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

REVIEW ARTICLE 313
To make the story easier to tell, I will call Sundara Pandya of
Suvarnnapura 'Sundara Sri Vijaya'.
In this period, about eighty years before the accession of Parakramabahu,
the Indian Vijayanagara Empire in the Deccan bad come into
being. In the words of Professor Sastri, in his History of South India,
page 253, that great empire, "by resisting the onslaughts of Islam,
championed the cause of Hindu civilization and culture in the South for
close upon three centuries and thus preserved the ancient tradition of
the country in its polity, its learning and its arts. The history of
Vijayanagara is the last glorious chapter in the history of independent
Hindu South India."
Within a few decades, Vijayanagara expanded southwards to
include the ancient Cola, Pandya and Cere kingdoms. Madbura, the
capital of Pandya, was conquered from a Muslim Sultan in 1371. This
brought Vijayanagara to the sea bordering Ceylon.
During the reigns of Parakramabahu VI of Ceylon (1415-67) and
Devaraya II of Vijayanagara ( 1.422-46), there are miscellaneous records
of Ceylon paying tribute to Vijayanagara. Meanwhile Parakramabahu
had wed Princess Svarnnamanikya, and in 1432 the union produced a
daughter, Princess Candravati or Ulakudaya.
When the princess was grown up, Sundara Pandya X is said to
have given support to the Emperor of Vijayanagara, and Parakramabahu's
counter-stroke was to arrange for the wedding between his
daughter and Sundara Pandya XI. But at that time the prince was on
a visit to Suvarnnapura, where be bad become engaged to Princess
Sundari, the daughter of Sundara Sri Vijaya. Parakramabahu sent a
message to Sundara Sri Vijaya to demand that Sundara Pandya XI be
sent back to his own country; and Sundara Pandya X also sent a message
to his son to break off the engagement. Both refused, so Parakramabahu,
accompanied by his daughter, set sail across ·the ocean. His suite
probably included a prince of Java named Purandara.
On arrival in the Peninsula a message was again sent to Sundara
Sfi. Vijaya 1
who a~ain refu&ec;l. Thereupon Parakn:unabahu waged war
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