King Gajabahu II - House of Vijayabahu | Polonnaruwa - (1131 - 1153) - Sri Lankan History - Kings - Governors - Prisidents

King Gajabahu II

House of Vijayabahu | Polonnaruwa - (1131 - 1153)

After King Vikramabāhu II, the kingship passed to his son, Prince Gajabāhu. He was the second to appear under that name. With his accession to the throne, the disorder that had existed until then entered a phase of further intensification. By this time Prince Mānābharaṇa had died, and the two remaining princes, Kitti Sirimegha and Sirivallabha, caused great turmoil. After the death of Prince Mānābharaṇa, Prince Kitti Sirimegha, who performed his funeral rites, seized the Dakkhiṇa region, while the remaining two regions were entrusted to Prince Sirivallabha. Accordingly, Prince Sirivallabha became the ruler of the entire Rohana country. Prince Kitti Sirimegha became the ruler of the Dakkhiṇa region, and King Gajabāhu became the ruler of Polonnaruwa (Rajarata). Thus, the island was now divided into three parts and governed by three independent rulers who had not received consecration. This was not a conflict among ethnic groups but a temporary division that existed solely among the Sinhalese. As before, there was no ethnic problem at this time either. Both the elder Prince Kitti Sirimegha and Prince Sirivallabha were unwilling to accept the enthronement of Prince Gajabā. They regarded it as an insult that the royal position of the principal kingdom should be held by someone younger than themselves. Holding this view, the two princes decided that King Gajabāhu must be removed before he could firmly establish his authority. They first bribed and divided the king’s Velakkāra army. Except for a few who were extremely loyal to the king, the rest of the soldiers aligned themselves against him. Thereafter, the princes, accompanied by their armies, advanced from two sides and entered the central region of King Gajabāhu’s territory. The king consulted with his ministers and decided that if he attacked the stronger faction first, the others would flee. Accordingly, he fought Prince Sirivallabha, defeated him, and drove him back to his own territory. During this time, one of King Gajabāhu’s generals was stationed at Kalā Wewa. His name was Gokaṇṇa. Confronting Prince Kitti Sirimegha, General Gokaṇṇa drove him away. King Gajabāhu then returned to the city, imposed appropriate punishments on the offenders, and restored order in the country. For some time thereafter, the three lived in harmony once again. Thus, owing to the divisions that arose in the island, the country declined to such an extent that no one could unify it. It is very clear that no development activity or religious undertaking took place during this period. However, since this period belonged to the childhood phase of King Parākramabāhu the Great, friendships formed with him were also not free from rivalry and warfare. Prince Parākramabāhu, advancing toward youth, set out from Saṅkhanāyakattaliya to inspect the political situation and proceeded toward Polonnaruwa, arriving at the region called Janapada. Upon learning of this, King Gajabāhu sent him garments and ornaments, together with gifts and a letter, expressing joy at his arrival. Thereafter, according to the Mahāvaṁsa, King Gajabāhu came forward to receive the prince and escorted him to his palace. During this time, the prince also summoned his sister, Princess Bhadrāvatī, from Rohana and gave her in marriage to King Gajabāhu. According to the Mahāvaṁsa, King Gajabāhu summoned princes of foreign lands who held false views and rendered Rajarata thorny. The precise meaning of this statement is not entirely clear. As a result of this event, King Gajabāhu had to face battles with Prince Parākramabāhu. It appears that King Gajabāhu had established defensive military posts at various locations within his domain. Among the principal places were Mallavālāna, Vālibetta, Mālavalliya, Kaṭiyāgama, Kālāvāpiya, Uttara Raṭṭha, Giribā Raṭṭha, Anurādhapura, Senāgama, Alisāra, and Vilāna. At these locations, King Gajabāhu’s commanders had to fight with the forces of King Parākramabāhu. Thus, the army of King Gajabāhu was compelled to face fierce battles throughout Rajarata. In all these engagements, they were defeated. The forces of King Gajabāhu were defeated by the commander of King Parākramabāhu, known as Laṅkāpura, who advanced from three directions, after which they entered Polonnaruwa seeking refuge. It is stated that King Gajabāhu’s army consisted of Sinhalese, Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil peoples. Many among them may have been from the Cholas defeated earlier by King Vijayabāhu. The king himself came with his army to a place called Sīkaviyala. Engaging in battle with the forces of Prince Parākramabāhu led by Rakkhalankādhinātha, King Gajabāhu was defeated and fled into the city, where he hid himself. According to the Mahāvaṁsa, he hid in Manurāya, which may have been a fortified place. After the enemy forces surrounded the city, spies of Prince Parākramabāhu who had entered Polonnaruwa opened the gates, and the army captured King Gajabāhu and imprisoned him within the palace itself. Princes Chōḷagaṅga and Vikramabāhu were also captured and confined in the dungeon. It is not clear who these two princes were. As previously noted, it appears that King Gajabāhu had caused disorder in Rajarata through princes of false beliefs, and it seems likely that this reference pertains to these two individuals. The king was now a prisoner. It appears that several acts of plunder and other lawless deeds were committed by the soldiers at this time. The distressed inhabitants and ministers sent messages to Prince Mānābharaṇa, who was in Rohana, requesting that they be saved from the calamity that had befallen them. General Gokaṇṇa, who was encamped at Kalā Wewa, also made such a request. Taking advantage of this situation, Prince Mānābharaṇa, son of Queen Sugala of Rohana, marched with an army to Polonnaruwa under the pretext of aiding King Gajabāhu. Although he freed the country from the enemy there, he did not grant the kingship to Gajabāhu; instead, it is said that he harassed him and even administered poison with the intent to kill him. Prince Mānābharaṇa must have intended to become king. Severely oppressed, King Gajabāhu sought help from Prince Parākramabāhu. By this time, it appears that the territories from the Malaya country to Polonnaruwa were occupied by forces loyal to both King Gajabāhu and Prince Mānābharaṇa. To rescue King Gajabāhu from them, Prince Parākramabāhu dispatched an army. They swiftly advanced and surrounded Polonnaruwa, whereupon Prince Mānābharaṇa was besieged. Supplies of food and drink were cut off. According to the Mahāvaṁsa, Prince Mānābharaṇa, trapped like a bird in a cage at Polonnaruwa, emerged from there and went to a place called Māsaviyala to fight the enemy. The forces of Prince Parākramabāhu stationed at Kyāna, Gaṅgāṭa, and Makkula fought their way to Polonnaruwa and rescued the king. What becomes evident here is that the army which besieged Polonnaruwa blocked and prevented assistance from Rohana or other regions, thereby weakening the defenders before attacking the city. As a military strategy, this was significant. In the process, Prince Mānābharaṇa lost his inner palace, his mother, princes, and wealth. King Gajabāhu escaped and fled to the Kotthasāra region. Upon learning that Polonnaruwa had fallen to the enemy, Prince Mānābharaṇa rushed back and fought a fierce battle there to recover his possessions. He may have been victorious, but since one of his generals, Bodhilankānātha, was killed in the battle, Prince Mānābharaṇa could not secure his authority there. Taking the Tooth Relic and the Alms Bowl Relic that he had recovered, along with his inner palace and his mother, he fled swiftly to Rohana. By this time, Prince Parākramabāhu, who had earlier sent forces to rescue the king, arrived with his own army and took up residence at Giritalēgama. When a group of King Gajabāhu’s subordinate chiefs attacked the prince’s army, another disturbance arose there. Prince Parākramabāhu must have thought that this incident occurred with the king’s approval. Accordingly, it appears that the prince was prompted to besiege Polonnaruwa in order to capture King Gajabāhu. As previously noted, King Gajabāhu had fled to Kotthasāra. However, by this time he appears to have returned to Polonnaruwa. It is also evident that within the city Prince Parākramabāhu wielded greater power than King Gajabāhu. The king found himself helpless. Realizing that he had no support, he went to the great Saṅgha of the Tunnikāya and appealed to them to save him. They explained the situation to Prince Parākramabāhu and requested that the aged king be allowed to remain on the throne until the end of his life. Accepting the view of the Great Saṅgha, Prince Parākramabāhu, after numerous battles and great effort in capturing Polonnaruwa, handed it back to King Gajabāhu and departed for the Dakkhiṇa region. King Gajabāhu then went from Polonnaruwa to Gaṅgāṭa, that is, the present-day Gaṅgātalāva or Kantale region. His residence there was known as Karambavālāna. It appears that he spent his final years there. Like his father King Vikramabāhu, King Gajabāhu ruled without consecration. The Tooth Relic and the Alms Bowl Relic, which must be in the possession of the lawful king for consecration, were not in their possession. Those sacred relics were in the Rohana country. Therefore, neither King Vikramabāhu nor King Gajabāhu were custodians of those sacred objects. It appears that due to mercenary armies recruited from various regions, not only Polonnaruwa but also Anuradhapura was in a state of confusion during this time. There is no indication that these kings considered the development of the country. The people, exhausted by warfare on three fronts in various places, must have been subjected to severe hardship. After Polonnaruwa, which had been captured, was returned to King Gajabāhu at the request of the Great Saṅgha, the three-cornered war appears to have ceased, at least temporarily. King Gajabāhu, residing at Gaṅgāṭa, resolved to fulfill his obligations toward Prince Parākramabāhu. Prince Mānābharaṇa was also prepared to become friendly with King Gajabāhu at this time, but the king rejected this. He went to Maṇḍalagiriya and wrote an agreement, which was engraved on stone. This place corresponds to the sacred site now known as Medirigiriya. At present, no such inscription recording this agreement is found there. The above agreement was not concluded by King Gajabāhu alone. It must have been made after discussions with Prince Parākramabāhu. After the inscription was written at Maṇḍalagiriya, which belonged to the king’s realm, a copy was installed in a place in the Dakkhiṇa region belonging to Prince Parākramabāhu. Fortunately, this copy of the valuable historical treaty has been preserved on a rock at Sangamu Vihara in the Kurunegala region. It states that the Rajarata kingdom, together with the possessions of whichever of the two—the ruler of the Dakkhiṇa region or the king—died first, should pass to the survivor. It further states that anyone who became an enemy of one should be regarded as an enemy of both. The inscription refers to King Gajabāhu and Prince Parākramabāhu as desuhuru badu, meaning that the two were cousins. Their alliance was sworn with the Triple Gem as witness. The survival of a copy of what may be regarded as the second war treaty in Sri Lanka is of exceptional importance to students of history. It is therefore appropriate to present it here. <hr data-end="11660" data-start="11657" /> (Text of the inscription) “Prosperity. From the lineage of the Great Elect, 1. 2. Unimpaired true wealth, Gaja- 3. bāhu and Parākramabāhu, cousins… 4. …the alliance made by us, until the end of life… 5. …we shall not violate… 6. …whichever of us first departs from this world… 7. …the possessions of the departed… 8. …shall be taken by the one remaining… 9. …according to the law of royal succession… 10. …by us both… 11. …any royal offspring hostile to one… 12. …shall be enemy to both… 13. …whoever acts contrary to this, may the command of the Triple Gem… 14. …not release him from evil… 15. …as long as the sun and moon endure… 16. …may he be deprived of merit and wealth… 17. 18. Firm in affection.” At the end of the inscription there is a verse composed in Sanskrit. Two lines are too worn to be read, but this does not affect the essential meaning of the inscription. King Gajabāhu II ruled for twenty-two years.