Abstract:
The concepts of crime and punishment have been in existence since the dawn of the human cavillation. Sri Lanka is not an exception to this phenomenon as her rich history spanning more than two thousand five hundred years of written records provides a plenty of information as to the penal laws and punishments methods applied in the ancient times.
A crime means deviant behavior which causes harm to other person’s body, property etc. In ancient Sri Lanka similar to the modern day penal laws, there has been a system of laws to forbid certain acts as crimes and also a system of imposing punishments to the proven offenders.
The Penal Laws and punishments that existed during the ancient times in Sri Lanka are recorded in a number of sources including stone inscriptions or epigraphic records. For example, Kondavattavan inscription of King Dappula IV, Thimbirivava Pillar inscription of Kashyapa IV, Kirigalvava inscription of Udaya II and Vevalketiya inscription of Mahinda IV provide ample evidence as to the penal laws and punishment system that was in force in Sri Lanka in the ancient times.
The object of this paper is to study the Vevalketiya slab inscription. This inscription in considered the Penal Code of the ancient time. Accordingly, in this research, I intend to study;
The concept of crime and punishment enshrined in the Vevalketiya slab inscription and
To compare these crimes with the Penal Code of Sri Lanka
