DAMBADENIYA DYNASTY

rulers of most of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) from 1255 to about 1330 whose seat was at Dambadeniya. Arising in opposition to the Malay usurper Magha, who seized power in northern Ceylon in 1215, the Dambadeniya dynasty is of uncertain origin. Officially acceding to power in southern Ceylon in 1232, the kings of the Dambadeniya line had defeated Magha by 1255, with the help of a South Indian ally. Other Malay invaders, however, attacked Ceylon again about 1260 and, for almost a century thereafter, continued to maintain a small kingdom in northern Ceylon. Although from about 1280 Dambadeniya ceased as the capital, the dynasty bearing the name lasted until the accession of the Gampola dynasty about 1340.