Kalinga-Sri Lanka Historical Relations

Kalinga, the rich and prosperous country of India’s East Coast was an active centre of trade, commerce and culture through navigation. From the Ceylonese Chronicles, the Mahavamsa, Dathavamsa, Chulavamsa etc, it is known that the ancient people from Kalinga used to travel to Sri Lanka to establish politica,l religious and social alliance with the Ceylonese people.

1. King Vijaya’s Kalinga Origin: According to Ceylonese Pali chronicles Dipavamsa (Island chronicles-ch.9) and Mahavamsa (Great Dynasty-chs. VI & VII)- it was Vijaya, a prince from Simhapura of Kalinga founded the Sihala (Simhala) race in Sri Lanka. The prince along with his 700 followers exiled from their kingdom sailed to Tamraparni and established a new civilization in the island. Vijaya’s great Grandmother belonged to Kalingan royal lineage. The very name “ Sihala” was the title bestowed to his father (in Kalinga) and inherited by him and as such they founded the Kingdom in the name of “Simhala”. Vijaya ruled for 32 years and a minimum of 2,500 families of Kalingan origin migrated to Sri Lanka during his rule.

2. According to Pali Buddhist literature, the name of Kalinga is familiar with Sri Lanka as early as 3^rd century B.C. with the introduction of Buddhism by Asoka’s son Mahendra and daughter Sanghamitra. The ‘Bajjhima Nikaya’ refers to forest of Kalinga. The ‘Digh Nikaya’ to the coastal settlement and capital city, Dantapura.

3. Buddha’s Tooth Relic was brought to Annuradhapura from Kalinga in 310 A.D. : According to Dhatu Vamsa the king of Kalinga, Guhasiva, who was worshipping the sacred Tooth Relic of Buddha apprehending danger from ‘Pandu’ a Magadha king send the Tooth to Sri Lanka secretly through his daughter Hemamala and son-in-law Dantakumara from his capital city “Dantapura” to be delivered to his friend Mahasena, the ruler of Buddhist kingdom of Lanka. They reached Annuradhapura and handed over to king Maghavanna (310 A.D.) the son of Mahasena.

4. King Vijaya-1 (1055-1110 A.D.), one of the greatest monarch of Sri Lanka married the Kalingan princess Triloka Sundari (Beauty of the three world).

5. Nissankamalla’s advocacy of Kalinga lineage to become a Sinhala King: Nissanka Malla, known as Kirti Nissanka and Kalinga Lokesvara  was the son of King Jayagopa of Kalinga who married the daughter of King Parakrambahu. After the death of his father-in-law he became the ruler of Sri Lanka from 1187 to 1196 and he was said to have established a Kalinga Udyana (Park) and Kalinga Vana (Forest) to commemorate his birth place.

Nissanka Malla had a belief that the rightful owners of kingship in Sri Lanka, were the kings belonging to the Kalinga dynasty. He even installed inscriptions to prove this fact.

 A rock inscription made by Nissanka Malla at Dambulla mentions that he is of the Kalinga Dynasty and a descendant from the race of King Vijaya. Another inscription at Ruwanwelisaya describes him as being a member of a royal family of Kalinga born at Sinhapura. The inscription there reads;

...having come from the royal line of the Ikshvaku family having become like a forehead mark to the royal family of Kalinga emperors born at Sinhapura...

By claiming to be descended from Vijaya, the first king of Sri Lanka, Nissanka Malla justified his right to the throne. He secured his position further by declaring that the ruler of Sri Lanka should adhere to Buddhism. His rock inscription at Galpotha describes this, saying that "non-Buddhists should not be placed in power in Sri Lanka to which the Kalinga dynasty was the rightful heir".

6.  In Return to Righteousness: A Collection of Speeches, Essays, and Letters of the Anagarika Dharmapala, Guruge. ed., Colombo, Government Press, 1965,

Dharmapala (who founded the Maha Bodhi Society in 1891) had said,

" We Sinhalese should remember that our ancestors came from Lada, a territory between Bengal and Kalinga about 2,400 years ago, and that they settled down in that part of the land now known as Anuradhapura......"