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

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).