Material: Rock

The inscription is engraved on the surface of the rock a few yards to the south of the ruined stupa at Labuäṭän̆digala, about one and a half miles to the north-east of Moraväva (Morawewa, 8.5897, 80.8352), a village in the Kalpē Kōraḷē of the North-Central Province. It was first recorded for scholarship by H. C. P. Bell in 1892. The inscription does include a date but may be attributed to the basis of palaeography to sometime around the fifth century A.D. It records that a person named Niṭalaviṭiya Sivayi, son of Raṭiya Sumanaya, deposited twenty kahāpaṇas for the benefit of the Devagiri vihara.

IN03136 is engraved immediately above the present record and appears from the palaeography to belong to the same period.

The inscription is engraved on the surface of the rock a few yards to the south of the ruined stupa at Labuäṭän̆digala, about one and a half miles to the north-east of Moraväva (Morawewa, 8.5897, 80.8352), a village in the Kalpē Kōraḷē of the North-Central Province. It was first recorded for scholarship by H. C. P. Bell in 1892. The inscription does include a date but may be attributed to the basis of palaeography to sometime around the fifth century A.D. It records that a certain individual named Sirinakayi deposited one hundred kahāpaṇas, the interest accruing from which was to be given to the monks of the Devagiri monastery for defraying the expenses connected with the vassa festival. Devagiri Vihāra was evidently the name of the monastery which existed on the rock in ancient times.

IN03137 is engraved immediately below the present record and appears from the palaeography to belong to the same period.

The inscription is cut in bold letters on a rock in the village of Maḍavaḷa (Madawala) in the Pāta Dumbara division of Kandy District. It records a grant of land made to a silversmith Paramaṇāyā of Siddāvulla and his son Suriyā by King Siri San̆gbō Śrī Parākrama Bāhu VI in the year following the forty-sixth of his reign in the presence of Dantoṭa-vature Devan and Divāṇavatte Laṁkā Adhikārin. The signatures of these dignitaries are reproduced in the upper left-hand corner of the record as Äpaṇa and Joti Siṭāṇa. The latter is probably the ruler of the hill country, whose later rebellion is described in the Rājāvaliya. Parākrama Bāhu VI ascended to the throne in 1412 A.D. Accordingly, the date of the grant – the full moon of Vesak in his forty-seventh year – fell in April 1458.

The inscription is engraved on two faces of a rock near the entrance to a cave (Cave No. 3) in the rocky hills situated about a quarter of a mile to the north of the village of Damunumulla in Central Province. These hills are known locally as Gäraṇ̆ḍigala (Garandigala, 7.787220, 80.570908) after the snake-like drip-line cut in the rock over one of the caves, gäraṇ̆ḍiyā being the Sinhalese name for the oriental ratsnake (pytas mucosa). The caves were formally used as the abodes of Buddhist mendicants and contain stone beds. The remains of a stūpa and other monastic structures lie to the north of the cave where the present inscription is located.

The inscription registers the names and extent of certain fields granted to the cave by three donors: Mahinda, the heir-apparent; Buddha Mahāmalla; and another individual whose proper name is not preserved. The inscription is dated to the third year of the reign of king Siri Saṁbo. The biruda Siri Saṁbo was used by a number of Sri Lanka kings. However, elsewhere in the inscription, the king is described as Dambdiv dunu, which Senarath Paranavitana translated as ‘who was born in India’. This description could apply to Aggabodhi V, Kassapa III or Mahinda I but only the second of these is believed to have used the biruda Siri Saṁbo. Hence Paranavitana attributes the inscription to Kassapa III (732–738 A.D.). The inscription’s reference to Mahinda, the heir-apparent, supports this attribution, since Kassapa III’s heir was his younger brother Mahinda (later Mahinda I).

The inscription was known to Edward Müller in 1883 (see his Ancient Inscriptions in Ceylon, p. 52, no. 104). It was then was seen by H. C. P. Bell and included as No. 209 in the list of inscriptions forming Appendix F of the Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of Ceylon for 1911–12.

The inscription is engraved on the surface of a low, flat rock amidst the ruins of an ancient monastery at Vihāregala. This site lies at the southern end of the Puliyankuḷam range of hills, about two and half miles to the north-west of Galenbin̆dunuväva in the Uḍḍiyankuḷam Kōraḷē of the North-Central Province, and to the east of the village named Mahakälǟgama (Maha Kelegama, 8.28531, 80.680939). The inscription records that king Gajabāhu Gāmaṇī Abhaya re-granted the Uppaladoṇika tank, originally given by King Saba, to the Ekadvāra Monastery. The king in question is Gajabahu I, who reigned from 113 to 135 A.D. An earlier inscription (IN03122) is inscribed on the same rock as the present record, recording king Saba’s original grant. The two inscriptions were first recorded in the Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of Ceylon for 1893 (p. 7). The Uppadoṇika tank to which they refer is apparently the one now known as the Pahala Kayinattama Wewa, which lies only two miles north of the ruined monastery. An inscription on the bund of the Pahala Kayinattama Wewa (IN03121) confirms that it was given by king Saba to the Ekadvāra monastery.

The inscription is engraved within an outline framing on the dressed surface of a low, flat rock amidst the ruins of an ancient monastery at Vihāregala. This site lies at the southern end of the Puliyankuḷam range of hills, about two and half miles to the north-west of Galenbin̆dunuväva in the Uḍḍiyankuḷam Kōraḷē of the North-Central Province, and to the east of the village named Mahakälǟgama (Maha Kelegama, 8.28531, 80.680939). The inscription records that king Saba granted a tank named Uppaladoṇika to the monks to the Ekadvāra monastery. The king in question is Subha, who reigned between 60 and 66 A.D. A later inscription (IN03123) is inscribed on the same rock as the present record, in which king Gaja Bahu I (113–135 A.D.) re-grants the tank to the monastery. The two inscriptions were first recorded in the Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of Ceylon for 1893 (p. 7). The Uppadoṇika tank to which they refer is apparently the one now known as the Pahala Kayinattama Wewa, which lies only two miles north of the ruined monastery. An inscription on the bund of the Pahala Kayinattama Wewa (IN03121) confirms that it was given by king Saba to the Ekadvāra monastery.