18 



JOUENAL, B. A, S. (CEYLON). [Vol. VIII. 



NOTES ON ANCIENT SINHALESE INSCRIPTIONS.* 



By Dr. E. Mullee. 



1. — Inscription of Abhayawaewa. 



(Report on Ancient Inscriptions in Ceylon (XXV., 1881, 

 No. 3) and Ind. Ant. Vol. VIII., p. 223;. 



dasanawawanne .-—"the 19th." The termination 

 wanne stands for Skt. guna. Cf. tunwanne (Wadurag's 

 inscription at Polonnaruwa, Anc. Inscr. No. 119, A 4); 

 pasaloswamie (Mahakalattaewa No. 110); later, waeni ; in 

 modern Sinhalese, weni. Comp. Childers' Notes, II., 4. 



Maendindinne : — old Majimodini (Habarane No. 67, 

 10) = " March — April ;" later maendiniyae (Parakrama- 

 bahu's inscription at Polonnaruwa, No. 137, 37); and 

 present maendina. 



Bayaeawaew: — for Abhayawaewa. The first a is 

 dropped as in bisow and several other instances. The 

 modern Tamil name derived from this is Bassavakulam. 



M dwal :— most probably from Mahawila, "the great 

 tank," with change of i to a. At present there is a place 

 called Mdvil in the Eastern Province. 



karwanukot: —the last part = kritvd ; whilst karwanu 

 stands for karuwanu, an acc. pi. of karuwa == kdraka. Comp. 

 Ambasthala (121) A 47, Wandarupa (153) 11. 



* In the MS. of these Notes, Dr. Miiller's transliteration differs from 

 the system adopted by the Ceylon Government (Minute, November 

 16tb, 1869) and followed usually in the C. A. S. Journals, in that he 

 employs the circumflex instead of the acute accent on long vowels, as a 

 for d, €p ; 



also, (B for f, cpi 

 c for ch, £) 

 g for s, G3 



m for n, © 



Owing, however, to the want of the necessary type, the acute accent 

 is here retained, ae is used for a, and ri for m. 



