Not to be confused with Medawala Inscription of King Vikramabahu III
The Madawala Rock Inscription of the reign of King Parakramabahu VI (Sinhala: හයවන පරාක්රමබාහු රාජ්ය සමයේ මඩවල සෙල් ලිපිය) is found engraved on a rock in the village of Madawala in Kandy District, Sri Lanka.
The inscription
The inscription which has 20 lines of writing is enclosed on three sides by a rectangular frame. At the right top, outside of this frame are the figures of the sun, moon, a hammer and an anvil while on the left side, the upper half of the frame are a hammer, an anvil and a pair of pincers (Codrington, 1933). The figures of a crow and a dog are also found on the left side, the lower half of the frame (Codrington, 1933).
Content
The inscription is dated in the 47th regnal year of King Parakramabhu VI (1412-1467 A.D.) of Kotte and it is the only document so far discovered in the hill country bearing the name and the regnal year of this king (Codrington, 1933; Rohanadeera, 2007). It records a grant of land made to a silversmith Paramanaya of Siddavulla and his son Suriya by Apana and Jotiya Sitana in the presence of Dantotavature Devan and Divanavatte Lanka Adhikarin (Rohanadeera, 2007). As is evidenced in the Perakumba Sirita, Apana was a prince of the Gampola Dynasty and Jotiya Sitana was a dignitary (Codrington, 1933; Rohanadeera, 2007).
Madawala Rock Inscription of the reign of Parakramabahu VI
Period: 15th century A.D. Script: Modern Sinhala Language: Modern Sinhala
Content: A grant of revenue from Madawala village in Dumbara, fields of six amunas in sowing extent and the land including the plantation and the jungle were granted as an inheritance to the silversmith Paramanaya of Siddavulla and for his son Suriya, being provided that they should remain as long as the sun and the moon exist and that no king, sub-king, officers like ministers should cause trouble or disturbance. The inscription states that the stone record containing the document granting maintenance land, cut in the presence of Dantotavature Devan and Divanavatte Lanka Adhikarin was granted by the ten Aghampadis on the Full Moon Day of Vesak in the forty-seventh year of the reign of King Parakramabahu VI.
Citation: The information board at the site by the Department of Archaeology and the State Ministry of Social Affairs.
Prof. Mendis Rohanadeera has given a further account regarding this inscription as follows;
Earlier, in the historical back ground, our attention was drawn to the Chinese information that a Sri Lankan king by the name Parakramabahu sent his son as the head of a delegation to the Chinese court in 1459 and while he was in China, his father, the Sri Lankan king, Parakramabhu passed away and a grand son of the king usurpered the throne, as such the king's son settled down in China. We also noted that the Sri Lankan king who sent the mission to China in 1459, was Parakramabahu of Dedigama, a contemporary and a brother of Parakramabahu of Kotte. Based on the information furnished in the Asgiri Thalpata, we noted that after the demise of Parakramabahu of Dedigama, the powerful dignitaries of the Dedigama court created revolts here and there through the greed for the kingship and that apana and Jotiya Sitana in the Madawala Inscription were two of them. Thereafter the immediate turn of the political trend in the hill country would be demonstrated by the subsequent documents.Citation: Rohanadeera, 2007. p.52.
A protected monument
The Madawala inscription on the mountain range in the land called Akuraketugalewatta in Grama Niladhari Division of Madawala in Pathadumbara Divisional Secretariat Division is an archaeological protected monument, declared by a government Gazette notification published on 23 February 2007.
Attribution
1) LankaPradeepa.com would like to thank Mohan Lakshitha for providing the necessary photographs required for this article. All the photos are published here with the permission of the author.
References
1) Codrington, H.W., 1933. (Edited and translated by Wikramasinghe, D.M.D.Z.; Codrington, H.W.) The Madawala Rock-Inscription.
Epigraphia Zeylanica: Being Lithic and Other Inscriptions of Ceylon
:Vol. III. Printed at the Department of Government Printing, Sri Lanka
(Ceylon) for the Archeological Department. pp.235-245.
2) Rohanadeera, M., 2007. Archaeological Survey of Ceylon: Inscriptions of
Ceylon. (Vol. VIII). Department of Archaeology. ISBN:
978-955-91-59-64-3. pp.50-52.
3) The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. No: 1486. 23 February 2007. p.125.
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This page was last updated on 7 January 2023
