Beminitiya Seya, also known as the Great Famine, (103-89 BC), during the reign of King Vattagamini Abhaya, known as Valagambahu, was a period of over a decade in which ancient Sri Lanka's irrigation systems failed as a result of invasion, corruption and neglect. The famine is mentioned a number of times in the stories contained in "Sihalavatthu Pakarana", the oldest work of Ceylonese literature. It is related that at this time many monks left the island for India or the Maldives.