Prince Rajasinghe flees
The Portuguese chased the king’s army that was fleeing. They were chased beyond Nakalagama. In the meantime, Don Phillip Maskarinnas who came from Cochin, was appointed General temporarily. After some time, the Viceroy in Goa made that appointment permanent.
During this period, King Senarat got his mercenary army to encourage the betrayal of the city. Ekanayake Mudali of Matara got to know this and revealed their conspiracy. Afterwards, he went to Kandy.
He managed to suppress the Portuguese soldiers in Menikkadawara. The king’s son, Prince Rajasinghe was able to conquer Biyagama, Kaduwela and Malwana. Later on he tried to attack Colombo. But that attempt ended in failure. Their attempt to conquer the fort of Batticaloa was also unsuccessful.
In October 1631, George de Almeida was appointed Captain General of Sri Lanka.
The very next year, he captained an army against Prince Rajasinghe. This army captured Kaduwela and Biyagama and proceeded to Malwana.
Prince Rajasinghe left Malwana. Though he tried to capture Alauwa Mathiyagama, that too ended in failure. One of the main conspirators of the Prince was Don Thiyodosiyo. But the Prince quarrelled with him. This made him join the Portuguese. Ultimately, the king consented to make peace.
By Halaliye Karunathilake
Edited and translated by Kamala Silva
Illustrated by Saman Kalubowila