Dutugemunu and Elara: Sri Lanka's Ancient Battle of Kings

The war between Dutugemunu and Elara was a struggle for control of Sri Lanka that ended around 161 BC, when Prince Dutugemunu of Ruhuna killed King Elara in single combat outside Anuradhapura. Victory made Dutugemunu ruler of the whole island and one of the great heroes of Sinhalese Buddhist tradition. The story is known almost entirely from the Mahavamsa, the island’s great chronicle, written several centuries later.

Background

In the 2nd century BC, Sri Lanka was divided. Anuradhapura, the old capital in the north-central plains, was held by Elara, a prince from the Chola country of southern India. The Mahavamsa says he had seized the throne and reigned for 44 years, about 205–161 BC. By then Buddhism had been established on the island for roughly two generations, since the mission of Mahinda and the planting of the sacred Bodhi tree at Anuradhapura.

Elara was not a Buddhist, but the chronicle describes him as unusually just, ruling “with even justice toward friend and foe”. In a well-known story, he had a bell hung by his bed for anyone seeking justice. When a cow rang it after his son had accidentally killed her calf with a chariot wheel, he had the prince killed under the same wheel.

In the south, the kingdom of Ruhuna, based at Mahagama, was ruled by Kavan Tissa, a descendant of the royal line of Anuradhapura. His elder son, Gamani Abhaya, wanted to drive out Elara. His father refused to go to war, and the prince is said to have sent him a woman’s ornament in insult. He then fled to the hill country. The name Duttha-Gamani, “Gamani the disobedient” or “the angry”, is said to come from this quarrel.

The war

When Kavan Tissa died, his younger son, Saddha Tissa, took the throne. Dutugemunu defeated him in a short civil war and the brothers were reconciled through the mediation of monks. He then prepared for the campaign north.

The Mahavamsa tells of the ten great warriors, the dasa maha yodhayo, who served him, among them Nandimitta, Suranimala and Velusumana, and of his royal elephant Kandula. Crossing the Mahaweli river, he advanced north, taking fortified posts held by Elara’s commanders one by one. The chronicle says the stronghold of Vijitapura held out for four months.

The chronicle presents the war as a struggle to restore Buddhism, and says relics were carried on Dutugemunu’s spear. Many historians note, however, that the conflict was also a dynastic struggle for the throne, and that there were Sinhalese in Elara’s service as well as allies of mixed origin on both sides.

The duel of kings

When the armies met near Anuradhapura, Dutugemunu proclaimed that he alone would fight Elara. The two kings, Elara by then an old man, met on elephants near the city’s south gate. Elara hurled a spear, which Dutugemunu avoided, and Dutugemunu’s elephant Kandula pierced Elara’s elephant with its tusks. Dutugemunu then struck Elara with his own spear, and the old king fell dead.

Dutugemunu had Elara cremated with honours where he fell, and built a monument on the spot. He ordered that no one should pass it with music or carried in a litter. According to the Mahavamsa, the rulers of Lanka still observed this custom in its own time, and travellers reportedly did so into the 19th century.

The chronicle also describes the victor’s remorse at the deaths caused by the war and the comfort he received from monks. That passage has been much discussed by modern scholars, and the war as a whole has been drawn into 20th-century political debate in Sri Lanka.

King at Anuradhapura

Dutugemunu ruled from Anuradhapura for about 24 years, c. 161–137 BC. He devoted his reign to Buddhist building. He built the Mirisaveti stupa and the Lovamahapaya, a great multi-storey hall for monks with a roof of copper tiles, later known as the Brazen Palace.

His greatest project was the Ruwanwelisaya, or Mahathupa, the Great Stupa. The Mahavamsa describes its foundations and relic chamber in detail. Dutugemunu fell ill before it was complete; the chronicle says his brother covered the unfinished dome with white cloth so that he could see it finished before he died. Saddha Tissa, who succeeded him, completed the work. Restored in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the stupa stands today at around 100 metres high.

Timeline

• c. 205 BC: Elara becomes ruler of Anuradhapura (Mahavamsa chronology).
• Before c. 161 BC: Death of Kavan Tissa; Dutugemunu defeats his brother Saddha Tissa.
• c. 161 BC: After a northern campaign, Dutugemunu kills Elara in a duel at Anuradhapura.
• c. 161–137 BC: Dutugemunu reigns over a united island.
• Later in the reign: Dutugemunu builds the Lovamahapaya and begins the Ruwanwelisaya.
• c. 137 BC: Death of Dutugemunu; Saddha Tissa completes the stupa.

Why it matters

Dutugemunu’s victory united Sri Lanka under one king for the first time in the chronicles and strengthened the bond between kingship and Buddhism that shaped the island’s history. His monuments, above all the Ruwanwelisaya, remain at the heart of the sacred city of Anuradhapura. The respect he showed his fallen enemy, Elara, is also remembered as part of the story.