The wealth of Sri Lanka, derived from both its agricultural prosperity and its natural resources, such as precious and semi-precious stones, proved an irresistible temptation to foreign invaders, particularly from its nearest neighbour, south India, home of the Damilas (Tamils) of the chronicles.
Most famous of the early usurpers was Elara, recorded in the chronicles as a fair and impartial, but cruel, ruler. The Buddhist royal house had taken refuge in the southerly city of Mahagama, ruling the sub-kingdom of Ruhuna. Its king, nephew of Devanampiya Tissa, was in effect a Buddhist monk, dedicated to non-violence.
However, his son Dutthagamani ('Disobedient Gamani'), driven by the hot blood of youth and by rage at the subjection of his ancestral lands to usurping, non-Buddhist rule, led a bloody but ultimately successful campaign against the Damilas.
Remorseful at the slaughter entailed by this war, Dutthagamani devoted the remainder of his life to good works, including the erection of the Great Stupa (relic mound) at Anuradhapura.
The 'Mahavamsa' chronicle details the king's benevolent and generous provision for the work involved and describes how in the king's last hours of life, his brother had a cloth painted and hung on the unfinished stupa so that it appeared complete to Dutthagamani, who, having seen it, was then able to die happy.
This martial episode is but the best known in a saga of south Indian-Sri Lankan hostilities which have continued through history. Nevertheless, not all relations were poor: for example, at least one Sri Lankan community of Buddhist monks existed in south India, in the 3rd century AD at Nagarjunakonda.
