The Portuguese
succeeded in chasing away the Sitawaka army that attacked the city. The Sinhala forces which were camping close to the fort, dug a tunnel up to the security point of
St. Sebastian. The Portuguese devised
another method to arrest the Sinhala army. For a long time, both parties were using diverse
methods to fight each
other and so the fighting
continued. The Portuguese were victorious in every battle. While the fighting was going on like this, the Sinhala forces prohibited the delivering of food to the city.
As a result of this action, the citizens had to face famine. As food was obtained from India, the problem was overcome
and the fighting
continued. In the
meantime, the Portuguese went by sea, captured some coastal towns,
forcefully got some food items and brought them to Colombo. So the fighting between the two sides
continued for almost a
year and ten months. Finally, both sides
weakened.
Then, Mathias de Alberg came to Colombo with about 300 soldiers. They joined the Portuguese army in Colombo, divided them into groups and went and besieged the camp of the Sinhala army. They went on attacking. The Sitawaka forces were faced with a severe problem this time. Quite a number of powerful commanders
were killed in battle.
King Rajasinghe took the
soldiers who were left and crossed the river, before the Portuguese came
chasing after them.
The Portuguese were very happy over this victory after long years
of fighting. To display
their victory, they held
a procession. It is
during this time, that King Mayadunne passed away. For a period of about 50 years, he had been the erstwhile enemy of the Portuguese as well as the King of Kotte. He lived with the intention of becoming the king of the entire country. This, he could not accomplish. The Chulavamsa records, that his son Rajasinghe, was responsible for the death of King Mayadunne, his father.
Quite strange were the qualities of King Mayadunne. He was a shrewd, brave person who was after honour and fame. There is nothing
that he didn’t do, to attain his goal. Being the
youngest son of King Vijayabahu of Kotte, he tried to acquire the wealth of his father. He was never satisfied with the Kingdom of Sitawaka alone, which he rightfully got. He was constantly engaged in battles, to win over the Kingdom of Kotte as well.
King Mayadunne had a big obstacle in the presence of the Portuguese. This made him fight against them. With no strong opposition from King Buwanekabahu of Kotte, he plundered the lands that belonged to his other brother, Raigam Bandara. He would have plundered the lands of Kotte Kingdom too, but for the Portuguese. This king had foreign relations too. He got the help of the Zamorin of Calicut in India.
It is through this foreign friend that he got down Malabar armies, whenever he was becoming weak. Some Malabar commanders had to sacrifice their lives for the cause of King Mayadunne. He also tried to disrupt the friendship between King Buwanekabahu and
the Portuguese. He
managed to antagonize King Vickramabahu of Kandy with the Portuguese. On
certain occasions, he
tried to be friendly with the Portuguese.
He assisted the Portuguese to destroy the lives of commanders like Veediya Bandara. He even paid tribute to Portugal. Till death, he never gave up his hopes of capturing the Kingdom of Kotte, but managed to bring certain villages of the Kotte Kingdom under his rule. King Mayadunne posed as
the king of the entire
low country and
created a lot of trouble for the Portuguese. He even tried to capture the Kingdom of Kandy. The one and only aim of King Mayadunne was to become the king of the entire island of Sri Lanka.
He failed here. |
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