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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[NOVEMBER, 1880.
be derived from Wesawana, but this demon is generally called Wesımana, as for instance in the Habarane inscription, line 5.
(5.) Eriy å wa tank, four miles from Mediyawa :
Paru[ma]ya Hipaba puta ..... kaha dine. Ima wapi Dipigala wiharahi niyate sagasa.
The son of the Brahman Hipa gave this to ........ This tank is dedicated to the priesthood of the Dipigala vihára.
To judge from the form and especially from the size of the letters, this inscription must be about is old as that from Tonigala mentioned in my last report (ante, p. 10). Unfortunately neither of the names in the inscription can be identified, and the construction of Eriyâ wa tank is not related in the Mahdvariso. A temple Erakarila, though, is mentioned at Mahávaniso, p. 237, which may be identical with the still existing Eriyawa pansala.
(6.) Of about the same date as the last mentioned is a cave inscription from Dam. bulla vihara over the entrance of the temple :
Dewanapiya mahârajasa Gamiņi Tisasa mahålene agata anagata chatu disa sagasa dine.
The great cave of the great king G Amiņi Tisa, beloved of the gods, is given to the priesthood of the four quarters present and absent,'
The title Devanapiya has been much discussed with regard to the edicts of Rupnath, Sahasram and Bairat, which Dr. Bühler ascribes to Asoka (Rhys Davids' Ancient Coins and Measures of Ceylon, p. 59). It occurs frequently in India,' bat in the Ceylon books it is only given to the great Tissa (307-267 B. c.), who introduced the Buddhistical religion into the island. It is clear that our inscription cannot be ascribed to him; but we find the title also in two other inscriptions at Gallena vihara and Tonigala in connexion with the name Gâmiņi Abhaya. This Gamiņi Abhay a is said to be the son of Tisa on the Tonigala stone, and according to the Gallena inscription he again had a son of the name of Tisa. Now, if we look in the Mahavariso, the only king of the name of G Ami. ni whose father and son were called Tissa! was Wuttag å mini, and I think that to him all three inscriptions belong. In my former report I ascribed the Tonigala inscription to Dutthagamiņi, whose father was Kåk &
* It was applied to Asoka, Dasaratha, Tishya and others (see Indian Antiquary, vol. VI, p. 149)
wanna Tissa, but as only a period of thirtythree years separates the two kings, it is likely that they used the same form of alphabet. There is also internal evidence for my statement, as Wat tag âmiņi is known to have been a great protector of the priests, and therefore may well have deserved the name Devânampiya. The Mahávaxiso says concerning him Pititthane thitattassa pitirdjáti abravum.- As he assumed the character of a father, they called him father king.'
There are other inscriptions of this kind, but not so well preserved, at Ambogasawaeva and Diyabaeta between Mediyawa and Yapahu, at Niyadawane and Welangolla five miles from Kepitiyawa, at Malasne and Nayindanawe near Ma-eliya, at Nilagâma vihara, three miles from Galuwela on the road from Kurunegala to Dambulla, three at Dambulla vihara, and one at Hunapahu vihara near Yatawatta. An inscription belonging to the 7th century I found at Demalamâna, four miles from Hiripitiya, but the characters are so totally different from those used in the earlier as well as in the later centuries, that I have not yet been able to make it out.
We now proceed to the pillar inscriptions of the 10th and 11th centuries. They all resemble each other very closely, as not only the names of the kings are constantly the same, but also in the text the same words and sentences recur continually. Dr. Goldschmidt, in his Report, has given extracts of several of these Pillars, but the only one he published and translated in its whole extent was that from Mah & kalatta ewa (now in the Colombo Museum). I published two others in my Report, and after much useless effort succeeded in restoring three more, viz., those from Mayilag astota (now in the Colombo Museum), from Inginimitiva and one from Polonnaruwa (see Goldschmidt's Report, Ind. Ant. vol. VI, p. 324). I give the texts and translations here:
I.-Mayilagastoța. A.
B. (1) Siri mat apa da (1) yan (2) ... lalataba na wa da (2) wadná (3) n uturat waena (3) så gam (4) n kaeta kula pae mili (4) gon rada (5) ka!a Okå was (5) hara bili (6) parapuren bat (6) bun (7) rad purumuwanat (7) miwun wae
He adopted Mahachulika Tissa, the son of his elder brother Khallaka Någa.
