Ruwanmaduwa Fragmentary Pillar Inscription of Kassapa IV

Ruwanmaduwa Fragmentary Pillar Inscription of King Kassapa IV
Ruwanmaduwa Pillar Inscription (Sinhala: සිව්වන කාශ්‍යප රජුගේ රුවන්මඩු ටැම් ලිපි කැබැල්ල) is a fragmentary stone inscription discovered from Ruwanmaduwa in Vavuniya District, Sri Lanka. It is presently on the display in the Stone Gallery of the Colombo National Museum.

The pillar
The inscription has been engraved on all four sides of a stone pillar of which only the upper half is remaining today. The remaining part is about 3 feet tall and each side of it is about 9 inches wide (Ranawella, 2005). Eight lines of writing are found on each face of the pillar.

Content
The pillar contains a Sinhala inscription written in the Sinhala scripts of the early 10th century A.D. (Ranawella, 2005) The inscription is dated in the 6th regnal year of a king styled Sirisangbo Mapurmuka who, according to scholars, is King Kassapa IV [(898-914 A.D.) Ranawella, 2005]. The purpose of erecting the inscription was to register a grant of immunities made in favour of a village named Kalivan situated in Mata-bima region in the Northern quarter of the Anuradhapura Kingdom (Ranawella, 2005). As usual, the Secretariat and Treasury officers were forbidden to enter the village by this inscription. However, an unusual regulation that prohibits the slaughter of pigs, deer, and rabbits by the residents of the village is mentioned in the inscription (Ranawella, 2005).

Ruvanmaduva fragmentary pillar inscription of King Kassapa IV
Reign: King Kassapa IV (898-914 A.D.)
Period: 10th century A.D.
Script: Sinhala of the early 10th century
Language: Sinhala of the early 10th century
Transcript: (1) Sirisang- (2)bo Mapurmu- (3)ka savanne (4) Asela l-...>>
Translation: On the fifth day of the waning moon in the month of Asela in the sixth (regnal) year of...>>
Reference: Ranawella, 2005.

References
1) Ranawella, S. (Ed.), 2005. Sinhala inscriptions in the Colombo National Museum: Spolia Zeylanica. Vol 42. (2005). Department of National Museums, Sri Lanka. pp.XII,45-47.

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This page was last updated on 14 January 2023
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