The Ceylon Press Companion to History in Sri Lanka

Kanittha Tissa, King of Anuradhapura

The sixth monarch of the Lambakanna Dynasty (1st Period) (66 CE – 436 CE); and the 51st recorded monarch in Sri Lanka in the line running from Prince Vijaya (543 BCE); the dates of his reign being 165 - 193.

The reliable historical record is mute on the reign of Kanittha Tissa, except to say that he was the brother of the late king, Bhatika Tissa, and the son of King Mahallaka Naga. The reign was apparently calm and uneventful, and was to last 4 years longer than that of Bhatika Tissa’s. “No news is good news,” noted a later English king renowned for being “the 'wisest fool in Christendom.” And so one might assume of this indistinct reign. Certainly, in the years that followed, the administration would have looked – along with 4 of the 5 previous ones, as the lush salad days of the Lambakarnas. Kanittha Tissa’s successor, Cula Naga, was not so fortunate.

Illustration Credit: The Abayagiriya Rathna Prasada said to have built by Kanittha Tissa, King of Anuradhapura; image courtsey of Theeshya Dulmini

Sigiriya Fortress

Used since prehistoric times and now one of the country’s seven world heritage sites, Sigiriya is known mostly for the palace built by the regicidal King Kasyapa in the fifth century CE. But like all great fortresses, it was something that evolved over time. Professor Senake Bandaranayake, who has worked on the site for over twenty years, notes that it “has a very complex rampart system. The city was walled and moated. Besides the inner and outer cities within the ramparts, there is evidence of suburban dwellings immediately outside the walled area. The complex is three kilometres from East to West and one kilometre from North to South. It speaks of grand urban planning. A brilliant combination of a geometric square module and natural topography.” The architects and engineers at the time took care to incorporate nature and never to deny it. Existing lakes, rocks and hills were cleverly woven into the general plan.“ Sitting atop a two hundred metre rock that dwarfs the flat plains beneath, it is everything a fortress should be – even with its own water supply. On Kasyapa’s death, probably at the hands of his half-brother Moggallana, who arrived with a borrowed Tamil army and managed to entice his brother out to battle, the fortress was given over to monks, and little more is recorded of its more military functions.

Image - The Lion Rock, Sigiriya 9 February 1868. Watercolour by Stanley Leighton. Public Domain.

Sitawaka Fort

Following on from a most successful regicidal patricide, the Sitawaka kingdom was caved out of the Kotte kingdom; and for a while was the scourge of both the Kandyan kings and the new colonialists. The kingdom was destined to last for but a short time, and today almost nothing remains of either the palace or the fort constructed by Mayadunne, its inaugural king. The Portuguese captured the kingdom and reduced the fort to more modest garrison before the later British reused all its stones to build a rest house. Even so, Dr. John Davy the surgeon and physician of Governor Brownrigg, was to write in 1821 in his book “An Account of the Interior of Ceylon, and its Inhabitants:” “Sittawakka, once a royal residence and a place of considerable consequence is now merely a name. No traces of what is once was traces of what it once was are now to be seen by the traveller passing along the road, and for a considerable time, none were supposed to exist. Lately some remains of a building has been discovered. In June 1819, when travelling this way the third time, I was conducted by the natives to an old fort concealed by wood situated on the tongue of elevated ground, formed by the confluence of a small deep stream with the river. I went in a boat and ascended from the river by a short flight of hewn-stone steps, and after walking about 100 yards, came to the building which I found to be nearly square, formed of three walls, one within the other thus. The walls were of Kabook as the stone is called by the natives; and in this instance, as in most others appeared to be clay strongly impregnated with red oxide of iron, to which, probably it owes its property of hardening by expose to the atmosphere. The outer wall was between eight and ten feet height and six and eight wide. It was widest at its angles, where it communicated with the enclosure by steps. Between this wall and the next, the distance might be twenty four or thirty feet; the space was overgrown with bushes. Here I observed a deep well carefully made, and it sides lined with masonry. The inner enclosure was probably roofed and was the donjon-keep of the fortress. There were no marks of its having been divided into different compartments, and indeed it was hardly enough to admit of it. Natives who call this ruins Kotuwa (a fort), have a tradition, which is probably correct, that it was built and occupied by the Portuguese when the neighbourhood was the arena of bloody contention these bold invaders and the prices of Sittawakka. The nature of the building, the circumstances of there being a good well within its walls, its situation of the Columbo side of the river and nearly opposite to the spot on which there is reason to believe the palace and the town of Sittawakka formally stood, seem to be proof of the correctness of the tradition. Be this as it may, the ruin was not uninteresting. and might have been worth preserving; I say might, – knowing that the work of destruction has commenced and that the walls which two centuries, at least, had spared, have been pulled down either in part or entirely, and their stones removed to build a new rest-house. The curious traveller may complain of this measure; whilst the indolent one will bless his stars for being saved the trouble of forcing his way through the thickets to see an old ruin, the material of which, newly arranged, afford him a comfortable shelter.” Today all that remains are a few mounds of earth that the Archaeology Department are valiantly excavating.

Image courtsey of Amazing Lanka.

Kutakanna Tissa, King of Anuradhapura

The thirty fifth monarch of the Vijayan Period (543 BCE - 66 CE), the dates of her reign being 42 BCE – 20 BCE.

With the ascension of the monkish Kutakanna Tissa to the Vijayan throne a modicum of stability returned to Anuradhapuran politics. Having had his murderous predecessor, Queen Anula, burned alive in her own palace, Kutakanna Tissa settled down for 18 apparently uneventful years before dying, peaceably, in 20 BCE.

Panya Mara, King of Anuradhapura

The twenty-fourth (invader) monarch of the Vijayan Period (543 BCE - 66 CE), the dates of his reign being 98 BCE – 91 BCE.

One of 7 Dravidian chiefs from the Indian Pandyan Dynasty that forcibly took the Anuradhapuran Kingdom from its barely-established new ruler King Valagamba in 103 BCE, Panya Mara became king of Anuradhapura in 98 BCE by the simple expedient of murdering his Dravidian master, Bahiya. He has previously served him as chief minster. Much of his own short rule was dealing with threats to his own safety – from the avenging Valagamba - busy waging an ever more successful guerrilla war from the south - and from his own Dravidian colleagues, one of whom, Pilaya Mara, was to murder him.

Siri Sangha Bodhi I, King of Anuradhapura

The fifteenth monarch of the Lambakanna Dynasty (1st Period) (66 CE – 436 CE); and the 60th recorded monarch in Sri Lanka in the line running from Prince Vijaya (543 BCE); the dates of his reign being 252 – 254 CE.

One of three plotters (the other two being Gothabhaya and Sangha Tissa I), Siri Sangha Bodhi had made his own special contribution to killing the then king, Vijaya Kumara in 248 CE. Like his co-conspirators, he was a paid-up member of the Lambakanna Dynasty, albeit from one of its less glamorous branches. His regicidal ambitions would have been propelled by the Knossonian alliances and betrayals that now so deeply coloured family politics, creating a family that would reframe most regular definitions of dysfunctional. His own route to the throne was also regicide, his predecessor, Sangha Tissa I, being murdered after just four years on the throne.

Despite his earlier handiwork, The Mahavaṃsa takes a gentle and forgiving tone to him, his devotion to Buddhism so absolute that he refused to execute criminals. Facing a rebellion by the third plotter, Gathabhaya, he voluntarily abdicated and retired to the forest to live as an ascetic after a reign of just three years in 253 CE. And in an end both grisly, contradictory, and anatomically impressive, he then decapitated himself to enable a poor peasant to collect the bounty on his head, bringing to an end nearly sixty years of royal knockabout.

Illustration: The archaeological site of Hatthikuchchi (fromerly named Rayangana after the nearby village) believed to be the location of the royal self-decapitation of Siri Sangha Bodhi I, King of Anuradhapura. Image courtsey of Ruta Chile

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Mahallaka Naga, King of Anuradhapura

The fourth monarch of the Lambakanna Dynasty (1st Period) (66 CE – 436 CE); and the 49th recorded monarch in Sri Lanka in the line running from Prince Vijaya (543 BCE); the dates of his reign being 135 - 141 CE.

Said to be the wrong side of late middle age at the time of his ascension, Mahallaka Naga, the new king, still managed to live on until 141 CE before handing things onto his son with the sort of blameless succession choreography that more modern leaders like Mugabe or Trump might have learnt much from. He was said to be the father-in-law of the pervious King Gajabahu I; if so, then the succession would have run down a less travelled thoroughfare, but this did not imply it was anything but orderly. Little is known about his reign, but it can be assumed that it took its rightful place amongst that period of calm governance that characterised the reigns of all the early Lambakanna - from 67 CE to 195 CE.

Illustration Credit: The smaller stupa of the Mahiyanganaya Ancient Nagadeepa Viharaya where Mahallaka Naga, King of Anuradhapura is said to have built a monastery. Image courtsey of AmazingLanka.com

Sivali, Queen of Anuradhapura

The forty-first monarch of the Vijayan Period (543 BCE - 66 CE), the dates of her reign being 35 CE – ?.

Sister of the previous Vijayan monarch Chulabhaya, Sivali was to briefly take the throne in 35 CE. But her ascension was clearly as much a symptom of the life-threatening era the kingdom had entered, as it was a contributory factor to it. Though little is known about her brother’s reign, the signs are that it was deeply unstable. Whether Chulabhaya himself met a natural death is a bet that offers odds way too short to take. During Sivali brief tenure the country fell into several years of total civil war, during which time, the unfortunate queen rose briefly once again to the surface only to then depart completely from the historical record when Ilanaga, nephew of the slain King Amandagamani Abhaya dethroned her.

Basnayaka Nilame

An Sinhala term for the most important lay officer in a devela, a shrine of gods.

Illustration of Ruhunu Kataragama Maha Devale Basnayake Nilame Pradeep Nilanga Dhala Bandara, courtesy of kataragama.org.

Hunnasgiriya Fort

Thirty three kilometres east of Kandy are fragments of stone walls and structures – the remains of a fort and village that provided the stage for what was probably the last act of the Kandyan Kingdom. Atop a mountain once known as Medamahanuwara Mountain and today more familiarly as Hunnasgiriya Mountain, these are the remains of a fort palace, possibly built by King Senarath who rule ruled the Kandyan kingdom until his death in 1635. Linked to it is a village called Bombure; and it was to here that hapless King Sri Wickrama Rajasingha fled with his wives and a few allies as he attempted to evade the pursuing British. In 1815. Deciding that the village offered insufficient protection, the party attempted to find the hidden passage that connected the village to the fort palace. The tunnel entrance lay behind a waterfall. But repeated attempts to probe the water with sticks revealed nothing but hard rock. The king remained where he was, soon to be captured and exiled to Vellore in southern India where he was to die of dropsy. Villagers today state that the waterfall long since dried yup but point also to a place called Dora-Bombure (Door of Bombure), which they claim was the entrance the doomed king failed to find.

Image courtsey of Niroshan Edirsinghe.

Chilaw Fort

Just one year after they had taken control of all the Portuguese territories in Sri Lanka, the Dutch, under Governor van der Meyden, set about building a fort at Chilaw to protect the cinnamon trade. The Portuguese had already constructed one, probably on the foundations of an earlier fort made by the Kings of Kandy, which the Dutch had also adopted. Nothing of either fort remains visible today, except possibly a mildly disputed tunnel. Observers at the time were scathing in their commentary of the fort, which was built of mud walls, with a house for the commander, a powder magazine, hospital, two churches and a collection of “low, ill-built houses.” Lord Valetia writing in 1803 noted what was probably its most famous siege: “the Fort of Chilaw is the most trifling thing I ever beheld under that name, It consists of a ditch , in some parts three feet deep, with a rampart of earth that slopes equally both ways, and is about ten feet high on the top of which is a row of hedge stakes driven in close to each other. In the front of this, on the edge of the ditch is a range of trees with their branches placed outwards. This is a late addition; yet without this it stood a siege against a the Second Adigar and three thousand Cingalese. They carried their approaches very regularly and at length brought their batteries so near the fort that they conversed with the garrison. Mr Campbell, who commanded, though a Civil Servant, had with him but sixty Sepoys and Malays; yet the enemy who could see everything never attempted to storm the place. He had not shot, and only a barrel and half of powder. He was obliged to use pice, of which he had six thousand rix-dollars in the place, and to manage his fire sparingly, as he did not know when he might be relieved. He had not great occasion to fear in other respects for not a man was killed on his side, His havildar told him there was no use in loading with the ball: ‘Put in powder enough’ said he ‘and the noise will be sufficient to keep them off’ . Repeated offers of reward were made to the garrison if they would give him up, but without effort. At length Captain Blackwall with forty men came to his assistance by water from Negombo, and the Candy army retreated with the utmost expedition.”

Image: Public Domain.

Chattagahaka Jantu, Queen of Anuradhapura

The twenty fifth monarch of the Lambakanna Dynasty (1st Period) (66 CE – 436 CE); and the 70th recorded monarch in Sri Lanka in the line running from Prince Vijaya (543 BCE) the dates of her reign being 434 - 435 CE.

Chattagahaka Jantu is one of the island’s few transgender mysteries. Some chronicles mark her as a Queen; others as a King. A stepsister or stepbrother to King Soththisena, this gender defying monarch was to rule for less than a year, the reign entangled in the now lost tentacles of Lambakanna dynastic rivalries and alliances that were strangling both the dynasty and the country with a civil war it could ill afford. His/her death in 435 CE at the hands of a chief minister intent on putting in place a more pliable monarch had regicidal palace politics once again singing a song that would challenge any modern-day soap opera scriptwriter.

Illustration Credit: A Maneless Lion Copper coin. On one side, there is an image of a lion. On the other side, there are three or sometimes four dots. It is likely that these dots indicate the value of the coin. The diameter of this coin is between ½ - ¾ inches and it weighs between 15-40 grains. These coins were used from 3-4 A.D - including during the short reign of Chattagahaka Jantu, Queen of Anuradhapura. The coins have been found during excavations in Anuradhapura and the Northern regions of the island. Image credit: Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

Tiritara, King of Anuradhapura

The 4th of the Six Dravidian invaders of the Pandiyan Dynasty of South India; and the 75th recorded monarch in Sri Lanka in the line running from Prince Vijaya (543 BCE).

Whether he acquired the Anuradhapura kingship by fair or foul means is unknown. What is certain is that Tiritara managed to enjoy his crown for less than a year (447 CE), dying in military skirmishes with the Sri Lankan Moriyan rebel leader, Dhatusena, who had corralled opposition to the invaders from his base in the south of the island. He was the 9th reigning Sri Lankan monarch known to have died in battle.

Illustration Credit: Current packaging for Madurai Pandian Aappalam showing the dynasty's classic fish emblem.

Vijithapura Fortress

Vijithapura is the Atlantis of the fortress world in Sri Lanka, said to have been bult by Vijitha, one of the original followers of the first Sri Lanakan Singhala king, Vijaya in the sixth century BCE. By the time of the troubled third Singhala king, Panduvasudeva, the fortress is said to have become a city and three hundred years later was mentioned in the ancient chronicles as second only to the great city of Anuradhapura itself, the fortress itself surrounded by three moats and a high wall and accessed through four iron gates made. Thereafter its vanishes from the records but historians believe that a recent village with the same name near the ancient Kalawewa reservoir may mark its spot, a much older temple in the village bearing an antique stone that the villagers claim .was used to sharpen swords before the last battle in which the fortress figured. Other historians robustly po-po this notion, claiming that Vijithapura is closer to a village called near Polonnaruwa.

Image courtsey of Lanka Information.

Amiens, Treaty of

Illustration: "The plumb-pudding in danger," by James Gillray published in 1805. The satirical cartoon has Britain's Pitt and France's Napoleon facing each other at a round dinner-table on which, in a dish, is a terrestrial globe in the form of a steaming plum-pudding. The two men are caving up the world, and in the negociations, Dutch Ceylon is surrendered to the British. Public Domain

Thulatthana, King of Anuradhapura

The eighteenth monarch of the Vijayan Period (543 BCE - 66 CE), the dates of his reign being 119 BCE – 118 BCE.

The son of Saddha Tissa, the previous Vijayan King of Anuradhapura, Thulatthana was crowned in 119 BCE but was fated to enjoy his regal status for just a single year before being dethroned and murdered by his older brother, Lanja Tissa. It is possible that Thulatthana accession owned more to his being most expediently in Anuradhapura at the time of his father’s death, whilst his older brother, and possibly more legitimate heir, Lanja Tissa was far down south in Ruhana.

Nuwara Eliya Golf Club, The

A photograph by Alfred William Amandus Plate entitled "18th Hole and Club House Golf Links Nuwara Eliya Elevation 6200 Feet" dating to 1890-1910. Public Domain.

Mittasena, King of Anuradhapura

The twenty sixth and last monarch of the Lambakanna Dynasty (1st Period) (66 CE – 436 CE); and the 71st recorded monarch in Sri Lanka in the line running from Prince Vijaya (543 BCE); the dates of his reign being 435 – 436 CE.

Mittasena was a distant relative of the previous monarch, Chattagahaka Jantu, who had been murdered by a chief minister intent on finding a more pliable boss. The move did neither any good. Mittasena, preoccupied by religious devotions, was wholly unprepared for the fourth Tamil invasion of the realm in 436 CE. That the state was so unable to defend itself was no great surprise. For the past few extreme decades family politics would have pushed good governance into a back seat. The eye, as Ford Frick, the famous basketball player might have observed, was firmly off the ball. The regime fell with minimal resistance.

It was a shocking and sudden end. For 369 years the dynasty had ruled, its two periods of firm and effective guardianship tragically balanced by two other periods of regicidal insanity and power vacuums. This last Lambakarna king was slain in battle in 436 CE and a Tamil king, Pandu, took over his rule. Quite what this meant or how far his rule extended is hard to estimate. But for sixteen years the Six Dravidians, as history would come to know them, were to rule what was left of the once great Anuradhapura Kingdom,.

Illustration Credit: A story told of King Mittasena in Chapter 38 of the Mahawamsa states: “There was a feast (and) the people cried: “If a king is there, let him come with us.” When the Lord of men heard that, he, arrayed in all his ornaments, said to those who led forth the royal elephant: “this befits me not”, and indicated the elephant made of stucco at the temple of the Tooth Relic1. At the words: “’it is the King’s command”, the elephant began to move. The (King) mounted it, rode round the town with his right side towards it and when he reached the eastern gate by the Pathamacetiya, he restored it to the Relic Temple. At the elephant wall of the three great cetiyas he had a gateway constructed. After doing many meritorious works Mittasena died in a year.

The image, of the Elephant wall, Ruvanelraya Dagoba in Anuradhapura, is courtesy of Monkey’s Tales.

Mapagala Fortress

To enjoy a fulfilling and ambitious professional life as a builder in the fifth century BCE, you would need to relocated to Wu, where one of the more ambitious Chinese kings was constructing the Han Canal. Or to one of the many Anatolian palaces of the infamously wealthy Croesus. Or the temples of Delphi. Or Sri Lanka. Either way, pursuing your profession in, say Watford, Versailles, Swindon, Dundee, or the Baltic, would soon have you pressed bored and hard against the modest limits of the wattle and dab that defined European construction technology. The great rock fortress of Sigiriya is proof enough of this – yet there exists, just seven hundred and fifty metres south of Sigiriya the remains of a fortress that may predate the Lion Rock fort itself. A great deal of imagination is needed to reconstruct it – should a visitor ever get to the top, for there is no regular path cut. What remains is a space bordered by immense granitite boulders enveloping once substantial buildings, now just traces on the ground. Excavations have also uncovered traces of iron tools that would have been all but essential to prepare the stones from which it was built.

Image courtsey of https://justaboutev3rything.

Railway, Kandy-Colombo

Illustration by an unknown English Photographer of Construction of the Kadugannawa Railway Incline in 1866 on the Colombo-Kandy line. Public Domain.

Kadugannawa

Snug within its mountainous walls, the kingdom of Kandy resisted colonial occupation until the British tricked their way inside, in February 1815. An ancient Singhalese prophesy had foretold that no foreigner would ever rule the kingdom if it was unable to piece its mountains. And so, when constructing the 1820 road from Colombo to Kandy, the British did just that, choosing, it is said, to include a tunnel on the road – the Kadugannawa Pass, a small section of pierced rock for which the little village of Kadugannawa claims its gentle fame. Many dispute the veracity of the story, but it has a wily charm about it and so deserves to be true even if it is not.

The construction of the road itself, a mere five years after capturing the kingdom and the country, was something of an engineering feat – and one carried out by the relatively junior Captain William Dawson. Although he never saw the completion of his work, being bitten by a poisonous snake three years before it was completed, his memory lives on in the village’s Dawson Tower, erected in his honour, and still standing. A wayside Ambalama, or resting place for weary travellers, was also erected in the village which has, since the opening of the National Railway Museum in 2009 also become a favoured place for ferroequinologists, eager to photograph old motors, trains, rail autos, trolleys, carriages, and other railway memorabilia not still used on the current railway grid.

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Prehistory of Sri Lanka, The

Sri Lanka’s first Palaeolithic and later Mesolithic settlers most probably arrived on the island by simply walking across Adam’s Bridge from the Indian sub-continent. Since Jurassic times (200-167 million years BCE) Sri Lanka had, as part of India, broken off from the great Gondwana sub content that had been formed in the Triassic era (300 – 200 million years BCE). Adam’s Bridge was becoming the sole point of access to the far south; but by 7,500 BCE it was almost unwalkable.

Beguiling hints of these earliest inhabitants are still only just emerging. Excavations conducted in 1984 by Prof. S. Krishnarajah near Point Pedro, north east of Jaffna revealed Stone Age tools and axes that are anything from 500,000 to 1.6 million years old. As the fossil record demonstrates, the land they inhabited was ecologically richer and more dramatic than it is today, teaming not simply with a plenitude of the wildlife still found in Sri Lanka today, but with hippopotamus and rhinoceros as well. Hundreds of millennia later, one of their Stone Age descendants was to leave behind the most anatomically perfect modern human remains yet uncovered on the island.

Balangoda Man, as he was to be named, was found in the hills south of Horton Plains inland from Matara, a short walk from the birthplace of Sirimavo Bandaranaike. His complete 30,000 year old skeleton is bewitchingly life-like. Probing his remains, scientists have concluded that Balangoda Man and his heirs were eager consumers of raw meat, from snails and snakes to elephants. And artistic too, as evidenced in the ornamental fish bones, sea shell beads and pendants left behind. All across the island, similar finds are being uncovered, pointing to a sparce but widespread population of hunter gathers, living in caves – such as Batadomba in Kuruwita (29,000 BCE – 9,000 BCE), Aliga (8,000 BCE) and Beli-lena in Kitulgala (28,000 BCE – 1,500 BCE). The tools and weapons found in these caves, made of quartz crystal and flint, are well in advance of such technological developments in Europe, which date from around 10,000 BCE compared to 29,000 BCE in Sri Lanka.

Later evidence indicates that Stone Age hunter-gathers then made the transition to a more settled lifestyle, growing, at least by 17,000-15,000 BCE, oats, and barley on what is now Horton Plains, thousands of years before it even began in that fulcrum of early global civilization - Mesopotamia. Astonishingly, their direct descendants, the Veddas, are still alive today, making up less than 1% of the island’s total population, an aboriginal community with strong animist beliefs that has, against the odds, retained a distinctive identity. Leaner, and darker than modern Sri Lankans, their original religion - cherishing demons, and deities - was associated with the dead and the certainty that the spirits of dead relatives can cause good or bad outcomes. Their language, unique to them, is now almost – but not quite - extinct. And perhaps it was the Vedda or their spirits that Fa-Hsien, the 5th century CE traveller had in mind when he conjured up his fable of early Sri Lanka in his book “A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms:”

“The country originally had no human inhabitants, but was occupied only by spirits and nagas, with which merchants of various countries carried on a trade. When the trafficking was taking place, the spirits did not show themselves. They simply set forth their precious commodities, with labels of the price attached to them; while the merchants made their purchases according to the price; and took the things away.“

Fa-Hsien’s colourful travelogue shows just readily the early origins of the country depend on myth and fable. Centuries passed before there are finally some tantalising hints of the Stone Ages’ transition into the Iron Age, and with it more evidence of new waves of colonization into the island from India. As new travellers arrived from the sub-continent, Balangoda man and his ancestors were pushed into the more inaccessible parts of the country, especially the rainforests of Sabaragamuva, a small part of which, Sinharaja Forest Reserve, miraculously survives in its original state today.

Using the progressive technology of the iron age, the new colonists were able to clear land and plant crops, mine for metals like copper, and even establish pearl fisheries. By 1,500 BCE there is evidence of cinnamon being exported to the ancient Egyptians. A series of major excavations in Anuradhapura dating to around 900 BCE has uncovered abundant treasure including artefacts that show the use of iron, the domestication of horses and cattle, the use of high-quality pottery and possibly even the cultivation of rice. The settlement was large – even by today’s standards: 4 hectares.

Other equally large settlements undoubtedly wait still to be found. One that has already been unearthed and studied are the burial mounds at Ibbankutuwa near Dambulla that date back to around 1,000 BCE. Here a wealth of pottery vessels interned with the dead contain ornaments of bronze and copper, beads and, most interesting of all, such stones as carnelian and onyx that could only have come to the island from India. Other such sites exist in places like Padiyagampola and Jamburagala in Yala. By the early 7th century BCE evidence comes of the use of the Brahmi script using a language that is an early form of Sinhala. Inventive, adaptive, increasingly sophisticated - urban living was arriving – whether as an independent island-wide development or because of the rapid spread of urbanised culture from India still using Adam’s Bridge as a convenient thoroughfare, is still the stuff of impassioned academic debate. Either way, the evolutionary ball was rolling like never before. From urban living, came city states. And into one of these, in 543 BC, stepped the Indian Prince, Vijaya, to found the country’s first fully recorded royal dynasty.

Russian, Tsar

Illustration by Walter Paget of the Reception of the Czarevitch at Colombo passing under Triumphal Arches with the Governor in 1891. Public Domain.

Thanthirimale

Forty kilometres north west of Anuradhapura and now so far off the beaten track as to render it firmly backwater, Thanthirimale nevertheless has a most glamorous past. Some even claim it to be the long lost capital of one of the country’s very first kings, Panduwasdewa. Capital or not, it shot to fame when the daughter of the Indian Emperor Ashoka, the Princess Sangamitta, brought a sapling of the original Bo tree to Sri Lanka in 288 BCE. As the princesses disembarked from her ship and travelled south she paused for the night in Thanthirimale, and here the pot with the sacred sapling rested, through ‘rested’ is to understate the botanical energy of the little tree. The villagers insisted that overnight one branch grew separately out from the pot, and this they planted in their village, thereby beating by several days the claims of the famous Sri Maha Bhodi of Anuradhapura to have been the first and original plant sent from India.

As the centuries ticked on, and the terrible invasions that destroyed the Anuradhapura Kingdom erupted, the debates about the tree must have slowly fallen into silence; and all was lost. At some point in the 19th century the place was reidentified, and the ruins of temples and marvellous structures, ponds and statues were gradually uncovered. So too were special caves ear-marked for meditating monks of the 1st century BCE, and decorated with the sturdy scripted letter of Brahmi, one of the most ancient writing systems of South Asia.

Asela, King of Anuradhapura

The fourteenth monarch of the Vijayan Period (543 BCE - 66 CE), the dates of his reign being 215 BCE – 205 BCE.

The son Mutasiva, the Vijayan king of Anuradhapura, Asela took refuge in his cousin’s southern kingdom of Ruhuna when the Anuradhapuran Kingdom was overrun in 237 BCE by Sena and Guttik, a couple of opportunistic Tamil horse traders. It took 22 years of continual warfare before Asela was able to dislodge and kill them in 215 BCE. But his inheritance was a plundered and deeply weakened kingdom. He himself would have been worn down by decades of internecine warfare. He was to rule his newly acquired domain for just ten years, before losing both it and his own life in 205 BCE to yet another invader – this time to a prince of the Tamil Chola dynasty in Southern India – Ellalan.

Jettha Tissa II, King of Anuradhapura

The twentieth monarch of the Lambakanna Dynasty (1st Period) (66 CE – 436 CE); and the 65th recorded monarch in Sri Lanka in the line running from Prince Vijaya (543 BCE); the dates of his reign being 332 – 341 CE.

Jettha Tissa II inherited a secure throne and a prosperous country from his brother, King Sirimeghavanna. Little is known of his reign except that it is likely that he was able to extend the dynasty’s reputation for good governance over his entire reign. He was to die after a nine year reign, the 32nd reigning Sri Lankan monarch to have died a natural death.

The Ruwanweli Stupa in Anuradhapura that was built in 140 BCE and would have been a deeply familiar sight to Jettha Tissa II, King of Anuradhapura. Photo courtesy of Hand Luggage Only.

Valvettithurai

On the northern tip of the island above Jaffna, Valvettithurai has the dubious reputation for being the birth place of Velupillai Prabhakaran, whose Tamil Tigers fought many a Colombo government over almost 30 years till their crushing defeat in 2009. War and suffering have long made their mark on the settlement; most recently in 1989 when the Indian Peace Keeping Force were said to have killed 64 Tamil civilians in the town - The Valvettithurai Massacre.

This was but one of a shocking and surprising number of bloody own goals scored by the Indian Army that allegedly prompted the Colombo government and its enemy, the LTTE, to secretly collaborate to evict the Indian army from Sri Lankan soil. For centuries Valvettithurai was renowned for smuggling, trade, inter-clan warfare; and a commendably strong martial resistance to Portuguese occupation. Looking both out to sea and inland into the brackish Thondamannar Lagoon, the town is dominated by Tamils, who worship Shia – not least at the lovely Dutch-era Vannarpannai Vaitheeswaran Temple.

Kanirajanu Tissa, King of Anuradhapura

The thirty ninth monarch of the Vijayan Period (543 BCE - 66 CE), the dates of his reign being 30 CE – 33 CE.

Succeeding to the Anuradhapuran throne by (doubtful) virtue of murdering his brother, Amandagamani Abhaya, Kanirajanu Tissa’s own reign terminated after just 3 suspiciously short and turbulent years when in 33 CE, Chulabhaya, Amandagamani Abhaya’s son suddenly became king. For all but the very short sighted, Kanirajanu Tissa’s abrupt death made it abundantly clear that the Vijayan dynasty were more focused on forwarding their own self-destruction than they were on ruling their country.

Monuments, Protected

This exhaustive register – albeit it one that is sadly not nearly exhaustive enough – may interest only some half dozen people, but as this Companion aims to record all notable Sri Lankan items, be they endemic birds, presidents, works of contemporary fiction, or the hand gestures of Lord Buddha, it would be recklessly discriminatory to exclude protected monuments on the grounds that there are too many. The list that follows, which itemizes protected monuments by location, is not in the least bit comprehensive. There remain many, many more monuments, plain, dazzling, known, unknown, cherished, trashed – but sadly not on the slender list maintained by the relevant authorities.

That there is a list at all, incomplete and eccentric as it is, is an achievement in its own right. For over 1,000 years, since the Chola invasion from Southern India broke across the island, to the raising of the flag of Independence in 1948, the island’s many changing foreign masters have casually, but very extensively, removed to other countries the more portable items of historic importance. But the buildings have of course remained. It would be a work of loving kindness and a life well spent if someone might opt to enlarge, correct, and republish such a list to help the task of preserving structures that are disappearing fast – and taking with it the precious history they encompass. Monuments they may be – but protected they are – in nearly all cases – not at all.

A

1. ABIDIGALA: Mahatulagala Rock Cave
2. AETHAGAMA: Sumanarama Maha Vihara
3. AGALAWATTA: Prathiraja Piriven Vihara
4. AGRAHERA: Naigala Raja Maha Vihara
5. AKARANDENIYA SOUTH: Mahagoda Tapodhanarama Vihara
6. AKARAWITA: Raja Maha Vihara
7. AKKARAYAN: Akkarayan Ruins
8. AKWATTA: Pattini Devalaya Kahawanugoda
9. ALAPALADENIYA: Yatidola Pahala Purana Vihara
10. ALAWALA: Ethabendalena
11. ALUKETIYAWA: Senasungala Aranyagiri Vihara
12. ALUPATGALA: Wawlugala Mountain; Fort; Vihara
13. ALUTHGAMA: St Mary's Church
14. ALUTHNUWARA: Uggal Kataragama Devalaya
15. ALUTWEWA: Kotawehera Ruins
16. ALUYATAWELA: Purana Vihara; Sri Shylathalarama Vihara Madapatha
17. AMADULA: Ihala Kade Asmadala Ruins
18. AMBADANDARAGAMAL: Bullena Aranya Senasana
19. AMBAGAHAWATTA: Dimbulana Vihara
20. AMBAGASPITIYA: Ambalama; Gallinda Watta Ambalama; Kandumulla Rock Caves
21. AMBAKAMAM: Udiyakuruppukulam Lake Ruins
22. AMBALAKANDA: Sri Sunandarama Vihara
23. AMBALANGODA: Sunandarama Maha Vihara
24. AMBALANTOTA: Udarotapallerota Archaeological Ruins
25. AMBANA: Sri Sangharaja Indurugirilen Vihara
26. AMBEPUSSA: Devagiri Raja Maha Vihara; Pattini Devalaya
27. AMBULUGALA: Sri Danthapaya Raja Maha Vihara
28. AMITIYAGODA: Sri Suwisuddharama Purana Vihara; Wijeyaratne Walauwa
29. AMPAKAMAM KULAMOTTAI: Kulamottai Ruins
30. Ampavila: Sri Vijaya Sundararama Purana Vihara
31. AMUGODA: Ihalagoda Siri Vijeyarama Vihara
32. AMUNUDOVA: Kirioruwa Ambalama
33. ANAPALLEGAMA: Thunkemhela Ruins
34. ANDAWELAYAYA: Andawelayaya Ruins
35. ANDURANGODA: Kuligoda Vanavasa Purana Vihara
36. ANDURAPOTHA: Sadarthodaya Pirivena
37. ANGWARAGAMA: Sri Mahaboodhi Piriven Vihara
38. ANHETTIGAMA: Sri Jinendrarama Purana Vihara
39. ANJALIGAMA: Anjalee Vihara
40. ARALAGANWILA: Silumina Seya
41. ARAMBEGAMA: Sri Sudassanarama Vihara
42. ARISAPURAM: Allirani Kotuwa
43. ASGIRIYA GAMPAHA: Asgiriya Rajamaha Vihara
44. ASMADALA: Boduralla Henwatta Ruins; Galgoda Henawatta Ruins; Lunumidella Reservation; Asmadala Vihara; Purana Vihara; Emaladeniya Raja Maha Vihara
45. ATAKALAMPANNA: Ammamuwa Kataragama Devalaya Anpattini Devalaya; Veheragoda Purana Vihara
46. ATALUGAMA: Thumbomaluwa Vihara
47. ATAWAKWELA: Sugatharama Vihara
48. ATHALA: Weheragoda Purana Vihara
49. ATHTHALAWATTA: Purana Vihara
50. ATHURALIYA: Rajjura Bandara Devalaya
51. ATHURUPANA: Degalathiriya Galaudathanna Vihara
52. ATTANAGALLA: Raja Maha Vihara
53. ATTANAYALAEAST: Attanayala Sri Vihara
54. ATTHANAGODA: Tempita Vihara
55. ATUGODA WEWE KANDA: Walagamba Forest Hermitage
56. ATUPOTHDENIYA: Pothgul Vihara
57. AWARIYAWALA: Ambalama


B

1. BADAGIRIYA: Raja Maha Vihara
2. BADULLA: Andeniya Bridge; Assistant Government Agent's Office; Base Hospital Complex; Badulla Building Complex & Ambalama; Badulla Building Material Corporation Building; Badulla Court Building; District Secretary's Bungalow; Official Kachcheri Residences; Government Agent's Bungalow; Governor's Secretary Bungalow; Health Director's Office Building; Health Education Unit Building; Irrigation Quarters; Judge's Bungalow; Kataragama Devalaya; Municipal Council Garden; Municipal Council Building; Paddy Marketing Board Building; Pillar Inscription; Prison Building; Provincial Council Building; Race Course Tank; Railway Station; Rose Bank Building; Salusala Building; SP Bungalow; Muthiyangana Raja Maha Vihara; Pattini Devalaya; Rideepana Evaluation Building; St Mark’s Church; Badulla Gammana: Gal Oya Amuna; Gammana Purana Vihara; Tomb Of Thisahami
3. BAGURUWELA: Walagamba Raja Maha Vihara
4. BALAGALLA: Saraswathi Pirivena; Walawwa
5. BALAPITIYA: Sri Sudharmarama Purana Vihara; Subadrarama Purana Vihara; Welikanda Shri Sudharshanarama Vihara
6. BALGOLLA: Alankaragobe Purana Vihara
7. BAMBRENDA: Galkanda Purana Vihara
8. BAMUNUGAMA: Raja Maha Vihara
9. BANDARAWELA: Bandarawela Hotel; Broughton Estate; Jayakontarama Vihara
10. BARAGAMA: Vilgam Raja Maha Vihara
11. BATADUWA:Tankiyawaththa Stone Pond
12. BATATOTA: Batatotalena Cave; Kukuluwa Vihara; Manellena Cave; Batticaloa Fort
13. BATTAMGODA: Iddamalgoda Walawwa
14. BEHINJANAKAPURA: Janakapura Ruins
15. BELIATTA: Sri Sunandarama Vihara
16. BELIGALA: Mountain Ruins; Beligala Rock Ruins; Vijayasundararama Vihara; Galgemulahena Land Ruins
17. BELIGALLENAGAMA: Beligallena Cave
18. BELIGAMMANA: Raja Maha Vihara
19. BELIMALIYEDDA: Lendora Raja Maha Vihara
20. BELLAGASWEWA: Karuwalagala Purana Vihara
21. BENDHIYAWA: Kamhathadhmulla Purana Vihara
22. BENDIYAMULLA: Bandiyamulla Tombstone
23. BENTARA: Yathramulla Vanavasa Raja Maha Vihara
24. BENTOTA: Dope Ganekanda Vihara
25. BHIKKADUWA: Jananandanarama Vihara
26. BIBILEMULLA: Raja Maha Vihara
27. BISO KOTUWA: Veherabindayaya Ruins
28. BISOWELA: Purana Gallen Vihara
29. BMELLAGAMA: Thimbiriya Raja Maha Vihara
30. BNAGALA: Nagala Raja Maha Vihara
31. BODHAWELA: Ruins
32. BOGAHAWATTA: Ambalama
33. BOGODA: Raja Maha Vihara
34. BOKAGONNA: Purana Devalaya
35. BOLIYEDDA: Vihara
36. BOLLANASOUTH: Bollana Ancient Ambalama
37. BOLTUMBE: Saman Devalaya
38. BOLTUMBE SISILTONWATTA: Hituwala Galge
39. BOOSA: Sri Sudharashanarama Purana Vihara
40. BOPE: Sri Sudharmarama Vihara
41. BORALESGAMUWA: Paramadhamma Niwasa Piriwena
42. BORELLA: Thilakaratnarama Purana Vihara
43. BOTHALE IHALAGAMA: Patthini Devalaya; Sri Gotabhaya Raja Maha Vihara
44. BOTHALE PAHALAGAMA: Bothale Walawwa
45. BOTHPITIYANORTH: Uruwala Valagamba Raja Maha Vihara
46. BOWELA: Ulugala Raja Maha Vihara
47. BUDDAMA: Purana Vihara
48. BUDDIYAGAMA: Athubodaya Purana Vihara; Seehala Purana Vihara
49. BULATHSINHALA: Devamittarama Purana Vihara
50. BULATHWATTA: Len Vihara
51. BULUPITIYA: Hamanawa Purana Vihara; Nilgala Hela Ruins; Nilgala Ruins
52. BURUNNEWA: Tempita Vihara
53. BUTTALA: Bidunkada Ruins; Maligawila; Rahathan Kanda Aranya Senasana


C

1. COLOMBO: Shelk Usman Valiulah Darga Mosque Alias Davatagaha Mosque; Cargills Building; Clifan Burg House; Chartered Bank Building; Port Custom Building; Port Lighthouse; Port Ruins Of Rampart; Former General Post Office; Grand Oriental Hotel; Lanka Maccanance Macancy Co. Ltd. Building; National Museum Of Colombo; Portland Building; Walker Sons & Co. Building; House Belonging To G S Dabaree ; Delft Gate; Dutch Store Room; Gaffoor Building; Dutch Hospital; Dutch Museum; Olcott Building; Methodist Church; Jawatta Cemetery; St James Building


D

1. DADAGAMUWA: Ancient Gal Edanda; Raja Maha Vihara
2. DAMBAGALLA: Bingoda Purana Vihara
3. DAMBANA: Mawaragala Forest Hermitage
4. DAMBAWINNA: Purana Vihara
5. DAMBEYAYA: Pansalwaththausgala Ruins
6. DAMPAHALA: Vilayaya Purana Raja Maha Vihara
7. DANKUMBURA: Raja Maha Vihara
8. DEBARAWEWA: Menik Raja Maha Vihara; Pashchimarama Vihara
9. DEDARANGAMUWA: Cemetery Of Maduwanwala Family
10. DEDIGAMA: Maha Walauwa; Kondagale Vihara
11. DEDIGAMA DAMBULLA: Galtenovitawatta Ruins
12. DEHIWALA MOUNT LAVINIA: Christ Church Cemetery; Galkissa Samudrasanna Vihara
13. Deiyandara: Kalugala Purana Vihara
14. DELFT: Light House
15. DELGAMUWA: Raja Maha Vihara
16. DELGAMUWA KOVILEWATTE: Kovilewatte Devalaya
17. DELGAWATTA: Sri Sumangalarama Purana Vihara
18. DELIWA: Tapovanarama Vihara; Thera Puththabhaya Arama
19. DELIWALA: Deliwala Kotavehera
20. DEMATADENIKANDA: Jayasundararama Vihara
21. DEMATAGODA: Kayman's Gate; Padanaghara Vihara
22. DEVALEGAMA: Devalaya; Maniyangama Raja Maha Vihara
23. DEVANAGALAGAMA: Raja Maha Vihara
24. DEVINUWARA: Upulwan Devalaya; Raja Maha Vihara
25. DEWALEGAMA: Maha Saman Devalaya
26. DHOWA: Dhowa Rock Temple
27. DICKHENA: Paragasthota Sri Sudharsanarama Vihara
28. DICKWELEGODA: Dagoda
29. DICKYAYA: Andanpahuwa Aranya Senasana
30. DIDDENIYA: Koholankanda Forest Hermitage
31. DIGGALAYAYA: Dambeara Wewa Ruins
32. DIKKAPITIYA: Purana Vihara
33. DIKKUMBURA: Thunnewa Rock Drip Ledgecave
34. DIMBULAGALA: Raja Maha Vihara; Namal Pokuna Monastery
35. DIYALAGODA: St Sebastian Church
36. DIYASUNNA: Keerthi Sri Rajasingha Raja Maha Vihara Rambukkana
37. DODANDUWA: Udugalpitiya Devol Devalaya
38. DODANDUWA DEGALLA: Sri Piyarathana Vidyalaya
39. DODANTALE: Danagirigala Purana Raja Maha Vihara; Udyanegoda Purana Len Vihara
40. DOMBAWALA: Sri Saddharmagupta Piriven Vihara
41. DOOLDENIYA: Kalottuwa Gala Kanda Gallen Vihara
42. DORAWAKA: Lena Cave


E

1. EDDURAGALA: Medikanda Rock Cave
2. EKIRIYAN KUMBURA: Andagala Ruins
3. EKNALIGODA: Walawwa; Gurubalkada Bandara Cemetery
4. ELAMALDENIYA: Raja Maha Vihara
5. ELIHOUSE: Water Tanks
6. ELLA: Hill Oya Raja Maha Vihara; Pattini Devalaya Helahalpe; Viharatenna Archaeological Site
7. ELPITIYA: Cave With Paintings; Ganegoda Raja Maha Vihara
8. ELUWAPITIYA: Sri Bodhirukkharama Purana Vihara
9. ERAMINIYA: Gammana Tempita Purana Vihara
10. ERUWILPORATIVU: Pulukunawa Raja Maha Vihara
11. ETAMPITIYA: Ambalama
12. ETHILIWEWA: Wewa
13. ETHUL KOTTE: Rampart Aninner Moat Ruins
14. ETTAMPITIYA: Fort
15. EUDUGODA: Keselhenawa Purana Vihara


N

1. NELUWAGALA: Vehera Godella Ruins


G

1. GAJANAYAKAGAMA: Pillawela Vihara
2. GALAGODA: Ethkanda Purana Vihara
3. GALAHITIYAWANORTH: Sun Moon Carverock
4. GALAUDA: Ampitiya Archaeological Site
5. GALBOKKA: Weheragala Caves
6. GALEGOLUWA: Raja Maha Vihara
7. GALGANA: Pilimakella Archaeological Ruins
8. Galketa Kanda: Rotumba Budugala Raja Maha Vihara
9. GALKOTUWA: Viharagoda Vihara
10. GALLE: Prison; Thuwakkugalawatta Purana Vihara; Magistrate's Court; Atapattu Walawwa; Fort; Galwadugoda Purana Vihara
11. GALPATA: Sonagiri Gallen Tapowana Vihara; Bisokotuwa Lake
12. GALWEWA: Raja Maha Vihara
13. GAMPAHA: Sri Sugatharama Purana Vihara; Henarathgoda Railway Station
14. GANDARA: Raja Maha Vihara; Maha Walawwa
15. GANEGAMA: Aramanapola Vihara
16. GANEGODA: Cave Temple
17. GANEKANDA: Walagamba Raja Maha Vihara
18. GANELANDAGAMA: Diyavinna Devagiri Purana Gallen Vihara
19. GANETENNA: Kamburupitiya Sri Sudharmarama Purana Vihara
20. GANGODAGAMA PALLEDENIGODA: Galapatha Purana Vihara
21. GILIMALE: Sri Rankoth Raja Maha Vihara
22. GINIHAPPITIYA: Purana Vihara
23. GIRAIMBULA: Wooden Bridge
24. GIRANDURUKOTTE: School Premises Ruins
25. GIRIKULUWA: Sri Prabodharama Purana Vihara
26. GODAGEDARA: Deeparama Vihara
27. GODAKAWELA: Balawinna Purana Gangarama Vihara; Sri Mahinda Raja Maha Vihara
28. GODAPITIYA: Godapitiya Mohideen Jumma Mosque; Sri Sudharshanarama Vihara
29. GODAPOLA: Kehelwathugoda Galliyadda Ruins
30. GODAPORUGALA: Kadademugala Archaeological Site
31. GODEGAMA: Vihara
32. GODIGAMUWA: Ihalagodigamuwa Ruins; Bibile Oya Pilimalena Vihara
33. GONAGANARA: Neluwagala Kanda Vihara; Walagamba Raja Maha Vihara
34. GONAPINUWALA: Sri Shylakutharama Purana Vihara
35. GONDIWELA: Tempita Vihara
36. GORAKANA SOUTH: Purana Kande Vihara
37. GOTHAMEEGAMA: Ruins
38. GOTHAMIPURA: Gotami Vihara
39. GURUGAMUWA: Pattini Devalaya Lindamulla


H

1. HABARADUWA: Devagiri Vihara
2. HABARUGALA: Mulagiri Aranya Senasana
3. HADAGAMA: Malakariya Ruins
4. HAKMANA: Ruwankanda Raja Maha Vihara; Thorawita Raja Maha Vihara; Umangala Raja Maha Vihara
5. HAKURUWELA: Raja Maha Vihara
6. HALDUMMULLA: Purana Vihara; Limestone Cave
7. HALI ELA: Ganetenna Purana Raja Maha Vihara
8. HALLATTHUTHENNA: Judicial Court
9. HALMILLAKETIYA: Halmillaketiya Tope
10. HALWALA KANDA: Bulathwathu Kanda Ruins; Pawrekanda Purana Vihara
11. HAMBANTOTA: Prison Wall; Court Complex's Main Building; Gallows; Lighthouse; Henry Jones Tombstone; Martello Tower
12. HAMBEGAMUWA: Nikevehera Vihara; Pashchimarama Vihara
13. HANDAPANAGALA: Kanabisopokuna Raja Maha Vihara
14. HANWELLA: Canal Around the Old Dutch Fort; Two Seats In The Hanwella Rest House
15. Hapuketiya: Passara Raja Maha Vihara
16. HAPUTALE: Circuit Bungalow; Haputale Forest Office; Reheddegala Forest Hermitage; Soragune Devalaya; Velanhinna Fort
17. HAPUTALEGAMA: Sri Bimbarama Raja Maha Vihara
18. HAPUWANA: Kshestrarama Purana Vihara
19. HARIGALA IDDAMALPANA: Keerthi Sri Rajasinghe Raja Maha Vihara Galigamuwa
20. HEBARAWA: Hebarawa Ruins
21. HEBESSA: Ruins
22. HEENATIGAHAMULA: Kottamba Sri Subadhrarama Vihara
23. HEIYANTHUDUWA: Purana Vihara
24. HELAGAMA: Devagiri Aranya Senasana
25. HELAMADA: Ganekanda Raja Maha Vihara
26. HENPITA: Embulgama Raja Maha Vihara
27. HERALIYAWALA: Sri Sudharmarama Vihara
28. HEWADIWELA: Miniyapitiyawatta Ruins; Vivekarama Vihara
29. HIKGODA: Sri Sudharmarama Vihara
30. HINDAGODA: Kotalawala Walawwa
31. HINGULA: Raja Maha Vihara
32. HINGURAKGODA: Halmilla Wewa Ruins
33. HINGURUKADUWA: Ampitigoda Purana Vihara
34. HOBARIYAWA: Purana Vihara
35. HOKANDARA NORTH: Hokandara Purana Vihara
36. HOLOMBUWA: Ruins; Pattini Devalaya; Streepura Gallen Vihara; Budugalge Purana Vihara
37. HORANA: Raja Maha Vihara
38. HULFTSDORP WEST ANKESELWATTA: Court Complex
39. HUNGAMPOLA: Sri Guharama Purana Vihara
40. HUNUPITIYA EAST: Sri Vijayasundararama Vihara


I

1. IDDAMADUWA: Iddamaduwa Ruins
2. IHALA MAWELA: Mawela Purana Gallen Vihara
3. IHALA WADIYAGAMA: Stupa
4. ILLUKPELESSA: Coffee Factory
5. ILLUPPAIKADAVAI: Padavuthurai
6. ILUKGODA: Shaila Kanthrama Vihara
7. INDHIGAS ELLA: Bambaragala Nikiniyagoda Caves
8. IRRANAI ILUPPAIKULAM: Iluppaikulam Sivan Temple


J

1. JAFFNA: Palace Ruins; Yamuna Eri Pond
2. JEEWANA: Raja Maha Vihara


K

1. KACHCHERIYAGAMA: Awasakanda Archaeological Ruins
2. KACHCHILAMADU: Pandara Vanniyan Monument; Pandara Vanniyan Ruins
3. KADIRAGODA: Nuga Tree
4. KADIRANA: Kandawala Water Level Measurement Pillar
5. KADURUGAMUWA: St Andrew's Church
6. KAGALLA: Galapatha Raja Maha Vihara
7. KAHAGAL VIHARAGODA: Kasagala Vihara
8. KAHAMBANA: Ambagolla Thislen Vihara
9. KAHATARUPPA: Urumtenna Purana Vihara
10. KAHATHTHEWELA: Ambalama
11. KAHAVILGODA: Elgiriya Raja Maha Vihara
12. KALALPITIYA: Dhathukanda Sri Jinendarama Purana Raja Maha Vihara
13. KALIKKADU: Kalikkadu Ruins
14. KALMUNEI: Olsurvey Post
15. KALUTARA: Gangatilake Devalaya; Nigrodharama Vihara; Official Residence Of High Court Judge; Pulinatalarama Vihara
16. KALUWAMODARA: Kalyanarama Purana Vihara; Kande Vihara
17. KALUWELLA: Cathedral Of The Mother Of Rosary; The House Bearing Assessment
18. KALVILAN: Ruins
19. KAMBURUGAMUWA: Halvinna Sri Jaya Maha Vihara
20. KANATHIRIYANWELA: Elugala Purana Tempita Vihara; St Anthony's Roman Catholic Church; Wehera Sindayaya Ruins
21. KANAVEGALLA: Stone Inscription
22. KANDANGAMUWA: Madarasinharama Vihara
23. KANDASURINDUGAMA: Cave Temple
24. KANDE: Pothgulgala Forest Hermitage
25. KANDE VIHARAGAMA: Purana Gallen Raja Maha Vihara
26. KANESAPURAM: Ruins
27. KANUGOLLA: Shailabimbarama Vihara
28. KANUKETIGODA: Poorwarama Vihara
29. KAPPATIPOLA: Tampita Vihara
30. KAPUGODA: St Vicenthi Home
31. KARAGAMPITIYA: Subodharama Purana Vihara
32. KARAMBAKADU Samanankulam: Ruins
33. KARANDUGALA: Ruins
34. KARANGODA: Pothgul Raja Maha Len Vihara
35. KARAPITIYA: Sunandarama Purana Vihara
36. KARAVILAKANATTE: Nayagala Aranya Senasana
37. KARIYAGAMA: Raja Maha Vihara
38. KATAGAMUWA: Nandimitra Stupa
39. KATALUWA: Atadage Walawwa
40. KATARAGAMA: Kataragama Temple
41. KATUWANA: Fort; Sri Vihara
42. KAWUDAWA: Purana Vihara
43. KAWUDUGMA: Vihara
44. KEERAHENA: Purana Vihara
45. KEERAHENA UDABAGE: Keerahena Gallen Vihara
46. KEGALLE: Jubilee Ambalama
47. KEHELLANDA: Bingoda Purana Vihara
48. KEHELWATHUGODA: Galkande Deniya Kumbura Ruins
49. KEKULA: Kabara Rock Cave
50. KELAMBUGAHA Athura: Waldehi Katuwa Akuru Ketugala Inscriptions
51. KELANIYA: Raja Maha Vihara
52. KEMPITIKANDA: Bodhirukkarama Purana Vihara
53. KEPPETIPOLA: Fort; Sri Somananda Pirivena
54. KERAGALA: Purana Vihara
55. KERAMINIYA: Raja Maha Vihara
56. KERIDAMADU: Ruins
57. KESELPOTHA: Rambaken Vihara
58. KEWELAGALA: Ruins
59. KIMBULAWALA: Galabedda Sri Pana Vihara
60. KINCHIGUNE SOUTH: Kolaberiya Elagawa Watta Archaeological Ruins
61. KIRAWANAGAMA: Raja Maha Vihara
62. KIRIBATHGODA: Sudarshanarama Vihara
63. KIRIELLA: Ellawala Sri Gangarama Purana Vihara; Nedun Raja Maha Vihara
64. KIRIIBBANWEWA: Nayaru Dagoba
65. KITHULGODA: Ganegodella Purana Raja Maha Vihara
66. KITULGALA: Belilena
67. KIVULAYAYA: Mandagala Vihara
68. KLUBULLANDA: Purana Vihara
69. KOKAVIL: Ruins
70. KOKDUWA: Siripawara Bodhirajarama Vihara
71. KOKUNNEWA: Vihara
72. KOLLAVALAMKULAM: Nagathambran Kovil Ruins
73. KOLONNA: Aththarama Purana Vihara; Dapane Sri Jayasundararama Raja Maha Vihara
74. KOLONWINNA: Ganulpotha Purana Vihara
75. KOMARIKA: Dehigaskanda Mineral Mine
76. KONEGASMANKADA: Walipatha Puhulyaya Purana Vihara
77. KONKATIYA: Budugallena Aranya Senasana; Aluthwela Vihara; Purana Vihara
78. KORATOTA: Raja Maha Vihara
79. KOROSDOOVA: Vivekarama Vihara
80. KOSKANDAWALA: Ancient Caves; Raja Maha Vihara; Parewigala Drip Ledgecave
81. KOSLANDA: Ariyawansarama Vihara
82. KOSPILLEWA: Panasavanarama Vihara
83. KOSSINNA: Raja Maha Vihara
84. KOTADENIYAWA: Ambagahalanda Watta Walawwa
85. KOTAHENA: Central Kovil Rest Hall; Deepaduththarama Vihara; St Lucia's Cathedral
86. KOTALAWALA: Sankhapitti Vihara
87. KOTAVEHERA: Pulinathalarama Vihara
88. KOTAVEHERAGALA: Selamali Chaithya
89. KOTAWERA: Kahatathalawa Naa Bodhi
90. KOTHAPALUWA ANRANWALA: Asokarama Forest Hermitage
91. KOTIYAGALA: Wattegama Purana Vihara
92. KOTIYAGODA: Kotiyagoda Purana Vihara
93. KOTTAKAMBOK: Rathmalvehera Purana Vihara
94. KOTTEGODA; Siriwardhanarama Vihara; Sudarshanabimbharama Vihara
95. KOTTEGODAKADANA: Galge Pitiya Purana Vihara
96. KOTTIMBULWALA: Len Vihara
97. KUDABOLANA MALAYU’S COLONY: Veheragoda Stupa
98. KUDAGALAYAYA: Veeppannagala Rock Ruins
99. KUDALIGAMA: Sri Vishnu Pattini Devalaya
100. KUDAPAYAGALA: Payagala Police Station
101. KUKULEGAMA: Nerawanalena Cave At Sri Sumana Gallen Vihara
102. KULAMMURIPPU: Ruins
103. KUMARAKANDA: Purana Vihara
104. KUMARAPURAM: Sri Chithravelaudam
105. KUMARAWATTA: Sitakanda Aranya Senasana
106. KUMBALGAMA: Ethulwatta Walawwa
107. KUPPIYAWATTA; Jayasekararama Vihara
108. KURAGALA: Gallen Raja Maha Vihara
109. KURUDANA: Gangathilaka Vihara
110. KURUGAMA: Rakhithakanda Purana Vihara
111. KURUNTHUHINNA: Dawson’s Rest House
112. KURUVITA: Devipahala Na Tree
113. KURUWITA: Purana Vihara


L

1. LAKSHAPATHIYA: Kshetrarama Maha Vihara
2. LEGAMA: Kotasa Ruins
3. LENAGAMPALA: Purana Viharaa
4. LENDORUMULLA: Wathudeni Raja Maha Vihara
5. LEWKE: Walawwa Anbuddha Shrine
6. LEWKE DODANTALE: Aluth Nuwara Devalaya Ruins; Sri Seneviratne Uposatha Raja Maha Vihara
7. LINDARA: Raja Maha Vihara
8. LOLLEHELA: Mount Ruins
9. LOLUWAGODA: Pothgul Vihara
10. LUNUWATTA: Mana Ella Archaeological Reserve; Minuwangamuwa Vihara


M

1. MABOTUNNA: Vihara
2. MADEIYAWA: Tharanagala Ruins
3. MADHUWA: Sudharamarama Purana Vihara
4. MADURUPITIYA: Thotewatta Patthini Devalaya
5. MADUWANWELA: Walawwa
6. MAGALKANDA: Parama Chethiyarama Vihara
7. MAGGONA: St Francis Church; St Mary's Church
8. MAHABOLANA: Uchchawalitha Raja Maha Vihara]
9. MAHAGAMA: Oorusitawewa Ruins
10. MAHAGAMMEDDA: Sri Dharmaguptha Pirivena
11. MAHAGODAYAYA: Devagiri Aranya Senasana; Rahatunkanda Buddharakkhitha Aranya Senasana
12. MAHALLOLUWA: Sri Saddharmarama Vihara; Sri Sudarshanarama Vihara
13. MAHARA: Purana Vihara
14. MAHAWALATENNA: Puskada Cave
15. MAHAWALATHENNA: Sri Chandrasekara Purana Vihara
16. MAHIYANGANA: Raja Maha Vihara; Saman Devalaya
17. MAHIYANGANAYA: Hehelayaya Ruins
18. MAKANDURA: Maha Walawwa; Purana Vihara
19. MAKULADENIYA: Purana Raja Maha Vihara
20. MAKURA: Dharmarathanarama Vihara; Makura Vihara
21. MALADENIYA: Shylakantharama Purana Vihara; Ambalena Cave
22. MALIGAKANDA: Maha Bodhi Vihara; Vidyodaya Pirivena
23. MALIGAWATTA: Muslim Cemetery; Railway Premises
24. MALLAHEWA: Kotasara Piyangala Raja Maha Vihara
25. MALWATHUHIRIPITIYA: MALIGATENNA Raja Maha Vihara
26. MAMPITAGAMA: Mampita Purana Gallen Raja Maha Vihara; Tholangamuwa Purana Vihara
27. MANABHARANA: Raja Maha Vihara
28. MANGALAGAMA: Ambalama
29. MANGALATIRIYA: Miriswatta Gallen Vihara
30. MANGEDARA: Mahawatta Purana Vihara
31. MANINTHALE: Shiva Kovil Ruins
32. Mannagoda: Tempita Vihara
33. MANNAKANDAL: Kanniyar Kovil Ruins
34. MANNAR: Fort
35. MAPAKADA: Mapagala Vehera Archaeological Site
36. MAPAKADAWEWA: Mapagoda Weheragodella Ruins
37. MARADANA: Beruwala Lighthouse; Railway Station Store Room; Samadhi Grahaya In Kalandar Sahib Waliyulla Muslim Mosque
38. MARAGALA: Gallengoda Raja Maha Vihara
39. MARAKOLLIYA HENAKADUWA: Sri Sudarshanarama Vihara Henakaduwa
40. MASSALA: Sapugoda Sri Maha Vihara
41. MATARA: Building In Gelisvenaroy Watte; Dutch Reformed Church; The Archaic Walawwa; Land Registry; The Coast View Building; The Governor’s Official Residence; The Special Detention Cell Of The Prison; The VIP Bungalow; Matara Square Wall; Rampart Ammunition Store Star Fort
42. MATIYAMULLA: Payagala Swarnarama Vihara
43. MAWANELLA: Bridge; Udyanagoda Purana Len Vihara
44. MAYILLA: Kotiyagala Len Vihara
45. MEDAGAMA: Hathporuwa Vihara; Kosmandiya Aranya Senasana; Poyamalu Vihara
46. MEDAGODA: Ambalama
47. MEDAGODA AMITIRIGALA: Siddha Pattini Devalaya Medagoda
48. MEDAKEEMBIYA EAST: Sri Kshetrarama Purana Vihara
49. MEDAMULANA: Sri Bodhimalu Purana Raja Maha Vihara
50. MEDAPITIYA: Neelagiri Purana Vihara
51. MEDAWELA: Udukinda Jinapothikarama Vihara
52. MEDDEGAMA: Raja Maha Vihara
53. MEDILIYAGAMA: Raja Maha Vihara
54. MEDIRIGIRIYA: Vatadage
55. MEEGAHAGODA: Purana Vihara
56. MEEGALLA: Viharagala Drip Ledgecave
57. MEENVILLA: Somawathiya Chaitya
58. MEEPE: Ambalama
59. MEEYAGALA: Purana Vihara
60. MELLAGAMA: Kotabowa Kuda Kataragama Devala
61. METIKOTAMULLA: Saddharamathilakarama Vihara
62. MIDDHARAMULLA: Kshetrarama Purana Vihara
63. MILAGIRIYA: Fellows Lelah House
64. MILLAKEWA GIRANDURUKOTTE: Hanguma Purana Vihara
65. MINNERIYA: Nagalakanda Mahasen Monastery
66. MIRIHANA: Jubilee Post
67. MOLOKGAMUWA THUNBEWULA: Wijayabahu Raja Maha Vihara
68. MONARAGALA: Weheradivulana Archaeological Site
69. MORAGALA: Ambanoluwa Raja Maha Vihara
70. MORAGALLA: Dhammikarama Purana Vihara
71. MORAGAMMANA: Mayurapada Vihara
72. MORATTAMULLA: Nagala Raja Maha Vihara
73. MOTTUNNA: Kiritarama Vihara
74. MULKIRIGALA: Mulkirigala Raja Maha Vihara
75. MULLAITIVU: Fort
76. MULLEGAMA: Mulgiri Purana Vihara
77. MULLENDIYAAWALA: Sri Thaalarukkaaraama Vihara
78. MURUNGASYAYAWEST: Middeniya Purana Vihara
79. MUTHTHAIYANKADDU KULAM: Muththaiyankaddu Lake Ruins
80. MUTHUKELIYAWA: Katugahagalge Purana Len Vihara
81. MUWAPITIYA: Sri Sudharmarama Tempita Vihara


N

1. Naape: Kosgoda Ganegodella Purana Vihara
2. NAITHTHIKKAIKULAM: Ruins
3. NALAGAMA: Ganegoda Purana Vihara
4. NALLA: Madabavita Raja Maha Vihara; Yaka Bendi Ella
5. NAMALUWA: Archaeological Site
6. NANGALLA: Hunuwala Raja Maha Vihara
7. NANNAPURAWA: Ahungoda Purana Vihara
8. NAPE: Ganegodella Purana Vihara Kosgoda; Ganegodella Rajamaha Vihara
9. NARANGASKOTUWA: Malwana Fort
10. NAVAGAMUWA: Pattini Devalaya; Raja Maha Viahara
11. NAWAGAMUWA SOUTH: Andudola Kanda Archaeological Ruins
12. NEDIGAMWILA: Archaeological Ruins
13. NEGOMBO: Saint Stephen's Church; Fort; The Ancient Magazine
14. NELUWANTHUDUWA: Two Drip Ledgerock Caves
15. NEVISMERE: Lower Village Ruins
16. NEWOLKELE: Mahatissa Len Senasuna
17. NIHILUWA: Galkote Raja Maha Vihara
18. NIKAWALAMULLA HAKURUGALA: Hakurugala Raja Maha Vihara
19. NILMALGODA: Karandulen Vihara
20. NILWAKKA: Raja Maha Vihara
21. NIRAVIYA: Uyilankulam Ruins
22. NIWATUWA: Athnawala Watta Ruins
23. NIWUNHELLA: Peelahenawatta Ruins
24. NIYANGAMA: Udaha Walawwa
25. NUGATALAWA: Divurumwela Raja Maha Vihara; Divurumwela Raja Maha Vihara
26. NUPE: Old Nupe Market; Sarammudali Walauwa


O

1. OBADAELLA: Sudarmarama Purana Vihara
2. OKKAMPITIYA: Dambegoda Bodhisatva Statue; Dematamal Viharaya
3. OLAWENIGAMA: Kolawenigama Raja Maha Vihara
4. OMALPE: Tempita Vihara
5. OMBAGAHAWELA: Gonsarudawa Archaeological Reserve
6. OVITIGALA: Sunandarama Vihara


P

1. PAHALA KADUGANNAWA: Ambalama
2. PAHALA KIMBIYA: Shailavarama Purana Raja Maha Vihara
3. PAHALA KOTAVEHERA: Kotavehera Vihara
4. PAHALA MANIYANGAMA: Sitawaka Fort
5. PAHALA YAGODA: Sugathanandanarama Vihara
6. PAHALAGAMA: Yatawatta Purana Vihara
7. PAHALAGAMAVEVALDENIYA: Yayagala Purana Vihara
8. PAHALAKARAGAHAMUNA: Gal Edanda Raja Maha Vihara; Ancient Pond
9. PAHALATHALDUUWA: Berendi Kovil
10. PAIBEKKA: Godavaya Vihara
11. PALAIYAMURUKANDY: Ambalavikulam Ruins
12. PALATOTA: Ammunition Store
13. PALEPPANI: Ruins; Periyathehilamkulam Ruins
14. PALKUMBURA: Kota Veherawatta Stupa
15. PALLAWELA: Kirthi Sri Thejovanarama Vihara
16. PALLEBEDDA: Sankhapala Raja Maha Vihara
17. PALLEGAMA: Kavantissa Raja Maha Vihara
18. PALLEROTA: Ramba Raja Maha Vihara
19. PALLEWELA: Kirivehera Raja Maha Vihara
20. PALLIMUNAI: Mannar Baobab Tree
21. PAMANKADA: Balapokuna Raja Maha Vihara
22. PANADURA: Rankoth Vihara
23. PANANGALA: Gangarama Vihara
24. PANAWENNA: Abayathilakarama Vihara
25. PANGAMVILYAYA: Nakadawala Vihara
26. PARANAKADE: Ketchchimalai Mosque
27. PARAPAWA: Parapawa Raja Maha Vihara
28. Pathagangoda: Ambarukkharama Maha Vihara
29. PAYAGALA: Moola Maha Vihara; St Francis Xaviour Church
30. PEHERAMBE: Ruins
31. PELENDA: Weediya Bandara Palace Ruins
32. PELIYAGODA: Vidyalankara Pirivena
33. PELMADULLA: Galpoththawala Purana Vihara; Sudharmodaya Raja Maha Vihara; Tomb Of Iddamalgoda Basnayake Nilame; Sri Sudharmarama Vihara Pelmadulla
34. PENATIYAMA: Sri Chethiyarama Purana Vihara
35. PEPILIYANA: Sunetradevi Raja Maha Vihara
36. PERARU: Ruins
37. PETHANGODA: Uyana; Dharmalankara Pirivena
38. PIDALIGANAWANIYADAGALA: Niyandagala Purana Gallen Vihara
39. PILAPITIYA: St Mary's Church
40. PILIKUTHTHUWA: Kitulgolla Cave; Raja Maha Vihara; Raja Maha Vihara; Viharakanda Cave; Viharakandawatta Cave
41. PIMBURA: Gulana Cave
42. PITAKOTTE: Gal Ambalama; Pita Kotte Raja Maha Vihara
43. PITAKUMBURAGAMA: Wilehigoda Raja Maha Vihara
44. PITAMARUWA: Raja Maha Vihara
45. PKAILAGODA: Walawwa
46. PODAPE: Purana Vihara
47. POKUNUWITA: Raja Maha Vihara
48. POLKOTUWA: St Anne's Catholic Church
49. POLWATTA: Gangarama Vihara
50. POONERYN: Gautharmunei Shiva Kovil Ruins.; Pooneryn Fort
51. POTHUWILA: Veherakanda Purana Vihara
52. PUBUDU WEWA: Neluwagala Kanda Purana Vihara
53. PUDAMAYAYA: Ruins
54. PULUMACHCHINADAKULAM: Lake Ruins
55. PUTHTHUVEDDUVAN: Marandakulam Ruins; Ruins
56. PUVAKDANDAWA: Panchathuparama Purana Vihara


R

1. RADAWELA: Aththadassa Raja Maha Vihara
2. RADDALGODA: Sri Jinendrarama Vihara
3. RAIGAMA: Pathaha Watta Ruins
4. RAJAGIRIYA: Obeysekera Walawwa
5. RALUWA: Raluwa Tanketiya Watta Archaeological Ruins
6. RAMBUKANAGAMA: Weheragodaella Ruins
7. RAMBUKKANA: Raja Maha Vihara
8. RAMBUKPOTHA: Maha Walawwa; Purana Vihara
9. RANAKELIYA: Uddakandara Puarana Vihara
10. RANAKELIYA NORTH: Sandagiri Seya
11. RANCHAGODA: Padinnoruwa Vihara
12. RANDILIGAMA: Sidda Pattini Devalaya
13. RANDIWELA: Sri Saranathilakarama Vihara
14. RANNA: Kahadagala Sri Dhammadhinna Vihara; Kahadawa Purana Vihara
15. RANPOKUNAGAMA: Maimbula Gallen Vihara
16. RATMALANA: Pushparama Vihara; Ratmalana Dewala Watta
17. RATNAPURA: Dewalegawa Galkaduwa Purana Len Vihara; Ehelepola Walawwa; National Gem & Jewellery Authority Building; DIG Office Building; Ratnapura District Court Official Residence; Dutch Fort; Guest House; Library Building; Portuguese Fort; Regional Survey Office Building; SP Office Building; SSP Office Building; Traffic Police Office Building; St Aloysius National School Building; St Paul & Saint Peter Cathedral
18. RAVANA ELLA: Ella Vihara
19. REKAWA: Jaya Maha Vihara
20. RICHMOND HILL; Methodist Church Galle
21. RIDEEMALIYADDA: Potawa Ambalama
22. RIDIMALIYADDE SOUTH: Kanugolla Shailabimbarama Vihara
23. RITIGAHAWATTA: Kadala Veherawatte Ruins
24. RUWANAWELLA: Bridge; Jubilee Ambalama


S

1. SAKKRAKANDHA: Ruins
2. SALGALA: Forest Hermitage
3. SAMANABEDDA: Ganegoda Watta Archaeological Ruins; Ganeuda Raja Maha Vihara
4. SANDAGIRIGAMA: Punchi Akurugoda Archaeological Ruins
5. SANNASGAMA: Kiriweldeniya Purana Vihara
6. SAPUGAHAYAYA: Hellala Dakshina Purana Vihara
7. SAPUGASKANDA: Raja Maha Vihara
8. SAPUGODA: Vidyanikethana Piriven Vihara
9. SELAWA: Purana Raja Maha Vihara
10. SELAWA WEST: Purana Raja Maha Vihara
11. SHIVANAGAR: Kovil Ruins
12. SILAVATHURAI: Doric Bungalow
13. SIRIPURAGAMA: Vidimaga Purana Vihara
14. SIYAMBALAPITIYA: Purana Vihara
15. SIYAMBARAAHENA: Niloluwa Adidhunu Palama
16. SLAVE ISLAND: Army Recruiting Office Building
17. SOORIYAPOKUNA: Raja Maha Vihara
18. SOORIYAWEWA: Karabagala Aranya Senasana
19. SORANATHOTA: Buduge Kanda Raja Maha Vihara; Pattini Devalaya Kohovila
20. SRI JAYAWARDENEPURA KOTTE: Alakeshwara Archaeological Site; Lambrick Hall; Moat; Siri Perakumba Pirivena; Tunnel At Kotte Ananda Sastralaya
21. SUDUPANAWELA: Weligam Vehara Purana Vihara


T

1. TALANGAMUWA: Henahela Veedhiya Ruins
2. TALAWANORTH: Talawa Sri Bodhialakarama Vihara
3. TALAWATTA: Levangama Tempita Vihara
4. TALGAHAHENA: Sri Sumanarama Vihara
5. TALGASPITIYA: Deniyatenna Vihara
6. TALPITIYA: Daladawaththa Purana Vihara
7. TANGALLE: Court Complex
8. TELWATTA: Thotagamu Rathapath Raja Maha Vihara
9. THABANA: Devagiri Vihara
10. THADDAYAMALAI: Ruins
11. THALAGAMAEAST: Thalagama Raja Maha Vihara
12. THANAMALVILA: Pilimahela Ruins
13. THELANGAPATHA: Sri Sudharmarama Vihara
14. THELIKADA: Ampitiya Devalaya; Sri Sunandarama Purana Vihara
15. THELWATHTHA: Rathpath Rajamaha Vihara
16. THENNIYANKULAM: Ruins
17. THIHARIYA: Warana Raja Maha Vihara
18. THIHAVA: Archaeological Ruins
19. THIMBIRIGASYAYA: Bans Hall
20. THIMBIRIPOLA: Raja Lena; Ranpothagala
21. THIMBIRIYAGAMA: Thimbiriya Raja Maha Vihara
22. THIRUWANAKATIYA: Ganegoda Purana Vihara; Wanawasa Pansala
23. THISSAMAHARAMA: Kirinda Maha Vihara; Sithulpawwa Rajamaha Viharaya; Raja Maha Vihara; Yatala Vehera
24. THORAPITIYA: Weherahinna Archaeological Ruins
25. THUNKEMGALA: Raja Maha Vihara
26. TIRUKETHEESWARAM: Ketheeswaram Temple
27. TISSAMAHARAMA: Old Market


U

1. UDAARAWA: Veherayaya Ruins
2. UDABERAGAMA: Beragama Punyawardhanarama Vihara; Beragama Vilgam Vehera
3. UDAGALA DENIYA: Damunu Kanda Mukalana Anneeraviya Hena Ruins
4. UDAGAMA: Stupa
5. UDAGOMADIYA: Kesel Watta Vihara
6. UDAMMITA: Purana Vihara; Raja Maha Vihara
7. UDAWATTA: Sri Sunandarama Vihara
8. UDAYALA: Kasagala Raja Maha Vihara
9. UDUGAMA: Nawagamuwa Raja Maha Vihara; Purana Raja Maha Vihara
10. UDUGAMPOLA: Purana Vihara
11. UDUPPIDDY: Veerapattiyar Kovil
12. UDUTHUNGIRIPITIYA: The Drip Ledgerock Cave Access Steps
13. UDUWAKA: Purana Gallen Raja Maha Vihara
14. UGGALBODA: Uggalboda Vihara
15. UGGALKALTOTA: Medabedda Pallekanda Yaya Ruins
16. UHANGODA: Gallalla Raja Maha Sath Pathini Dewalaya
17. UNANVITA: Alagoda Walawwa
18. UNAWATUNA: Raja Maha Vihara
19. UPPER LENAGALA: Lenakaduwa Vihara
20. URANEEYA: Nagadeepa Raja Maha Vihara Uraneeya
21. URAWATHTHA: Gangarama Vihara
22. URUBOKKA: Wall Built During Dutch Period
23. URUMALAI: Mannar Island Lighthouse
24. UTHUWAMBOGAHAWATTA: Sri Sudarshanarama Vihara Mirigama
25. UTHUWANA: Ruins
26. UTTUPULAMI: Uttupulam Ruins
27. UVA KETAWALA: Ketawala Ambalama
28. UVA KOSGAMA: Kosgama Walawwa
29. UYILANKULAM: Ambalaperumal Lake Ruins


V

1. VADUWELIVITIYA: Gangarama Vihara
2. VAGEGODA: Rankothmaluwa Vihara
3. VEEDURUPOLA: Vihara
4. VEHERAGALA: Archaeological Site
5. VEHERAWATTA: Veherawatta Vihara
6. VEHERAYAYA: Keheliya Raja Maha Vihara
7. VEHERAYAYAGAMA: Sellaba Purana Raja Maha Vihara
8. VELLAKULAM: Ruins
9. VERAGAMPITA: The House In Which Gajaman Nona Lived
10. VERAGODA: Ruins; Walagamba Gallen Raja Maha Vihara
11. VETTAMBUGALA: Vettambugala Ruins
12. VIHARA MULLA: Muppane Raja Maha
13. VIHARAWELA: Ihalagalagama Gallen Raja Maha Vihara
14. VILLAGODA: Ambalama
15. VINAYAGAPURAM: Ruins


W

1. WADDUWA: Vivekarama Vihara
2. WALAGAMA: Ira Handa Gala
3. WALALGODA: Purana Tempita Vihara
4. WALANDAKARE: Ruins
5. Walawwatta: Bibile Walawwa
6. WALIPATHYAAYA: Lanka Pabbatha Gallen Raja Maha Vihara
7. WALPOLA : Ihala Walpola Sri Gawthamaramaya Purana Vihara
8. WARAAWELA MUDUGAMUWA: Dhunu Palama
9. WARAKAGODA: Gallen Raja Maha Vihara; Ganeuda Purana Vihara; Ganeuda Vihara; Ruins; Ganeudawaththa Ruins; Weheragodellawatta Site
10. WARAPALANA: Sri Jinendrarama Vihara
11. WARAPITIYA: Sittam Gallena Raja Maha Vihara; Weharakotuwa Archaeological Ruins
12. WARUNAGAMA Weerasekaragama: Ruins
13. WASKADUBEDDA DELDOOVA: Ganewatta Purana Vihara
14. WASKADUWA: Subuthi Vihara
15. WATHTHEGAMA: Viharamulla Galketiya Ruins
16. WATHTHEGAMA VIHARAMULLA: Wattegama Miyangodapitiya Ruins
17. WATHURA: Raja Maha Vihara
18. WATTARAMA: Forest Hermitage; Raja Maha Vihara
19. WATTE GEDARA: Vipashyarama Vihara
20. WATTUKANDA: Purana Vihara
21. WAUWULUGALA: Sri Damma Rakkhitharama Purana Vihara
22. WEEDIYAGODA: Raja Maha Vihara
23. WEERAKETIYA: Konthagala Raja Maha Vihara
24. WEHELLA: Weluwanarama Purana Vihara
25. WEHERAGALA: Purana Vihara
26. WELEKADE: Old Market Complex
27. WELIARA: Weligam Vehera Purana Vihara
28. WELIGAMA: Agrabodhi Raja Maha Vihara; Kowilakanda Purana Vihara; Kushtarajagala; Rajakula Wadana Raja Maha Vihara
29. WELIPILLEWA: Purana Vihara
30. WELIPITIYA: Vehera Kotha Kanda Vihara
31. WELITARA: Mahakappitha Walawwa; Sri Pushparama Vihara Balapitiya
32. WELIWATTA: Wijeyananda Piriven Vihara
33. WELIYAYA: Mayuragiri Purana Vihara
34. WELLASSAGAMA: Rahathankanda Aranya Senasana
35. WELLAWAYA: Buduruvagala; Kithulkotte Henyaya Archaeological Reserve; Telulla Ruins
36. WERAGALA: Purana Sriwardhenarama Vihara
37. WERAGAMPITA: Raja Maha Vihara
38. WERAGODA: Kshetrarama Purana Vihara; Seenigama Devalaya
39. WETENNA: Sri Shyla Vivekaramaya Alias Pansalwatta


Y

1. YAKKALAMULLA: Udumalagala Sri Gangarama Purana Vihara
2. YAKKHADURAWA: Sri Vehera Pudama Vihara
3. YATIMAHANA: Budulena Gala Raja Maha Vihara; Banagegoda Ambalama
4. YATIYALLATHOTA: Archaeological Reserve
5. YODAKANDIYA: Naga Maha Vihara
6. YONGAMMULLA: Ambagahahena Cave; Kekirihena Cave; Midigahalanda Cave
7. YUDAGANAWA: Yudaganawa Vihara

Durbar, Kandy

Illustration by Henry Payne of The Duke of York and Cornwall at the Durbar in Kandy in 1901. Public Domain.

Pulahatta, King of Anuradhapura

The twenty-second (invader) monarch of the Vijayan Period (543 BCE - 66 CE), the dates of his reign being 103 BCE – 100 BCE.

One of 7 Dravidian chiefs from the Pandyan Dynasty, in South India, Pulahatta seized the throne from the reigning Anuradhapuran king, Valagamba, in 103 BCE. His successes in so wining himself a kingdom would have come with troubling ease for Anuradhapuran had been seriously weakened by decades of misrule, drought, and plague. Valagamba himself had only been king for a few months before being ousted. But the defeated king smartly manage to avoid death, fleeing south to the relative safety of Ruhana and leaving the new Pandyan interlopers to loot within the much reduced boundaries of the Anuradhapuran Kingdom. One of Pulahatta’s most significant and (as it turned out) ruinous decisions was to appoint his fellow Dravidian chief, Bahiya as his chief minister - for by 100 BCE Bahiya had murdered Pulahatta.

Upatissa I, King of Anuradhapura

The twenty second monarch of the Lambakanna Dynasty (1st Period) (66 CE – 436 CE); and the 67th recorded monarch in Sri Lanka in the line running from Prince Vijaya (543 BCE); the dates of his reign being: 370 – 412 CE.

Buddhadasa’ death in 370 CE left his son, Upatissa I, a most secure throne to sit upon. Little is known about his reign except two things. It lasted a long time – 42 years. And it was to end in disaster, its terminus foretelling the implosion of the dynasty itself just a few decades later. That his reign should end in 412 CE with his murder would have surprised Upatissa. His shock would have been amplified had he known that it would be delivered by a monk – his own bother, Mahanama who, according to the chronicles, was busy cuckolding him with the queen.

Illustration: A Moonstone in the fields to the south of Thuparama, Anuradhapura of the sort that would have been highly familiar to Upatissa I, King of Anuradhapura. Image courtesy of Ian Lockwood.

Anula, Queen of Anuradhapura

The thirty fourth monarch of the Vijayan Period (543 BCE - 66 CE), the dates of her reign being sometime around 44 BCE – 42 BCE.

Anula, Queen of Anuradhapura was to leave a mark on queenship that would the office centuries to recover from. She began her royal career in 50 BCE by poisoning her Vijayan husband, Choura Naga, King of Anuradhapura. She was to repeat the same tried and trusted trick in 47 BCE by poisoning his successor, Kuda Thissa. Choosing at this point to rule from a distance, she appointed her lover Siva, as ex palace guard, to be king in 47 BCE before having him poisoned. Thereafter the pattern was set. Siva I was himself poisoned within a year and replaced by a new lover, Vatuka, who had till then being living the probably blameless life of a Tamil carpenter. The following year the carpenter was replaced in similar fashion by Darubhatika Tissa, a wood carrier – who also failed to measure up. Her last throw of the love dice was Niliya, a palace priest who she installed as king in 44 BCE before feeding him something he ought not to have eaten.

At this point Anula must have reached the logical conclusion: if you want something done well, do it yourself. And so, from 43 to 42 BCE she ruled in her own name, the country’s first female head of state, beating President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga by well over two thousand years. Anula’s own reign ended at the hands of her brother-in-law, Kutakanna Tissa, who, having sensibly become a Buddhist monk during Anula’s rocky reign, remained alive and so able to rescue the monarchy. He did so by burning the queen alive in her own palace in 42 BCE, bringing down the curtains on a royal career that eclipsed that of the entire Borgia clan put together.

Illustration courtsey of Journo.lk.

Devanampiya Tissa, King of Anuradhapura

The ninth monarch of the Vijayan Period (543 BCE - 66 CE), the dates of his reign being 307 BCE – 267 BCE.

It was fortunate that when Sri Lanka’s paramount defining moment occurred, it had a king talented enough to make best sense of it. Devanampiya Tissa, second son of the Vijayan King, Mutasiva, is described by The Mahavamsa as being "foremost among all his brothers in virtue and intelligence". To get anywhere close to this remarkable leader head to the mountain of Mihintale, 16 kilometres east of Anuradhapura. There stands a modest, much weathered, armless stone statute of Devanampiya Tissa. Six feet high, he stands, gazing out across the grand ruins and remains of his religious citadel. It marks the spot where Sri Lanka became Buddhist. Gaze into his eyes – and note that, unlike so much other statutory and art, this one, argue the scholars, actually dates from very close to the death of this outstanding monarch.

Like the Vijayans, Buddhism also came from India - but it naturalised so completely across the island that it is impossible grasp any aspect of the country’s past or present, without first comprehending the centrality of this, its main religion. It arrived through a series of intimate stories in which faith follows friendship – for King Devanampiya Tissa had struck up a pen-pal relationship with the celebrated Indian Buddhist emperor, Ashoka. Gifts followed letters, and a missionary followed the gifts when Ashoka despatched his own son, Mahinda, to Sri Lanka. The young missionary prince was to live on the island for 48 years, out-living Devanampiya Tissa, and dying, aged 80 after a lifetime spent promoting Buddhism, the beneficiary of a state funeral at which his relics were interred in a stupa in Mihintale.

For it was at Mihintale that Mahinda first met Devanampiya Tissa. The king, it was said, was out hunting. Expecting a stag, the ruler instead found himself a missionary. A testing exchange on the nature of things followed, and then a sutra was preached. The rest, as they say, is history. The conversions began, and the country’s history took the most definitive turn in its long journey, becoming - and remaining to this day - a Buddhist country first and foremost, with all that this entailed. So great were the number of conversions that the king especially built the Maha Vihare (The Great Monastery) in the pleasure gardens of Anuradhapura to house the growing number of Buddhist monks; and for centuries after the building was to become the centre of Theravada Buddhism in Sri Lanka.

The evidence for all this comes of course from The Mahāvaṃsa Chronicle, but it is likely that Buddhism penetrated the island much earlier. Even so, it took the backing of a king to ensure that the religion became so dominant so fast. And as it did so, it carried along with it some of the many rituals and ceremonies of the pre Buddhist cults, especially those associated with agriculture and demons. It also helped spread a common language and script, and with it, the power of the centre - for the king was also the formal guardian of the Sanga, the religious organization.

Clearly, Mahinda, the young missionary had painted a compelling picture of his new island home in his letters home. He was soon joined by his sister, the nun, Sanghamittā. She brought with her a golden vase in which grew a sapling of Bodhi-Tree taken from the very one under which Buddha himself is said to have attained enlightenment. Accompanied by a number of other nuns, Sanghamittā landed in the north of the island. She was met by King Devanampiya Tissa himself. The party were ceremonially escorted to Anuradhapura along a road softened with white sand. The Bodhi sapling was planted in the Mahāmeghavana Grove in Anuradhapura, where it still grows. Saṅghamittā later ordained Queen Anula and the women of the court in Buddhism and stayed on in the island, promoting the religion. She died in 203 BCE aged 79, her death prompting national mourning. A stupa was erected over her cremation site in front of the Bodhi-Tree in Anuradhapura.

Devanampiya Tissa built a monastery and temple caves at Mihintale, a site that over successive years grew and grew. Indeed temple caves rapidly became the architectural hit of the time with ordinary people funding a stone mason to do all the necessary work. Between the 3rd century BCE and the 1st century CE nearly 3,000 such caves were recorded. Other notable buildings followed: monasteries, palaces, the 550-acre Tissa Wewa water tank, still in use today; and the Thuparamaya of Anuradhapura, the county’s first stupa - which enshrined the right collarbone of Lord Buddha and whose remains today stretch out over 3 ½ acres. Devanampiya Tissa’s death after a long reign brought to a gradual end a golden period of Vijayan peace and prosperity.

Emblem of Ceylon, The Dutch

The emblem used by the Dutch to administer Ceylon was almost identical to that of of the Portuguese – featuring an elephant walking though palm trees with mountains behind. But they added a key new detail, one that fitted very nearly with their entire economic purpose of being on the island at all – a few bales of the ultra-valuable cinnamon crop that they harvested across the island. More interesting each sub district they governed had its own version of the heraldic arms. In Trincomalee a mercenary soldier from Java is included. In Mannar a plant, hedyotis puberula, cherished for its dyes, was adopted. A fort and a bridge dominate the shield of Matara; and a single fort the shield of Kalpitiya. Ships features on the symbols of Chilaw and Puttalam; and a clay pitcher for Negombo.

Pilaya Mara, King of Anuradhapura

The twenty-fifth (invader) monarch of the Vijayan Period (543 BCE - 66 CE), the dates of his reign being 91 BCE – 90 BCE.

One of 7 Dravidian chiefs from the Indian Pandyan Dynasty that forcibly took the Anuradhapuran Kingdom from its barely-established new ruler King Valagamba in 103 BCE, Pilaya Mara became king of Anuradhapura in 91 BCE by the simple expedient of murdering his Dravidian master, Panya Mara. He had previously served him as chief minster. Much of his own blink-short rule was spent dealing with threats to his own safety – from the avenging Valagamba - busy waging an ever more successful guerrilla war from the south - and from his own Dravidian colleagues. It is unclear whether he met his own death at the hands on his chief general, Dathika, who would succeed him, or Valagamba himself, whose military successes were at last lapping over closer to the gates of Anuradhapura itself.

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Buddhadasa, King of Anuradhapura

The twenty first monarch of the Lambakanna Dynasty (1st Period) (66 CE – 436 CE); and the 66th recorded monarch in Sri Lanka in the line running from Prince Vijaya (543 BCE); the dates of his reign being 341 – 370 CE.

A blessedly peaceful succession saw Buddhadasa take the throne from his father Jettha Tissa II – and a twenty-eight-year reign beckoned. The Mahavaṃsa has nothing but praise for this king, characterized as a "Mind of Virtue and an Ocean of Gems." Unusually though, the new king preferred medicine to wars, stupas, temples, monasteries and plotting, and his reign was noted for the exceptional medical care he extended to his subjects. He wrote a medical handbook, the "Sarartha Sangraha,” built hospitals, appointed Medical Officers, and established infirmaries and asylums for the benefit of the blind, and the lame. Stories abound of his role as doctor to various ailing subjects who he came across. He even took care of animals, including, it is said, a snake with a stomach-ache.

Perhaps his interest in medicine can also help explain the eighty sons The Mahavaṃsa credits him with creating, each one, the chronicle approvingly states, named after a disciple of Buddha. Two were to reign after his natural death in 370 CE. For 116 years the Lambakarna dynasty, recovering from its earlier subversive bout of regicide, had settled down to govern well, fostering a prosperous and growing state. They had, in the words of John Lennon, given peace a chance. In the reigns that were to follow, it was, alas, soon to be time again for bloodletting.

Illustration Credit: Ancient palm-leaf medical manuscripts with diagrams of the kind that would be familiar to Buddhadasa, King of Anuradhapura. Picture courtesy of Sunday Observer.

Karainagar

A small island and harbour town north east of Jaffna, Karainagar has seen cross border footfall since before records began. To the north stands a lighthouse built by the British in 1916; and to the south Fort Hammenhiel, a Portuguese-cum-Dutch fort that guarded the entrance to the Jaffna peninsula until repositioned by the British as a maximum security prison; a hospital for infectious diseases and finally a base for Special Operations. After Independence, it was used a prison for JVP prisoners, including (in 1971) Rohana Wijeweera, before being taken over by the Sri Lankan Navy as a place to detain errant sailors. It has now become a luxury hotel, where, its management claim, “a feeling of exclusivity is rampart;” and where guests “can experience real time living and sleeping within an actual cell.”

Surathissa, King of Anuradhapura

The twelfth monarch of the Vijayan Period (543 BCE - 66 CE), the dates of his reign being 247 BCE – 237 BCE.

A modest degree of scholarly mystery surrounds the parentage of Surathissa – who was either the brother of the previous Vijayan king, Mahasiwa, or a much younger brother of Mahasiwa’s own father, King Mutasiva. Little is known about his ten year reign except that it was ultimately utterly unsuccessful. His kingdom was overrun and conquered by an opportunistic invasion from South India. The apparently swift collapse of the state under his care implies, at best, his failure to master that first essential rule of kingship: ensuring the country is able to defend itself. Its takeover by couple of Tamil horse traders, Sena and Guttik, was the first time the kingdom was to experience such military ravishing from its mighty northern neighbour.

Tissa, King of Upatissa Nuwara

The fifth monarch of the Vijayan Period (543 BCE - 66 CE), reigning from 454 BCE – 437 BCE.

Forcing his brother, Abhaya into abdication, the Vijayan king, Tissa, though titular King of Upatissa Nuwara, never confidently occupied the office he had so greatly sought. He was a haunted man – obsessed by the morbid predictions of a court soothsayer who predicted that he and all his brothers would all be killed by their nephew, Pandu Kabhaya, son of his only sister, Princess Citta. His rule was characterised by an ultimately unsuccessful balancing act: feuding with his bothers (many of whom died in the troubles) whilst keeping at bay his nephew Pandu Kabhaya. As civil war rocked the new nation, and almost brought the nascent dynasty to its feet, Tissa’s repeated attempts to find and slay his nephew, Pandu Kabhaya, were foiled and his reign came to a predictable end when Pandu Kabhaya killed him in battle.

Gal Vihara

A photograph by an unknown English Photographer of the Gal Vihara Standing Buddhist Statue dating from 1870-90 . Public Domain.

Kuda Thissa, King of Anuradhapura

The twenty-ninth monarch of the Vijayan Period (543 BCE - 66 CE), the dates of his reign being 50 BCE – 47 BCE.

Kuda Thissa, step nephew to the previous king, Choura Naga, and his now-widowed queen ,Anula, was to enjoy his throne for just a few years. His uncle, Choura Naga, had met his end from a draft of poison administered by Queen Anula, and the very same was to happen to Kuda Thissa, who departed this earth from a surfeit of poison in 47 BCE.

Divel

A Sinhala term for property that is granted to individuals employed by the state or its monasteries.

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Mahasiwa, King of Anuradhapura

The eleventh monarch of the Vijayan Period (543 BCE - 66 CE), the dates of his reign being 257 BCE – 247 BCE.

Inheriting the Vijayan throne from his brother, Uththiya in 257 BCE, Mahasiwa’s reign is a model of almost total obscurity. Most historians agree on the fact that he probably constructed the Nagarangana Monastery in Anuradhapura; and they also largely agree on the date of his death – in 247 BCE.

Valagamba, King of Anuradhapura

The twenty-first monarch of the Vijayan Period (543 BCE - 66 CE), the dates of his reign being 103 BCE; and then, after an interregnum, 89 BCE – 77 BCE.

Valagamba, a brother of the previous Vijayan king, Khallata Naga had to first kill Kammaharattaka, his sibling’s murderer and chief general, before gaining the crown for himself in 103 BCE. This was to prove one of his two only really successful accomplishments. Decades of royal misrule - going back to the death of King Dutugemunu in 137 BCE - had set the grand old kingdom up for utter disaster. Within months of taking power, a rebellion broke out in Rohana. A devastating drought began – a less than positive development in a land where the king was considered to have the power to cause rain. The kingdom’s preeminent port, Māhatittha (now Mantota, opposite Mannar) fell to Dravidian Tamil invaders. And at a battle at Kolambalaka, the hapless King Valagamba was defeated, racing from the battlefield in a chariot lightened by the (accidental?) exit of his wife, Queen Somadevi.

Valagamba’s kingdom was now ruled by a series of Dravidian Tamil kings who, between 103 BCE and 89 BCE were to either murder one another or fall victim to the guerrilla campaign that now became ex-king Valagamba’s passion and priority. For over 10 years the island was crippled by war, and an ever diminishing government. Pulahatta, the first Dravidian king, was killed by Bahiya, another of the five remaining Dravidians and head of the army. He was in turn murdered in 99 BCE by Panayamara, the third Dravidian who had been unwisely promoted to run the army. Panayamara was next assassinated in 92 BCE by his general, the fourth Dravidian, Pilayamara. Seven months was all Pilayamara managed to last - before dying in skirmishes with Valagamba and passing the throne to the last Dravidian and army commander, Dathika who ruled until his defeat in battle against Valagamba in 89 BCE.

Victory earnt King Valagamba the second of only two moments of real success in his otherwise sorrowful reign. Valagamba ruled on for a further 12 years, building a monastery, stupa and more memorably converting the Dambulla caves in which he hid during his wilderness years, into the famous Rock Temple that exists today. Less adroitly, Valagamba managed to drive a wedge between the monks, his favouritism of one sect for another, setting in motion the island’s first Buddhist schism. Despite this, it was under Valagamba’s patronage that 30 miles north of Kandy 500 monks gathered at the Aluvihare Rock Temple to write down for the very first time, the precepts of Buddhism. The monks were probably still hard at work on The Pali Canon when Valagamba died in 77 BCE, bringing his adopted son, Mahakuli Mahatissa to power for 14 years.

Vatuka, King of Anuradhapura

The thirty first (interloper) monarch of the Vijayan Period (543 BCE - 66 CE), the dates of his reign being 47 BCE.

A Tamil and a carpenter, Vatuka was placed on the throne of Anuradhapura in 47 BCE by his terrifying lover, the widowed Vijayan Queen, Anula. Anula had come into her inheritance by murdering three earlier monarchs: her husband Choura Naga, the twenty-eighth King of Anuradhapura; his successor, Choura Naga, the twenty-ninth monarch; and her most recent lover, Siva I, the thirtieth monarch. Within a year Anula had Vatuka poisoned too.

Jaffna Fort

An illustration by Cornelis_Steiger of Jaffna Fort. Public Domain.

Mahanaduva

A Sinhala term used in the Kandyan kingdom to name the Great Court of Justice.

Gothabhaya, King of Anuradhapura

The sixteenth monarch of the Lambakanna Dynasty (1st Period) (66 CE – 436 CE); and the 61st recorded monarch in Sri Lanka in the line running from Prince Vijaya (543 BCE); the dates of his reign being 254 – 267 CE.

One of three plotters (the other two being Sangha Tissa I and Siri Sangha Bodhi), Gothabhaya had conspired to kill the reigning king, Vijaya Kumara in 248 CE. Like his co-conspirators, he came from a more modest cadet branch of the Lambakanna Dynasty but was made of stern stuff. As the first of his murderous partners, Sangha Tissa I, was killed by the second, Siri Sangha Bodhi I, Gothabhaya set out to gain the crown in just the same tried and trusted way.

According to The Mahavaṃsa, he needn’t have bothered for Sangha Bodhi I killed himself in a manner that was both anatomically impossible and socially impressive. Quite how he really met his death remains a mystery. The important thing was that the king was dead, leaving Gothabhaya to rule. What the new king lacked in charm, charity, and religious tolerance, he made up for with the sort of firm government that took the fizz out of regicide. For 14 years he ruled it with the proverbial rod of iron. A man of deeply conservative religious beliefs, he was unimpressed by the Vajrayana movement, a form of tantric Buddhism that was making slim but noticeable appearances into his kingdom. The movement was closely aligned with Mahayana Buddhism and seen by many as incompatible with the Theravāda Buddhism that had been practiced on the island since the 3rd century BCE.

The king did all he could to thwart it, even banishing 60 monks for such beliefs. But what he kept out with one door slammed shut, he inadvertently let in with another. For he entrusted his son’s education to an Indian monk named Sanghamitta, a follower of Vaitulya Buddhism. This doctrinal strand was even more radical than the Vajrayana doctrine the king was so busy trying to eradicate. Like a time bomb, the impact of this private religious education on his successor, was set to go off the moment Gotabhaya died. His death, in 267 CE, left behind a divided country. Several ministers refused to participate in his funeral rites and his son and heir, Jetta Tissa I, a chip off the monstrous old block, had sixty of them rounded up, staking their impaled heads in a mournful circle around the old king’s body.

Illustration Credit: The Abhayagiri Monastery, whose monks King Gothabhaya banished for embracing the Vetulya doctrine. Photo credit: courtesy of Alchetron and taken before the stupa was restored.

Pitawala Pathana

A celebration of that most modest of all plants, grass, Pitawala Pathana is found in the middle of the island beyond the road to Matale and north of The Knuckles. Here, at over 1200 metres above sea level grows a grass no taller than 10 mm, across ten square hectares of thin soil. The resulting natural grassland meadows play host to only the hardiest and least demanding species including the rare Marble Rock Frog, so endangered as to be facing extinction full on, with little hope of a reprieve. For those who like their fauna and flora to be on the flasher (Versace) side, Pitawala Pathana will only disappoint; but if subtlety, utter peace, and the road less travelled is your beat, then it will have been well worth the journey to have come here.

Dakapathi

An historical Sinhala term for the levy paid on water to the king or to other offices or people who owned the water.

Ritigala

Barely forty kilometres south east of Anuradhapura, stand the 4 peaks of Ritigala mountain, its sheer wooded sides easily outstretching the more famous peaks of Sigiriya, Dambulla, and Mihintale. Its unique micro wet climate has led to it becoming an important nature reserve today, a happy by product of its creation myth which saw it being formed when Lord Hanuman accidently dropped a chunk of the Himalayas as he flew overhead. Monasteries, temples, and pavements followed on from the development of a 4th BCE reservoir. But almost from the outset the site was notable for the extreme austerity of its monks. Not for them were statues, bo trees, stupas or, one assumes, any other more modest comforts. The very name of the monks (“Pansukulikas” or “rag robes”) making clear exactly what their priorities were.

Muhandiram

A Sinhala term for the Kandyan kingdom’s head of revenue, a title later used more widely under British rule within the colonial administrative hierarchy.

X-Press Pearl

On 20 May 2021, a Singapore-registered container ship, the X-Press Pearl, caught fire off the Colombo coast. Stricken, sinking, it lingered on for almost two weeks a burning, still-floating hulk, discharging nitric acid, a variety of other poisonous chemicals and polyethylene pellets. It caused the worst marine damage the country had ever seen – estimated by some to be over $6 billion. Efforts to seeks compensation in the Singaporean courts before the window for legal action closed have since been festooned with predictable accusations of ineptitude, corruption, bribes of over $200 million, and ministers and MPs arguing through long theatrical parliamentary sessions in Kotte.

Dravidians, The Six

In 436 CE the Anuradhapura Kingdom was invaded and conquered by six Dravidian chiefs. It was the fourth such invasion from its mighty northern neighbour that Sri Lanka had experienced; and was not to be the last. These particular chiefs originated from within the Pandyan dynasty, centred around Madurai - one of the four great families that were to vie with one other for centuries over control of Southern India – the other three being the Pallavas, the Cholas and the Cheras. Little is known about the cadet branch that invaded Sri Lanka – whether they were all related or all acted in unison or relay. It is thought that they were Buddhist rather than Hindu, and the few ancient sources that refer to them note their obliging donations to Buddhist establishments. Even so, they amply demonstrated their divergence from those Buddhist teachings that strongly opposed the use of violence, to show that they were not above its expedient application to win themselves a kingdom. They were to rule the Anuradhapura Kingdom for sixteen turbulent years. Two were to die apparently natural deaths; one was murdered by a rival and the last three were all killed in battle or skirmishes with Dhatusena, the leader of the gathering Sri Lankan resistance and a member of the emergent Moriyan dynasty. The order of these invader kings is as follows:

1. Pandu. The first of the Six Dravidian invaders of the Pandiyan Dynasty of South India and the 72nd recorded monarch in Sri Lanka in the line running from Prince Vijaya (543 BCE); the dates of his five year reign being 436 – 441 CE.

2. Parindu, the son of King Pandu; the 2nd of the Six Dravidian invaders of the Pandiyan Dynasty of South India and the 73rd recorded monarch in Sri Lanka in the line running from Prince Vijaya (543 BCE). He was to rule for under a year in 441 CE, being killed by his brother and successor. His assassination trod a familiar path amidst Anuradhapuran kingship, Sri Lankan or otherwise – for he is the 35th reigning Sri Lankan monarch known to have been murdered for the succession.

3. Khudda Parinda. The Brother of King Parindu and son of King Pandu; the 3rd of the Six Dravidian invaders of the Pandiyan Dynasty of South India; and the 74th recorded monarch in Sri Lanka in the line running from Prince Vijaya (543 BCE). He is presumed to have died a natural death following an (albeit suspiciously short) six year reign (441 – 447 CE).

4. Tiritara, the 4th of the Six Dravidian invaders of the Pandiyan Dynasty of South India and the 75th recorded monarch in Sri Lanka in the line running from Prince Vijaya (543 BCE). His relationship with the previous kings, Pandu, Parindu and Khudda Parinda remains opaque, but not so the length of his reign, which was to last under a year (447 CE). He was to die in battle against the future Sri Lankan rebel king, Dhatusena.

5. Dathiya, the 5th of the Six Dravidian invaders of the Pandiyan Dynasty of South India; and the 76th recorded monarch in Sri Lanka in the line running from Prince Vijaya (543 BCE). Like his predecessor, Dathiya, his kinship with the other Dravidian chiefs is unknown. His reign was to last just three years (447 – 450 CE), ending with his defeat and death at the hands of Dhatusena.

6. Pithiya, the last of the Six Dravidian invaders of the Pandiyan Dynasty of South India; and the 77th recorded monarch in Sri Lanka in the line running from Prince Vijaya (543 BCE). As with his two immediate predecessors, Pithiya’s reign ended with his defeat and death at the hands of Dhatusena. He reign had lasted barely two years (450 – 452 CE), and with his death the country plunged into deeper anarchy until eventually, Dhatusena, was to quell all other opposition and be crowed King of Anuradhapura himself.

Illustration Credit: Gold coin of Alupas, showing the fish symbol of the Pandyian Dynasty

Saddha Tissa, King of Anuradhapura

The seventeenth monarch of the Vijayan Period (543 BCE - 66 CE), the dates of his reign being 137 BCE – 119 BCE.

Inheriting the throne in 137 BCE from his brother, King Dutugemunu, Saddha Tissa moved to the Vijayan capital at Anuradhapura from his own more modest kingdom of Digamadulla, Sri Lanka’s present day eastern province. In so doing he united Anuradhapura, and Ruhuna with the east to cast Vijayan dominance across nearly the entirety of the island. Almost nothing is known about his reign expect for the fact that he obligingly built a temple – the Dighavapi vihara in Ampara – and, perhaps more usefully a tremendous water tank, the Duratissa Reservoir which held 336 million cubic feet of water. His death in 119 BCE set off a pattern for family politics that was ultimately to result in the downfall of the entire Vijayan dynasty.

Town Hall (New), Colombo

Illustration of the New Town Hall Colombo bulit by the British; Photograph 1890-1910, Public Domain.

Salagama

A Sinhala term for the Sinhalese caste of cinnamon peelers.

Hammenhiel Fort

An illustration by Cornelis Steiger of Hammenhiel Fort. Public Domain.

S, s

Kumarihaami

In the blandest of terms, a Kumarihaami might be cautiously described as an elderly lady who enjoys considerable influence within her family and community. But this in no way captures the degree of social richness, and power - shot through with often obstinate and glittering eccentricity - that is a proper Kumarihaami. A cross between a dowager duchess and an exiled Queen, her word is law and her recommendations ignored at your very considerable peril. Nancy Aster, the Empress Dowager Cixi or the fictional Dowager Countess of Grantham in “Downtown Abby” are all good foreign examples. Sri Lankan examples today can be found in any town or village on the island. Or, better still, on the pages of many a contemporary Sri Lankan novel, not least Ashok Ferrey’s “The Ceaseless Chatter of Demons.”

Commandement

An historical term for an administrative division under Dutch rule; sometimes known as a commandery.

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Colombo Fort

As the Metropolitan Museum of Arts was being erected on side of the world, on the other, in Sri Lanka, the British set about destroying those parts of Colombo, known then, as they are still today, as Fort. This act of vandalism, conducted in the interests (as ever) of urban improvement, stripped the city of much of its most tangible history, leaving behind mere street patterns, engravings and the odd wall or building to tell of an area first developed sometime between 1505 and 1528 by the Portuguese. Sailing in, green dragons blazing on the flags of their stout galleons, the Portuguese set about building themselves a small fort on the “Hook of Colombo” (which the Dutch called Point of St. Lawrence), on the southern boundary of the harbour of Colombo. It was soon upgraded and given three bastions, with stone and mortar replacing mud walls; and was christened “Our Lady of Victories.” A town, complete with Franciscan friars grew around it - but by 1554 everything was once again upgraded. This time the Portuguese moved the fort to the area now known as “Fort,” adding to it regularly so that by 1630 it boasted fourteen bastions, residences, churches, and many of the facilities of a small and busy town. When, in 1656, the fort and the island fell to the Dutch, the new colonialists proved no less enthusiastic for military improvements. The fort was restructured to better sit astride the natural defences offered by the lake and the sea, and a moat dug on the landward side and stocked with crocodiles. It was separated out from the old town or Pettah, and given nine bastions and two batteries. The fort became a walled city with storehouses, residential buildings, churches, shops, a parade ground, stables for horses and elephants and streets lined with shady trees. When, in 1796 betrayal rather than military prowess saw the fort fall to the British, life continued with little structural change until the 1870s when the British then began to systematically destroy large sections of the fort to expand the space for money-making operations. The city soon expanded beyond the boundaries of the fort - for example into Cinnamon Gardens, a fashionable address for diplomats, bankers, administrators, and tycoons. What remained was a melting pot of cultures – Sinhalese; Parses, Moors, Malays, Tamils; and Portuguese and Dutch who had stayed behind, or inter married, becoming known as Burgers. It was not until the disastrous ‘Sinhala only’ policy in the late 1950s that these families finally disappeared, migrating to Australia, Canada, and the UK. . An Englishman writing in 1803 noted of Colombo that: “there is no part in the world where so many languages are spoken, or which contains such a mixture of nations, manners, and religions.” Hints of the old fort can still be glimpsed in several places:
1. Kayman’s Gate Bell Tower – an entrance to the Fort located at the foot of the Wolvendaal Hill in Pettah.
2. Delf Gateway – one of the main entrances to the Colombo fort, now part of the premises of the Commercial Bank.
3. Fortified Dutch Warehouse – now the Maritime Museum of Colombo Ports Authority, built in 1676.
4. The Battenburg battery – a 50 metre sliver of wall inside the Harbour.
5. The Enkhuysen bastion / Dan Briel bastion Wall – a section of wall now located beside the Junior Police Officers Mess.
6. Dan Briel Bastian – built in 1751 and now inside the Navy Headquarters.
7. The Slave Entrance - now found within the Navy Headquarters, this entrance was built in 1676 to access the land between the sea and the fort where the Dutch kept their ill-stared Kaffir slaves.

Image of the oldest known map of Colombo Fort by J. L. K. van Dort: Public Domain.

Capital Punishment

An illustration from Robert Knox's book "A Historical Relation of the Island of Ceylon" of an execution by an elephant, published in 1681. Public Domain.

Ilanaga, King of Anuradhapura

The forty-second monarch of the Vijayan Period (543 BCE - 66 CE), the dates of his reign being 35 CE – 35 CE; and then, after an interregnum, 38 CE – 44 CE.

Nephew of the slain Vijayan King, Amandagamani Abhaya, Ilanaga managed to dethrone the sitting monarch, Sivali, King, Amandagamani Abhaya’s daughter in 35 CE. In so doing he turbo-charged the unrest and insurrection that was beginning to terminally eat away at the kingdom. Within months Ilanaga had fallen out with the Lambakarna clan, a most significant noble family within his court. In the consequent turmoil he had to flee the country, leaving the Lambakarna in nominal and no doubt, fluctuating charge. Hunted somewhat ineptly, Ilanaga managed to hide in hill country, before catching a ship to south India. He was to return 3 years later at the head of a borrowed Chola army to take back his throne in 38 CE. His reign lasted another 7 years ending with his surprisingly natural death in 44 CE.

Karava

A Sinhala term for the Sinhalese caste of fishermen.

Welanhinna Fort

Commanding the Idalgashinna Pass, one of the few access points into the otherwise impenetrable Kandyan kingdom, all that remains of Welanhinna fort is a fifteen metre trench at the top of the hill – itself almost impossible to access since it sits in the middle of a private tea plantation. At the time of the Kandyan kings the fort would have bene used as an observation point, with smoke signals sent to the larger Haldummulla Fort to warn of invaders. Its foundations may then have been used by the Dutch – historians, true to their nature, are at odds on his point - and then possibly the British. A Dr John Davy, whose many impressions of the island in 1819 were later published, is recorded as having visited it, possibly with the then Govenor. Supposition, inspired guesswork and – ultimately – wishful thinking is all that is now left to fill in the historical gaps of this almost invisible fortress.

Image courtsey of Amazing Lanka.

Bahiya, King of Anuradhapura

The twenty-third (invader) monarch of the Vijayan Period (543 BCE - 66 CE), the dates of his reign being 100 BCE – 98 BCE.

One of 7 Dravidian chiefs from the Indian Pandyan Dynasty that forcibly took the Anuradhapuran Kingdom from its barely-established new ruler King Valagamba in 103 BCE, Bahiya became king of Anuradhapura by the simple expedient of murdering his Dravidian master, Pulahatta. Until then he had previously served him as chief minster. Much of his own short rule was spent dealing with threats to his own safety – from the avenging Valagamba - busy waging an ever more successful guerrilla war from the south - and from his own Dravidian colleagues, one of whom, Panya Mara, was to murder him.

Illustration of a Pandyan Kingdom coin depicting a temple between hill symbols and elephant, from Sri Lanka, 1st century CE. Public Domain.

Abhaya, King of Upatissa Nuwara

The fourth monarch of the Vijayan Period (543 BCE - 66 CE), reigning from 474 – 454 BCE.

Abhaya, King Panduvasdeva’s eldest son, inherited the Vijayan throne from his father in 474 BCE. It is impossible to discern at this distance quite what passed for war and peace among his nine male siblings during his rule but clearly there was a rising dispute that only ended (for him) when in 454 BCE he had abdicated in favour of his bother Tissa. It is unlikely that Abhaya’s ousting took the pressure of what had become an incipient civil war as Panduvasdeva’s sons continued to vie for prominence, and survival. Spared his life, Abhaya retreated into a wise obscurity, sensibly declining his nephew’s later offer to retake the crown, settling instead for the far less pressured job of running the freshly minted city of Anuradhapura.

Illustration: The earliest known version of the Vijayan Flag, with the Lion shown. Courtsey of Narlaka Unleashed.

Dathiya, King of Anuradhapura

The 5th of the Six Dravidian invaders of the Pandiyan Dynasty of South India; and the 76th recorded monarch in Sri Lanka in the line running from Prince Vijaya (543 BCE).

Dathiya’s relationship to the previous king, Tiritara, is unknown; but his reign (447 – 450 CE) would have been troublesome and turbulent, extending over an ever-shrinking area as the Sri Lankan Moriyan rebel leader, Dhatusena, gained more and more of a foothold on Pandiyan-held territory. Dathiya was to die in battle against Dhatusena, the 10th reigning Sri Lankan monarch known to have died in this way.

Illustration Credit: Pandyian fish relief courtsey of Quora.

Lanja Tissa, King of Anuradhapura

The nineteenth monarch of the Vijayan Period (543 BCE - 66 CE), the dates of his reign being 118 BCE – 109 BCE.

Lanja Tissa gained his crown by murdering his younger Vijayan brother Thulatthana who had quite possibly stolen the throne from him on the death of their father Saddha Tissa in 119 BCE. Leading an army up from his own base in Ruhana, Lanja Tissa took back what he clearly regarded as his own in the first place, and seems to have met little obvious resistance. Even so, it is said that, in penance, he then spent the ten years that his reign was to encompass appeasing the Buddhist monks’ disapproval of fratricide by devoting himself to the betterment of Buddhism. He died, peacefully it seems, in 109 BCE.

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Sasseruwa

Picture this: a small road, cutting through jungle and hills far north of Dambulla , going nowhere special. In between rocky outcrops and volcanic tree roots lie the many scattered remains of stupas, moonstone entrances to lost sacred rooms, antique inscriptions, cave cells for over 100 hermetic monks; and the many linked buildings and structures for a substantial monastery.

Welcome to Sasseruwa, famous - when there was a collective memory for such things - for its massive (almost 12 metre) standing statue of Lord Buddha. It rises, dwarfed by a vast overhead rock canopy, unfinished, much weathered, but resiliently present, one in a style of increasingly few similar examples of rock-carved Buddhas left around the world since the Taliban decided to blow their own up in faraway Afghanistan. Once so important as to merit one of the actual saplings of the Sri Maha Bodhi tree; a meeting place for kings and armies, a sanctuary for the avenging Anuradhapuran king, Valagamba in the 1st BCE, Sasseruwa is today almost entirely forgotten.

Rajakariya

A Sinhala term from the Kandyan kingdom for the service due to a king or temple. Under British rule it came to describe compulsory service to the state more generally.

Dutugemunu, King of Anuradhapura

The sixteenth monarch of the Vijayan Period (543 BCE - 66 CE), the dates of his reign being 161 BCE – 137 BCE.

The son of King Kavantissa of Ruhuna, a southern kingdom established earlier by a cadet branch of the Anuradhapura’s Vijayan kings, Dutugemunu was able to benefit from his father’s lasting achievement in strengthening and enlarging Ruhuna. This he did not just to defend himself against the Ellalan, the Chola Tamil conqueror of Anuradhapuran – but also to see off the many more modest challenges that came his way from the many other fiefdoms that bordered his lands. King Kavantissa bequeathed to his son Dutugemunu a battle-ready country, but Dutugemunu was unable to focuses its powers beyond its existing borders until he had seen off a challenge to his own inheritance from his younger brother, Tissa. Living up to his various nicknames (rowdy, fearless, disobedient), Dutugemunu eventually defeated his brother but rather than putting him to death, the traditional punishment for such temerity, he promoted him to be one of his own generals.

With an army of chariots, monks, horses, a lucky spear, his favourite elephant (Kandula) and, states The Mahāvaṃsa, Ten Giant Warriors (Nandhimitra, Suranimala, Mahasena, Theraputtabhya, Gotaimbara, Bharana, Vasabha, Khanjadeva, Velusamanna, and Phussadeva), the new king of Ruhuna set off north to reclaim the family’s senior kingdom – Anuradhapura . Composed, as was normal of four units – elephants, horses, chariots, and infantry – Dutugemunu’s army was spectacularly successful, first mopping up the splintered Tamil statelets in the north before arriving outside the walls of Anuradhapura. King Ellalan, mounted on his elephant Mahapabbata, faced his younger rival, mounted on his elephant, Kandula.

The ancient texts report that the deadly combat was honourable but decisive, a spear thrust finally ending Ellalan’s life in 161 BCE. The records state that "the water in the tank there was dyed red with the blood of the slain'. And perhaps in acknowledgment of Ellalan’s fine reputation, Dutugemunu had his victim cremated properly and a stupa constructed over the pyre. “Even to this day,” comments The Mahāvaṃsa, “the princes of Lanka, when they draw near to this place, are wont to silence their music'.

For a glorious, albeit extended moment, it seems as if the Vijayan dynasty’s good times had returned. Dutugemunu's victory left him ruling nearly the whole of the island, from Anuradhapura to Ruhuna, and much in between. And as if to confirm the return of Vijayan hegemony, the construction of more buildings commenced. Anuradhapura expanded exponentially, its infrastructure, utilities, water resources so upgraded as to ensure that it would flourish for centuries to come, the longest surviving capital city of the Indian sub-continent. Still more spectacular was the building of many of its most celebrated structures. A large monastery, the Maricavatti, was erected, together with a nine-story chapter house for monks, with a bright copper-tiled roof; and most famous of all, what is today called the Ruwanweliseya, the Great Stupa which housed Buddha’s begging bowl. The building programme was not restricted to the capital alone – 89 other temples are said to have been constructed in the kingdom, along with hospitals and smaller tanks. Trade opened up with the west, the ports busy with merchants from Arabia, Persia and possibly even Rome.

But back at the palace, events were going less smoothly. Dutugemunu's heir, Saliya, having fallen for a girl from one of the lowest castes, was disinherited. The ailing king, dying before his eye-catching Stupa was finished, ensured the throne passed instead to his own brother, Saddha Tissa in 137 BCE.

Image courtsery of Lankapura.

Yassalalaka Thissa, King of Anuradhapura

The forty-fourth monarch of the Vijayan Period (543 BCE - 66 CE), the dates of his reign being 52 CE – 60 CE.

The son of the Vijayan king, Ilanaga, Yassalalaka Thissa seized the throne by the simple expedient of murdering his brother, Chandra Mukha Siva. In so doing, he set the stage for one of most eccentric periods of island governance. With the ascension of the regicidal Yassalalaka Thissa, the last Vijayan chorus sounded, singing a story too bathetic to be encumbered by any inconvenient disbelief, The Mahāvaṃsa recounts the bizarre end of this once great dynasty in 60 CE.

“Now a son of Datta the gate-watchman, named Subha, who was himself a gate-watchman, bore a close likeness to the king. And this palace-guard Subha did the king Yasalalaka, in jest, bedeck with the royal ornaments and place upon the throne and binding the guard's turban about his own head, and taking himself his place, staff in band, at the gate, he made merry over the ministers as they paid homage to Subha sitting on the throne. Thus, was he wont to do, from time to time. Now one day the guard cried out to the king, who was laughing: `Why does this guard laugh in my presence?' And Subha the guard ordered to slay the king, and he himself reigned here six years under the name Subha Raja.”

Despatched by his own lookalike, Yassalalaka Thissa, the last Vijayan king died, one hopes, seeing the unexpectedly funny side of assassination. The last so-called Vijayan king, Subha Raja, was to be the most ironic of suppressed monarchical paradoxes: an genuine imposter.

Kuda Naga, King of Anuradhapura

The eighth monarch of the Lambakanna Dynasty (1st Period) (66 CE – 436 CE); and the 53rd recorded monarch in Sri Lanka in the line running from Prince Vijaya (543 BCE); the dates of his reign being 195 -196 CE.

Kuda Naga was to gain his throne by murdering his brother, Cula Naga. By so doing, he ushered in a period of deeply unstable government that was to last until 254 CE – 59 years - and was to count himself as one of the greatest losers. His act of regicide must have earned some considerable censure for he himself was murdered after barely a year by his own brother-in-law, Siri Naga I.

Illustration Credit: The tusker and swastika is a small Copper coin. On one side of the coin, there is an image of a walking tusker, a stupa drawn using three half-moons, a swastika and a Bo tree with three branches inscribed in a square. On the flipside, there is a swastika, a trident, and a stupa. The coin would have been in circulation through the early Anuradhapura era including during the reign of Kuda Naga, King of Anuradhapura. Photo credit: The Central Bank of Dri Lanka.

Pandu, King of Anuradhapura

The first of the Six Dravidian invaders of the Pandiyan Dynasty of South India; and the 72nd recorded monarch in Sri Lanka in the line running from Prince Vijaya (543 BCE).

Leading a confederation of Pandiyan forces from South India, Pandu seized the throne from the reigning Anuradhapura king, Mittasena – who was to become the twenty sixth and last monarch of the Lambakanna Dynasty (1st Period). Decades of political turmoil and internecine regicide had numbed Mittasena’s kingdom, lowering its defences and its capability to meet any invader, let alone govern effectively. Mittasena, by all accounts a deeply devout king, was more given to religion than warfare. He enjoyed his throne for just a year before being killed in battle by Pandu. Pandu himself is thought to have been the 35th reigning Sri Lankan monarch to have died a natural death, the dates of his reign being 436 – 441 CE.

Illustration Credit: Fish Symbol - Later Pandya Collapsed Architectural Engineering Adinarayana Perumal Temple In Madurai Ground Report By S Rajagopal

Batticaloa Fort

If ever there was a fort to convert into your dream home, it is the old fort in Batticaloa, built on one of the many small islands of Batticaloa on the east coast of Sri Lanka. The fort faces Batticaloa, the Batticaloa Lagoon and the ocean, its ramparts dotted with ancient cannons still bearing the arms of the Dutch East India Company. From its walls the keener hearing can sometimes catch the sound of singing fish from April to September. The original fort was built by the Portuguese in 1628 in a fit of pique when Constantino de Sa de Noronha took exception to a Dutch fleet that landed there in 1603, with the blessing of the King of Kandy, to try and oust the Portuguese. Sadly, the Portuguese were to enjoy the fort for just ten years./ By 1638 the Dutch had pushed them off the island, and with the not inconsiderable help of soldiers from King Rajasinghe’s army, the Dutch-Kandyan forces took the fort on 18 May 1638. The Dutch immediately set about improving its structure,, with four bastions protected by the sea from two sides and with a moat from the other two sides. However, the site itself dates back much further than the sixteenth century, with a first century BCE stupa marking far earlier times – and the lost Kingdom of Ruhuna. Love though, and some sympathetic builder-restorers, is what the fort most needs now. The isolating and deteriorating conditions the fort ensuring during the long civil war were considerably worsened by the impact of the 2004 tsunami.

Image of Batticaloa Fort by Baldaeus, 1672. Public Domain.

Badda

An historical Sinhala term for tax.

Illustration: The Hammillava Rock Inscription No 144 Inscriptions of Ceylon Vol II- S Paranavitane during the period of King Mahasen (277-304 CE). This early record ends with the sentence ‘ This is a legal enactment has been promulgated and recorded, having had it written on stone’. The line of this inscription mentions a Maha[ Ka]laka nakara [A revenue agency]. The lines regulate briefly an accounting system. Image courtsey of sirimunasiha.files.

Upatissa, King of Upatissa Nuwara

The second monarch of the Vijayan Period (543 BCE - 66 CE), reigning from 505 BCE to 504 BCE.

A Chief Minister to King Vijaya of Tambapaṇṇī, the founding father of the island’s first recorded royal dynasty, the Vijayans, Upatissa was also a priest and had founded his own modest city state kingdom, Upatissa Nuwara, a few miles distance from Tambapaṇṇī. On the death of King Vijaya in 505 BCE, he stepped into the breach to rule the new kingdom as a regent until Vijaya’s chosen successor, his brother Sumitta arrived from India. Except Sumitta failed to come. Pleading old age, he passed on the offer, preferring his own more familiar kingdom. Instead, his youngest son, Panduvasdeva, volunteered and set off with over 30 companions to take command of his new kingdom in 504 BCE. At this point the ever-helpful Upatissa vanishes from the historical record. It seems likely that he surrendered both the regency of Tambapaṇṇī and his own kingdom of Upatissa Nuwara to Panduvasdeva.

Balana Fort

“Balana” was never a place name to find favour with the Portuguese settlers of Sri Lanka. Since 1505 they had been annexing large parts of the island with little difficulty - Kotte, Sitawaka and Jaffna. But Kandy was to prove the nut that broke their teeth. Repeated attempts in 1594, 1603 and 1630 proved disastrous – and all because of the Balanna Fort - ‘look out’ post that more than did its duty. From its tower all Portuguese machinations could be seen – and stopped. Their last great attempt fetched up against the then Kandyan King, Rajasinghe II, then in secret negotiations with the Dutch to enlist their help to evict the Portuguese. Alerted to this by their spy network, the Portuguese Captain General in Colombo, Dego de Mello Castro frogmarched his army to Kandy, taking Balana as he went, and brushed aside attempts by Rajasinghe to negotiate. He gained the city – but found it abandoned for the king and his army had melted into the surrounding hills. As the Portuguese retuned to Balana on March 28, 1638, the Kandyan army struck. The Battle of Gannoruwa, as the moment came to be known, was a catastrophe for the colonial forces. Just thirty eight soldiers survived; the heads of their slaughtered comrades left in heaps before the king. The battle broke the Portuguese, and they were soon to leave the island altogether, Balana carved on their heart. Today only a few walls and steps remain.

Image courtsey of Amazing Lanka.

Siri Naga II, King of Anuradhapura

The twelfth monarch of the Lambakanna Dynasty (1st Period) (66 CE – 436 CE); and the 57th recorded monarch in Sri Lanka in the line running from Prince Vijaya (543 BCE); the dates of his reign being 245 – 247 CE.

The son of King Voharika Tissa, he was more than a little put out by how his side of the family had put through the ringers of hell by his uncle. For his uncle was the reigning king, Abhaya Naga, a man had managed not just to cuckold his bother, but assassinate him too before having the unfair temerity to die a natural death after an eight year reign. News of his death was rushed to the Ruhuna redoubt in southern Sri Lanka where the writ of Anuradhapura often failed to leave but the faintest of traces. Here, Siri Naga, Ahaya Naga embittered nephew, had been holding out since his father’s murder. Claiming his rightful inheritance, the new king hastened back to Anuradhapura to take to the throne as King Siri Naga II. Sadly, he was to enjoy just three years of kingship. His death, in 247 CE was also, apparently natural (the 27th reigning Sri Lankan monarch die so), and he was succeeded by his own son, Vijaya Kumara.

Illustration: Yala in Ruhana, the out-of-reach sub kingdom where Siri Naga II, King of Anuradhapura was to lie low and safe. Image courtesy of Nerd Nomads.

Kumbelamas

A Sinhala term for dried fish, most typically sourced historically and in the present day from the Maldives as Maldive fish, and used as a key ingredient in many Sri Lankan dishes.

Temple of the Tooth

A watercolour by Clive Wilson of The Temple of the Tooth in Kandy. Illustration courtsey of the artist.

Thuntota Fort

Poised like a spear at the heart of Kandy, Thuntota Fort in Holambuwa, sometimes known as Manikkadawara Fort, was built by the Kotte kings at the turn of the fifteenth century but soon taken over by the Portuguese who arrived on the island in 1505 and lost little time in seizing territory. Front the outset they focused their energies on taking Kandy – and Manikkadawara was perfectly positioned for this purpose. The Portuguese General Jerónimo de Azevedo greatly enlarged the fortress and added outreach mini forts on its access points. Over the decades the fort was on the front line of attacks into Kandy or defending itself from Kandy. An Englishman, Mr H.C.P. Bell, writing in the 1880s noted this history of attrition:

“After the gaining of the victories in the Seven Corlas which we have described, and the destruction of the enemies stockades, the General D. Jeronymo d’Azevedo determined to send and make a stockade in Manicravare. as it was nearer to the kingdom of Candea, in order to be able to conquer it from there; and to build m that stockade a military magazine and barrack, that it might serve as a garrisoned fortress near the Four Corlas. This stockade he decided should be of stone for better fortification and security of the troops who were to be stationed there. Wherefore he collected a large number of pioneers and workmen, and all the tools and materials necessary for the work. These he entrusted to Salvador Pereira da Silva, who set out with an ample body of Lascoreens and as many Portuguese soldiers as could be assembled ; and, one league before reaching the fort of Manicravare in the past September of [15]98, he pitched his camp, in which he remained some days. During this halt was collected the plant necessary for the work, in order to complete everything the day they arrived. He suspected that the Tyrant had a mind to surprise our troops before they had fortified themselves, so as to hinder a work which would be of great embarrassment and harm to him, as they [the Portuguese] would thereby block the gates of the kingdom of Candea where he would be confined. The requisite materials having been collected, our men set out for the place where the fortress was to be made, and on arriving at it they at once fortified themselves ; and when the following night came on which the enemy had determined to surprise them, there was already made a defensible fort of wood, our men quite secure inside it, and the enemy frustrated in their design without daring to meddle with them. Our men soon put their hands to the work of [building] the fortress of stone, on which they spent a period of four months at great loss and labour ; and whilst engaged therein they did not fail to make several incursions into the territories of the Tyrant, from which they always returned victorious. The Tyrant seeing that he could not stop that work, determined to draw away the General. Wherefore he proceeded with his army to the frontiers of Dinavaca, and commenced to make war vigorously on those districts which were ours. Upon this the General hastened thither with another army which he had formed of soldiers taken from the garrisons in various parts, leaving them, however, guarded. He sent Captain Salvador Pereira da Silva in command to oppose the enemy: this the latter did, and in several encounters routed them. ‘The fortress of Manicravara was carried on until the whole was completed, with its walls, bastions, and a tower of two stores in the middle, the work being so well finished and strong, that it was considered impregnable throughout that Island. Thither the said General proceeded with the rest of the army at the beginning of the past January of [15]99 and made preparations for making an inroad into the Corlas. D. Hierome de Azevedo in Ceylon raising a strong fort at Manicravara be the nearer to the kingdom of Candea, the conquest whereof was his chief aim, so perplexed the usurper that he, setting out several bodies with the king of Uva to distract our General, was in all places by him overthrown. D. Jeronymo being informed of this (the incursion of the Kandyans into Portuguese territory) provided the stockade of Manicravara, which he was, with three companies of soldiers, the Captains of which were Thome Coelho, who was head of all, Joao Serrao da Cunha, and Diogo de Aranjo, and with victuals and ammunition for many days.”

Later historians have argued for the presence of a second fort, a Dutch four- sided Star Fort with curtain walls enclosing a central bastion. As only a few depressions on paddy fields are all that is left, it is impossible to be sure what really existed where and when. All about, the area is today bucolically calm; and reimaging the earliest colonial days of war and bloodshed, is a task beyond reason.

Image - 17th century map of Portuguese fort at Menikkadawara identified as Tontotte Fort, Public Domain.

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Jettha Tissa I, King of Anuradhapura

The seventeenth monarch of the Lambakanna Dynasty (1st Period) (66 CE – 436 CE); and the 62nd recorded monarch in Sri Lanka in the line running from Prince Vijaya (543 BCE); the dates of his reign being 267 – 277 CE.

Jetta Tissa I was the son of the previous king, Gothabhaya, and something of a chip off the monstrous old block. To deal with unruly minsters at his father’s funeral, he had sixty of them rounded up, staking their impaled heads in a mournful circle around the old king’s body in 267 CE. This display of strong-armed governance under yet another king was probably precisely what was needed to help keep at bay the lurking regicidal tendencies inherent in the Lambakanna dynasty.

Jetta Tissa’s decade long rule is unlikely to have been a comfortable ride for those around him. Indeed, states the Mahavamsa Chronicle “he came by the surname: the Cruel” It then elaborates, with evident dismay, the steps he took to move patronage and resource from the orbit of Theravada Buddhism to Vaitulya Buddhism. Even so, he was to die in 277 CE, just the 29th reigning Sri Lankan monarch out of a list of 62 to have died a natural death. Modest as this rounds, it was still something of a major achievement.

Illustration Credit: Muthiyangana Raja Maha Vihara in Badulla town which was renovated by Jettha Tissa I, King of Anuradhapura. Image courtesy of Lankapura.

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Mudaliyar

A Sinhala term for a chief headman, most typically empowered under British rule as the administrator of a Korale, or revenue district.

Assassinations Since Independence, Notable

An under researched but inferred tendency for political violence at the highest level, runs through Sri Lankan history from its earliest time. Of the three hundred or so monarchs that ruled all or parts of the island since 543 BCE, it is estimated that around 40-50-% came to power by the simple expedient of killing their ruling brother, father, uncle, or, occasionally, aunt. Murder rates for rulers dropped significantly during the island’s period of European colonial occupation but the rates were replaced instead by institutionalized violence against the native population, fortified by specifically targeted bouts of extreme repression such as those carried out by the British in 1817 and 1848.

The tendency for high level bloodshed revisited the island following independence, largely, but not wholly, related to the Sri Lankan Civil War of 1983 - 2009 and the two JVP uprisings against the government in 1971 and then again in 1987 - 1989. No dependable or agreed figures from any sources exist to document the casualties of these confrontations, but the highest estimates collectively get alarmingly close to 200,000 souls.

The vast majority of these deaths were of civilians. Sizable numbers of killed military combatants of all sides are also significant. Focused and targeted assassination, as a routine tool was also in common use, and claimed the lives of well over a hundred MPS and ministers, local leaders, academics, journalists, civil servants, and activists. Thirteen stand out as amount the most shocking.


High Level Assassination Attempts That Resulted in Death

1. S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. Murdered by Talduwe Somarama, a Buddhist monk on 26 September 1959, in Tintagel, in Rosmead Place, Colombo.

2. Alfred Duraiappah, Mayor of Jaffna. Murdered by LTTE leader, Prabhakaran on 27 July 1975 in Ponnalai.

3. Vijaya Kumaratunga, Founder of Sri Lanka Mahajana Party, and husband of President Chandrika Kumaranatunga. Allegedly shot by the JVP on 16 February 1988 in Colombo.

4. Richard Manik de Zoysa, Sri Lankan journalist, author, human rights activist. Allegedly murdered by government forces on 18 February 1990 near Moratuwa.

5. Rohana Wijeweera, Leader of the JVP. Allegedly shot by government forces on 13 November 1989 in Borella.

6. Appapillai Amirthalingam, a leading Tamil politician. Shot dead by the LTTE on 13 July 1989 in Colombo.

7. Rajiv Gandhi, ex-Prime Minister of India, murdered by an LTTE suicide bomber in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, India on 21 May 1991.

8. Admiral Clancy Fernando, Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy. Murdered by an LTE suicide bomber on 16 November 1992 in Colombo.

9. Lalith Athulathmudali, a distinguished Sri Lankan politician. Allegedly murdered by government forces on 23 April 1993 in Kirulapana.

10. Ranasinghe Premadasa, President of Sri Lanka. Murdered by an LTTE suicide bomber on 1 May 1993 in Colombo.

11. Major General Janaka Perera, Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Army. Murdered by an LTTE suicide bomber on 6 October 2008 by a suicide bomber in Anuradhapura.

12. Lasantha Wickrematunge, Editor-in-chief of The Sunday Leader. Allegedly murdered by government forces on January 8, 2009, in Colombo.

13. Velupillai Prabhakaran, Leader of the LTTE. Killed by forces of the 53 Division of the Sri Lankan Army on 18 May 2009 in Nanthi Lagoon.


High Level Assassination Attempts That Failed

1. Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, President of the Maldives, survived an assault by mercenaries of the Sri Lankan People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam on 3 November 1988 in Male.

2. Chandrika Kumaratunga, President of Sri Lanka survived an LTTE suicide bomber on 18 December 1999 at the Town Hall, Colombo.

3. Sarath Fonseka, Commander of the Army survived an LTT suicide bomber on 25 April 2006 in Colombo.

4. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, later President of Sri Lanka survived an LTTE suicide bombing on 1 December 2006 in Kollupitiya.

5. Maithripala Sirisena, later President of Sri Lanka, survived an LTTE attack on 9 October 2008 at Piriwena Junction in Boralesgamuwa, Colombo.


Image courtesy of The Sunday Times

Kahavanu

A Sinhala term for the standard coins issued in the 1st and 2nd century CE by the Anuradhapuran kingdom. Also known as kahapana, they were made of various metals and so differed significantly in their weight.

Mahasena, King of Anuradhapura

The eighteenth monarch of the Lambakanna Dynasty (1st Period) (66 CE – 436 CE); and the 63rd recorded monarch in Sri Lanka in the line running from Prince Vijaya (543 BCE); the dates of his reign being 277 - 304 CE.

The son of King Gothabhaya and brother of King Jettha Tissa I, Mahasen took the throne in 277 CE, a succession notable for being natural. Like his brother, Mahasen had been educated by the radical monk Sanghamitta; and so, from the perspective of the majority Theravāda Buddhists, life got still worse as the religious schisms that continued to ravage the country worsened. A twenty-seven-year reign lay ahead of the new king, who got off to a good start commissioning what would include sixteen massive reservoirs (the largest covering an area of nearly twenty square kilometres) and two big irrigation canals.

But this did little to defray the resentment his pro-Mahayana religious policies caused, which prompted a rash of insurrections opposing his own opposition to Theravada Buddhism. Mahasen set about building what would become the country’s largest stupa, the Jethavanaramaya – which was, until the construction of the Eiffel Tower, the second tallest building in the world. To help, he ordered the plundering of the Mahavihara, the greatest Theravada Buddhist monastery in the land. Monks that resisted his Mahayana policies were pressured by many means, including attempted starvation.

Soon enough the trickle of monks fleeing to the safely of Ruhuna in the south became a flood. Ominously they were also joined by Meghavannabaya, the king’s chief minister, who raised an army in their defence. With surprising wisdom, the king drew back from the confrontation, saving his throne, making peace with the disgruntled Theravada Buddhists, and enabling him to settle down to enjoy a long and apparently prosperous reign. This came to a natural end in 303 CE earning him the kudos of being just the 30th reigning Sri Lankan monarch to have died a natural death.

Illustration Credit: Jetavanarama stupa built by Mahasena, King of Anuradhapura - image courtsey of A.Savin, WikiCommons