[2] King Dhammazedi, a former monk, proclaimed in the inscriptions that Buddhism in Ramanya (Lower Burma) was in decline as sectarianism had developed and the Orders had grown further and further away from their original purity.
He emulated great model Buddhist kings Anawrahta of Pagan, Sithu II of Pagan and Parakramabahu I of Ceylon who, according to him, kept the religion pure and reformed the sangha in the "orthodox" brand of Theravada Buddhism which he was attempting to do and that he had sent the sangha to Ceylon to be re-ordained in the Mahavihara tradition as King Sithu II had done.
[3] The inscriptions were so named because the sangha of Lower Burma were re-ordained on the Kalyani river (near modern Colombo).
[1] Some of the original stone slabs were destroyed by the Portuguese in the early 17th century and Konbaung forces in 1757.
Taw Sein Ko translated the inscriptions from the palm-leaf manuscripts into English and Pali written in Latin script.