The Five Dravidian were five

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

Chiefs apparently from the Pandyan Dynasty who ruled the

Anuradhapura Kingdom The Anuradhapura Kingdom (Sinhala language, Sinhala: , translit: Anurādhapura Rājadhāniya, Tamil language, Tamil: ), named for Anuradhapura, its capital city, was the first established monarchy, kingdom in ancient Sri Lanka related to the ...

for 14 years from 103 BC to 88 BC.

Background

Before the Five Dravidians invaded the island, the

was ruled by

Valagamba Valagamba (Sinhala: වළගම්බා), also known as Wattagamani Abhaya and Valagambahu, was a king of the Anuradhapura Kingdom of Sri Lanka. Five months after becoming king, he was overthrown by a rebellion and an invasion from South India, b ...

(104–103 BC, 89–76 BC) also known as Vatthagamani Abhaya. In 103 BC Valagamba was overthrown by these five conquerors from

South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territo ...

, who ruled until 89 BC when they were defeated by

, who was then able to rule his kingdom once more.

Rulers

Pulahatta

Pulahatta was the first of the Five Dravidians. He was a

chief from the Pandyan Dynasty, in

, who defeated the reigning monarch

, who had only come to the throne five months before. He appointed Bahiya as his Chief Minister and reigned for three years until he was murdered in 100 BC by Bahiya.

Bahiya

Bahiya was the second of the Five Dravidians, he ruled from 100 BC to 98 BC. Chief Minister of Pulahatha, during Pulahatha's reign, he murdered him and ruled as king. Bahiya's reign came to an end when his Prime Minister, Panya Mara, killed him after only two years on the throne.

Panya Mara

Panya Mara, the third of the Five Dravidians reigned from 98 BC to 91 BC, the longest of any of the Five Dravidians. Before ascending the throne he held the office of Prime Minister under Bahiya, whom Panya Mara then killed taking the throne while appointing Pilaya Mara as his Chief Minister.

Pilaya Mara

Pilaya Mara was King of Anuradhapura from 91 BC to 90 BC. Assuming the throne like his predecessors, by murdering Panya Mara, while he was his Chief Minister. Pilaya Mara had the shortest of all the reigns of the Five Dravidians only lasting seven months, being killed by his own Chief Minister, Dathika.

Dathika

Dathika was the last of the Five Dravidians, who ruled for two years from 90 BC to 88 BC. Dathika came to the throne after murdering his king Pilaya Mara, for whom he was Chief Minister. In 88 BC he was killed, losing the throne, by

restoring his reign and the dynasty of the

House of Vijaya The House of Vijaya (also known as the Vijayan dynasty and sometimes referred to as the "Great Dynasty") was the first recorded Sinhalese royal dynasty that ruled over the island, Sri Lanka. According to Sinhalese folklore Prince Vijaya is the t ...

who had reigned since the start of the monarchy. Valagamba went on to rule the

for the next 12 years.

References

External links

Discover Sri Lanka - List of kings & kingdoms in Sri Lanka

The Mahavamsa History of Sri Lanka
The Great Chronicle of Sri Lanka

{{Anuradhapura period topics

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

Monarchs A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority and power in ...

D Tamil monarchs D D