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The Satmahalprasada, a stupa with an unusual pyramid-like form in seven levels or stories, is much more of an enigma. Was this monument yet another derived from an Indian prototype or an outstanding example of South East Asian Cambodian and Burmese influence on Sri Lankan architecture? The latter seems more likely because of the peculiar shape of this monument and in view of the very close religious ties at this time between Sri Lanka and the Buddhist countries of South East Asia. As at Anuradhapura, few secular buildings have survived in Polonnaruva. Of Parakramabahu's palace, only the foundations remain today, but Nisanka Malla's audience hall is in a better state of preservation.
As for painting, what is now preserved is a very small fraction of the work executed by the artists of the Polonnaruva kingdom. Of the secular paintings, nothing has survived, although the evidence suggests that walls of palaces like those of shrines were decorated with paintings. Those on religious edifices have fared slightly better. The Laiikatilaka bears traces of paintings on its walls, exterior as well as interior. The walls of the Tivanka pratimaghara (erroneously called the Demalamahasaya) carry more paintings than any other monument at Polonnaruva or indeed in the island, but the date of these paintings is a matter of conjecture, for though this shrine was built in the reign of Parakramabahu I, it has evidently been renovated and possibly altered at a later date.
These paintings are the work of artists who had centuries of tradition behind them, and who belonged to a school which, in its heyday, had ramifications throughout the subcontinent of India and beyond it. The famous cave paintings of Ajanta and Bagh are its most mature products. By the twelfth century, this artistic tradition was almost extinct in India, but the fragmentary remains of the Polonnaruva paintings afford proof that it had been preserved in Sri Lanka long after it had lost its vitality in the land of its origin. Nevertheless, like the earlier Slgiri paintings, these latter are distinctly provincial in comparison with the Indian prototype.
Indeed, all the later work in Polonnaruva, whether in art or architecture, appears archaic if not atavistic, the result very probably of a conscious effort at reviving and imitating the artistic traditions of the Anuradhapura kingdom. The moonstones of Polonnaruva are inferior to those of Anuradhapura in vitality and aesthetic appeal, just as the baths which adorned the palaces and monasteries were smaller in size and, with the single exception of the exquisite lotus bath, less elegant in design. The transformation of Polonnaruva into a gracious cosmopolitan city was the work of three kings Vijayabahu I, Parakramabahu I and Nissarika Malla and this development could be measured in generations if not decades, and not, as in the case of the cognate process in Anuradhapura, in centuries. Polonnaruva had a smaller area than Anuradhapura, but its compactness was conducive to a remarkable symmetry in the location of its major edifices, all of them like so many links in some gigantic creation of a celestial jeweler who used the Parakrama Samudra to the best possible advantage to set them off.
The comparatively short period in which the architecture and sculptural splendors of Polonnaruva were created is no doubt testimony to the dynamism and creativity of its rulers and people. But it had its somber side as well, for in retrospect the activity seems febrile, and this conspicuous investment in monuments must have impaired the economic strength of the kingdom and contributed greatly to the rapid decline that set in after the reign of Nissarika Malla.
Although trade, external as well as internal, had grown substantially in Sri Lanka during the Polonnaruva era, it was still very much in the shadow of domestic agriculture, which continued to be the predomi¬nant economic activity of the kingdom. And the role of money in the economy appears to have been, as in the days of the Anuradhapura kingdom, of merely peripheral significance.
Religion and culture
The inevitable result of the Cola conquest was that Hindu Brahmanical and Saiva religious practices, Dravidian art and architecture, and the Tamil language itself became overwhelmingly powerful in their intrusive impact on the religion and culture of Sri Lanka. The period of the South Indian invasions of the Anuradhapura kingdom in the ninth and tenth centuries coincided with the decline of Buddhism in India and the collapse of important centers of Buddhist learning as a result of Muslim invasions. These processes proved to be irreversible. South Indian influence on Sri Lanka thereafter became exclusively Hindu in content. It is against this background that the recovery of Buddhism under the Polonnaruva kings needs to be reviewed. The most substantial contributions came from Vijayabahu I and Parakramabahu I. The unification of the sangha in the latter’s reign was one of the most significant events in the history of Sinhalese Buddhism. Traditionally this has been viewed in terms of the triumph of the Mahavihara, and the discomfiture if not suppression of the Abhayagiri and Jetavana nikdyas. But recent research has shown this to be quite inaccurate. The loss of property by the monasteries during the period of Coja rule, and again in the interregnum between Vijayabahu I and the accession of Parakramabahu I had had a deleterious effect upon all the nikdyas. Their disintegration had in fact led to a new grouping of the sangha under eight miles or fraternities. Parakramabahu I brought these eight fraternities together under a common leadership—a process of unification which was at once much more and much less than imposing the authority of the Mahavihara over the other two nikdyas. It did not end sectarian competition but appears to have had a tonic effect on both evangelistic and scholarly activity.
The resuscitator zeal of these two monarchs, in particular, demonstrated afresh the remarkable resilience of Sri Lankan Buddhism. Sinhalese bhikkhus maintained contacts with distant centers of Buddhism like Nepal and Tibet; they also made vigorous but unsuccessful attempts to spread their teachings in Bengal, apart from engaging in spirited disputes with their Theravadin colleagues in South India on questions relating to the interpretation of the canon. It was South- East Asia, however, that was most receptive to their teachings, and the expansion of Sinhalese Theravada Buddhism in that region was an important trend in its cultural history during this period. Two other developments in Sri Lankan Buddhism need mention. First, there was the increasing popularity of Ararmavdsins, the forest-dwelling monks who, in the latter part of this period, gained prominence in scholarly activities and took the lead in reformist movements; there was, secondly, the increasing involvement of monasteries in secular activity, which stemmed mainly from the large land grants donated to the sangha and the transfer of administrative authority over the temporalities to the monasteries, a significant extension of the privileges normally implied in the immunities granted with such donations of land.
One of the distinctive features of the literature of the Polonnaruva period was the continued vitality of Pali as the language of Sinhalese Buddhism. The tradition was still very much in favor of writing in Pali rather than Sinhalese. The Pali works of this period were mainly expositions or summaries of works of the Pali canon. There were also the likes explaining and supplementing the commentaries composed in the Anuradhapura era. The Ddfhavarhsa3 a history of the tooth relic was one of the more notable literary contributions in the Pali language. Its author, Mahanama, is also credited with the first part of the Culavamsa, the continuation of the Mahavamsa. The Pali literature of this period bears the impression of the strong tonic effect of Sanskrit, which had a no less significant influence on contemporary Sinhalese writing. The bulk of the Sinhalese works of this period are glossaries and translations from the Pali canon. There were also two prose works by a thirteenth-century author, Gurulugomi, the Amdvatura and the Dharmapradipikava, of which the former was more noteworthy; and two poems (of the late twelfth and early thirteenth century), the Sasadavata and the Muvadevadavata, both based on Jataka stories, and both greatly influenced by the Sanskrit works of Kalidasa and Kumaradasa.
The very little of the literature of the Polonnaruva era that has survived is not exceptionally distinguished; indeed all of it shares the flaws of the literature of the Anuradhapura period without its compensating virtues, and they do not compare, in creativity or originality, with the writings of the succeeding period of Sri Lanka's history. In architecture and sculpture, the performance was memorable. the contribution was the construction of the Temple of the Tooth (now represented by the ruin called the Atadage). There was a considerable setback to this artistic recovery in the instability and turmoil that followed his death. With Parakramabahu I the great period of artistic activity of Polonnaruva began and was continued under Nissanka Malla during the brief decade (i 187-96) of order and stability which his reign represented and during which Polonnaruva reached the zenith of its development as a capital city. The Gal Vihara sculptures (in the reign of Parakramabahu I) are the glory of Polonnaruva and the summit of its artistic achievement. The four great statues of the Buddha which comprise this complex, representing the three main positions the seated, the standing and the recumbent, are cut in a row from a horizontal escarpment of streaked granite. Each of these statues was originally sheltered by its own image house. The consummate skill with which the peace of the enlightenment has been depicted, in an extraordinarily successful blend of serenity and strength, has seldom been equalled by any other Buddha image in Sri Lanka. Of similar nobility of conception, and magnitude is the colossal figure (of a sage, as some scholars would have it, or a monarch, as others insist) overlooking the bund of the Topa viva. The dignity, puissance and self reliance of the figure have been rendered with amazing economy and restraint.
Of the architectural monuments attributed to the reign of NisSanka Malla the most unforgettable is the collection of temples and viharas in the so-called Great Quadrangle, which has been described as among the 'most beautiful and satisfyingly proportioned buildings in the entire Indian world'. The Nissanka lata mantfapaya is a unique type of Sinhalese architectural monument: a cluster of granite columns shaped like lotus stems with capitals in the form of opening buds, within a raised platform, all contributing to a general effect 'of extreme chastity and Baroque fancy [unsurpassed] in any Indian shrine'. The Hatadage was certainly begun and completed during his reign. The embellishments on the pillars of the Atadage have no rival in the decorative art of the Sinhalese, and stand comparison with the best examples of such work elsewhere. The beautiful vatadage, 'one of the loveliest examples of Sinhalese architecture', has its name associated
The vatadagi, the most remarkable architectural monument to be seen at Polonnaruva, is of the same type as the circular shrines enclosing stupas at the Thuparama and Lankarama at Anuradhapura. This architectural type is a development from the circular cetiyaghara of India. The vatadage is the most developed example of this type. with Nisanka Malla but it is doubtful if he did much more than construct its outer porch. The Satmahalprasada and the stupendous Rankot vihdra (or, to give its ancient name, the Ruvanvali), with the frontispieces and chapels at its base, were the work of Nissanka Malla.
Although there is a striking continuity between the art and architecture of Polonnaruva and that of Anuradhapura, the distinctive feature of Polonnaruva's architectural remains is the mingling of Buddhist and Hindu decorative elements, a fusion which extended far beyond the mere stylistic plagiarism of Hindu and Dravidian forms. It reflected the powerful influence of Mahayanism and Hinduism in the lives of the people.
Siva device No. 2 is the earliest in date of all the monuments now preserved in Polonnaruva. Built entirely of stone, it dates from the time of Cola rule and is a representative example of Dravidian architecture at its best. Later to date and more ornate is Siva device No. I. Both are smaller one might even say miniature versions of the towering Coja architecture of South India.
The principal source of the king’s revenue in the Polonnaruva kingdom was the land-tax with taxes on paddy contributing the major portion; there were smaller yields from levies on other crops. There was also the diyadada (the equivalent of the diyadedum of the Anuradhapura kingdom), the tax on the use of water from irrigation channels which no doubt yielded a very substantial income. There was, in addition, revenue from certain valuable items in the country's exchange temal trade gems, pearls, cinnamon and elephants extending from a share of the profits to monopoly rights. Thus the mining of gems seems to have been a royal monopoly, which was protected by a prohibition on permanent settlement in the gem-producing districts. Individuals were permitted to mine for gems on payment of a fee, and the mining was carried out seasonally under the supervision of royal officials, with the king enjoying prerogative rights to the more valuable gems. The pearl fishery too was a royal monopoly conducted on much the same basis. Finally, the king's own lands were also a quite notable source of income for him. These taxes were collected by a hierarchy of officials. At the base of the structure were the village authorities possibly village headmen who were entrusted with the collection of taxes due to the king from each village; these were delivered to the king’s officials during their annual tours.
The fact that these taxes were paid partly at least in grain and other agricultural produce which, being more or less perishable, could not be stored indefinitely by the officials who collected them may have been a guarantee against extortionate levies on the peasantry. A tax of one-sixth of the produce was regarded as an equitable land tax, but in practice, there was no uniformity in the rate of taxation, a flexibility which could often be to the disadvantage of the peasant. It is significant that Vijayabahu I, on his accession to the throne, should have directed his officials to adhere to custom and usage in the collection of taxes, and that Nisshanka Malla himself claims to have reduced taxes presumably because they had become burdensome. One of the notable features in the economic history of the period extending from the ninth century to the end of the Polonnaruva king¬dom was the expansion of trade within the country. The data available at present is too meagre for an analysis of the development of this trade, or indeed for a detailed description of its special characteristics, but there is evidence of the emergence of merchant 'corporations', the growth of market towns linked by well-known trade routes, and the development of a local, that is to say, regional coinage. Tolls and other levies on this trade yielded a considerable income to the state.
There was at the same time a substantial revenue from customs dues on external trade although the data we have is too scanty to compute with any precision the duties levied on the various export and import commodities. Sri Lanka was a vital link in the great trade routes between east and west, of importance in 'transit' trade due to her advantageous geographical location, and in the 'terminal' trade on account of her natural products such as gems, pearls, and timber. Apart from the traditional ports of the north and north-west of the island, and on the east coast, those of the west coast too became important in this trade. Besides, the island's numerous bays, anchorages, and roadsteads offered adequate shelter for the sailing ships of this period. Trade in the Indian Ocean at this time was dominated by the Arabs, who were among the leading and most intrepid sailors of the era. The large empires at both ends of the route the unity imposed on the Muslim world by the Caliphs and the peace enjoyed by China during the T’ang and Sung dynasties helped increase the tempo of the trade between China and the Persian Gulf. The countries of South and South East Asia lying between these two points shared in this and indeed derived a considerable profit from it. Luxury articles were the main commodities in this inter Asian and international trade and to this category belonged Sri Lanka's gems and pearls.
The competition for this Indian Ocean trade was not always peaceful. Behind the Coja expansion into South East Asia lay a determination to obtain greater control over the trade and trade routes of the Indian Ocean. Although powerful political motives spurred them on to a conquest of Sri Lanka, the Cojas were always aware of the economic advantages of this her valuable foreign trade, and her strategic position athwart the maritime trade routes of the Indian Ocean. While Sri Lanka herself seldom resorted to war in defense of her trade interests, Parakramabahu I's expedition against Burma, though somewhat exceptional, was nevertheless a significant demonstration of how commercial rivalry could undermine a long-standing alliance based on a common religious outlook. Though most of the vessels used in her external trade were generally of foreign construction, the seaworthy craft was built in Sri Lanka as well, and are known to have sailed as far as China. Perhaps some of the latter may even have been used to transport Parakramabahu I's troops to Burma.
Foreign merchants were attracted to the island because of its importance as a center of international trade. The most prominent of the merchant groups settled in Sri Lanka were the Moors, descendants of Arab traders to the island. These Arab merchants and their agents had established settlements in South India as well, as early as the tenth century. They were a dominant influence on the island’s international trade in the period of the Polonnaruva kings, a position which they retained till the early decades of the sixteenth century when the Polonnaruva kingdom itself was no more than a memory. However, the foreign trade of that kingdom was by no means a Moor monopoly. There were other foreigners living in the island for reasons of trade, and among the more interesting of these were Cambodian bird catchers. The feathers of exotic birds were an important item in international trade at this time.
The economic and social structure of the Polonnaruva kingdom, like its art and architecture, was a natural development from, if not a continuation of, those of the Anuradhapura kingdom. It was a hydraulic civilization and a caste-oriented feudal polity. Its astonishing creativity in irrigation was all the more remarkable for the brief period of time over which it was achieved, and the massive efforts at restoration which preceded any attempts at expansion. Repair and restoration, by themselves, called for a prodigious expenditure of resources. Most of this work was concentrated in the reigns of three kings, Vijayabahu I, Parakramabahu I and Nissanka Malla, the outstanding contribution being that of Parakramabahu I whose reign marked the peak of Sinhalese achievement in hydraulic engineering.
The Polonnaruva kings were the heirs to several centuries of experience in irrigation technology. But they themselves and especially Parakramabahu I made a distinctive contribution of their own in honing these techniques to cope with the special requirements of the immense irrigation projects constructed at this time. There was, for instance, the colossal size of the Parakrama Samudra (the sea of Parakrama) which, with an embankment rising to an average height of 40 feet and stretching over its entire length of 8 J miles, was by far the largest irrigation tank constructed in ancient Sri Lanka. This stupendous project incorporated two earlier tanks, the Topavava and the Dimbutuluvava. Fed from the south by the A figamailla canal, it was linked on the north-west with the Giritale tank and through it with the Alahara system. The earthworks involved in this project were unprecedented in scale, and the stonemasonry of this and other irrigation works of this period involved the handling of stone blocks of up to 10i tons in weight.
Refinement of irrigation technology was demonstrated also in the three weirs built across the Daduru Oya, the only river in the western part of the dry zone to provide anything like a perennial supply of water. The second of these diverted water to the Mahagalla reservoir (which had been built by Mahasena) and was a masterly engineering feat whose special feature was the amazing precision with which the large stone blocks of its outer walls were fitted, their joints only J inch in width.8
The Culavarhsa's account of the reign of Parakramabahu I contains an extensive catalogue of irrigation works repaired, restored, expanded or constructed in his reign. The impression of tireless devotion to this crucial aspect of governmental enterprise in Sri Lanka's hydraulic society could hardly be described as inaccurate. But it is essential to remember that it was no truer than in the Anuradhapura era that every link and every unit in this intricate irrigation network was working pari passu for any great length of time. They could not have done so, and in fact, did not. If this perspective appears somewhat to limit the achievement of that era, one must remember that this was the last major phase in the development of irrigation in ancient Sri Lanka. Nothing on this scale was attempted, much less achieved, till the second quarter of the twentieth century. And so the chronicler’s account can be seen for what it was, evocative and even poignant, for he was lamenting, in a later and more cramped era, the passing of an age of creativity, when the island's irrigation tanks were no more than stupendous ruins, but yet the proudest monuments ... of the former greatness of their country when the opulence they engendered enabled the kings to lavish untold wealth upon edifices of religion, to subsidise mercenary armies and to fit out expeditions for foreign conquest.
We turn next, and briefly, to the caste structure of Sri Lanka society under the Polonnaruva kings. Two points are of special interest. There is, first, much stronger evidence of a hierarchical arrangement of castes, though it is difficult to determine the exact or even approximate place of each caste in that structure. The segmentation of Sinhalese society into some of the numerous castes which exist today began before this period, but the process appears to have been accelerated in it. Secondly, there was increasing rigidity in the observance of caste duties, obligations and rights on the basis of custom and usage. For instance, a Tamil inscription of 1122 reveals that washermen were required to perform their customary duties to members of certain other presumably 'higher' castes, and that there would be no remission of this obligation, while a rock inscription of Vijayabahu I at Ambagamuva shows that he had constructed a special platform on Adam's Peak(Sri Padaya) below the main terrace of the 'sacred' footprint for the use of persons of 'low' caste. More significantly, there are Nissanka Malla's repeated references to, and ridicule of, the aspirations of the govikula (the goyigama caste, then as now very probably the largest caste group among the Sinhalese, though possibly not at that time the most prestigious) to kingship in Sri Lanka.
Quite clearly this was regarded as a monopoly of the kratriyas. This hardening of caste attitudes is attributed to the burgeoning influence of Hinduism on religion and society in Sri Lanka. Land tenure in the Polonnaruva kingdom was as much a multi-centered system as it was earlier, and its pattern was just as complex.11 There was a wide variety both in the number of individuals and institutions sharing land and rights accruing from land as well in their tenurial obligations. The king had definite claims over most of the land in the kingdom, but these were no obstacle to private individuals in buying and alienating land. To a much greater extent than in the Anuradhapura kingdom, the 'immunities' various concessions and privileges in regard to land granted during this period strengthened the position of the hereditary nobility.
The conferment of these immunities which were very much in vogue in this period was a special privilege of the king or someone in a position of similar authority, such as heirs apparent or regional rulers with considerable power such as those of Rohana. In general, immunities guaranteed freedom from interference by royal officers, and ensured exemption from taxation. Pamunu (or paraveni as it was called after the fourteenth century) and divel holdings were now a conspicuous part of the tenurial system, unmistakable evidence of the growing strength of feudalism, and this in a period when, paradoxically, there was a positive efflorescence of royal authority, in terms of its grandeur and majesty. As in the late Anuradhapura period, however, the most salient manifestation of feudalism lay in the immunities granted to the monasteries. These now extended beyond the conventional rights to labour and the whole or part of the revenue of the block of land or village thus granted, to the transfer of fiscal as well as administrative and judicial authority over the lands thus held. As a result, the monasteries and their functionaries came to be entrusted with much of the local administrative duties traditionally performed by the king’s officials; it would appear that some new administrative structures were developed to cope with this significant enlargement of the role of the monasteries in the social system.
The range of Sri Lanka's political and cultural links with Indian states was not limited to South India. As we have seen, the Sinhalese kingdom had very close ties with Kaliriga in the Orissa region, but surprisingly there is little or no Indian evidence bearing on this. On Sri Lanka’s ties with the Calukyas of the Deccan, some information is available. There was indeed a natural convergence of political in¬terests between Sri Lanka and the kingdoms of the Deccan, prompted by the common desire to keep the Cojas in check. An examination of the foreign relations of the island under the Polonnaruva kings reveals an excitingly new dimension: political links with South-East Asia, in particular with Burma (then known to the Sinhalese as Ramanna) and Cambodia. Because of her strategic position athwart the sea route between China and the west, there had been from the very early centuries of the Christian era trade links between the island and some of the South East Asian states and China. Very likely, religious affinity a Buddhist outlook, Theravada or Mahayanist would have strengthened ties which had developed from association in trade, but up till the eleventh century, the cohesion which comes from strong diplomatic and political ties was still lacking. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, at a time of unusual ferment in the politics of the South East Asian region, with many kingdoms then engaged in a self-conscious search for a new identity, and reaching out for new political ties, formal political relations were established between some of these states and Sri Lanka. The Polonnaruwa rulers responded eagerly to these initiatives for they relished the new and attractive vistas in politics and trade which links with South East Asian kingdoms held out. For Vijayabahu I, engaged in a grim struggle against the Cojas, there were immediate advantages from this in the form of economic aid from Anauratha, the Burmese king. The alliance with Burma appears to have continued after the expulsion of the Cojas, and it was to Burma that Vijayabahu I turned for assistance in reorganizing the sangha in Sri Lanka, thus underlining the connection between political ties and a common commitment to Buddhism.
But just as important in the development of political relations between Sri Lanka under the Polonnaruva kings and South East Asia was the commerce of the Indian Ocean. Under Parakramabahu I, conflicting commercial interests drew Sri Lanka and Burma apart. Intent on expanding his country's stake in the maritime trade of the Indian Ocean, Parakramabahu I sought to establish close ties with the powerful Khmer kingdom of Cambodia, thus arousing the suspicions of the Burmese king Alaungsithu, who viewed this development as potentially a serious threat to Burma's own maritime trade. To protect this latter, he resorted to a policy of obstructing Sri Lanka's trade in South East Asia, resulting in strained relations between Burma and Sri Lanka, and eventually war. Parakramabahu I despatched an ex¬pedition to lower Burma. But once this indecisive encounter was over there was a speedy restoration of friendly relations between the two countries.
Between the death of Parakramabahu I and the collapse of the Polonnaruva kingdom there are only two instances of Sri Lanka rulers seeking political links or contacts with South East Asia. These were Vijayabahu II and Nissarika Malla; the first maintained friendly relations with Burma, and the latter with Cambodia as well. But Nissanka Malla's claims in this regard are a matter of some controversy. In a curious way, all these various strands which made up the politics of the island in the last days of the Polonnaruva kingdom were linked together by the only recorded South-East Asian invasion of Sri Lanka. The invasion, which occurred in 1247 when Parakramabahu II (1236-70) was the Sinhalese king ruling at Dembadeniya, was led by Chandrabhanu of Tambralinga, a petty kingdom in the Malay peninsula which had established itself as an independent state in the last days of the Sri Vijaya empire in the thirteenth century.5 Parakramabahu's forces defeated Chandrabhanu, who fled to the Jaffna kingdom, then under Magha. There he succeeded in securing the throne for himself (how he did so we do not know for certain) and was the ruler of Jaffna at the time of the Pandyan invasion.
This latter stemmed from Pandyan rivalry with the Colas, who supported Magha's regime in Sri Lanka. Indeed Magha, as the ruler of the northern kingdom, was no more than a satellite of the Cojas. When, by the middle of the thirteenth century, the Pandyas had established themselves as the dominant power in South India, they were inclined to support the Sinhalese kings against the newly established kingdom in the north of the island. Their intervention in the affairs of Sri Lanka, if more restrained in its objectives than that of the Cdjas, was however no less governed by considerations of realpolitik. They invaded Jaffna and forced Chandrabhanu to submit to Pantfya power, but at the same time, there was no inclination on their part to permit the Sinhalese to reestablish their control over Jaffna. Chandrabhanu was allowed to remain on the throne at Jaffna as a tributary of Pandya. It became evident that one of the limitations imposed on him was that there could be no disturbance of the balance of political power in the island at the expense of the Sinhalese ruler. When Chandrabhanu embarked on a second invasion of the Sinhalese kingdom, and Parakramabahu II appealed to Pandya for help, an expeditionary force was despatched to bring the Javaka ruler to a realization of the limits of his power. The combination of Pandya and Sinhalese forces won an overwhelming victory and Chandrabhanu himself was killed in the confrontation. Instead of handing over control of the Jaffna kingdom to Parakramabahu II the Pandyas preferred to install a son of Chandrabhanu as ruler of Jaffna. When he, in turn, became a threat to the Sinhalese, the latter once more sought the help of the Pandyas, who intervened with decisive effect; but Sinhalese control of the Jaffna kingdom was still equally unacceptable to the Pandyas, and so Aryacakravarti, the leader of the Pandyan army of invasion on this occasion was installed as ruler of Jaffna under their overlordship. When the Pandyan empire, in turn, collapsed as a result of Muslim inroads into South India, Jaffna became an independent kingdom under the Aryacakravartis.
Magha's rule and its aftermath are a watershed in the history of the island, marking as they did the beginning of a new political order. For one thing, Polonnaruva ceased to be the capital city after Magha's death in 1255. The heartland of the old Sinhalese kingdom and Rohana itself was abandoned. The Sinhalese kings and people, in the face of repeated invasions from South India, retreated further and further into the hills of the wet zone of the island, seeking security primarily, but also some kind of new economic base to support the truncated state they controlled.
In the meantime Tamil settlers occupied the Jaffna peninsula and much of the land between Jaffna and Anuradhapura knew as the Vanni; they were joined by Tamil members of the invading armies, often mercenaries, who chose to settle in Sri Lanka rather than return to India with the rest of their compatriots. It would appear that by the thirteenth century the Tamils too withdrew from the Vanni, and thereafter their main settlements were confined almost entirely to the Jaffna peninsula and possibly also to several scattered settlements near the Eastern seaboard. By the thirteenth century, an independent Tamil kingdom had been established with the Jaffna peninsula as its base.
Foreign relations
At the beginning of this period the Colas was still the dominant power in South India, with the Pancjyas struggling to maintain themselves as a distinct political entity. As for Sri Lanka, the predominant South Indian state sought to assert its authority over the island, or at least to influence its politics, and Sri Lanka's rulers on their part endeavoured to support the rivals of the dominant power in order to protect their own interests—in brief, they attempted to maintain a balance of power in South India. Thus, for as long as Cola was the dominant power, Sri Lanka’s alliance with the PanJyas continued. The early rulers of Polonnaruva were far too preoccupied with the internal politics of the island to pursue a dynamic foreign policy. But the situation changed when Parakramabahu had consolidated his hold on the island's affairs. His first venture in foreign affairs, the participation in what is known as the ‘war of Panqlyan succession', was the inevitable result of Sri Lanka's alignment with Pantfya. This proved to be a long drawn out involvement, beginning as it did a little before his seventeenth regnal year and dragging on till the end of his reign. While there was some initial success, the Sri Lanka armies were eventually defeated. Nevertheless, they were able to sustain a determined and prolonged resistance against the Colas, despite the latter's military superiority. Parakramabahu often succeeded in negating a Coja victory, even an overwhelming one, by diplomatic intrigue, for Pan^yan rulers who secured their throne with Coja backing subsequently turned to Parakramabahu for assistance, thus rekindling the war which appeared to have died out, as the Colas reacted by seeking to replace such a ruler with a more reliable and pliant protege. Thus Parakramabahu achieved what he set out to do, to prevent the establishment of a Coja hegemony over South India. Had the Cojas been left unopposed, they could have been a greater threat to the security of Sri Lanka than they were, and may even have endangered Parakramabahu's own position by espousing the cause of Sri Vallabha, an aspirant to the Sri Lanka throne who was living in exile in the Coja country. As it was, when Sri Vallabha did organize an invasion, it proved to be a dismal failure.
If this prolonged entanglement in South Indian politics ended in military failure and severely strained the island's economy, it nevertheless contributed substantially to the impairment of Coja power. Thus while the successors of Parakramabahu inherited a legacy of Coja hostility to Sri Lanka, the Cojas were by then on the verge of being eclipsed by their rivals, the Pandyas. The last Sri Lanka ruler to intervene in the affairs of South India was Nishanka Malla, who despatched a Sri Lanka expeditionary force to the mainland and, unlike Parakramabahu, accompanied his troops on their mission. His activities there, about which he makes ex¬aggerated claims in his inscriptions, were no more successful mili¬tarily than those of Parakramabahu's generals. By the mid-thirteenth century, the most menacing threat to the enfeebled Sinhalese kingdom came from the Pandyas, their traditional allies against the Cojas. The prolonged crisis in the Sri Lanka polity naturally attracted the Colas, but not any longer with the same frequency or effectiveness as the Pandyas who, as the predominant power in South India, now sought to establish their influence if not domination over Sri Lanka. Pantfyan princes on the Polonnaruva throne, and Pandyan intervention during the period of Magha's rule in the island, bear testimony to the persistence of the traditional pattern of the dominant power in South India seeking to establish its influence on the governance of the island.
Parakramabahu had the distinct advantage of being closely related to the royal dynasty at Polonnaruva and was therefore in a position to stake a claim to the throne. Once he captured power, his legal status as sovereign was accepted, unlike the claims of his two predecessors at Polonnaruva, Vikramabahu II and Gajabahu II. Three distinct phases in Parakramabahu's rise to power can be demarcated. The first of these was the establishment of control over Dakkhinadesa and his consecration as Mahadipada, a tide usually adopted by the heir to the Polonnaruva throne. In the second phase, the tripartite struggle between him as ruler of Dakkhinadesa and the rulers of Polonnaruva and Rohana, Parakramabahu's aim was not so much to capture Polonnaruva as to secure his own recognition as heir to the Polonnaruva throne, and this he achieved. In the harsh conflict that ensued, Parakramabahu's victory was at first by no means certain, but it ended with him very much in control over the Rajarata and Dakkhinadesa, though not of Rohana which still maintained a defiant independence. The third and longest phase began after he took control of Polonnaruva and found his position threatened by the ruler of Rohana. For Parakramabahu, intent on establishing his control over the whole island, Rohana was the last and most formidable hurdle to clear. Its ruler was quite as determined as his predecessors in the days of the Anuradhapura kings to protect Rohana's particularist interests against the central authority in the Rajarata. One of the crucial factors in Parakramabahu's success in this struggle was his capture of the Tooth and Bowl relics of the Buddha which had by now become essential to the legitimacy of royal authority in Sri Lanka.
Once the political unification of the island had been reestablished, Parakramabahu followed Vijayabahu I in keeping a tight check on separatist tendencies in the island, especially in Rohana where particularism was a deeply ingrained political tradition. Rohana did not accept its loss of autonomy without a struggle, and Parakramabahu faced a formidable rebellion there in 1160 which he put down with great severity (there was a rebellion in the Rajarata as well in 1168 and this too was ruthlessly crushed). All vestiges of its former auto¬nomy were now purposefully eliminated, and as a result, there was, in the heyday of the Polonnaruva kingdom, much less tolerance of particularism than under the Anuradhapura kings. As we shall see, the country was to pay dearly for this over-centralization of authority in Polonnaruva.
Parakramabahu I was the last of the great rulers of ancient Sri Lanka. After him, the only Polonnaruva king to rule over the whole island was Nissanka Malla, the first of the Kalinga rulers, who gave the country a brief decade of order and stability before the speedy and catastrophic break up of the hydraulic civilizations of the dry zone. The achievements of the Polonnaruva kings Vijayabahu I, Parakramabahu I and Nissanka Malla, memorable and substantial though they were, had their darker side as well. The flaw had to do with a conspicuous lack of restraint, especially in the case of Parakramabahu I. In combination with his ambitious and venturesome foreign policy, the expensive diversion of state resources into irrigation projects and public works civil and religious sapped the strength of the country and thus contributed to the sudden and complete collapse which followed so soon after his death.
At the death of Parakramabahu I, the problem of succession to the throne arose once more and was complicated by the fact that he had no sons of his own. The inevitable confusion and intrigue were cut short by the success with which Nissarika Malla (who introduced him¬self as a prince of Kalinga, chosen and trained for the succession by Parakramabahu himself) established his claims, although it was conceded that Vijayabahu II had precedence over him by virtue of seniority if not for any other reason. As the scion of a foreign dynasty, Nissanka Malla was less secure on the throne than his two illustrious predecessors. If he was not overwhelmed by the problems inherent in maintaining intact the political structures fashioned by Vijayabahu I and Parakramabahu I, two of the most masterful rulers the island had seen, his successors clearly were. With his death after a rule of nine years (how he died is not known), there was a renewal of political dissension within the kingdom complicated now by dynastic disputes.
The Kalinga dynasty maintained itself in power with the support of an influential faction within the country. But their hold on the throne was inherently precarious, and their survival owed much to the inability of the factions opposing them to come up with an aspirant to the throne with a politically viable claim, or sufficient durability once installed in power, and in desperation they raised Lilavatl, a queen of Parakramabahu I, to the throne on three occasions. The ensuing political instability inevitably attracted the attention of Cola and Pandya adventurers bent on plunder. These South Indian incursions culminated in a devastating campaign of pillage under Magha of Kalinga, from which the Sinhalese kingdom of the Rajarata never recovered.
The two centuries surveyed in this chapter presents every element of high drama. There was, first of all, the expulsion of the invading Colas from the Rajarata after a long war of liberation, and the restoration of a Sinhalese dynasty on the throne of Sri Lanka under Vijayabahu I. This restoration had hardly been consolidated when there was a relapse into civil war and turmoil, but before anarchy had become all but irreversible, a return to order and authority took place under Parakramabahu I. Into his reign (153 - 86) and that of Nissarika Malla (1187 - 96) was crammed a record of activity and constructive achievement in administration, economic rehabilitation, religion and culture which could have been stretched comfortably over a much longer period and still deserved to be called splendid and awe inspiring. But in retrospect, the activity appears to have been too frenetic, with an overextension of the island's economic resources in the restoration of its irrigation network and the architectural splendors of the city of Polonnaruwa, and its political power in overseas adventures.
The political history of the Polonnaruva kingdom
In his campaign against the Colas the odds against Vijayabahu had been little short of overwhelming till he established a secure base in Rohana. The improvement in his strategic position vis a vis the Cojas in Sri Lanka coincided with a weakening of Coja power in peninsular India during the reign of Virarajendra I (1063 - 9). Confronted by a vigorous Calukya challenge from the Deccan, the Colas were increasingly on the defensive on the mainland, and this certainly affected their response to the attacks which Vijayabahu now launched on their colony in the Rajarata. What had been for long a war of attrition now entered a new phase with an energetic two-pronged attack on the Cola occupied Rajarata, with Anuradhapura and Polonnaruva as the major targets. Anuradhapura was captured quickly but special number on the Polonnaruva period.
Polonnaruva, the Cola capital, only fell after a prolonged siege of the now isolated Coja forces there. But faced with total defeat Virarajendra was obliged to despatch a relief expedition from the mainland to recapture the Rajarata and if possible to carry the attack back into Rohana. Nevertheless, the respite which the Colas in Sri Lanka gained by this was brief, for the will to struggle on in the face of determined opposition was eroded even further with the death of Virarajendra. His successor Kulotunga I, a Calukya prince, came to the throne after a period of acute crisis in the Cola court, and his attitude to the Cola adventure in Sri Lanka was totally different from that of his immediate predecessors Rajadhiraja, Rajendra II and Virarajendra all sons of Rajendra for whom it had been a major interest and commitment. Unlike them, his personal prestige was not involved in the fate of the Cola colony in Sri Lanka, and he could and did quite dispassionately end the attempt to recoup Cola losses there. What mattered to him above all else was the security of Cola power on the mainland. Thus by 1070 Vijayabahu had triumphed and the restoration of Sinhalese power was complete.
Vijayabahu's role in the prolonged resistance to Cola rule which culminated eventually in their expulsion from the island would by itself have ensured his position as one of the greatest figures in the island's history, but his achievements in the more humdrum fields of administration and economic regeneration were no less substantial. Infusing fresh energy into the machinery of administration, he established firm control over the whole island and presided over both a rehabilitation of the island's irrigation network and the resuscitation of Buddhism. The established religion had suffered a severe setback during the rule of the Colas who, naturally enough, had given precedence to Saivite Hinduism.
At his death that hardy perennial of Sri Lanka's history, a disputed succession, jeopardized the remarkable recovery from the ravages of Cola rule which he had achieved in his reign of forty years. His immediate successors proved incapable of consolidating the political unity of the island which had been one of his greatest achievements, and the country broke up once more into a congeries of warring petty kingdoms and principalities. There was an extended period of civil war from which, in time, the remarkable figure of Parakramabahu I emerged.
These, however, were long-term effects. Meanwhile, Batavia was alarmed by van Goens’s repeated requests for reinforcements to support the extension of Dutch control into the border districts of the Kandyan kingdom on which he had embarked. These requests came at a time when Dutch territorial expansion was proceeding apace in many parts of South-East Asia. Again and again, Batavia sought to restrain the Dutch administration in Sri Lanka; it was increasingly critical of the expansion of Dutch power far into the interior and was always cautioning against arousing the hostility of Rajasimha II. Van Goens, on the other hand, worked on the assumption that the Kandyan kingdom was crumbling through internal discord, and was too weak to survive for long against deter¬mined Dutch pressure. He believed that the whole island could be annexed if the Kandyans were defeated. But the crucial flaw in van Goens's policy was his facile underestimation of Kandyan resilience and strength, and events were soon to demonstrate the sagacity of Batavia's insistence on restraint. In September 1668 there came sporadic, localized uprisings against the Dutch in the Mada, Kadawata and Atakalan Korales, which compelled them to withdraw from the interior military strongholds of Sabaragamuva and Arandara, but resistance was not sustained and they were able to reoccupy these places. This, however, was a temporary respite, since the Kandyans were waking up to the perils of acquiescence in the decisive shift in the balance of power in Sri Lanka in favor of the V.O.C. They were especially uneasy about the zealous pursuit of a trade monopoly, and these economic pressures served to aggravate Kandyan anxieties over the policy of territorial expansion adopted by the Dutch since 1665. When the Kandyan counter-attack came in August 1670, it was a massive one, with the heaviest blows directed at the western and southwestern frontiers, and simultaneous attacks on Kottiyar, Batticaloa, and Panama on the east as well.
More ominous, for the Dutch, was the appearance of a French squadron under Admiral de la Haye off the east coast of the island, with which the Kandyans soon sought an anti-Dutch alliance. This French squadron had as its main objective the establishment of a central base of French power in the East, preferably in Sri Lanka or in Banca at the Bantam coast. Encouraged by the eager response they had evoked from Rajasimha II, the French sailed into Kottiyar near the Dutch fort of Trincomalee and gradually entrenched themselves there. Rajasimha II for his part now increased his pressure on the Dutch and intensified his attacks on a number of fronts. Besides, the Sinhalese under Dutch rule were incited to rebel against them, and once resistance broke out into riot or rebellion, the Kandyans extended their support to the rebels. The Kandyan army attacked the Dutch on the east coast, doubtless in the hope that the French could be drawn into the conflict. This the French refused to do is still at peace with the Dutch—to the great disappointment of the Kandyans, who had ceded Kottiyar to the French in the hope of obtaining their assistance against the Dutch. The Dutch, on the other hand, was not inclined to tolerate the French presence in Kottiyar under any cir¬cumstances, however discreet the French might have been, for they were deeply perturbed by Rajasimha’s bold diplomatic initiative in negotiating with the French for assistance against them. The French were easily driven out of Kottiyar, and not content with that, the Dutch proceeded to Coromandel with a reinforced fleet and forced the French to surrender at San Thome in September 1672.
The Dutch were less successful against the Kandyans. A vigorous trade blockade of the Kandyan kingdom was essayed but to no visible effect. Although by the end of 1673 the Kandyan offensive appeared to have been contained, guerrilla activity continued sporadically, and Dutch control over the interior remained tenuous. And then in 1675, the Dutch suffered a heavy blow to their prestige when Bibilegama, an important fortified stronghold in the south, fell to the Kandyans. Once again this reverse was accompanied by the massive desertion of lascarins and increasing guerrilla activity deep into the Dutch lowlands. Rajasimha II had demonstrated over the years 1670 - 5 that he was not the ineffective ruler without resource as portrayed by the Dutch officials in the island. He had shown great shrewdness in his choice of targets for attack and had been successful in eliminating Dutch authority over much of the newly-conquered area. Nor had the Dutch policy of expansion undertaken after 1665 brought the economic benefits which had been anticipated. On the contrary, it had burdened its authors with recurring and growing annual deficits. Worse still, the prolonged hostilities of these years had made it difficult for them to meet the annual target for cinnamon collection, while other eco¬nomic activities were even more grievously curtailed. Nor, for the same reason, had it been possible to organize the civil administration in the interior. Moreover, the widespread simultaneous uprisings against them took their toll in manpower. Dutch military resources were spread thinly over several fronts. When Batavia received urgent pleas for reinforcements, it was in no mood, or indeed in any position, to supply them at a time when there were major military involvements in the Archipelago, and when the Netherlands itself was facing a difficult war in Europe. Rajasimha II, in fact, compelled the Dutch to reappraise their policies in the island, for the events of 1670-5 served to convince the Batavian authorities of the wisdom of their opposition to van Goens’s forward policy in Sri Lanka. But Batavia’s review of the V.O.C.'s policy on Sri Lanka was nothing if not deli¬berate and long-drawn-out. At the end the Council finally decided as late as August 1677 that the only way out of the impasse in the island was to offer Rajasiihha II the return of all lands seized from him since 1665 and to abandon all the fortifications that had been erected there. The Dutch administration in the island was asked to make this offer in a letter to Rajasimha II.
However, the implementation of this policy was resolutely and successfully undermined. Ryklof van Goens was succeeded as Governor of the Dutch possessions in the island in 1675 by his son, who was fully in sympathy with his father’s views. The father became Governor Ryklof van Goens participated in these deliberations at Batavia as a member of the Council there. But, strongly opposed to this resolution, he did not sign the instructions sent to Sri Lanka. General at Batavia in January 1678, and with his son as Governor in the island was able to re-assert his influence over Sri Lanka policy. Between them the two men saw to it that matters reverted to the status quo ante 1675. But not for long, for the younger van Goens vacated his post in 1680 and was succeeded by Laurens Pyl (confirmed as Governor in 1681), who was much less enamored of a forward policy than his predecessors, and more realistic in his assessment of the Kandyan problem. The crux of the problem, as Phil saw it, was that Rajasimha II was strong enough to paralyse economic activity in the lowlands if he so wished, by preventing the peeling of cinnamon and threatening the coastal towns. Indeed, he viewed the contest between the Dutch and the Kandyans as an unequal one because the latter were able to field much larger forces. The cogency of his arguments strengthened the position of Ryklof van Goens' critics on the Batavian council, and a fresh review of Sri Lanka policy was initiated in 1681. The Governor General refused to participate in these discussions, but his influence was now at an end. He retired from office in November 1681, a sick and broken man. As the Council saw it, the raison d'etre of Dutch power in Sri Lanka lay in the island’s cinnamon resources, and all other considerations were not merely subordinate to this, but they should emphatically not be allowed to get in the way of the smooth functioning of the cinnamon monopoly. Territorial control in the island, and its attendant expenditure, were justified only in so far as it was needed for the maintenance of this monopoly. The aims of policy were pitched low in the hope that the basic minimum could be achieved without much expenditure. The Council resolved to reiterate the decision made in April 1677 to return to Rajasimha II the lands taken over since 1665. They took the precaution of naming in the resolution the districts to be returned, which were identical to those named in the 1677 resolution. At the same time, the Council urged upon its Sri Lanka officials the importance of coming to terms with Rajasimha II during his lifetime and if possible entering into a peace treaty with the Kandyan ruler recognising the pre 1664 frontiers.
If this resolution too was not implemented, it was because of the changing political situation within the Kandyan kingdom. Rajasimha II was not inclined to begin negotiations with the Dutch for as long as they held lands captured from him and were thus in a position of strength from which to drive a hard bargain. This was less important, however, than the reports reaching the Dutch in Colombo of the King's increasing debility, and these tempered their eagerness to negotiate terms with him. For the King was now in his eighties, and no longer active and vigorous in the pursuit of a forceful policy against the Dutch. It seemed sensible to watch events in the Kandyan king¬dom, especially with regard to the succession to the throne. Thus the Dutch themselves lost interest in the attempt to remodel their relations with the Kandyans, and were reconciled to an unsatisfactory but tolerable stalemate. Pyl and the Council of Sri Lanka had reached the conclusion that the territorial status quo in the island should not be upset. In the event of a strong successor to Rajasimha II emerging, the Dutch would be in a formidable bargaining position with him. This consideration also ruled out any change in the boundaries during the last years of Rajasimha II's reign. The Dutch preferred a policy of inactivity, blended with constant vigilance. They were in favor of opening the ports for the trade of the Kandyans as a gesture of goodwill to pacify them; the Batavian authorities were persuaded to endorse this line of action. In the meantime, while Rajasimha II lived they followed a policy of tactful and prudent restraint, and of seeming submissiveness frequent embassies were sent to Kandy with presents for the king, and his permission was sought before the peelers were dispatched to the forests to collect cinnamon. This permission he generally granted, and peeling of cinnamon was seldom obstructed. In the last years of his reign, Rajasimha II appears to have been anxious to foster good relations with the Dutch so that he might leave behind a legacy of goodwill to his successor.
In April 1665, three months after Rajasimha’s first appeal for assistance, two Dutch companies marched into the Kandyan kingdom, one from Colombo and the other from Galle, and occupied the two strategic strongholds of Ruvanvalla and Bibilegama. The aim was not to save Rajasiihha but to expand Dutch power and this latter objective they proceeded to accomplish; the territory held by the Dutch in the western and southwestern parts of the island was soon almost doubled in area. A mass emigration of people was encouraged from the king's lands to the Dutch possessions, to settle in and cultivate unoccupied land; all the while the impression was sedulously created that this was no aggrandizement at the expense of the king, nor a challenge to his authority. By 1667 Dutch power extended to the Four Korajes, and then up to Alawvva on the Maha Oya, which gave them a controlling position over the Seven Korajes. There was at the same time an infiltration of Dutch power on the east coast: in 1665 an expedition occupied and fortified Trincomalee, and by 1668 Batticaloa and Kottiyar were under their control. As in the west, these Dutch strongholds were used as nuclear areas to establish a dominance over the surrounding countryside.
All in all, the Dutch position in the island improved immeasurably in the period 1665 - 70. The area they now occupied was more than double what they had held before 1665; they had established a firm control over the entire coastline of the island, and this not only gave them much greater security against the prospect of trespassing by other European powers through the ports of the east coast but also gave the Dutch a position of complete dominance over the trade and traffic of the island. At the same time, the fact that they now had a larger population under their control meant that the problem of labor supply would be less acute than previously, just as the acquisition of rice-producing lands in the west improved the position regarding food supply. The cinnamon resources under Dutch control were substantially augmented by the expansion of Dutch power in the west of the island.
The extension of Dutch control over all the ports of the island had an economic motive which was just as compelling as the political one we have discussed so far—to establish dominance over the trade of the island. As we have seen, Kalpitiya was occupied and fortified in 1659, and the ports of the east coast had been brought under Dutch control between 1666 and 1668. With the construction of a lookout post in Panama and Magama in the south-east, the whole coastline was dotted with strategic points of control and inspection. And then in 1670, the decision was taken to establish a commanding position in the island’s trade. Cinnamon had been successfully and exclusively controlled almost from the very moment of the establishment of Dutch rule. The export of elephants, areca, chanks, and pearls was now declared a monopoly of the Company, as was the import of cotton goods, pepper, tin, zinc and other minerals. Rice was the only major item of import left out. What they wanted above all was the control of the import market in textiles, and the export trade in areca.
A series of regulations were introduced to put this monopoly into effect. All vessels sailing to the island had to secure passes from the nearest Dutch factory in India; these were given only to the large well-policed ports of Colombo, Galle, and Jaffna where the visitors could be placed under surveillance. Boats were checked on the high seas. Apart from these restrictive measures, efforts also were made to keep the country supplied with textiles and to collect and export all areca in Dutch vessels. The capital was released for investment in cotton goods for the Sri Lanka market in Madura and Tanjore. These measures had consequences that were not entirely beneficial to the Dutch. Within ten years they contributed to a sharp rise in import prices and led inevitably to the organization of a flourishing smuggling trade in textiles and areca. To combat this an expensive cruising operation, with armed sloops, had to be mounted, and this continued well into the eighteenth century.
It was one thing for Batavia to formulate a policy of restraint but quite another to get van Goens to implement it, especially in a situation where the initiative lay so much with the man on the spot. Van Goens was a man of great influence (with the Directors of the V.O.C. in the Netherlands, to whom he appealed over the heads of the Batavian authorities) and vision. He was impressed by the island’s potential as a center of Dutch interest in South Asia; he regarded Sri Lanka as being superior to Java and felt that Colombo and not Batavia should be the chief seat of Dutch power in the East. What he had in mind was the creation of a major sphere of Dutch interest in South Asia based on Sri Lanka (as its core) and the South Indian coast. For the moment, however, he gave in to Batavian pressure and desisted from any significant moves to extend the land frontiers of the Dutch possessions in the island. But these restraints did not extend to plans to expand the V.O.C.’s influence along the sea. The Dutch had laid claim to the exclusive possession of the littoral of Sri Lanka, and the right to keep out all other Europeans. Extensive tracts of the coast, however, were under Kandyan control, and this was especially signi¬ficant as regards the east where Trincomalee and Batticaloa, as well as smaller ports, served as centers of a thriving trade with India and beyond.
The most menacing prospect for the Dutch lay in the trade conducted by English and Danish merchants who from the 1650s were sailing into the port of Kottiyar in Trincomalee Bay in their port to port small-scale trading in the Bay of Bengal; the Kandyan ruler, for his part, actively encouraged this. The Dutch, on the other hand, was apprehensive about his control over ports on the east coast, not merely because it threatened their economic and trading interests: they realized that trade links could mature into political ones and that it was through these ports that these would be established. All these questions assumed much greater urgency when the English East India Company began to show interest in acquiring a trading settle¬ment on the east coast of Sri Lanka. The English East India Company wanted a station in the island which would serve a dual purpose: it would enable them both to break into the monopoly of the island's cinnamon trade which the Dutch had established and to participate in the flourishing Indo-Sri Lanka trade. Well aware of the rift between the Dutch and the Kandyans, the English East India Company was encouraged to open negotiations with Rajasimha II to acquire a trading station and concession in or around Trincomalee. Besides, in 1659/60 the crews of two English vessels which had touched on the east coast had been captured by the Kandyans. The English East India Company's officials in Madras were urged to establish contact with Rajasimha II for the purpose of securing trade concessions and also to obtain the release of these captives.
The Dutch soon came to know of these plans and tightened their naval watch on the Kandyan ports. Although both the English and the Kandyans went ahead with their negotiations, eluding the Dutch blockade as best they could, no official English embassy could be sent to Kandy. And nothing came of these negotiations, largely because the English were unable to give the Kandyan ruler the quid pro quo he wanted most the promise of armed support against the Dutch. The Dutch used their superior naval power in Asian waters to keep English vessels out of Kandyan ports. Nevertheless, the English refused to concede Dutch claims of monopoly and sought to exercise the freedom of the seas and free mutual relations with Asian rulers. But their attempt to gain entry on the east coast of Sri Lanka served to strengthen the hands of Dutch officials like van Goens, whose advocacy of further territorial expansion in the island became more persuasive in consequence. They now kept pressing for the occupation of the east coast ports—for Trincomalee at least and, if permitted, Batticaloa as well. Batavia was at last persuaded of the danger of leaving the east coast unoccupied, and convinced of the need to maintain a presence there to keep out other European nations.
Then in 1664 there came quite unexpectedly an opportunity, which van Goens grasped with alacrity, to embark on something much wider in scope than this limited programme of expanding Dutch control over the ports. A major rebellion broke out that year in the Kandyan One of these captives was Robert Knox who later wrote a celebrated book on the Kandyan kingdom: An Historical Relation of Ceylon (1st end, London, 1681; ed. James Ryan and publ. Glasgow, 1911). kingdom against Rajasimha II, led by Ambanvalarala, and although the king got the better of his adversaries, he nevertheless felt compelled in 1665 to seek Dutch assistance against the rebels. He asked for a detachment of Dutch troops in Kandy, and for naval patrols in east coast waters. In making this appeal Rajasimha II played right into the hands of van Goens, who had come back in September 1664 to assume the office of Governor for the second time. These unforeseen developments in the Kandyan kingdom strengthened him in his con¬viction that he was dealing with a weak adversary, who was no match for the Dutch.
The elimination of Portuguese power in Sri Lanka aggravated rather than solved the problems that confronted Rajasimha II vis a vis the maritime regions of the island. He viewed the Dutch forces as mercenaries he had hired, and he hoped, quite unrealistically as it turned out, that after his aims had been achieved, the Dutch would return whence they had come, leaving behind a few officers and stores for trade purposes. As for the Dutch, their policy in the East was always that of gaining political control over spice-producing areas, and where possible securing a complete monopoly of trade. In Sri Lanka their aim was nothing less than the control of the cinnamon producing areas of the island, which they had no intention of handing over to Rajasimha II.
The Dutch claimed that the lowlands were being held as collateral security till the Kandyan ruler repaid the costs incurred in the expulsion of the Portuguese from Sri Lanka under the terms of the treaty of 1638. When, after the fall of Jaffna in June 1658, the Dutch presented their bill, it was evident that it had been computed with cynical disregard for equity. For one thing the value of the cinnamon, areca, elephants and land revenue they had obtained from the lands they controlled was calculated, unilaterally, at far below their true commercial value. Once this artificially low valuation of benefits derived was set against their expenses, the balance due was stated to be 7,265,460 guilders which, considering the Kandyan ruler's resources, was a staggering sum far beyond his capacity to pay. Besides, the king's liability kept increasing with every day the Dutch forces were stationed in the island. Such, in brief, was the sum total of the title which the Dutch could lay claim to, and realising its intrinsic weakness they did not make much of it. And not surprisingly Rajasimha II firmly refused to consider, much less recognise, the legality of Dutch rule in the maritime regions of the island. However, except in regard to Jaffnapatam where the Dutch took over the Portuguese possessions in their entirety, their control in other parts of the island extended to about the half the land area which the Portuguese had possessed.
Confronted with overwhelming evidence of Dutch duplicity, Rajasimha II retaliated by resorting to frequent and destructive raids on the territories under their control. The Wallalaviti, Pasdun, Rayigam, Salpiti and Alutkuru Korajes were systematically devastated and denuded of their population, thus creating a belt of wasteland which served as a 'natural frontier between the king's dominions and those of the Dutch. But this frontier was nevertheless an artificial one, for the king's influence permeated the border regions under Dutch rule, and was not without importance in the other areas controlled by them. The loyalties of the Sinhalese to the Kandyan ruler were kept alive. In the first two decades of Dutch rule in the maritime regions of the island, the dominant influence in shaping their response to the challenge posed by Rajasimha's militant hostility was Admiral Ryklof van Goens, who in 1656 had been given charge of the attack on the Portuguese possessions in South Asia. After the expulsion of the Portuguese from the island, he was stationed in Colombo as Commissary and Superintendent over Coromandel, Surat, Sri Lanka, Bengal and Malacca. The immediate need in Sri Lanka as he saw it was to erect a powerful defensive ring on the frontiers with the Kandyan kingdom, especially on the more populated western and southwestern sides. Van Goens, no believer in defence per se, soon emerged as the most forceful and consistent advocate of a forward policy in Sri Lanka. His first move was to seize, in 1659, the Kandyan port of Kalpitiya, which fell after a brief assault. He viewed it as the first of a series of such attacks devised for the purpose of encircling and weakening the Kandyan kingdom, and compelling it to come to terms and recognise Dutch sovereignty over the lowlands. In addition to a purposeful bid to gain control over Sabaragamuva, the Seven and Four Korales, van Goens sought to occupy the Kandyan ports on the east coast and thus impose an economic blockade on the Kandyan kingdom.
This forward policy did not receive the support of van Goens' superiors in Batavia, who were quite content to leave Rajasimha II in occupation of the lands he controlled provided he left the Dutch in peace to exploit the economic resources of the parts of the island which they held. As a commercial organisation their primary concern was the extraction of the maximum possible profits from the lands under their control. But to do this it was necessary to show the people that the Dutch were there in Sri Lanka to stay, and to persuade them of their good intentions. Above all, they had a realistic understanding of the fact that the success of the seasonal cinnamon harvest, the trading commodity that had been the original cause for Dutch involvement in the affairs of the island, depended greatly on the goodwill of the king and the people. The Dutch administration in the island was expressly forbidden to embark on any territorial expansion at the expense of the Kandyan ruler, and van Goens was directed to pursue a conciliatory policy in order to restore good relations with Rajasiriiha II. As a result Kalpitiya, where the trade had been closed to the Kandyans after its occupation, was now opened to their traffic, and routes to the Kandyan kingdom were reopened in the hope that commercial and other contacts would be reestablished. This reluctance to extend Dutch territory in the island was part of a policy of restraint involving South India as well. With the conquest of the Portuguese possessions in Malabar in 1663, Batavia felt that the limits of Dutch territorial expansion on South Asia had been reached.
Contiued with part nineteen here to go privious one
Literature
Buddhism was, without doubt, the greatest stimulus to literary activity among the ancient Sinhalese. The Theravada Buddhist canon was brought to the island by Mahinda and his companions and handed down orally. These scriptures were in Pali and it was in this language that they were committed to writing for the first time, at Aluvihara near Matale in the first century BC. The preservation of the Theravada canon, which had been lost in India at a comparatively early date, is one of the landmark contributions of the Sinhalese to world literature. Around these scriptures grew a considerable body of writing in Pali and old Sinhalese, consisting of exegetical works, religious texts, and historical accounts. The Mahavihara bhikkhus compiled an extensive exegetical literature in Pali. No doubt its rivals, the Abhayagiri and Jetavana, matched the achievement of the Mahavihara in this field, but nothing of their work has survived. Not that very much of the body of material produced by the Mahavihara has survived either, but these works together formed the basis of the extensive canonical and commentarial literature in Pali, and the chronicles in that language in the fifth century AD and later. The oldest Pali chronicle surviving today is the Dipavamsa which provides an account of the history of the island up to the time of Mahasena, with scattered references to developments in India when these had some bearing on Sri Lanka. The Pali commentaries and canonical literature, a systematic compilation of the fifth century AD by Buddhaghosa, Buddhadatta and Dhammapala, none of them a native of the island, demonstrate greater literary skill. Buddhaghosa, whose most famous work is the Visud- dhimagga, is much the most celebrated of these scholars. His work was intended mainly for Buddhist missionary activity overseas in South East Asia.
One notable feature of Sri Lanka's Pali literature needs special mention: the remarkable tradition of historical writing among the Sinhalese. The earliest historical work is the Dipavamsa, a compilation, very probably, of the fifth century AD. The Mahavamsa, also in Pali verse and covering the same period of history, is a much more sophisticated accomplishment and one which succeeding generations used, quoted with pride as the definitive work on the island's history, and felt compelled to update. Its continuation the Culavarhsa, attributed to Dhammakitti in the thirteenth century surveyed the island's history up to the reign of Parakramabahu I (1153-86). A subsequent extension by another bhikkhu took the story to the fourteenth century, and it was concluded by yet another in the late eighteenth century. These chronicles, notwithstanding their flaws and gaps, provide a remarkably accurate chronological and political framework for the study of the island’s history. But their scope is by no means limited to Sri Lanka, for events and personalities on the Indian subcontinent are often mentioned. These references have provided scholars with data to determine the chronologies of Indian kings and empires as well.
Sinhalese as a distinct language and script developed rapidly under the joint stimuli of Pali and Buddhism. Indeed it would be true to say that the art of writing came to Sri Lanka with Buddhism. By the second century AD Sinhalese was being used for literary purposes, and thereafter a body of religious writing explaining the Pali canon was accumulated, primarily for the purpose of conveying its ideas to those not conversant with Pali. The Sinhalese language was also enriched by translations from Pali. But Pali did not remain for long the only or even the dominant influence on Sinhalese. Sanskrit, the language of the Mahayanist and Hindu scriptures, whi^h was richer in idiom, vocabulary and vitality, left a strong impression on the Sinhalese language in the later centuries of the Anuradhapura era. There was also a considerable Tamil influence on the vocabulary, idiom and grammatical structure of Sinhalese. Very little of the Sinhalese work of this period have survived, and most of it seems stilted, pedantic and lacking in originality and vitality. This is not surprising since much of it was written for scholars, and conformed to rigid literary conventions. The earliest known Sinhalese work was the Siyabaslakara, a work on rhetoric, a Sinhalese version of the well known Sanskrit text on poetics, the Kavyadarsa. Its author was probably Sena IV (954-6).17 There were also exegetical works and glossaries, but none of them had any literary pretensions. Some of the inscriptions of the first and second centuries BC appear in verse. Much more interesting as examples of a lively and sensitive folk poetry are the verses written on the gallery wall at Slgiri by visitors to the place in the eighth and ninth centuries, of which 700 stanzas have been deciphered.18 These verses are a poignant reminder of how rich this vein of folk poetry must have been. Almost all of it is now irretrievably lost.
Nothing of the more formal poetry has survived. Moggallana II, for example, apart from being a great builder of tanks, was a man of letters and is said to have composed a religious poem, of which how¬ever there is now no trace. Just as Pali was the language of Sinhalese Buddhism, Sanskrit was the sacred language of the Brahmans (and Hinduism) and of Mahayanism. With the spread of Mahayanism in Sri Lanka, the more erudite bhikkhus turned to the study of Sanskrit since most of the Mahayanist scriptures were written in that language. Sanskrit studies became more popular in the island with the influence of the Pallavas who were great patrons of that language. Some of the more famous Sanskrit works were known in the island, and Sanskrit theories of poetics and rhetoric were studied. But Sri Lanka’s contribution to Sanskrit literature was both meagre and imitative. The one notable work was that of Kumaradasa (a scion of the Sinhalese royal family but not a king), who composed the Janakiharana in the seventh century AD. Its theme was the Ramayana. There were also a few inscriptions in Sanskrit, and some minor writings in that language. All in all, therefore, the major contribution of the Sinhalese in the period of the Anuradhapura kings was in Pali. Creative writing in that language reached a level of competence far above that in either Sinhalese or Sanskrit.
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Some of the standing Buddha images are of colossal proportions and consequently awe-inspiring. The most remarkable and famous of these is the 42 feet high Buddha image at Avukana. The group of colossal images carved on the face of a rock at Buduruvagala near Vallavaya comprises a Buddha image in the center, attended by a bodhisattva on either side. These figures at Vallavaya may be dated to the ninth and tenth centuries, to which period may also be attributed the stylistically interesting bodhisattva figure at Valigama on the south coast. Buddha images in the recumbent position, of similar proportions, are found at Ajahara and Tantrimalai. At Maligavala in the Buttala area, a Buddha image nearly 40 feet high has been fashioned completely in the round, probably brought from the quarry to the site, and set up in position in the shrine. This colossus has fallen from its pedestal and lies on the ground badly mutilated. Images of similar size and bulk carved on rock faces have not been found in India. However, there are figures of larger dimensions carved on rock faces by Buddhists in what is now Afghanistan, of which the group at Bamiyan is the most spectacular.
The Indian influence is prominent in other features of the sculptural achievements of the Anuradhapura kingdom. The dvarapalas or guardians of the Four Directions usually in the form of a Naga king in
innermost bands are all inspired by the lotus plant and culminating in stylised lotus petals of great delicacy. The vitality of the carving is matched by an extraordinary restraint. human form attended by a grotesque potbellied dwarf, the guard stones at Buddhist shrines bear the distinct mark of the Amaravati! school. The rock-cut Isurumuniya vihdra below the bund of the Tissavava at Anuradhapura is renowned for its sculptural embellishments, the most celebrated of which are two reliefs carved on rock outcrops: the lovers a young warrior on a stone seat with a young woman on his lap and the man seated in the pose called royal ease with the head of a horse behind him. The first of these, the lovers, has characteristics of the Gupta school in India of the fourth and fifth centuries, while the second is in the Pallava style of the seventh century.
There is also that most astounding monument of them all, Slgiri, a complex of buildings, the part royal palace with the superbly designed ornamental gardens part fortified town, which together constitutes a magnificent and unique architectural tour de force. Sigiri is remembered today for the exquisite frescoes in a rock pocket some 40 feet above the access pathway. Who these female figures have always been a matter of debate among scholars. H. C. P. Bell argued that they were the wives of King Kassapa, but a more recent theory propounded by Paranavitana is that Slgiri was devised less as a fortified town than as a symbolic representation of the palace of Kuvera, the god of riches, who dwelt on the summit of Mount Kailasa, and that the females are 'Lightning Princesses' attended by 'Cloud Damsels'. The paintings at Slgiri are the earliest surviving specimens of the pictorial art of Sri Lanka that can be dated; they are approximately the same age as those of Ajanta in India with which they bear comparison. Though no paintings of an earlier era than those at Slgiri have survived, the inscriptions and literature of the early Anuradhapura period show that painting as an art form had as long a history as sculpture and architecture and was as extensively practiced. Its techniques and artistic theory are likely to have been based on Indian traditions modified to suit the local milieu. Thus the Slgiri paintings would represent a sophisticated court art with centuries of experience behind it.
Fragments of paintings datable to the seventh or eighth centuries have been discovered in the lower relic chamber of the stupa to the east of the K.antaka.cetiya at Mihintale. They comprise figures in outline, of divine beings rising from clouds in four directions. Paintings have also been noticed in the eastern vahalkada of the Ruvanvalisaya; the eastern vahalkada of the Jetavana; at a site named Gonapola in the Digamadulla District (Gal-Oya) and in some caves at Slgiri. A seven-headed cobra forms a halo above the rich tiara of the naga king and in his upraised hand he holds a vase of plenty sprouting forth prosperity and abundance.
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Those of the later Anuradhapura period, such as the Indikatusaya at Mihintale, and the stupa at the Vijayarama at Anuradhapura are of modest proportions, their domes elongated in shape and the three basal terraces reduced to moldings. These seem to have been inspired by the Mahayanists. One feature of the colossal stupas merits special mention: the frontispieces which project from their bases. The exuberant architecture of these frontispieces vahalkadas, as they were called with their ornamental sculptures are in agreeable contrast to the stark simplicity if not monotony of the lines of the stupas. The best examples of vahalkadas are those of the Jetavana and Abhayagiri dagobas at Anuradhapura and the Karnataka at Mihintale. These sculptures bear evidence of the influence of the Amaravati school but with a restraint which makes up for a lack of vitality.
Among the architectural features of this period is the vafadage, a circular shrine enclosing a small stupa. The largest of the vafadages is at the Thuparama at Anuradhapura, which had four circles of stone pillars encompassing the stupa, while each of those of Madirigiriya and Polonnaruva has three circles of pillars, those of Tiriyay and Mihintale having two each. Though the vatadages all follow a common design, each has some distinctive feature of its own. The earliest extant vatadage to which a date can be assigned is that at Madirigiriya from the reign of Aggabodhi IV (667-83). The Lovamahapaya or the Brazen Palace is unique among the ancient monuments of Anuradhapura. Designed to house the monks of the Mahavihara, it was begun by DutthagamanI and is believed to have risen on completion to nine stories in all. The bhikkhus were accommodated on the basis of rank, with the uppermost floors being reserved for the most senior and, presumably, the most venerable among them. All that remains of this early skyscraper are some 1,600 weather-beaten granite pillars which are a haphazard reconstruction of the twelfth century, with some of the pillars upside down and not even on the original site.
Literary works refer to the splendid mansions of kings and nobles, but few traces of these have survived since they were built mostly of wood, and there are no traces at all of the habitations of the common people. Stone played only a limited role in Sinhalese architecture and was usually restricted to ornamental details and ancillary features. But this latter have survived, while the woodwork which was the basis of Sinhalese architecture, domestic and public, has not. As an example of this are the stone-faced baths, various in shape and dimension but elegant in design, located within the precincts of the monasteries and royal parks. These have survived. The abundance of timber suitable for building purposes, and the lack of a type of stone which was at once durable and easy to work appear to have hindered the development of a style of stone architecture in Sri Lanka. When such a style did emerge, the inspiration came once more from an Indian source, from South India this time, where the earlier architecture of brick and wood was yielding place, so far as religious edifices were concerned, to one solely of stone. This had its influence on Sri Lankan architecture. The best example of a stone architecture of this period is the galge at Devundara, the southernmost point of the island, the shrine built to house the image of Upuluvan, the ancient Varuna, the protector of the island. The simplicity and lack of ornamentation in this shrine was in striking contrast to the exuberance of the Dravidian style that was developing about the same time in South India.
Both in terms of its variety and artistic achievement, the sculpture of the Anuradhapura kingdom is as rich and impressive as its architecture. Some of the outstanding features of this sculptural heritage are reviewed here, beginning with the moonstones which many scholars regard as the finest product of the Sinhalese artist. At a time when the Buddha image came to be regarded as a regular feature of a Buddhist shrine in Sri Lanka, the moonstone was central to the theme of worship.18 Its decorative features were intended to communicate symbolic significance to the worshipper. 11 Moonstones are semi-circular slabs richly decorated in low relief and placed at the foot of a stairway leading to a major shrine, with a standard pattern consisting of several concentric bands of ornament, beginning with an outer zone of luxuriant foliage followed by a spirited procession of animals the horse, elephant, ox and lion remarkable for their poise and probably symbolising the four quarters of the world. This band of animals is followed by a belt of stylised vegetation and then a row of hamsa (sacred geese) dangling flowers in their beaks. The appears to have come to Sri Lanka from the Andhra country, but it had its fullest development in Sri Lanka. There are six moonstones at Anuradhapura, each one a masterpiece. The earliest Buddha images found on the island go back to the first century AD. A standing Buddha of Amaravati marble, about 6 feet high and probably imported from Amaravati (Vengi), has been discovered almost intact at Maha Illuppallama in Anuradhapura. Fragments of Buddha images in the Amaravati style and in the distinctive marble of that school have also been found. In time Buddha images were carved and sculpted in Sri Lanka, and developed peculiarly Sri Lankan characteristics, without however effacing all traces of the Indian prototype on which they were modeled. Buddha images in bronze of characteristically Sri Lankan workmanship have been found in western Java, Celebes, Vietnam, and Thailand. Images of the Buddha in a sedentary position, from the early period of Sinhalese sculpture, are perhaps more exciting and impressive than the more stately statues of the Buddha in a standing posture the very simplicity of the conception is singularly successful in its dignified and elegant evocation of the concept of samadhi.
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Thus Sri Lanka's Theravada Buddhism accommodated a variety of religious influences pre Buddhistic cults and practices, Mahayanism, Tantric Buddhism and Hinduism but was not overwhelmed by any or all of them. One last theme needs to be reviewed in this first part of the present chapter Buddhism as a link with other parts of Buddhist Asia. The closest and most intimate ties were with the Buddhist kingdoms of South East Asia, especially with lands where the prevalent form of Buddhism was Theravadin. Thus there were frequent exchanges of pilgrims and scriptural knowledge with Ramanna in Burma. These links became stronger after the tenth century. The resuscitation of the Sinhalese sangha after the destructive effects of the Cola conquests owed a great deal to bhikkhus from upper Burma sent over for this purpose by its king at the request of Vijayabahu I (1055-1110). Relations with Cambodian Buddhism hinted at in the chronicles were very probably more tenuous than those with Burmese Buddhism. Whether this was because of Cambodian Buddhism, unlike its Ramanna counterpart, was Mahayanist we are in no position to say. There is evidence too that Sinhalese nuns went to China in the fifth century AD and helped in the ordination of women there. In 411 the famous Chinese Buddhist traveler Fa Hussein visited the island and stayed here for two years. But contacts with Chinese Buddhism were occasional and tenuous.
Architecture and sculpture
The concept of Buddhism as state religion had as one of its essential features the obligation assumed by the ruler to divert some of the agricultural surpluses at his command for the construction of religious edifices, which became in time more magnificent in scale and visual impact. The earliest Buddhist shrines in Sri Lanka were based on Indian models, and in the wake of the Mauryan Buddhist mission to the island came the arts and crafts of India as well. But after an initial period of Indianisation, which tended to imitate the parent culture, a distinctive Sri Lankan style in art and architecture was evolved, bearing the stamp of its Indian origin no doubt, but not identical with that of any particular region of India. The most constant feature of Buddhist Sri Lanka is the stupa or cetiya which came to the island from Northern India.
These stupas generally enshrined relics of the Buddha and the more celebrated Illuminati of early Buddhism and were on that account objects of veneration. They dominated the city of Anuradhapura and the landscape of Rajarata by their imposing size, awe-inspiring testimony to the state's commitment to Buddhism and to the wealth at its command. The stupa, generally a solid hemispherical dome, gave a subdued but effective expression to the quintessence of Buddhism simplicity and serenity. There were five important stupas at Anuradhapura. The first to be built was the small but elegant Thuparama. Dutthagamani built two, the Mirisavati and the Ruvanvalisaya or the Mahastupa. Two stupas subsequently surpassed the Mahastupa in size, the Abhayagiri and the largest of them all, the Jetavana. The scale of comparison was with the In this section of the present section I have relied on the following authorities: A. K. Coomaraswamy, History of Indian and Indonesian Art (London, 1965); E. F. G. Ludowyk, Footprint of the Buddha (London, 1958), S. Paranavitana, Sinhalayo (Colombo, 1967) and his contributions on religion and art in UCHC, I, pp. 241-67 and 378-409; B. Rowland, The Art and Architecture of India (3rd revised edn, Harmonds worth, 1967).
There is no evidence of stupas in Sri Lanka before the introduction of Buddhism. No stupa built in this period is preserved today without alteration in shape or addition. The form of the oldest stupas was the same as that of the monument at Sanchi, the oldest preserved example of the type in India. There are six types of the stupa in Sri Lanka, all described by reference to their shape: a bell, a pot, a bubble, a heap of paddy, a lotus and an amalaka fruit. largest similar monuments in other parts of the ancient world. At the time the Ruvanvalisaya was built it was probably the largest monument of its class anywhere in the world. The Abhayagiri was enlarged by Gajabahu I in the second century AD to a height of 280 feet or more, while the Jetavana rose to over 400 feet. Both were taller than the third pyramid at Gizeh, and were the wonders of their time, with the Jetavana probably being the largest stupa in the whole Buddhist world. Smaller stupas were also built in the early Anuradhapura period at Mihintale, Dighavapi and Mahagama.