King Rajasinghe was planning to capture the Kandyan Kingdom.Karaliyadde, then King of Kandy had kept a small platoon of Portuguese
soldiers, for his safety. Veera Surendra of Peradeniya, who was one of his chieftains, joined the side of King Rajasinghe. King Rajasinghe, who had marched with a huge army, surrounded the army of the King of Kandy near Balana. King Karaliyadde and his men fled with the assistance of the Portuguese.
They fled to Trincomalee. There, they were joined by some more Portuguese soldiers. King Rajasinghe, conquered the Kandyan Kingdom. This made Rajasinghe, the king of a vast land that was never conquered by any other ruler of this century. Meanwhile, King Karaliyadde who was in Trincomalee, embraced Christianity as King John. However, he did not live long. He is said to have died of
small pox.
Before his demise, King Karaliyadde had made the Portuguese, the guardians of his daughter. She was Princess Kusumasana, who after embracing Christianity, came to be known as Dona Catherina. Karaliyadde’s nephew, Prince Yamasinghe was also placed in the charge of the Portuguese. Both of them were taken to Mannar, by the Portuguese, and they were looked after very well. At this stage, King Rajasinghe thought of attacking Colombo, with the help of all the soldiers of the areas that he had now conquered.
King Rajasinghe was very keen on
attacking Colombo. Before setting out on this mission, he thought of getting rid of everybody who would be a threat to him. He killed most of them, mercilessly. Among those killed were even some of his relatives. He grabbed the wealth of all these people. Veera Surendra, who helped him to capture Kandy, was killed by using a trap and getting him sunk in a deep pit. This trick was however revealed later. His son Konnappu Bandara, fled to Colombo.
King Rajasinghe sought the help of all the princes who lived in foreign lands, who were opposed to the Portuguese. To achieve this end, he sent
representatives all over. He employed the Malabar sea pirates, to obstruct any ship that came from Goa,
bringing assistance to the Portuguese. He
also planned to
interrupt the food
supply to Colombo.
He plundered the
villages that belonged to King Don Juan and the Portuguese.
The people were deeply angered by all these cruel deeds by King Rajasinghe. They were against him and in fact plotted to poison him and get rid of him. The king came to know of this plot and the result was tragic. Whoever, according to the king’s estimation, was plotting against him, had to die. The king made
some sacrifices and poojas to invoke blessings and
to make his plan
successful. Some believe that the king went to the extent of even making human sacrifices.
After attending to all these preliminary things, King Rajasinghe marched ready to fight. He was followed by a huge army, equipped with all new weapons.
This army began its march from Sitawaka and marched up to the limits of the Fort of Colombo. They put up camp in Boralugoda, Dematagoda and the marshy highlands areas which are
identified as Maligawatta and Maligakanda today.
John Corea de Brito, who had assumed duties as the Captain, was frightened of this enemy army. The little income he got from the trade in the city was also affected. It was with the greatest of difficulty that he managed to get at least a meagre meal for about 6,000 people who lived inside the Fort of Colombo. |
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