Maharala

This inscription is engraved on a rock to the north of the ruined stupa at an ancient site in the forest about three miles south of Maradanmaḍuva, lying about half a mile off the route to Ikirigallǟva. Two other inscriptions are engraved on the same rock (IN03223 and IN03225). The extensive ruins at this site were discovered by the Wild Life Department in 1953. At that time, the site had no name but it now referred to as Tim̆biriväva after an abandoned and breached tank in the vicinity. As head of the Wild Life Department, C. W. Nicholas reported the discovery to the Archaeological Department, whose officers were despatched to survey the inscriptions (see Appendix II of the Administration Report for 1954, nos. 41, 42 and 43).

The present inscription registers a gift of a yāḷa of paddy for the maintenance of slaves in the vihāra called Maharala by the wife of a person named Daḷa residing at Piḷigami; her name is not given. The vihāra in question must be the one which once stood at Tim̆biriväva, where the inscription is situated. The record is dated in the fourth year of a king styled Kumara-sirisagaboyi, providing one of the earliest known uses of the throne name Sirisagaboyi (Sirisaṅghabodhi) in an epigraphical document. Senarath Paranavitana identified this king as Kumāradāsa (called Kumāra-Dhātsena in the Cūḷvaṁsa), since he was the only Sinhalese king whose name contains the element ‘Kumāra’. Kumāradāsa reigned from 512 until 520.