From written records, Anuradhapura was made the royal capital by the king Panduk-Anhaya in 380 BC. It remained residence and royal capital for 119 successive Singhalese kings till the year 1000 AC when it was abandoned and the capital was moved to Polonnaruwa. In the 3rd Century BC the missionary Mahinda son of the North-Indian emperor Asoka brought the teachings of Buddha to Anuradhapura, which has to this day influenced Buddhism in Sri Lanka in the form of the Theravada school. After the conversion of the kingdom to Buddhism an extraordinary age of cultural ascendancy and common weal started.

As a Buddhist stronghold Anuradhapura became famous and was honoured far across the region, as result there were innumerable processions of pilgrims to the holy city. The reason of all these pilgrims for coming was the presence of the holy Bo-tree, which was grown form a branch of the very tree under which the Lord Buddha found enlightenment, as well as to visit the Thuparama dagoba which contains as a relic the collarbone from the Lord Buddha.

The historical chronicles, like the Mahavamsa, written by monks, give us, a complete, and unbroken documentation of the rise and fall of the Singhalese (Buddhist) kingdom. The economic basis for the rise and the dominant role of the city were the many tanks and channels, which wise rulers, have built and became a blessing for the rice cultivation and production.

At its zenith the city's area was as large as Paris today with a population of more than half a million. At the boundaries of the old holy city, still venerated today, lays the new district town with only a population left of 40'000, a mere shadow of the old mother. Unfortunately the old monuments are not in a state of good preservation, as they were covered by thick jungle for many centuries and this has had a devastating effect. The old Anuradhapura of today is scattered with erected stone pillars, remains of walls from palaces, monasteries, and temples etc., and between old trees imposing dagobas rise majestically into the sky.