Anuradhapura(Anu-Raja-Pura)

Anuradhapura or Anu-Raja-Pura??

Even though the city of Anuradhapura is known has the oldest city in Lanka, it can be assumed it is allot older than we all think.

Archeological evidences thus far given from the former director archeology, Dr. Siran Deraniyagala are clear indications of this. He has stated that evidences of settlements in Anuradhapura go back to around 3900BC. So dating the city to at least 6000yrs old.

My grandparents I remember used to say Anurajapuraya, obviously I used to think they couldn't say Anuradhapura correctly but In fact they might have been correct.

A Franciscan Friar Francisco Negrao, was an Italian but born in India. He became the guardian of the Franscians in Ceylon during the Portuguese occupation and was the first European to record details of this ancient city in the year 1600(Full Description).

He clearly states that the "city was founded in 706BC and the city was called "Anu-Raja-Pura"(Mansion of ninety Kings), due to the fact that ninety kings had ruled the city before".

Today our own historians without clear evidences, except because of piece of pottery shard saying Anurudha. Has given this holy city this name.

Buddhist era monarchs of Sri Lanka

The following is a list of monarchs of Sri Lanka since 543 BC. The main source for many of these monarchs are the chronicles of the island maintained by monks, known as the Dipavamsa, Mahavamsa, and the Chulavamsa. This list should be used with the following factors kept in mind. Firstly the dates provided for the earliest monarchs are difficult to objectively verify; those which are particularly difficult to know have been denoted with a (?) mark. Secondly in terms of succession it is difficult to divide the monarchs into 'houses' or 'dynasties' as often the throne was passed around amongst related individuals within a particular clan; especially in medieval times there were no articulated rules of succession and whoever was in possession of the sacred Tooth Relic had a good claim to being called king.

It should be borne in mind that there is controversy about the base date of the Buddhist Era, with 544 BC and 483 BC being advanced as the date of the parinibbana of the Buddha. As Wilhelm Geiger pointed out, the Dipawamsa and Mahawamsa are the primary sources for ancient South Asian chronology; they date the consecration (abhisheka) of Asoka to 218 years after the parinibbana. Chandragupta Maurya ascended the throne 56 years prior to this, or 162 years after the parinibbana. The approximate date of Chandragupta's ascension is known to be within two years of 321 BC (from Megasthenes). Hence the approximate date of the parinibbana is between 485 and 481 BC - which accords well with the Mahayana dating of 483 BC.

According to Geiger, the difference between the two reckonings seems to have occurred at sometime between the reigns of Udaya III (946-954 or 1007-1015) and Pârakkama Pandya (c. 1046-1048), when there was considerable unrest in the country.

However, mention is made of an embassy sent to China by Cha-cha Mo-ho-nan in 428. The name may correspond to 'Raja (King) Mahanama', who (by the traditional chronology) reigned about this time.

Furthermore, the traveller-monk Xuanzang, who attempted to visit Sri Lanka about 642, was told by Sri Lankan monks (possibly at Kanchipuram that there was trouble in the kingdom, so he desisted; this accords with the period of struggle for the throne between Aggabodhi III Sirisanghabo, Jettha Tissa III and Dathopa Tissa I Hatthadpath in 632-643.

Recent indological research has indicated that the Parinibbana of the Buddha may be even later than previously supposed. A majority of the scholars at a symposium held in 1988 in Göttingen regarding the problem were inclined towards a date of 440-360 BCE. However, it should be noted that their calculations were based on the chronology of Tibetan Buddhism, preferred over that of the Dipavamsa/Mahavamasa; the modified chronology, in order to work, needs to identify the Indian ruler Kalasoka, son of Susunaga, with the Emperor Asoka, son of Bindusara. It should be noted that the Sri Lankan chronicles are based on even earlier works and that the Buddhist canon was first put into writing in Sri Lanka.

The chronology of the following list is based on the the traditional Therevada/Sri Lankan system which is based on 544 BC, or 61 years earlier than the Mahayana calendar. The dates after c 1048 are synchronous.

Vijayan monarchs (543 BC–437 BC) from Tambapanni (Thammanna Nuwara) (543 BC–505 BC)