Vikkirama, Varodaya, Marthanda from the
ruling time of Arya Chakravarthi to the arrival of
Portuguese. The royal dynasty who ruled Jaffna
was named as Arya Chakravarthis. It seems
when Iban Batuta came to this country in 1344,
the Arya Chakravarthis had a strong ruling. We
mentioned earlier how minister Nishshanka
Alakeshvara acted against the representatives
of Arya Chakravarthi, who collected taxes in
the areas belonging to the Gampola kingdom.
During the Kotte period King Parakramabahu
VI sent prince Sapumal and brought Jaffna under
the Kotte kingdom. After king Parakrambahu
VI, the ruling over the Jaffna area loosened from
the grip of Kotte. From then on we will discuss
the information of the Jaffna kingdom until
it surrendered to the Portuguese in the tenth
lesson.
The Vanniyars
After the downfall of Rajarata civilization, small
ruling units called Vanni emerged in the areas
with low population density, such as East, North
central and North Western. The provincial rulers
in these units were known as the Vanniyars.
According to Poojavaliya Vijayabahu III who
established the Dambadeniya kingdom was a
Vanni leader at first. The contemporary sources
say that there were eighteen such Vanni areas by
the time when king Parakramabahu VI started
his ruling. Though the Vanniyars enjoyed
some independence during the time when the
central government was weak, during the ruling
periods of King Parakramabahu II and king
Parakramabahu VI the Vanni areas were under
the main kingdom. There is information that
there were Vanniyars in the Eastern area during
the Kandyan kingdom. But they were under the
Kandyan king.
7.4.1. Economic Style
The people, who migrated to the wet zone after
the collapse of the Rajarata civilization, had
to adjust themselves to a new geographical
environment. Origin of kingdoms in the areas
where there were ghats and non existence of the
capital at one place for a long time are special
features of this. As the wet zone received a good
rainfall, it seems that they did not pay much
attention to construct huge tanks and irrigation
systems. They tended to use rainwater for the
agricultural activities. Even during this time,
their main livelihood was agriculture. The main
cultivation was paddy and Chena cultivation was
done in areas which lacked water.Gradually they tended to a commercial economy.
The surplus of the crops grown for food was sold.
The reason for this was that the international
trade relations got more developed.Cinnamon, which grew in the forest areas in
the wet zone, was a main trade crop during this
time. The surplus of the crops such as aricanuts,
cardamom, nutmeg and pepper was exported.
Apart from these, trade items such as pearls,
gems, tuskers and tusks were exported.Sri Lanka had trade relations with India, Arab,
China, Persia and Egypt. International trade was
under the monopoly of king.The rich trade that existed in ancient Sri Lanka
has been mentioned in literary, archaeological
sources as well as in tourist records. The
archaeological evidences found in Dedigama
reveal that porcelain has been imported from
China. The ola leaves called Kurunegala
description mentions that there were bazaars
related to internal trade. The Arab traveller
named Iban Batuta, who came to Sri Lanka in
1344 A.D., has mentioned in his records that
there was a rich trading in harbours in the
Western coasts.7.4.2 ReligionDuring the second urbanization period
Buddhism grew as further as the main religion.
The kings from Dambadeni to Kotte periods
acted to build palaces for the sacred Tooth relic