The Jaffna kingdom, also known as the…
1262 CE
The Jaffna kingdom, also known as the Kingdom of Aryacakravarti, of modern northern Sri Lanka, had come into existence in 1215 after the invasion of a previously unknown chieftain called Magha, who is said to have been from Kalinga, in India.
Deposing the ruling King Parakrama Pandu of Polonnaruwa, Magha had begun a process of destruction with the help of his soldiers and mercenaries from the Kalinga, modern Kerala and Damila regions in India.
After the devastation of Rajarata, he had moved the capital to the Jaffna peninsula and ruled as a tribute-paying subordinate of the Chola empire of Tanjavur, in modern Tamil Nadu, India.
During this period (1247), a Malay chieftain and a sea pirate named Chandrabhanu from Tambralinga had invaded the politically fragmented island.
Although King Parakramabahu II (1236-70) of Dambadeniya was able to repulse the attack, Chandrabhanu had moved north and secured the throne for himself around 1255 from Magha.
This prompts the Pandyan Empire of South India to intervene and Chandrabhanu had submitted to Pandya rule in 1258.
When Chandrabhanu embarks on a second invasion of the south, the Pandyas again come to the support of the Sinhalese king, killing Chandrabhanu in 1262 and installing Aryacakravarti, a minister in charge of the invasion, as the king.
Thus begins the Aryacakravarti dynasty, which is to rule the Jaffna kingdom until the seventeenth century, when the last of the dynasty, Cankili II, will be ousted by the Portuguese.
The origins of the Aryacakravarti are claimed in contemporary court chronicles; modern historians offer some competing theories.