Stone inscriptions in Sri Lanka

The number of stone inscriptions which have been found in Sri Lanka to date is over 4000. But these inscriptions are of different types. Considering their locations and their appearances, for the ease of studying, they are classified as follows:

From the name itself it's easy to understand what type of these inscriptions are.
Cave inscriptions can be found in Mihintala, Wessagiriya, Sithulpawwa, and Ritigala.
Some examples for the rock inscriptions are the Galwala inscription, the bilingual inscription found in Gadaladeniya and the Alawala inscription.
Polonnaruwa galpotha inscription, the Mihintale slab inscription and the Thonigala inscription are examples for the slab inscriptions.
Badulla inscription and the Katugahagalge inscription are classified under pillar inscriptions.

Cave inscriptions are found to be the oldest type of inscriptions. They are inscribed below the drip ledge (katarama) of caves. These are seen almost in every cave belonging to the early period. At the beginning the inscriptions had two or three short lines containing the information about donations made to bhikkus. But after the 2nd century A.C according to the Mihintale inscription, Jethavanaramaya sanskrit inscription and Badulla pillar inscription the inscriptions have got lengthy descriptions. The inscription on Abhayagiri terrace has 16 long lines. The inscription on the terrace of Dakunu Vihara is spread out on 17 slabs. Some inscriptions were produced in multiple copies. Thirteen copies of the Vevalkatiya inscription of Udaya IV were placed in various part of the Rajarata. After the 10th century A.C these have become more descriptive because they contained appreciations made for some kings.
Some of the uses of these inscriptions are,

At the beginning the inscriptions had two or three short lines containing the information about donations made to bhikkhus. But after the 2nd century A.C according to the Mihintale inscription, Jethavanaramaya sanskrit inscription and Badulla pillar inscription the inscriptions have got lengthy descriptions. Inscription on Abhayagiri terrace has 16 long lines. The inscription on the terrace of Dakunu Vihara is spread out on 17 slabs. Some inscriptions were produced in multiple copies. Thirteen copies of the Vevalkatiya inscription of Udaya IV were placed in various part of the Rajarata. After the 10th century A.C these have become more descriptive because they contained appreciations made for some kings. When considering the letters and the symbols used in the inscriptions, inscriptions written in different languages have been found. It is clear that people have used brahmi letters, Pali and Sanskrit to write these inscriptions. Here from these inscriptions information can be gathered in order to get a knowledge about the evolution of the sinhala letters and the development of the language, grammar rules, and structure.

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