74 
SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
APPENDIX. 
Remarks on fVSeial Inscriptions, 
By Don M. de Z. Wickremasinghe, Epigraphist (Oxford). 
The inscription at the base of the statuette of Chandeswara (see 
Plate XIV.) is in a dialect composed of mixed Grantha and Sin¬ 
halese. The first character is a compound letter, which gives the 
proper name of the person the figure is supposed to represent. The 
first letter of the compound is unreadable, but the last looks like a 
cerebral N or a long U. The word cannot be Ganapati to judge 
from the figure. The next word is Pati, meaning chief or lord ; 
the next is Usaba, a Sinhalese word found in inscriptions, meaning 
excellent, best derived from Sanskrit Risabha, meaning ox. The 
final word is Vamse (Sinhalese Vahanse), an honorific title given to 
lay or clerical personages. 
From the above, and looking at the figure which is in an attitude 
of worship, it seems to be that of a lord or chief or a king, and not a 
deity. 
No. 25 is a copper strip with inscription from Sigiriya, the letters 
of which are undecipherable. 
No. 87, a copper plate from Anuradhapura, contains Sanskrit 
characters dating from about the second half of the 10th century 
a.d. I have taken a rubbing of this for future reading. 
No. 88, a bronze label with inscription from Anuradhapura. 
The phrase is “ Daham-da-depatek ” in Sinhalese characters of the 
12th century, the word depatek being repeated in Sanskrit characters 
of llth-12th century. 
Translation : “ Two leaves of the Dharma Jataka.” This label 
was most probably attached to two leaves of the Dharma Jataka 
written on copper. 
No. 115, copper plate inscription from Anuradhapura. This is 
figured and described in “Epigraphia Zeylanica,” Part I., pages 
39-40. 
