Kingdom of Dambadeniya

Dambadeniya is an ancient capital of Sri Lanka.

History

Founding

Four kings ruled from here. They were,

1. Vijayabahu III (1220AD-1236AD)
2. Parakramabahu II (1236AD-1270AD)
3. Vijayabahu IV (1270-1272AD)
4. Bhuvanekabahu I (1272AD-1283AD)

The first king to choose Dambadeniya as his capital was Vijayabahu III. He was able to bring about the unity among the sangha that had fled in various directions due to the hostile activities of the invader Kalinga Magha and succeeded in holding a Buddhist convention in 1226 to bring about peace among the Buddhist clergy.

King Parakramabahu II was the king who inherited the throne after King Vijayabahu. He was considered a genius, who was a great poet and a prolific writer. Among the books he wrote are Kausilumina, which is considered a great piece of literature. Unifying the three kingdoms that existed within Sri Lanka at that point of time is regarded as greatest achievement.

King Bosath Vijayabahu, as the eldest son of King Parakramabahu the second was crowned in 1270. He was well known for his modest behaviour and for his religious activities. He was killed in the second year of his reign by a minister called Miththa.

After the demise of his elder brother Vijayabahu, Bhuvanekabahu I, as the next in line to the throne, shifted the capital to Yapahuwa for reasons of security. He followed his father's footsteps as a writer and continued with the religious activities started by his brother Vijayabahu IV.

Rule from Yapahuwa

Main article: Kingdom of Dambadeniya from Yapahuwa

After the assassination of Vijayabahu IV his brother became king after a series of conflicts with several dissident generals thus became Bhuvanekabahu I. He considered Dambadeniya as insecure so he made Yapahuwa a rock fortress his permanent residence. He built a temple of tooth relic on the rock and conducted service for tooth relic daily. In 1298 A Tamil general called Arya Chakravarthi came to island from Pandya kingdom of south India with a massive army and plundered Yapahuwa and took the tooth relic to India. This incident ended the eleven year reign of Bhuvanekabahu I and also Yapahuwa Kingdom.^[1]

Rule from Polonnaruwa

Parakramabahu III who was son of Vijayabahu III and grandson of Parakramabahu II became king in Polonnaruwa.He tried to bring back the tooth relic to island via establishing diplomatic relationships with the Pandyan Kingdom.He succeeded and housed the tooth relic in the temple of tooth in polonnaruwa.^[2] King died after reigning five years in 1303.

Rule from Kurunagala

Bhuvanekabahu II son of Bhuvanekabahu I succeeded his cousin in 1303 and shifted capital to nearby Kurunagala and ruled for two years until his death in 1305.

Military

The Polonaruwa kings had to go through many wars and many drawbacks.even Parakramabahu the great had to wrestle with the other provincial leaders of SriLanka.he also had to war against queen Sugala who had the Tooth relic in her possession. thus, we could clearly understand that there was many battles in thirst and hunger for power.

Trade

At the time of the polonaruwa perdiod sri lana was known as the GRANARY OF THE EAST meaning the flourishment and the export of padddy; yet belonging in the dry zone of srilanka where a little amount of water could be used. futhermore they exported ivory., gems and many other exporting valuables.

Education

Literature

Main article: Literature of Dambadeniya era

The Dambadeniya period is considered as the golden era of Sinhala literature. Several books in Sinhala, Pali & Sanskrit were written in this time. Among them are books of poetry such as [[Kausilumina, Muwadewdawatha, Sidath sangarawa, Buthsarana, [[Saddharma Rathnawaliya. The stone inscriptions in this period include keulgama mavilipitiya, Narambadde Ududumbara Lipiya, Rambukana Dewala Lipiya, Aluthnuwara Dewala Lipiya, Galapatha Viharaya Shila Lipiya. Parakramabahu II wrote two books namely Visuddi Marga Sannasa and Kavisilumina.

Pali books

• Rupasiddiya
• Mahawansaya
• Thupawansaya
• Sawahini

See also

• Sri Lanka
• History of Sri Lanka
• List of Sri Lankan monarchs

References

1. ^ Culavamsa
2. ^ Culavamsa

External links