Mihintale Slab Inscriptions of Mahinda IV
Two Slab Inscriptions of Mahinda IV are found established in a ruined building located on the premises of Mihintale Monastery in Anuradhapura District, Sri Lanka. The two inscriptions have been erected on the orders of King Mahinda IV (956-972 A.D.) to provide information on the administration and inner life of the monastery at Mihintale. They further reveal the rules and regulations pertaining to the monk community, the intervention of the State, the wages and allowances for the employees of the temple as well as the information regarding the work involved with the temple, the relic house, and special monastic buildings. Inscriptions The slabs of the two inscriptions are about seven feet high and about four feet wide and stand upright in a ruined building called " Bhojana-shala " [(the refectory) Wickremasinghe, 1912]. Both inscriptions consist of 58 lines and have been written in the Sinhalese language of the late tenth and early eleven centuries A.D. ( Wickremasinghe, 1912 ).…
