History of the Jaffna kingdom
[citation needed] There is scattered literary and archeological evidence from local and foreign sources describing the division of the whole island in the first few centuries of the common era between two kingdoms.
In the ninth century CE, as the medieval Cholas regained strength in the region, a Tamil kingdom based in Jaffna was functioning in rivalry to the south, as described in narratives by Arab travellers such as Soleyman (Suleiman), Ibn Vahab and writing sixty years later, Abu-Zeyd.
[11][12][13][14][15] Among mainstream historians, such as K. M. de Silva, S. Pathmanathan and Karthigesu Indrapala, the widely accepted view is that the Kingdom of the Aryacakravarti dynasty in Jaffna began in 1215 with the invasion of a previously unknown chieftain called Magha, who claimed to be from Kalinga in modern India.
[19] After the conquest of Rajarata, he moved the capital to the Jaffna peninsula which was more secured by heavy Vanni forest and ruled as a tribute-paying subordinate of the Chola empire of Tanjavur, in modern Tamil Nadu, India.
[19] When the Pandyan Empire became weak due to Muslim invasions, successive Aryacakravarti rulers made the Jaffna kingdom independent and a regional power to reckon with in Sri Lanka.
[19][20] All subsequent kings of the Jaffna kingdom claimed descent from one Kulingai Cakravarti who is identified with Kalinga Magha by Swami Gnanaprakasar and Mudaliar Rasanayagam while maintaining their Pandyan progenitor's family name.
[20] However, it met with simultaneous confrontations with the Vijayanagar empire that ruled from Vijayanagara, southern India, and a rebounding Kingdom of Kotte from the south of Sri Lanka.
[30][32][33] The Kotte conquest of the Jaffna kingdom was led by king Parakramabahu VI's adopted son, Prince Sapumal.
Apparently connected with this war of conquest was an expedition to Adriampet in modern South India, occasioned according to Valentyn by the seizure of a Lankan ship laden with cinnamon.
The Tenkasi inscription of Arikesari Parakrama Pandya of Tinnevelly 'who saw the backs of kings at Singai, Anurai,' and elsewhere, may refer to these wars; it is dated between A.D. 1449-50 and 1453–4.
[36][37] The first expedition led by Viceroy Constantino of Braganza in 1560 failed to subdue the kingdom but wrested the Mannar Island from it.
[35][38] In 1591, during the second expedition led by André Furtado de Mendonça, king Puvirasa Pandaram was killed and his son Ethirimana Cinkam was installed as the monarch.
[38][39] With the death of Ethirimana Cinkam in 1617, Cankili II, a usurper, took control of the throne after killing the regent nominated by the late king.
On his part, Raghunatha Nayak of Thanjavur made attempts to recover the Jaffna kingdom for his protege, the Prince of Rameshwaram .
[40][42] During that period, Portuguese destroyed every Hindu temple[43] and the Saraswathy Mahal library in Nallur, the royal repository of all literary output of the kingdom.
[40] External commerce was negatively impacted, though elephants, Jaffna's principle export, were traded for saltpetre with various kingdoms in India and sent to Lisbon.
