The Colas c21.20

c21.20

We have seen that before the accession of Vīrarājēndra, the Sinhalese prince Kitti freed Rohaṇa of enemies and, in 1058, assumed the title Vijayabāhu in his seventeenth year of age.⁴⁶ Cōḷa rule was thereafter mostly confined to the northern part of the island known as Rājaraṭṭha. The latest Cōḷa inscription found at Polonnaruwa is dated A.D. 1070, the third and last year of the reign of Adhirājēndra. The disappearance of Cōḷa power from Rājaraṭṭha is clearly narrated in the *Mahāvaṁsa*. The chronicle does not give exact dates for all the transactions recorded; but it says definitely that Vijayabāhu I entered Anurādhapura in the fifteenth year of his Rohaṇa rule and thirty-third of his life, in A.D. 1073 and that two years later, there took place his coronation as ruler of all Ceylon.⁴⁷ This is in perfect accord with what we know otherwise of the first five years of Kulōttunga's reign and with the absence of any Cōḷa inscription of Kulōttunga's reign in Ceylon. The *Mahāvaṁsa* says⁴⁸ that the successful efforts of Vijayabāhu to liberate Ceylon from the Cōḷas began in the twelfth year of his reign, A.D. 1070. He took up his abode in the fortress on the Paluṭṭha mountain, round which 'a terrible fight between the two armies took place'. The Damiḷa army was put to fight, and in the pursuit that followed, the Cōḷa general was captured and decapitated. Then Vijayabāhu occupied Pulatthinagara without any further resistance from the Tamils. But soon a larger Cōḷa army came from the mainland, and there ensued another 'fiery battle' near Anurādhapura; victory was with the Cōḷa army, and Vijayabāhu was compelled to fortify himself at Vātagiri, Vakirigala, in the Kegalla district.⁴⁹ The Cōḻas now stirred up rebellion against Vijayabāhu in the rear, but the king of Ceylon successfully stamped it out, and forced the leader of the revolt to seek refuge with the Cōḻas. Vijayabāhu then proceeded 'to Tambalagāma where he erected a new stronghold,' and taking up his residence in Mahānāgakula on the lower Walawē Gaṅgā, he made fresh preparations for the Cōḻa war. He despatched two armies to attack the position of the Cōḻas from two sides: one by the coast highroad against Polonnāruwa, and the other to the west of the mountain system against Anurādhapura. The king himself advanced by Mahaveligaṅgā. Polonnāruwa fell after severe fighting, and 'when the ruler of the Cōḻas heard of this destruction of his army, he thought: the Sīhalas are (too) strong, and sent out no further army.' Anurādhapura was captured by the other section of the Ceylonese army which pushed forward to Mahātittha. Vijayabāhu, 'the best of kings, greatly rejoicing, advanced in the fifteenth year (of his reign) to the greatly longed for, the best (town of) Anurādhapura'. His coronation as ruler of Laṅkā was delayed by a rebellion, and took place in his eighteenth year, A.D. 1076-7. Polonnāruwa now lost its Cōḻa title and was styled Vijayarājapura.⁵⁰ Vijayabāhu married Līlāvatī, daughter of Jagatīpāla of Kanauj, whose queen had escaped from captivity in the Cōḻa country, and also Trilōkasundari of the Kalinga royal race, while his sister Mittā espoused a Pāṇḍyan prince, who became the grandfather of Parākramabāhu the Great. 'The king restored the Buddhist religion, renewing the priestly succession from Rāmañña (Pegu), and caused a temple for the tooth relic to be built at the capital by his general Nuvaragiri'.⁵¹ The inscriptions of Kulōttunga are silent on the loss of Ceylon.