Kings of Sri Lanka History
- King Vijaya (543 B.C – 505 B.C)
Vijaya is considered to be the first king of Ceylon or Lanka as known then. Prince Vijaya, together with seven hundred of his friends arrived in Thambapanni, Ceylon. It is said that he was in uncalled activities such as looting, riots and thuggery with his friends. The citizens of ladha where king sinhabahu was ruling complained to the king against his son and it resulted in the deportation of vijaya aboard a ship together with his friends. Vijaya’s father sinhabahu who had married his own sister sinhaseevali was the son of sinhga, the Lion. When prince Vijaya arrived in thambapanni, he saw the yakka princess kuweni with whom he fell in love. The marriage of vijaya and kuweni took place immediately and kuveni helped vijaya to kill yakka leaders who were ruling the country at that time. Soon vijaya with the help of his seven hundred friends defeated the yakka leaders and became the king.king vijaya and queen kuweni, had two children, jeevahaththa and disala. King vijaya who wanted to marry an Indian princess drove away later kuweni and the two children to the jungle. Kuweni and the two children fled away to the jungle and lived there helplessly. Jeevahaththa and disala were the first veddha couple in Ceylon, according to the strong belief of the Sinhalese.- King Panduvasdev (504 B.C – 474 B.C)
According to Sinhalese history book the mahawansa, king vijaya during the latter part of his reign, invited his uncle prince sumitra to Ceylon with the prime aim of succeeding him. But this was turned down by prince sumitra who at that time had become the king after his father’s death. However, king sumitra sent his son panduvasdev together with several of his ministers to Ceylon after the passing away of king vijaya. Panduvasdev and his queen bhaddrakachchayana had ten sons and a daughter named unmade chithra. There had been forecasts that one day chithra would give birth to a son who will kill all his uncles and become the king of Ceylon. Therefore, chithra’s brothers imprisoned chithra and did not allow any room, for her to fall in love with anybody. A prince by the name of gamini was able to gain access to the prison and had contacts with chithra. It resulted in the birth of pandukabhaya, the prince who later killed all his uncles and became the king of Ceylon.- King Pandukabhaya (437 B.C – 367 B.C)
Unmada chithra gave birth to her son pandukabhaya. A poor woman brought him up secretly in a remote village. Chithra was in fear of her brothers who wanted to kill her son, as said astrology. Pandukabhaya was brought up by the poor woman at the village of dwara mandala. He studied under a Brahmin. According to the mahawansa, he later married a princess named pali and organized an army to wage was and defeat his uncles. Pandukabhaya defeated his uncles and estabilished his kingdom in Anuradhapura. He is considered to be the pioneer king in Anuradhapura. Of the paramount historical events took place during his reign were the introduction of laws relating to the administration of cities, health services and various other administrative functions. He also gave higher positions in the government service to people with merits and talents. He respected educational reforms and honored scholars. Pandukabhaya also laid the foundation for the construction of cities. The people of the country highly respected king pandukabhaya.- King Devanampiyathissa. (307 B.C – 267 B.C)
King devanampiyathissa is one of the most popular kings in Ceylon. It was during his time that the Buddha sasana was set up in the country. king devanampiyathissa was a lover of hunting. One day when he went hunting with his ministers, he saw Arahath Mihindu and four other arahaths on the summit of the mihinthale rock. Arahath Mihindu had been sent to Celon to set up Buddha sasana. Devanampiyathissa had been a pen friend of Arahath mihindu’s father, king asoka of India. Because of this friendship, king asoka latter known as dharmasoka thought of sending his son to spread Buddha sasana in the Island. Soon king devanampiyathissa became a Buddhist and all his ministers embraced Buddhism. This was further spread and in time, the entire population embraced Buddhism. King devanampiyathissa had his authority up to the Jaffna peninsula and was a righteous king. He built the first dagaba in the country, which was known as thuparamaya. One can see the ruins of this dagaba even today. The maha viharaya or the bhikku chapter in Ceylon was also set up during his reign. It is said in the mahawansa, three brothers by the names of Uttiya, Mahasiva and Suratissa became kings from time to time after the death of devanampiyathissa. But they were latter defeated by two Tamils namely sena and guththika.
- King Elara. (205 B.C – 161 B.C)
Elara, a Dravidian who came from the kingdom of chola in India ousted the Ceylonese king from power and became the king of Anuradhapura. King Elara was a righteous person. Although he was a non Buddhist he respected Buddhism and performed Buddhist rituals. When he was king of Anuradhapura, Kawantissa had been the king of Ruhunu, the southern part of Ceylon. Kawnathissahad two sons, gemunu and tissa. Prince gemunu later defeated king elara and became the king of entire Ceylon. During the reign of king elara, certain tamils or Dravidians of his kingdom committed various offences and even tried to destroy Buddhism and places of worship. King elara did not tolerate these acts. But prince dutugemunu, the elder son of king kawantissa of ruhunu who had at that time become the king after his father’s death, defeated the king of Anuradhapura in a war. After king elara’s death. Dutugemunu became the king of entire Ceylon.
- King Dutugemunu. (161 B.C – 137 B.C)
The author of Mahawansa considers king dutugemunu as the most prime king of all time. King dutugemunu who united the entire country wanted to render a great service to the Buddha sasana. He constructed numerous Buddhist shrines for the devotees to worship. Among them was the ruvanveli seya, the biggest chaithyaya in the country. King dutugemunu also constructed lowa maha paya and mirisawetiya chaithyaya in addition to a number of other Buddhist places of worship. He always seeked advice from the Buddhist monks and became one of the most righteous kings of all time.
- King Kawantissa.
King kawantissa had a very wise and patriotic queen called vihara maha devi. She gave birth to two sons, gemunu and tissa. Although kng kawantissa did not want to get involved in war with king elara of Anuradhapura, his sonswanted to invade Anuradhapura and defeat the king there in an attempt to unite the entire country. They also wanted to save the Buddhist places of worship from the Dravidians. After defeating king elara in a fierce war, king gemunu alias dutugemunu became the king of entire Celone. He was very much attached to the maha sanga and Buddhism.
- King Walagamba. I. (103 B.C – 102 B.C) II. (89 B.C – 77 B.C)
King maharaththaka was ousted from power by prince walagamba who latter became the king, in the year 103 B.C. king walagamba adopted the son of king khallatanga whose name was chulimahatissa. His mother anula devi became the queen of the king walagamba after several months kng walagamba had to face so many threats. The Brahmin called tissa who was in the city of nakula in the rohana kingdom, led a rebellion against king walagamba. In the meantime five Dravidian leaders tried to capture power and the frightened king sent a message to the Brahmin tissa to accept the throne. But tissa was caught by the Dravidian leaders while fighting. Walagamba had to flee away from the Dravidian leaders and while feeling his queen soma devi alighted from the vehicle enabling the king to flee. The king escaped because of this sacrifice of queen soma devi. After a reign of one year king walagamba lost his throne but again in the year 89 B.C. he was able to recapture the kingdom. By that time the Dravidian leaders had ruled the country for more than 14 years.- King Dhatusena. (459 A.D – 477 A.D)
Dhatusena was the prince who defeated the Dravidian kings who ruled the country for quarter a century and became the king of Ceylon. Dhatusena before becoming the king, led a clergy life and the Dravidian kngs who feared him, wanted to kill dhatusena. But there attempts ended in failures as dhatusena was living with the Buddhist monks disguised. Afterwards, he organized an army and fought the Dravidian king who was killed in the war. King dhatusena was reported to have fought twenty –one battles with the Dravidian king. The king whose main contribution to the country was kalawewa gave a new life to agricultural activities by expanding irrigation canals. King dhatusena had two sons – kashyapa and mugalan. The lawful heir to the throne was prince mugalan. But kashyapa conspired against the king. Ultimately kashyapa was able to kill his father king dhatusena and gain the kingdom. After a rebellion inside the palace dhatusena became prisoner of kashyapa. But mugalan in fear of his brother fled away to India.
- King Wijayabahu. (1055 A.D – 1110 A.D)
After the pandyan parakrama, an army commander named loka or lokeswara became the controller of katharagama. At the time there lived in the mulasala area a prince called kiththi who became the king of Ceylon after reign of parakrama the pandyan. Prince kiththi was known as wijayabahu. An army commander by the name of buddharaja became friendly with king wijayabahu with the aim of suppressing the power of the soli rulers in the country and drive them away. Commander buddharaja at the time ruled the southern rohana area. King wijayabahu adopted a systematic plan to drive away the soli rulers from the Island. But the attempt he made to drive them away in the year 1066 ended in failure. Therefore king wijayabahu sought assistance from Burma. As the king of Burma did not want to interfere in other’s activities. However, wijayabahu helped those who were opposed to the soli rulers in there areas of power. This created unrest in such areas and soli rulers had to face lot difficulties. The soli rulers brought this to the notice of their king wijayabahu. In the year 1073 king wijayabahu led a scathing attack on the soli rulers, but he found it difficult to defeat the powerful soli rulers. Therefore, the king had to live in the jungle getting ready to defeat the soli rulers. In the year 1073 king wijayabahu again attacked the soli rulers and this time he was able to win.
