 |
| King of Jaffna | |
|---|---|
| Details | |
| First monarch | Kalinga Magha |
| Last monarch | Cankili II |
| Formation | 1215 |
| Abolition | 1619 |
| Residence | Nallur |
The following is a list of monarchs of the Jaffna kingdom from 1215 with the invasion of Kalinga Magha to the Portuguese conquest of Jaffna Kingdom under Cankili II 1619.
| Portrait | Name | Birth | Death | King From | King Until | Relationship with Predecessor(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kalinga Magha (aka Kalinga Chodaganga or Gangaraja Kalinga Vijayabahu) | - | 1255 | 1215 | 1255 | He was of the Eastern Ganga dynasty, descendants of Kalinga Chandravamsa lineage and maternal lineage from Chola dynasty. |
| Portrait | Name | Birth | Death | King From | King Until | Relationship with Predecessor(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chandrabhanu | - | 1263 | 1255 | 1262 | Of Padmavamsa dynasty, Tambralinga Malay invader, but submitted to Pandyan rule under king Sadayavarman Sundara Pandyan I | |
| Savakanmaindan | 1277 | 1262 | 1277 | Son of Chandrabhanu |
| Portrait | Name | Birth | Death | King From | King Until | Relationship with Predecessor(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Kulasekara Cinkaiariyan | - | 1284 | 1277 | 1284 | |
| | Kulotunga Cinkaiariyan | - | - | 1284 | 1292 | Son of Kulasekara Pararacacekaran I |
| | Vickrama Cinkaiariyan | - | - | 1292 | 1302 | Son of Kulottunga Cekaracacekaran II |
| | Varodaya Cinkaiariyan | - | 1325 | 1302 | 1325 | Son of Vikkrama Pararacacekaran II |
| | Martanda Cinkaiariyan | - | 1348 | 1325 | 1348 | Son of Varotaya Cekaracacekaran III |
| | Gunabhooshana Cinkaiariyan | - | - | 1347 | 1371 | Son of Marttanta Pararacacekaran III |
| | Virodaya Cinkaiariyan | - | - | 1371 | 1380 | Son of Kunapusana Cekaracacekaran IV |
| | Jeyaveera Cinkaiariyan | - | 1410 | 1380 | 1410 | Son of Virotaya Pararacacekaran IV |
| | Gunaveera Cinkaiariyan | - | - | 1410 | 1440 | Son of Jeyavira Cekaracacekaran V |
| | Kanakasooriya Cinkaiariyan | - | 1478 | 1440 | 1450 | Son of Kunavira Pararacacekaran V |
| Portrait | Name | Birth | Death | King From | King Until | Relationship with Predecessor(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Bhuvanekabahu VI (aka Chempaka Perumal) | - | 1480 | 1450 | 1467 |
| Portrait | Name | Birth | Death | King From | King Until | Relationship with Predecessor(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Kanakasooriya Cinkaiariyan (restored) | - | 1478 | 1467 | 1478 | |
| | Singai Pararasasegaram | - | 1519 | 1478 | 1519 | Son of Cekaracacekaran V |
| | Cankili I | - | 1565 | 1519 | 1561 | Son of Singai Pararacacekaran VI |
| | Puviraja Pandaram | - | 1591 | 1561 | 1565 | Son of Cekaracacekaran VI |
| | Kasi Nayinar Pararacacekaran | - | 1570 | 1565 | 1570 | |
| | Periyapillai | - | 1582 | 1565 | 1582 | |
| | Puviraja Pandaram (restored) | - | 1591 | 1582 | 1591 | |
| | Ethirimana Cinkam | - | 1617 | 1591 | 1617 | Son of Pararacacekaran VII |
| | Cankili II | - | 1619 | 1617 | 1619 | Nephew of Pararacacekaran VIII Grandson of Pararacacekaran VII Son/grandson of Cekaracacekaran VIII |
| Portrait | Name | Birth | Death | King From | King Until | Relationship with Predecessor(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Don Constantine | - | - | 1619 | 1624 |
 Jaffna Kingdom topics | ||
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| History |  | |
| Monarchs | ||
| Culture | ||
| Landmarks | ||
The Jaffna Kingdom, also known as Kingdom of Aryachakravarti, was a historical kingdom of what today is northern Sri Lanka. It came into existence around the town of Jaffna on the Jaffna peninsula and was traditionally thought to have been established after the invasion of Kalinga Magha from Kalinga in India. Established as a powerful force in the north, northeast and west of the island, it eventually became a tribute-paying feudatory of the Pandyan Empire in modern South India in 1258, gaining independence when the last Pandyan ruler of Madurai was defeated and expelled in 1323 by Malik Kafur, the army general of the Delhi Sultanate. For a brief period in the early to mid-14th century it was an ascendant power in the island of Sri Lanka, to which all regional kingdoms accepted subordination. However, the kingdom was overpowered by the rival Kotte Kingdom around 1450 when it was invaded by Prince Sapumal under the orders of Parakramabahu VI.
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.
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.
Nallur is an affluent suburb in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. It is located 3 km south from Jaffna city centre. Nallur is most famous for Nallur Kandaswamy temple, one of Sri Lanka's most sacred place of pilgrimage for Sri Lankan Hindus. Nallur is also famous for being the historical capital of the old Jaffna Kingdom and birthplace of renowned philosopher and theologian, Arumuka Navalar.
Jaffna District is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a District Secretary appointed by the central government of Sri Lanka. The capital of the district is the city of Jaffna.
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.
Kanakasooriya Cinkaiariyan was the first of the Aryacakravarti dynasty kings of Jaffna Kingdom to lose complete power to a rival king. He inherited the throne from his father Gunaveera Cinkaiariyan in 1440. He was deposed in 1450 by Sapumal Kumaraya a military leader sent by Parakramabâhu VI from the rival Kotte Kingdom in the south. Number of primary sources such as Rajavaliya and Kokila Sandesa written in Sinhalese vividly describe the planning and conquest of the Jaffna Kingdom.
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. The heavily forested 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. Traditionally the forest regions were ruled by Vedda rulers. Later on, the emergence of these chieftaincies was 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, north western 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.
Portuguese Ceylon is the name given to the territory on Ceylon, modern-day Sri Lanka, controlled by the Portuguese Empire between 1597 and 1658.
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 Tamil Jaffna Kingdom.
When to date the start of the history of the Jaffna kingdom is debated among historians.
Ruins of the Jaffna Kingdom refer to the remains of the remaining building structures of the Jaffna Kingdom, the royal abode and structure of the ruling dynasty of the Kingdom of Jaffna, Nallur, Jaffna in Northern Sri Lanka.
Dom Constantino was the child Portuguese puppet and last titular King of Jaffna in the 17th century, whose reign lasted from 1619 to 1624. He succeeded Cankili II. With the conquest of the Jaffna kingdom and the end of the monarch Dom Constantino was succeeded by Filipe de Oliveira, as Captain-major.
Portuguese invasion of Jaffna Kingdom in 1591 AD was the second expedition against the Jaffna Kingdom by the Portuguese. The campaign, led by Captain André Furtado de Mendonça, started from Mannar and continued to Nallur, the capital of the Jaffna Kingdom. The Portuguese captured the kingdom, killed the king, and installed Ethirimana Cinkam as the new ruler.
The Portuguese invasion of Jaffna Kingdom in 1560 AD was the first expedition against the Jaffna Kingdom by the Portuguese Empire. It was led by Viceroy Dom Constantino de Bragança and resulted in the capture of the capital, Nallur. The king of Jaffna, Cankili I, managed to escape and regained the capital through a pact that he made with the Portuguese. He subsequently incited a peoples' rebellion against the Portuguese, resulting in their withdrawing their forces from Nallur. The Jaffna Kingdom, however, lost its sovereignty over Mannar Island and its main town, Mannar.
Mantri Manai or Manthiri Manai is a historic palace situated in Nallur, Jaffna, Sri Lanka. It is one of the archaeological protected monuments in Jaffna District and was listed by the Sri Lankan government in 2007.
Yamuna Eri is an ancient pond situated in Nallur, Jaffna, Sri Lanka. In 1948, it was listed as one of the protected archaeological monuments in the Jaffna District by the Sri Lankan government.
Cankilian Thoppu facade or Poothathamby arch, simply known as Cankilian Thoppu, is an ancient facade, and one of the remnants of the Jaffna kingdom. The arch is located on the Jaffna-Point Pedro Road, near Nallur, Jaffna. The Cankilian Thoppu is an archaeological protected monument in the Jaffna District and was listed as such by the Sri Lankan government in 2007.
The Kotte conquest of the Jaffna kingdom was an expedition against the Jaffna kingdom by the Kotte kingdom. The Kotte's campaign had several phases against Jaffna dated between A.D. 1449–50 and 1453-4. The first campaign, led by Prince Sapumal, adopted son of Parakramabahu VI in 1450. In the second campaign, Prince Sapuma defeated Kanakasooriya Cinkaiariyan and ruled the region nearly 17 years as a representative of Kotte.