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Vikramabahu (1017–1041; known as Kassapa before his
coronation A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a coronation crown, crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the ...
) was a medieval
king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
of
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 ...
. Following the death of his father in 1029, Vikramabahu led the
resistance movement A resistance movement is an organized effort by some portion of the civil population of a country to withstand the legally established government or an occupying power and to disrupt civil order and stability. It may seek to achieve its objective ...
against the
Chola The Chola dynasty was a Tamils, Tamil thalassocratic Tamil Dynasties, empire of southern India and one of the longest-ruling dynasties in the history of the world. The earliest datable references to the Chola are from inscriptions dated ...
invaders of the country, ruling from the southern principality of
Ruhuna The Principality of Ruhuna, also referred to as the Kingdom of Ruhuna, is a region of present-day Southern and Eastern Sri Lanka. It was the center of a flourishing civilisation and the cultural and economic centres of ancient Sri Lanka. Magama, Ti ...
. He spent a number of years building up his forces to drive out the Chola, but died before he could launch his military campaign.


Emergence

Following the Chola invasion of Sri Lanka under
Raja Raja Chola I Rajaraja I (947 CE – 1014 CE), born Arunmozhi Varman or Arulmozhi Varman and often described as Raja Raja the Great or Raja Raja Chozhan was a Chola emperor who reigned from 985 CE to 1014 CE. He was the most powerful Tamil king in South ...
in 993 CE, they annexed the principality of Rajarata, which encompassed the north of the country, and made it a province of the Chola empire. However they let the Sri Lankan king Mahinda V rule the southern principality of Ruhuna unhindered for twenty four years. In 1017 they launched an invasion into Ruhuna and captured the king, along with his queen and all the royal jewels. Mahinda V remained a prisoner of the Chola empire, and died under their captivity in 1029.'' Chulavamsa'', 55.19ff As long as their king was in custody, the
Sinhalese Sinhala may refer to: * Something of or related to the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka * Sinhalese people * Sinhala language, one of the three official languages used in Sri Lanka * Sinhala script, a writing system for the Sinhala language ** Sinha ...
in Sri Lanka submitted to the rule of the Chola empire. However resistance to Chola rule began almost immediately following the death of Mahinda V in 1029. As soon as news of his death reached the country, an increasing rebellion began in the south of the island, especially in the Ruhuna principality. The prince Kassapa, son of Mahinda V, had escaped when his parents were captured by the Chola army, and was brought up in secret in Ruhuna. He was around twelve years old when he inherited the Sinhalse kingdom upon his father’s death. The Chola were eager to capture him, and they dispatched a large force from their capital of
Polonnaruwa Poḷonnaruwa, ( si, පොළොන්නරුව, translit=Poḷonnaruva; ta, பொலன்னறுவை, translit=Polaṉṉaṟuvai) also referred as Pulathisipura and Vijayarajapura in ancient times, is the main town of Polonnaruwa Dis ...
to seize the prince.


Resistance to the Chola

The Chola force traveled the whole of Ruhuna to find Kassapa, but he was successfully protected by his adherents. As the Chola were looking for the prince, two Sinhalese generals launched attacks against the Chola, and forced them to retreat back to Polonnaruwa after six months of warfare. Thereafter Kassapa assumed sovereignty over Sri Lanka under the name of Vikramabahu, but he only had factual control over the Ruhuna principality. Vikramabahu proceeded to build loyalty and adherence to himself, and began to acquire military resources for a drawn out defensive conflict with the Chola. Initially the Chola weren’t particularly concerned with stamping out the resistance organized by Vikramabahu, although they did carry out occasional raids into Ruhuna. Around the same time in
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 ...
, resistance to the Chola was increasing in the conquered kingdoms of Pandya and
Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
. It is possible that the 3 conquered kingdoms, Sri Lanka, Pandya and Kerala were in contact with each other. Vikramabahu's preparations for battle were protracted, and it wasn’t until at least eight years later that he was ready for battle. However before he could launch an assault on the Chola, he fell ill and died while he was at Devundara. The year of his death has been placed between 1037 and 1041 by historians.


Successors

Vikramabahu had no direct heirs to the throne, and ten years of internal disorganization and disunity followed his death. The Chola empire took advantage of the situation, putting three of the next five princes who assumed the throne to death. Immediately after Vikramabahu's death, his
Senapathi ''Senapathi'' () is a 2021 Indian Telugu-language crime thriller film directed by Pavan Sadineni. It is a remake of the 2017 Tamil-language film ''8 Thottakkal''. The film features an ensemble cast including Rajendra Prasad, Naresh Agastya, Ha ...
Kitti assumed power. Kitti was deposed after eight days by Mahalanakitti, who bore the title "Chief Secretary" to Vikramabahu, but of whom little is known. He ruled for a further three years but fell in battle with the Chola. He was succeeded by a number of Indian princes as the Sinhalese were willing to follow anyone who would lead them to freedom from the Chola empire. However successive rulers left Ruhuna much worse off than before. Eventually in 1055,
Vijayabahu I Vijayabahu I (born ''Prince Keerthi'') (ruled 1055–1110), also known as Vijayabahu the Great, was a medieval king of Sri Lanka. Born to a royal bloodline, Vijayabahu grew up under Chola occupation. He assumed rulership of the Ruhuna principalit ...
was proclaimed king, and following a seventeen-year-long campaign he successfully drove the Chola out of Sri Lanka, reuniting the country for the first time in over a century.


See also

* Mahavamsa *
List of monarchs of Sri Lanka The Sinhalese monarch -- anachronistically referred to as the Kings of Sri Lanka—featured the heads of state of the Sinhala Kingdoms, in what is today Sri Lanka. The Sinhalese monarchy originates in the settlement of North Indian Indo-Ary ...
*
History of Sri Lanka The history of Sri Lanka is intertwined with the history of the broader Indian subcontinent and the surrounding regions, comprising the areas of South Asia, Southeast Asia and Indian Ocean. The early human remains found on the island of Sri La ...
*
Polonnaruwa Kingdom The Kingdom of Polonnaruwa ( si, පොළොන්නරුව රාජධානිය, Polonnaruwa Rājādhaniya) was the Sinhalese kingdom that expanded across the island of Sri Lanka and several overseas territories, from 1070 until 1232. T ...


External links


Kings & Rulers of Sri Lanka

Codrington's Short History of Ceylon


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kassapa 06 1017 births 1041 deaths 11th-century Sinhalese monarchs House of Lambakanna II People of the Kingdom of Anuradhapura Sinhalese kings