Kingdom of Kandy (Sinhala:
සිංහලේ රාජධානිය) was an independent monarchy of the island of Lanka,
located in the central and eastern portion of the island. It was
founded in late 15th century and endured until the early 19th century.
Initially a client kingdom of the
Kingdom of Kotte,
Kandy gradually established itself as an independent force during the
tumultuous 16th and 17th centuries, allying at various times with the Jaffna Kingdom, the Madurai Nayak Dynastyof South India, Sitawaka, the Portuguese and the Dutch
to ensure its survival. From the 1590s, it was the sole independent
native polity on the island of Sri Lanka, and through a combination of hit-and-run tactics
and diplomacy kept European colonial forces - in particular the British
- at bay, before finally succumbing to the third and last colonial
ruler in 1818. The kingdom was absorbed into the British Empire as a protectorate following the Kandyan Convention of 1815, and definitively lost its autonomy following the Uva Rebellion of 1817.
Name
Over the years of the existence of the Kingdom of Kandy it has been known by many names.
These include:
- Kanda Uda Pasrata
- The Senkadagala Kingdom
- The Kanda Udarata
- The Mahanuwara Kingdom
- Sri Wardhanapura
- Sinhalé
- Thun Sinhalaya or Tri Sinhala
Geography and climate
The Ella Gap - typical of the mountainous and densely forested terrain of the Kingdom of Kandy
Main article: Geography of Sri Lanka
Much of the kingdom's territory was located in Sri Lanka's
mountainous and thickly forested interior, with mountain passes to the
capital providing plenty of opportunities for defenders to stage
ambushes. Routes to the city were kept secret, and spreading information
concerning them could often result in
death.
Many routes into the hill country became impassable during the annual
monsoon, and malaria was rife. Throughout its existence Kandyan forces
used the land to their advantage, engaging in
guerrilla warfare against invading forces, and evacuating major urban centres when enemy forces drew near - a tactic used with particular effect during the
Kandyan Wars. Though the kingdom had intermittent access to the port of Batticaloa it had no
naval forces and could not prevent the Portuguese and Dutch maintaining a strong presence in lowland areas.
History
|
| History of Kandy |
 |
| Kingdom of Kandy (1469–1815) |
| Founding |
| Sinhalese–Portuguese War |
| Kandyan Treaty of 1638 |
| Portuguese Ceylon |
| Treaty of Batticaloa |
| Kandyan Wars |
| Colonial Kandy (1815–1948) |
| Kandyan Convention |
| Matale Rebellion |
| South East Asia Command |
| Kandy (1948–Present) |
| Modern Kandy |
| See also: |
| An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon |
| List of Kandyan Monarchs |
| History of Sri Lanka |
 Sri Lanka portal |
|
|
Foundation
The city of
Senkadagalapura
may have been founded as early as the mid-14th century during the reign
of Vikramabâhu III of Gampola (1357–1374). Central Sri Lanka was ruled
by the kings of
Kotte from the early 15th to late 16th centuries; with Kotte's weakening in the face of
Portuguese influence the area developed into an autonomus domain with Senkadagalapura at its capital. Following the
Spoiling of Vijayabahu
in 1521, and the subsequent partition of the kingdom of Kotte, Kandy
asserted its independence and emerged as a serious rival to the eastern
and southern kingdoms.
Rise: 1521–1594
See also: Kingdom of Sitawaka, Portuguese period in Ceylon, Mayadunne, Jaffna Kingdom, and Rajasimha I of Sri Lanka
The growth and impact of the kingdom of Sitawaka, 1521-1594
Following the
Spoiling of Vijayabahu in 1521, the kingdom of Kotte split into three competing states -
Sitawaka, Raigama, and Bhuvanekabahu VII's kingdom of Kotte. Of these Sitawaka, under the dynamic leadership of
Mayadunne,
posed the greatest threat to the autonomy of the other states. In 1522,
the Kandyans secured Portuguese protection against Sitawaka, but any
potential for alliance ended in 1546 when Portuguese and Kotte forces
invaded the kingdom. Kandy subsequently lent aid to the Jaffna Kingdom against the Portuguese in 1560.
Kandy territory was invaded twice in the 1570s and 1580s, first in 1574, and then in 1581 by the newly crowned king of Sitawaka Rajasinha I. Rajasinha - who had already scored a significant victory over the Portuguese at the Mulleriyawa Satana
- succeeded in annexing the kingdom outright; the Kandyan king
Karalliyadde Kumara Bandara (also known as Jayavira III) fled north to
the Jaffna Kingdom
with his daughter, Kusumasana Devi, and his nephew. Both eventually
fell under Portuguese warship, converted to Christianity, and adopted
the names Dona Catherina and Don Phillip respectively. In the meanwhile the Portuguese also laid claim to the Kandyan realm, citing Dharmapala's donation of 1580 as a precedent
Sitawakan rule over Kandy proved difficult to enforce. Wirasundara
Mudiyanse, Rajasinha's viceroy in the area, rebelled soon after the
initial conquest; though his uprising was crushed another occurred in
1588. Resistance eventually coalesced around Konnappu Bandara, son of
Wirasundara, who had fled to Portuguese lands following his father's
murder by agents of Rajasinha. Between 1591 and 1594, he returned to the
area, seized the Kandyan throne under the name
Vimaladharmasuriya I
and married Dona Catherina. Victories over the Sitawakans and the
Portuguese (who occupied Kandy briefly in 1592) secured his position.
The strategic situation in Sri Lanka changed dramatically during
Vimaladharmasurya's rise to power. To the north, the Portuguese deposed
the king
Puviraja Pandaram of the Jaffna Kingdom in 1591 and installed his son
Ethirimana Cinkam
as client king. In 1594, Rajasinha I died and the kingdom of Sitawaka
disintegrated. Kandy remained the sole native polity outside of European
dominance. In 1595, Vimaladharmasurya brought the sacred Tooth Relic - the traditional symbol of royal and religious authority amongst the Sinhalese - to Kandy, and Kandy entered a long period of attritionary warfare with the Portuguese.
Consolidation and the coming of the Dutch: 1594–1739
Hostilities between the Portuguese and the Kandyans continued
throughout the rest of Vimaladharmasurya's reign. The Kandyans lent aid
to a rebellion led by Domingos Correa and later Simao Correa, Sinhala
subjects of Dharmapala, between 1594 and 1596. A Portuguese incursion in
1604 saw them capture Balane, but dissent amongst their
Lascarin troops forced a withdrawal back to the coast.
Vimaladharmasurya I receiving Joris van Spilbergen, 1603
Relations between the Dutch Republic and the Kandyans were initiated on the 2 June 1602 when Dutch explorer Joris van Spilbergen arrived at Santhamuruthu on the eastern coast of Sri Lanka. Later that year the Dutch East India Company despatched
Sebald de Weert
to Kandy in an attempt to negotiate a treaty. The visit ended in
disaster when the visitors offended their Kandyan hosts with their
behaviour and in the ensuing fracas de Weert and a several of his
entourage were killed.
Vimaladharmasurya died in 1604. The throne passed to his cousin
, Senarat, who at the time of the king's death was an ordained priest, but left the
sangha and married Dona Catherina. In 1611 Portuguese forces captured Kandy in the name of the pretender Mayadunne of
Uva and torched the city yet again. In 1619, Cankili II
was deposed and the Jaffna Kingdom absorbed into the Portuguese Empire.
Despite these setbacks Senarat survived as king and in 1612 had even
concluded a treaty with the
VOC. When help came it was in the form of a Danish East India Company fleet which arrived in 1620, but failed to secure Trincomalee and was expelled by the Portuguese.
The Portuguese strengthened their position throughout the 1620s, building forts at Kalutara, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, and in Sabaragamuwa, and upgrading fortifications in Colombo, Galle,
and Manikkadawara. A disastrous defeat at the battle of Randeniwela on 2
August 1630 in which Portuguese captain-general Constantino De Sa de
Noronha killed resulted in large parts of Portuguese Ceilao being overrun by the Kandyans.
Internal instability yet again prevented the Kandyans from securing
their acquisitions, and by the time of Senarat's death in 1635 lowland
Sri Lanka was once again under Portuguese control.
The throne now passed to Senarat's son Rajasinha II, who led the Kandyans to a major victory over the Portuguese at
Gannoruwa
on the 28 March 1638. The battle was to be the last major military
victory for the kingdom of Kandy, and succeeded in severely weakening
the Portuguese presence in Sri Lanka. In May of that year he concluded a
wide-ranging alliance with the Dutch, who were by now in control of
Batavia. Batticaloa and Trincomalee fell in 1639, Galle in 1640, and Kandyan forces seized Portuguese territories further inland.
Dutch Colombo, based on an engraving of circa 1690
Relations between the Dutch and the Kandyans had been difficult from
the onset and the alliance fell apart in the 1640s. The two sides joined
forces again in the 1650s to expel the Portuguese, but a final break
occurred in 1656 in the aftermath of the fall of Colombo after a
six-month siege and the final expulsion of the Portuguese from Sri
Lanka. Rajasimha demanded that the fort be handed over to the Kandyans
for demolition; in November, the Dutch refused and drove the king and
his army from the vicinity. Rajasimha's hold over his own population was
tenuous, and rebellions against him in 1664 and 1671 gave the Dutch the
opportunity to seize large parts of Sabaragamuwa in 1665, as well as
Kalpitiya, Kottiyar, Batticaloa and Trincomalee. The seizure of the
ports was a serious blow to the Kandyan kingdom - not only were Dutch
holdings now more or less contiguous with the territory the Portuguese
had held, but all Kandyan trade was now in Dutch hands. Rajasinha
attempted to negotiate an alliance with
French,
who seized Trincomalee, but were expelled by the Dutch in 1672. Kandyan
campaigns in 1675 and 1684 recaptured some territory, but by the time
of Rajasinha's death in 1687 neither city had returned to Kandyan
control.
Rajasinha's son ascended to the throne as
Vimaladharmasuriya II,
and his twenty-year reign (1687–1707) proved relatively peaceable. A
trade war broke out in 1701, when the Kandyans closed their borders with
Dutch territories in order to stimulate trade through the ports of Puttalam and Kottiyar. As a result the Dutch lost control of the areca nut trade and retaliated; by 1707 Kandyan borders had reopened and both ports were closed. Upon his death Vimaladharmasurya was succeeded by his son, who ruled as Vira Narendra Sinha.
Several anti-Dutch uprisings occurred in the lowlands during the course
of the 1720s and 1730s; the Kandyans in turn declared war in the Dutch
in 1736 and seized some territory. Hostilities subsided with the
appointment of
Gustaaf Willem van Imhoff as Governor, and by 1737 the Dutch and Kandyans were once again at peace.
The Nayakkars and the British: 1739–1803
Main article: Nayaks of Kandy
A succession crisis emerged upon Narendrasinha's
death in 1739. The king had one son - Unambuve Bandara - by a Sinhala
consort. However, succession to the Kandyan throne was reserved
exclusively for those of kshatriya ancestry on both their mother and father's side, and Unambuve's mother had been of a lower caste. With the support of the bhikku Weliwita Sarankara, the crown passed to the brother of one of Narendrasinha's senior wives, a member of the Telugu-speaking Nayak house from southern India. He was crowned
Sri Vijaya Rajasinha later that year.
Relations between the Sinhala
populace, including the Kandyan aristocracy, and the Nayakkars remained
fraught throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries. As early as
Narendrasinha's reign, attempts at appointing Nayakkars to prominent
positions in court had caused rebellion, including one in 1732 that the
king had only been able to crush with Dutch assistance. The Nayakkar
nobility - which tended to be exclusivist and monopolise access to the
king - was seen as forming an elite group privileged above the native
aristocracy, the powerful adigars. Though Sri Vijaya Rajasinha's reign
(1739–1747) proved relatively peaceful, his successor
Kirti Sri Rajasinha
had to deal with two major rebellions. The first, in 1749, was directed
at his father Narenappa; the second, in 1760, was a far more dangerous
insurrection which attempted to replace him with a
Siamese prince.
Despite these tensions, however, the Nayakkar dynasty endured,
establishing support by their patronage of Buddhism and Kandyan culture.
Throughout the reigns of
Sri Vijaya Rajasinha and Kirti Sri Rajasinha
the Kandyans launched numerous raids and incursions into Dutch
territory, including the annexation of villages in 1741, 1743, and 1745.
The Dutch governors, subservient to Batavia,
were under strict orders to avoid conflict with the kingdom, without
ceding any of their privileges, including monopoly of the cinnamon trade. In 1761, however, Kirti Sri Rajasinha launched a major invasion of the low country, annexing Matara and Hanwella
as well as numerous frontier districts. It was to prove to be a
disaster; the Dutch re-captured Matara and Hanwella in 1762, seized Puttalam and Chilaw in 1763, and then drove inland in a two-pronged invasion. The Kandyans evacuated Senkadagala,
which the Dutch torched; outlying agricultural lands were also ravaged,
leaving the kingdom on the brink of starvation by 1764. Kirti Sri
Rajasinha requested assistance from the British in 1762, but failed to
secure an alliance. By 1765 the Dutch were in a position to force a
treaty upon the Kandyans returning not only the border districts but all
of Kandy's coastal provinces to the Dutch; henceforth, the kingdom
would be effectively cut off from the outside world.
Relations between the Dutch and the Kandyans remained peaceable after
this until the final expulsion of the former from the island in 1796.
Though several British sailors and priests had landed in Sri Lanka as early as the 1590s,
[ the most famous was
Robert Knox who published
An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon based on his experiences during the reign of
Rajasinghe II
in 1681. One hundred years later, British involvement in Sri Lankan
affairs commenced in earnest with the seizure of Trincomalee by
Admiral Edward Hughes as part of general British-Dutch hostilities during the
American War of Independence.
The tumult of the French Revolution had spread to the Netherlands by 1795, and Dutch Zeylan sided with the Batavian Republic during the ensuing conflict. The British rapidly annexed Dutch possessions in Sri Lanka, taking Trincomalee (which had been returned to the Dutch in 1794) between 28 and 31 August, Batticaloa on 18 September, and the entirety of Jaffna on 28 September. Migastenne Disawa, the Kandyan ambassador, negotiated the a treaty in Madras securing the return of much of the eastern coast to the Kandyans in February 1796; by the 15 of that month, Colombo had fallen and Dutch rule on the island had come to an end.
Frederick North, first British
Governor of Ceylon
Kirti Sri Rajasinha died in the midst of these events in January 1796, and was succeeded by his brother
Sri Rajadhi Rajasinha.
The new king rejected the terms of Migastenne's treaty, depriving the
kingdom of the opportunity to regain the lands it had lost a generation
earlier.
It proved to be a fateful decision; the British immediately set about
organising their new acquisitions, establishing systems of government,
education, and justice. With the appointment of
Frederick North (1798–1805) as the first British governor of Ceylon, any hope of the Kandyans regaining their eastern territories essentially disappeared.
Sri Rajadhi Rajasinha died of illness on 26 July 1798 with no heir. The English East India Company and the Crown both had control over the island from 1798 until it became the
British crown colony of Ceylon
in 1802. Much of the king's reign had been dominated by the powerful
First Minister, Pilima Talawe, who now moved to enthroned a young
relative of the king, 18-year-old Konnasami as Sri Vikrama Rajasinha.
Muttusami, brother-in-law of Sri Rajadhi Rajasinha also claimed the
throne of Kandy, but Pilima Talauve arrested him and his sisters. The
First Minister, was close to the British however could not control Sri
Vickrama Rajasinha, he coveted the throne for himself, and at meetings
with the British at Avissawella
between 1799 and 1801 requested British assistance in deposing Sri
Vickrama Rajasinha. Complex negotiations ensued, with various ideas -
including the king being moved to British lands with Pilima Talawe
acting as his viceroy in Kandy - were discussed and rejected by both
sides.
The territories still possessed by they Dutch on the island were formally ceded to the British in the 1802 treaty of Amiens,
but the English Company still retained a monopoly on the colony’s
trade. Agents of the British were put in charge of lucrative pearl
fisheries, cotton plantations, salt, and tobacco monopolies. In the
first three years the government received £396,000 from pearl fisheries.
This compensated for the lower price of cinnamon because of Dutch
stocks in Amsterdam.
Amidst rising tension, matters came to a head when a group of Moorish
British subjects were detained and beaten by agents of Pilima Talawe's.
British demands for reparations were ignored by the Kandyans and so
North ordered a British force to invade Kandyan lands starting the First
Kandyan War. On 31 January 1803 a British force led by General Hay
Macdowall marched to Kandy and found it evacuated. The British force
installed Muttusami, but he was not respected by the Kandyans. The
British were surrounded by hostile people, lacked food, and suffered
disease. Macdowall became ill and put Major Davie in charge. The British
abandoned Kandy with the sick left behind were put to death. Kandyan
forces defeated the retreating British at the Mahavali River, executing
Muttusami and all the British prisoners except Davie and three others.
This Kandyan war lasted for two years, becoming the longest and most
intensive period of the Kandyan Wars, because Governor North continued to send forces to the frontiers.
Annexation and Rebellion: 1803–1817
See also: Kandyan Convention, Kandyan Wars, and Uva Rebellion
The British fought their way to Kandy, encountering Kandyan resistance led in part by a Malay commander known as Sangunglo.
Upon their arrival they found the city deserted. Rather than torching
it, they installed a puppet king, Muttusami, and left a small garrison
in the town before withdrawing. The Kandyans recaptured the city,
leaving only one survivor, and harried British forces down to the
Mahaveli river, but were routed at Hanwella. The following year another
British incursion resulted in stalemate, and an uneasy truce was in
place by 1805.
In the following decade Sri Wickrama Rajasinha's increasingly erratic
and capricious rule led to serious unrest amongst the population. A
major rebellion in the Seven Korales nearly dethroned him in 1808. The
powerful Pilima Talawe rebelled in 1810, was captured, and executed. In
1814, the king ordered Ehelepola Adikar, Dissave
of Sabaragamuwa, to Kandy. Ehelepola, suspecting a trap, refused; in
revenge, the king had his wife and three children executed. Such was the
cruelty of the execution that the Kandyan populace, not unused to
sights of public execution, now turned en masse against the king. The king was also hugely unpopular amongst the clergy for his sudden and brutal seizures of their land and valuables.
The
Kandyan Convention document.
In November 1814, ten British subjects were captured and mutilated in Kandyan territory. Governor
Robert Brownrigg
ordered several British forces moved inland from their coastal
strongholds in January 1815, accompanied by native forces under
Ehelepola. Molligoda, Ehelepola's successor in Sabaragamuwa and lord in
his own right of the Four Korales, defected to the British in February;
Kandy was seized on 14 February, and Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe himself
captured on 18 February by Ehelepola's men.
The king was subsequently exiled to India, where he died in 1832. His
son died childless in 1843, bringing the Nayakkar line to an end.
On 2 March 1815, British agents - including
Robert Brownrigg and John D'Oyly - met with the nobility of the kingdom and concluded in a conference known as the Kandyan Convention.
The resulting agreement allowed for the protection of Buddhism and the
preservation of local systems of government under the authority of the
British Governor in Colombo and supervised by British agents in
Sabaragamuwa, the Three Korales, and Uva. In practice, however, local
lords such as Ehelepola and Molligoda were acutely aware that they were
ultimately answerable to the British, and were in practice junior to
British military officers who now had free access to their domains.
Rebellion broke out in 1817 in Wellassa, spreading rapidly to Uva and
Walpane. Keppitipola, Dissave of Uva, was sent to quash the uprising,
but defected and joined the rebels instead. By July, every major Kandyan
lord except Molligoda had joined the rebellion; several, including
Ehelepola, had already been captured. Molligoda however ensured the road
to Kandy remained open and on 30 October Keppetipola was captured. His
associate Madugalle Adikaram was captured on 1 November, and thereafter
the rebellion collapsed. Both leaders were beheaded on 26 November 1817.
Viewing the Convention as null and void, the British set about breaking
the power of the nobility. Though smaller uprisings occurred in 1820,
1823, and 1824, none of them seriously threatened British government of
the highlands.
The area of the central highlands in which the Kandyan kingdom was
situated had the natural protection of rivers, waterways, hills and
rocky mountainous terrain. The prominent location of the Kandyan kingdom
with its cool climate had greatly contributed to protect the
independence of the nation for nearly three centuries
Government
King
Main article: List of Kandyan monarchs
According to the Kandyan administrative system, the king was head of
all spheres. He was also known as "Lankeshwara Thrisinhaladheeshwara".
It was accepted that the king owned all lands and therefore was known as
"Bhupathi". Even though the king was called "Adeeshwara", he had to
rule according to the advice of the Buddhist priests
and chieftains. The king had to follow the customs and traditions which
were in popular practice at that time, otherwise the people would rebel
against him if he did not. Not obeying these would be detrimental to
the power of the king, an example being Vikrama Rajasinha, who had to surrender to the British, merely because he ignored the advice of the Buddhist priests and chieftains and did not follow the age old traditions.
The kings of Kandy became the rulers of the whole island with Vimaladharmasuriya I. List of Kandyan kings:
- Sena Sammatha Wickramabahu (1473–1511)
- Jayaweera Astana (1511–1551)
- Karaliyadde Bandara (1551–1581)
- Dona Catherina (1581–1581)
- Rajasinha I (1581–1593)
- Yamasinghe Bandara (1 year)
- Vimaladharmasuriya I (1590–1604)
- Senarat (1604–1635)
- Rajasinghe II (1635–1687)
- Vimaladharmasurya II (1687–1707)
- Vira Narendra Sinha (1707–1739)
- Vijaya Rajasinha (1739–1747)
- Kirti Sri Rajasinha (1747–1782)
- Rajadhi Rajasinha (1782–1798)
- Vikrama Rajasinha (1798–1815)
The King's Council
Maha Adigars
Main article: Adigar
Persons were appointed to the title and office by the King,
these appointees made up the King's council of ministers. The only a
very few Adigars existed at one given time and most senior of Adigars
was known as the
Maha Adikarm or 1st Adikar; similar to the post of a modern
Prime Minister.
There was no time limit for the office holder as he held the post at
the pleasure of the King, which meant throughout his life, if not
incurred the displeasure of the King. It was not hereditary, although
members of the same family have been appointed.
Rate Mahaththayas
Main article: Rate Mahatmaya
Persons were appointed to the title and office by the King, these appointees headed the administration of a large locality known as
Korale, which was a division of the province of the Kingdom known as a
Dissava and as such he would be subordinate to the local
Dissava.
There was no time limit for the officer holder as he held the post at
the pleasure of the King, which meant throughout his life, if not
incurred the displeasure of the King. It was not hereditary, although
members of the same family have been appointed.
Secretaries of the King's Palace
Disawes
Main article: Dissava
A group of British appointed Kandyan chiefs, with Hon. J. P. Lewis,
Government Agent in 1905. The chiefs have adopted the dress of
traditional Dissawas by this time but still haven't started using other
traditional insignia of high office such as jewelry, ceremonial daggers
or footwear.
Persons were appointed to the title and office by the King, these appointees headed the administration of a large province of the Kingdom known as a
Dissava
and was the king's personal representative, tax collector in that area.
In modern terms the post was similar to a combination of the post of Chief Minister and a Governor
of a province of Sri Lanka. There was no time limit for the officer
holder as he held the post at the pleasure of the King, which meant
throughout his life, if not incurred the displeasure of the King. It was
not hereditary, although members of the same family have been
appointed.
Badde Lekams
Diyawadana Nilame
Main article: Diyawadana Nilame
Diyawadana Nilame was an office of the Royal household, charged with safeguarding and carrying out ancient rituals for the sacred Relic of the tooth of the Buddha. The Diyawadana Nilame has the responsibility of overseeing of all aspects of the Sri Dalada Maligawa. One of his principal duty of organizing the annual pageant, the Kandy Esala Perahera.
Military
The Kingdom of Kandy did not maintain a large standing army, which
was common for the era, although the King maintained a full-time Royal Guard at the Palace. In the provinces, local garrisons were maintained to guard
strategic mountain passes or to suppress rebellions. During times of war or military campaign these would be supplemented with local militia.
Kandyan forces, throughout their history, relied heavily on the mountainous terrain of the kingdom and primarily engaged in guerrilla-style hit-and-run attacks, ambushes,
and quick raids. One of the hallmarks of the clashes between the
kingdom and its European foes was the inability of either side to take
and hold land or to permanently cut off supply routes, with the
exception being the Dutch, who managed to do so for an extended period
of time in 1762.
In the 16th and 17th century the Kandyan Kings relied on mercenaries, often Telugu
military adventurers. With the arrival of the Nayakkars, large numbers
of South Indian Tamil soldiers made up the king's personal guard. In
addition to this, various Europeans were in the King's service during
this period (including a master gunner), and large contingents of
Malays, who were very highly regarded as fighters.
As for the armies, each of the local chieftains could call upon a
militia which often accompanied them on their journeys around the
kingdom. The bulk of the Kandyan army consisted of local peasant
conscripts - irregulars pressed into service in times of war - who
tended to bring with them around twenty days' worth of supplies and
functioned in discrete units often out of contact with each other. One
of the reasons for the Kandyan's inability to hold the land they
captured was poor logistical support, as many soldiers had to return to
base to replenish their supplies once they ran out.
Interaction with Europeans had led to the introduction of muskets and
other gunpowder weapons, and by the 1760s bows and arrows had been
rendered obsolete. Kandyan gunsmiths specialised in manufacturing light
flintlocks with smaller bores than European guns, with their barrels
extended for accuracy. The Kandyans also developed a unique form of
hand-held cannon, the
kodithuwakkuwa.
These innovations allowed the kingdom to produce heavy artillery on the scale and quality of European forces.
Economy
During the reign of Vimaladharmasuriya I many steps were taken to develop and improve the economy of the Kingdom of Kandy. He took steps to improve the iron industry the Uva Province and agriculture in places such as Kothmale, Walapane, Harispaththuwa, Uva, Hewaheta, Udunuwara, Yatinuwara and Ududumbara.
Imports of the Kandyan Kingdom included silk, tea, and sugar while exports included cinnamon, pepper and areca nut.
Administrative divisions
Divisions
In the early years of the kingdom it consisted of areas or divisions.
| Siduruwana |
Uda Nuwara and Uda Palatha |
|
| Balawita |
Harispaththuwa |
|
| Matale |
Matale |
Matale District |
| Dumbara |
Dumbara |
|
| Sagama Tungama |
Walapane and Hewaheta |
|
Rata Wasama
Rata Wasama was the provincial administration of the subdivisions of the Kingdom of Kandy.
Religions
The state religion was Buddhism. However after the arrival of the
Nayak dynasty elements of Hinduism also incorporated into the local
Buddhism.
The dynasty of Vimaladharmasurya I largely tolerated the presence of Christians, in particular Catholics
fleeing Portuguese land following their occupation by the Dutch. On
occasion the Kandyan kings even protected Catholic agents, most famously
Vimaladharmasurya II's protection of Joseph Vaz.
The religious environment, however, changed dramatically with the
arrival of the Nayak dynasty. In 1743 Sri Vijaya Rajasinha ordered
churches burned and commenced a general repression of the faith, which
continued until Kirti Sri Rajasinha commanded its cessation.
Culture and Arts
Art and Architecture
Kandy. Successive kings expanded and improved the temple throughout the Kandyan kingdom's existence.
Sri Lanka
