{"id":155760,"date":"2026-04-19T16:58:49","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T23:58:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=155760"},"modified":"2026-04-19T16:58:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T23:58:49","slug":"vijayabahu-the-great-the-lion-of-lanka-who-defeated-the-chola-empire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/04\/19\/vijayabahu-the-great-the-lion-of-lanka-who-defeated-the-chola-empire\/","title":{"rendered":"Vijayabahu the Great: The Lion of Lanka Who Defeated the Chola Empire"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em><span style=\"font-size: 13.5pt;\">Hela Nomad<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Vijayabahu the Great: The Lion of Lanka Who Defeated the Chola Empire | Hela Nomad\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZvbXBaJBvq8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Hela Nomad<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@HelaNomad\">Hela Nomad: In Search of Helese<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the 11th century, Sri Lanka fell under the shadow of the mighty Chola Empire. For seventy-seven years, the island endured foreign rule, its sacred relics hidden, its temples in ruins, and its kings dethroned. But from the jungles of Ruhuna rose a teenage prince \u2014 Kitti, later crowned Vijayabahu the Great. Through seventeen years of relentless struggle, he united his people, outwitted the Cholas in battle, and launched a three-pronged assault that ended Chola power in Lanka forever. This is the epic story of the Lion of Lanka \u2014 the only ruler in the world to completely defeat and expel the Chola Empire. \u23f3&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chapters <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZvbXBaJBvq8\">0:00<\/a> Intro <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZvbXBaJBvq8&amp;t=38s\">0:38<\/a> Island in Chains <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZvbXBaJBvq8&amp;t=98s\">1:38<\/a> The Prince in the Wilderness <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZvbXBaJBvq8&amp;t=200s\">3:20<\/a> Years of Fire and Steel <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZvbXBaJBvq8&amp;t=271s\">4:31<\/a> The Final Campaign <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZvbXBaJBvq8&amp;t=326s\">5:26<\/a> Rebuilding a Nation <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZvbXBaJBvq8&amp;t=392s\">6:32<\/a> Legacy of the Lion \ud83d\udcda&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>References \u2022 Geiger, Wilhelm (ed. &amp; tr.). C\u016b\u1e37ava\u1e43sa: Being the More Recent Part of the Mah\u0101va\u1e43sa, Part I. Translated by C. Mabel Rickmers. Asian Educational Services, 1998 (reprint). \u2022&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Paranavitana, Senarat. Pan\u0101kaduva Copper-Plate Charter of Vijayab\u0101hu I. Epigraphia Zeylanica, Vol. V, Part I (Archaeological Survey of Ceylon, 1955), pp. 1\u201327. \u2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;Nilakanta Sastri, K. A. &#8220;Vijayab\u0101hu I, The Liberator of La\u1e45k\u0101&#8221;. Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 4, No. 1 (1955), p. 66 (citing Paranavitana, ASC Report 1949, para. 158).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>JSTOR: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/redirect?event=video_description&amp;redir_token=QUFFLUhqbkwtWXh5TVVKR25Ea0xwQUUwd1Fpeld0QUNhQXxBQ3Jtc0tuNEp6Q25oaXBETGJFMUFMUVZvZzQyNW5GTFlwZlRQYzdjaGZySjZiQ0lMajd2QjVOemQySktpZDZaNGlvY25hMnI1cFhnQmstcFJ1d3dmM2o1Z1lrZzRUWEw2YkZOQ1NkMHBLSERxOUM0SnNGSDdENA&amp;q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fstable%2F45377360&amp;v=ZvbXBaJBvq8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/45377360<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hela Nomad Hela Nomad Hela Nomad: In Search of Helese In the 11th century, Sri Lanka fell under the shadow of the mighty Chola Empire. For seventy-seven years, the island endured foreign rule, its sacred relics hidden, its temples in ruins, and its kings dethroned. But from the jungles of Ruhuna rose a teenage prince [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[120],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155760"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":155761,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155760\/revisions\/155761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}