 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(May 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) |
| Vijayabahu VI | |
|---|---|
| King of Gampola | |
| Reign | 1397 to 1411 |
| Predecessor | Vira Bahu II |
| Successor | Parakramabahu Epa |
| House | Alagakkonara |
Vira Alakesvara, also known as Vijayabahu VI, was the last King of Gampola who ruled from 1397 to 1411. He was the last prominent member of the Alagakkonara family.
His father was a minister of the local king Vikramabahu III of Gampola fortified a marshy region around present day Colombo region, on the marshes to the south of the Kelani River. [1] His death is established as between 1382 and 1392.
At his father's death, there was disunity in his family with family members fighting each other for power and procession. Kumara Alakesvara, half-brother of king Buwanekabahu V [2] controlled the region from 1386–87 and was followed by Vira Alakesvara from 1387 onwards until 1391, when he was ousted by the rival claimants relative. He came back to power with the help of foreign mercenaries in 1399. He ruled until 1411 when he confronted the visiting Chinese Admiral Zheng He resulting in the Ming-Kotte War. Zheng captured and took him to China, returning him to the country a year later. [3] [4]
The Jaffna Kingdom, also known as Kingdom of Aryachakravarti, of modern northern Sri Lanka was a historic monarchy that came into existence around the town of Jaffna on the Jaffna peninsula. It was traditionally thought to be established after the invasion of Magha, who is credited with the founding of the Jaffna kingdom and is said to have been from Kalinga, in India. Established as a powerful force in the north, north east and west of the island, it eventually became a tribute-paying feudatory of the Pandyan Empire in modern South India in 1258, gaining independence in 1323, when the last Pandyan ruler of Madurai was defeated and expelled in 1323 by the armies of the Muslim Delhi Sultanate. For a brief period, in the early to mid-14th century, it was an ascendant power in the island of Sri Lanka when all regional kingdoms accepted subordination. However, the kingdom was eventually overpowered by the rival Kotte Kingdom, around 1450 when it was invaded by Prince Sapumal under the Kotte Kingdom's directive.
The Arya Chakravarti dynasty were kings of the Jaffna Kingdom in Sri Lanka. The earliest Sri Lankan sources, between 1277 and 1283, mention a military leader of this name as a minister in the services of the Pandyan Empire; he raided the western Sri Lankan coast and took the politically significant relic of the Buddha’s tooth from the Sinhalese capital city of Yapahuwa. Political and military leaders of the same family name left a number of inscriptions in the modern-day Tamil Nadu state, with dates ranging from 1272 to 1305, during the late Pandyan Empire. According to contemporary native literature, such as Cekaracecekaramalai, the family also claimed lineage from the Tamil Brahmins of the prominent Hindu pilgrimage temple of Rameswaram in the modern Ramanathapuram District of India. They ruled the Jaffna kingdom from the 13th until the 17th century, when the last of the dynasty, Cankili II, was ousted by the Portuguese.
Karava also Karave, Kara and Kaurawa is a Sinhalese and Tamil speaking ethnic group of Sri Lanka. The Tamil equivalent is Karaiyar.
Chandrabhanu or Chandrabhanu Sridhamaraja was the King of Tambralinga Kingdom in present-day Thailand, Malaysia and Sumatra and the Jaffna Kingdom in northern Sri Lanka. A Javaka, he was known to have ruled from during the period of 1230 until 1262. He was also known for building a well-known Buddhist stupa in southern Thailand. He spent more than 30 years in his attempt to conquer Sri Lanka. He was eventually defeated by the forces of the Pandyan Dynasty from Tamil Nadu in 1262 and was killed by the brother of the south Indian Emperor Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan.
Alagakkonara, also known as Alakeshwara, were a prominent feudal family that provided powerful ministers and military rulers during the medieval period in Sri Lanka. Although some historian say that the family was of Tamil origin originated from Madurai or Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu, India. They arrived in Sri Lanka around the 13th century and naturalized themselves in Sri Lanka. One member of the family is noted for founding the current capital of Sri Lanka, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte as a fort from which he waged a war against encroaching tax collectors from the Jaffna kingdom in the north. The family lost most of its influence after its leader was taken captive by the Ming Dynasty (Chinese) Admiral Zheng He in 1411.
Gampola is a town located in Kandy District, Central Province, Sri Lanka, governed by an Urban Council. Gampola was made the capital of the island by King Buwanekabahu IV, who ruled for four years in the mid-fourteenth century. The last king of Gampola was King Buwanekabahu V, who ruled the island for 29 years. A separate city was built in Kotte during this time by a noble known as Alagakkonara. The longest sleeping Buddha statue in South Asia is located in the Saliyalapura Temple, Gampola.
Martanda Cinkaiariyan ascended the throne of Jaffna Kingdom under the throne name Pararasasekaram III. He is one of the early Aryacakravarti kings about whom historical and epigraphical evidence is available. He was noted by Ibn Battuta in his well-known travelogue as well as he has left behind a few inscriptions. He oversaw the international trade of the Jaffna kingdom with Yemen via the kingdom's powerful trading ships. Martanda Cinkaiariyan accompanied Battuta to the peak of Sivanoli Padam Malai along with Yogis and other Hindus and companions of the king who visited the sacred Shiva site annually.
Periyapillai was of one of the Aryacakravarti rulers of Jaffna kingdom who followed in the chaotic period after the death of Cankili I(1519–1561). Some sources claim that he deposed the Cankili I's son, Puviraja Pandaram as soon as Cankili I died. Others say that there was an intermediate ruler named Kasi Nainar between him and the death of Cankili I. He with the help of Thanjavur Nayak help mounted an attack on the Portuguese fort in the Mannar Island to regain territory lost during Cankili's rule but he was defeated. Due to a local uprising he lost power to Puviraja Pandaram. He is considered to be the father of the last king of the Kingdom, Cankili II and Migapulle Arachchi.
The Vanni chieftaincies or Vanni principalities was a region between Anuradhapura and Jaffna, but also extending to along the eastern coast to Panama and Yala, during the Transitional and Kandyan periods of Sri Lanka. This land was a collection of chieftaincies of principalities that were a collective buffer zone between the Jaffna Kingdom, in the north of Sri Lanka, and the Sinhalese kingdoms in the south. The emergance of these chieftaincies were a direct result of the breakdown of central authority and the collapse of the Kingdom of Polonnaruwa in the 13th century, as well as the establishment of the Jaffna Kingdom in the Jaffna Peninsula. Control of this area was taken over by dispossessed Sinhalese nobles and chiefs of the South Indian military of Māgha of Kalinga (1215–1236), whose 1215 invasion of Polonnaruwa led to the kingdom's downfall. Sinhalese chieftaincies would lay on the northern border of the Sinhalese kingdom while the Tamil chieftaincies would border the Jaffna Kingdom and the remoter areas of the eastern coast, outside of the control of either kingdom.
The Portuguese conquest of the Jaffna kingdom occurred after Portuguese traders arrived at the rival Kotte Kingdom in the southwest of modern Sri Lanka in 1505. Many kings of Jaffna, such as Cankili I, initially confronted the Portuguese in their attempts at converting the locals to Roman Catholicism, but eventually made peace with them.
The current capital of Sri Lanka is Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte. In the course of history, the national capital has been in many locations other than Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte.
The Kingdom of Kotte, centered on Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, was a kingdom that flourished in Sri Lanka during the 15th century.
The Ming–Kotte War was a military conflict between the expeditionary forces of Ming China and the Sinhalese Kotte Kingdom in the southern territories of Ceylon. The conflict happened when Ming China's treasure fleet returned to Ceylon in 1410 or 1411 and resulted in the overthrow of King Alakeshvara, who was replaced by Parakramabahu VI of the previous royal family.
Jaffna is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th most populous city. Jaffna is approximately six miles from Kandarodai which served as an emporium in the Jaffna peninsula from classical antiquity. Jaffna's suburb Nallur, served as the capital of the four-century-long medieval Jaffna Kingdom.
Gampola is a town located near Kandy in the Central Province of Sri Lanka. It was made the capital city of the island by King Buwanekabahu IV, who ruled for four years in the mid fourteenth century. King Buwanekabahu IV ascended to the throne after his father and shifted the capital from Kurunegala to Gampola, with the support of the General Senalankadhikara.
When to date the start of the history of the Jaffna kingdom is debated among historians.
Parakrama Bahu Epa was King of Gampola who ruled from 1409 to 1412. He succeeded Vira Alakesvara as king and was the last to reign in Gampola.
This is a bibliography of works on Sri Lanka.
The Sinhalese monarchy has its origins in the settlement of North Indian Indo-Aryan immigrants to the island of Sri Lanka. The Landing of Vijay as described in the traditional chronicles of the island, the Dipavamsa, Mahavamsa and Culavamsa, and later chronicles, recount the date of the establishment of the first Sinhala Kingdom in 543 BC when Prince Vijaya, an Indian Prince, and 700 of his followers landed on the island of Sri Lanka and established the Kingdom of Tambapanni. In Sinhalese mythology, Prince Vijaya and followers are told to be the progenitors of the Sinhalese people. However according to the story in the Divyavadana, the immigrants were probably not led by a scion of a royal house in India, as told in the romantic legend, but rather may have been groups of adventurous and pioneering merchants exploring new lands.
