No" .15.-1894.l srryrrALESE rNscRrprroN.

ro.'

NOfE ON A SINHALESE INSCRIPTION OF 1?45-46 A.D.* By Mr. D. M. nn Z. WrcrnnlrlsrNcrr..

Tent.

(1) ceao OB SOcgo$ cogoolOooO csr@6t (Z) oOrAI er@Q oOO OEoo6 &ceO66o5Q q (3) D6O 8.ce6oo6Q cszDdorsC,Jog QcooO$ 91S6 (4) o0err ogQorolf oaD{Ddrt16l|l ES5J o*OlOeodOr g (5) zsfeoO:gf f aocgnJOrEIAAg I*
""lll,__

Trctrt script. Sccka uarsha eku-ri daltas sa siya lteta hatatq peminil y2) Krod,hal nam u{t nxe.lne, uarshayelti Isuctrcid,lrip,atiutt. n (il) ntima uirysatiyehicli Sata,ra, KLrcttd Di.sciua\ ieb[. ti (1) bena Letauhell tenanneltal uisin** t)r:cla fu61,1"cc1.td

(L)

\:l\)

kkcr

ud,?ufl

kci

la

ilh,wakk u tra

i.!l

fl61

Translation. This is the cannon which Lewuke, the minister holcling [the office of] DisA,wa over the Four I(6ral6s, has hacl macle :irnd presentecl [io the Duich] in the year named Krodha, the l667th of the Saka era [which is] in the last uinsati (period '?.uo'o ,'f trventy years) of the cycle uncler the regencr of --; '.--"' (Jupiter Cyclus).
. " Engravecl on an old. cannon lying in the Royal rleciphered from a pencir_l1llii,gl"""i;;J;;;; Museum f" e_rr*ar*, Ke'r. professor of sanskrit ancr comparative ph'orog'y ot ia;-u"l*'.-it" Leycren (Leiden).

l)vara or Jupiter.

f The date on tlre inscription_Saka te67_covers "t portions of the two christian era. rn the absence of a more definite to sa,y if the p"esenta'o' of H" Sl,Jlrut.." cannou to the Dttch.tooiplace in rzir or rz+0. Th"*;;;;;ri, ,,arrived ,,or (,apl]ll*hgd:', seems, horvever. to point to tUe of the Saka J'eiIf.\vhichmay.therefore,fa1llnthelatterh;li;f;;4' "o-In_*rrcement " I Kndh,a, in Inrlian astronomy the Egth year of the 60 years
years l 745 ancr r 746 0f the rlate, it is not possible

cycle

o1.

c2

I34

JouRNAr,, R.a.s.

(OEYLON). [YoL. xII].

quarter " 61 t'direction," hers $ Disfua stand.s for rli,sah,a, meaning " useal as the titie of a ohief of a district' teclnically was the Disirva of the Four l{6ra16s-in 1745 is, ll The fact, that Lewuke

*.''f'"u,Iknow,notstatedinanyoftherecordshithertopublished.We iave here the earliest authentic reference to him in name and title, iry rvhich we are ab]e now to identify this I,ewuke with t,he Disiwa of F<lur
with the
Sir;halese in the last century' Lewuke was a staunchBuddhist, and as such he dicl muoh to patroniz-e his religion. He restorecl vih6,ras, and enclowecl them with lantls for the

K6ral6s who playecl an important

part in the negotiations of the Dutch

mainten-anceofthepriesthooil'Arepresentationofhim'(wearingthe peculiar red conical hat, of the day " may be found painted on the right iall inside the Dambullakanila vih6,r6-a rock-cut ternple in Walgarl

PattuwaofKinigoilaK6ral6.l(See..ReportontheKcgallaDistrict"'"
Sessional PaPer

I Tenan,n'chn (Iit. " the lord of a place") means an "officer" or "minister." It, is a compound of tett'n'tt and t'gltt, the sernivocal t beirtg here assimilatecl to the precedirrg z. The origin of this ru is not clear. It pliral. we know, however, that it is always adclecl to the stem of Si4Lhalese
may, as Professor

XIX..

f 892, P. 39.)

Kuhn suggests, be a relic of tbe sign of the genitive

irouns signifying animate objects in the fornation of oblique cases in the plural, as llillunta satwt', t:i.tdAd't:angc. t:ttlattdttn'0en, &c' llltn'n or tena sense of ,, one in possession of a place isans. siDri,,a) is used here in the

or situation.'i

respect, in speaking of a

otintniri"

is Sans. Bhn't:at (nom' /tar:drl), used as a term of, person. rl'he third peryon singular present' indicat'ive Uem"asnt"i and Hinrli Prakrit, I'rr(i, fromwhich a participle
l/elr.a

haaat(nom.Jtara,nfotbhit::drt')canbeformecl'It'maywellbethatthe

Sinhalise ualn ot r;riha comes fi:om thisPraktitfarmltaratof Sttns.bhautt: ancl finally r:glrn lra"xat becoming by metathesis t:ah..t,6^en rillt'a'y or 'un1Lay. o'oaha. 1'nr:it'nse we have agu,in the insertion of t'he n' before the suffix sr'

ot P61i r:asazta, the instrumental of r:rtrarta usd adverbially(Childer'sPdtdDict')andirrcompositionwiththepreceding

altererl form of Sanskrit

**

V,isi,n,

in

Si*halese, considered an instrumental affix, is in reality an

woril.

!\ ll
,rptr

Dakkat:dpw stands 'luwakltuo:ct,

for the past parbiciple of causative iluJitaaunaaii'

in many languages of Europe and A'sia'

a worcl of Persian origin meaning " firearm," 'whir:h

Paper was reail by the writer

un"a under various forms

4. The following

:-