| Chola conquest of Anuradhapura | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Chola Empire | |||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
(992–993 CE)
(1017 CE)
(1042 CE) Sanga Varma Chola (Chieftain) |
(992–993 CE) (1017 CE) (1042 CE)  Kassapa VI † Disposed Pandyan Princes † | ||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
|
Chola Navy Chola Army |
Anuradhapura Army Pandyan Auxiliaries[citation needed] | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 95,000[4] | Unknown | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Unknown | Many Soldiers and Large number of Sinhalese civilians died | ||||||||
| History of Sri Lanka | ||||||||||||||||
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_-_Geographicus_-_Taprobane-mallet-1686.jpg) | ||||||||||||||||
| Chronicles | ||||||||||||||||
| Periods | ||||||||||||||||
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The Chola conquest of Anuradhapura was a military invasion of the Kingdom of Anuradhapura by the Chola Empire. The period of Chola entrenchment in northern Sri Lanka lasted in total about three-quarters of a century, from roughly 993 CE (the date of Rajaraja's first invasion) to 1070 CE, when Vijayabahu I recaptured the north and expelled the Chola forces restoring Sinhalese sovereignty.[5]
The Chola conquest followed an initial conflict between Chola and the Pandya-Sinhalese alliance during conquest of the Pandya Kingdom by Chola king Parantaka I.[6] After the defeat, Pandya king Rajasimha took his crown and the other regalia and sought refuge in Anuradhapura.[6] The Paranthka made several futile attempts to regain regalia, including invasion of Sri Lanka on a date between 947 and 949 CE during the reign of Sinhalese king Udaya IV (946–954 CE).[6] One of the driving motives behind the invasions of Anuradhapura by the Cholas' was their desire to possess these royal treasures.[6]
The conquest started with the invasion of the Anuradhapura Kingdom in 993 CE by Rajaraja I when he sent a large Chola army to conquer the kingdom and absorb it into the Chola Empire.[7] Most of the island was subsequently conquered by 1017 CE and incorporated as a province of the vast Chola empire during the reign of his son Rajendra Chola I.[8][9][10] The Chola occupation would be overthrown in 1070 CE through a campaign of Sinhalese Resistance led by Prince Kitti, a Sinhalese royal. The Cholas fought many subsequent wars and attempted to reconquer the Sinhalese kingdom as the Sinhalese were allies of their arch-enemies, the Pandyas.
- ^ Spencer 1976, p. 411
- ^ The Jungle Tide:“Collapse” in Early Mediaeval Sri Lanka STRICKLAND, KEIR ,MAGALIE (2011) The Jungle Tide: “Collapse” in Early Mediaeval Sri Lanka. Doctoral thesis, Durham University. P.331 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/893/
- ^ Sastri 2000, p. 199-200.
- ^ Roy, Kaushik (6 October 2015). Military Manpower, Armies and Warfare in South Asia. Routledge. ISBN 9781317321279.
- ^ Spencer 1976, p. 409.
- ^ a b c d Wijetunga, Wijetunga Mudalige Karunaratna (1962), "First Phase: Relations between the Sinhalese and the Cholas up to the time of Rajaraja I", The rise and decline of Chola power in Ceylon, pp. 75–107, doi:10.25501/SOAS.00029338
- ^ Sastri 2000, p. 172–173.
- ^ Chattopadhyaya 1994, p. 7–9.
- ^ Kulke, Kesavapany & Sakhuja 2009, p. 195–.
- ^ Gunawardena 2005, p. 71–.