Somavamsi

Somavamsi, also written Somavamsa, is a dynastic name used for several ancient South Asian royal houses. The term literally means “Moon Dynasty” (soma = moon, vamsha = lineage) and is applied to lineages that claimed lunar descent in their genealogies. The most prominent associations are with a Sri Lankan royal house and with a regional dynasty in eastern India.

In Sri Lanka, the Somavamsa dynasty is described in traditional chronicles such as the Mahavamsa and Culavamsa as an early Sinhalese royal line that ruled during the island’s ancient and medieval periods. The dynastic narrative emphasizes religious patronage, Buddhist institutions, and state-building activities. Because the histories blend myth and record, modern scholarship treats the exact order and dates of its rulers with caution, relying on a combination of chronicles, inscriptions, and archaeology.

In eastern India, a Somavamsi line appears in inscriptions as a medieval ruling family in the region historically known as Kalinga (present-day Odisha) and neighboring areas. This Somavamsi lineage is identified in local epigraphic evidence as a lunar line and is viewed as one of several regional powers that interacted with contemporary polities, including later powers in the same area. Their activity is associated with temple sponsorship and land grants to religious institutions, reflecting common patterns of regional rule in that era.

Scholarly treatment of Somavamsi commonly emphasizes the name as a dynastic label tied to a broader motif of lunar descent, rather than a single tightly dated sequence. See also Moon Dynasty, Sri Lankan history, Kalinga history.