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.

[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.

[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'.

Queen Lilavati's life and reigns effectively spanned across the final decline and collapse of Sinhalese power in medieval Sri Lanka.

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.