“Anikata Shonaalithaha Bariya Upashika Rapashakagaraya Lene”

අණිකට ශොණාලිතහ බරිය උපශික රපශකගරය ලෙණෙ

Man and the horse (Anikata Shonaalitaha ?) - Vessagiriya

If someone uses a different analysis for a documentation of one particular practice which is deeply rooted in the society, it will be seen, experienced as something unique. It may be correct in terms of the meanings, but it will certainly attract the attention for it. A statement such as “The wife of the father” is an example for this. This practice does not fit in to the Sri Lankan context. This is not something expected to happen and creates a situation which drives for an analysis. It is the same interpretation given in both books written by two professors. It is true that both of them are intelligent and well known scholars. But I felt it is better to analyze it in advance before accepting it as this inscription was found from a very special place.

It was impossible to guess the reason for a mistake of this nature in this inscription in Vessagiriya. The photo plate of this inscription in the first book helps to understand its accuracy up to some extent. However it is both these books had given wrong interpretations for this. They are as follows.

77           1              අණිකට ශොණ පිතහ බරිය උපශික තිෂය ලෙණෙ

                (Anikata Shona Pithaha Bariya Upashika Thishaya Lene)

                2              අගත අනගත චතුදිශ ශගශ 

                                (Agatha Anagatha Chathudisha Shagasha) 

(The cave of Upaasika (1) Thissaa who is the wife of the father of Sona, the horseman, is given for the Sangas, who present and not present, from all four directions) (Sinhala Shilalekana Sangrahaya, page 56, Inscriptions of Ceylon, page 6).

We feel that the misleading interpretation given as “The wife of the father of Sona, the horseman” had occurred when the time this inscription was taken down. If it had been more careful enough about this mistake, it could have been avoided too.  

What is mentioned in both these books cannot be seen in the inscription in Vessagiriya. When the two books and the inscriptions are compared, it is very positively seen that they had been misinterpreted. We executed a research for this matter and we realized it well. The texts had been carved in the rock as follows.

"අණිකට ශොණාලිතහ බරිය උපශික රපශකගරය ලෙණෙ"

“Anikata Shonaalithaha Bariya Upashika Rapashakagaraya Lene” 

This is the real inscription in Vessagiriya. I personally went there to write down this inscription. In both books mentioned above “ ලිතහ - Lithaha ” has been presented as “ පිතහ - Pithaha”. Then it generates an interpretation such as “the wife of the father” which is not suitable for usage. And “ තිශය - Thishaya” is also not correct. What is mentioned in the inscription is “රපශකගරය - Rapashakagaraya”. I feel that giving these kind of wrong interpretations had done purposely. The picture plate presented at the end of the book can be used to prove my statement. It carries the correct inscription and hence the mistake done got automatically disclosed.

In the latter part of this inscription in Vessagiriya there is another line as   “අගත අනගත චතුදිශ ශගශ - Agatha Anagatha Chathudisha Shagasha”.  This is presented as number 2 in the book.

There are many evidences to prove that these three places in Vessagiriya had been used as an academy for all the sciences. “අණිකට ශොණ  - Anikata Shona” can be considered as the chief security officer who was employed there. Based on this, introducing the figure of the man with a head of a horse as this “අණිකට ශොණාලිතහ - Anikata Shonaalithaha” cannot be wrong.

There is an evidence to make an assumption where there had been another Academy of Science in Pilikuththuwa which was similar to the one in Vessagiriya. There is an inscription there which says that there had been a brother of this “අණිකට ශොණ - Anikata Shona” living there at Pilikuththuwa. According to this inscription we can guess that this brother of Shona would have been in charge of the security there. What is mentioned in the inscription in Pilikuththuwa is as follows.

"අණිකටශ‍ බතුනො අගිබුතිනො දනෙ අගත අනගත චතුදිශ ශගශ " 

“Anikatasha Bathuno Agibuthino Dane Agatha Anagatha Chathudisha Shagasha”

{The Daana (2) of the brother of the equestrian (is given) for all the Sangas, came and not, from all the directions} (Sinhala Shilalekana Sangrahaya, page 174)

The letters in this inscription and also in the inscription in Vessagiriya are almost similar. We considered this and some more factors and came in to this conclusion.

1 - Upasika is a female lay Buddhist.

2 - The alms giving.

{The English translation of 'ඉසි රමණ විහර' (Isi Ramana Vihara)} - Part - VIII 

Translated by Amal Meemanage (amalmeemanage@gmail.com)