ylon was invaded by Rajaraja the
Great, the Chola king, and after a series of protracted campaigns was
annexed to his empire in 1005. The island, did not, however, remain long
under Tamil domination. In 1071 Vijaya Bahu succeeded in re-establishing
the Sinhalese dynasty, and for a while Ceylon was freed from foreign
intervention. The most notable of the successors of Vijaya Bahu, and
indeed of all the long line of Sinhalese rulers, was Parakrama Bahu I.
(1155-1180), whose colossal statue still stands near Polonnaruwa. He not
only took advantage of the unaccustomed tranquillity of the country to
restore the irrigation tanks and the monasteries, but he availed himself
of a disputed succession to the Pandya throne of Madura to turn the
tables on his Tamil enemies by invading India. According to the
_Mahavamsa_ his generals met with immediate and unbroken success;
according to the more probable account preserved in a long Chola
inscription at Arpakkam near Kanchi, they were, though at first
successful, ultimately driven out by a coalition of the southern princes
(V.A. Smith, _Early History of India_, ed. 1908, p. 411). In any case,
within thirty years of Parakrama Bahu's death his work was undone; the
Malabar invaders were once more able to effect a settlement in the
island, and the Sinhalese capital was moved farther and farther south,
till in 1410 it had become established at Kotta, now a suburb of
Colombo. In 1408 a new misfortune had befallen the Sinhalese dynasty; in
revenge for an insult offered to a Chinese envoy, a Chinese army invaded
the island and carried away King Vijaya Bahu IV. into captivity. For
thirty years from this date the Sinhalese kings of Ceylon were tributary
to China.

When, in 1505, the Portuguese Francisco de Almeida landed in Ceylon, he
found the island divided into seven kingdoms. Twelve years later the
viceroy of Goa ordered the erection of a fort at Colombo, for which
permission was obtained from the king of Kotta; and from this time until
the advent of the Dutch in the 17th century the Portuguese endeavoured,
amid perpetual wars with the native kings, who were assisted by Arab and
other traders jealous of European rivalry, to establish their control
over the island. They ultimately succeeded so far as the coast was
concerned, though their dominion scarcely penetrated inland. Materially
their gain was but small, for the trade of Ceylon was quite
insignificant; but they had the spiritual satisf