Object type: Stone slab

The inscription is written on two granite slabs, which stand near the old refectory, also called Bhōjana-sālā, on the left of the third set of steps (on four) on the western slope of the hill at Mihintale. The inscription is divided equally between the two slabs, each one bearing 58 lines of Sinhalese prose. They were installed by the king Mahinda IV (975-91 A.D.) and record rules and regulations for the administration of the monastery (the name of the monastery is not mentioned) and payments made to the service staff.

The inscription is situated in the ruins of an ancient site, close by the Ratmale wewa, south-west from Anurādhapura, not far from the Kurunegala Road. Four lines are engraved on a large slab rock. The inscription mentions three names of kings: Devānapiya Tisa-maharaja, Devānapiya Puṭikaṇa Gamiṇi Abhaya-maharaja, Devānapiya Naka-maharaja. These have been identified by Goldschmidt and Müller as the kings Vaṅkanāsika Tissa, Gaja-bāhu and Mahallaka Nāga of the Mahāvaṁsa. The inscription records the donation from the king Mahallaka Nāga (circa A.D. 135-141) of gruel, boiled rice, undergarments and silk outer garments for the Vassa ceremony to 20 monks at Vihirabijaka and at Muṭigulika and Parivataka monasteries.

Abhayagiri vihara, Anuradhapura

INIG1349 [Provenance not recorded, possibly from Morena district]. On a stone slab. 17 lines, nāgarī, corrupt Sanskrit. Mentions the construction of a tank by mahatā Jaitasiṁha of Lodhā family when Cāhamāna Hamīradeva was ruling Śakambara. Now in the collection of the Archaeological Museum, Gwalior.

INIG1348c āṣāḍha badi 11, Kolāras (Shivpuri). On a satī stone. 3 lines, nāgarī, Sanskrit. Mentions a satī, apparently of the queen of Govindarāja.