- 86 Views
- 8 Min Read
- (0) Comment
Bit of History of Sri lanka
A teardrop-shaped island cast adrift in the Indian Ocean, Sri lanka is filled with cultural and natural treasures. Indians, Portuguese, Dutch and British have all left their marks here, making for a delightful mix of ancient cities, monuments and atmospheric colonial architecture.
At the same time, palm-fringed beaches are never far away and lush mountainous greenery beckons inland. It’s clear to see why Marco Polo proclaimed Sri Lanka to be one of the best islands in the world.The first entries in the Mahavamsa or Great History date back to 543BC, which coincides with the arrival of Prince Vijaya in Sri Lanka. Some 300 years later, commenced the early Anuradhapura Period, with King Devanampiya Tissa as the first ruler. It was in this period that a sapling of the sacred Bo Tree, under which the Lord Buddha attained enlightenment, was brought to Sri Lanka.
The late Anuradhapura Period, which began in the year 459, saw the reign of King Kasyapa, and the construction of Sigiriya. The Polonnaruwa period, witnessed the transfer of the capital from Anuradhapura to Polonnaruwa in 1073. Famed explorer, Marco Polo, arrived in Sri Lanka in the period between 1254 and 1324, and, in 1505, the Portuguese landed, and occupied the island’s coastal regions.
Around 14,000 BC Sri Lankan aborigines – the Veddhas.
Several assemblages of human remains from 14,000 BC down to the recent times have been studied in detail leading up to those conclusions. The methods and technology used for the researches are considered to be very up to date and in many ways have been applied for the first time in Asia.
Vijaya 483 Bc To Sri Wickramarajasinha 1815 Ad
This is a period spanning over 24 centuries involving different periods of the History of Sri Lanka, as detailed above. Hence for the purpose of this publication it is intended to provide only a summary of each period of History, highlighting only the main occurrences, achievements and developments of that period.
Chronological Table Of The Monarchs Of Sri Lanka
The Traditional history of Sri Lanka begins about the 5th century B.C. with the first settlement in this land of a people named Simhala an Indo Aryan group who came from North India. About 70% of the people still inhabiting the island are known by that name. After considering all historical as well as traditional sources available several renowned- scholars have come to the conclusion that ancestors of the Sinhalese migrated to Sri Lanka first from the Indus river region in North India, where a group of people called KAMBOJAS also lived, in close proximity to them. It is also accepted by historians that there was a later immigration by Indo-Aryans in the Bengal Orissa region of the North East of India
Period of Rule from Vijaya 483 BC to Tissa 377 BC
Vijaya 483 – 445 Bc
The chronicle Mahavamsa has recorded that Vijaya arrived in Sri Lanka by ship with 700 turbulent followers who were banished by the King of Vanga in India. They grasped the soil on the land with their hands which became copper coloured. Thereupon they named the place Thambapanni (which later became Taprobane to the Greeks)
Vijaya is said to have landed in Sri Lanka on the very day of Buddha’s Parinirvana (Passing away). He and his followers learnt that the place at which they have arrived was called SIRISAVATTHU inhabited by Yaksas (A tribe of local inhabitants said to have been of a ferocious nature). Later Vijaya and his men came into the power of Kuveni the daughter of the Yaksa King. At that stage Kuveni offered her hand to Vijaya and he accepted her as his consort
On Kuveni’s advice Vijaya rid the island of Yaksas and built the THAMBAPANNI NAGARA at the place of his landing.
Having established themselves firmly in a new land Vjaya’s followers wished to consecrate their leader as King, but Vijaya declined to do so until he had a bride from the Ksatriya clan to be his queen.
Envoys were sent to the Pandu King of Madura in India, requesting the hand of his daughter,to which proposal the Pandu King agreed and sent not only his daughter but seven hundred maids as well, as brides for his followers.
Thereupon Vijaya forced Kuveni to leave him with her two children by him. Kuveni went to her people and they slew her probably for bringing shame to the clan by co-habiting with a man of a foreign country. But the two children were spared.
They grew up and said to have become the ancestors of the Pulindas – the Veddas, descendants of the ancient inhabitants of today, as the story goes.
Vijaya and the Pandu Princess were married and duly consecrated as the first King and Queen of Sri Lanka.
Vijaya did not have a son and he died without an heir.
He was said to have reigned with perfect justice for thirty eight years.
Upatissa 445 To 444 Bc
He was the Chief Minister of Vijaya and succeeded the latter as regent as Vijaya died without an heir. He governed for one year until the arrival of Panduvasdeva the younger son of Vijaya’s brother Sumitta.
Panduvasdeva 444 – 414 Bc(Son of Vijaya’s Brother)
Prince Panduvasdeva arrived with 32 noble men. Bhadda Kacchana, daughter of King of Pandu, also arrived with 32 female attendants. Panduvasadeva and Bhadda Kacchana were married and duly consecrated as the second King and Queen of Sri Lanka.
The King had 10 sons and one daughter Unmada Chitta. It was predicted that the son to be born to Unmada Citta would destroy his uncles and under the King’s orders she was kept in solitary confinement.
She later married Dighamini and gave birth to a baby boy. The boy was brought up in hiding and was named Pandukabhaya.
King died after a peaceful reign of 30 years. His seat of reign was Vijithapura. The reservoir Abeya-wewa was built during his reign. This is considered to be the world’s first man made reservoir. ABHAYA 414 – 394 BC
Tissa (Regent) 394 – 377 Bc
ABHAYA the eldest son of King Panduvasdeva succeeded. He was deposed and Tissa was appointed regent. Tissa was slain in battle by Pandukhabaya who ascended the throne.
The portugese period
At this time Sri Lanka had three main kingdoms the Kingdom of Jaffna in the north, the Kingdom of Kandy in the central highlands and Kotte, the most powerful, in the south-west.In 1505 the Portuguese, under Lorennco de Almeida established friendly relations with the king of Kotte and gained, for Portugal, a monopoly in the spice and cinnamon trade, which soon became of enormous importance in Europe. Attempts by Kotte to utilize the strength and protection of the Portuguese only resulted in Portugal taking over and ruling not only their regions, but the rest of the island, apart form the central highlands around Kandy.Because the highlands were remote and inaccessible, the kings of Kandy were always able to defeat the attempts by the Portuguese to annex them, and on a number of occasions drove the Portuguese right back down to the coast.The Dutch Period
Attempts by Kandy to enlist Dutch help in expelling the Portuguese only resulted in the substitution of one European power for another. By 1658, 153 years after the first Portuguese contact, the Dutch took control over the costal areas of the Island.During their 140-year-rule the Dutch, like Portuguese, were involved in repeated unsuccessful attempts to bring Kandy under their control. The Dutch were much more interested in trade and profits than the Portuguese, who spent a lot of efforts spreading their religion and extending their physical control The British Period
The French revolution resulted in a major shake-up among the European powers and in 1796 the Dutch were easily supplanted by the British, who in 1815 also won the control of the kingdom of Kandy, becoming the first European power to rule the whole island. But in 1802, Sri Lanka became a Crown Colony and in 1818 a unified administration for the island was set up.Soon the country was dotted with coffee, cinnamon and coconut plantations and a network of roads and Railways were built to handle this new economic activity. English became the official language, and is still widely spoken.Coffee was the main crop and the backbone of the colonial economy, but the occurence of a leaf blight virtually wiped it out in the 1870s and the plantations quickly switched over to tea or rubber.Today Sri Lanka is the world’s second largest tea exporter. The British were unable to persuade the Sinhalese to work cheaply and willingly on the plantations, so they imported large number of South Indian labourers from South India. Sinhalese peasants in the hill country lost land to the estates
Independance
Between WW I and WW II, political stirrings started to push Sri Lanka towards eventual independence from Britain but in a considerably more peaceful and low-key manner than in India. At the end of WW II it was evident that independence would come very soon, in the wake of independence for Sri Lanka’s neighbour. In February 1948 Sri Lanka, or Ceylon as it was still known, became an independent member of the British Commonwealth
Leave a comment: