Kongollava Pillar Inscription of Sena II

Kongollava Pillar Inscription of Sena II
A stone pillar containing an inscription of King Sena II of the Anuradhapura Kingdom (Sinhala: දෙවන සේන රජුගේ කොංගොල්ලෑව ටැම් ලිපිය) is presently on the display at the Stone Gallery of Colombo National Museum, Sri Lanka.

Discovery
The inscription was discovered in Kongollava/Kongollewa village situated about two miles north of Medawachchiya (Muller, 1883). It had been broken into two parts when it was brought to the museum (Muller, 1883). The two parts are presently connected with cement.

Content
The pillar measures 6 feet by 8 inches by 9 inches (Ranawella, 2005). Its upper part ends with a vase-shaped capital. The inscription has been engraved on all four sides of the pillar. It has 21 lines of writing on the first face with a sketch of the sun at the top and a figure of a conch shell at the bottom (Ranawella, 2005). The second face has 17 lines and a figure of a crow at the bottom (Ranawella, 2005). The third face has 15 lines and a figure of the moon at the top and a figure of a dog at the bottom (Ranawella, 2005). The fourth face contains 10 lines of writing and a figure of a monk's fan at the bottom of it (Ranawella, 2005).

The script and the language of the inscription are Sinhala of the second half of the 9th century A.D. (Ranawella, 2005). The record is dated in the 12th regnal year of a king styled Sirisambo who, according to scholars, is King Sena II [(853-887 A.D.) Ranawella, 2005].

The inscription has been erected to register certain immunities given by the king in respect of a village named Varavaturoda-gama in Uturala and some other lands in a District called Mirisbima, which had been assigned to a monastic school named Bamanagiriya Pirivena in the Kikilgiri Group of the Abhayagiriya Monastery for the well being of its resident monks (Ranawella, 2005). According to chronicles, Kukulgiri Group was founded by King Kanitthatissa (167-186 A.D.) and it was located within the boundaries of the Maha Vihataya at Anuradhapura (Ranawella, 2005).

References
1) Muller, E., 1883. Ancient Inscriptions in Ceylon. London. pp.55-56,78,112-113.
2) Ranawella, S. (Ed.), 2005. Sinhala inscriptions in the Colombo National Museum: Spolia Zeylanica. Vol 42. (2005). Department of National Museums, Sri Lanka. pp.XI,15-19.

Location Map
This page was last updated on 14 January 2023
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