Gadaladeniya Vihara, Kandy, Sri Lanka
Sign marking the site of the Gaḍalādeṇiya Rock Inscription of Sēnāsammata Vikrama Bāhu (IN03154).
| Metadata | |
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| Object ID | OB03127 |
| Title | Gaḍalādeṇiya Vihārē |
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| Inscription(s) | IN03154 IN03166 |
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| Related Objects | OB03128 |
| Responsibility | |
| Author | H. W. Codrington |
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| Description | |
| Material | Rock |
| Object Type | Rock |
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| Details | An ancient Buddhist rock temple, constructed in the mid-fourteenth century A.D. A number of inscriptions are cut, one above the other, into the north-eastern face of the rocky outcrop on which the temple stands. They are engraved to the right of the steps leading up to the temple. Dating from the fifteenth century, the topmost record is a short and much weathered inscription of a king styled Sirisaṅgabo Śrī Parākramabāhu Vikramabāhu. Below this is another short and fragmentary fifteenth-century inscription, this one dated in the third year of a king called Sirisaṅgabo Śrī Parākramabāhu. Next follows a much longer inscription, covering more than half of the inscribed rock-surface, which details the foundation of the temple by the monk Dharmmakīrtti (IN03166). Immediately below this record is an inscription (IN03154) dated in the eighth year of Sēnāsammata Vikrama Bāhu cakravartti, who was the founder of Kandy as a capital and reigned from 1469 until 1511 A.D. Finally, the bottommost inscription belongs to a different king and is dated in the Buddhist year 2054 (1511 A.D.). A slab-pillar (OB03128) found inside the vihara and now erected near the entrance to the shrine bears a two-part inscription dating from the sixteenth century. |
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| Place | Gadaladeniya Vihara |
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| Place | Gadaladeniya Vihara |
| Authority | Codrington, H. W. (1934–41). ‘No. 2. The Gaḍalādeṇiya Inscription of Sēnāsammata Vikrama Bāhu,’ Epigraphia Zeylanica 4, pp. 8–15. |
| Details | The temple was founded by the monk Dharmmakīrtti in the mid-fourteenth century A.D. Built entirely of stone, the Gaḍalādeṇiya Vihārē is remarkable because, although it was intended for purposes of Buddhist religious worship, its architectural features resemble those of contemporary Hindu shrines of South India in the early Vijayanagara style. A timber roof, supported on brick piers in the Kandyan style, was added to the shrine at a later date, obscuring much of the original design. |
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