Alawala Amuna Rock Inscription in Kurunegala

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15 kilometres away from Kurunegala, on the banks of Kospothu Oya which is a tributary of Daduru Oya close to the Alawala Amuna (anicut) lies this partly damaged inscription engraved on a rock surface, now protected by an iron fence.

Its existence was recorded by Edward Müller in his Ancient Inscriptions in Ceylon (1883: 72, no. 171) but he provides neither the text nor the translation of the record. Müller states that there is a long inscription in large-sized modern characters on a rock close to the river. It contains a grant to the temple of Maedagama, which is situated in the neighbourhood, by King Parakramabahu (1236 -1270) of Dambadeniya (Mueller, 1883). However, Müller has given neither the text nor the translation of the record (Paranavitana, 1960).

In 1931, Paranavitana made a physical visit to the site and traced and published the content of the inscription in the University Of Ceylon Review in 1960. According to him, Mueller may have not really attempted to read the inscription but had merely repeated what the villagers told him.

The inscription covers an area of 12 ft. by 11 ft. 8 in. and consists of thirty-three lines. The letters, which are deeply and clearly engraved, vary in size between 2¾ in. and 5¼ in. The script, on the whole, is the same as in other records of the middle of the fourteenth century, e.g. the Gadaldeniya rock inscription of Dharmakirti Thero.

According to Paranavitana, the grant registered in the document was not to the benefit of the Maedagama temple. The inscription refers to the building of the Lankatilaka Viharaya and mentions Sena-Lamka-Adhikara in this connection, the king referred to cannot be Parakramabahu of Dambadeniya Kingdom.

But this belief of the people of the place could possibly have been due to the mention of a king named Parakramabhu in the inscription. The first ten lines of the record have been badly damaged by treasure hunters and the king’s name, which was in the 4th line, has been lost forever. As the document registers grants made to the then newly founded temple of Lankatilaka, the royal donor must be Buwanekabahu IV (1341-1351 CE) or Parakramabahu V (1344-1359 CE).

Muller does not mention that the first ten lines of the record were damaged when he inspected it; possibly he could read the name of Parakramabahu in line 4, and was, therefore, inclined to accept without hesitation the opinion of the villagers.

According to Paranavitana (1960), this inscription was made after the other 2 Lankatilaka inscriptions where the land donated to the temple far exceeds the other two donations being 90 yala‘s. Therefore he assumes that this inscription could have possibly been made by King Parakramabahu V (1344-1359 CE).

However, the plaque placed by the Department of Archaeology assigns this inscription to King Buwanekabahu IV (1341-1351 CE).

Remains of Alawala Amuna

The ruins of the ancient Amuna are currently referred to as the Ambakottegama Alawala Amuna. Its uniqueness lies in the construction of the dam entirely from wood by carving holes into the rock bed on the river. The best evidence of this is found below the present amuna (anicut) about 140 meters downstream from the Alawala Inscription. Here one-foot square holes are carved into the rock to the left of the rock indicating the placement of large wooden logs used to construct the dam. Folklore suggests that this dam was built using large wooden logs placed into these holes and the presence of such a dam in ancient times and the techniques used to supply water to the fields by building wooden dams by carving natural rock can also be observed here.

It is believed that the current dam was completely rebuilt during the Victorian era in the early 19th century by Henry Parker, a civil engineer of the British colonial irrigation department in Sri Lanka. Although the Alawala Amuna was rebuilt using large stones and iron, a channel was dug by carving the natural rock to the left below the dam to direct water to the fields. The approximate level of the natural rock-carved area and the location where the dam was constructed indicate that this place was originally a dam site. Furthermore, the fact that the British engineer used ancient irrigation technology as the basis for the reconstruction of this dam is evident.

References

Mueller, E. (1883) Ancient Inscriptions in Ceylon. Collected and Published for the Government. Trübner & Co.: London.
Paranavitana, S. (1960) ‘Lankatilaka Inscriptions’, University Of Ceylon Review, XVIII(1 & 2), pp. 1–45.

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