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Dappula II

king of Anuradhapura

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 9, 2026
Entity authorityQ16828885
Source-derived summary

Dappula II was King of Anuradhapura in the 9th century, whose reign lasted from 807 to 812. He succeeded his father Mahinda II as King of Anuradhapura and was succeeded by his son Mahinda III.

There was a revolt at the commencement of his reign by the chieftains of the north east of the island. His eldest son was sent with an army to subdue the rebels. The King was waiting near Minneriya when he received the news that both the prince and his general (Senapathi) had joined the rebels. The king proceeded to Duratissa with the main army and defeated the rebels. The rebels including the renegade prince and the general were slain with the rebel leaders. For the remainder of his reign, the King resided at Polonnaruwa.

There was a chieftain named Dhatasiva (Datopatissa) raising the flag of rebellion in Rohana. His son Mahinda ran away from the father and arrived at the King Dappula II court seeking his help against the father. The King was impressed with the young man and gave his Daughter Daeva in marriage.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Dappula II” as king of Anuradhapura. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current 180-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Dappula, king and Anuradhapura can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as king of Anuradhapura. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16828885. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Dappula II”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Dappula II primary sources, Dappula II archive and Dappula research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Dappula II”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Dappula II” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.