Thonigala Inscriptions are of the 2nd Century BC and carved on Rock along a length of a Hundred Feet.

You can find this place by travelling from Putlam along Kurunegala Road and passing 105 km post, turning to left. The major town you are passing before turning to Thonigala is Kottukachchiya. Once proceeding about 300 meters, the place can be reached and is situated by the road.

This is a low lying rock covering a sizeable area and there is a wewa or tank named Galawewa bordering the rock.

About 20 feet above the bottom line of the Rock, there are inscriptions carved on the rock face . Each letter is about a foot in height and has been chiselled out for an inch deep in to the rock.

Apart from the inscriptions, the place is of interest and of beauty due to the low level rock, the wewa and the greenery surrounding.

 

Click on Thumbnail Photos to see full size image and the photo description.

 

following are an excerpt from

ANCIENT INSCRIPTIONS IN CEYLON.COLLECTED AND PUBLISHED FOR THE GOVERNMENT

DR. EDWARD MULLER.

LONDON:
TRUBNER & CO., LUDGATE HILL

18 8 3.

 

The rock inscriptions are of various age and character. The
oldest are certainly as old as the cave inscriptions, and also very
much like them, as, for instance, those from Tonigala (No. 1.)
and Kriyaw.i (No. 2a). They are generally found near tanks,
and relate the construction of the tank and the dedication to
a temple.

The inscription I have placed as No. 1 is from Tonigala (Toni
in Tamil "a boat") 14 miles from Puttalam on the road to
Kurunaegala* and a quarter mile to the east of the road. A
transcript of it, not Iree from mistakes has been published by
A. O. Brodie, in the Journal of the Ceylon Asiatic Society, 1853,
p. 81. There are two different versions of this inscription, one
(a) is engraved on a shelving face of rock about 20 feet above
the level of the tank Kudawaewa ; the other (6), more perfect,
on a flat rock which is almost totally overgrown with jungle,
a quarter mile from a. The letters of both are about a foot
long and nearly an inch deep. The persons mentioned in the
inscription are two : Tisa, son of Abhaya and Gamini Abhaya.
On account of the form of the character, which is the oldest we
meet in Ceylon, I take this Gamini Abhaya to be either
Dutthagamini, 161-137 B. c, or Wattagamini, 88-76 B. c. ; but
the title Dewanapiya, beloved of the gods, rather points to the
latter ; he was the youngest of three sons of King Laddhatissa,
the brother and successor of Dutthagamini (Mah. p. 202). The
names of the localities, Acagirika,| Acanagara, and Tawirikiya
nagara cannot be identified ; the tank mentioned is most pro-
bably the Duratissa tank in Rohana (Mah. 79, 32).

There are two other inscriptions near the same Mil, both on a low rock called Tonigala, the Boat-rock, at the side of
a small tank, Galawaewa, the Rock tank. Their cutting is by far the boldest of any inscriptions in Ceylon. Each is about 100 feet long, with excellently chiselled and quite upright letters a foot high and cut an inch deep in the rock.

(1.) Tonigala. (a.) Parumaka Abaya puta parumaka Tisaha
wapi acagirika Tisa pawatahi agata anagata catudisa sagasa
dine. Dewana pi maharaja Gamini Abaye niyate acanagaraka
ca [tawi] rikiya nagaraka ca. Parumaka Abaya puta parumaka
Tisa niyata pite raj aha agata anagata catudisa sagasa.

(b.) Parumaka Abaya puta parumaka Tisa niyate. Ima
wapi acagirika Tisa pawatahi agata anagata catudisa sagasa.
Dewana piya maharaje Gamini Abaye niyate acanagaraka ca
tawirikiya nagaraka ca acagirika Tisa pawatahi agata anagata
catudisa sagasa. Parumaka Abaya puta parumaka Tisaha
wisara niyate pite.

TRANSLATIONS.

(1.) Tonigala : (a.) The tank of the parumaka Tisa, son of the
parumaka Abhaya, at the mountain of Acagirika Tisa, is given
to the priesthood of the four quarters, present and absent. The
great king, beloved of the gods, Gamini Abhaya, ordered :
Acanagara and Tawirikiyanagara, which have been established
by my father, King Tisa, son of King Abhaya, [are given] to the
priesthood of the four quarters, present and absent.

(b.) King Tisa, son of King Abhaya, ordered : This tank at the
Acagirika Tisa mountain is given to the priesthood of the four
quarters present and absent. The great king, beloved of the
gods, Gamini Abhaya, ordered : Acanagara and Tawirikiya
nagara [are given] to the priesthood in the four quarters present
and absent. The tank of King Tisa, son of King Abhaya, is
established by my father.

Note.

The Text photos of Inscriptions are from Epigraphia Ceylonica Vol-1