Expansion of the Portuguese Power in the
Coastal Areas in Sri Lanka
Before long after the division of Kotte kingdom
into three parts, disputes started between king
Buvanekabahu VII and king Mayadunne. The
issues regarding the inheritance of future kingship
of Kotte and attempting to take over several areas,
which belonged to the Kotte kingdom, by king
Mayadunne were the causes for these disputes.
Though king Buvanekabahu had a daughter
named Samudradevi, he did not have a son to be
conferred the future kingship of Kotte. Veediya
Bandara, who was known as a great warrior at
that time, had married Princess Samudradevi
and they had two sons named Vijayapala and
Dharmapala. King Buvanekabahu’s expectation
was to confer the future kingship to his daughter’s
son prince Dharmapala. King Mayadunne, who
had future expectations to be the king of Kotte,
did not like this decision of king Buvanekabahu
at all. King Mayadunne, who played a major
role in the incident of ‘Vijayaba Kollaya’ was a
great warrior and he had the ability to get the
support of king Jayaweera Bandara, who was
the ruler of Udarata. King Buvanekabahu, who
had feared of an attack on the Kotte kingdom
from king Mayadunne, called the Portuguese
for his protection. As a result of the disputes
between the kingdoms Kotte and Seethawaka,
the Portuguese, who entered the capital as the
protectors in this way, implemented a tactful
campaign to extend their power by intervening
in all affairs of the kingdom.
Since there was a competition for trading between
the Portuguese and the Muslims, the Muslims did
not wish to see the construction of fortresses by
the Portuguese in this country. The Portuguese,
who took the maximum advantage from the given
opportunity, persuaded king Buvanekabahu to
take actions against the Muslims in the kingdom
of Kotte. Therefore, the Muslims, who lived in
the coastal areas, supported king Mayadunne.
At the request of the Sri Lankan Muslims,
Samorin, the ruler of Calicut in India offered to
provide the naval support to king Mayadunne to
attack the Portuguese. Though king Mayadunne
launched several attacks against the Portugese
with the support of Samorin, those attacks were
not successful due to the naval power and their
weaponry power.There were several fights between Kotte and
Seethawaka kingdoms when king Buvanekabahu
was alive. In these conflicts, the Portuguese
fought for the protection of the Kotte kingdom
and the military expenses of the Portuguese had
to be paid by the king. Though king Buvakebahu
gained the support of the Portuguese, he did
not act as a puppet-ruler of them. Though the
Portuguese attempted to convert the king to
Roman Catholic religion, the king refused it.
Therefore, with time disputes between the king
and the Portuguese aggravated. Apart from
religious reasons, some economic reasons such
as, selling their commodities at a very high price
to the people in Kotte by the Portuguese and
buying Kotte products at a very low price too
affected. These disagreements ended when king
Buvanekabahu was shot dead by a Portuguese
soldier. As it was reported by the author named
Kutho, the king’s assassination occurred on 29th
December 1550.When king Buvanekabahu was alive, he made
a statue of prince Dharmapala, his grandson,
and sent it to Portugal for coronation. By doing
that the king Buvanekabahu had provided
him necessary protection. Therefore, after
the demise of king Buvanekabahu, prince
Dharmapala became the ruler of Kotte amidst
the protection of the Portuguese. Since king
Dharmapala became a puppet-ruler under the
Portuguese, embraced Catholic religion, allowed
the Portuguese to propagate their religion in
his kingdom, did not take action to prevent the
harassments and injustices done to his people
in Kotte by the Portuguese, the king did not get
the support of the people. Therefore, even the
sacred Tooth Relic was taken to Seethawaka for
its protection. Though king Dharamapala was
on the throne from 1551 to 1597 as a nominal