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Alawala Amuna Rock Inscription |
Alawala Amuna Rock Inscription (Sinhala: අලවල අමුණ ගිරි ලිපිය) is found engraved on a rock by the side of the Kospotu Oya stream of Deduru Oya River close to the Alawala Amuna dam at Alawala village in Kurunegala District, Sri Lanka. It has been numbered 668 in the Inscriptions Register of the Archaeological Department.
The Inscription
The inscription consists of 33 lines of writing and covers an area of 12 ft. by 11 ft. 8 in. (Paranavitana, 1960). The first ten lines have been damaged due to the ignorant deeds of treasure seekers; therefore, the name of the king in the fourth line has been lost (Paranavitana, 1960). However, scholars have correctly identified this record as a work belonging to the reign of King Parakramabahu V (1344-1359 A.D.) of the Gampola Period (Paranavitana, 1960; Ranawella, 2014).
The inscription's script and language are Sinhala of the middle of the 14th century A.D.
Content
The inscription refers to the building of Lankatilaka Viharaya at Kandy but does not give many details about its founding as does the inscription engraved by the side of that temple (Paranavitana, 1960). It, however, gives more details about the opening up of fields under the Batalagoda Wewa and enumerates the lands donated from that area to the temple in greater detail (Paranavitana, 1960). Although the inscriptions at Lankatilaka Viharaya mention the fields granted to the temple from four villages named Badalagoda, Old and New, Kasambiliyagoda and Naramgoda were of a total extent of 14 yalas, the Alawala inscription mentions it as 90 yalas (Paranavitana, 1960). Therefore, the inscription at Alawala is supposed to have been inscribed some years after the engraving of the inscriptions at Lankatilaka Viharaya (Paranavitana, 1960).
A Protected Monument
The Alawala inscription belonging to the Alawala village situated at Akkara Panaha Grama Niladhari Division bearing number 624 in the Divisional Secretariat Division of Ridigama is an archaeological protected monument, declared by a government gazette notification published on 6 July 2007.
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Alawala Amuna Rock Inscription |
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References
Books, Government Gazette Notifications, Journal Articles
1) Paranavitana, S., 1960. Lankatilaka inscriptions. University of Ceylon Review. Vol. XVIII, Nos. 1 & 2. pp.1-45.
2) Ranawella, S., 2014. Archaeological Survey of Ceylon: Inscriptions of Ceylon: Vol. VII. Department of Archaeology. ISBN: 978-955-9159-62-9. pp.51-54.
3) The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. No: 1505. 6 July 2007. p.547.
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Attribution
To Whom
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.