The Kantale Stone Seat Inscription of King Nissankamalla (Sinhala: අනුරාධපුර කෞතුකාගාරයේ නිශ්ශංකමල්ල රජුගේ කන්තලේ ගල් ආසන ලිපිය) is presently on the display at the Anuradhapura Archaeological Museum, Sri Lanka.
The seat
The stone seat was discovered in 1921 in Kantale village in Trincomalee District and later brought to the present location for conservation (Wikramasinghe, 1928). The seat has a moulded base 3 ft. in height surmounted by a slab measuring 3 ft. 5.5 in. square (Ranawella, 2007). The inscription has been engraved on the upper surface of it and the writing has been commenced at the bottom left corner of the seat. The writing then flows rightwards between ruled lines on all four sides until a small square is left at the centre of the surface.
Content
The script and the language of the inscription are Sinhala of the second half of the 12th century A.D. and scholars have dated this record to the reign of King Nissankamalla [(1187-1196 A.D.) Ranawella, 2007; Wikramasinghe, 1928]. It contains, like those of the other stone seat inscriptions of him, a repetition of some of Nissankamalla's charitable acts and military achievements (Ranawella, 2007; Wikramasinghe, 1928). The record reveals that it was the seat on which Nissankamalla sat to witness various diversions such as alms-giving, dancing, singing etc. in the Parvati alms hall erected at the king's request in Caturveda Brahmanapura after his return from the Indian campaign (Ranawella, 2007). The Parvati alms hall mentioned here was probably an alms hall established in honour or memory either of Nissankamalla's mother Parvati Mahadevi or of Her Highness Parvati mentioned in the Hetadage Vestibule Wall Inscription (Wikramasinghe, 1928).
References
1) Ranawella, S., 2007. Inscription of Ceylon. Volume VI. Department of Archaeology. ISBN: 978-955-91-59-61-2. pp.114-117.
2) Wikramasinghe, D. M. D. Z., 1928. Epigraphia Zeylanica: Being lithic and other inscriptions of Ceylon Vol II: London. Published for the government of Ceylon by Humphrey Milford, pp.283-290.
Location Map
This page was last updated on 30 September 2022
