The Journal of the Siam Society Vol. LXIV, Part 1-2, 1976 - Khamkoo

1\EVm\V AHTICLE
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Parakramabahu reigned for over thirty years, and again there was
good-will between Sri Vijaya and Sri Lanka. The trade route was kept
open, and Parakramabahu was able to carry out a tremendous building
programme, and tremendous also were the tanks he dug. At the same
time be invaded India and Burma. All these activities would indicate
that he bad what would today be called 'foreign aid' (it bears repeating
that Ceylon is only a small island.) That aid came from Sri Vijaya,
especially naval aid. In that period the Pagan dynasty bad come to
power in Burma. Its policy was expansionist. They had already taken
Thaton in Lower Burma, the religious capital of the Moo, and this
brought them to the doorstep of Suvarnnakudya, one of the City States
of Sri Vijaya. So it was in tbe Maharaja's interest to support
Parakramababu in his enterprise to stop further expansion of Pagan.
Parakramabahu's expedition would appear to have been successful on
this count, though this is not the story given in Simbalese sources. In
any case the 'invasion' could only have consisted of raids on the ports
and sea coasts.
Parakramabahu was followed by Vijayababu II, a son of one of
his sisters, who came from Suvarnnakudya in Kalinga (Sri Vijaya-in
this period the two names were synonymous), but he was soon put away,
and Nissamkamalla, a prince from Simbalapura (Singora) in Kalinga
followed him. Nissamkamalla was a nephew, or son-in-law, or both,
of Parakramabahu, and he followed the same policy of pacifying the land
to keep the trade route open. He carried out the same programme of
public works; he toured the island and set up edicts and hospitals; he
remitted taxes; and he invaded India. Historians tend to take
Nissamkamalla's inscriptions as boastful. The reason is because they
thought he came from Kalinga-India. From new evidence, he came from
Kalinga-Peninsula, wbere he had the support of the Maharaja, so his
statements may not have been as exaggerated as would appear at first
sight