economic and religious purposes. The second
Portuguese group, who came to India after
Vasco De Gama, had been given instructions
by Portugal to establish a store house for storing
commodities and to get permission from the
ruler of Calicut for five priests to come and preach
sermons. This clearly shows that the Portuguese
had the purpose of propagating their religion in
the areas where they would spread their power.
10.2 The Political Condition in Sri Lanka
when the Portuguese arrived in Sri Lanka
There was a commercial and military
importance to Sri Lanka in the Asian affairs of
the Europeans as Sri Lanka was a significant
centre situated close to the sea trade routes in
the Indian Ocean. The Portuguese, who had
recognized this country as Seilan, knew that this
country produced cinnamon of good standard.
Therefore, the Portuguese paid their attention
to Sri Lanka within a short time period after
they had come to India. In the month of March
in1505, the king of Portugal sent Francisco De
Almeida appointing him as the viceroy in East.
Finding Seilan (Sri Lanka) was one among the
instructions that had been given to Almeida by
the Portuguese ruler. His purpose was achieved
when Lorenzo De Almeida, a son of Francisco
De Almeida, reached this country accidentally
after being caught in a tempest.
When Lorenzo De Almeida arrived in this
country in 1505, there was a conducive
background set for a foreign invasion as there
was not a political unity in Sri Lanka. Though
king Parakramabahu VI had united the country
and created a political stability by establishing
Kotte Kingdom, that unity collapsed after a
certain time of his demise. Therefore, when
the Portuguese arrived, there were two more
kingdoms named Udarata and Jaffna in addition
to Kotte kingdom. The Portuguese, who came
to Sri Lanka, first built their relationships
with the kingdom of Kotte. It is said that
when the Portuguese came to Colombo, their
representatives were accompanied to meet the
king through a road consisted of many bends.
This tact was used by the representatives of the
king in order to pretend them that there was a
great distance between Colombo and Kotte.
With this incident a proverb has come into
usage as “Parangiya Kotte Giya Wage” (like the
Portuguese went to Kotte).The division of the kingdom of Kotte, which was
the largest kingdom when the Portuguese arrived
in this country, into three parts with the incident
called ‘Vijayaba Kollaya’ which took place in
1521, made easy for the Portuguese to spread
their power. After King Veera Parakaramabahu
VIII, one of his sons, prince Vijayabahu VI
became the king. King Vijayabahu had three
sons named respectively prince Buvanekabahu,
prince Mayadunne and prince Rayigam Bandara
from his first marriage. A conflict arose as there
was an attempt to confer the future kingship
to another prince called Devaraja without
conferring it to three prince-brothers. The three
princes heard that they were going to lose the
inheritance of kingship. Then they attempted to
capture the ruling power by coming to Kotte after
taking support from the then ruler of Udarata,
King Jayaweera Bandara. In this attempt a
person called Salman killed king Vijayabahu.
This incident, which occurred in attempting to
usurp the ruling power from king Vijayabahu
VI in 1521, is known as the ‘Vijayaba Kollaya’.
After the ‘Vijayaba Kollaya’ incident, the three
kings divided the kingdom of Kotte into three
parts amomg them and ruled. Accordingly,
Buvanekabahu VII came into power as the ruler
of Kotte. Prince Mayadunne was the ruler of
Seethawaka area and prince Rayigam Bandara
was the ruler of Rayigama area. In this way, when
the kingdom of Kotte was divided into three
parts, it provided the Portuguese, who were
expecting to spread their power in this country,
a great advantage.