Material: Stone / unspecified

This inscription is engraved on one side of a stone slab, which stands at the foot of the flight of steps leading to the main shrine of the dēvāle at Alutnuvara. The slab is situated to the left of the steps as one ascends. Another inscribed slab stands on the other side of the steps and is engraved with two inscriptions (IN03205 and IN03206). The slabs were discovered in the late nineteenth century and their inscriptions were first published by H. C. P. Bell in 1892 (Report on the Kegalla District of the Province of Sabaragamuwa, pp. 80–81).

The present inscription has been almost completely obliterated and only a few lines at the end remain legible. In these surviving lines, we can recognise the words of an imprecation, usually found in medieval Sinhalese records, against persons who cause obstruction to the maintenance of endowments made to religious institutions. Hence we may infer that the subject-matter of the inscription was a grant of land to a religious establishment. The document is attested by an officer named Sanhas Sivatta Nāyanāru, according to the order delivered, presumably by the king, when the latter was staying at the rest-house in a village of which the name is not fully preserved. Sanhas Sivatta Nāyanāru figures as the attestor of other documents issued in the reign of Senāsammata Vikramabāhu (see H. W. Codrington, ‘Some Documents of Vikramabāhu of Kandy’, Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 32 [1931]: 64–75). We may therefore conclude that the present record was also one of that monarch – a conclusion to which the palaeographic evidence presents no objection. Senāsammata Vikramabāhu was in fact an independent ruler of the Hill Country who flourished in the latter half of the fifteenth century, his reign beginning in 1474 or 1475 at the latest.

This inscription is engraved on one side of a stone slab, which stands at the foot of the flight of steps leading to the main shrine of the dēvāle at Alutnuvara. A related inscription is engraved on the other side of the slab (IN03205). The slab is situated to the right of the steps as one ascends. It is badly weatherworn and only the lower part of each face remains legible. Another inscribed slab stands on the other side of the steps but its inscription has been totally obliterated, apart from a few lines at the end (IN03207). The slabs were discovered in the late nineteenth century and their inscriptions were first published by H. C. P. Bell in 1892 (Report on the Kegalla District of the Province of Sabaragamuwa, pp. 80–81).

The present inscription contains a declaration by the ruler of Highlands that neither he nor any other member of the royal family will cause loss of property, limbs or life, to the people of the Satara Kōraḷē. No regnal year or date is found in the preserved portion of the record but it does state that it was set up Vikramabāhu Ǟpā at the command of King Senāsammata Vikramabāhu. Bell took this king to be Vikramabāhu III, who reigned from Gampaḷa in the middle of the fourteenth century, but this supposition was proved to be incorrect when H. W. Codrington proved that Senāsammata Vikramabāhu was in fact an independent ruler of the Hill Country who flourished in the latter half of the fifteenth century, his reign beginning in 1474 or 1475 at the latest. The identity of the individual called Vikramabāhu Ǟpā, who set up the edict on Senāsammata Vikramabāhu’s behalf, is not clear. In the medieval period, the title ǟpā was usually reserved for the heir-apparent. It would therefore appear that Senāsammata Vikramabāhu had an heir who was also called Vikramabāhu, although this would conflict with Codrington’s survey of the documentary evidence, which seems to show that the king’s successor was in fact named Jayavīra. The present inscription appears to be a response to the text engraved on the other side of the slab (IN03205), which contains a declaration of allegiance by the inhabitants of Satara Kōraḷē to the kingdom of the Highlands (Kanda-uḍakaṭṭuva).

Aluth Nuwara Dedimunda Devalaya, near Mawanella

This inscription is engraved on one side of a stone slab, which stands at the foot of the flight of steps leading to the main shrine of the dēvāle at Alutnuvara. A related inscription is engraved on the other side of the slab (IN03206). The slab is situated to the right of the steps as one ascends. It is badly weatherworn and only the lower part of each face remains legible. Another inscribed slab stands on the other side of the steps but its inscription has been totally obliterated, apart from a few lines at the end (IN03207). The slabs were discovered in the late nineteenth century and their inscriptions were first published by H. C. P. Bell in 1892 (Report on the Kegalla District of the Province of Sabaragamuwa, pp. 80–81).

The present inscription contains a declaration of allegiance by the inhabitants of Satara Kōraḷē to the kingdom of the Highlands (Kanda-uḍakaṭṭuva). The inscription on the other side of the slab (IN03206) forms a response to this declaration presumably from the ruler of the Highlands, in which he proclaims that neither he nor any other member of the royal family will cause loss of property, limbs or life to the people of Satara Kōraḷē. It is therefore clear that the two documents were published at the same time. No regnal year or date is found in either inscription. However, the king’s edict (IN03206) states that it was set up Vikramabāhu Ǟpā at the command of King Senāsammata Vikramabāhu. Bell took this king to be Vikramabāhu III, who reigned from Gampaḷa in the middle of the fourteenth century, but this supposition was shown to be incorrect when H. W. Codrington proved that Senāsammata Vikramabāhu was in fact an independent ruler of the Hill Country who flourished in the latter half of the fifteenth century, his reign beginning in 1474 or 1475 at the latest. The identity of the individual called Vikramabāhu Ǟpā, who set up the edict on Senāsammata Vikramabāhu’s behalf, is not clear. In the medieval period, the title ǟpā was usually reserved for the heir-apparent. It would therefore appear that Senāsammata Vikramabāhu had an heir who was also called Vikramabāhu, although this would conflict with Codrington’s survey of the documentary evidence, which seems to show that the king’s successor was in fact named Jayavīra.

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.

This inscription is engraved on a large stone slab in the pavement of the Ruvanvälisǟya at Anurādhapura in close proximity to its southern vāhalkaḍa. A short donative records that the slab was incorporated into the paving at this spot in the ninth century. Before that, the slab seems to have served as the landing above a flight of steps in some old building. The inscription consists of twenty-two lines and was evidently never completed, since the last line ends abruptly before coming to a period and the horizontal partitions that separate the lines of writing are only complete up to the fourteenth line. It seems that, for some reason or other, the engraving of the inscription was interrupted before the final touches could be completed, perhaps as a result of the many internal revolutions and foreign invasions that marked the early thirteenth century in Sri Lanka. Although the inscription was apparently in relatively good state of preservation when it was discovered for scholarship in the nineteenth century, it has since suffered considerable damage, largely as a result of carts having been driven over the slab during the restoration of the dāgäba. The language of the inscription is Sinhalese, although it also includes a large proportion of Sanskrit words. The record is dated in the second year of Kalyāṇavatī (r. 1202–1208) and gives an account of the offerings made to the Ruvanvälisǟya by a minister called Vijayānāvan, his wife and his sister’s son. Vijayānāvan is described as having administered the treasuries of kings, including Parākramabāhu.

This inscription is engraved on all four sides of a fragmentary stone pillar in the collection of the National Museum in Colombo. The provenance of the pillar has not been recorded. It appears to have been repurposed, sometime after it was originally inscribed and erected, as a riser in a flight of steps, resulting in the loss of some letters from the inscription. The text originally continued on the lower half of the pillar, which has been lost. The inscription can be dated on palaeographic grounds to the early tenth century. From the surviving portion of the text, it is clear that the record registered a grant of immunities by a king who had the viruda name of Abhā Salamevan and who is described as a brother of King Sirisaṅgbo Kasub (Sirisaṅghabodhi Kassapa). Senarath Paranavitana argues that the latter monarch is probably Kassapa IV, since he was the only monarch of the name who ruled in this period and had the viruda title Sirisaṅgbo. However, Kassapa IV is not known to have any younger brothers who succeeded him on the throne. Hence the identity of the Abhā Salamevan of the present inscription remains unclear.

This inscription is engraved on a stone slab, which was discovered by Senarath Paranavitana in 1933. Paranavitana found the slab among the ruins of a Śaiva kōvil at a place named Pālamōṭṭai near Kantaḷāy in the Trincomalee District of the Eastern Province. The architectural style of these ruins suggests that they date from the Poḷonnaruva period – a conclusion which is confirmed by the inscription. The inscription is badly weathered and some letters in the first four lines can only be read conjecturally. Due to the damaged condition of the record, it is difficult to decipher the name of the king in whose reign the record is dated. Senarath Paranavitana initially read the king’s name as Jayabāhu and the regnal year as the eighth (Archaeological Survey of Ceylon Annual Report for 1933, p. 14). However, after consulting with K. V. Subrahmanya Aiyer, Paranavitana revised his reading, taking the king’s name to be Vijayabāhu and the number of the regnal year, which is given in figures, to be forty-two (Epigraphia Zeylanica 4, pp. 192–193). If these readings are correct, the inscription can be assigned to the reign of Vijayabāhu I (r. 1056–1111), although this cannot be accepted with certainty.

The purpose of the inscription is to register donations to the god Śiva in the temple named Teṉ-Kailāsam (the Southern Kailāsam) at Kantaḷāy by a female Brahmin named Nāgaiccāṉi in memory of her husband. The inscription also records that the shrine had the name of Vijayarāja Īśvaram and that Kantḷāy was also called Vijayarāja Caturvedimaṅgalam. The appellation of the shrine suggests that it was founded by or under the patronage of Vijayabāhu I. The chronicles and other inscriptions represent this monarch as a great patron of Buddhism but clearly his zeal for Buddhism did not prevent him from extending his patronage to other faiths practiced by his subjects. The term ‘Caturvedimaṅgalam’ frequently features in South Indian inscriptions, where it is appended to the names of villages inhabited by Brahmins. As it was called Vijayarāja Caturvedimaṅgalam, Kantaḷāy must have had a colony of Brahmins who lived there under the protection of Vijayabāhu I. An inscription of king Niśśaṁka Malla found at the site (IN03105) indicates that Kantaḷāy kept its character as a seat of Brahmins for at least a century longer. In the present inscription, the charitable endowment is placed under the protection of the Veḷaikkāra regiment of Śrī Vikkirama Calāmega. As indicated by the Poḷonnaruva Slab Inscription of the Vēḷäikkāṟas (IN03103), the practice of placing a religious institution and its endowments under the protection of a regiment like the Veḷaikkāras was not unknown.