The heroic Sinhala king, Duttha Gamini, is aging. His son Saliya, who he hopes will succeed him, has fallen in love with an outcast chandala woman, a union that will cause much outrage in the kingdom. The Maha Thupa, the colossal structure that took eighteen years in the making, is ready to be enshrined in accordance with the divine prophecy with an urn containing the relics of the Buddhas bodily remains. However, the urn is in possession of Kala Naga, the serpent king of the resplendent kingdom of the Nagas, where he lives guarding it.

Intrigues of the Lion, the fourth part of the historic Children of the Lion series, traces the decline of the Sinhala empire through a fascinating series of events in Sri Lankan history.