Niśśaṅka Malla

Ruwanweli Dagoba, Anuradhapura

The inscription is engraved on the side of a fixed slab, which stands erect in a bed of brickwork, flanked by two monolithic pillars, within a few yards of the statues near the eastern altar of the Ruvanväli-dāgaba in Anurādhapura. It was discovered in 1874 by Nāranviṭa Thēra. The inscription consists of 35 lines in the Sinhalese alphabet of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. It dates from the reign of Kīrti-Niśśaṅka-Malla (1187-1196 A.D.) and gives a general account of his various philanthropic and religious acts, mostly in Poḷonnaruva, his state visit to Anurāpura in his fourth regnal year, the lavish manner in which he worshipped the Ruvanväli-dāgaba there, and the steps he took to restore the Mīrisaviṭiya and other vihāras.

Dambulla Cave Temple, Sri Lanka

The inscription of king Kīrti Niśśanka Malla is situated in the rock temple of Dam̆bulla, also called in the Mahāvaṁsa Jambukōla vihāra, on the rock to the right, immediately after passing the Muragē. It consists of 25 lines, written in the Sinhalese script of the 12th century A.D., recording the philanthropic and religious acts of the king. No date is given in the inscription. According to Wicremasinghe, the inscription was engraved between 1192 and 1197. The present inscription was previously published in 1836 in the ‘Epitome’ of G. Turnour, and then in 1840 in ‘Eleven years in Ceylon’ of J. Forbes, and in 1883 in E. Müller’s ‘Ancient Inscriptions in Ceylon’.