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The Date of the Galapāta Vihāra Rock Inscription
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011
Extract
THE GALAPĀTA VIHĀRA rock inscription “is engraved on a rock by the side of the flight of steps leading to the shrines and monastic buildings at the Galāpata Vihāra situated about two miles south-west of the Rest-House at Bentoṭa (Bhīmatittha) in the Valallāviṭa Korale of the Southern Province’.1 The date of this inscription is placed by Müller2 and Bell3 in the reign of Parākramabāhu II (A.D. 1236–70), whereas Paranavitana put it back to the reign of Parākramabāhu I (A.D. 1153–87).4 This paper will examine the dates suggested by these earlier writers and interpret from a new point of view the evidence so far adduced, as well as fresh evidence, attempting thereby to establish with slight modifications the date suggested by Müller and Bell.
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- Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1971
References
1 Epigraphia Zeylanica (EZ), IV, 1943, 196.
2 Müller, E., Ancient inscriptions in Ceylon, 1883, 71.Google Scholar
3 JRASCB (Notes and Queries), pt. IV, 1914, lxx f.; ASCAR, 1911–12, 123.
4 EZ, IV, 199–201.
5 ibid., 203.
6 (I) Jayatilaka, D. B., Katikawatsangara, Kelaniya, 1955, 1Google Scholar; (II) ASCAR, 1911–12, 63, 118; (VI) Katikā-watsaňgarā, 40; ASCAR, 1911–12, 120, 123. Medauyangoda Vimalakirti, who holds a similar opinion to Paranavitana's regarding the date of this inscription (Medauyangoda Vimalakirti, Śilālekhana-saṁgrahaya, Moratuwa, 1959, 143) claims that he did not come across the title Sirisaňgabo applied to Parākramabāhu II. But there is no reason for doubt, as the contrary is proved by evidence.
7 EZ, IV, 197–198.
8 The literal meaning of the word pilima is “images”. In this context it seems to denote the image-house.
9 “Mindal” seems to be the surname of this dignitary. In the opening verse of the inscription it is rendered into Sanskrit as Mahendra. The ending -nā of “Mindal-nā” seems to stand either for Nātha, Nāyaka, or Nāga.
10 EZ, IV, 205 f.
11 Pūjāvaliya, ed. A. V. Suravira, Colombo, 1961, p. 123; Cūlavaṁsa (Cv.), Vol. II, ed. Wilhelm Geiger, London, 1927, 85. 78–84.
12 Pūjāvaliya, pp. 126–27; Cv., 86. 40–52.
13 Cv., 69. 51–52.
14 Loc. cit.
15 The name Mahāvaṁsa was used by Bell to indicate the two main divisions of the Pali chronicle now known as the Mahāvaṁsa and the Cūlavaṁsa.
16 JRASCB (Notes and Queries), pt. IV, lxx f.; ASCAR, 1911–12,123.
17 EZ, IV, 197.
18 ibid., 200.
19 According to the present territorial division, however, Bentoṭa belongs to the Valallāviṭa Korale of the Southern Province and it is situated just outside the southern boundary of Pasdun Korale. See EZ, IV, 196, 201–202.
20 ibid., 199.
21 See p. 50 below.
22 Pūjāvaliya, pp. 125–26; Cv., 86. 16–17.
23 Geiger takes yojana to be nine miles according to Indian measurement. See Cv., Tr. II, p. 175, n. 2.
24 Bell identified KālanadĪ as follows: “Not the Kalu-gaňga (as Wijesinha has it), but Kaluvāmodara (as rightly surmised by the Mahāvaṁsa editors), which is about two miles north of Bentoṭa’ (JRASCB (Notes and Queries), pt. IV, lxxi, n. *); Geiger adheres to the view rejected by Bell and identifies the river with that at Kalutara. See Cv., Tr. II, p. 175, n. 2; Cv., 86. 44–45.
25 The Pali term for “sermon halls” is dhammasālā (Cv., 86. 43). The Sinhalese equivalent for this given in the Pūjāvaliya is ambalam, which means “resthouses”.
26 Cv., 86. 40–52.
27 EZ, IV, 199–200.
28 ibid., 199.
29 cf. Katikāwatsaňgarā, 8–9; D. P. R. Samaranayaka, Nikāyasaṁgrahaya, Colombo, 1960, 88–89.
30 Visuddhimārgasanne, ed. M. Dharmaratna, pt. I, Introduction, iii.
31 Dutthagāmaṇī, Parākramabāhu I, and Parākramabāhu II being more lavishly treated are allotted 11 chapters of 863 verses, 18 chapters of 2,527 verses, and 8 chapters of 595 verses respectively. Cf. Mv., xxii-xxxii; Cv., lxii-lxxix, lxxxii-lxxxix.
32 JRASCB (Notes and Queries), pt. IV, lxx.
33 Pūjāvaliya, pp. 125–26; Cv., 86. 1–17.
34 Pūjāvaliya, pp. 123–24.
35 ibid., 124–25. At the end of the account of this grand kaṭhina ceremony reference is made to hundreds and thousands of kaṭhina ceremonies held on other occasions. The manner in which these are mentioned does not point to a particular time.
36 For identification of this place see JRASCB, XII, No. 43, 1892, 206 f.
37 Cv., 84. 34, 42, and ch. 85.
38 Samaranayaka, D. P. R., Nikāyasaṁgrahaya, Colombo, 1960, 89Google Scholar; Nanavimala, K., Saddharmaratnākaraya, 1931, 291Google Scholar; Silva, Simon de, Rājaratnākaraya, Colombo, 1907, 43.Google Scholar
39 Alutnuvaradevālayakaravīma, B.M. MS. Or. 6606 (145), f. ki, kī. See also Jayatilaka, D. B., Simhalasāhityalipi, Maharagama, 1956, 67, 68.Google Scholar The last king referred to in this document is Vimaladharmasūriya of Senkadagala (Kandy), who ascended the throne in Ś. 1518 (A.D. 1596). It may be inferred from this that the document was written during or after the reign of this monarch. If counted from the 30th year of the reign of Parākramabāhu II the document seems to have been written at least three centuries and three decades after the event.
40 Pūjāvaliya, pp. 125–26; Cv., 86. 1–17.
41 See p. 48 above.
42 f. Ki, kī.
43 See p. 48 above.
44 See p. 44 above.
JRAS, 1971, 1.
45 Pūjāvaliya, p. 123.
46 EZ, IV, 205.
47 See p. 44 above.
48 EZ, IV, 203.
49 Cf. Pūjāvaliya, loc. cit.; Cv., 85. 78–84.
50 EZ, IV, 203 f.
51 Cv., 86. 16,17; Pūjāvaliya, pp. 125, 126. Cf. also. Cv., 80. 25, and Pūjāvaliya, p. 107, where it is said that the king laid out gardens throughout the country.
52 EZ, IV, 201.
53 ibid. The interlinear writing on the Giritale stone inscription, claimed to have been deciphered by Paranavitana, has a reference to Nissankamalla's coming to Ceylon during the 27th year of Para-kramabāhu I (EZ, V, pt. 3, 440–43).
54 JRASCB (Notes and Queries), pt. IV, lxx.
55 EZ, IV, 198.