Queen Lilavati
Sri Lankan Queen
Lilavati (also Leelawathi, Leelavathi) reigned as Queen of Polonnaruwa in 1197–1200, 1209–1210, and 1211–1212. She was the fourth woman in Sri Lankan history to rule as sovereign in her own right. Lilavati rose to prominence as the wife of Parakramabahu I, king of the Kingdom of Polonnaruwa. Being of royal descent herself, she then ruled as sole monarch on three occasions in the near-anarchy following Parakramabahu's death, with the backing of various generals. The primary source for her life is the Culavamsa, specifically chapter LXXX.
It is known that Lilavati was the daughter of Sirivallabha Pandya and his wife Sugala, and that she had a brother, also called Manabharana. She would have met her future husband when still young as Parakramabahu was her cousin, the son of her uncle Manabharana Pandya of Dhakkinadesa. Following his death, Kittisrimegha ascended to the throne of Dhakkinadesa, and Manabharana's family came to live with Sirivallabha in Ruhuna. It is not known at what point she married Parakramabahu.
Lilavati's family – in particular her brother Manabharana Pandya of Ruhuna (who was married to both of Parakramabahu's sisters, Mitta and Pabhavati), and the Queen Mother, Sugala – had a very difficult relationship with Parakramabahu. Manabharana fought against Parakramabahu on several occasions, whilst Sugala "had not a mind capable of reflection and was inclined herself by nature to evil".
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3610594. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1197, 1200, 1209 and 1210.
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This entry incorporates text from “Queen Lilavati” 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.