Material: Stone / unspecified

The inscription is engraved on the outer surface of the north end of a huge, rectangular stone trough or ‘canoe’ associated with the Mahapali alms hall in Anuradhapura. The trough is situated about 200 yards to the east of the ‘Green Path’, at a distance of nearly a mile from the Sacred Bō-Tree and some 300 yards to the south of the ruined brick structure named the Geḍigē. Such troughs are popularly known as kän̆da oru (gruel boats). Nearby are the tall monoliths of a ruined shrine, identified as the Temple of the Tooth, and a partly effaced slab-inscription of Mahinda IV (IN03031). The trough bears three inscriptions: two on the north end (the present record and IN03114) and one the east side (IN03115). All three inscriptions belong paleographically to the last quarter of the tenth century A.D. but they do not contain any information that enable us to date them more precisely.

The inscription is engraved on a quadrangular stone pillar, which was at the Archaeological Museum at Anurādhapura in around 1930, as recorded by S. Paranavitana in Epigraphia Zeylanica (vol. 3, p. 126). Paranavitana also reported that the pillar was said to have been discovered in the jungle to the west of the Jaffna road, not far from the town of Anurādhapura. The pillar is inscribed on all four sides but only one side remains legible, the writing on the other three having been almost completely obliterated. The legible portion of the inscription consists of thirty-eight lines and represents the introductory part of the text. It includes a date in the second year of king Dāpuḷu Abahay, whom H. C. P. Bell identified as Dappula V (r. 940–952 A.D.). As the bulk of the inscription is no longer legible, the purpose of the text is not entirely clear. However, the damaged text on the third side of the pillar appears to mention the boundaries of a certain land, suggesting that – like the majority of pillar inscription of the period – the inscription was probably concerned with a grant of immunities.

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