Fablewings › Sri Lankan history › Part 4

The Long Twilight of Anuradhapura (c. 600–1070)

For four and a half centuries the old capital survived civil wars, South Indian alliances and invasions, a Pandyan sack and a brief counter-strike on Madurai. Monks, merchants and mercenaries from across the Indian Ocean shaped its religion and trade. The era ends with the Chola conquest, seventy-odd years of Chola rule from Polonnaruwa, and Vijayabahu I's war of liberation.

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A note on dates in this Part

Almost every reign date here is worked out backwards by adding up the Culavamsa's regnal years, so dates are approximate.

What the sources sayTwo systems are in use. One, used by Wilhelm Geiger in his Culavamsa translation, puts Manavamma at 684–718, Sena I at 833–853 and Kassapa V at 914–923. A later revision, used by Paranavitana and many king lists, runs about 7–16 years later (691–726, 846–866, 929–939). Codrington put Sena I near 819. This Part follows Geiger. From the 10th century, Chola inscriptions give firmer fixed points.

Civil war and the Pallava connection (c. 598–718)

The 7th century was the most unstable in Anuradhapura's history. Rival royal lines fought for the throne, hired South Indian troops, and fled to India when they lost. A prince who spent years at the Pallava court finally ended the cycle.

Reign of Aggabodhi II (c. 598–608)

Nephew and son-in-law of Aggabodhi I, he is remembered for irrigation: Codrington credits him with fourteen tanks, among them Kantalai and Giritale. The Culavamsa also says an exiled king of Kalinga came to Lanka in his time and became a monk; Codrington links this to the Chalukya king Pulakesin II's wars (c. 609).

c. 623–650: Aggabodhi III against Dathopatissa I

Silameghavanna's son Aggabodhi III and the general Dathopatissa I (Hatthadatha) fought a long war for the throne. Both were driven into exile in India more than once and came back with Tamil mercenaries.

The politicsMercenaries fought on both sides, and many settled in the capital. The chronicle tradition, summarised by modern writers, shows them becoming power-brokers in their own right. Historians read this less as an ethnic conflict than as rival Sinhala princes buying soldiers wherever they could.

c. 650: Kassapa II takes the throne

Aggabodhi III's brother Kassapa II defeated and killed Dathopatissa I in battle, around 650 (or 652 in other tables). His reign of about nine years brought a pause, but his family's hold was weak. His son Manavamma would later become the key figure of the century.

c. 659–667: Dappula I and Dathopatissa II

After Kassapa II, Dappula I and his son Prince Mana tried to expel the Tamil mercenaries. The mercenaries secretly recalled Hatthadatha, nephew of Dathopatissa I, who took the capital and ruled as Dathopatissa II. Dappula fled to Rohana.

What the sources sayThe Culavamsa says Dathopatissa II angered the Mahavihara by building a stupa inside its bounds for the rival Abhayagiri monks; the Mahavihara monks protested by refusing alms. Prince Mana was killed at Tisucullasagama, dated c. 662 in Geiger-based tables.

Manavamma flees to the Pallavas

When his family was overthrown, Kassapa II's son Manavamma escaped with his wife Samghamana, first to the north and then across the sea to the Pallava kingdom of Kanchipuram. There he served King Narasimhavarman I as a soldier.

What the sources sayCodrington says Manavamma fought in the Pallava victory over the Chalukya king Pulakesin II, which he dates to 642; Nilakanta Sastri also accepted this. The Culavamsa calls the Pallava king Narasiha. Pallava records such as the Kasakudi plates boast of conquering Lanka but do not name Manavamma.

Manavamma's first invasion fails

With a Pallava army, Manavamma landed and drove Dathopatissa II from Anuradhapura. But news came that his patron was gravely ill, and most of the Pallava troops went home. Dathopatissa returned with fresh forces and Manavamma fell back to India, where he waited about twenty years.

Did the Pallavas rule Lanka?

Pallava court poetry boasts of conquering Lanka, and Codrington notes a claim that Narasimhavarman's grandfather Simhavishnu defeated a Sinhala king (c. 575–600).

Myth and correctionSuch claims appear in royal eulogies, which routinely list conquered lands. No Sri Lankan source records Pallava overlordship, and modern summaries describe the claim as unverified. A safer reading is that the Pallavas backed claimants of their choice, which gave them influence rather than direct rule.

Reign of Aggabodhi IV (c. 667–683)

Aggabodhi IV, a younger brother of Dathopatissa II, ruled for about sixteen years. Codrington notes two details: Polonnaruwa is first mentioned as a royal residence in his reign, and one tradition credits him with founding the temple at Dondra in the far south.

c. 684: the kingmaker Potthakuttha

After Aggabodhi IV, real power lay with a wealthy Tamil officer, Potthakuttha. He placed a puppet, Unhanagara Hatthadatha, on the throne. The chronicle's portrait of Potthakuttha is hostile; it says he later fled and died of poison.

c. 684 (or 691): Manavamma returns

A second Pallava expedition landed in the north, subdued Uttaradesa and marched on Anuradhapura. Hatthadatha was killed and the capital fell. The Culavamsa tells how the Pallava king gave Manavamma royal dress, because the soldiers would follow only their own king.

What the sources sayNarasimhavarman I reigned c. 630–668. Nilakanta Sastri credited him with both expeditions, which would put Manavamma's return before 668, earlier than the usual 684 or 691. Others name his grandson Narasimhavarman II. The chronicle says only 'Narasiha'. Either way, both expeditions depended on Indian troops.

Pallava art at Isurumuniya?

The rock carvings at Isurumuniya, Anuradhapura, look strikingly like Pallava work at Mamallapuram.

What the sources sayCoomaraswamy, Vogel, Longhurst and Dohanian saw Pallava influence flowing into Lanka, perhaps through Manavamma's return. Paranavitana argued the reverse, and Michael Rabe (2001) suggested Manavamma gave the Pallava king ideas for the Great Penance relief. The question is still open; most writers favour Pallava-to-Lanka influence.

Reign of Manavamma (c. 684–718)

Manavamma founded the dynasty modern historians call the Second Lambakanna. Tamil mercenaries largely vanish from the chronicle after his accession, which suggests he purged or replaced them. He repaired monasteries and granted villages for their upkeep. His three sons, born in exile, ruled after him in turn.

The politicsThe US Library of Congress country study says Manavamma won the throne with Pallava help and his dynasty stayed heavily indebted to Pallava patronage for nearly three centuries. D.K. Dohanian likewise argued the alliance lasted until Pallava power ended.
Timeline: the 7th-century wars
c. 608 — General Moggallana III seizes the throne
c. 623–650 — Aggabodhi III and Dathopatissa I fight a long civil war
642 — Manavamma, in exile, fights for the Pallavas against Pulakesin II (Codrington)
c. 650 — Kassapa II kills Dathopatissa I
c. 659 — Dathopatissa II takes power with mercenary backing
c. 684/691 — Manavamma returns with Pallava army and takes Anuradhapura

The Second Lambakanna kings (718–833)

From Manavamma's sons to Dappula III, the throne passed mostly between brothers, sons and nephews of one family. This century is thinly recorded, but it was largely free of foreign invasion and saw steady temple-building and irrigation.

718–741: Manavamma's sons

Manavamma's sons Aggabodhi V, Kassapa III and Mahinda I reigned one after another. The chronicle's leaves for parts of this period are damaged or brief, so little more than building works and gifts to monks survive.

The politicsThe family used a set ladder of offices. The heir (yuvaraja or uparaja) usually held the eastern or southern province, and senior princes bore the title adipada. This ladder reduced, but never ended, succession quarrels.

c. 741–746: Amoghavajra in Lanka

The Indian tantric master Amoghavajra came to collect esoteric texts for China. Rangama Chandawimala (2017) places his arrival under Aggabodhi VI and says he gathered over 500 sutras and commentaries, studying under a teacher named Samantabhadra, probably at Abhayagiri. He returned to China in 746.

8th century: Vajrabodhi and the sea route

Amoghavajra's teacher Vajrabodhi, another founder of Chinese esoteric Buddhism, also stayed in Lanka. Chinese records say he lived about six months at Abhayagiri and visited Rohana, then sailed on with Persian merchants. His journey shows how monks travelled on trading ships.

c. 790: Vishnu comes to Dondra

Codrington, citing a Sanskrit verse, dates the arrival of a Vishnu image at Dondra (Devinuwara) to 790, in the reign of a ruler called Dapulu Sen, to whom the shrine's foundation is credited.

What the sources sayCodrington also records a tradition crediting Aggabodhi IV with Dondra, and the Rajavaliya credits Manavamma with a vihara at Devinuwara. The traditions disagree. They show that by this period a deity shrine stood at the island's southern tip beside Buddhist sites.

807–833: Dappula II to Dappula III

Dappula II, Mahinda III, Aggabodhi VIII and Dappula III reigned in turn. One of Mahinda III's sons, also called Mahinda, was passed over and fled to India. Sena I would later have him killed there.

What the sources sayThese reigns are known mainly from short Culavamsa notices of donations and repairs, supported by scattered inscriptions published in Epigraphia Zeylanica and S. Ranawella's Inscriptions of Ceylon (2001).

Mahayana, Tantra and the Bodhisattvas

The chronicles were written by monks of the Mahavihara and say little about rival schools. Inscriptions, statues and foreign records show a much more varied Buddhism, in which Mahayana and tantric ideas flourished, especially around the Abhayagiri monastery.

7th century: 'Mahayana Sthaviras'

The Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang, reporting what he learned about Lanka, distinguished the Mahavihara monks, whom he called Hinayana Sthaviras, from the Abhayagiri monks, Mahayana Sthaviras who studied both traditions.

What the sources sayXuanzang's account shows that Abhayagiri was openly Mahayana-friendly. The Mahavihara's Pali chronicles, by contrast, label such teachings as heresy. Modern scholars read the island as home to several coexisting schools, not a pure Theravada tradition.

7th–8th centuries: the sailors' Bodhisattva

Avalokitesvara, with the goddess Tara, became popular as a protector of seafarers. At Thiriyai near Trincomalee, a Sanskrit inscription in Grantha-type script of the 7th or 8th century records a shrine linked with seafaring merchants. A hoard found there in 1983 included Buddha, Bodhisattva and Tara images.

Buduruvagala (9th–10th century)

Seven giant figures cut into rock: a standing Buddha flanked by two groups of three. One group is usually identified as Avalokitesvara with Tara and an attendant. It is among the clearest Mahayana monuments on the island.

c. 833–853: Sena I and the 'Vajiriyavada'

The Nikaya Sangrahaya says a sect called Vajiriyavada, from Vajraparvata in India, arrived under King Matvalasen, usually identified as Sena I. Chandawimala reads this as Vajrayana.

Myth and correctionThe Nikaya Sangrahaya is a 14th-century Mahavihara text. It links Sena I's interest in 'secret teachings' to his loss of the kingdom, a moral lesson rather than neutral reporting. Archaeology confirms tantric practice existed, but not the text's claims of blame.

Merchants of the western sea

Lanka sat on the sea road between the Persian Gulf, India, Southeast Asia and China. Arab and Persian ships, Tamil merchant guilds and Buddhist pilgrims all passed through its ports, above all Mahatittha (Mantai) near Mannar.

c. 708–711: a ship from Lanka sparks a war

The historian al-Baladhuri (d. 892) says the king of the 'Isle of Rubies' sent al-Hajjaj, governor of Iraq, a ship carrying orphaned daughters of Muslim merchants who had died in Lanka. Pirates (the Meds of Daybul, in Sind) seized it, and Dahir of Sind replied that he had no authority over them.

What the sources sayAl-Hajjaj used this to justify the conquest of Sind (711–713). André Wink argues the real aim was to end piracy and protect trade. Either way, the story assumes Muslim merchant families already lived in Lanka by about 700.

851: Sulaiman the merchant

An Arab account of 851, attributed to the merchant Sulaiman, describes Serendib and is among the earliest Muslim records of Adam's Peak, which it calls al-Rohoun. Writers such as Uditha Devapriya link the name to Ruhuna, the southern province.

10th century: the first mosques?

Muslim traders became important brokers of the island's foreign trade from the 10th century. Tradition dates mosques such as al-Abrar in the south-west to this time.

Myth and correctionThese foundation dates rest largely on community tradition rather than datable inscriptions. Two schools debate whether the first Muslim settlements were in the north or the south-west; one tradition dates a landing at Barberyn (Beruwala) to 1024. Treat such precise dates as unproven.

The Pandyan sack and Sena II's revenge (c. 833–887)

In the 9th century the Pandyas of Madurai became Lanka's main rivals. They sacked Anuradhapura; a generation later a Lankan army sacked Madurai. The two sides tell this story very differently.

The Pandyan invasion

The Pandyan king Srimara Srivallabha (c. 815–862) landed in the north. The Culavamsa says local Tamils in Uttaradesa joined him. Sena's army was routed at Mahatalita. The heir Mahinda took his own life rather than be captured, and prince Kassapa was later killed. Sena withdrew to the hill country.

Anuradhapura plundered

The invaders looted the palace and monasteries, carrying off golden images from the Ratnaprasada and Thuparama.

Myth and correctionLater chronicles claim the Tooth and Bowl relics were taken. Codrington found no early authority for this. The Culavamsa describes heavy plunder of royal and religious treasure, which Sena II later tried to recover. Modern writers treat the relic story as a later addition.

Peace terms

The Pandyan king sent an envoy, made a treaty and withdrew. The Library of Congress study says the Pandyas demanded an indemnity as the price of leaving. Sena I returned to rule; Codrington says he later moved to Polonnaruwa, where he died.

What the sources sayThe Sanskrit part of the Pandyan Sinnamanur copper plates lists a victory over the king of Simhala among Srimara's conquests. Here Pandyan and Lankan sources broadly agree; they differ sharply about what came next.

c. 862: the sack of Madurai

A Pandyan prince, identified with Varaguna II, came to Lanka seeking help against Srimara. In Sena II's ninth year his general Kutthaka landed, took Madurai and plundered it. The Culavamsa says Srimara died of wounds and Kutthaka crowned the prince, then brought back the golden images and treasures taken from Anuradhapura.

Who won in 862?

Indian and Lankan records cannot both be true as they stand.

What the sources sayThe Culavamsa records a clear Lankan victory. The Sinnamanur plates show Srimara defeating a rival, 'Maya Pandya'. K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, in The Pandyan Kingdom (1929), weighed the two cautiously. Most later scholars accept that Srimara's reign ended about 862 amid this invasion, while the Pallava Nripatunga also defeated him at Arisil in the north.

Madhura-dunu: 'Conqueror of Madurai'

The Iluppakaniya pillar inscription gives Sena II the title Madhura-dunu. Inscriptions also confirm Kutthaka (Senevirad Kuttha) as a real general: the Nidinegama pillar shows him still in office in Udaya I's third year, c. 889.

What the sources sayThis is a case where inscriptions support the chronicle's names and the general shape of events, even if the chronicle's poetry exaggerates the scale of victory.
Timeline: Pandyas and Lanka
c. 833/846 — Sena I becomes king
c. 840s — Srimara Srivallabha invades; Anuradhapura sacked
After the sack — Treaty; Pandyan army withdraws
c. 853/866 — Sena II succeeds
c. 862 — Kutthaka sacks Madurai; Varaguna II installed
c. 889 — Kutthaka still general under Udaya I

Between Pandyas and Cholas (c. 887–982)

By about 900 the Cholas of Thanjavur were the rising power of South India. Lankan kings sided with the Pandyas against them, and so became Chola targets.

Reign of Kassapa V (early 10th century)

Kassapa V (c. 914–923 in Geiger's scheme), made sub-king at birth, was a scholar; Codrington credits him with a surviving Sinhala paraphrase of the Dhammapada. When the Pandyan king Rajasimha II asked for help against the Chola Parantaka I, Kassapa sent an army. It came back defeated.

What the sources sayCodrington cites a Parantaka record of his twelfth year (918/9) that mentions defeating Rajasimha and the Lankan king; the battle was at Vellur, by about 915. Both sides agree on the outcome. Geiger's dates fit this record; the later 929–939 dating does not.

Dappula V and the Pandyan regalia

Driven out by Parantaka, the Pandyan king Rajasimha fled to Lanka. Quarrels among Lankan princes stopped Dappula V from helping, so Rajasimha moved on to Kerala, leaving his crown and royal ornaments with the Sinhala king.

The politicsHolding the Pandyan regalia made Lanka a lasting Chola target. Historians see the wish to seize these treasures as one motive behind later Chola invasions, ending only when Rajendra I took them in 1017.

c. 940s: Parantaka I invades

Parantaka demanded the Pandyan regalia. When refused, he invaded, probably in the late 940s, and took the north. The king fled into Rohana with the regalia; the Chola army could not follow and withdrew. The chronicle says Lankan forces then raided Chola territory.

Myth and correctionThis king is Udaya III in Codrington and Udaya IV (c. 946–954) in most modern lists. Codrington linked the Chola retreat to the Rashtrakuta Krishna III's attacks on Parantaka, culminating at Takkolam about 949. Parantaka still took the title 'conqueror of Madurai and Ilam'.

Reign of Mahinda IV (mid-10th century)

Mahinda IV broke with custom by marrying a princess of the Kalinga royal family. Before his ninth year, a 'King Vallabha' sent an army that landed at Uratota (Kayts). Mahinda's general Sena drove it back.

What the sources sayCodrington, following the chronicle, identifies Vallabha with the Chola Parantaka II and notes that a Chola general was killed in Lanka about 959. Some older historians identified Vallabha, a Rashtrakuta title, with Krishna III instead. The identification remains uncertain.

Reign of Sena V (late 10th century)

In his second year Sena V killed his general's brother. The furious general gathered the Tamil soldiers settled in Lanka and turned the country over to them. The Culavamsa says they oppressed the people until Sena made peace. He died young, the chronicle says from drink.

c. 982: Mahinda V's troubled start

Sena V's brother Mahinda V reigned from Anuradhapura, but, Codrington says, the city was full of foreign troops brought in under Sena V.

What the sources sayAccession is worked back from the Culavamsa's statement that he was captured in his 36th year, about 1017, which gives c. 981–982. The chronicle adds that he lived twelve years as a captive in India, dying in what it counts as his 48th year: about 1029, the date the Library of Congress study also gives.

The Chola conquest (c. 993–1017)

Rajaraja I (985–1014) built the strongest navy and army in South India. Lanka, weakened from within and holding the Pandyan regalia, was an obvious target. Within a quarter-century the Cholas held the whole island and its king.

993: Rajaraja I takes Rajarata

Chola forces landed in the north and took Anuradhapura. Chola inscriptions now list Ilam (Lanka) among Rajaraja's conquests.

What the sources sayRajaraja's court eulogy, the meykirtti beginning 'Tirumagal pola', lists Ilam among his conquests in inscriptions from about 993; the Library of Congress study also gives 993. Codrington, using other evidence, put the main conquest between 1001/2 and 1004/5. The campaign probably took several seasons.

'Utterly destroyed'

The Culavamsa says the capital was 'utterly destroyed in every way by the Chola army'. Relic chambers were broken open and images and treasures removed.

Myth and correctionThe chronicle was written by monks who saw the Cholas as enemies of Buddhism, and its language is poetic. Archaeology confirms Anuradhapura's decline and its abandonment as capital, but the city's fall was also gradual, after a century of shifting power towards Polonnaruwa.

Mummudi-sola-mandalam

The conquered north became a Chola province named after one of Rajaraja's titles, Mummudi-sola. The capital moved to Polonnaruwa, renamed Jananathamangalam or Jananathapura, also from a royal title. Polonnaruwa commanded the Mahaweli river crossings and was easier to defend.

The temple at Mahatittha

At Mahatittha (Mantai), the port near Mannar, a Chola officer named Tali Kumaran built a Shiva temple called Rajarajesvara, according to a Tamil inscription found there. The town itself was renamed Rajaraja-pura. Nilakanta Sastri treats this as one of the clearest signs of settled Chola rule.

Thiruvalangadu plates: Rama outdone

The Chola Thiruvalangadu copper plates praise Rajaraja's Lanka campaign in epic terms.

Myth and correctionThe plates claim Rajaraja's campaign outshone Rama's conquest of Lanka in the Ramayana. This is court poetry. Like the Culavamsa on the other side, it is an ideological text, and historians use it for dates and claims, not for a neutral account.

Chola soldiers and Buddhist shrines

At Velgam Vihara near Trincomalee, Tamil inscriptions of the Chola period record donations, such as cattle and perpetual lamps. Under Chola rule the shrine was called Rajarajapperumpalli, after Rajaraja I.

Myth and correctionThe chronicles stress Chola destruction of Buddhism. Inscriptions show that some Tamil-speaking donors under Chola rule, probably Buddhists, supported a vihara. Both things can be true: looting of great royal monasteries, alongside local patronage of smaller shrines.

1014: Rajendra I succeeds

Rajaraja died in 1014. His son Rajendra I (co-ruler from 1012, sole king 1014–1044) carried the war south into Rohana, where Mahinda V had kept a court for over twenty years. Rajendra's inscriptions from about his fifth regnal year (1017) claim the conquest of all Lanka.

c. 1017: Mahinda V captured

Chola troops seized Mahinda V with his queen, daughter, crown and treasure, and the Pandyan regalia, and shipped them to India.

What the sources sayThe Culavamsa dates this to Mahinda's 36th year (c. 1017–18). Rajendra's Tamil meykirtti lists the crowns of the kings of Ilam and of their queens, the 'beautiful crown and Indra's garland' that the Pandya had left with them, and 'the whole of Ilam'. The Karandai plates say much the same. Chola and Lankan sources match closely.

Siva Devale No. 2, Polonnaruwa

A small granite Shiva temple in South Indian style. Its Tamil inscription names it Vanavan Mahadevi Isvaram, after Rajaraja I's queen, Rajendra I's mother. It is usually called Polonnaruwa's oldest standing building.

A Chola province (1017–1055)

For about half a century the north and east were ruled from Polonnaruwa by Chola officials, while Sinhala claimants held out in Rohana. Tamil inscriptions, not the Culavamsa, are now the best evidence for the north.

Dating Siva Devale No. 2

The temple is Polonnaruwa's clearest Chola monument, but no inscription gives its year of building.

What the sources saySome popular accounts say 10th century, but Chola rule at Polonnaruwa began only in the 990s. The name honours Vanavan Mahadevi, queen of Rajaraja I, and its Tamil inscriptions belong to the period of Chola rule. Most scholars therefore place it in the early 11th century, under Rajaraja I or Rajendra I.

Running the province

The Cholas kept using the dry-zone reservoirs, but repair lapsed and tanks such as Minneriya and Padaviya suffered breaches. They taxed merchants and artisans and built fortified camps from which to raid the south.

The politicsGeorge W. Spencer's article 'The Politics of Plunder' (1976) argued the Cholas sought loot and revenue more than lasting rule. The south lacked rich towns, so expansion there brought diminishing returns.

Reign of Kassapa VI, Vikramabahu (1029–1040)

Mahinda V's son Kassapa, hidden in Rohana, escaped Chola searches and took the title Vikramabahu. The Culavamsa says two of his generals repelled a large Chola army, but he died of illness in 1040, after about twelve years, before he could drive the Cholas out.

What the sources sayThe figure of 95,000 Chola troops comes from the Culavamsa tradition, repeated in modern summaries. Chronicle army numbers are rarely reliable and should be treated as a sign of scale.

1042–1055: a crowd of claimants

Rohana passed in quick succession to Vikrama Pandu (1042–43), Jagatipala (1043–46), Parakrama Pandu (1046–48), Loka (1048–54) and Kassapa VII (1054–55).

The politicsCodrington notes that Pandyan princes driven from India and Jagatipala, who claimed to come from Kanauj in north India, competed with Sinhala chiefs. Rohana was now an open field for anyone with troops, while Chola rule in the north stayed secure.

Tamil settlement and its meaning

K.M. de Silva dates more permanent Tamil settlements, the nucleus of later Sri Lankan Tamil society, from about the 10th century.

The politicsModern nationalists on both sides have used the Chola period: some cast it as foreign Tamil oppression, others as proof of an ancient Tamil homeland. K. Indrapala traces Tamil identity over a longer time span. Most historians separate Chola imperial rule from the local Tamil population's history.
Timeline: Chola rule
993 — Rajaraja I conquers Rajarata (Tirumagal inscription)
Early 1000s — Chola Tamil inscriptions at Mantai, Polonnaruwa and Padaviya
1014 — Rajendra I becomes Chola king
c. 1017 — Mahinda V captured in Rohana
1029 — Mahinda V dies in India; Kassapa VI rises in Rohana
1042–1055 — Rival claimants rule Rohana in turn

Vijayabahu's war of liberation (1055–1070)

A young prince from Rohana named Kitti united the south and, over fifteen years of raids and sieges, drove the Cholas out. He ruled as Vijayabahu I until 1110 and began the Polonnaruwa kingdom.

c. 1039–1055: the rise of Kitti

Born about 1039 and claiming descent from the old royal house, Kitti defeated the last Rohana pretender, Lokissara, at about fifteen. At sixteen, according to Codrington, he took the rank of sub-king under the name Vijayabahu. Later reckoning counts his reign from 1055.

What the sources saySome modern accounts say he was crowned at Anuradhapura in 1055, but that city was then under Chola control. The chronicle's own sequence points to 1055 as the start of his regnal years in Rohana.

c. 1065–1066: a first attempt fails

Around 1066 Vijayabahu attacked Chola-held Polonnaruwa, but reinforcements from India drove him back. He fell back to the Vatagiri (Wakirigala) fortress and held out there against the Chola army.

Defectors and Tamil allies

The chronicle says two Sinhala chiefs, Ravideva and Cala, went over to the Cholas with their men, while Tamil commanders served in Vijayabahu's army.

The politicsIndrapala records that one of Vijayabahu's Tamil commanders, Kurukulattaraiyan, a Karaiyar chieftain, fell in battle against the Cholas. The war was not simply Sinhala against Tamil. Local leaders on both sides chose whichever side served them.

1069–1070: the decisive campaign

A succession crisis in the Chola empire ended with Kulottunga I's accession in about 1070. Vijayabahu struck. He sent one army through the east and another west of the hills, towards the port of Mahatittha to block reinforcements, while he advanced through Mahiyangana. Polonnaruwa fell after a siege of about six weeks.

1070: Anuradhapura retaken

Vijayabahu entered Anuradhapura around 1070, his fifteenth year. Kulottunga I, busy with the Chalukyas, made little effort to win Lanka back. The island was under one Sinhala ruler for the first time since before the Chola conquest.

What the sources sayMost sources put the expulsion in 1070. Codrington says rebellion delayed the coronation to his eighteenth year (1072/3); some accounts say 1076–77. He kept Polonnaruwa, renamed Vijayarajapura, as capital.

Why Polonnaruwa?

Vijayabahu chose not to return to Anuradhapura.

Myth and correctionOlder accounts imply the Cholas simply moved the capital. In fact Polonnaruwa had been a royal residence since Aggabodhi IV and was Sena I's main seat. It lay nearer Rohana, controlled the Mahaweli crossings and was further from northern landing points. The shift was centuries in the making.
Timeline: the liberation
c. 1039 — Kitti born
1055 — Kitti takes the name Vijayabahu in Rohana
1063–1070 — Virarajendra Chola under Chalukya pressure
c. 1066 — Failed attack on Polonnaruwa; retreat to Wakirigala
c. 1070 — Polonnaruwa and Anuradhapura retaken
1072/3 or later — Vijayabahu's formal coronation

Looking back: The Long Twilight of Anuradhapura

Historians no longer see this era as simple decline before a foreign blow. Anuradhapura's kings were deeply tied into South Indian politics, using Pallava and Pandyan allies and mercenaries just as Indian kings used them. Inscriptions, Chola records and Mahayana art now balance the monastic chronicles. The Chola conquest is read as an imperial venture driven by plunder, trade and rivalry, and Vijayabahu's victory as the start of a new, Polonnaruwa-centred kingdom.

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