Rajavesyabhujanga Mandapa, Polonnaruwa. Photographed before (above) and after (below) restoration in 1931 by the Archaeological Survey of Ceylon. Images published in: Kern Institute. (1933). Annual Bibliography of Indian Archaeology for the year 1931. Leyden: E. J. Brill, plate V.
| Metadata | |
|---|---|
| Object ID | OB03134 |
| Title | Poḷonnaruva Inscribed Slab of Sundara-Mahādevī |
| Subtitle | |
| Inscription(s) | IN03162 |
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| Responsibility | |
| Author | Senarath Paranavitana |
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| Description | |
| Material | Stone / unspecified |
| Object Type | Stone slab |
| Dimensions: | |
| Width | 60.96 cm |
| Height | 154.94 cm |
| Depth | |
| Weight | |
| Details | A stone slab engraved on one face with an inscription. A large part of the inscription was effaced, perhaps deliberately, when the slab was utilised for an architectural purpose. Originally, the record must have consisted of around 45 lines but now only the first seven are legible. |
| History | |
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| Other ancient history | |
| Found: | |
| Date | 1931 |
| Place | Polonnaruwa |
| Other modern history | |
| Latest: | |
| Date | |
| Place | Polonnaruwa |
| Authority | Paranavitana, S. (1934–41). ‘No. 9. Poḷonnaruva: Fragmentary Slab-Inscription of Sundara-Mahādevī,’ Epigraphia Zeylanica 4, pp. 67–72. |
| Details | Discovered in 1931 by the Archaeological Department during the restoration of the ruined maṇḍapa built on a three-tiered platform near the Royal Palace of Parākramabāhu I at Poḷonnaruva. This maṇḍapa was identified by A. M. Hocart with the Rājaveśyā-bhujaṅga-maṇḍapa, mentioned in the Mahāvaṁsa as having been built by Parākramabāhu I. In the course of the Archaeological Department’s restoration work, it was discovered that the builders of this structure had utilised several earlier inscribed stones for the steps, mouldings and coping stones. Evidence was also found that the building had been substantially repaired at a later date, probably during the reign of Parākramabāhu II. It is therefore not certain whether the inscribed stones were used in the initial construction of the building or whether they were introduced as part of the subsequent repairs. The present slab was used for the coping on the eastern side of the lowest tier of the platform. |
| Notes | For Senarath Paranavitana’s report on the Archaeological Department’s 1931 restoration of the Rājaveśyā-bhujaṅga-maṇḍapa, see: Kern Institute. (1933). Annual Bibliography of Indian Archaeology for the year 1931. Leyden: E. J. Brill, pp. 19–22, plate V. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3736351 |