The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c29.s5.21

v3.c29.s5.21

The next king was Parakkama-Bāhu V, called in Sinhalese Savuḷu Pärākum-raja, probably a son of Vijaya-Bāhu V. From inscriptions and other sources it appears that he ruled at Gampola and Dädigama for at least eleven years—four years (1348–52) as Äpā, and seven years (1352–59) as king. He was succeeded at Gampola by his nephew, Vikkama-Bāhu III, who reigned, according to inscriptions, for about eighteen years. He was sub-king for about three years (A.D. 1356–59), and paramount sovereign for fifteen years (1359–74). During his reign Niççanka Alagakkōnāra of Amaragiri, otherwise called Alakeçvara, an intrepid warrior of the Girivaṁsa lineage¹, who was allied by marriage to Senālaṅkādhikāra Senevirat, a minister of Bhuvaneka-Bāhu IV, came into prominence, rose to the rank of minister and *Prabhu-rāja*, and dwelt in Perādeṇiya. With a view to checking the ever-growing domination of the Tamils under their ruler, Ārya Chakravarti of Jaffna, he prepared for war, and built strong fortresses at Rayigama, and Kōṭṭe, near Colombo. In 1912 A.B. (A.D. 1368–69) he summoned a convocation of Buddhist priests under the presidency of the Elder Dhammakitti I, and inaugurated reforms in religion. Towards the end of Vikkama-Bāhu's reign Alakeçvara reviewed his army and, finding himself strong enough to cope with the Tamil king, defied him by hanging his tax-collectors. Ārya Chakravarti replied by sending his army in two divisions, one by land and the other by sea, against the Sinhalese. Bhuvaneka-Bāhu V, who had succeeded Vikkama-Bāhu III on the throne of Gampola, was struck with panic, fled from Gampola, and took refuge in the fortress of Rayigama. In the battles which ensued Ārya Chakravarti's power was crushed. Bhuvaneka-Bāhu returned to Gampola, but his cowardly behaviour had made him so unpopular that he retired to Kōṭṭe, and left the management of public affairs in the hands of his powerful minister, Alakeçvara, who in *Saka* 1304 (A.D. 1382) was still in power, and Alakeçvara’s brother, Atthanāyaka, was also a minister of state (*Attanagaluvaṁsa*). Bhuvaneka-Bāhu V seems to have ruled as Āpā both at Gampola and at Kōṭṭe from A.D. 1359 to 1370, as *Yuva-rāja* from A.D. 1370 to 1374, and as king from A.D. 1374 to 1390—about thirty years in all. The *Mahāvaṁsa* gives the duration of his reign as twenty years.