Person: H. W. Codrington

This inscription is engraved on a rock, which was found buried at a depth of several feet below the surface of a terraced paddy-field known as Mäddē-patana, situated in the village of Aṁpiṭiya in the Gandahayē Kōraḷē of Pāta Hēvāhäṭē, a division of Kandy District. The contents of the epigraph record the dedication of the village of Aṁpiṭiyē Maddegama to the god of Senkaḍagala, witnessed by the prince Arāvē Arttha-nāyaka ǟpā in the reign of Siri San̆gbō Śrī Vikrama-bāhu, ‘on the day on which the tusker of the god of Senkaḍagala was taken’. The significance of this event is obscure, the usual word in use for capturing a wild elephant being ban̆dinavā. Given that the inscription can be dated on palaeographic grounds to the fourteenth century, the king named in the record can be identified as Vikrama-bāhu III, who came to the throne about 1357 and reigned until at least 1374. In the past, this monarch was popularly credited with making Senkaḍagala (modern-day Kandy) into a capital city but H. W. Codrington has shown that this legend does not reflect the historical reality: it was not until the reign of Sēnāsammata Vikrama-bāhu, a ruler of the hill-country in the latter half of the fifteenth century, that Senkaḍagala was established as a major capital. However, as the present inscription shows, the city did exist prior to this date. Another early reference to the city occurs in the Sagama inscription (IN03211), which mentions Senkaḍagala Nātha-sāmī. This deity is doubtless the same as the ‘god of Senkaḍagala’ referred to here. The Nātha Dēvālē – the oldest temple in Kandy – is dedicated to the god’s cult.

This inscription is engraved on four stones built into the western wall of the Nātha Dēvālē in Kandy. The wall includes eight inscribed stones in all, referred to here as A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H. Stones A–E are arranged in one row, while stones F–H form part of the row below. One inscription reads straight across stones A and B, is continued on stone C and concludes on stone D. A separate, fragmentary record begins on stone E and continues on stones F–H. The second of these two inscriptions is dealt with here (see IN03156 for the other). At least one inscribed stone has been lost from this inscription, since the text on stone F does not follow on directly from stone E. Due to the damaged nature of the inscription, its purpose is unclear. It deals, among other things, with the nila pan̆ḍuru or money presents on appointment to officer and with the maḷāraya or heriot. The king here is named as Jayavīra Āsthāna, presumably meaning the same king who is named in the other inscription on the stone wall as Śrī Jayavīra Mahā Väḍa-vun-täna. This king can probably be identified with Jayavīra Baṇḍāra, who is thought to have succeeded to the throne of Kandy in 1511 and reigned until 1552. The title Āsthāna or Mahā Āsthāna was in common use in the sixteenth century; in later Kandyan times it seems to have been restricted to the king’s brother.

Natha Devale, Kandy, Sri Lanka

This inscription is engraved on four stones built into the western wall of the Nātha Dēvālē in Kandy. The wall includes eight inscribed stones in all, referred to here as A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H. Stones A–E are arranged in one row, while stones F–H form part of the row below. One inscription reads straight across stones A and B, is continued on stone C and concludes on stone D. A separate, fragmentary record begins on stone E and continues on stones F–H. The first of these two inscriptions is dealt with here (see IN03157 for the other). The text is dated on the tenth of the dark half of Bak in the Buddhist year 2085 (30 March, 1543) and records the grant of various concessions by the king Śrī Jayavīra Mahā Väḍa-vun-täna to the people of Dumbara, Pansiyapattuva, Mātalē, and Ūva Tunkin̆da, and of the village Alutgama for their services in an attack by the Portuguese on the Hill Country. The king mentioned here can probably be identified with Jayavīra Baṇḍāra, who is thought to have succeeded to the throne of Kandy in 1511 and reigned until 1552. He was the successor of Sēnāsammata Vikrama Bāhu, who is credited with having founded Kandy as a capital and also with having established (or at least rebuilt) the Nātha Dēvālē, although the current building on the site dates from a later period.

Gadaladeniya Vihara, Kandy, Sri Lanka

This inscription is engraved on a slab pillar, which now stands outside the main entrance of the Gaḍalādeṇiya Vihārē, a foundation of the fourteenth century situated in Uḍunuvara of Kandy District. The pillar was set up in its present position by H. C. P. Bell, Archaeological Commissioner, who found it inside the temple. All four faces of the pillar are inscribed. On the front of the slab is a record dated in the fifth year of king Siri San̆gbō Śrī Jayavīra Parākrama Bāhu, which grants an amnesty to Mēṇavara Tuṇayan, nephew of the ǟpā Parākrama Bāhu of Doḍamvela, and the people of the Five Countries, on the reduction of the Hill Country then recently effected before the Coronation Festival held on the twelfth of the bright half of Vesak. This text is preceded on one of the narrow sides of the slab by the word Siddhi engraved beneath the sun and moon, a cakra and conch shell. On the reverse of the slab, continued on the other narrow side, is the undertaking of the rebels to be faithful to His Majesty; their leader is here called Mēṇavara Tuṇayārun. Codrington tentatively suggests that the king Siri San̆gbō Śrī Jayavīra Parākrama Bāhu of this inscription may have been Parākrama Bāhu IX, whose coronation took place in 1509 and whose reduction of the Hill Country is recorded in the Rājāvaliya. This would make the date of the inscription 30 September 1513.

Gadaladeniya Vihara, Kandy, Sri Lanka

Sign marking the site of the Gaḍalādeṇiya Rock Inscription of Sēnāsammata Vikrama Bāhu (IN03154).

This inscription is cut into the rock at the Gaḍalādeṇiya Vihārē, immediately below the record of the monk Dharmmakīrtti (IN03166), the founder of the vihara. The Gaḍalādeṇiya Vihārē is situated in Pilimathalawa, near Kandy. The present inscription is dated in the eighth year of Sēnāsammata Vikrama Bāhu cakravartti, who was the founder of Kandy as a capital and reigned from 1469 until 1511 A.D. The text promises that no loss of life shall be inflicted on the people of certain provinces named and declares that the heriot or maḷāraya of those who have fallen in warfare or in the elephant hunt shall, in the absence of an heir, be devoted to the restoration of vihārēs in disrepair.