by its founders and ends with the signatures of the donors and of the witnesses to the document.

The date of the inscription is a subject of scholarly debate. The record is dated in the thirtieth year of a king called Parākramabāhu. There are three kings of this name who ruled for more than thirty years: Parākramabāhu I (r. 1153–1186), Parākramabāhu II (r. 1236–1271) and Parākramabāhu VI (r. 1412–1467). Since the inscription can be dated on palaeographic grounds to the twelfth or thirteenth century, the last of these kings can be ruled out immediately. However, scholars disagree over whether the inscription should be attributed to Parākramabāhu I or II. Overall, the evidence is not wholly decisive and the record could belong to either monarch.

This inscription is engraved on the side of a boulder among the remains of an extensive ancient monastery on the rocky hill called Rājagala or Rāssahela in the Vävugam Patty of the Batticaloa District. A cave is formed underneath the boulder and there are a total of four inscriptions on the side of the rock. Of these inscriptions, only the present record can be definitely dated. It records a grant of lands to a monastery called Arittāra-vehera, which was undoubtedly the ancient name of the monastery at Rāssahela. The donor is named as Äpāy Daḷsiva, who can be identified with Ādipāda Dāṭhāsiva, a Rohaṇa prince mentioned in the Mahāvaṁsa as having been driven away from his principality in the reign of Udaya I. As this king’s reign lasted only five years from about 787 A.D., it is possible that the present inscription dates from the reign of Udaya I’s predecessor, Mahinda II, who reigned circa 767–787. At any rate, it is certain that the inscription belongs to the second half of the eighth century. On palaeographic grounds, two of the other inscriptions on the boulder (IN03190 and IN03191) can be attributed to the same period. They are also concerned with grants of lands by local rulers to the monastery. Only traces survive of the fourth inscription on the boulder, which seems to have a slightly later date.

This inscription is engraved on the side of a boulder among the remains of an extensive ancient monastery on the rocky hill called Rājagala or Rāssahela in the Vävugam Patty of the Batticaloa District. A cave is formed underneath the boulder and there are a total of four inscriptions on the side of the rock. The present inscription records a grant of lands by an individual called Vīrāṁkurā – possibly a local ruler of Rohaṇa – to a monastery called Arittāra-vehera, which was undoubtedly the ancient name of the monastery at Rāssahela. It is not possible to connect the donor named in the present inscription with any known historical personages but the inscription can be dated on palaeographic grounds to around the second half of the eighth century A.D. Two of the other inscriptions on the boulder (IN03190 and IN03192) are also concerned with land-grants to the monastery and, from their palaeography, they appear to date from the same period as the present inscription. Furthermore, the donor named in one of these inscriptions (IN03192) can be identified with a prince mentioned in the Mahāvaṁsa as having been alive in the reign of Udaya I, who ruled for five years from around 787. This historical evidence helps to confirm the dating of these three inscriptions to the eighth century. Only traces survive of the fourth inscription on the boulder, which seems to have a slightly later date.

Buddhist ruins at Rajagala, Ampara District, Eastern Province