Person

Dutugemunu

r. c. 161–137 BCE · 2nd century BCE · Also known as Dutthagamani, Duttha Gamani Abhaya

Dutugemunu was a Sinhalese king of the Anuradhapura Kingdom who reigned from about 161 to 137 BCE. Son of King Kavantissa of Ruhuna in the south of Sri Lanka, he defeated the Tamil ruler Elara and united the island under one king. The Mahavamsa chronicle celebrates him as a champion of Buddhism and credits him with building the Ruwanwelisaya stupa.

Dutugemunu
Image: No machine-readable author provided. Jolle~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims). · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 2 state histories

Anuradhapura KingdomKingdom of Ruhuna

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Dutugemunu. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/dutugemunu
MLA
“Dutugemunu.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/dutugemunu. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Dutugemunu.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/dutugemunu.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Dutugemunu’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/dutugemunu (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻