Kingdom of Dambadeniya

The Kingdom of Dambadeniya was the medieval Sinhalese kingdom of what is now Sri Lanka, whose rulers reigned from 1220 to 1345. Its first king to make Dambadeniya his seat was Vijayabahu III, who after the years of invader Kalinga Magha brought a modicum of unity back to the Sangha that had scattered everywhere, calling a Buddhist convention in 1226 that settled peace among the clergy. His son Parakramabahu II was remembered as a gifted monarch, a poet and a prolific writer whose Kausilumina is counted a masterpiece of Sinhala literature. Bosath Vijayabahu, the eldest son, was crowned in 1270 but was assassinated in his second year by a minister named Miththa. Bhuvanekabahu I, holding Dambadeniya insecure, moved the capital to Yapahuwa in 1273, a ninety-metre rock built up in the manner of Sigiriya into palace and fortress, where the Sacred Tooth Relic was enshrined. The Pandyas captured the relic in 1284, and after Yapahuwa was abandoned the court shifted to Polonnaruwa until the kingdom's end in 1345.