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The Folitics of Survival: Aspects of Kamdyan

Extennal Relations in the Mid-Sixteenth


CenturY
By Trxrnr Aervaslxcuo
Tl{E APPEAR.ANCE in print, nearly half a century ago', of
n .on.Ji." "f historical documents relatingto Sri Lanka and covering
in" ,.1i. ties-tSSZt should have stimulited interest in this period.
ii*,".urly utt t1.,. documents in the collection lvere in Portuguese,
,uf"rif. *.'learned, 78-page introduction prefacing the text .o{
the
-
documents as well as the notes rvere in Gcrman languag^es
wnlcn lew
hirt;ti;. ;n ttre island reattr' The late Fr. S' G' Perera, p' J' bravely
serialize an English translation of the introductory
to
"it"_"t"a
iir"riilrri, ,tuav i" a local"journal, but did not get beyond the
j.oYrnat ggalilg
tt.ri'iiri"." prg"t o'i ttt. original, probably- owing to the
l.he
rnlorinatlon ln
oublication.z Recently
-tot" Mr. o. M. da Silva used
il;t;"e;;**"t. a studv on Vikramabahu oi -Kandy'3 Excep.t
fr; th";; two efforts, the period covered by these documents is still
1. G. Schurhammer and E. A. Voretzsch, Ceylon zwr-Zeitdes Kdnin-gs Bhuaa'
iin" Eaii*"a Franz Xauers r539-1552 vois' I & II (Leipzig r9z8)'
Ceylon Literary Register (Third Series) vol' IV (Colombo rSt5-S6)
pP'
379-385,427'434.
f . O.M. da Silva, Vihrama Bahw of Kandy,The Portwguese and'the Franciscans
t5 42-t 55r (Colombo r967).
Ishouldaddherethatayearbeforetheappearanceoftheworkby
M' A' H' Fitzler
Schurhammer uoa voi"irt"t , d.. e. E. Pieris and'Fraulein
;;;Gi;t;;f^"-il"griir, tiansla.tion of some of ,the same docurnents under
tiynn ona"eirirg*t Y"ttI Kings and Christiansasr539-1
itr" iitf"-B"i 552.-(Leip.zig
ag-ainst the other
tqrZj. this work coitiain"a only- 63 docurnents
*rriiiirrua ,a" (pierl_" a"JFilJei,s pr6jec'tea.second volurne did not appear).
There are otfrer sttoriiomings in itris work' Its introduction states that
Vikramabahu was the kine 5t Kandy at the tirne (O'SJ' yet no document
in the collection gives the"name of lhe king, while other sources suggest
that his name was possibly Jayaweera.
Another diffrculty about this work was the disconcerting stylistic
habit of the transtatoi" i"ut'ittg some key Portuguese words u-ntranslated'
thus in efiect preventing the re"ader who knows no Portuguese lrom gettlng
the best use ofthe histofical information their work contains' For instances'
*" p. oalieru),p. ii-(loar"o\,p,4r (moco),p' 65 (perd'ao)'p' gg (soldo
and manti,rnenlo).
O. M. da Silva, in his study already referred to, also gives the-name
of the king of Xu"iyas Vfuroriabahu,"but-wriggles out of the difficulty
of haviug Io prolt" tiris by stating that the king had many aliases!

II
t2 JOURNAL, R.A.S. (SRI LANKA) VoI. XVII, (New Series), t973
THE POLITICS OF SURVIVAL 13
largely unexplored territory. The present pap,er seeks to analyse the
ext-ernal relations of the kingdom of Kandy during the period covered
,r"nrs o{ close contact wit}r the Portuguese troops had led to the^ adop-
by the documents, within the context of the external threats to its i,^l f.r, it,", Slt"*ut a armed forces o[ new techniques of warlare in
security in the 16th century. the use of ,artillery'e The usual
il'#"4-the forrner, principallyresources
Under Parakranrabahu VI (1412-1467), the Kandyan territories Jir*""il"io which such increased and improved techniques
had been a part of the kingdom of Kotte, and their secession during ,"o"ia fr."" been directed by the Sitawaka ruler was the war against
the turmoilthat followed that ruler's death was an act of rebellion. ni! niottt.r, but certain circumstances made its continuation no longer
To reverse its result, and to re-establish their authoritv over the ,rr"-iti"e. chief iimong these were the recent defeats suffered by the
Kandyan lands became, there{ore, a principal object of the later it*ra" ind thc troopi of tire Samorin, the ruler o[ Calicut' MSVa;
Kotte rulers, and during the next four decades, their fcrces made ;;t;;;'; patron and helper:, at the hands o{ the Portuguesc at Vedalai
two expeditions to the hill country for this purpose. On both occasions, ir.ncl putialam in 1538-9 and the estrangement oI the Samorrn trom
the Kotte forces proved overwhelmingly superior to the Kandyans, il,tavaa""'ru on the latter's giving in to Portuguese demancls for the
and its ruler was forcecl io acknowiedge the Kotte king's suzerainty, i.da.i .t the Samorin's genJrals,-who had come to Sitarvai<a's 1relp.e
on one occasion even paying iiim a war-indemnity.a Kandy, it was rvitl, t-ro 1-ri:ospect of aid trom calicut to counterbalance the support
shown, could not match the resources of Kotte. Its only hope of that Bhuvatr"kabahu r,vas getting {rom the Portuguese, ther-e^was
survival, it followed, lay in weakening Kotte, and to this end its little point in continrring the hosailities, and llavadunne,ca1led forthea
subsequent efforts were directed. ir.i.".'rf periocl ol ddtunle, and eveniimitecl_co-operation between
An opportunity to in the Kotte
encourage divisive tendencies i*u Irotir".s {or specific purposes, succeeded, destined to last until
kingdom came to Kandy inKotte ruler a"t the ti,ne, Vija-
1521. The at,out 1547.10 The competlng, multi-state system was in abeyance,
yabahu (1509-1521) sought to disinherit his three nephews-sons and this signalled danger for Kandy.
of the polyandrous marriage of his elder brother and himself to the First Bhuvanekabahu and then 1\'Iayadunne lr.arboured expan-
same wife-in favour of a prince who wa.sprobablyhisown son.5 The sionist designs on Kandy. In November t5+9, the former wrote-to the
three princes thereupon fled from the Kotte lands and the youngest, Infante lo"tl Luis of Fortugal argr-ring that since formerly Kandy
I\fayAdunne, sought the help of the king of Kandy against their unc]e. had been subject to the Kotfe kingdom, he had a legal right to the
The ruler of Kandy readily agreed. to help, ostensibly because the Kandyan territories and asking for Port'guese assistance to recover
three princes were his wife's relatives,o but really to ensure his own r,vhat'was his.11 But as no Portirguese assislance was fortticoming, he
independence by fomenting rebellion within the Kotte kingdom. made no move to annex it by himself , preferring instead to join forces
On the success of the coup, three kingdoms sprang up where previously with his brother, and making available to him both men and money'
there was one. Fi\'e years later, a bitter contest between two of the MS.yadunne's preparations {oi an expedition to $andy seems to have
princes, Bhuvanekabahu and Mayadunne, began. The single-state begun in 1542, though the attack was not launched until about October,
polity of the Kotte kingdom had been replaced by a multiple-state 15I5 under ttre genJralship of Mayadunne's minister, Arya.1z
polity; these states were often in conflict, and in their absorption in
these qriarrels, the Kandyan kingdom found peace and security. Kancly's reaction to this threat w'as tr'vo-fold. Firstly its. rriler
callcci in tire Portuguese at Goa to red.ress the balance of {orces in thc
In the 1540s, dark clouds began to gather on the horizon for island. Secondly he sought to detach Bhuvanekabahu frori the ofien-
I(andy. In the closing years of the previous decade, one oJ the three sive alliance against iiim. gottr objeclives, it rvi1l be noted, relied
Kotte princes had died, and by the incorporation of his kingdom heavily on foreign policy to rescue the kingdom.
Sitawaka had had an accession of strength.T At the same time, over ten
To the question why Kandy dicl not look to its own resources
Epigraphia Zeylanica vol. IV pp. t6-26. to ensurc its- securitv th-e answer is found in the internal situation
4.
The Rajaualiya, edited by Gunasekara (Colombo 19z6) pp. 5o-5r.
5. Rajaaaliya pp. 49-50, 52. Schurlrammcr and Voretzsch, op. c'it,I p. t73.
6. Ibid.P.53. \). Queyroz, ap. cit. pp. zt8, zz5.
I,he Journal oJ the Ceglon Branch oJ the Royal Asiatic gociety. vol. XX p. 72.
JCBRAS r.o1. XX pp. 9r-2, to4, to6-7"
Queyroz, The Temporal and Spiritwal Conquest of Ceylon (Colombo i93o)
p. 203' IO. Qneyroz, of . ci,t. p. z3o.
7. Queyroz, oP.cil. P. zzo. II. Sclrurlrarmner and Voretzsch, op. cit.I p. rz3.
' 'ICBRAS vol. XX P. 99. 12, lbitl. pp. r6o-r. r65-6, \7o, r72, 175, r99.
Rajataliyap.53.
rq JOURNAL, R.A.S, (SRI LANKA) Yot. XYII, (Nea Scriesl, rs73 TTIE POLITICS OF SURVIVAL r5

there. At its disposal was a fighting force estimated at 20,000-


stronger than the Sitawaka. and Kotte forces combined, according to Portusuese government itself paid. The king also ofiered the Portu-
contemporary reports. But the men were armed only with bows and nu"*i factorV at Trincornalee, to be garrisoned by them, the expenses
arrows, in contrast to the invaders who were equipped with field- ih"."on also 6eing borne by the king. A yearly tribute of 15 tusked
pieces-l3 Politically, at this time the Karrdyan kingdom appears to elephants and 300 oars for the galleys was also suggested. As the need
have been in turmoil: in March 1543, communications betiryeen its for' Portuguese aid became more pressing' the king subsequently
added other concessions: he would give his daughter in marriage to
capital and Trincomalee were cut ofi on account of a rebellion, the
whomsoever the Portuguese wished, and would embrace the Christian
rebel chief commanding wide support, even arnong the Kandyan faith with the heir and the members of the royal household.le
forces;1a some chiefs also were restive, and on on6 occasion, tiiey
openly defied the king.ts To add to the king's troubles, the crown The tribute of elephants and oars was the least onerous among
princ-e. was chafing under the father's authority, and was discreetly Kandy's offers. As a later Kandyan king told the Portuguese, "the
sounding the Portuguese for support.io The Kandyan rl.ler was, there- forests of Kandy are wide" and there was no dearth of elephants or
fore, not in a position to mobilize his total strenglh for defence. timber in them. 'Ihe factory and the garrison a-t Trincomalee, the
Kandyan king probabiy hoped, would be 1-c hinr r';hat ill,e tsortuguese
- Though internally weak, Ka-ndy had the wherewithai to pay
the P-ortuguese hardsomely for any help it might receive. Fortuguese
fort and garrison at Colombo were to Bhuvanekabahu. Heaiso probably
thought that the Porttrguese at Trincornaiee, being over 80 miles
travellers to the kingdom in the mid-l6th century were impr-essed from Kandy, would not be able to exercise the same clegree of control
with the wealth of its resources.l? At a time when the poriuguese over his policies as those at Colombo (being only six miles from Kotte)
treasury at Goa was depleted and the authorities there forced to exercised over the king of Kotte.
approach their giient-states for financial help,18 the prospect of friendly
relations with Kandy was very lvelcome. The king's offer to embrace Christianity was a shrervcl one, taking
a.ccount of the areas of tension in Bhuvanekabalrrr's relations r.vith
There were other factors lvhich made the Portuguese
.- authorities the newiy-arrived l-ranciscan missionaries. But conversion wouid
entertain I(andyan overtures favourably. Their rerations with acld to the king's internal troubles; in some c,uarters, he would be
Mjyadunne had never been good, the pro-May6.dunne portuguese even he1<1 to {orfeit his right to the throne. But in making the offer,
officials being always a tiny minority. On top of ttrls, in the i5+Os the king seems to harre h.oped to keep hisbaptisrn, if ever he took it,
their relations r'vith Bhuvanekabahu' also deteriorated, on account secret, unknowrr to anyone outside the inner circie of relatives, and
of the financial exactions by the Portuguese authorities, misconcjnct courtiers. Secondly he seems to have reckoned that upon baptism,
by the of&cials, and after 1543, Bhuvanikabahu's refusal to embrace Portr:guese armed assistance would be made available forthwith,
the Catholic faith. As relations between l\{iyadunne and Rhuvane- thereby ol'erawing any potential opposition. To him, the possibility
kabahu improved the Portuguese felt increasingly isolatecl and had of saving l{anii5r r"vas rvell lvorth a Mass.
need of-allies. They therefore eageriy grasped the hand that the king
of Kandy offered in friendship. The,;c ir,,rbahi_rr 'overe the thoughts uppermost in his mind when
the K;ildyarl nrler sent an embassy with gifts to the Portuguese
The Kandyan ruler oflered to pay the salaries and expense allo- authorities at Go;r in August 1542. This was foilowed by others in
wances of the Fortuguese soldiers coming to reinforce hii defences, Juiy 1544, ApLi; 1515 and in November the sarr,e year. He also wrote
such moneys being calculated on a more generous scale than the to several Porh.Lguese officials and padres in the Kotte kingdom,
urging thenr to use tireir good ofRces on his behalf. Some individual
Portuguese, then living in Kandy, aiso espoused his cause and kept
I3. Schurhammer and Voretzsch , op. cit.I pp. r 78, 276; II p. up a barrage ol correspondence wittr Goa.20
423.
11. Ibid,.I. pp. rZ7, tZg.
The ernbass-v of August 1542 bore immediate fruit. A force of
r5. lb:/.-J.pp.i84. 356; rr pp. 4zz-3. 70-80 soldiers, led by Miguei Fernandez and Amaro Mendes, arrived
JUIJJ?AS XX pp. rz4-5. in Trincomalee in }Iarch the foilowing year, with instructions, among
16. Schurhammer and Voretzsch, op. cit. II pp. 4zg-9. other things, to set up a factory there. A party of the Kandyan ruler'i
According to tlne Rajauali.ya, the breach'between the father and the son
.later widened and ended in the latter seizing the throne, (p.Sg). offrcials and men set out to meet them and escort them to the capital,
t7. Schurhammer and Voretzsch, op.ci,t. I, p. 276,
r8. In r55o, for instance, the portuguese viceroy approached Bhuvanekabahu r9. Ibid.Ipp. r53, r59, t6r,166, r83, r99,225,273.
for a loan of roo,ooo xerafims. 1bj7. r.ol. II. ppi
538'-9, S+",i+s, iSr,^ isg,-5oo.
20. tbid. pp. r5o, r66, 167, t75, r79, r8o, r9z, rgg,275,276,278
THE POLITICS OF SURVIVAL r7
16 JOURNAL, R.A.S. (SRI LANKA) VoL XVII, (New Series\, tg73
Earlier, in 1545. the Kandyan ruler had urged the Portuguese to
but failecl to establish contact with the visitors on account of a rebel- nersuade Bhuvanekabahu to dissociate himself from the war alliance.za
lion in the area. Iiood supplies for the visiting Portuguese began to khen the war began to go badly for him, the Kandyan ruler tried
run low, some soldiers bcgan to desert and thele was even a mutiny, another strategy: he offered his daughter in marriage to Bhuvaneka-
the mutineers also being worsted in a conflict with the king's forces bahu's grandson and heir, Dharmapila. The Kotte ruleraccepted the
towards the end of March 1543"21 The first Portuguese mission offer. Ai Mayadunne had been planning to get the princess for his son,
fi,zzled out, with the factory not set up, and with liaison between relations betrveen the brothers became strained,2s and the alliance
Kandy and tlie Portuguese also not established. cracked.
A seconrl rnission set out for Kandy from Goa about January \Arith the detachment of the Kotte ruler th,e danger of Mayadunne
1546 with about 40 Portugnese soldiers and r",,ith captain ,Andre de extinguishing the independence of Kandy had diminished. Portuguese
Souza in charge. 'll-ris rvas in resl)onse to an urgent message from help was therefore less urgently necessary to Kandy. This explains
Kandy, sent u'hen l'Iayaclunne's forces had launched the offensive about the cirange in Kandyan attitude to the PortuS;uese during the next
{s11' years-{rorl hurnble supplicant to one presumptiously layrng dor'vn
October the previous year. Be{ore these troops could arrive, hou'ever,
conditions.
on 9 I'trarch 1546, tlrc king of Kandy, in a clesperate bid {or total Por-
tuguese commitment to defend his realnr, had himself baptised' When Mayadunne again threatenecl Kandy about .|une 1547,
But this set ofi a chain-reaction, eroding internal support for him.22 a force ol 100 Portuguese soldiers reached the capital of that kingdom
By the time Andre de Souza reached the Kand5ran capital ctn 25 in late August or early September the same year under Antonio
April 1546, the king had been forced to conclude peace r'vith I'loniz Barrcto. Though they were treated well, the king now rvalked
IlS.yadunne, agreeing to pay a" heavy indemnitv in cash, a quantity
tall and proud. He refused to accept l-'aptism except frorn the hands
of the governor at Goa, Don, Jod.o de Castro, or his son, and said that
of preciorrs stones and several war-elephants.23 he rvoriid not allorv his subjects to ernbrace the nerv faith until
Though the company o{ Portuguese soldiers had arriled too late the PortLrguese had captured and ceded to him "the kingdom of
to influence the course of the war, yet the rumoured imminence of Mavadunne and all this island uptc .|affnapatnam".26
its arrival and exaggerated reports of its strength had probably been But the Portuguese did not want to be inlolved in an escalating
clecisive factors in lfayadunne's decision to call off the attack and conflict. \'fayadunne's projected attack also failed to materialize.
conclude peace. Another factor rvhich contributed to ttre same result Karrdrr therefore had no further use for Portuguese troops. Its ruler
had been the success with t'hich the Kandyan ruler had driven a had no use {or the Cathoiic religion either, and a r,isiting missionary
r'verige into the Kotte-Sitarvaka axis. reported that he did not know even to make the sign of the cross.2?
Ileanwhile his new a1lv, BhuvanekabAhu, who had had first-hand
experience of the Portuguese as allies, urged him to rid himseli of
This'is the only way in which l can reconcile the seem:ingly contradictory them. Tire Kandyan king's attitude towards the Portuguese became
in{ormation given in the correspondence publishccl by Schurhqnmer and hostile, and he began to mobilize his forces. Barreto therefore irurric-
\rrrretzsch ancl that in the Nitha Devaia inscription in Kandy (Ep'igraphia d1y decided to retreat and burning his baggage and fighting part o{
Zeyl,ottica IV pp. u7-32). The inscription dated 3o Nlarch r543 re{ers to a the way, retired to Colombo through the Sitawaka 1ands.28 Though
tuinuit in the-hiil country caused by the Portuguese being settlcd by the
loyal troops o{ some specificd provinces of the kingdo-.Th9 Portugucse
rebcllion in thc areas bctween the capital of the Kan-
<lricumenti refer to a-Irincomalee 2I. Schurhammer and Voretzsch, op. cit. I pp. r83-4; II p. 4zt.
dJ'an hinsidom ancl and thc irlability o{ the. king's t-roops to 25. Ibid I p. 367; II p. 465, 476.
Lontact ri'ith thc Portuguese force u'bich had arrivecl at the latter Rajcr,uali,ya p.
"itabli"Lt
place. I(antlvrin-Portuguese relations itnrnr:ciiately, follorving give no hint 58.
o{ :rnv clislrleasute between the partics, u'hich I'ou1r} havc been the case i{ 26. Sclrurhammer and Voretzsch, op.cit. II pp. 466, 47-6.
therc'h:rcl bccn a c1ash. I conclude {rom this that it r'r'as the Portuguese JCBRAS vot. XX pp. rz5-6.
mutineers v.ho clashecl with the Kzr.ndyan troops :rncl that therc{ore the That Portuguese assistance could make him the emperor of Ceylon was a
Goa authoritres dicl not pursue the rlatter. Schurhamrner ancl Voretzsch, :gggestion p't into the king of Kandy's heaci by a Portuguese iesiclent in
op.c'it. I pp. r75-77. Kangly, in the hope of converting him-to the Caihoiic faiti. Schurhammer
EZ I\ pyt. z7-32. and Voretzsch, op. cit, II pp. 4o3-4.
Sclrurhammol ancl Voretzsch , op. cit.I pp. 276, 355-56, 374. 27. Schurharlmer and Voretzsch , op.cit.I p.
Z7+.
Ibid. I pp. 355, 368, 37\, 42r.
28. Schurhammer ancl Voretzsch , op. cit.II pp.
466-9.
Raiauaiiya p. 58. The quantum of the inde_mnity_is variously given as JCIIRAS vol. XX pp. rz6-13o.
z,4oo,oo6 fan,ant, 4oc,ooo fanam and. zo,ooo odd parddos.
18 JOURNAL, R.A.S. (SRI LANKA) Vol' XVII' (Neu Sevies)' 1973 THE POLITICS OF SUR\TIVAL I9

the oieces of artiilerv that Barreto had left behind in Kandy. were nrore Dliant than the king, the Portuguese-hoped to esp.ouse Ihe son's
f-"t..'."iuin"d io tlre'Portuguese, with a handsorne financial subven- ;:;;;;;a thercby obtainiscendancy over thc kingdom'3r
of events ended
ii"".f fi,OOO pardaos to c&er expenses,ze this seriesfriendly
;it; fi;"t;;; pJtioa a"ti"g which K.andl' had sought relations After de{eating Mayadunne, D. Jorge de Castro asked for Bhu-
;]til, ;":Ju.,i'ed assistanie from, the Portuguese as a counterweight uorr"Lut,otru's assislance to lead an eipedition to the Kandyan king-
to the Sitawaka king's clesigns on Kandy, sometitnes in assoclatlon al"i. tjfr"""nekabdhu was in a dileinma: he was obliged to the Por-
*lith hi, brother, thJ ruler o"{ I(otte. Of ihe three Portuguese expedi- ;;;,'";" {or their help, but rvas allied to the Kandyan royal house'
-expedition
tions d"uring these years, one hacl failecl-to establish contact with the iii |ru,.,f to stall thc by adr'ising strongly against_it. But
Tlhuvanekatdhu into
ii;";t ; kirg, u',oih",. had a"rri-..ed irr Kan6y too late, rvhile the third 0". Cnrtro rl-isregarded tLe ad!ice-ancl dragged
also liad arrivetl rvhen it was no longer neecled. Thc main difficultlt o" allLnce against Kanr11', in rvhich ihcy agree_d ft.' rnake
;;A P;tttg,rcse aicl,. I(and1' hard rtrilized"during this.lreriod' was "f."rir,.
*rr,,n Kan.i1',lritl drVidc its tcnrilorios and lt'rLsulc:* ellralh- Scttillg
that it
-never
rvas availablc wlnn hr s'antetl it nor in ttre quantunr or,it ir., ir.t. Mirch 1550, Castro arrived at the head oi the joint Portu-
suf&cient for his Purposes. sucse Ko1-te forces u,ithin a fcrv miles o{ thc Kandyan ca;--,itai. }dere
i'h. Kandvan lnrccs attack,'C, killing off nea|i1 200 ].' 'rtuguese,
on hearing of the d6bacle o{ .antonio Moniz Barreto's-experli-
{elt that iniuring ,]:l"utv *ot", antl capturing all arms and baggage'32 Portuguese
tionaif i"r." t? iiandy, the portuguese authorities at Goa insincere "ni,,itt.lrt rva"s sh,,v,'n, c,ir;id n,r more lrt,r[
Ka.ndy {lrcn tlleir friendship
thev liad been cleceiveld into embaiking on a mission rvith assistln its deiences.
pioit-tit.t. They thercfore willingly entertained friendly overtures
irorn ltav,fdunne, who had alread! won over Barreto lvhen the iatter Bhuvanekabihu had sent his men to invade Kandv and this
d;;;;;d'hiGii ona his armv to tne Sitawaka lands, latigued and should have strained the Kandy-Kotte alliance' BuL there is uo
i"tr"iEft"a, uit.t folced march from Kandy' .Mayadunne
sought to eviclence that it irernranently damaged the rcLationship. For one
uuitd ut.l offensive" alliance against Kandv on this foundation, and sent thing, the Kotte iuler had helped the -P.ortuguese-under duress; in
an to Goa with'gifts--ior. tire viceroy, o$c.ri1S-.lo bg a fact somc Portuguese attributed the failure of the expedition to
"*b"rsy
vassal of Portugal, He also suggestetl a lo,lnt SltawaKa-
of tire king Bhuvanekabahu's lukelvann support, if not machinations. And his
fort"g""t. force"to take K"andy, 19- b" rr'tied thereafter by one of contribution to the expeditiorr had been minimal. For another, if
his sons in the name of the king of Portugal and the equal division
of Kanclv were to brake off relations with Kotte on this or any other
ground, it rvould be left witliout a single friend or_ally. This knowledge
the treasures o{ the king of KJndy.3o Though the Portuguese autho- iushioned the alliance ag,ainst stresses, and friendship with Kotte was
rities at Goa did not act"on the proposals from M5.yd.dunne, that they a cornerstone of Kandy's foreign relations during these years.
were willing to entertain them shows that their role vis-),-vis Kandy
was changing, frorr, erstwhile friend to open enemy' The death of Bhuvanekabahu in 1551, and the period of political
uncertainty and instability that followed in Kotte required readjust-
Though the Portuguese were unwilling to act on Mayadunne's ment in Kandyan policy. There was a real chance that Vidiye Randara
ihey
proposal,'B"t felt thal some punishment- should be meted out to might einerge as Kotte's strong man, ruling as regent to the late
ii"rlay. punitive expedition could be contemplated unless king's grandson and defying both Mayadunne's claims to the Kotte
"o troops and porters were available, and for that
native auxiliary throne and Portuguese attempts to dominate Kotte's internal politics.
the support of a local-ruler was essential. In 1549 that problem was Kandy therefore supported him, offering him aid in his struggle
solved, ivhen late that year Mayadunne resumed the struggle against against Sitawaka, and at one stage even a base of operations. But
Kotte. On Bhuvanekatahu's ippeal to Goa, the authorities there when support for Vidiye began to erode, and it hppeared unlikely
decided to send Dom .Jorge de castro with considerable forces to
t.t. tn" field against itayadontre. Dom jtJorge was also instructed Schurhammer and Voretzsch, op. cit. II pp" 546, 54g, 55o,559-60,
to toot< into the iroblem of Kandy, where, rvas reported, the prince JCBRAS vol. XX pp. T33-4.
pueyroz, op. eit.p. z75fI.
XarJ6yaaae Bandara had fallen out with the king his_father, and
Schurhammer and Voretzsch, op. cit.II pp. 55o, 56r-3.
*uging war against him from Uva' As this prince was known to be
32.
*"t JCBRAS vol. XX pp. r4o-2.
gueyroz, op. cit. pp. z7z-3,278.
Some Portuguese documents make it out that D. Jorge de Castro only
29. Schurhammer and Voretzsch, op. citr.II pp. 495-496. wanted to find out whether the king of Kandy wishedlo be a Christian.
JCBRASvol.XXP' r3r' But this is an improbable story, as"the expeditionary force consisted of
II pp' 476-8, 6oo Portuguese soidiers,
30" Schurhammer and Voretzsch, op. cil. 498'
20 JOURNAL, R.A'S. (SRI LANKA) Vot' XVII, (New Series)' 1973
THE POLITICS OF SURVIVAL
that he would fulfil the promises held out earlier, Kandy withdrew
support and returned to th'e traditional alliance with Kotte's legitimate ]I)wlalld.s,andontlrisheconcentratedhisenergiesforthenextten
ruler.33 l"-'f r"r";"e Kandv alone. But he made an attempt to secure a
in the 1540s been sealed 'K'#ei;;;.1t"...., pt6rr"ltv to advance a claim to the throne o{ Kandy
Just as the Kotte-Kandy friend.ship 4?d ;;;;'il; right.'But the KanclSran-ruler re{usei the marliage offer'
in a"marriage between the ioyal hgqses, it was now renewed with a
.i*;tu. allia-"nce. When Dharmapala's queen died, in -1573 another ii"f"]rl"*: t. giie the princess to the Kotte r[ler.38 To him, Sitawaka's
Kandvan princess was brought down to-take her place.3a BeJore-that ir-rrrri..."*uoi. un*eico,r'e as its open hostility'
ho#.,ro., another linli betwcen lhe two -royal houses.h.ap b-een InlsT4,RajasinhaattackcdKandy,withinconclusiveresults.
l.,rsed. In 1557, Dharmapala had embraced the Catholic faith. The
"""nli t.-^,rr rrears later. anotlier attack r,vas lairnched, the Sitawaka forces -
li"'g Lf kandv had also been baptised, thought at what date is *ot irt',di;, g";"-*ti to th. kir'gd' in. Balana' Tlrc king of.K.andy ci'lled
known.35 ,,r.nll." iiori ugttest'allie" for-help rrid a force of 150 so]dicrs went to
the late 15,10's ancl early years of the next deca'li.s, Kandy-had
ln ii"^"at. in"t k"ingd"m saved itself on this ()ccasion too,Inbut not'
n"nt oI
beenlnlv little less hostile to lnb Portuguese than to Sitarvaka. Now ;i;r;;i."t., .iu,l ir', n. pxsl linnS ,I the Portrrgucsemobtltzed.
troops'31'

;h;;"";t ; new tilt in Kandyan foreign relations-to friendship il,cs" at rar.ks rvere liajasirrha's {ull rcsources SuclI an
.ri,"diri"n, throwirg into tl,c lray a n,rssi'c iorco estimaled at 30.000
and dependence on the Portuguese, as in the early 1540s' had recupe-
;l;,-;; i;,.lerrakei only in lSSi or 1582. aftcrtoSitar,ia.ka
what brought about this change? chiefly a change in the relative ;;;;,11[- th.long draw*-out siege it had laidlorce Colombo in 1579-80.
nositions of Sit-awaka ancl Kotte. Rhuvanekabahrr had managed to X.rrfii:'"aa. {acef, Rajasinha with a bigger at Balana' but was
iontain Sitarvaka, tliough r,vith diffrc.ltv at times. His successor ;;;;;,4.'ihe Sitawaka monarchy flnally consummated its 40-year
Dh";pil was unable io do this. In the 1560s, t1e Kotte kingdom
rvent ota-"*t,iiion and occupied thc hill count.ry' 1'lre Kandyan.royai
city of Kotte under
shrank ancl even its capital Jayarn'ardana Ian,ilt. lled to Trinco,nalt.e, and altcr a bricl.sojo.urn ln tne vannl
;ii; Sii;"k" ruler. Sitarvaka, began to dominate the polit(s of Ceylon
,i"rt""g *1,l.fi it tried-.unsuccessfully--to enlist t1e support o{ the
;;;th ;l ih; becl'ru Oya as KottJbecame ectipsed, forcing Dharqapdla i-r;i chiefs, finally took re{uge wlih ttre Portuguese at Mannar.ao
io l".o-. nn unwilling guest of the Portuguese at Colombo' Kandy
h;Jt;; to maiitiin its anti-Portuguese stance so long.as it In retrospect, it is seen that the essential condition for the sut-
"ble
tt"J U""n supported by a strong Kotte. But.rvithout that,support, it was viouiof the lianclyan kingdom as an independent entity in the 16th
the south
;;";irr' *"* tn" illvision J{ th" -rop-ower and resources ofcompeting
fr-.d to leiri on the Portuguese once again. The ruler there embra.cing
tn" b.li,"fi. faith had rem6ved a point- of friction. The two Cathoiic and solrtlr-westcrn sector ol'thc island among a number o[
;ii[.;-"] k""ay and Kotte-formed a" natural a"lliance, with their itut"*. \Vhenever this sector was wholly-dr almost wholly-under
Foii"guit" pnttJtt. joining-in !o 1$e it.a. triple partnership' As with pnuti.*l authority, Kandyan_indepetrdett." was in danger. Kotte's
the 19"th .yit"- o{ subsidiary alliances in India, a company "n. on it prior to iSZt, a"nd Sitav,aka's attacks in 1580-81, botit
"ttnii.r
.i-frrt"g""se ioldiers was stationed in Kandy.30 This guaranteed,
".tit.ttr, bore this out.
,*org oiher things, that its external affairs would be conducted on A inultiple-state polity in tire area, ho\^'cver, did not automatically
lines acceptable to the Portuguese. conter imm'nitv o, Kandi . Thc states had, within iimits, to be evenl,'
Naturally the alliance involved obligations' Thus when Dhar- llalanced in their militarv'and othcr resorlrces' Where one state could
mapala and. his Portugrrese protectors werchard-pressed by Rajasinha dominate the otirer, as sitai,vaka did in the rnid-1540s, it still corrld
.i*Sit.*"f.u in l565,"the Kandyan king attacked Sitawaka's flank: present a serious threat to the hiil countrv, and exact tribute. But
t" across the Seven korales and struck at Chilaw, on the outer kancllt l,ard off the danger to its ind-ependence h-v. allying rvith
cor-rlcl
""i
perimeter of Rajasinha's domains.3T the l(otte kingdorn, Sitawaka's enemy.
The Sitawaka monarch did not hit back at Kandy inimediately.
In its externeil relations, Kandy had no permanent enemies
or fricncls. Kotte, Sitau'aka and the Portuguese rvere in turn its enemy
His main concern was tbe destruction of Portuguese power in the or friencl. In lian<ly's ever-shifting, er.;er-changing relations with
external po\\rers, tlie- only perrnanent element was its unchanging
J.t. RajaualiYaPP. 59-6o. obiect--thc cryest for survival.
;d;;il";tifi'"iao aerratad'os e Concevtos d'e pazes I(Lisbon r88r)p' zz5 ff"
34.
15. CBRAS vol. XX P. 233.
CBRAS vol. XX PP.233-4. 38. Queyroz, op. cit. p. 424,
36.
39" Il:id,. p. q3o.
37. bid.pp.234-5. .1o. Rujaualitta pp.63-64.
Qnc-vroz, op. ci.t. pp. 433-9.

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