History of Ceylon, Volume I, Part I: From the Earliest Times to 1505 — Up to the End of the Anuradhapura Period

The volume is arranged into three major books. Book I, “Dawn of History,” establishes the foundational context through chapters on geology, geography, flora and fauna, peoples and languages, sources of Ceylon history, the prehistoric age, Aryan settlements, and the early kings up to Muṭasiva. Book II focuses on early political and religious formation, beginning with religious developments in India and the introduction of Buddhism to Ceylon, then moving through the triumph of Dutthagāmaṇī, the reigns from Saddhātissa to Sabha, the Lambakaṇṇa dynasty from Vasabha to Mahāsena, developments in Indian Buddhism, the Sangam age in Tamilnad, and the civilization of the early period in its economic, political, social, religious, and artistic dimensions. Book III continues the historical narrative after Mahāsena, covering the Indian background, successors from Sirimeghavaṇṇa to Upatissa II, dynastic instability, the Mānavamma dynasty, Cola invasions, the downfall of Anuradhapura, and the civilization of the later Anuradhapura period, including religion, literature, art, administration, irrigation, trade, and social conditions. Overall, the work presents ancient Ceylon as a historically layered civilization in which political authority, Buddhist religion, irrigation-based economy, South Indian interaction, and cultural production developed together over many centuries.