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Anuradhapura, the kingdom of the ancient
Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka’s third and the longest serving capital and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world is also one of the most sacred cities of World Buddhists.
It was the capital of Sri Lanka from the Fourth Century BC up to the turn of the eleventh Century and was one of the most stable and durable centers of political power and urban life in South Asia.
However the city itself is much older than the Kingdom of Anuradhapura and according to archeological evidence could have originated as far as tenth century BC.
First developed into the capital of Sri Lanka by King Pandukabaya before the arrival of Buddhism the city was given a new life after the introduction of Buddhism to the country. Great stupas, monasteries, Buddhist universities, gardens, reservoirs were added to the city by various rulers eventually creating one of the largest in whole of Asia.
However the great kingdom was abandoned due to repeated South Indian Invasions and was eventually forgotten with time until it was rediscovered in the early 19 th century. Townships, reservoirs and monasteries standing alone within the cast jungle cover.