OB03083

Velaikkara Slab Inscription near the Atadage, Polonnaruwa

The inscription is incised on a fine granite slab found lying prone in the Tōpa-väva quadrangle (the Dalada Maluwa) in Polonnaruwa. The find was reported by H. C. P. Bell in his Annual Report of the Ceylon Archaeological Survey for 1903 (p. 11). The slab was subsequently framed with cement and placed upright near the Atadage in the Tōpa-väva quadrangle, where it stands today. Consisting of forty-nine lines in total, the inscription is written in Tamil with an introductory Sanskrit verse. It was erected by the members of the Vēḷäikkāṟa (or Velaikkara) community. As part of the expeditionary forces of Rājēndra Coḷa I, the Velaikkaras established themselves as a powerful force in northern Sri Lankan following the capture of Mahinda V in 1017–18 A.D. They were subjugated by king Vijaya-Bāhu I in 1073 A.D. but rebelled against his authority eleven years later, after he asked them to fight in his military campaign against their own kinsmen, the Coḷas. Although the king’s forces quickly quelled the rebellion, the Velaikkara community continued to hold considerable power. Indeed, such was their influence that, during the turbulent period of internal conflict that followed Vijaya-Bāhu I’s death, they were entrusted with the protection of the Sacred Tooth-relic Temple, which had been built (probably some twenty or thirty years earlier) by the minister Deva Senāpati under Vijaya-Bāhu’s orders. This inscription was erected around this time to provide written assurance that the Velaikkara soldiers would protect the sacred relics. The first part of the text serves as an introduction, describing Vijaya-Bāhu I’s charitable acts, including the building of the Tooth-relic temple. The second part details the provisions made by the Velaikkaras for the protection of the temple and relics. No date is given in the text but, drawing on a combination of palaeographic and historical evidence, Wickremasinghe argues that it dates from between 1137 and 1153 A.D., belonging either to the reign of Vikkama-Bāhu (1116–1137 A.D.) or, more probably, to that of his son Gaja-Bāhu (1137–1153 A.D.).