Prints with translation the stone records of the Polonnaruwa kings who held or lost the throne around 1200. Nissanka Malla's inscriptions (the Galpota slab, the Hatadage and Rankot Vihara records, the Polonnaruwa council chamber pillars) proclaim his Kalinga descent, his reforms, his tours and his claim to Pandya and Chola tribute, and were composed by a king who died in 1196 but whose boasts shaped the court of 1200. The Polonnaruwa slab of Sahassamalla, dated to his consecration on 23 August 1200, is the single most exact witness for the year, and the records of Lilavati and Kalyanavati fill the next decade. These inscriptions are royal propaganda; they are read against the Culavamsa.
About this source
- Title
- Epigraphia Zeylanica
- Author
- Various (the Polonnaruwa kings' chanceries), edited by D. M. de Zilva Wickremasinghe, H. W. Codrington and S. Paranavitana
- Written
- inscriptions of the 3rd century BC to the 18th century; the series ran from 1904
- Language
- Sinhala, Pali, Sanskrit and Tamil, with English translations
- Covers
- the whole span of Sri Lankan epigraphy; this entry is for vols. 1 to 3 and the Polonnaruwa records of about 1180 to 1215
- Kind
- Inscriptions
The scans are Indian library digitisations of Government of Ceylon volumes. Later volumes (4 to 7) with Paranavitana's editions are not freely online. Nissanka Malla's claims about Pandya and Chola submission are not borne out by the Tamil records.
Where to read it
Editions
- D. M. de Zilva Wickremasinghe (ed.), Epigraphia Zeylanica vol. 1 (1904 to 1912)
- D. M. de Zilva Wickremasinghe (ed.), Epigraphia Zeylanica vol. 2 (1912 to 1927), with Nissanka Malla's and Sahassamalla's records
- Another scan of vol. 2
- Epigraphia Zeylanica vol. 3 (1928 to 1933)