Cool Pre-Colonial Lankan History Anecdotes

The Aztecs were sovereign till 1521 which was when Buvanekabahu VII was ruling Kotte.. and Incas were sovereign till 1533.. which was during the time of Mayadunne and just when Kandy came into existence.. its cool that we had the Portuguese instead of Spannish 💀

Moving on to the pre-colonials: It was also very interesting to find out that Polonnaruwa was essentially a mideaval kingdom, with King Mahaparakramabahu living at about the same time as Richard the Lionheart. Mahaparakramabahu lived just 300ish years before Portuguese arrival, which was 500ish before now.

It's a testament to the longevity of Anuradhapura, which lived on from 437 BC to 1017 AD, again ending at early mideaval. As a matter of fact, it was interesting to see that even South Indian dynasties had a similar longevity, with even Pandya living on till 1618 AD. Everything afterwards seems to have happened very fast 😂.. Polonnaruwa existed only for 162 ish years, virtually 3-4 generations, and everything good about Polonnaruwa happened within that short timeframe. Polonnaruwa ended just 273 years before Portuguese arrival, roughly 5-6 generations, and all that change.. to Dambadeniya, Gampola, Kotte and so on, happened in that short frame.

Roughly 50 years before Portuguese arrival lived Parakramabahu VI of Kotte, and was strongly allied with Ming China, who was ruled then by Yong Le Emperor, who was very influential and under whose reign the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China were built. The Portuguese rounded around the Cape of Good Hope in their small 'Ships' (Caravels) which were 12-18 m long and did their conquering, but only because the seas were open to them. If they arrived just 50 years earlier, they would have met with the Ming Treasure Fleet, huge armadas of vessels that were 50 ish times larger.. and it's an interesting rabbit hole the things they did. Because Alakeshwara allowed for Piracy in Palk Straight and surrounding areas, the Ming were pissed, and were able to depose of Alakeshwara in the Ming-Kotte War, and have Parakramabahu VI installed, who was "elected by the Sinhalese present at the Ming court, nominated by the Ming emperor, and installed by Admiral Zheng He with the backing of his fleet". (Ming-Kotte War) Apparently because of diseases brought back from the fleets was the operations called off, and China cut itself off from the world. Also, Parakramabahu VI was the last guy to unify the island as precolonial sovereign.

Speaking about Mahaparakramabahu again, apparently he was to not only have the emperor of Pandya replaced, but also that of Bagan (Myanmar). The naval and military logistics required for such can be imagined. The same could be said about Chola empire during time of Emperors Rajaraja and Rajendra Cholas, under which even Anuradhapura was under Chola rule. Which isn't surprising considering that Cholas were able to occupy Sumatra, because the merchant guilds weren't treated properly, unfair trade deals, and Piracy... and how Rajaraja chola was able to capture swaths of North India, just so he could get water from the Ganges river, to sanctify his lake in his city.. no way Mahinda V, who couldn't even collect taxes properly, would've been able to counter that 😂. To think thatwhat was left of Lanka, Pandya and Chera were allied against Chola even during this period when Chola had most of Anuradhapura and Sumatra. Oh yeah, and there's Nissankamalla, the propagandist, putting his rock inscriptions every mile on main roads and everywhere to secure his position.

Another uncommon tale is that of Parakramabahu II of Dambadeniya, who was able to liberate the island from Kalinga Magha.. and this guy Chandrabhanu from Java, who invaded Sri Lanka twice, to get the tooth relic.. but wasn't able to at the end. Chandrabhanu actually ruled Jaffna for a while.. first as sovereign, then as vassal as Pandya.. apparently even Pandya has lost its chill after Polonnaruwa ended, and tried to procure Dambadeniya.. in which it was said that Dambadeniya was mostly unaffected. These were some interesting times 😂.

Another thing I came across was that every person in Lankan history who was able to shine.. had to deal with politics and the logistics of whatever they done.. whether it be building a reservoir, or a navy, getting intelligence of the current events.. which makes their works more appreciable.. Patta History was a YouTube channel that gave me alot of insights and have done a great service by showing us the unconventional history or even known history in New light. As, the people who lived on this island before us aren't superhuman, they're people who are most probably similar to how we are, and when they prospered.. its probably because they did the right things in their circumstances.. like how we could probably do for out time as well.

As for current mysteries in my head, one is whether the Vijayanagar Empire ruled Sri Lanka between 1336 and 1482, as in wiki. 

In the Sangama dynasty page of Wikipedia, the page for Vijayanagar empire in simple Wikipedia, has the borders of Vijayanagar involving the upper or whole of Sri Lanka. Captions just say map, so not saying if sphere of influence or like legit borders of rule. This wasn't in the history book, and I couldn't find any more info about it; Whether this a falsehood, or is it based on something real? Cuz if it real, that's rlly interesting, and if it's not.. then that's rlly sus. I mean, I remember interactions between Kotte and Vijayanagar, the Madurai Nayaks, a Telugu dynasty who were ex-Vijayanagar governors who got autonomy, were the last ruling house of SL.. so it's not unlikely either. Gotta read more about it. 

Colonial era history is another rabbit hole, considering how in the beginning.. and until very recently, early modern era, like maybe into the 1600s, 1700s, even early 1800s.. the playing field was actually quite very levelled. Its a rabbit hole for another time 😂

Posted to r/srilanka as u/The_Cosmic_Learner 

Achinthya Nanayakkara

22.03.2025