Person · Sinhala king · Sri Lanka
Parākramabāhu I
Also known as Parakramabahu, Parakramabahu the Great
King of Polonnaruwa who reunified the island, rebuilt its irrigation on a scale not matched again until the twentieth century, and forced the three quarrelling monastic fraternities into a single ordination lineage. His reservoir, the Parākrama Samudra, covers some twenty-two square kilometres.
- Date
- r. 1153 – 1186
- Function
- Authority & administration
- Tradition
- Culavamsa; Polonnaruwa inscriptions
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
Worth knowing
The saying attributed to him — that not one drop of rain should reach the sea without serving people first — is the clearest statement of the hydraulic civilisation the dry zone built. He also sent a punitive naval expedition to Burma, which is unusual for a Sri Lankan king.
Connections (1)
- PatronagePolonnaruwa
Parākramabāhu I rebuilt Polonnaruwa after the Chola occupation, restored the dry zone's reservoir system and dug the Parākrama Samudra, and forced the three monastic fraternities into one ordination lineage. The Gal Vihāra Buddhas and the city's whole surviving plan date from his thirty-three years. The saying attributed to him, that not one drop of rain should reach the sea without serving people first, is the clearest statement of what the dry zone's hydraulic civilisation was for.
Sources
Wikipedia, “Parakramabahu I”. The subject’s own writings where they survive, and the standard biographical literature.
Open Parākramabāhu I in the repository →