Concise Mahavamsa Ruwan Rajapakse, P.E., Sinhalanet.com 1

Concise Mahavamsa Ruwan Rajapakse, P.E., Sinhalanet.com 141
forces were defeated and General Noronnha was killed. Portuguese campaign to capture Kandy from
the eastern theatre failed.
Poisoning of Prince Kumarasiha:
Ruler of the Uva province, Prince Kumarasiha died due to poisoning. After that incident, Prince
Vijayapala and Prince Rajasiha fought with each other. During battles that took place between the two,
Prince Rajasiha prevailed. Prince Vijayapala left the country.
Atrocities of Portuguese Commander Louis Teyxeyra:
Portuguese sent an army under Louis Teyxeyra to Jaffna. He committed diabolical atrocities in Jaffna.
Following are some quotes from Rebeiro and Queyroz.
“The relieves met at the spot and on the day appointed, and without any delay fell on the
enemy ego were besieging the place, nor did he fail to offer a fierce resistance in which we
lost some of our brave blacks (Sinhalese), but he was finally routed and we cutoff the heads
of more than three thousand. We had seven thousand prisoners in our hands. These were
natives of our territory who had rendered support to the enemy and as they were subjects of
the crown it was not possible to keep them as slaves. They were distributed among officers
and soldiers. There was however cases where the same degree of kindness was not shown
to them, some were impaled and others hacked open with an axe. Some were hacked in two
with axes like trees, the breasts of women were torn off, the wombs of mothers were slit
open and the infants they carried in their arms forced within”.
Ribeiro, Joao, Historic tragedy of the island of Ceilão, 1685
“The General ordered Louis Teyxeyra to go ahead with 100 Portuguese and lie in ambush at
the narrow pass at the forest, and changing the vanguard and rearguard by turs, he
pretended great haste in order to bait the enemy who arrived at Sofragu blindly and without
order, when Teyxeyra fell upon them in the rear and put them to greater disorder. There
upon they were charged by the General with such impetuosity that more than 8000 heads
were cut off without the loss of a single Portuguese, though in that march more than 500
lascarines (Sinhalese fighting for the Portuguese) were lost not so much from the rigor of the
sword as of the sickness”
Ref: Queyroz: 1617-1680
Author’s Note: It is not possible to behead 8,000 fighting men without losing a single
Portuguese. Most probably this was a massacre of innocent civilians by Teyxeyra or an exageration.
Four Powerful Sinhalese Christians Defect to the kingdom of Kandy:
Four powerful Sinhalese officers in the Portuguese army defected to the kingdom of Kandy with their
soldiers. The defection occurred during a war with the Kandians. This defection was considered to be
a major blow to the Portuguese power in the country. This was a very important event that ultimately
led to the expulsion of Portuguese.