Fall of the Kandyan Kingdom - lessons still to be learnt - Part II:

The Adikar’s influence

S. M. J. NEANGODA

The Adikar expressed his desire to meet North again at Avissavella to discuss a few matters of a secret nature. North agreed and from the inquiries it became clear that the Adikar’s object was to establish an intimate and perpetual union, placing ‘the Royal pageant under the protection of a British force, while securing his own authority on an undisputed footing. On having a satisfactory guarantee that expenditure by way of supplies and commodities would be available Major General Hay Macdowal was to be sent early to the Court with an imposing armed escort to prevent any opposition to the execution of the plans.

At the meeting held on January 5, 1800 the Adikar declared that the King was giving ear to the Malabars and not well disposed towards him. The Adikar, expressed the wish that the English would occupy the country and place him at its head. However, North’s response was that he could take the Adikar and the King under the protection of the Honourable Company and the British King, maintaining the Adikar in power and the King on the throne and was prepared to send troops immediately. The Adkar was puzzled as to why North was anxious to support the King. Boyd’s answer was that the King was not an aggressor.

Secret communications

Present with the Adikar at the third meeting held at 8 o’ clock at night were Johannes de Saram Wijesekera Abeyratna, First Maha Mudaliyar and Frenchman Johnville who acted as interpreters and William Boyd, Acting Secretary who had come with North from England. Meetings with the British continued and Pilima Talauwe frankly told Boyd that he had not completely given up his ambitions about the throne. The British were also keen to have direct communications with the King as well as the court faction opposed to the Adikar and North’s instructions to Macdowal as Ambassador Plenipotentiary was to support the party most favourable to the British and if found necessary to divulge all of Pilima Talauwe’s dealings with the British.

North’s intention was to make the Kandyan King, a puppet of the British and dispatched an embassy to Kandy under General Hay Macdowal with an escort too large and unnecessary with a request to sign a treaty to station a British garrison in Kandy. The embassy failed but his intentions were clear and encouraged the intrigues of Pilima Talauwe Adikar, the King’s Chief Minister. In executing their plans the British forces set out with Macdowal and his officers from Colombo escorted by 1,100 men, British, Indian, Malays with four six pounders, two howitzers, baggage carriers, carts laden with rice, arak and general belongings.

After seven days they were received by Pilima Talauwe in Sinhala territory. He took charge of 32 cases and presents but objected to guns being brought. Macdowal was also displaying his flag, contrary to the undertaking given by Jonville which was also objected to by the Adikar. Heavy rains and impassable roads had been the same problem which had cost the Portuguese and the Dutch dearly on previous occasions. On hearing of these reports the King was alarmed and had left the capital and North in the meantime was engaging in secret communications with Leuke Rala, Dissawa of Uva who was hostile to the Adikar.

British interests

Eventually the Ambassador with great difficulty reached Balana Pass and the Thanayama at Gannoruwa which was to be his residence for a few weeks. On April 9, 1800 the King received the Ambassador in audience at the Magul Maduwa at night. The ceremony was exhausting with Macdowal falling on his knees three times whenever he approached or returned from the throne.

The letter which he brought being carried with both hands at the level of the eyes being received by the King himself. Later refreshments were served consisting of Sinhala sweetmeats, fruits and water. At 5 o’clock in the morning the exhausted Ambassador left for home, finally to take up North’s proposals at Gannoruwa with the Adikar, Leuke and Dissawa of Matale. The proposals received critical examination to the embarrassment of the General, particularly the one regarding the garrison, presumably for the protection of the King. The treaty which was the subject matter of the letter being one sided and safeguarding only British interests was not acceptable to the King.

Setting one faction against the other was the policy being adopted by the British and on March 31, 1803 the British armies had taken the field and North’s instructions to Macdowal was to hold Pilima Talauwe as the instigator of the war; however if his power was sufficiently great to make the expedition a failure, he should be vested with full authority to be exercised in the King’s name under North’s control. Further, pressure was to be brought on the King to accept North’s terms by being told that North was inclined to favour Muddu Samy’s claims. As for the factions in the court, Migas Tenna was expected to support the Adikar and Leuke was expected to lead the King’s supporters who were opposed to him. North was wrong in believing that Muddu Samy also had a following. North’s expectation was that if the king leaves the capital and does not return on Macdowal’s invitation Muddu Samy should be proclaimed King in his place and was to stage manage the situation in such manner as to make it appear as if it was the act of the Chiefs themselves.

Applying the age old strategy adopted against the other two Western nations earlier, the court moved into the mountains of Uva giving the opportunity to the unopposed British armies to enter the abandoned capital. A part of the capital had been burnt according to contemporary accounts. According to Rambukkana Sobitha Unnanse, a copy of the Mahavagga Vinaya (which had been presented by the Ven. clergy of the Malwatta Maha Vihara five months before) was removed to the Hanthana forest for safety from the Poyage at great risk during this turmoil.

North’s invasion of Kandy was bungled and ended up a hopeless failure. Hundreds of his forces were striken with fever and a large number of British forces were massacred. The pretender to the throne Muddu Samy who was hastily enthroned by North was beheaded after the garrison which was surrounded by the King’s forces surrendered him to the King. Intrigue with the British continued between Macdowal, Pilima Talauwe and Migastenna even after March 1803 while the suffering of the people began to be felt. British propaganda put the blame on the King. In April the General left for Colombo with the majority of the troops, of whom several hundreds had died before long with fever. While raging sickness was taking it’s toll British escorts had also been harassed in the sight of the capital. Frederick North was a disillusioned man with the military campaign a failure.

The great betrayal

The faction opposed to the King was still continuing their secret correspondence with D’Oyly expressing dissatisfaction with the King and requested a nominal force which was all that was required to seize the capital. The names of the King’s agents were also divulged. At the same time Ehelepola who had succeeded as Uda Gampaha Adikar on Migastenne’s death in 1808 was also exchanging messages with D’Oyly. Under these circumstances as inevitable internal trouble broke out and the King was busy dealing with the situation. British intervention was again solicited by the dissidents but stern action soon brought order.

Pilima Talauwe himself was executed and same fate befell many other courtiers. Ehelepola was appointed in place of Pilama Talauwe. By April 1814 the King was well informed about Ehelepola’s intrigues and disturbances were expected and he was anxious about his family. Molligoda Nilame was now appointed Adikar in Ehelepola’s place.

Eknelligoda had also urged Hewagam Korale Mudaliyar to persuade D’Oyly to take active steps in assisting in the plan to move to Udarata. Communications between Ehelepola and D’Oyly, despatches between D’Oyly and Brownrigg during this period give an indication of the intrigue that had gone on between the traitors and the British. On May 14, 1814 the King’s forces were confronting the rebels. In Brownrigg’s correspondence with D’Oyly he states ‘we should not appear to have been the fomenters but that the work has been the genuine act of the oppressed people who in the struggle to rid themselves from the rule of a tyrant, call for our aid.’

Under ancient law as applied, a subject found guilty of instigating enemies against the King or creating difficulties with in his army or on a charge of espionage, one could be punished by being burnt at the stake, though these measures were considered extreme. Punishment for treason under the Sinhala Law was well known; impaling alive was the punishment. Not only the offender but the entire family was doomed to suffer under the law. Ehelepola well appreciated the risk to which he was exposing his family by his traitorous acts. Twice before the King’s clemency had saved him from death.

The King pronounced the terrible sentence after the Judicial Tribunal of Chieftains, had arrived at the decision at the Mahanaduwa, according to the law and the punishment is said to have been carried out at Bogambara. King Sri Wickreme Rajasinghe’s position being that he was the source of justice and had to administer according to law and without affection or ill will. ‘To the barrage of libellous propaganda’ his answer was ‘Did I make these laws: Kandyan laws are well known.’ What is noteworthy is that the sentence was pronounced after consulting his advisors. There is also no evidence whatsoever that Ehelepola’s children’s heads were put in a mortar and pounded. It is possible that this story had been fabricated purely for political propaganda by North whose printed proclamations were inclined to give the people the picture of an unrighteous King. Other than the different versions in ballads like Ahelepola Hatana which are contradictory, the first reference appears in a letter addressed by D’Oyly to Brownrigg dated Sitavaka May 23, 1814 , based mainly on hearsay. Flaying alive or mutilation was a recognized punishment in Mediaeval Europe and England and was practiced by the Portuguese even in Sri Lanka.

Last days

The Kingship which had lasted for twenty four hundred years had only 19 more years before the intriguing chieftains were to bring it to an end by assisting the British to capture King Sri Wickrema Rajasinghe, to be replaced by the British Crown. The manner in which the King was captured is one of the most shameful and dastardly episodes in the annals of Sri Lankan history which rendered this once proud nation to that of a vassal state.

The final episode of the capture of the King enacted at Dumbara at the house of an Arachchi at Galleyhe had been witnessed by Don V. Dias, who is identified as Don William Adrian Dias Bandaranayake according to Sir Paul E Peiris.

D.V.A. Dias who accompanied the British troops who captured the King and suppressed the Keppetipola rebellion acted as interpreter to the English officers. As an eye witness of these occurrences he gives his personal experiences to a Sinhala magazine of repute called ‘Sinhala Sangarawa ‘.

He was also one of the three Muhandirams of the Gate in 1818 who were presented with a gold chain and medal by Brownrigg along with the Maha Mudaliar Eknelligoda and others - Gazette of June 5, 1819. This was the reciprocal gratitude shown by the British for playing the treacherous and dastardly role against the Sinhalese.

British propaganda had branded the King as a tyrant and had fomented the rebellious acts against the King to succeed in their diabolical plans to capture the country. The English regiment which was commissioned to capture the king started out in several bodies and the detachment accompanied by D. V. A. Dias consisting 800 Sepoys, Malays and Bengalis and Mohottalas was commanded by de Bushe. They were met by D’Oyly two Adikars Ehelepola and Molligoda, Disawa Pilima Talauwe, Thamby Mudaliyar, Malay Muhandiram. It was one day’s travel from Teldeniya to Medamahanuwara where the King was captured. Eknelligada Mohottala and Dias had walked ahead followed by the Sabaragamuwa forces. Thamby Mudaliyar also known as Jayawardena Mudaliyar was also instrumental in the capture of the Kandyan King but it was essentially due to the work of Ehelepola and his men. The King, after capture was deported to Vellore in Southern India, reaching North beach on February 22, 1816.

Very soon the British consolidated themselves and became masters, flouted the promises embodied in the Kandyan Convention and rendered the once powerful chieftains to that of a disenchanted lot, minus their land and wealth. Attempts to restore the privileges lost by mounting rebellions did not succeed.

They were crushed by the British who had by now consolidated themselves; patriotic Sinhala leaders like Madugalle Veeraya had to sacrifice their lives along with many others to whom the nation will be eternally grateful. The lessons taught by history is that the nation must come first; that all citizens have to be patriotic, united and uphold the sovereign status of the country and be vigilant as to forces within the country as well as foreign, whose aim is to destabilize and divide the country to suit their political and economic agendas.

The writer was the Director Management Consultancy at the National Institute of Business Management

Concluded