INSCRIPTION OF GAMPOLA PERIOD

THE MADAWALA ROCK INSCRIPTION ,1461 A.C.

47th regnal year of Srimat Siri Sangabo Sri Parakramabahu Cakravartti Svamin Vahanse
 OF111,pp.235-245,  This introductory note is given below:
This inscription has once been published in Sinhala,(Visvs Brahmanaviniscaya pp.81, 82)
But the splendid condition of the record , its historical interest and the absence of any
specimen of the script of the period from Epigraphia Zeylanica are sufficient reasons for its apperrance here.
                          It is cut in bold letters on a rock in the village of Madawala in the pata Dumbara Division Kandy District. It is enclosed on three sides by a rectanjular frame, out side of this, at the top, are the moon and the sun , a hammer and anvil, while on the left side, are a hammer, anvil and apair of pincers in the upper half, and a crow and a dog in the lower.
              The inscription records a grant of land to a silversmith Paramanaya of Siddavulla and his son suriya by king Sirisangabo Sri Parakramabahu 6, in the year following 46th of his reign, in the presence of Dantotavature Deven and Divana watte Lanka Adhikarin, the signatures of these dignitaries are reproduced in the left hand upper corner of the record as Apana aset up in the 47thnd Joti Sitana. (EZ., 3,p.236)
and donation are open to doubt. According to his rendering the donor of the grant was Parakramabahu  6 of Kotte, himself. It is clear by the wordings that the eppigraph was set up inthe 47th year of that king. But the king s participation in this affair is not suggested by any word or phrase in the document. Instead the two signatories appearing in the left top, as is separately boxed, seem to be really the donprs. They have declared themselves, one below the other, I am Apana, I am Jotiya Sitana. Codrington identifies these with the two dignitaries Dantotuvature Devan and Divanawatte Lankadhikarin figuring in the end of the document. According to the wordings it becomes clear that the document declaring the grant was written in the presence, medava, of these two dignitaries, as such they were the attesters to the grant and not the donors as Codrington interprets. The ten aghampandi, mentioned in the line last but one, in whose presence, madava, the inscription was engraved, also bore witness to the effect that the deed of the grant was documented in the presence of Dantituwature Devan and Divanawatte Lankadhikarin.
              As such there is no connection of King Parakramabahu 6 with the grant other than his name and regnal year being quoted for the purpose of the dating of the document. So the donors were apana and Jotiya Sitana, the attesters to the deed were Dantotuvature devan    and Divanawatte Lankadhikarin,  and the attesters to the engraving of the epigraph were ten aghampandi.         
                       Codrington s identification of apana with the Prince of Gampola dynasty and Jotiya Sitana with the dignitary by that name is correct as is evidenced in the Parakumba Siruta.
             However it is noteworthy that the Madaeala Inscription is the only document so far found in the hill country bearing the name and the regnal year of King Parakramabahu 6 of Kotte during the long reign of 55 years of this king.As such the Madawala Inscription is the first evidence to prove that this king s authority had been acknowledged by the people of Up Country, at least by 1462, A.D.
                           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, Parakramabahu 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 Dadigama, a contemporary and a brother of Parakramabahu of Kotte. Based on the information furnishfd in the Asgiri Thalpata, we noted that after the demise of Parakramabahu of Dadigama, the powerful  dignitaries of the Dadigama court created revolts here and there through the greed for the kingship and that apana and Jotiya Sitana in theMadawala Inscription werw two of them.There after the immediate turn of the political trend in the Hill country would be demonstrated by the ubsequent documents.

A  INSCRIPTION OF GAMPOLA PEIRIOD

EPIGRAPHIC REC ORDS ATTRIBUTABLE TO THE LAST RULERS OF THE GAMPOLA DYNASTY

THE GALLE TRILINGUAL SLAB INSCRIPTION OF CHENGHO, 1409 -1415 A.C.
AN ACCOUNT OF THE DISCOVERY HAS BEEN GIVEN IN JCBRAS , VOL. 22, PAGE-129. A PAPER EMBODYING AN ACCOUNT OF DISCOVERY, THE TEXT AND TRANSLATION OF THE CHINESE VERSION, THE RESULT OF THE VARIOUS ATTEMPTS TO DECIPHER OTHER TWO RECORDS , AND A DISCUSSION ON THE HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE OF THE EPIGRAPHS , WAS CONTRIBUTED BY MR. E. W. PERERA , TO THE SPOLIA ZEYLANIA. A DETAILED DISCUSSION BY SENARATH PARANAVITANA APPEARS UNDER THE HEADING NO.36 , THE TAMIL INSCRIPTION ON THE GALLE TRILINGUAL SLAB , IN EZ. VOL. 3-1933 , REPRINTED IN 1987 .PP.331-341. THIS ESSAY CONSISTS OF AN ANTIQUARIAN NOTE , ORTHOGRAPHICAL PECULIARITIES , THE LANGUAGE OF THE TAMIL VERSION , THE DATE , THE CONTENTS OF THE TAMIL VERSION , THE TEXT AND TRANSLATION OF THE SOME, THE TRANSLATION OF THE CHINESE VERSION AS APPENDIX , A , AND THE TEXT AND TRANSLATION OF THE PERSIAN VERSION AS APPENDIX , B AND APPENDIX , C , A NOTE ON KATTI BY H. W. CODRINGTON.

                                      THE DATE OF THE EPIGRAPH IS THE SECOND MONTH OF THE SEVENTH YEAR OF YUNG LO , THE CHINISE EMPEROR , AND THAT WAS 1409 A.D. IT HAS TO BE NOTED , AS GIVEN IN THE ASGIRI THALPATA ,THAT THE LAST KING OF GAMPOLA DYNASTY , VIRABAHU WHO WAS AT THAT TIME RESIDING IN JAYAWARDHANAPURA KOTTE , HAVING BROUGHT THE SACRED TOOTH RELIC ALSO THRRE , WAS DEFEATED BY VIRA ALAKESVARA OF RAIGAMA , WITH THE MERCENARIES BROOUGHT FROM SOUTH INDIA , IN 1409 A. D. ,THE SAME YEAR , THAT CHENG HO CONSTITUTED THE  DALLE TRILINGUAL INSCRIPTION.

                                      THE SUBJECT MATTER OF THE TAMIL VERSION OF THE GALLE INSCRIPTION GIVEN BY PARANAVITHANA COULE BE SUMMARIZED AS FOLLOWS .

"THE CHINESE EMPEROR HAVING HEARD OF THE FAME OF THE TENAVARAI NAYANAR IN CEYLON,SENT TO HIM THROUGH HIS ENVOYS CHIN HO AND WANG CHIN LIEN, VARIOUS KIND OF OFFERINGS OF WHICH DETAIL LIST IS GIVEN, WHILE IN THE TAMIL VERSION OFFERINGS SEEM TO HAVE BEEN MADE TO GOD OF DEVINUVARA UPULVAN, IN THE CHINESE VERSION DONATIONS HAVE BEEN MADE TO THE BUDDHA, WHEREAS IN THE PERSIAN VERSION DONATIONS SEEM TO HAVE BEEN MADE TO AN ISLAMIC SHRINE OR A  SAINT.

THERE FORE IT APPEARS THAT THE CHINESE WHEN THEY GAINED THE POLITICAL ASCENDANCY IN CEYLON IN 1409, WITH THE ECLECTICISM IN RELIGIOUS MATTERS CHARACTERISTIC OF THERE RACE , MADE GIFTS OF ABOUT EQUAL VALUE TO THE BUDDHA TO A DEITY WHO, WHATEPER MAY HAVE BEEN HIS ORIGIN, WAS AT THAT TIME OF HINDU CHARACTER AND SLAMIC SAINT OR SHRINE, AND CORD OF THESE VARIOUS GIFT WAS INSCRIBED IN THE SAME STONE",SAYS, SENERATH PARANAVITHANA. (EZ3,PAGE 334).