Sri Lankan History | CEYLON ON MY TERMS

Mythology & Antiquity

King Ravana — The Scholar-King of Lanka

Pre-classical era

Long before the written chronicles of the Mahavamsa, Sri Lankan oral tradition and the Indian epic Ramayana preserve the memory of Ravana — the ten-headed demon king of Lanka who abducted Sita, wife of the prince Rama. In Sri Lankan tradition, however, Ravana is remembered not as a villain but as a ruler of extraordinary learning: a master of Ayurveda, a musician who invented the Ravanaya (a precursor to the violin), and a king whose kingdom was so prosperous that his aircraft — the Dandu Monara — could traverse the sky.

Archaeological research has identified sites across Sri Lanka with the Ravana legend: Seetha Eliya in the hill country, where Sita is said to have been held; Ravana Ella Falls near Ella; and the Weragantota Plain in Mahiyangana, proposed by some researchers as the site of Ravana's airstrip. The Ramayana Trail — a pilgrimage route connecting 50 sites associated with the epic — has emerged as a significant draw for heritage tourism.

Whether historical or mythological, the Ravana tradition reflects something real about pre-Buddhist Sri Lanka: a sophisticated, outward-looking civilization connected by sea and air to the subcontinent, with its own medical, musical, and spiritual traditions that predate the Aryan migrations recorded in the Mahavamsa.

161–137 BCE

King Dutugemunu — The Warrior King of Anuradhapura

Anuradhapura Kingdom

Prince Gemunu — later called Dutugemunu, meaning "the defiant Gemunu" — is the great national hero of Sinhalese history. Raised in the south at Magama (modern Tissamaharama in Ruhuna), he launched a campaign in 161 BCE against the Chola king Elara who had ruled Anuradhapura for 44 years, widely regarded as a just ruler even by his Sinhalese subjects.

The Mahavamsa's account of the battle is among the most detailed military narratives in ancient South Asian literature. Dutugemunu's advance northward, battle by battle through thirty-two provincial rulers, culminated in single combat with Elara himself at the gates of Anuradhapura. Dutugemunu slew Elara but, in a passage that modern Sri Lankans quote with pride, ordered that no celebration be held as the king's body was cremated with full royal honour.

His reign produced the Ruwanwelisaya — one of the largest structures in the ancient world — a dagoba begun with 36 million bricks and designed to enshrine a sacred relic of the Buddha. He also built the Mirisawetiya dagoba and the Brazen Palace, a nine-storey monastery with a thousand rooms. Dying before the Ruwanwelisaya's completion, Dutugemunu was carried in his palanquin to view the unfinished dome one last time.

1153–1186 CE

Parakramabahu the Great — The Empire Builder

Polonnaruwa Kingdom

King Parakramabahu I united the three kingdoms of Sri Lanka for the first time in centuries, ruling from Polonnaruwa and overseeing a civilisation that the Mahavamsa compares favourably to the empires of India and China. His reign is the high-water mark of Sri Lanka's ancient hydraulic civilisation: he built or restored 165 dams, 3,910 canals, 2,376 irrigation channels, and 163 tanks — transforming the dry zone into the most productive agricultural landscape in the medieval world.

The Parakrama Samudra — Sea of Parakrama — is the great reservoir he created at Polonnaruwa, covering 2,500 hectares and still in active use today. His inscription at Polonnaruwa contained the celebrated line: "Not even a drop of rain water should be allowed to flow into the sea without benefiting man." It remains the most quoted statement in Sri Lankan political history.

Beyond engineering, Parakramabahu reformed the Buddhist Sangha (purifying it of three competing sects into a single order), conducted military campaigns in India and Burma, and built the Gal Vihara rock temple with its three colossal Buddha statues — carved directly from a single granite face, they are the finest examples of ancient Sri Lankan sculpture in existence.

477–495 CE

King Kashyapa — The Sky-Palace Builder of Sigiriya

Anuradhapura Kingdom

Kasyapa I seized the throne of Anuradhapura by imprisoning his father King Dhatusena within a wall of clay. Fearing retribution from his half-brother Moggallana — who had fled to India — Kasyapa abandoned the traditional capital and built an entirely new one atop the 200-metre granite outcrop of Sigiriya. The engineering achievement remains staggering: a palace complex on the summit, a series of intermediate gardens and frescoed galleries on the rock face, and a symmetrical water garden at the base whose hydraulic system has never fully stopped functioning.

The Sigiriya frescoes — painted in a sheltered gallery halfway up the rock — depict apsara maidens. Their style is unlike any other Sri Lankan painting: more voluptuous, more individual, possibly portraits of actual women of the court. Ancient visitors scratched poems onto the mirror-smooth plaster wall of the gallery — over 600 graffiti verses survive, some of the oldest Sinhalese literature in existence, addressed directly to the women in the paintings.

Kasyapa's reign lasted 18 years. When Moggallana returned from India with a Tamil army, Kasyapa descended from his fortress to meet him in battle on the plains below — his elephant turned to avoid a swamp, his troops interpreted this as retreat, and Kasyapa, seeing his army dissolve, drew his dagger and took his own life. Moggallana converted Sigiriya to a Buddhist monastery, which it remained for nearly a thousand years.

Four sacred cities

The Ancient Cities of Sri Lanka

Four UNESCO World Heritage Sites — each the capital of a different era — form the Cultural Triangle at the heart of the island.

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Anuradhapura

Capital for over 1,400 years (377 BCE – 1017 CE) and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on earth. Home to the Sri Maha Bodhi — the oldest documented tree in the world — and three dagobas larger than most Egyptian pyramids.

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Polonnaruwa

Capital from 993 to 1310 CE and the seat of Parakramabahu the Great. The best-preserved ancient city in Sri Lanka — moonstones, council chambers, the Gal Vihara rock temple, and the Parakrama Samudra reservoir remain largely intact.

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Sigiriya

Not a capital but a 5th-century sky palace — Kasyapa I's 18-year experiment in building a fortress-kingdom 200 metres above the plain. The water gardens, frescoes, and mirror wall make it the most remarkable single site in Sri Lanka.

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Ruhuna (Tissamaharama)

The southern kingdom of Ruhuna was the refuge of Sinhalese royalty during periods of Tamil occupation from the north. Dutugemunu raised his army here. The Tissa Wewa and Yatala Wehera dagoba date from the 3rd century BCE and remain active pilgrimage sites.

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