Manasara Series (I. A Dictionary of Hindu Architecture; II. Indian Architecture according to Manasara-Shilpashastra; III. Manasara on Architecture and Sculpture: Sanskrit Text; IV. Architecture of Manasara: Translation; V. Architecture of Manasara: Illustrations; VI. Hindu Architecture in India and Abroad; VII. An Encyclopaedia of Hindu Architecture) v6.c41.s10.1

v6.c41.s10.1

The *Dīpavaṁśa* and the *Mahāvaṁśa* are the chronicles of Ceylon. According to legends the kingdom of Ceylon was founded at the date of Buddha’s *nirvāṇa*, ‘which was placed in B.C. 543 and 236 years before the Council held in the eighteenth year of Aśoka.’ About a century after the death of Buddha, in or about 370 B.C., his religion was introduced at Anurādhapur, the capital of Ceylon. But this capital city did not become sacred till 240 B.C., when it was considered one of the principal capitals of Buddhism, which position it continued to hold till the ninth century A.D. Thereafter, owing to the destructive invasions of the Malabars, an alternative capital was founded at Polonnaruwa, which in course of time became the sole capital till the thirteenth century. This later capital reached its greatest prosperity in the reign of Parākrama Bāhu I (1153–1186). After 1236, the seat of government was moved from place to place ‘till the country fell into the hands of the Portuguese and Dutch, and finally succumbed to our (British) power.’³