The queen gave her consent to the king’s idea of changing his religion. When the king informed the Nilames of the palace about this wish, they too had nothing to say against it. It soon became known in the country that King Dharmapala was going to be a Catholic. The Catholic priests were of course very happy over this.
This was something they were
hoping to accomplish for quite some time. The Portuguese gave this good news to the King of Portugal. King Dharmapala, who by heredity was a Buddhist, changed his religion. The queen too followed suit.
The King of Kotte and his queen were
baptized. Following the tradition of the day, they adopted the names of the Portuguese king and queen. Accordingly, the king became Don Juan and the queen became Dona Catherina.
Thereafter, they were referred to by these new names. Though the countrymen were not happy over this change, a lot of leaders of Kotte were happy.
They too followed the king and converted to Catholicism. They were duly baptized. Twelve churches of the Franciscan priests were built.
Majority of the subjects were against this. They were angered so much that they began to protest against the king. As the king treated them
harshly, these people went to Sitawaka.
King Mayadunne of Sitawaka welcomed them. He became the saviour of the Buddhists. He went on insisting that the King of Kotte also should have been Buddhist. He almost hinted that he was the real claimant to the throne of Kotte too. To achieve this end, he requested the
support of the people of Kotte, who were
mainly Buddhists. All the Buddhist leaders and the Buddhist people of Kotte liked him and began to support him.
The Portuguese were offended at this turn of events. They did not even consult the king, Don Juan.
They began to punish and kill a lot of Buddhist leaders. Some fled the city to escape from their cruelties. All of them went to Sitawaka. In the meantime, the Viceroy thought of
protecting Kotte. He dispatched a huge army under Alfonso Pereira de Laserda. By this time revolts had begun and a few areas had been
conquered by the King of Sitawaka.
The city of Kotte was fortified, expecting a Portuguese invasion. The King of Sitawaka too planned to conquer Kotte.
The Sitawaka army was divided into three groups and each was placed under the leadership of Pannipitiye Mudali, Prince Rajasinghe and King Mayadunne respectively. They besieged the city of Kotte. The King of Kotte was worried and he sought Portuguese help.
The city was
guarded by the troops
led by Tammita Suriya and the Portuguese
leaders. Sitawaka armies attacked Kotte but their attempts proved
unsuccessful.
The armies stationed in Kotte were able to guard the city. But they had to face an acute problem of
obtaining food. More
contingents of soldiers came from India and they too attacked Sitawaka.
A serious battle ensued. Both Prince Rajasinghe and King Mayadunne fled to Kaduwela. Pannipitiye Mudali died in the battle. The fighting did not stop there. A troop of soldiers under George Melo went in search of Mayadunne.
The father and son,
King Mayadunne and Prince Mayadunne faced this army. They fought well and the Portuguese had to suffer a lot of losses. They were defeated. So they went back to Colombo. |
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