 In Chapter LXXX, we are told that

Nothing is known of Magha before his arrival in Rajarata with an army of 24,000 from Kalinga, nor on what basis he claimed the throne of Lanka.Certainly in the years before his arrival the Sinhalese kingdom had progressed into an advanced state of political decay, making its way through more than nine monarchs in twenty years and suffering at least three invasions.It has been speculated that Magha may have had a claim through the Kalingan dynasty established by Nissanka Malla in 1187.