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Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura (Sinhala: අනුරාධපුරය, romanised: Anurādhapuraya, IPA: [ənuraːd̪əpurəjə]; Tamil: அனுராதபுரம், romanised: Aṉurātapuram, IPA: [ɐnuɾaːðɐβuɾɐm]) is a major city located in the north central plain of Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of North Central Province and the capital of Anuradhapura District. The city lies 205 kilometres (127 mi) north of the current capital of Colombo in the North Central Province, on the banks of the historic Malwathu Oya. The city is now a World Heritage Site famous for its well-preserved ruins of the ancient Sinhalese civilisation.
While Mahāvaṃsa places the founding of the city in 437 BCE, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it a major human settlement on the island for almost three millennia and one of the oldest continuously occupied cities in Asia. It is the cradle of the Hydraulic Sinhalese civilisation, Theravada Buddhism, and the longest-serving ancient capital of Sri Lanka that has survived for 1500 years. Moreover, it was the first capital of the Sinhala Kingdom of Rajarata, following the kingdoms of Tambapanni and Upatissa Nuwara. Anuradhapura was also the centre of Theravada Buddhism for many centuries and has been a major Buddhist pilgrimage site with ruins of many ancient Buddhist temples, including the famous Anuradhapura Maha Viharaya and the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi, the oldest still-living, documented, planted tree in the world believed to have originated from the original Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya (Bihar, India) under which the Buddha attained enlightenment. These vast networks of ancient temples and monasteries now cover over 100 square kilometres (40 mi2) of area of the city today.
The city was mostly destroyed and largely deserted after 993 CE, with the Chola invasion from South India. Although several attempts were made by later Sinhalese kings to return the capital to Anuradhapura, it was not reestablished as a major population centre of the island until the British colonial era in the 19th century CE. Despite its decline as a political centre, Anuradhapura remained a vital pilgrimage site for Buddhists throughout the medieval period and continues to be a significant spiritual destination today. The modern revival of Anuradhapura began in the 1870s under British colonial rule, with infrastructure and urban planning initiatives aimed at supporting administration and accommodating pilgrims. The contemporary city, much of which was moved during the mid-20th century to preserve the site of the ancient capital, is a major road junction of northern Sri Lanka and lies along a railway line. The city is the headquarters of Sri Lanka's archeological survey, and tourism is a significant factor in its economy.
The origin of the name Anuradhapura is rooted in ancient Sri Lankan tradition and is documented in the Mahāvaṃsa. According to this text: “Here and there did Vijaya's ministers found villages. Anuradhagama was built by a man of that name near the Kadamba river.” This refers to Anuradha, a minister in the court of Prince Vijaya (543–505 BCE), who is credited with founding a settlement near the present-day Malwathu Oya, then known as the Kadamba River. The name Anuradhagama (from Anuradha + gama, meaning "village") was thus given to this early settlement.
In 377 BCE, during the reign of King Pandukabhaya (474–367 BCE), this village was formally established as the capital of the Sinhalese kingdom. According to the Mahāvaṃsa: “He laid out the city Anuradhapura, and established it as the capital.”
As the settlement expanded into an urban centre, its name changed to Anuradhapura—Anuradha + pura, with pura meaning “city” in Sinhala, Sanskrit, and Pali.
The antiquity of Anuradhapura is further supported by classical Western sources. In the 2nd century CE, Claudius Ptolemy, the Greco-Roman geographer, identified a place called Anourogrammoi in his Geographia, which scholars widely interpret as a reference to Anuradhagama/Anuradhapura: “Among the cities of Taprobane [Sri Lanka], there is Anourogrammoi...” This external reference underscores the city's longstanding regional prominence and recognition in ancient global cartography.
Anuradhapura is the best representation of the beginnings of pre-modern urbanisation in Sri Lanka. The development of the initial settlement at the site of the city can be attributed to the second global cycle of historical evolution with the generalised diffusion of iron technology in the Old World through the first millennium BCE, culminating in the emergence of many historical civilisations. The history of Anuradhapura then extends from its traditional founding in the recorded history in the fourth century BCE and its subsequent laying-out by Devanampiya Tissa (250–210 BCE) to its abandonment by the last of the Anuradhapura kings at the end of the tenth century CE, its brief reoccupation in the eleventh century and the restoration of some of its major monuments, in the late 13th century CE by Vijayabahu IV (1267–1270 CE).
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Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura (Sinhala: අනුරාධපුරය, romanised: Anurādhapuraya, IPA: [ənuraːd̪əpurəjə]; Tamil: அனுராதபுரம், romanised: Aṉurātapuram, IPA: [ɐnuɾaːðɐβuɾɐm]) is a major city located in the north central plain of Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of North Central Province and the capital of Anuradhapura District. The city lies 205 kilometres (127 mi) north of the current capital of Colombo in the North Central Province, on the banks of the historic Malwathu Oya. The city is now a World Heritage Site famous for its well-preserved ruins of the ancient Sinhalese civilisation.
While Mahāvaṃsa places the founding of the city in 437 BCE, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it a major human settlement on the island for almost three millennia and one of the oldest continuously occupied cities in Asia. It is the cradle of the Hydraulic Sinhalese civilisation, Theravada Buddhism, and the longest-serving ancient capital of Sri Lanka that has survived for 1500 years. Moreover, it was the first capital of the Sinhala Kingdom of Rajarata, following the kingdoms of Tambapanni and Upatissa Nuwara. Anuradhapura was also the centre of Theravada Buddhism for many centuries and has been a major Buddhist pilgrimage site with ruins of many ancient Buddhist temples, including the famous Anuradhapura Maha Viharaya and the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi, the oldest still-living, documented, planted tree in the world believed to have originated from the original Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya (Bihar, India) under which the Buddha attained enlightenment. These vast networks of ancient temples and monasteries now cover over 100 square kilometres (40 mi2) of area of the city today.
The city was mostly destroyed and largely deserted after 993 CE, with the Chola invasion from South India. Although several attempts were made by later Sinhalese kings to return the capital to Anuradhapura, it was not reestablished as a major population centre of the island until the British colonial era in the 19th century CE. Despite its decline as a political centre, Anuradhapura remained a vital pilgrimage site for Buddhists throughout the medieval period and continues to be a significant spiritual destination today. The modern revival of Anuradhapura began in the 1870s under British colonial rule, with infrastructure and urban planning initiatives aimed at supporting administration and accommodating pilgrims. The contemporary city, much of which was moved during the mid-20th century to preserve the site of the ancient capital, is a major road junction of northern Sri Lanka and lies along a railway line. The city is the headquarters of Sri Lanka's archeological survey, and tourism is a significant factor in its economy.
The origin of the name Anuradhapura is rooted in ancient Sri Lankan tradition and is documented in the Mahāvaṃsa. According to this text: “Here and there did Vijaya's ministers found villages. Anuradhagama was built by a man of that name near the Kadamba river.” This refers to Anuradha, a minister in the court of Prince Vijaya (543–505 BCE), who is credited with founding a settlement near the present-day Malwathu Oya, then known as the Kadamba River. The name Anuradhagama (from Anuradha + gama, meaning "village") was thus given to this early settlement.
In 377 BCE, during the reign of King Pandukabhaya (474–367 BCE), this village was formally established as the capital of the Sinhalese kingdom. According to the Mahāvaṃsa: “He laid out the city Anuradhapura, and established it as the capital.”
As the settlement expanded into an urban centre, its name changed to Anuradhapura—Anuradha + pura, with pura meaning “city” in Sinhala, Sanskrit, and Pali.
The antiquity of Anuradhapura is further supported by classical Western sources. In the 2nd century CE, Claudius Ptolemy, the Greco-Roman geographer, identified a place called Anourogrammoi in his Geographia, which scholars widely interpret as a reference to Anuradhagama/Anuradhapura: “Among the cities of Taprobane [Sri Lanka], there is Anourogrammoi...” This external reference underscores the city's longstanding regional prominence and recognition in ancient global cartography.
Anuradhapura is the best representation of the beginnings of pre-modern urbanisation in Sri Lanka. The development of the initial settlement at the site of the city can be attributed to the second global cycle of historical evolution with the generalised diffusion of iron technology in the Old World through the first millennium BCE, culminating in the emergence of many historical civilisations. The history of Anuradhapura then extends from its traditional founding in the recorded history in the fourth century BCE and its subsequent laying-out by Devanampiya Tissa (250–210 BCE) to its abandonment by the last of the Anuradhapura kings at the end of the tenth century CE, its brief reoccupation in the eleventh century and the restoration of some of its major monuments, in the late 13th century CE by Vijayabahu IV (1267–1270 CE).
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