Parākramabāhu I (Sinhala: මහාරජ පරාක්‍රමබාහු (Maharaja Parakramabahu), 1123–1186), or Parakramabahu the Great, was the king of Polonnaruwa from 1153 to 1186. He oversaw the expansion and beautification of his capital, constructed extensive irrigation systems, reorganised the country's army, reformed Buddhist practices, encouraged the arts and undertook military campaigns in South India and Burma. The adage, "Not even a drop of water that comes from the rain must flow into the ocean without being made useful to man" is one of his most famous utterances."The Economist: 322, (7740-7752). 1992. Economist Newspaper Limited.

In 1140, Parakramabahu following the death of his uncle, Kitti Sri Megha, Prince of Dakkinadesa, ascended the throne of Dakkhinadesa. Over the next decade, he strengthened both the region’s infrastructure and its military. Following a protracted civil war, he secured power over the entire island around 1153 and remained in this position until his death in 1186. During Parākramabāhu I's reign, he launched a punitive campaign against the kings of Burma, aided the Pandyan dynasty against the Chola dynasty in southern India and maintained extensive trade relations with China, Angkor, and countries in the Middle East.Hall (2010), p. 224Kenneth Hall, "Economic History of Early South Asia", in Nicholas Tarling (ed), The Cambridge History of South East Asia, Vol. I, Cambridge 1994 Within the island, he consecrated religious monuments, built hospitals, social welfare units, canals and large reservoirs, such as the Parakrama Samudra, but also banned the advanced practices and books of Mahayana Buddhism.

Background

Early

The island of Sri Lanka was disrupted by Cholas, following an invasion by Raja Raja Chola I, who took advantage from an internal strife and conquered nearly half of the island. It was not until his successor, the island was almost under Chola control. These regions remained under Chola control until the reign of Vijayabahu I (1070–1100); when Vijayabahu I successfully drove the Chola invaders out of the island, he continued the capital at Polonnaruwa rather than Anuradhapura. By the reign of Vikramabāhu I (1111–1132), the island was divided into three kingdoms—Kingdom of Rajarata, Kingdom of Dakkhinadesa, and Kingdom of Ruhuna. Vijayabahu I had given his sister Mitta's hand in marriage to a Tamil Pandyan prince, and that Pandyan prince would go on to become the father of Manabharana, who in turn was the father of Parakramabahu I. While Vikramabāhu was regarded as the most dignified, as he ruled Rajarata with its sites of religious and historical significance, Manabharana, king of Dakkhinadesa (the Southern Country), along with his brothers Sri Vallabha and Kitti Sri Megha, the joint rulers of Ruhuna, were formidable rivals for the throne. Furthermore, all three were descendants of Vijayabahu’s sister and therefore held a strong claim to the throne; in the Culavamsa, they are referred to as the Arya branch of the royal dynasty, whereas Vikramabāhu I belonged to the Kalinga branch.

Birth

At the time of Parakramabahu’s birth, Manabharana, the governor of Dakkhinadesa and the eldest of the Arya kings, had two daughters, Mitta and Phabavati, but no sons. He said:

On the other hand, his younger brother, Sri Vallabha and his wife Sugala, had two children, one of them being a son, challenged the party of Manabharana. As per this, he stepped down and passed his work to his ministers.

The chronicle further states that Parākramabāhu I’s birth was foretold by a god-like figure appearing in a dream to his father, King Manabharana of Dakkhinadesa. Subsequently, a son was born to Manabharana’s wife, Ratnavali, and was named Parākramabāhu.Greiger's translation for Culavamsa, Chapter LXII, 52–53 Though the year of his birth cannot be known exactly confirmed, it is generally thought to be around 1123 AD. The location would almost certainly have been the capital of Dakkhinadesa, Punkhagama.

Upon being informed of the child's birth, Vikramabāhu I in Polonnaruwa ordered that the boy be brought up as the heir to his throne. This kind of adoption may have been an olive branch of sorts on the part of Vikramabāhu, who wished to keep the throne until his death, after which it would be passed on to Parākramabāhu. Manabharana, however, rejected the offer, stating that "It is not (prudent) ... to send away such a jewel of a son". He also speculated that "...if the boy is taken thither, the party of Vikkamabahu... will gleam with mighty, up-shooting flames, but our misfortune, alas so great, will become still worse!"

Soon after the child's birth, Manabharana fell ill and died. His younger brother Kitti Sri Megha, who was joint king of Ruhuna, ascended the throne of Dakkhinadesa, while Sri Vallabha was declared sole king of Ruhuna. Parākramabāhu, his mother Ratnavali and his two sisters Mitta and Pabhavati, were sent to live in Mahanagahula, the capital of Ruhuna, under the care of Manabharana's brother Sri Vallabha.

Youth

In Ruhuna and Dakkhinadesa

Whilst he was still young, his eldest sister Mitta was forcibly married to their cousin, Manabharana, the son of Sri Vallabha of Ruhuna, against the wishes of Queen Ratnavali. Ratnavali was herself of the Kalinga clan of the royal family, and though she was the widow of a king of the Arya branch of the royal family, she preferred to see her daughters married to a king from the Kalinga clan. During his time at Sri Vallabha's court, Parākramabāhu met his future mahesi "queen consort", Lilavati, Sri Vallabha's daughter, who, went on to rule the country in her own right.

In 1132 AD, following the death of Vikramabāhu, his son, Gajabahu II succeeded to the throne of Rajarata. Two monarchs of the Arya branch of the royal family, Sri Vallabha and Kitti Sri Megha, tried unsuccessfully to seize Rajarata by force.

On the other hand, Parākramabāhu, impatient having only a minor state to rule, left Sri Vallabha's palace in Ruhuna and returned to Dakkhinadesa, where he took up residence with his uncle. Impatience is also to be attributed to Sri Vallabha's plans to place Manabharana of Ruhuna on the throne of Rajarata, which made Parākramabāhu's position increasingly precarious in court. In Dakkhinadesa, on the other hand, he was well received by Kitti Sri Megha, who had no sons of his own, where he was essentially adopted.

In Rajarata Some time after his coming of age, the young prince left Dakkhinadesa in secrecy and set out for Gajabahu II's realm in Rajarata. Having met his allies at Badalattha (modern Batalagoda), he visited the senapati Sankha, on the border between Rajarata and Dakkhinadesa. When Sankha tried to inform Kitti Sri Megha of the prince's journey, Parākramabāhu had him killed. Parākramabāhu then seized Buddhagama (modern Menikdena Nuwara) and all of Sankha's property. He continued his journey, having evaded a force sent against him by Kitti Sri Megha, who feared complications with the court of Polonnaruwa, and traveled through the Malaya region to Gajabahu's court.

The reason provided for Kitti Sri Megha's efforts to bring the prince back to Dakkhinadesa are presented as nothing more than concern for the well being of his nephew as well as concerns that Parākramabāhu may reignite hostilities between the Arya and Kalinga factions. However, that the king of Dakkhinadesa was "tenderly attached" to his nephew is regarded as "fiction", and it is pointed out that "the spirit in which the accounts of these conflicts are conceived is irreconcilable with the theory of untroubled relations between uncle and nephew."

During his time in Gajabahu's court, the Parākramabāhu did two things of significance. The first was to enmesh the court of Gajabahu in a web of espionage and the other was to marry one of his sisters called Bhaddavati, to King Gajabahu. Through this marriage, Parākramabāhu managed matters that Gajabahu II completely trusted him, as much as he did the royal family.Geiger, Culavamsa, Introduction, & LXV, 149–150 Nevertheless, he retained the entirety of Bhaddavati's dowry for himself. The second was secretly negotiating with Gajabahu's general, Gokanna. However, Gajabahu eventually grew suspicious of Parākramabāhu's activities, and aware, Parākramabāhu departed Rajarata in secrecy by night and returned to Dakkhinadesa.

Return to Dakkhinadesa

In Dakkhinadesa, Parākramabāhu was reluctant to enter the capital Sankhatthali to see his uncle, King Kitti Sri Megha, until persuaded by his mother Ratnavali to do so. Kitti Sri Megha however died soon after Parākramabāhu's return and the Culavamsa notes that the prince "was not mastered by the agitation called forth by the grief at his father's (sic) death"—perhaps a sign of lingering ill feeling between the two. Parākramabāhu was now king of Dakkhinadesa.

King of Dakkhinadesa

Government and construction

Parakramabahu was the sole king of Dakkhinadesa by 1140; his objective for Dakkhinadesa was to expand it so that it would surpass the greatness of other two kingdoms, in a short period of time. He formed an administration center called Parakramapura, solely for him. The capital of Parakramapura is identified with modern city Panduwas Nuwara.

Afterwards, he started a huge program of construction and renovation of shrines and other structures, the remnants of which can still be seen in North Central Province, Sri Lanka, today. It is mentioned of him as having restored an ancient causeway called the Kotabaddha, over the Deduru Oya (Deduru Lake) near modern Kurunegala. The new king's personality was illustrated when the architects commissioned to the project informed him that it was well-nigh impossible to carry out, to which Parākramabāhu replied that "What is there in the world that cannot be carried out by people of energy?". He ordered the construction of canals and dams, and cleared a large area of forest around them for new fields. Most notably, he constructed the Parakrama Samudra, a giant reservoir from which a large swathe of territory derived its water supply. On islands in the middle of the reservoir he constructed a palace and a stupa.

Trade from Dakkhinadesa Trade was a key source of income for Dakkhinadesa, as Sri Lanka’s strategic location had long placed it at the intersection of several major trade routes. Chinese silk was a significant import and was used in the consecration of statues and shrines. Pearls and gems (of which the king took particular interest) constituted an important part of the island's exports, as did cinnamon (which remained, until the 19th century, Sri Lanka's major export), and war elephants. Most trade was carried out through the main seaports of the principality, Kalpitiya, Halawatha (Chilaw) and Colombo.

Preparation for war Parākramabāhu resolved to expand the region through a war that lasted over a decade. He first decided to reorganize the guards of Dakkhinadesa kingdom.

Parākramabāhu's army had a diverse ethnic make-up. Some of his officers were from the two grand old clans of Sri Lanka, the Moriya and the Lambakanna, who had between them dominated Rajarata from Anuradhapura. Under a commander styling himself as the king of Malaya (modern Dumbara), the army also included, by the time hostilities broke out between Dakkhinadesa and Rajarata, Veddas, Vellalar, and people from the lower castes who were not traditionally involved in martial activities. The Culavamsa places the number of soldiers at somewhere around 100,000 people but the real figure was probably lower.see Culavamsa, LXIX, 6–23 Parākramabāhu’s army would have included war elephants, cavalry, and siege engines, making it a formidable threat to Gajabahu’s authority in the north.

Conquest of Rajarata

War with Gajabahu