Thammanna Nuwara
Upatissa Nuwara
Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura Chola
Ruhuna
Polonnaruwa
Dambadeniya
Yapahuwa
Kurunegala
Gampola
Kotte
Sitawaka
Kandy
Portuguese
Dutch
British
Monarch of Ceylon
127
King Sena V
Kingdom of Anuradhapura
972 AC - 982 AC

After the seventh Mihindu King, the throne was ascended by Prince Sena. He is the one who appeared under that name as the fifth king. The Poojawaliya names him Salamevan. Similarly, King Mihindu had a son from the Kalinga princess he had married. At that time, he was about twelve or thirteen years old. Sena Raja appointed Udaya, the brother of Bala, as the crown prince, and Sena Senaviya made him commander. Before ascending the throne and spending many days, a conflict arose.

The commander had gone to a monastery to take offerings. The reason for this is not mentioned. Meanwhile, the king’s brother, Mahamalla, killed Udaya, and appointed someone named Udaya as commander. The reason for this was that Mahamalla had an illicit relationship with the Kalinga queen. When Sena Senaviya the king learned of this, he immediately went to war against him. As the Rajawaliya and Poojawaliya indicate, after Salamevan became king, he took the army and went to Dambadiva to wage war because Mahamalla had been killed. King Sena fled to Ruhuna with his trusted Udaya Senaviya. The king’s mother, the queen, did not accompany him but stayed with the crown prince and crown princess. Sena Senapati took charge of the army he brought, entrusted the region to them, and went to reside in Polonnaruwa. The army sent by the fleeing Sena Raja to defeat Senaviya, however, failed to annihilate them.

The army that held power in Anuradhapura plundered the city, oppressing the people. The general population fled to Ruhuna and informed the king of the situation. Unable to fight, the king eventually had to reach a peace agreement with Senaviya. To appease Udaya Senaviya and protect his daughter, the king had to act accordingly. This may have been a form of punishment for appointing a new Senaviya. The son born to these two was named Kashyapa.

As Professor Paranavitana observes, this conflict was between the new Kalinga faction and the old Sinhala nobility. It seems that King Sena was not subjected to a governance influenced by others. The root cause of all this appears to have been the Kalinga princess whom the seventh Mihindu King had married. Udaya Senaviya represented the Sinhala faction. Due to Sena Senaviya’s influence, the Sinhala commander Udaya was restrained by King Sena in order to protect his throne. Because of this, the Sinhalese became weak and vulnerable, falling into serious danger. The king, being young, seems not to have fully understood these matters.

The greatest harm caused by this conflict was to the Sinhala faction. Although the army brought by Sena Senaviya is said to have been Tamil, there is a possibility that they were also people who came from the Kalinga region. Weakening Sinhala rule and strengthening the Kalinga lineage may have been the intention. It seems that the young King Sena did not intervene in these disputes. Even though he was of Kalinga descent, he neither showed disrespect toward his mother or Senaviya, nor approved the actions of the Kalingas. Allies did not oppose him. To forget these problems, he immersed himself in alcohol. Because of this, both the country and he himself suffered. Unable to sustain himself, he died at the age of twenty-two. King Sena ruled the kingdom for ten years.

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