King Rajasinghe then retreated as he was not prepared to face them. He also meant to save himself from the insult he would have had to face. The king pointed out to them, the injustice of a trip of this nature, as they were violating the terms of the peace treaty they had made with him.

These armies marched up to Menikkadawara. The king who was keen to stop this invasion, in whatever way, sent delegates back to the Council in Colombo and to the General. That too was proved futile.

He sent a Franciscan priest to Colombo to talk about this matter. The General understood that the king was frightened over this trip. This encouraged him to raise more and more armies.

In the meantime, a priest of the Augustine Order also went and tried to stop this invasion. This was the third attempt.
De Melo marched past Attapitiya, Balana and Kadawata. There was no opposition whatsoever.

These armies then entered the Sinhala Kingdom. King Rajasinghe II then fled Kandy. The Portuguese thought, it was risky to spend a lot of time in Kandy and so got ready to come to Balana. They set fire to the royal palace before they left the city.

By Halaliye Karunathilake
Edited and translated by Kamala Silva
Illustrated by Saman Kalubowila

Firefighting

Kids Essays