The Kingdom of Polonnaruwa () was the Sinhalese kingdom that expanded across the island of Sri Lanka from 1070 until 1232. The kingdom unified the island and started expanding its overseas influence during the reign of Parakramabahu the Great.
It had an influence in Pandya Nadu since its involvement in a civil war in the Pandya country. During this war, Pandya Nadu was seized as a country administered by the military of Polonnaruwa and Vira Pandyan of Pandya Dynasty. The tributaries of the Chola Empire such as Tondi and Pasi came under its and Vira Pandya military rule. Rameshwaram was under Sinhalese and Vira Pandyan Alliance rule till 1182.Sri Lanka in Early Indian Inscriptions. p. 5 Its currency Kahapana was struck in these places. During their influence on Pandya Nadu, construction work was undertaken. But Soon after their initial victory, Vira Pandyan army and Polonnaruwa army were defeated by Cholas and lost the control of Pandya Nadu, Tondi, pasi and Rameswaram. According to the Chola record at Tirukkollambudur of the fourth year of Kulottunga III (A.D. 1182) "the Singhalese soldiers had their noses cut off and rushed into the sea. Vira Pandya himself was compelled to retreat. The town of Madura was captured and made over to Vikrama Pandya." The war thus ended in favour of the Cholas, sometime in the 1170s.
Despite the prosperity endured under kings such as Parakramabahu I, territorial and political instability would repeatedly occur, as the royal court was embroiled with factionalism chiefly between the Pandya and Kalinga bloodlines of the Polonnaruwa kings. This gave the royal military the opportunity to back their own preferred claimants to power, and generals like Ayasmanta and Lokissara would repeatedly seize the throne and install puppet rulers. Queen Lilavati's tumultuous reigns are a notable example for this, having come to power thrice under various generals. This escalating power struggle put the kingdom under decline, as evident from repeated intervention and raids by the Pandyans and Cholas to the North.
In 1212, the capital was seized by Parakrama Pandyan, a rival claimant who took power via Pandyan assistance. Only three years later, Kalinga Magha, whose title evidently traces his bloodline to that of the Eastern Ganga dynasty of Odisha, invaded the kingdom with the help of his soldiers and mercenaries from the Kalinga, modern Kerala and Damila (Tamil Nadu) regions in India, capturing the previous ruler. After the conquest of Polonnaruwa Kingdom, he moved the capital to the Jaffna peninsula which was more secured by heavy Vanni forest and ruled as a tribute-paying subordinate of the Chola empire of Tanjavur, in modern Tamil Nadu, India. As described in the Mahavamsa, Polonnaruwa was sacked and its population massacred, and the widespread devastation the region prompted a massive migration into the South, ending the 1500-year long civilization of the Rajarata basin.
Following the capture of the royal capital by Magha, opposition coalesced around various warlords and nobles of the previous kingdom, who established fortresses in numerous locations to fight back enemies from the North. This would eventually give rise to Vijayabahu III, the ruler of the fortress of Dambadeniya, who eventually centralized Maya Rata by subjugating the power of rival lords and Magha's influence and established the Kingdom of Dambadeniya in 1232, marking the beginning of the transitional period in Sri Lankan history.
History Chola conquest (993–1070)
A partial consolidation of Chola power in Rajarata had succeeded the initial season of plunder. With the intention to transform Chola encampments into more permanent military enclaves, Saivite temples were constructed in Polonnaruwa and in the emporium of Mahatittha. Taxation was also instituted, especially on merchants and artisans by the Cholas. In 1014 Rajaraja I died and was succeeded by his son Rajendra Chola I, perhaps the most aggressive king of his line. Chola raids were launched southward from Rajarata into Rohana. By his fifth year, Rajendra claimed to have completely conquered the island. Thus, the whole of Anuradhapura including the south-eastern province of Rohana were incorporated into the Chola Empire. As per the Sinhalese chronicle Mahavamsa, the conquest of Anuradhapura was completed in the 36th year of the reign of the Sinhalese monarch Mahinda V (c. 1017–18). But the Cholas never really consolidated their control over Southern Sri Lanka. Thus, under Rajendra, Chola predatory expansion in Sri Lanka began to reach a point of diminishing returns. According to the Culavamsa and Karandai Plates, Rajendra Chola led a large army into Anuradhapura and captured Mahinda V's crown, queen, daughter, vast amount of wealth and the king himself whom he took as a prisoner to India, where he eventually died in exile in 1029. After the death of Mahinda V, the Sinhalese monarchy continued to rule from Rohana until the Sinhalese kingdom was re-established in the north by Vijayabāhu I. Mahinda V was succeeded by his son Kassapa VI (1029–1040).
Polonnaruwa period (1055–1232)
Following a long war of liberation, Vijayabāhu I successfully expelled the Cholas out of Sri Lanka as their resolve began to diminish. Vijayabāhu I possessed strategic advantages, even without a unified "national" force behind him. A prolonged war of attrition was of greater benefit to the Sinhalese than to the Cholas. After the accession of Virarajendra Chola (1063–1069) to the Chola throne, the Cholas were increasingly on the defensive, not only in Sri Lanka, but also in peninsular India, where they were hard-pressed by the attacks of the Chalukyas from the Deccan. Vijayabāhu I launched a successful two-pronged attack upon Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, when he could finally establish a firm base in Southern Sri Lanka. Anuradhapura quickly fell and Polonnaruwa was captured after a prolonged siege of the isolated Chola forces. Virarajendra Chola was forced to dispatch an expedition from the mainland to recapture the settlements in the north and carry the attack back into Rohana, in order to stave off total defeat. What had begun as a profitable incursion and occupation was now deteriorating into desperate attempts to retain a foothold in the North. After a further series of indecisive clashes the occupation finally ended in the withdrawal of the Cholas. By 1070, when Sinhalese sovereignty was restored under Vijayabāhu I, he had reunited the country for the first time in over a century.
Vijayabāhu I (1055–1110), descended from, or at least claimed to be descended from the House of Lambakanna II. He crowned himself in 1055 at Anuradhapura but continued to have his capital at Polonnaruwa as it was more central and made the task of controlling the turbulent province of Rohana much easier. Aside from leading the prolonged resistance to Chola rule, Vijayabāhu I proved to be outstanding in administration and economic regeneration after the war and embarked on the rehabilitation of the island's irrigation network and the resuscitation of Buddhism in the country. Buddhism had suffered severely in the country during the Chola rule, where precedence was given to Saivite Hinduism. The influence of Hinduism on religion and society during this period also saw a hardening of caste attitudes in the Kingdom of Polonnaruwa. Economic, social structure, art and architecture of the Kingdom of Polonnaruwa was a continuation and development of that of the Anuradhapura period. Internal and external trade made the kingdom more prosperous than just relying on its primarily agricultural economy. Seafaring crafts were built in Sri Lanka and were known to have sailed as far as China, some may have even been used as troop transport ships to Burma. However those used in external trade were mostly of foreign construction. The island's importance as an important centre of international trade attracted many foreign merchants, the most prominent of which were descendants of Arab traders. The south of India also hosted settlements of these Arab merchants, and they would become a dominant influence on the country's external trade, but it was by no means a monopoly.
Upon Vijayabāhu I's death a succession dispute jeopardized the recovery from the Chola conquest. His successors proved unable to consolidate power, plunging the kingdom into a period of civil war from which Parākramabāhu I (1153–1186), a closely related royal emerged. Parākramabāhu I established control over the island and secured his recognition as Vijayabāhu I's heir by obtaining the tooth and bowl relics of the Buddha, which by now had become essential to the legitimacy of royal authority in Sri Lanka.
By the Polonnaruwa period, the Sinhalese already had centuries of experience in irrigation technology, and the rulers of Polonnaruwa, especially Parākramabāhu the Great, made notable contributions refining these techniques to meet the demands of the immense irrigation projects at the time. Sri Lanka's irrigation network was extensively expanded during the reign of Parākramabāhu the Great. He built 1470 reservoirs – the highest number by any ruler in Sri Lanka's history, repaired 165 dams, 3910 canals, 163 major reservoirs, and 2376 mini-reservoirs. His most famous construction is the Parakrama Samudra, the largest irrigation project of medieval Sri Lanka. Having re-established the political unification of the island, Parākramabāhu continued Vijayabāhu I policy in keeping a tight check on separatist tendencies within the island, especially in Rohana where particularism was a deeply ingrained political tradition. Parākramabāhu faced a formidable rebellion in 1160 as Rohana did not accept its loss of autonomy lightly. A rebellion in 1168 in Rajarata also manifested. Both were put down with great severity and all vestiges of its former autonomy were purposefully eliminated. Particularism was now much less tolerated than it was during the Anuradhapura period. This new over-centralization of authority in Polonnaruwa would however work against the Sinhalese in the future and the country would eventually pay dearly as a result.
Parākramabāhu I's reign is memorable for two major campaigns – in the south of India as part of a Pandyan war of succession, and a punitive strike against the kings of Ramanna (Myanmar) for various perceived insults to Sri Lanka. Parākramabāhu I was the last of the great ancient Sri Lankan kings. His reign is considered as a time when Sri Lanka was at the height of its power. Parākramabāhu I had no sons, which complicated the problem of succession upon his death. Amid the succession crisis a scion of a foreign dynasty, Niśśaṅka Malla established his claims as a Prince of Kalinga, claiming to be chosen and trained for the succession by Parākramabāhu I himself. He was also either the son-in-law or nephew of Parākramabāhu I.
Niśśaṅka Malla (1187–1196) was the first monarch of the House of Kalinga and the only Polonnaruwa monarch to rule over the whole island after Parākramabāhu I. His reign gave the country a brief decade of order and stability before the speedy and catastrophic break-up of the hydraulic civilisation of the dry zone. With his death there was a renewal of political dissension, now complicated by dynastic disputes. Though he and his predecessors Vijayabāhu I and Parākramabāhu I achieved much in state building, the conspicuous lack of restraint, especially that of Parākramabāhu I, in combination with an ambitious and venturesome foreign policy, and an expensive diversion of state resources towards public work projects, sapped the strength of the country and contributed to the kingdom's sudden and complete collapse.