| Metadata | |
|---|---|
| Object ID | OB03130 |
| Title | Poḷonnaruva Council Chamber Inscribed Pillar |
| Subtitle | |
| Inscription(s) | IN03158 |
| Child Object | |
| Parent Object | |
| Related Objects | |
| Responsibility | |
| Author | Senarath Paranavitana |
| Metadata recorded by | |
| Authority for metadata | |
| Metadata improved by | |
| Authoriy for improved | |
| Description | |
| Material | Stone / unspecified |
| Object Type | Pillar |
| Dimensions: | |
| Width | 29.21 cm |
| Height | 175.26 cm |
| Depth | 20.32 cm |
| Weight | |
| Details | A quadrangular stone pillar, which has been broken into two nearly equal pieces and repaired. The pillar is engraved on all four sides with an inscription. The base of the pillar and its capital, if it had one, have both been broken off. It seems to have been repurposed at some point for an architectural use, possibly as a tread in a flight of steps. The ends and edges of the pillar are badly worn and some chips are missing around the fracture. |
| History | |
| Created: | |
| Date | |
| Place | |
| Other ancient history | |
| Found: | |
| Date | 1909 |
| Place | Polonnaruwa |
| Other modern history | |
| Latest: | |
| Date | |
| Place | Archaeological Museum, Anuradhapura |
| Authority | Paranavitana, S. (1934–41). ‘No. 5. Poḷonnaruva: Council Chamber Pillar-Inscription,’ Epigraphia Zeylanica 4, pp. 34–49. |
| Details | Preserved in the Archaeological Museum at Anurādhapura. The fragments of the pillar were discovered in the vicinity of Niśśaṁka Malla’s Council Chamber on the embankment of the Tōpāväva at Poḷonnaruva, as recorded in the Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of Ceylon for 1909, p. 39. However, it seems that the pillar did not originate in this location and was instead brought there from somewhere else to serve an architectural purpose. The original location of the pillar is not known but the inscription refers to somewhere called Maharaṭ, which appears to be the name of a district and probably corresponds to Mahāraṭṭha, a territory mentioned in the Mahāvaṁsa. Reasoning that the builder who utilized the pillar in Poḷonnaruva would probably not have taken the trouble to transport it from a very great distance, Senarath Paranavitana argued that this territory likely extended from the Kalāväva to the neighbourhood of Poḷonnaruva, with the present pillar coming from somewhere towards the eastern boundary of this area. |
| Notes | |