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The conserved Stupa at Upul Vehera Archaeological Site |
Upul Vehera Archaeoln ancientogical Site, also known as Ipul Vehera (Sinhala: උපුල් වෙහෙර පුරාවිද්යා ස්ථානය), is a Buddhist monastery situated in Upul Vehera village near Andiyagala in Kiralava Korale of Kalagampalata in Anuradhapura District, Sri Lanka.
History
A slab inscription was unearthed at the site and it revealed some information regarding the antiquity of this monastery.
Upul Vehera Slab Inscription
This inscription is badly weathered and was copied by the Department of Archaeology in 1955 (Paranavitana, 1983). The slab is covered by fifteen lines of writing but weathering has blurred many lines making it illegible (Paranavitana, 1983). The language of the inscription is Sinhala Prakrit and the script is Later Brahmi belonging to the first or second century A.D. (Paranavitana, 1983).
The inscription records details of donations made to a Vihara by various individuals (Paranavitana, 1983). The name of the royal donor occurs in line 1 as Tisa-maraja, son of Mahanaka-maharaja (Paranavitana, 1983). According to the view of eminent historian Senarath Paranavitana, the Tisa-maraja of this inscription is non-other than King Yasalalaka Tissa (52-60 A.D.), the last ruler of the First Dynasty of Anuradhapura Kingdom and the son of King Ilanaga [(33-43 A.D.) Paranavitana, 1983].
The name of the monastery which was the beneficiary of the donations recorded in this inscription read as "(Mula)vasiya-raja-maha-vihara (Paranavitana, 1983). This name can be equated etymologically with "Mulavokasa" which is probably a curruption of "Mulavasaka", the name of a monastic establishment founded by Uttiya, a general of King Vattagamani Abhaya [(103 B.C.-89-77 B.C.) Paranavitana, 1983].
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References
Books
1) Paranavitana, S., 1983. Inscriptions of Ceylon, Late Brahmi Inscriptions, 2 (part 1). Archaeological Survey of Sri Lanka..pp.58-59.
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Attribution
To Whom
LankaPradeepa.com extends its gratitude to Mr Navod Hemal for providing the necessary photographs required for this article. All the photos are published here with the permission of the author.
