Poḷonnaruva

Rajavesyabhujanga Mandapa, Polonnaruwa. Photographed before (above) and after (below) restoration in 1931 by the Archaeological Survey of Ceylon. Images published in: Kern Institute. (1933). Annual Bibliography of Indian Archaeology for the year 1931. Leyden: E. J. Brill, plate V.

This inscription is engraved on a stone slab discovered in 1931 by the Archaeological Department during the restoration of the ruined maṇḍapa built on a three-tiered platform near the Royal Palace of Parākramabāhu I at Poḷonnaruva. This maṇḍapa was identified by A. M. Hocart with the Rājaveśyā-bhujaṅga-maṇḍapa, mentioned in the Mahāvaṁsa as having been built by Parākramabāhu I. In the course of the Archaeological Department’s restoration work, it was discovered that the builders of this structure had utilised several earlier inscribed stones for the steps, mouldings and coping stones. Evidence was also found that the building had been substantially repaired at a later date, probably during the reign of Parākramabāhu II. It is therefore not certain whether the inscribed stones were used in the initial construction of the building or whether they were introduced as part of the subsequent repairs. The slab bearing the present inscription was used for the coping on the eastern side of the lowest tier of the platform. A large part of the inscription was effaced, perhaps deliberately, when the slab was utilised for this new purpose. Originally, the record must have consisted of around 45 lines but now only the first seven are legible. These lines are not enough to determine the subject matter and purpose of the inscription. The first two lines contain a Pāli stanza eulogising a thera named Ānanda, who is said to have had some connection with the Buddhist Church of Tambaraṭṭha, possibly referring to a place in the Coḷa country in Southern India or to Nakhon Si Thammarat in the Malay Peninsula. The next five lines introduce us to Sundaramahādevī, the queen of Vīkramabāhu I (r. 1111–1132 A.D.), who was the son of Vijayabāhu I (r. 1056–1111 A.D.).

This inscription is engraved on all four sides of a quadrangular stone pillar, which was discovered at the eastern porch of the Quadrangle at Poḷonnaruva and afterwards moved to the Archaeological Museum at Anurādhapura. The pillar’s base and capital are both missing and it seems to have been utilised as a lintel, for on one side are two square mortice holds, which were obviously intended for fitting it to the two door-jambs. H. C. P. Bell included the pillar in the list of inscriptions copied between 1901 and 1905 in the Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of Ceylon for 1905 (p. 40, no. 42). The inscription can be assigned to around the tenth century A.D. on palaeographic grounds. It is dated in the second year of a king styled Sirisaṅgbo, whom Bell identified with Mahinda IV (r. 975–991 A.D.). However, this identification is untenable, since the mother and father of the king in question are named in the inscription as Saṅgā-räjna and Mihind-maha[rad] respectively. In the tenth century, only two kings were sons of a monarch called Mihind (Mahinda). These were Sena V (r. 991–1001) and Mahinda V (r. 1001–1037), the two sons of Mahinda IV. The former used the viruda title Salamevan and cannot therefore be identified with the Sirisaṅgbo referred to here. Instead, the monarch of the present inscription must be Mahinda V, who was entitled to the name of Sirisaṅgbo from his place in the order of succession. The inscription records a grant of immunities to land in the village of Muhund-naru, in the Eastern Quarter, belonging to a pirivena, of which the name is obliterated, in the monastery called Mahamevnā Tisaram.

This inscription is engraved on all four sides of a quadrangular stone pillar, which has been broken into two nearly equal pieces. These pieces are now joined together and preserved in the Archaeological Museum at Anurādhapura. The fragments were discovered in the vicinity of Niśśaṁka Malla’s Council Chamber on the embankment of the Tōpāväva at Poḷonnaruva, as recorded in the Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of Ceylon for 1909, p. 39. However, it seems that the pillar did not originate in this location and was instead brought there from somewhere else to serve an architectural purpose, possibly as a tread in a flight of steps.

The inscription is dated in the fourth year of a king referred to by his viruda title of Abhaya Salamevan. H. C. P. Bell (Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of Ceylon for 1909, p. 39) identified this monarch with Kassapa V (r. 929–939) but, as there is nothing besides the palaeography to aid this identification, we cannot be quite certain. Senarath Paranavitana suggests that, paleographically, the record could equally be ascribed to Dappula V (r. 940–952). Both Kassapa V and Dappula V used the viruda title of Abhaya Salamevan.

The inscription records the grant of immunities to certain lands held by an individual, whose name is not clearly legible, as a pamaṇu (freehold) on condition of paying, annually, one pǟḷa of dried ginger to a hospital founded by Doti Valaknä. The custom of freeholders paying a small quit-rent to a religious or charitable institution was relatively common in medieval Sri Lanka and there are a number of surviving inscriptions recording such arrangements, the vast majority of which are written in a similar style.  Indeed, in the ninth and tenth centuries, there seems to have been a specific formula for such documents. However, the present inscription departs almost entirely from this familiar model, using instead a much rarer formulation (see Misc. Notes for more detail). Senarath Paranavitana identified only two other fragmentary inscriptions that follow the same pattern as this record. One was from Rajamahavihāra at Vihāregama in the Dam̆badeṇi Hatpattu of the Kuruṇǟgala District (IN03159); and the other was found at a place named Mäda-Ulpota in Gan̆gala Pallēsiya Pattuva, Mātalē East (IN03160). These two inscriptions, though not of much interest in themselves, enabled Paranavitana to decipher certain sections of the present inscription where the writing is not clearly legible.

The inscription is engraved on one side of a pillar found at the Vaṭa-dā-gē at Poḷonnaruva, where it had been installed in the pavement. It was recorded as No. 55 in the list of inscriptions examined between 1901 and 1905 in the Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of Ceylon for 1905 (p. 40). The pillar was subsequently removed to the Archaeological Museum at Anurādhapura. A portion of the inscription was obliterated at some point in the past, possibly when the pillar was used as a paving slab. Twelve lines remain legible, from which it seems that the inscription was a grant of immunities to a village named Muhundehi-gama. Fortunately, the surviving lines also include the date of the inscription, which is given as the fifteenth year of a king styled Abhā Salamevan. Bell, however, misread this date as the forty-fifth year of Abhā Salamevan. This caused some puzzlement because, although the inscription may be dated to the nine century A.D. on palaeographic grounds, no king is recorded in the historical chronicles of Sri Lanka as having reigned for more than forty years at any time between the fourth and eleventh centuries A.D. As a consequence, this inscription was sometimes cited as evidence that the chronicles do not provide a reliable source for the lengths of royal reigns in medieval Sri Lanka, until Senarath Paranavitana corrected Bell’s mistake in the third volume of Epigraphia Zeylanica (p. 290).  Paranavitana also concluded that the king mentioned in the inscription was probably Sena I, who is known to have used the viruda title Abhā Salamevan.

The inscription is engraved on a mutilated pillar-slab, which was discovered near the spill (vān–äla) of the Tōpāväva in Poḷonnaruva. The slab was subsequently moved to the Archaeological Office in Anuradhapura, where it was seen by Senarath Paranavitana sometime before 1933; Paranavitana then published an edition of the text in the third volume of Epigraphia Zeylanica. The upper part of the pillar-slab is missing and the surviving fragment is irregularly shaped. The inscription states that it was issued by ‘the Kālinga Monarch’ – a reference to king Niśśaṁka Malla, who reigned from 1187 to 1196 A.D. However, unlike other inscriptions of this king, it does not contain any mention of Niśśaṁka Malla’s alleged military achievements, nor does it boast of his greatness. Instead, it is addressed to the officials of the treasury. The opening portion of the inscription is missing but it appears that the text was prefaced with three quatrains containing maxims on political morals. The main part of the inscription records that the king had become suspicious about the integrity of the accountants of the treasury; he exhorts them to inform the authorities before taking anything from the treasury and threatens those who fail to do so with royal disfavour, hinting at dire consequences. It is a sign of the corruption plaguing the kingdom at this time that Niśśaṁka Malla found it necessary to issue an edict of this nature. Although he attempted to introduce salutary reforms, the country was plunged into a period of economic uncertainty and political anarchy after his death. Indeed, his own extravagant expenditure on building projects and displays of power may have contributed to weakening the exchequer.