Fig. 7.2. The way Polonnaruwa Lankathilaka image house looked before its recent
reconstructions. After the downfall of Polonnaruwa kingdom, the monuments such
as this went wild (The photograph belongs to the Times Studio).7.3 Downfall of Polonnaruwa
During the time when King
Mihindu V was the last ruler of
the Anuradhapura kingdom it
collapsed due to Chola invasions
and afterwards King Vijayabahu
I liberated the country from the
Cholas and united the country
by making Polonnaruwa his
capital. The political turmoil
which prevailed after the demise
of King Vijayabahu I due to the
internal problems was ended
and the country was reunited
by King Parakramabahu I.
He developed the capital
Polonnaruwa further and made
this country prosperous again
by reconstructing the irrigation
system. But, it seems that the
Polonnaruwa kingdom fell
into a track of gradual decline
due to the political disorders
emerged after the demise of
King Parakramabahu I. After
King Parakramabahu I, only
King Nissankamalla carried out
a strong ruling for nine years.
There were several reasons
for the gradual decline
and the downfall of the
Polonnaruwa kingdom.
- Weak rulers came to power.
During a period of 29 years from the year 1186
in which King Parakramabahu I’s demise took
place and to the year 1215 in which the downfall
of Polonnaruwa kingdom occurred, 12 rulers
came to power from time to time. Among them,
except for the 9 years’ ruling period of King
Nissankamalla, the ruling periods of all the
others’ were limited to very brief time periods.
This clearly shows that those rulers could not
build a political stability. It caused the decline of
the Polonnaruwa kingdom.- Power struggle between the Pandyan and
Kalinga clans
After the death of King Vijayabahu I, the fights
between the Pandyan and Kalinga clans who were
in this country aggravated. As a result, the people
who supported the Pandyan clan tried to bring
Pandyan leaders to power. In the same way those
who supported the Kalinga clan attempted to
bring their leaders to power. As a result of this, the