Object type: Pillar

The inscription is engraved on two sides of a stone pillar, which was found, sometime between 1906 and 1912, in a chena near the Malvatu Oya, to the east of the fifth milestone on the Outer Circular Road in Anurādhapura. It was recorded as No. 2 in the list of inscriptions forming Appendix F of the Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of Ceylon for 1911–12 and subsequently moved to the Anurādhapura Museum. The pillar was evidently taken from the ruins of an earlier building. The lower portion of the pillar has been broken off and, at its top, there is a mortise hole to which a wooden capital was probably fitted. The inscription records the grant of a land named Kavuḍāvatta to a pirivena constructed by the heir-apparent (Māpā) Bhuvanaikabāhu, son of Vijayabāhu. The only Bhuvanaikabāhu mentioned in the chronicles as a son of Vijayabāhu is the prince of that name who was the second son of Vijayabāhu III. This prince held the office of yuvarāja, which is very often synonymous with māpā, in the reign of his elder brother, Parākramabāhu II. Hence this record may be attributed to the latter’s reign, which lasted from 1234 until 1269 A.D.

The inscription is engraved on all four sides of a quadrangular stone pillar, currently in the stone gallery at the Colombo National Museum. The location where the pillar was found is not recorded. The pillar was broken into two pieces before it arrived at the museum. As a consequence, it was initially treated as two objects and the inscriptions on the fragments were recorded as distinct texts when eye-copies were produced for the Archaeological Survey of Ceylon in 1907 and 1924. However, the connection between the fragments was later recognised and the pieces were joined together. The inscription is dated on the tenth day of the first half of the month of Mändindina (February–March) in the eleventh year of Kassapa IV, referred to here by his biruda Kasub Sirisaṅgbo. Kassapa IV reigned between 898 and 914 A.D. The text records a grant of immunities to an estate which was an endowment of a lying-in-home founded by the Chief Secretary Senal (Sena).

The inscription is engraved on a slab-pillar, which originally stood in Kandēvatta or Kandē Disānāyaka Mudiyansēlāgē-vatta situated in Pamunētänna, a hamlet of Kevulgama village in Gampaha Kōraḷē West of Uḍa Dumbara in Kandy District. Around the turn of the twentieth century, the pillar was blasted in search of hidden treasure. The upper and main part of the pillar were then removed to the local vihārē and built into the inner doorway of the temple, concealing three lines of the inscription at the top and two at the bottom. It was copied in this partially obscured state by the Archaeological Survey in 1909. H. W. Codrington later convinced the priest at the vihārē to excavate the pillar, revealing the hidden lines of the inscription. The remaining fragment of the pillar was also brought by the priest from its original site to the pansala below the temple, enabling Codrington to provide a complete edition of the inscription in the third volume of Epigraphia Zeylanica (pp. 230–235, no. 23). Luckily, the blasting and resulting fragmentation of the pillar did not cause any irreparable damage to the inscription.

The inscription is written in Sinhalese and dated on the first day of the waxing moon of Hila in the first year of king Siri San̆gabo Kālin̆ga Vijaya Bāhu. Three rulers are known to have used the name Kālin̆ga Vijaya Bāhu. In a slab inscription found at the Hatadage in Polonnaruwa (IN03099), Sāhasa Malla is so styled with the prefix Siri San̆gabo, precisely as in the present inscription. According to the Nikāya Saṅgrahava, Māgha also bore the name Kālin̆ga Vijaya Bāhu but it is not known whether he used the biruda Siri San̆gabo. Last of all, Vijaya Bāhu III appears in the Rājaratnākaraya under the name; he was a descendent of Siri San̆gabo. On palaeographic grounds, the present inscription could belong to any of these princes. However, there is no proof that Vijaya Bāhu III ever held Uḍa Dumbara, which is described in the inscription as being in Pihiṭi (the King’s Country). Meanwhile, Māgha was a Kāliṅga invader and oppressed the Sinhalese. Hence, by process of elimination, Codrington identifies Sāhasa Malla as the king being referred to here. Since Sāhasa Malla took the throne in 1200 A.D., the date of the inscription can be fixed as 1 October 1200. The text records a grant to an individual named Gulpiṭi or Gulhiṭi But Pām̆bul-lē-daruvan for loyalty to His Majesty even to the receiving of wounds in his service.

The inscription is engraved on three sides of a quadrangular stone pillar, which originally stood in the forest at Deṭagamuva about a mile to the south of Kataragama. It had fallen down and was broken into two fragments, one of which was removed by the ex-headman of Kataragama to his house to serve as a step. The priest at the Buddhist temple at Kataragama had this fragment removed to the temple in 1916. Later, the lower half of the pillar was brought to the same place and set up in front of the image house. The language of the inscription is highly ornate, especially in the introductory part of the text, which abounds with metaphors within metaphors, making translation into English very difficult. The text is dated in the sixth year of King Dāpuḷu, whom Senarath Paranavitana identified, on palaeographic and other grounds, as that fifth of that name. Dappula V reigned from 940 (or 918 A.D.?) until 952 A.D., suggesting this inscription dates from around 946 A.D. (or 924 A.D.?). The inscription registers a grant of immunities to a religious establishment named Kapugam-pirivena on the southern back of the Kapikandur river in the principality of Rohaṇa by a prince named Lämäni Mihind, son of Udā (Udaya), the heir-apparent. From the inscription, we learn that this prince had conquered the southern and central parts of the island and that, when this grant was issued, he was governing the Rohaṇa country. Udā Mahayā, Lämäni Mihind’s father, was the same prince who, after the death of Dappula V, ascended to the throne as Udaya II. It is also possible that Lämäni Mihind, the donor mentioned in the present inscription, was the future Mahinda IV. Of the places mentioned in the inscription, Mahavehera can be identified with the monastery in Tissamaharama and the river Kapikandur is the Menik Ganga; Kapugam-pirivena was most probably situated at the place where the inscription originally stood.

The inscription is engraved on a mutilated pillar-slab, which was discovered near the spill (vān–äla) of the Tōpāväva in Poḷonnaruva. The slab was subsequently moved to the Archaeological Office in Anuradhapura, where it was seen by Senarath Paranavitana sometime before 1933; Paranavitana then published an edition of the text in the third volume of Epigraphia Zeylanica. The upper part of the pillar-slab is missing and the surviving fragment is irregularly shaped. The inscription states that it was issued by ‘the Kālinga Monarch’ – a reference to king Niśśaṁka Malla, who reigned from 1187 to 1196 A.D. However, unlike other inscriptions of this king, it does not contain any mention of Niśśaṁka Malla’s alleged military achievements, nor does it boast of his greatness. Instead, it is addressed to the officials of the treasury. The opening portion of the inscription is missing but it appears that the text was prefaced with three quatrains containing maxims on political morals. The main part of the inscription records that the king had become suspicious about the integrity of the accountants of the treasury; he exhorts them to inform the authorities before taking anything from the treasury and threatens those who fail to do so with royal disfavour, hinting at dire consequences. It is a sign of the corruption plaguing the kingdom at this time that Niśśaṁka Malla found it necessary to issue an edict of this nature. Although he attempted to introduce salutary reforms, the country was plunged into a period of economic uncertainty and political anarchy after his death. Indeed, his own extravagant expenditure on building projects and displays of power may have contributed to weakening the exchequer.