Queen Lilavati

Lilavati's activities during the energetic reign of her husband are not known. As first mahesi ("queen consort"), she would have been the highest-ranking woman in court; her children (if any) would have had first claim to the throne, and on occasion she may even have accompanied the king on campaign. However the Culavamsa does not mention this, or indeed suggest she had any children by Parakramabahu.

The queen re-emerges in the sources in the anarchy following Parakramabahu's death. Vijayabahu II, described as a 'poet king',^[3] lasted only a year before he was murdered by 'a traitor...of the Kulinga (sic) clan' named Mahinda. Mahinda in his turn was deposed by Kittinissanka, a Kalinga prince who had been Vijayabahu's chief minister. Kittinissanka reigned from 1187 to 1196 as Nissanka Malla of Polonnaruwa.

Following Nissanka Malla's death, his younger brother Vikramabahu ascended to the throne, and was deposed after only a few months by his nephew Chodaganga. Chodaganga was then deposed by the 'powerful general' senapati Kitti, who, rather than seizing the throne for himself, had Lilavati consecrated sovereign queen.

Lilavati's first reign is described as "three years without mishap" in the Culavamsa.^[3] As the first queen of Parakramabahu she would have wielded a kind of legitimacy which other claimants of the throne lacked; furthermore her ancestry was considerably more venerable than that of Kitti or any of Nissanka Malla's house. The respect afforded her could explain how she survived her first deposition, by Sahassamalla, a prince of the Okkaka people, on 23 August 1200.^[2]

A succession of rulers followed Sahassamalla, who was deposed in 1202 by the general Ayasmanta. Like Kitti, Ayasmanta refused the throne himself and appointed Nissanka Malla's first mahesi, Kalyanavathi, queen; unlike Kitti however he reserved genuine power for himself. Kalyanavathi was succeeded by the child king Dhammasoka, also under Ayasmanta's sway. In 1209 however the invading Chola armies of Anikanga Mahadipada put both Ayasmanta and Dhammasoka (who would have been around 15 months old) to death.

Lilavati was thrust back into the limelight just seventeen days afterwards, when Anikanga was assassinated by the general Vikkantacamunakka. The Culavamsa describes the general as a 'villain...[who] slew the Monarch Anikaiiga [sic] and had the government carried on for a year by the first consort of King Parakkamabahu [sic], Lilavati by name, who had already reigned before'.^[3] Why the previously well-regarded queen was now associating with a villain is not made clear, nor why Ankanga, a Chola invader, is held in such high regard.

Yet another invasion from South India ('a great Damila army from the opposite shore'^[3]) dethroned Lilavati in 1210; its leader, Lokissara, 'brought the whole of Lanka under his sway and reigned, dwelling in Pulatthinagara, [for] nine months'. In turn he was deposed by the general Parakrama, 'the best among men of decision, endowed with great power and courage', who inaugurates Lilavati's final stretch on the throne in 1211. The queen appears to be back in favour with the authors of the Culavamsa, as this time she is described as 'of the dynasty of the Sun and Moon...she who afterward shone in royal splendour'.^[3]

This last stretch in power for the queen lasted a mere seven months before she was dethroned by the Pandyan King Parakrama Pandya, who established himself as king in Rajarata in 1212. Following this invasion Lilavati disappears from the historical record. It seems unlikely that Parakrama of Pandya would have put her to death, but his successor, the notoriously tyrannical Magha, may well have at some point after his invasion of 1215.

The political chaos that followed the death of King Nissankamalla led to several new Chola invasions. The chola emporer kulottunga III recorded several claims of victory over Sri Lanka. His this military aggression must have been caused by the Sinhalese military intervention during pandya civil war, when the parakramabahu I aggressively engaged in war with pandyans and cholas. However, his claims don't appear to represent a lasting conquest of the island.^[4][5]

Kulottunga III's earlier claim was made in an Inscription dating to 9th year of his reign ( 1187 ), when he claimed a victory over the Sinhalese. His conquest of Sri Lanka began to describe since his 10th regnal year ( 1188 ), as his Inscriptions have mentioned. At the time king nissankamalla still was the ruler of polonnaruwa kingdom of Sri Lanka. So the evidence of cholas suggest that their expedition may indeed have reached the island and achieved some initial success, but there is no evidence that kulottunga III was successfully established lasting control over Sri Lanka.^[6]

The chola claim became more clear in a Inscription of 1199, during the reign of lilavati, which described the conquest of Sri Lanka. However, the claim is not supported by evidence of a permanent chola occupation. The Sinhalese evidence suggests that chola forces invaded the island but ultimately defeated and expelled by kitti. A. Liyanagamage treats the chola claim as probably referring to a temporary military success rather than an actual conquest.^[7]

A medieval sinhala poem called sasadavata, which was written during Lilavati's reign, records three invasions from the chola empire. According to sasadavata, genaral kitti successfully defeated these three invasions. The sasadavata and the later sasadavata sannaya have described a detailed explanation about that. According two them, two of the invading cholas arrived at mahathiththa (Mannar) and advanced towards Anuradhapura. Genaral kitti successfully defeated these two invasions. And the third invasion landed on salavattota (Chilaw) and successfully advanced as far as sripura in dakkhinadesa, but general kitti ultimately defeated them again.^[7][6]

The geographical and narrative details of above invasions come from the sasadavata sannaya, whose composition is later than the sasadavata itself. K. Indrapala considered the evidence of the sasadavata significant because the poem itself was contemporary with the events it describes. He noted that even if the sasadavata sannaya's detailed account is set aside, the poem's evidence to chola invasions and genaral kitti's victories can't easily be dismissed.^[6][8]

The evidence from the Chola inscriptions and Sinhalese sources can therefore be reconciled without accepting Kulottunga III's claims as literal evidence of conquest. Chola forces evidently reached Sri Lanka and may have achieved an initial advantage, but the invasions were soonly checked. Kitti emerged as the main military leader responsible for defeating and driving back the invading forces. Kulottunga III's claims of conquest appear to have been based on temporary military successes rather than a lasting conquest of the island.^[7][9][8]

The final chola claim invading Sri Lanka was made in an Inscription of 1212 from pudukottatai, which described the conquest as already accomplished. This may have referred to short lived invasion of 1209, when Anikanga invaded polonnaruwa kingdom with a chola backed army and killed the ruler DharmasokaDharmasoka His reign was extremely short, Lilavati came back into the rule just seventeen days afterwards, when Anikanga was killed by the general Vikkantacamunakka. It alternatively have referred to another chola intervention during the reign of king lokissara in 1210 - 1211. But there are no supportive evidence from Sinhalese sources, instead they mentioned that lokissara invaded with an Tamil army. This Tamil army was probably a mercenary army. Lokissara also wasn't much friendly with cholas.^[10]

Queen Lilavati's life and reigns effectively spanned across the final decline and collapse of Sinhalese power in medieval Sri Lanka. The twenty-six years following her husband's death saw nine separate rulers and at least three invasions from the Kalinga and Pandya lands of South India. These invasions in particular would have been a blow to the pride of Lilavati's dynasty, which prided itself on having driven the Chola out and establishing native rule.^{[citation needed]}

It is difficult also to make sense of the factions at work in Rajarata, Ruhuna, and Dhakkinadesa at the time. Lilavati clearly belonged to the house of Vijayabahu, whilst Nissanka Malla, Vikramabahu, Chodaganga, Queen Kalyanavathi and Dhammasoka appear to represent a separate, Kalingan house. However adding confusion to the situation are invaders like Anikanga (who in some sources is presented as Dhammasoka's father), and the fact that there were divisions even within the clans themselves (such as Vikramabahu II and Chodaganga's fighting with each other).

Parakramabahu I, Nissanka Malla, Vijayabahu II, and Lokissara are explicitly described in the Culavamsa as ruling the entirety of Lanka during this period,^[3] but following the invasion by Kalinga Magha and his tyrannical reign from 1215–1236, the island fractured into a series of discrete and competing kingdoms. Sri Lanka would not see geopolitical union again until 1450; It would be under the Kotte Kingdom.

An armored spider of the family Tetrablemmidae, that is endemic to Sri Lanka was named Shearella lilawati.^[11]

• List of monarchs of Sri Lanka
• History of Sri Lanka
• Parakramabahu