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Northern Sinhala Kingdom's District of
Polonnaruwa
Administrator:
Position is currently vacant
 Polonnaruwa was known as the garden city and is one of the most beautiful and best preserved sites on the whole island. Spread out over a wide area, it takes at least a few days to visit this place to fully appreciate its lost grandeur. Here amongst jungle forests of trees you will find everything - gigantic buddha statues carved in stone, temples, government and public buildings, palaces, dagobas, inscriptions, massive artificial tanks and many ponds. Nearby roam wild elephants, peacocks and other wildlife and it is easy to imagine how vibrant this place must have been when you take a leisurely stroll around the ruins. The modern day town of Polonnaruwa sits adjacent to the ancient city which has been declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO so visiting this place is fairly easy to get to.   A great lot of detail has been written about Polonnaruwa and its history. As the second major capital of the Sinhala Kingdom it's rise to prominence occurred around the 11th century, though its history stretches further back in time. In 1070, after defeating the Chola invaders from India, King Vijayabahu I reunited the country and moving the capital from Anuradhapura, declared Polonnaruwa as the new capital of the kingdom. Polonnaruwa was strategically much better placed than Anuradhapura which in the past had been subjected to a number of invasions by Indian kings. Construction of the massive tank known as Parakrama Samudra or the Sea of King Parakramabahu I, which encircled the city like a ribbon, created a stable defensive barrier against attack and offered water in plenty for irrigation of crops even during the dry periods. The tank itself consisting of 3 separate reservoirs connected by narrow channels, is so massive that one cannot see the other shore and it could easily be mistaken for a shallow inland sea. It covers a surface area of 22.6 km2 and has a total catchment area of around 75 km2. The northernmost reservoir known as Topa wewa is the oldest and was constructed around 386 AD. The middle section Eramudu wewa and the southernmost portion at Dumbutula wewa were added later during the reign of King Parakramabahu the Great (1153-1183). Seeing the potential for enhancing defensive strategies and feeding the people, its no wonder that King Parakramabahu I expanded on Topa wewa.  
Water was highly regarded and valued as a resource which is attested to in the high numbers of tanks, baths and ponds and more so during Polonnaruwa's golden age with the rule of Parakramabahu I, the grandson of King Vijayabahu. The king himself was very much against the wastage of water and declared that no drop of water from the heavens should be wasted in the cultivation of the land: Thus the irrigation systems at Polonnaruwa became far superior in quality to those previously constructed at Anuradhapura and it is interesting to note they are once again in use today.  There were a lot of elaborately designed smaller basins or ponds constructed at Polonnaruwa. Some of them contain water and lotuses while others are now dry. Their functions varied from the merely decorative to practical uses for drinking, washing and bathing. The square shaped Kumara Pokuna pictured here at the left was the royal bathing pond of King Parakramabahu I. Made from stone slabs with steps entering into the water it is very well designed with underground conduits piping water from the Parakrama Samudra. Next to it and off to the side can be found the remains of the Kings changing rooms. Another exquisite basin is the Nelum Pokuna lotus bath in the Jetavana Monastery complex. Shaped perfectly as an eight petaled lotus, today it sits close to the jungle, cracked and dry, and we are told that it was once used by the holy monks for bathing in.
King Parakramabahu the Great ruled Polonnaruwa for 33 years and during that time not only did he engage in construction projects for irrigation but he also saw to the expansion and beautification of the city. He reorganized the country's army, reformed Buddhist practices, sponsored the arts and undertook military campaigns, namely against King Narathu (1160–1165) of Bagan in Myanmar around 1164–1165 who was defeated and killed, and as an ally to King Parakrama Pandya of the Pandyas against the Cholas in India around 1167. Parakramabahu had a remarkable reign accomplishing many things and died in Polonnaruwa at the age of 63 in 1186. He was succeeded by Vijayabahu II, said to be his sister's son. No other kings that followed ever reached the same heights that Parakramabahu did, though after his death, the country suffered due to his lack of restraint in lavish spending and the next king had to lower taxes.
According to the Mahavamsa, a text written by buddhist monks, Polonnaruwa first became a royal country residence in the 7th century, eventhough at that time Anuradhapura was still the formal administrative capital. King Aggabodhi IV (667-685 AD) was the first king to set up residence here and increasingly, it became the favoured place with successive kings who continued to develop it. The Cholas of South India who had invaded, looted and burnt Anuradhapura in 993 AD made Polonnaruwa their capital till 1070 when the Sinhala King Vijayabahu I came and defeated them, re-taking what was rightfully his. So not only did Sinhala kings get to rule here, but as with Anuradhapura, foreign invaders sometimes also held sway. From around 1187-1196 King Nissankamalla squandered most of the country's wealth trying to match his predescessors in building and expanding the city and this is when the decline set in. After his death the city became de-stablized and reverted to civil war and lawlessness and was again invaded from India as well as by Malay barbarians who sacked the city, virtually destroying both the social and religious orders. This inaugurated what was known as the dark age in Lanka's history and shortly thereafter the new capital was moved to Kurunegala. Polonnaruwa was abandoned and reverted back to the jungles, its buildings swallowed up by forests of trees and its magnificent tanks becoming just a series of swampy lakes. By the early 19th century, the site was completely lost to the wilderness until it was again uncovered in the early part of the 20th Century where excavations still continue even today. 
The Vatagage with Moonstone entrance
 Parakrama Samudra Wikipedia - Polonnaruwa Wikipedia - Parakramabahu Memoirs of Sun Wukong Tang Ancient constructions of Sri Lanka Images & Design: Sun Wukong Tang Wikipedia Commons  |
