Gajabahu I of Anuradhapura Gajabahu I ( lit . ' Elephant - Arm ' ) , also known as Gajabahuka Gamani ( c . 114 – 136 CE ) was a Sinhalese king of Rajarata in Sri Lanka . He is renowned for his religious benefactions , extensive involvement in south Indian politics , and for possibly introducing the cult of the goddess Pattini to Sri Lanka . The primary source for his reign is the Mahavamsa , though he is also the only early Sri Lankan king ( along with Elara ) to be extensively mentioned in the Chera Cilappatikaram ( also spelled Silapathikaram ) . Life and Religion . Next to nothing is known about Gajabahu ' s youth , except that he was son of Vankanasika Tissa ( reigned 110 - 113 ) , king of Rajarata from Anuradhapura , and his consort Mahamatta . As such he must have witnessed the most dramatic event of Tissa ' s reign , the invasion of Rajarata by the Chola king Karikalan ( it should be noted though that Karikalan ' s reign is dated by some historians as having occurred about 100 years after Gajabahu ' s ) . 12 , 000 Sinhalese people were seized to work as slaves on the banks of the Kaveri river and taken to India . The Mahavamsa mentions Gajabahu ' s accession and reign of twenty - two years , and mentions neither Karikalan ' s invasion , nor the military campaigns to south India that Gajabahu became famous for . Instead he is presented as a great patron of religion ; the chronicle credits him with the construction of two vihara s - Matuvihara and Rumika - and a stupa called Abhayuttara . He is also credited with making a mantle for Dutugemunu ' s Mirisavetiya , and for building a reservoir to provide the Abhayagiri monastery with food . He also made improvements to the four entranceways of the Abhayagiri stupa . Gajabahu is also credited with the introduction of the cult of the goddess Pattini to Sri Lanka . The Silapathikaram mentions Gajabahu ' s presence at the consecration of a temple to Kannagi ( identified as Pattini in this case ) by the Chera king Senguvuttan . Returning from India he brought back not only the begging bowl of the Buddha but Pattini ' s sacred anklet , and constructed a temple to the goddess ' at a place called Vattapalli near Mullaitivu ' . However there is an alternative view that the cult actually arrived in Sri Lanka in the 13th century , and the legend of Gajabahu ' s patronage was retrospectively created to generate legitimacy for the goddess The annual Perahara held in Kandy is also thought to have its roots in Gajabahu ' s reign . Following the successful completion of a campaign into Chola territories the temple of Vishnu in Anuradhapura is said to have staged a procession in thanks , which eventually developed into today ' s festival . Gajabahu was succeeded by his father - in - law Mahallaka Naga . Invader or Guest ? The main event for which Gajabahu is remembered is his invasion of Chola territory and liberation of the 12 , 000 Sinhalese prisoners seized in his father ' s reign . However the sources contrast deeply on the actual events of his reign and the reality of the situation remains somewhat obscure . The Mahavamsa , as seen above , does not mention any mission to India by Gajabahu . On the other hand the 17th century Rajaveliya , composed in the kingdom of Kandy , gives the basic details . Gajabahu crossed over into India with an army , assisted by the giant Neela who lit the sea , allowing them to safely cross the Palk Strait . Once in India Gajabahu liberated the 12 , 000 Sinhalese prisoners , and further forced the Chola king to hand over 12 , 000 Tamils as compensation . These Tamil prisoners were then allowed to settle and live in Sri Lanka , some of them possibly near the modern city of Matale and Alutkuru Korale ( modern North - Western Province ) . The Rajaveliya describes the events thus : In contrast the mentions of Gajabahu in the Tamil sources represent a much more cordial visit by the Sri Lankan king . The Silapathikaram mentions him twice . On the first occasion he is with the Chera king Senguvuttan , offering sacrifices to the goddess Kannagi in an introductory passage . Later he is in the Chera king ' s company again , and on very good terms . It has been suggested that this mention does not necessarily preclude a military campaign ; after all it is entirely possible that Gajabahu and Senguvuttan offered joint sacrifices as a way of securing a freshly concluded peace . On the other hand the versions presented in the Mahavamsa and Silapathikaran do not mention any violence at all , despite being the major sources for this period . Furthermore the reliability of the entires in the Silapathikaran has been questioned , and it has been suggested that the meeting between Gajabahu and Senguvttan is the result of a certain amounth of ' poetic licence ' on the part of the compiler Significance . Sources notwithstanding , Gajabahu is regarded in modern Sri Lanka as an archetype of the mighty Sinhalese monarch , who avenged humiliation by the Cholas and took the sporadically - fought wars between Rajarata and Chola to Indian soil . Furthermore two important religious institutions - the cult of the goddess Pattini and the Perahara - also trace their origins to his reign . The Sri Lanka Army as an infantry regiment , Gajaba Regiment named after the warrior King and the Sri Lanka Navy had named a ship named after the King , the SLNS Gajabahu . To students of south Indian history his reign is important as it provides the ' Gajabahu syncretism ' which is used to date many rulers of the ancient Chola and Chera . It is also possible to argue that Cheran Senkuttuvan ' s father Cheran Kutako Nedum Cheral Athan and uncle Cholan Karikal Valavan jointly attacked the northern part of Lanka from Vedaranyam in Tamil Nadu , India and in the process Cheran Nedum Cheral Athan managed to cut down the protector tree of Sinhaleese king of the time , which has the name ' Kadampu ' as stated in Sangam literature ( Pathittupathu 2 . 10 ) . The Sinhaleese king ( probably the father of Gajabahu ) was ruling from Anuradhapura , which was washed by the River Kadamba , the present Malwatu Oya . The protector tree was replanted by the mother of Gajabahu in their palace garden . Probably there was a truce between Gajabahu and the Cheras and the hostages were exchanged as a mark of friendship . If this was not the case Gajabahu would not have visited Cheran Senkuttuvan , for a ceremony highly objected to by the Pandian King , since Pandian kingdom was an immediate neighbour of Gajabahu ' s kingdom . Trade . There have been a series of archaeological excavations in recent years at the ancient port Godavaya ( = Godawaya , Gothapabbata ) , situated around a huge rock overlooking the Indian Ocean , close to the gem mining area of the Lower Sitracala Wewa and the inland shipping route of the Walawe Ganga . The archaeologists have found that Godavaya ' s was an important stop on the maritime Silk Route , in the early centuries of the Common era with excavations and research revealing connections from China to the Red Sea and the Mediterranean . A stone inscription in Brahmi , dating to Gajabahu I ' s reign , orders that part of the customs collections at the Godavaya Port at Ambalanthota be donated to the nearby Godapawath Temple . There have been three inscriptions and some 75 , 000 late Roman coins found in earthen vessels in the region . Popular culture . Gajabuja is a common Tamil slang used to denote the superlative . Bhuja and Bahu are both Sankskrit for Arm , and it is suspected that this word evolved from the corruption of Gajabahu over time . Sri Lanka , Past and Present . Weikersheim : Margraf Verlag , 12 - 37 . ISBN 3 - 8236 - 1289 - 1 .