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

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Concise Mahavamsa Ruwan Rajapakse, P.E., Sinhalanet.com 142 “These four native Mudaliers were all Christians born in Colombo, members of the noblest families in the island and related to the chief Portuguese settlers, all men of wealth who had received higher distinctions whom the General greatly respected and kept by his side. They were in command of the fighting men in our territory and were named Don Alexio, Don Cosmo, Don Balthazar and Don Theodozio. Though they were brought up among us they conspired with the King of Candea (Kandy) and they were the cause of our total ruin, as we shall see; for in the end the blacks are all our enemies” Ribeiro, Joao, Historic tragedy of the island of Ceilao, 1685. Don Cosmo’s Speech to his Friends: (Queyroz) Before defection to the Kandy King, Don Cosmo gave a speech to his friends. The speech was reported by Sinhalese Christian Priest Felipe De Botello and was reported by Abbe Le Grand. “How long shall we live as slaves to these vile Portuguese. Whose harsh servitude you have borne for nearly 125 years without any liberty. We are unable to do anything other than what they permit us. Is it possible that you should be so far removed from reason that though the liberty is the thing of greatest value among mortals, you should be so habituated for slavery as altogether to forget it…………” Ref: Queyroz: 1617-1680 On the other hand, Portuguese Captain General Constantine De Sa Noronha states that he treated them as his own sons. Noronha was killed when four defectors attacked from behind Portuguese lines. Noronha’s son (Rodriguez Menezes) who was also present at the battle was captured by Kandians and later released. He wrote a book “The rebellion of Ceylon” describing the event. Defection of four Mudaliers to King Rajasiha II was a major blow to Portuguese since the defection happened during a battle. Portuguese army was annihilated in that battle. ~KING RAJASIHA II~ (1629 AD –1687 AD) After subduing Prince Vijayapala, Rajasiha became the sole power of the Kandy kingdom. Author’s Note: Prince Vijayapala Refused to Convert: (Not Mentioned in Mahavamsa): Prince Vijayapala fled to Colombo seeking Portuguese help. Portuguese forced him to convert to Christianity but he refused to do so. Prince Vijayapala was taken prisoner and sent to Goa by Portuguese. Prince Vijayapala lived rest of his life as a prisoner, never yielding to the Portuguese demand of conversion. Finally, he died in Goa as a prisoner and a Buddhist. Arrival of Olandas: King Rajasiha sent dignitaries to meet Orlandas who came to the eastern seashore. At this time Portuguese had a fort in the eastern seashore. (Batticloa fort). King Rajasiha’s forces with the help of Orlandas, attacked the Portuguese fort and subdued the Portuguese.
Concise Mahavamsa Ruwan Rajapakse, P.E., Sinhalanet.com 143 After this time, King Rajasiha as the head of both armies (Sihala and Orlanda) carried on the war against the Portuguese. King’s forces destroyed forts of Portuguese, made of massive stonewalls located at various parts of the country. (Author’s Note: Combined forces of King Rajasiha and Dutch captured the Batticloa fort in 1638 and Colombo fort in 1656. This wouldn’t have been possible if not for the artillery and sea cover given by the Dutch). Treaty Between King Rajasiha and Orlandas: A treaty was signed between King Rajasiha and Orlandas where Orlandas will be able to trade freely and in return Orlandas would provide protection for the coastline. (Author’s Note: The treaty between King Rajasiha and Dutch were signed on 1677. There is a famous Sinhalese saying regarding the treaty between King Rajasiha and the Dutch. “Inguru Dhee Miris Ganeema”. “Give ginger and get chilly pepper instead”. This phrase was made since later it was found that Dutch were no different than the Portuguese. King Rajasiha’s decision to form an alliance with Dutch to chase away Portuguese was a brilliant decision. Dutch were interested in making money through trade. They were not interested in destroying Buddhism or changing the Sinhalese society. Neither Dutch nor English tried to change the names of Sinhalese or the religion forcefully. One may not find Sarath Vansandents or Sunil Churchills in Sri Lanka today. Similarly, one may not find people belonging to the Dutch Reformed Church or Church of England. One could see the cultural damage done by the Portuguese by looking at the names of the Sri Lankan Cricket team that went to the 2003 world cup in South Africa. (S.T Jayasuriya, M.S Atapattu, P.A De Silva, WPUJC Vaas, R.P Arnold, K.C Sangakkara, DPMD Jayawardene, H.P Tillakaratne, KHRK Fernando, WRS De Silva, MKGCP Lakshitha, CRD Fernando, M Muralitharan, PDRL Perera, J Mubarak, MTT Mirando, HAPW Jayawardena). Cambridge Encyclopedia on Conversion of Ceylon: “The Sinhalese of the low country adopted and still retain Portuguese surnames like De Silva, De Souza, Fernando and Perera even though they have long since given up the Roman Catholicism which was usually linked with such names”. Ref: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives. Diogo Do Couto’s Comments on War in Lanka; “The island of Ceilao, amongst our discoveries proved to be the state what Carthage was to Romans. Little by little she consumed men and artillery to such a great amount, that she alone had used up in her wars more than all our other conquests in the East.” (Ref: Diogo De Couto (1590) – Translated to English by P.E. Pieris, Ceylon and the Portuguese, Luzac & Co., 1920).
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Concise Mahavamsa Ruwan Rajapakse, P.E., Sinhalanet.com 1

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