Anuradhapura

Who holds it

Name

Royal officers for the queen and the monastic houses (Mahavihara, Abhayagiri, Jetavana), who hold the sacred quarters

Title

see the lord or tenant line below

Born

not known

Confidence

medium

Lord in 1200

Royal officers for the queen and the monastic houses (Mahavihara, Abhayagiri, Jetavana), who hold the sacred quarters

How things stand that morning

A sacred city kept up by the Sangha and the crown; not a royal residence. Whoever rules Polonnaruwa holds it through officers.

Wealth

Monastery estates and endowments; the tank-fed rice of the north-central plain.

Military

A small garrison; no figure.

Threats

• Raids from the north
• Decay of the tanks after Magha's conquest (later)

Charter

No charter is known; the sacred city is monastery land and crown land

Council

The heads of the monastic houses and a royal officer; none named for 1200

Communities

Monks of the united Sangha, pilgrims, village farmers, a Tamil Hindu and Buddhist population in the markets

Fairs and markets

Poson, the festival of Mihindu's coming (a pilgrimage, not documented for 1200 in the pages we read)

Militia

A small royal garrison; no figure

Walls and castle

The old city's ramparts and gates are ruins; the stupas and bodhi tree enclosure are the monuments

Trade and crafts

Temple trade, the produce of the tanks and the road to the north-west ports

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. 1215 and after (outside 1200)Magha's rule and the retreat of the Sinhalese kings to the south-west leave Anuradhapura to the jungle in the following decades.Depends on: The fall of Polonnaruwa. Stopped by: A stronger Sinhalese state.

Places of note

• Ruwanwelisaya: The great stupa.
• Sri Maha Bodhi: The sacred bodhi tree.
• Tissa Wewa: Ancient reservoir.
• Basawakkulama (Abhaya Wewa): Oldest reservoir of the city.

Where the sources disagree

• The campaign board entry anuradhapura (8.335,80.411) and the gazetteer (8.3122,80.4131) differ by about 2.5 km; the campaign board's point is the sacred city.
• The campaign board entry mahavihara-anuradhapura, abhayagiri-vihara, ruwanwelisaya, jetavanarama-anuradhapura, sri-maha-bodhi, tissa-wewa-anuradhapura, basawakkulama, nuwara-wewa and nachchaduwa-tank are covered in the religious array or as points here.

Evidence: The monuments are well known; the town's government in 1200 is not.

"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.

Primary sources for Lanka (Polonnaruwa)

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• The Lesser Chronicle (the continuation of the Mahavamsa), Dhammakitti and later monks of the Mahavihara tradition (the first continuation about the 13th century (chapters 37 to 79), carried on in stages to the 18th century). The only narrative source for Lanka in 1200. Read online
• Epigraphia Zeylanica: lithic and other inscriptions of Ceylon, Various (the Polonnaruwa kings' chanceries), edited by D. M. de Zilva Wickremasinghe, H. W. Codrington and S. Paranavitana (inscriptions of the 3rd century BC to the 18th century; the series ran from 1904). Prints with translation the stone records of the Polonnaruwa kings who held or lost the throne around 1200. Read online
• South Indian Inscriptions (Archaeological Survey of India), Various (Chola, Pandya and other chanceries and temple scribes), edited by E. Hultzsch, V. Venkayya, H. Krishna Sastri and successors (inscriptions of the 7th to 17th centuries; the series ran from 1890). The temple inscriptions printed here are the primary record of the Tamil country in 1200. Read online
• The Book of Roger (the Pleasure of Him who Longs to Cross the Horizons), Muhammad al-Idrisi (completed 1154 at Palermo). The nearest Arabic geography in time to 1200 for the Indian Ocean. Read online
• A Description of the Foreign Peoples (Records of Foreign Nations), Zhao Rukuo (Zhao Rugua) (1225 at Quanzhou). The best single text for the island world around 1200, written by the superintendent of maritime trade at Quanzhou from merchants' reports a generation after the date. Read online
• Description of the Foreign Peoples (Chau Ju-kua), Zhao Rukuo (趙汝适) (about 1225, while superintendent of maritime trade at Quanzhou). The Song customs officer's survey of the overseas world, compiled from merchants and from Zhou Qufei, a generation after 1200 but describing trade routes that were the same in 1200. Read online