118 



JOURNAL, E.A.S. (CEYLON) 



[Vol. X. 



TRANSLATION OF AN INSCRIPTION AT THE 

 TEMPLE AT MONNISVARAM. 



Note by G. M. Fowler, Esq., c.c.s. 



HAVE examined the Monnisvaram inscription several 

 |sfl times, and much of it is illegible. It has, I think, 

 - — ==* been removed from an older building and built into 

 the present one. Several of the letters near the joints of the 

 stones are covered by the mortar, which would not be the 

 case if it had been cut in situ. The inscription runs along a 

 kind of cornice, and consists of only four lines, extending 

 for about thirty or forty feet. Its height from the ground 

 is about four feet. 



In digging a tank near the temple two pieces of sculpture 

 were found : a bull's head and an image of (?) "Suppirama- 

 uiyan." These did not appear to be very ancient. 



There is a case in the Chilaw court, I believe, in which 

 the inscription is evidence. 



Translation. 



"Let happiness be ! On the tenth day of the waxing moon in 

 October, in the thirty-eighth year of his reign, His Majesty 

 Sri Parakrama Baku,* descendant of the illustrious family of 

 Sri Sangabodhi, worshipper of the lotus-feet of Sri Samanta- 

 patra (Buddha), of Solar race, king of kings, serpent to the 

 royal and mercantile races, and emperor of the three worlds, 

 invited to the Jayawardhana Kottaf the Nampimar (priests) 

 who officiate before the god of Monnisvaram, and addressing 

 himself to the Brahmin Pandit, who is a proficient in all 

 sciences amongst them, inquired into the circumstances of 



* Sri Parakrama Bahu VI., 1410-1452 a.d. 



f The modern Kotte. 



