402 THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. [PART 111. 



A.n. century, A.D. 954, the king of Ceylon a second time in- 

 954t terposed with an army to aid the Pandyan sovereign 

 in a quarrel with his neighbour of Chola. In this the 

 former was worsted, and forced to seek a refuge in the 

 territory of his insular ally, whence he was ultimately 

 expelled for conspiracy against his benefactor. Having 

 fled to India without his regalia, his Cholian rival made 

 the refusal of the king of Ceylon to surrender them the 

 pretext for a fresh Malabar invasion, A.D. 990, when 

 the enemy was repulsed by the mountaineers of Eohuna, 

 who, from the earliest period down to the present day, 

 have evinced uniform impatience of strangers, and steady 

 determination to resist their encroachments. 



But such had been the influx of foreigners, that the 

 efforts of these highland patriots were powerless against 

 A.D. their numbers. Mahindo III., A.D. 997, married a 

 907. pri ncess O f Kalinga 1 , and in a civil war which ensued, 

 during the reign of his son and successor, the novel 

 spectacle was presented of a Malabar army supporting 

 the cause of the royal family against Singhalese insur- 

 gents. The island was now reduced to the extreme of 

 anarchy and insecurity ; " the foreign population " had 

 increased to such an extent as to gain a complete ascen- 

 dancy over the native inhabitants, and the sovereign had 

 lost authority over both. 2 



A.D. In A.D. 1023, the Cholians again invaded Ceylon 3 , 

 ' carried the king captive to the coast of India (where 

 he died in exile), and established a Malabar viceroy at 

 Pollanarrua, who held possession of the island for nearly 

 thirty years, protected in his usurpation by a foreign 

 army. Thus, " throughout the reign of nineteen kings," 

 says the Rajaratnacari, " extending over eighty-six years, 

 the Malabars kept up a continual war with the Singha- 

 lese, till they filled by degrees every village in the 

 island." 4 



Now the Northern Circars. 

 TURNOUT'S Epitome, p. 37. 



3 In the reign of Mahindo IV. 



4 JRajardtnacnri, p. 85. 



