Gamini G. Punchihewa concludes his expos‚ of Ceylon's
famous captive: Robert Knox
Escape to freedom
Our next destination on Robert Knox's trail was Eladetta. On this trip
too I was joined by Thilak Palliyaguruge while Upali Perera came in his
car from Kandy to pick us up. Eladetta is not far from Kandy, just six
or seven miles away on the road to Daulagala.
When I visited here in 1985, I remember seeing a stone slab indicating
that Robert Knox and his companions had dwelt there. The words etched on
it are still to be seen: "Whereabout dwelt Robert Knox, Stephen Ruthland
1670-1673 and with them until 1674 Roger Couhd, Ralph Knight." Erected
in 1908 - J.P.L.
Knox's Eladetta
Robert Knox in his book 'An Historical Relation of Ceylon', describes
Eladetta thus:- ".. It lies some ten miles to the southwards of the city
of Cande in the country of Oudaneu ra in the town of Elledat."
At Eladetta I met someone who could throw light on Knox - Mr. Eladetta
Dissanayake Mudiyanselage Karunaratne - a Police Sergeant who had retired
in 1977 after serving the Police Department for 34 years. He told me that
the land he had been living on from 1974, where he had built his present
house was part of the land where Robert Knox and his companions had lived
and put up a house.
The paddy field (or the corn field, as Robert Knox termed it) was just
on the other side of the road belonging to the Nugawela family living in
the Eladetta Walauwa, close to Mr. Karunaratne's house.
The stone memorial of Knox lies within the grounds of Mr. Karunaratne's
house by the roadside. The memorial was initially placed on the other side
of the road, opposite his house but after road widening, it was re-erected
at his request on his own land close to the roadway. He has given permission
to the local authorities to have this stone memorial enclosed as a protective
measure by putting up a small wall or some sort of railing around it.
Priceless relic
Mr. Karunaratne told us how while he was digging a pit in his garden
in 1975, he had unearthed an object resembling a badge made of brass or
other metal with an insignia. The inscription on it reads "Quofas Et Gloria
Duccant".
This badge also has a moulding of a cannon mounted on wheels which he
surmised could have been the emblem of Knox's ship, 'Anne' (on which the
whole crew had set sail from London) and perhaps would have been the emblem
embossed on the cap worn by the captain of the ship, Captain Knox.
Much interested in objects of antiquity, Mr. Karunaratne had stored
the badge away safely and he proudly displayed it to us during our visit.
Among the other memorabilia he had unearthed were some pieces of broken
crockery and some Dutch coins.
In his book, Robert Knox makes mention of the land he had bought to
put up his house at Eladetta for five and twenty Lares (that is about five
dollars). He writes, "....the terms of purchase being concluded on between
us, a writing made upon a leaf in a manner witnessed by seven or eight
men of the best."
Stone memorial
Mr. Karunaratne disclosed how this stone memorial came to be erected
in 1908. It was in 1909, during the time of the British occupation that
the Government Agent of the Central Province, J.P. Lewis, took steps to
find out the exact location where Robert Knox and his three companions
had lived at Eladetta.
He was assisted by the then Nugawela Dissawe, the then Ratemahatmaya
of Uda Nuwara. Nugawela Dissawe had his stately home called the Eladetta
Walauwa, a short distance away from Knox's historic abode (also close to
Mr. Karunaratne's house).
Knox's paddy field
Robert Knox also worked a paddyfield close to where he and his companions
had stayed at Eladetta. Knox described this 'corn' field and the water
spout thus: "... it being a point of land standing, into a corn field that
corn fields were on the three sides of it and just before my door a little
corn ground belonging thereto, and very well watered in ground besides
eight Cocker-nut Trees."
Mr. Karunaratne took us to see these particular lands that now lie across
the road from his house. The water spout where Knox and his companions
had bathed and irrigated their paddy fields still stands.
Robert Knox hated marriage and did not allow his companions to tie the
knot. If anyone did so, he had to leave Knox's house forthwith. So while
at Eladetta, his only companion was Stephen Ruthland who also remained
like Knox - a bachelor. Two other comrades, Roger Couhd and Ralph Knight
married Sinhalese girls of the village and left his house.
Girl called Lucea?
Knox also mentions a little girl in his book. A girl called Lucea (of
a mixed marriage of his own countryman) who had looked after him in the
house with affection and devotion.
It is also said in Knox's book, that after escaping from Eladetta, when
he reached London, he had sent a note to Lucea through one of his countrymen
living around Eladetta, that he wanted to bequeath his property and small
estate to her.
It was from Eladetta that Captain Robert Knox and his only companion,
Stephen Ruthland made their final escape in 1679 through Anuradhapura.
They trekked along the banks of Malwatu Oya-then Dutch territory. They
reached the Dutch Fort at Arpu on October 16,1679, after being captive
in the Kandyan Kingdom for nearly nineteen long years. From there they
set sail to England via Mannar and Batavia. Knox reached London in September,
1680, when he was 40 years old.
Robert Knox died in London on June 19, 1720, at the ripe old age of
79. "He was buried at Wimbledon Church five days after, possibly by the
side of his mother who died in 1656." (quoted from the Introduction by
Mr. Sarath Saparamadu to Robert Knox's book 'An Historical Relation of
Ceylon' 1st edition 1958 -Tissara Prakasakayo, Dehiwela). |
