Valagamba of Anuradhapura

Valagamba (Sinhala: වට්ඨ ගාමණී අභය, වලගම්බා), also known (in Pāli) as Vaṭṭagāmiṇi Abhaya and Valagam Abha. Valagamba was a king of the Anuradhapura Kingdom of Sri Lanka. Five months after becoming king, he was overthrown by a rebellion and an invasion from South India, but regained the throne by defeating the invaders fourteen years later. He is also known for the construction of the Abhayagiri Dagaba and Aluthepola Ganekanda Raja Maha Vihara.

Accession to the throne Valagamba was the fourth son of King Saddha Tissa, the brother of Dutugamunu. His three elder brothers, Thulatthana, Lanja Tissa and Khallata Naga, ruled the country before him. A general of the army named Kammaharattaka (Maharattaka) killed Khallata Naga and seized power. Valagamba in turn killed Kammaharattaka and took over the throne in 103 BC.

He adopted Mahaculika, the son of Khallatanaga, as his own son, and took Anuladevi, Mahaculika's mother, as his queen. He also had another queen named Somadevi. He sent for Somadevi and restored her as queen, and built a temple named Somarama or Somawati in her honour. The Abhayagiri temple became one of the three main Buddhist institutions in the country. He converted the caves he was hiding in to a temple. This temple is known as the Dambulla Rock Temple.

Religious conflict The Abhayagiri Stupa was offered to Kuppikala Mahatissa Thero by the king to show his gratitude. This was the first time a temple was offered privately to a monk and it caused the first conflict between the Sangha when 500 Bhikkus decided to leave Mahavihara and join Abhayagiriya where they created another sect. This is the first schism in Buddhism in Sri Lanka.

There is a major discrepancy between the sources which cite the death of Valagamba of Anuradhapura as occurring in 77 BC and his patronization of the effort to commit the Buddhist oral traditions to writing in the period 29 to 17 BC as cited by Norman.

The Dipavamsa states that during the reign of Valagamba (Vattagamani Abhaya) (29–17 BC) the monks who had previously remembered the Tipitaka and its commentary orally now wrote them down in books, because of the threat posed by famine, war, and the growing power of the newly established Abhayagiri vihara, which enjoyed the king's favour. The Mahavamsa also refers briefly to the writing down of the canon and the commentaries at this time.

This chronology which places Vattagamani's second reign in 29–17 BC was originally devised in 1912 by Wilhelm Geiger in the preface to his translation of the Mahavamsa. This 1912 chronology does not agree with date assignments calculated by later researchers into Sinhalese history.