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The city of Kandy lies at an altitude of
488.6 meters (1629 feet) above sea level in the center of the island and
surrounded by the ranges of mountains. It is still very much a focal point of
Sri lankan culture. It was the capitol of last generation of Sri lanka`s
kings until it fell in to the hands of British in 1815.
Kandy was originally known as Senkadagala pura after a hermit named Senkada
who lived there. Many of Sinhalese people call it “Mahanuwara” meaning
the "Great City”. But the name Kandy was derived from the Word
Kanda, which means mountain. Due to it’s geographical location Kandy was not
an easy target for the foreign invaders who could gain the control of coastal
area of the island. Thus Kandyan culture was abler to foster and maintain its
own social structure, mode of living, Art & Architecture. The kings of
Kandy ensured the safety and sovereignty of the hill capitol and it’s great
culture until the British finally captured the city in 1815.
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The royal palace in Senkadagala was built
by King Vikramabahu the 3rd of Gampola on the advice of a Brahmin who
selected the site as a lucky ground for a Capital city. The first king to
ascended the throne of Senkadagala was Sena Sammata Wickramabahu.
When Wimaladharmasuriya the 1st ascended the throne in the city in 1592 he
surrounded the whole of the vast city with a massive wall to ward off the foe
and also fought against Portuguese at Danture and winning king returned to
the city with the captive princess Dona Catherina as his queen and further
improved the city and his palace using the skills of the captured Portuguese
worriers and made the city of Senkadagala as the Capital of the hills. Then
the Sacred tooth relic was brought back to the city from Delgamuwa Viharaya
in the Sabaragamuwa Province and the King built (in 1592) a two storied
temple in the neighborhood of the royal palace, thus adding yet another
religious building to the already existing Natha Devale dedicated to the guardian
god of the City. Since then it became the most sacred and venerated temple of
the Buddhists.
There were 12 rulers who ruled the city of Senkadagala from 1469 to 1815
A.D.
During the period of Vimaladharmasuriya the 1st country was prosperous and
peacefull.but with the succession of King Senarath, lots of internal problem
arose and as he was not a crafty ruler but a pious Buddhist who has been a
monk before ascending the throne. The king retired to Meda Maha Nuwara
“Central Great City “as Portuguese marched to the under General Azevado and
destroyed the whole city.
His successor Rajasingha the 2nd was a strong warrior and during his time
there were two Portuguese invasions ;once in 1630 led by Constantine de Sa
and in 1638 led by General Diogo de Melo de Castro.Portuguse were completely
defeated in the famous Randeniwela battle in 1630 and in the remarkable
Gannoruwa battle in 1638 but the Capital was set fire by the enemy. Even Rajasingha
the 2nd had to face the internal revolt in 1664 led by Ambanwelle Rala.He was
supported by Dutch who had arrived on cinnamon trade to the Country and
extended the Kandyan Kingdom over a large territory in 1658.Although he
joined the Dutch in the hope of driving away the Portuguese, his plans and
hopes were in vain as Dutch were mainly interested in Cinnamon and so was the
king who thought it was a source of income.
The Dutch began their Kandyan invasion in 1659.The territories won by the
king over a period of 20 years were lost to the Dutch in three years. Battle
took place in 1665 and again in 1675 and the Dutch were made to suffer
defeat.
His successor was his son Vimaladharmasuriya the 2nd and according to his
thought king of the hills is also the king of the whole country so he
maintained peace and harmony with the Dutch and as a result people were able
to live without fear.
The kings of Kandyan kingdom sought assistance from Vadugas (Nanayakkars of
India who spoke Telugu as their language) from time to time against the
invading Portuguese.Vimaladharmasuriya the 1st and King Senarath brought down
Vadugas from Tanjore and Madura to fight the Portuguese. When King Rajasingha
the 2nd fought the battle at Gannoruwa against Portuguese there have been a
thousand Vadugas.With them came their families too who later inter mixed with
the Sinhalese population in the hills.
Not only the common man even kings having connections with the Nanayakkar
rulers of India even started marrying from vadugas as It is said that the
Kings took these decisions in order to quell the power of his rebellious
chiefs who were trying to get the throne back and to continue a pure royal
line unmixed with the nobility.also there has been a absence of suitable
royal families in Sri Lanka during that period. King Rajasingha the 2nd and
his son Wimaladharmasuriya the 2nd had brought princess from Madura.
With the accession of Sri Vira Parakrama Rajasingha, The last Sinhalese king
of Kandyan Kingdom had the throne in 1707 AD and his marrying a vaduga
princess from Madura the Kandyan Kingdom fell in to the hands of
Nanayakkars.
According to the law of succession in ancient Sri Lanka, It was passed from
farther to son born of his queen or from brother to brother or sometimes to
his sister’s son. However the royal status of both parents were considered
important. But Narendrasingha selected the brother of his chief Madura Queen
to succeed him as Sri Vijaya Rajasingha following the rule of succession had
among the people in the Southern India at that time. With this came the end
of Sinhalese dynasty and king Narendrasingha was the last Sinhalese king to
rule the country.
This king was never religious or courageous but led the life of a playboy. He
was known to Sinhalese as the “Sellan Nirindu” meaning playful king. He spent
much of his life in his palace at Kundasale and at Hanguranketha; The
villages close to the city. He had only a few close associates and many of
kandyan aristocrats were against with him. But many foreigners were among his
close associates. They never encouraged the development of the Buddhism but
was very close to the catholic missionaries in Kandy.That led to criticizing
of him and there were several uprising against his rule.
After all these events and incidents, Birth of a great Buddhist revivalist
took place in this period, the venerable Velivita Saranankara, who became a
great scholar and a guardian of Buddism.The king was not hostile towards him
and later encouraged him in his religious work a little and He died in 1739.
As there was no children from his queen of Madura his wish was to hand over
the throne to his brother in law. This was not fully accepted by the
community because king left a son named Unambuwe Bandara with a queen of
unequal rank. claim of the brother in law was unsuccessful. The child was
educated by the venerable Valivita Saranankara and ascended the throne of
Kandy in 1739 as Sri Vijaya Rajasingha.As a result the royal court was divided
in to two. The king embraced the Buddhism and helped his teacher Ven. Valvita
Saranakara to promote his Buddhist activities. Sri Vijaya Rajasinha too
married another Nanayakkar prince from Madura and again got married to
another from Madura seven years after the first. But he had no any children
from either of them.
After the death of king the brother of his Madura queen ascended the throne
in 1747 as Kirti Sri Rajasingha.He got married in 1749 to queen of Madura and
He strictly believed that only a Buddhist could be the King of the Sinhalese
and helped to develop the education which has been suffered due to the
influence of Portuguese and King Rajasingha the 1st and renovated and built
few religious monuments under the guidance of Ven. Valivita Saranankara
.Dalada Perahera was once again conducted with great fashion along with the
four Devala Peraheras and with the king himself taking part in the
procession.It is said that he tried to follow the work of King Parakramabahu
the great of Polonnaruwa Period. So his period of rule is considered a golden
period of the history of Buddhism in the Kandyan period.
In 1760 there was a series of battle between the Dutch and the Kandyans and
it went on for about six years. Dutch attempted twice to capture the Kandyan
Kingdom and failed. Even a peace treaty was forwarded to the king but he refused
it. When the Dutch could reach the city and destroyed the city, The King took
the tooth relic and vanished from the capital. In 1766 the both parties
entered in to an agreement as it was necessary to seek assistance of the
Dutch to drive away the Portuguese.Again the rulers of Kandy felt the
necessity of some foreign assistance to drive away the Dutch and sought the
assistance of British.at first British were not that interested in the
Kandyan Kingdom but later on having felt the importance of the Trincomalee
habour they thought of getting assistance from the Kandyan kingdom for their
war against the French.
Kirti Sri Rajasingha died in 1781 and his brother ascended the throne of
Kandy as Rajadhi Rajasingha.The new king did not trust the British and sought
the support of the French.British captured the Trincomalee from Dutch in1798
and defeated them in maritime provinces too in 1798.Then the British realized
that it would not be difficult to establish their power over the island.
King Rajadhi Rajasingha died in 1798 and during his period again the kadyan
Kingdom was collapsing in everything. Rajadhi Rajasingha had no children and
the prime minister at the time called “Pilimatalawe” nominated an eighteen
years old “kannasami” who was a distant relation of the deceased king as the
successor to the throne thinking to capture the throne once the opportunity
offered. The brother of three queens of the King disliked the decision and
sought refuge with the British.So Kannasami ascended the throne in 1798 as
Sri Vickrama Rajasingha.The king later disliked the activities of
Pilimatalawe and in the mean time British tried to capture Kandy in 1803 and
was a failiure. Then the British thought of getting the support of Kandyan
chieftains who were against the King.Pilimatalawe infact approached the
British for help. British thought of a tricky way of capturing Kandy and
“John D’oyly” went on to learn the native language, associated with scholars,
Composed poetry and studied the culture and belief of the people. That helped
them to build up friendship with all the notable Kandyan chiefs of the time
and learn the inside political story of Kandyan Kings
Sri Vickrama Rajasingha was a crafty ruler and did everything possible to
make his ideas and plans true. He even divided chieftain on rule and drew his
Nanayakkar relatives closer and appointed new chiefs like Molligoda in to
high positions. The old chiefs like Ehalepola were made to feel angry and
jealous on these acts of the King. He also appointed two chiefs where there
had been one to administer certain provinces, so they would quarrel with each
other. He punished those chiefs whom caused suffering to the poor people thus
won the heart of many. The prices of essential goods were controlled and
liquor was prohibited. He built a beautiful octagon in the Temple of the
tooth relic for his use and the lake in front was prepared with forced
labour. His decision to move out the four shrines dedicated to God Natha,
Vishnu, Katharagama and Pattini was disliked by the Buddhist population. King
was shown with an uncontrollable temper and once ordered to execute his son
born to one of the sub queens. In the mean time the enmity between
Pilimatalawe and the King risen day by day and he was dismissed from the
office in 1810.Then Pilimatalawe tried to assassinate the king through a
Malay man and failed. As a result of his act king ordered to execute him with
7 others. Then the king appointed Chief Ehelepola as the Prime Minister (Maha
Adikaram) but never trusted him and moved out to take charge of Sabaragamuwa
province and in the mean time he appointed another person to the same
province as Ehelepola’s rival. Ehelepola kept in touch with the “De Oyle “
and raised a rebellion against the throne.”Moolligoda was sent to destroy it
and Ehalepola had to take the shelter of British.
King was changed to act as a mad person from then onwards. A large number of
people including Buddhist monks who were guilty and innocent were condemned
to death as traitors. Then the brutal death punishment carried out on the
wife and children of Ehelepola shocked the entire nation. It is said that for
two days the whole of Kandy except the Kandyan court was like a house of
mourning and no fire was kindled, no food was dressed and a general fast was
held due to that incident. Both the people and their chiefs awaited the
arrival of British to drive away the cruel king. British declared the war
against the king of Senkadagalapura on the 10th of January in 1815 with the
advice and help of Ehelepola and Molligoda maha adikaram too joined the
British.although the king fled to Dumbara with his consorts and few
attendants soon he was captured and on the 18th of February in 1815 and sent
to Colombo and from there in 1816 to vellore in South India.Then on 2nd of
March in 1815 the representatives of the two parties The British and the
Sinhalease met in the audience hall of Kandy and to sign a pact as the
British are the rulers of the whole country.
Although the Kandyan chiefs and peasants and monks joined British to get rid
of the cruel king Sri Vikrama Rajasingha, They never expected the British to
rule the country. They only asked British to help to drive away the king.
Kandyan expected that Ehelepola would become their king. People again lost
their hopes and they had no king to rule or protect them and their religion.
Then the people got together under the leadership of Kandyan chief like “
Madugalle” and “Keppitipola”. In the men time British took “Ehelepola”,
“Millawa” and few other in to custody, as they were to join the new rebellion.
British could over come the situation with the capture of Keppetipola and
Madugalle and condemned them to death. From then British continued to rule
the whole country until 1948 and Sri Lanka was offered the freedom on 4th of
February in 1948.
More
Info
Rulers List
History of Tooth Relic
Dalada Perahera
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