King Pandukabhaya

In this article, you will get to know about the history of King Pandukabhaya, the problems that he face in his journey to the throne. First and foremost, let’s answer these questions,

Who is King Pandukabhaya? What was his family tree like?
Where did he live and what was his lifestyle like?

King Pandukabhaya was the king of Upatissa Nuwara and the first monarch of the Anuradhapura Kingdom and 6th over all of the island of Srilanka since the arrival of Vijaya.

After Prince Vijaya, Prince Panduvasdeva who came from Bengal in India ascended the throne and he married the Kshatriya Princess Baddakachchana who also migrated from Bengal in India. Panduvasnuwara is the capital where King Panduwasdeva ruled. They had 10 sons and 1 daughter who was named as Princess Chitra.

However the legend stated if the daughter of Panduwasdeva was to have a son, he would kill all his ten maternal uncles and ascend the throne. In order to avoid this calamity, they imprisoned her in an apartment at the top of a tower to prevent access of any male.

However, the brother of Queen Baddakachchana had a son called Prince Deega Gamini who managed to form alliance with Princess Chitra. Eventually Princess Chitra gave birth to a son who was named as Pandukabhaya. But to protect his son from being murdered by her brothers ,she dispatched her son to a far off jungle called Doramadalawa, not disclosing the fact that she gave a birth to a son and adopted a baby girl to show she gave birth to a daughter.

The brothers of Princess Chitra came to know that the child had been dispatched to the forest and chased the maid who was carrying the child but a group of Yaksha disguised as wild boar to save the child from the brothers of Princess Chitra. With time, there were several attempts by the uncles to kill the little prince but he was manage to survive with the help of the guide given by the Brahmin named Pandula. With the aid from him, Prince Pandukabhaya was able to defeat his uncles and ascended the throne after fighting for 17 years with his uncles.

He has done a lot of support to the nation during his reign, some of which are:

● It is believed that Basawakkulama task was built during his days.

● A number of hospitals and charity centres were established.
● He also established public burial grounds.

All these actions reveals the great interest King Pandukabhaya showed in the welfare of his people. It is said that King Pandukabhaya ruled the country for 70 long years.

Hope this article enhanced a few parts that you didn’t know about Srilankan history!

AMA PERERA