Beminitiya Seya (, ), also known as the Great Famine (103–89 BCE) was a major
famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food caused by several possible factors, including, but not limited to war, natural disasters, crop failure, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenom ...
which occurred in the
Anuradhapura Kingdom during the rule of
the Five Dravidians, shortly after overthrow of King
Valagambahu. For over a decade, the
irrigation
Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...
systems of the Anuradhapura Kingdom had failed as a result of invasion, corruption and neglect.
It was undoubtedly one of the darkest eras of
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
n
history
History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
. Long periods of
drought
A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...
coupled with
South India
South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...
n invasion meant that maintenance and repair of the once advanced irrigation systems of the kingdom were now completely neglected. The situation eased after the death of the last of the Five Dravidians and the return of King Valagambahu. As soon as Valagambahu returned to the throne in 89 BCE, many reforms were introduced to repair and reconstruct the ill-fated irrigation systems of the kingdom, which eventually brought the Beminitiya Seya to an end in 89 BCE. To this day, Valagambahu is regarded as one of Sri Lanka's greatest kings.
The famine is mentioned a number of times in the stories contained in the "
Sihalavatthu Pakarana", the oldest work of Sri Lankan literature. In this work, it is related that many monks left the island during the famine to
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
or the
Maldives
The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, abou ...
.
[D. Amarasiri Weeraratne, ''Sihalavatthu Pakarana: Book of ancient Sinhala religious stories'' The Island, Thursday 07th December, 200]
/ref>
References
Anuradhapura period
Famines in Asia
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