Cite
MLA
“Pandu’s conquest of Anuradhapura.” Hindu History, 2026, https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/pandu-conquest-of-anuradhapura/. Accessed .
APA
Hindu History. (2026). Pandu’s conquest of Anuradhapura. Retrieved , from https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/pandu-conquest-of-anuradhapura/
Pandu killed Mittasena in battle and took the throne; he and five successors ruled the north of the island for about a quarter century.
01The chronicle’s account
The Culavamsa, the continuation of the Mahavamsa, tells it briefly. Mittasena had reigned only a year when Pandu came over from the mainland, killed him in battle and became king. Pandu was followed by Parinda, Khudda Parinda, Tiritara, Dathiya and Pithiya. The Sinhala nobles fled south to Rohana, beyond the river, where the old royal line kept a foothold. The name Pandu has led many to link the invaders with the Pandya country, though the chronicle itself calls them simply Damilas, people of the Tamil land.
02A kingdom under strain
Anuradhapura had been the island’s capital for some seven centuries and the seat of the Mahavihara. The mainland rulers did not sack it; the chronicle records that some of them made gifts to the monasteries. But the old dynasty was broken, and the next king of the island would come from a family that had to fight its way back from hiding. That family was Dhatusena’s, and the long resistance he led is told in the next entry.
It began one of the longest periods of mainland rule over northern Lanka before the Chola conquest of 993.
