The Kandyan roots of the struggle for independence
When Sri Lanka gained independence from British Colonial rule on February 4, 1948, it marked the end of almost a century and a half of subjugation. It was on March 2, 1815, that the Kandyan Kingdom was ceded to the British Crown.
The signing of the Treaty – the Kandyan Convention (Udarata Givisuma) took place in the Magul Maduwa – the Audience Hall where the King would meet his chieftains to discuss administrative matters. This building is in the precincts of the King’s Palace and adjacent to the Sri Dalada Maligawa (Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic).
The signatories to the Treaty which marked the end to the Kandyan kingdom were Sir Robert Brownrigg representing the British Crown and Kandyan Chieftains but not the King. With the signing of the Treaty, British were the masters of the whole island.
Long before the English-educated, middle-class urban elite began thinking of independence and starting their campaign, the Radala Chieftains in Kandy with the people in the central highlands struggled for independence from the oppressive British Colonial rule.
Two years after the signing of the agreement – Treaty, the first rebellion by the people for independence was triggered from the highlands of Uva-Wellessa in 1817 -1818. Keppetipola Disawe was sent by the British to suppress the rebellion but he sent back the soldiers with the weapons and joined the rebels to give them leadership. The British used cruel methods to squash the rebellion, by burning thousands of acres of paddy fields, the staple food of the people who were starved and too weak to fight. The failed rebellion saw Keppetipola Disawe being taken prisoner and executed in Bogambara, Kandy on November 25, 1818.
Again in July,1848 the Matale Rebellion led by Gongalegoda Banda and Puran Appuwas a protest by the peasants against the taxes and forced labour for road construction. The protest march reached the Kandy Kachcheri on July 6. But the uprising was suppressed and Puran Appu was executed on August 8, 1848. Gongalegoda Banda who fled, was captured on September 21 and his sentence was commuted to one hundred lashes and exile to Malaysia on November 27, 1848
Then again in 1915 Sinhala-Muslim riots started in Kandy and spread through out the country. Convicted of treason, 27-year-old Henry Pedris was unjustly executed on July 7, 1915. It is believed that his death was planned by senior British officers to intimidate and subdue local leaders but it proved to be a catalyst for the struggle for independence.
The final independence movement by the Colombo-based leaders was a peaceful constitutional struggle which was aimed at achieving independence and self-rule for Sri Lanka.
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