Aryacakravarti

The Aryacakravarti dynasty ruled the Jaffna Kingdom on the Jaffna Peninsula in northern Sri Lanka from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century. The family first appears in records between 1277 and 1283 through a military leader in Pandyan service, who raided western Sri Lanka and carried off the Buddha's tooth relic from the Sinhalese capital of Yapahuwa; the dynasty's court chronicles claimed descent from Tamil Brahmins of the Rameswaram temple.

Jaffna became a Pandyan feudatory in 1258 and gained independence early in the fourteenth century, when Malik Kafur overthrew the Pandyas of Madurai. Around 1450 the Kotte kingdom under Parakramabahu VI conquered Jaffna, which recovered its freedom in 1467.

After the Portuguese reached Sri Lanka in 1505 the kings alternated between war and treaties. The last ruler, Cankili II, was defeated in 1617 and the kingdom was annexed in 1619, ending the dynasty.