OB03181 Mankanai Inscribed Slab of Gajabhahu II
IN03228 Mankanai Inscription of Gajabhahu II
This inscription is engraved on a stone slab, which was discovered in the village of Mānkanai in the Trincomalee town. The slab is now kept in the Archaeological Museum at Anuradhapura. The inscription is in two parts, each comprising of twenty-two lines of writing incised between parallel lines. The purpose of the record is to register the donation for life of certain paddy lanks to one Mintaṉ Koṟṟaṉ, the overseer of the palanquin bearers of the palace. The donation was made by king Gajabhāhu II (r. 1131–1153 A.D.) but it is dated in the forty-third regnal year of his predecessor Jayabhāhu I (r. 1108–1145/6 A.D.) and was inscribed on stone by a local ruler in the Southern Country called Māṉāparaṇa. The practice of dating an inscription from the coronation of a dead king is known from inscriptions. Since Jayabhāhu I took the throne in 1108, the present inscription may be dated to 1150–1151.