The main harbour of the Sinhalese kingdoms for a thousand years, on Mannar island opposite the Indian coast, from which the road led to Anuradhapura.
By the twelfth century it is in decline; the date of its fall is not pinned in the pages we read. The pearl banks of the north-west shore are crown property. Talaimannar and the shoals of Adam's Bridge are the ferry to Rameswaram.
Who holds it
- Name
- Royal port officers for Queen Lilavati; the Tamil headmen of the Mannar coast
- Title
- see the lord or tenant line below
- Born
- not known
- Confidence
- low
Lord in 1200
Royal port officers for Queen Lilavati; the Tamil headmen of the Mannar coast
How things stand that morning
A declining harbour.
Places of note
- Talaimannar and Adam's Bridge: The ferry end of the shoals to Rameswaram.
Where the sources disagree
- The gazetteer lacks Mantai; coordinates 8.987,79.915 are approximate. The English Wikipedia 'Mantai' page is about a Malaysian festival and was not used.
Evidence: Short secondary sources only; no dated record of the person or office for 1200.
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
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.