Jetavanarama Gold Plates (Colombo National Museum)

Jetavanarama Gold Plates or Jetavanarama Golden Manuscript (Sinhala: ජේතවනාරාම රන් පත්), were found from the Jetavanarama Vihara complex in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. The manuscript consists of seven gold plates and contains an epigraph written in the Sanskrit language. The plates are now exhibited in the National Museum of Colombo.

Discovery

These golden plates were discovered at the Jetavanarama Monastery during an archaeological excavation done under the UNESCO-Sri Lanka Cultural Triangle Project (Wikramagamage, 2004). It is said that the plates were found deposited in a clay pot (Dhammaratana, 2000).

Jetavanaramaya is a Buddhist temple built by King Mahasen (278-303 A.D.). According to historical sources, this temple at its beginning served as an institute of Mahayana Buddhism. Several epigraphs belonging to the Mahayana tradition have been found on this site.

 
Veneration of Dharma books/relics (or Dhammadhatu) is a common ritual in Mahayana tradition and such veneration to the books, especially those belonging to the Prajnaparamita group (ex: Pancavimsati-sahasrika, Astasahasrika) was considered as an act of merit. Therefore, plates or leaves written with these stanzas were enshrined in relic chambers as both a sacred object and a relic.

The gold plates discovered from Jetavanarama premises can be linked with the narration made by the chronicles of the bringing of the Dhammadhatu in the 12th regnal year of King Silakala [(522-535 A.D.) Dias, 2001]. It is recorded that the king placed it in a shrine close to the palace and a festival was held in its honor at the Jetavanarama every year (Dias, 2001).

The epigraph on the plates contains a portion but an exact copy of the Mahayana Buddhist text Pancavimsati-sahasrika – Prajnaparamitasutra, one of the earliest texts written in about the 2nd century A.D.

This inscription is the lengthiest Sanskrit inscription (considering the number of scripts) discovered so far in Sri Lanka (Dhammaratana, 2000). It has been written in Sinhalese scripts of the Pallava Grantha type (Dhammaratana, 2000). If the inscription has its complete text, it would have had more than 35 gold plates.

#) Sanskrit Inscriptions in Sri Lanka

References

1) Dhammaratana, I., 2000. Sanskrit Inscriptions in Sri Lanka: A thesis submitted to the University of Pune in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sanskrit. Department of Sanskrit & Prakrit Languages, University of Pune, India. pp.230-299.
2) Dias, M, 2001. The growth of Buddhist monastic institutions in Sri Lanka from Brahmi inscriptions. Epigraphia Zeylanica, Vol. VIII. Department of Archaeology Survey. ISBN: 955-9264-04-4. pp.44-45.
3) Wikramagamage, C., 2004. Heritage of Rajarata: Major Natural, Cultural and Historic sites: Colombo. Central Bank of Sri Lanka. p.139.

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This page was last updated on 14 January 2023