Tim̆biriväva

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 IN03224). 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 records that an unnamed individual gave a hundred kahavaṇas to secure the release from slavery of Aba, his younger brother. It is not dated but the script and language conform to standards familiar in records of the fifth to sixth centuries.

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.

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 (IN03224 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 the gift of seven hundred kahavaṇa coins to the royal monastery of Masala by Budala Aldara, nephew of Vaḷaba Haladara. ‘Masala’ was evidently the ancient name of the monastic established at the site where the epigraph is located. The inscription is dated in the tenth year of a king styled Kasabala Alakapaya, ‘Kasabala’ being the equivalent of the Pali ‘Kassapa’. Senarath Paranavitana identifies this king as Kassapa I, since the second king of that name only reigned for nine years and the inscription’s palaeography suggests that it predates the reign of Kassapa III. Kassapa I ascended to the throne in around 479 A.D. The application of the title ‘Alakapaya’, which is equivalent to the Sanskrit ‘Alakapati’ (Lord of Alakā), to this king is explained by the Cūḷavaṁsa when it says that Kassapa built on the summit of Sīgiri ‘a fine palace worthy to behold, like another Ālakamandā and dwelt there like (the god) Kuvera’.

This inscription is engraved on a rock near the ruined stupa on the ancient site now known as Veheragala at Tim̆biriväva in the Mahapotāna Kōraḷē West of the Anurādhapura District. There are four other inscriptions on the same rock, all of which are more or less fragmentary. Written in the Brāhmī script of the early centuries A.D., these records were first brought to notice by H. C. P. Bell in 1896. The present inscription registers the gift of a tank by a lady named Anuḷabi to the monastery called Gagapavata, which was doubtless the name of the ancient vihara at the site. It is dated in the second year of King Mekavaṇa Aba, who is described as the son of the great king Sirinaka (Sirināga). Bell took Mekavaṇa Aba to the same as Sirimeghavaṇṇa, the son of Mahāsena. However, highlighting a number of flaws in Bell’s reasoning, Senarath Paranavitana argued instead that Mekavaṇa Aba should be identified with Goṭhābhaya, the father of Mahāsena. The identity of Goṭhābhaya’s father is not recorded in the chronicles but Paranavitana suggested that he may have been Sirināga II, identifying both kings as members of the dynasty founded by Vasabha. (Paranavitana’s genealogical table of this dynasty can be viewed here.)

The inscribed pillar was found at Tim̆biriväva, where it was examined by the Archaeological Commissioner H. C. P. Bell between 1898 and 1900. Tim̆biriväva is a small village in the Pahala Kälǟgam Tulāna of Vilacciya Kōrole, about twenty-three miles to the west-south-west of Anurādhapura. Written in Sinhalese alphabet of the 10th century A.D., the inscription covers three sides of the pillar and half of the fourth. It badly worn and illegible in places. The inscription is dated to the first year in the reign of Kassapa IV, called here by his biruda Kasub Siri San̆g-bo, and records immunities granted to the village Mibäḷi-gama attached to the Māḍbiyan-pirivena. The first twelve lines are almost word-for-word identified to those of the Moragoḍa pillar inscription of Kassapa IV (IN03059), which is dated fifteen years later.