Monarchs of Sri Lanka

I must point out to those who are not familiar with Sinhala history and the history of Sri Lanka that at NO point of foriegn rule did Lanka have NO Independant Sinhala Kings. This though changed after the depection leading to the Kandyian Convention and British Rule.

Pre Historic Kings:

Portrait	Name	King From	Relationship with Predecessor(s)
	Hiranyaksha	7000BC Onwards-
	Hiranyakasayapa	7000BC Onwards-	*Brother
	Prahlada	7000BC Onwards-	Father Prahlada Natakam is a dance telling the story of King Prahlada, still done in Orissa(Kalinga).
	Virochana	7000BC Onwards-	Father Virochocha in the Americas. *Rather than except the throne, went to Patala(South America). Where today you can find his teachings and temples.
	Bali	7000BC Onwards-	Father Took up the throne from his grandfather. *He left for India with his son Banu and wife, leaving Lanka without a King.
	Manodhata	7000BC Onwards-	Daughter to Sukra She steping in after Bali left. She bore three children with Maha Rishi Kasyapa.
	Surapadma, Sinhamukha & Taraka	7000BC Onwards-	Mother With the help and guidence of their mother and grandfater Sukra, they became great and powerfull kings. *They had built Lankapura as capital of the now "Hela-Asura" Empire.
	Kuvera	7000BC Onwards-	Uncles Took up the throne after his unlces were over thrown by Kartika, the son of Lord Siva. His base camp became Katikagama, today is Kataragama.
	Rawana	7000BC Onwards-	*Brother
	Vibheshana	7000BC Onwards-	*Older Brother
	Trijata	7000BC Onwards-	Daughter of Vibheshana Best friend of Sita.

Above kings and queens names given in many hindu literature works eg the Puranas, Ramayana.

Anuradhapura or Anu-Raja-Pura??

Even though the city of Anuradhapura is known has the oldest city in Lanka, it can be assumed it is allot older than we all think.

Archeological evidences thus far given from the former director archeology, Dr. Siran Deraniyagala are clear indications of this. He has stated that evidences of settlements in Anuradhapura go back to around 3900BC. So dating the city to at least 6000yrs old.

My grandparents I remember used to say Anurajapuraya, obviously I used to think they couldn't say Anuradhapura correctly but In fact they might have been correct.

Friar Negara a Italian priest who led the Franscians in Ceylon during the Portuguese occupation was the first european to record details of this ancient city in 1560. His works unfortunately are lost today but thank fully, De Queyroz a Portuguese friar wrote some quotes from his book into his own "The Temporal and Spiritual conquest of Ceylon".

The details tell of Rev Negara, doing research through the country even going and measuring the Gal Kunu of the Brazen Palace.

He clearly states that the city was founded in 701BC and the city was called "Anu-Raja-Pura", due to the fact that ninety kings had ruled the city before. The founder is named as Asela.

Today our own historians without clear evidences, except because of piece of pottery shard saying Anurudha. Has given this holy city this name.

Buddhist era monarchs of Sri Lanka

The following is a list of monarchs of Sri Lanka since 543 BC. The main source for many of these monarchs are the chronicles of the island maintained by monks, known as the Dipavamsa, Mahavamsa, and the Chulavamsa. This list should be used with the following factors kept in mind. Firstly the dates provided for the earliest monarchs are difficult to objectively verify; those which are particularly difficult to know have been denoted with a (?) mark. Secondly in terms of succession it is difficult to divide the monarchs into 'houses' or 'dynasties' as often the throne was passed around amongst related individuals within a particular clan; especially in medieval times there were no articulated rules of succession and whoever was in possession of the sacred Tooth Relic had a good claim to being called king.

It should be borne in mind that there is controversy about the base date of the Buddhist Era, with 544 BC and 483 BC being advanced as the date of the parinibbana of the Buddha. As Wilhelm Geiger pointed out, the Dipawamsa and Mahawamsa are the primary sources for ancient South Asian chronology; they date the consecration (abhisheka) of Asoka to 218 years after the parinibbana. Chandragupta Maurya ascended the throne 56 years prior to this, or 162 years after the parinibbana. The approximate date of Chandragupta's ascension is known to be within two years of 321 BC (from Megasthenes). Hence the approximate date of the parinibbana is between 485 and 481 BC - which accords well with the Mahayana dating of 483 BC.

According to Geiger, the difference between the two reckonings seems to have occurred at sometime between the reigns of Udaya III (946-954 or 1007-1015) and Pârakkama Pandya (c. 1046-1048), when there was considerable unrest in the country.

However, mention is made of an embassy sent to China by Cha-cha Mo-ho-nan in 428. The name may correspond to 'Raja (King) Mahanama', who (by the traditional chronology) reigned about this time.

Furthermore, the traveller-monk Xuanzang, who attempted to visit Sri Lanka about 642, was told by Sri Lankan monks (possibly at Kanchipuram that there was trouble in the kingdom, so he desisted; this accords with the period of struggle for the throne between Aggabodhi III Sirisanghabo, Jettha Tissa III and Dathopa Tissa I Hatthadpath in 632-643.

Recent indological research has indicated that the Parinibbana of the Buddha may be even later than previously supposed. A majority of the scholars at a symposium held in 1988 in Göttingen regarding the problem were inclined towards a date of 440-360 BCE. However, it should be noted that their calculations were based on the chronology of Tibetan Buddhism, preferred over that of the Dipavamsa/Mahavamasa; the modified chronology, in order to work, needs to identify the Indian ruler Kalasoka, son of Susunaga, with the Emperor Asoka, son of Bindusara. It should be noted that the Sri Lankan chronicles are based on even earlier works and that the Buddhist canon was first put into writing in Sri Lanka.

The chronology of the following list is based on the the traditional Therevada/Sri Lankan system which is based on 544 BC, or 61 years earlier than the Mahayana calendar. The dates after c 1048 are synchronous.

Vijayan monarchs (543 BC–437 BC) from Tambapanni (Thammanna Nuwara) (543 BC–505 BC)

The Portugal Colonial rule of Ceylon lasted from 1580 to 1658, during which the Portuguese ruled several parts of the costal areas of the island.

The Dutch Colonial rule of Ceylon lasted from 1640 to 1796. This began with the capture of Portuguese areas, during the Dutch rule the enter coast of the Island was occupied by the Dutch, leaving only the Kingdom of Kandy.

In 1796 British gained control of the coastal areas from the Dutch and in 1815 the entire island. The Kandyan Convention of 1815 recognized the King of England as the King of Kandy, hence the British Monarchs from 1796 to 1948 was the Monarchs of Ceylon.

Between 1796, when British forces first arrived on the island and the appointing of the first Governor of Ceylon in 1798, Ceylon was governed by the Governor of Madras.

In 1948, Sri Lanka achieved independence from the United Kingdom as a Dominon within the Commonwealth, and the British monarch remained the head of state. The Governor was replaced with a Governor-General, responsible not to London, but the local parliament.

The Governor-General of Ceylon was the representative of the King of Ceylon (1948-1952) and the Queen of Ceylon (1952-1972) from 1948 when the country became independent as a Dominion until the country became the republic of Sri Lanka in 1972. It must be said that this system of a Governor-General was only established in Ceylon, nether India nor anyother had.