King Senarath (1604- 1635 A.D)
When king Vimaladharmasooriya I passed away,
his sons were at a very young age. Therefore, a
cousin brother of King Vimaladharmasooriya
I named prince Senarath became the king of
Kandy in 1604. There were several challenges
that he had to face.
- Establishing his royal inheritance in the
Kandyan kingdom. - Minimizing the threats that came from the
Portuguese against the Kandyan kingdom.
During the early period of the King Senarath’s
ruling, he married Kusumasana Devi (Dona
Kathirina) and established his kingship.
Queen Kusumasana Devi had two sons from
King Vimaladharmasooriya I and one son from
king Senarath. Among them, the cleverer one
was Prince Maha Asthana (Prince Rajasinghe II).
In order to avoid the competition between the
princes for the kingship, king Senarath divided
the Kandyan kingdom into three parts and gave
each one to each prince. Accordingly, Uva area
was given to prince Kumarasinghe; Matale area
was given to prince Vijepala; Kandy area was
given to prince Rajasinghe.
Prince Maha Asthana alias Rajasinghe II assisted
his father to protect the Kandyan kingdom from
the Portuguese. He was a great warrior and he
annihilated the Portuguese in the battle of Uva-
Randeniwala in 1630. Further, he attacked and
paralized the Portuguese villages on the borders
in Kandy.
King Rajasinghe II (1635- 1687 A.D.)
Prince Rajasinghe acceded to the throne of
Kandy as Rajasinghe II with the demise of king
Senarath in 1635. He faced several challenges
during his ruling time.
- Preventing the attacks of the Portuguese to the
Kandyan kingdom. - Expelling the Portuguese from this country.
- Minimizing the threats to the Kandyan
kingdom from the chieftains. - Liberating the Kandyan kingdom from the
Dutch influence.
The king had acted to suppress the attacks
from the Portuguese to the Kandyan kingdom
since his father’s ruling period. He defeated the
Portuguese completely in Uva–Randeniwala
battle as well as in the Gannoruwa battle in 1638.The king needed the assistance of a naval army
to expel the Portuguese from this country.
King Rajasinge II acted to get assistance from
the Dutch for that purpose. King Rajasinghe
II managed to expel the Portuguese from this
country by getting the support of the Dutch in- Even though the Portuguese was expelled
from the country, unexpectedly the Dutch
established their power in the Portuguese areas.
The Dutch, who established their power in a
number of coastal areas, attempted constantly to
expand their ruling area from 1658.The Dutch
captured several areas in Kandy during the
years between 1665 and 1668. King Rajasinghe
II, who stayed silent during that time, launched
a number of powerful attacks during the years
between 1670 and 1675 and liberated many areas
that the Dutch had possessed. Therefore, the
Dutch, who realized the power of the Kandyan
kingdom, attempted to be peaceful with the
Kandyan kings from then on.
Establishing power by the Dutch in the coastal
areas was an impediment to the purpose of king
Rajasinghe II to become the king of the whole
country. However, when the Portuguese was
expelled from the country, the king managed
to capture more areas that had belonged to the
Portuguese. The ports such as Kalpitiya, Chilaw,
Trincomalee and Batticaloa had belonged to the
Kandyan kingdom then.