Tamil Rulers of the Kandyan Kingdom
G.Amirthalingam
London, 4 March 2006
[ see also 1.Beginnings
of Tamil Rule in Eelam (Ceylon, Sri Lanka) - Nallur Swami S.
Gnana Prakasar O.M.I.
2.
Arya
Chakravarties of Tamil Eelam - M.D.Raghavan
3.
The Tamil Kingdom in Jaffna - Early Beginnings to the Court
of the Ariya Chakravartis - Dr.H.W.Tambiah, and 4.
1968
Matrimonial Alliances between Tamilnad and the Sinhalese
Royal Family in the 18th Century and the 6. Establishment of
a Madurai Dynasty in Kandy - Lorna Srimathie Dewaraja, 1974
]
Kandyan kingdom was
the only kingdom in Sri Lanka which was never conquered by any
western power. It was ruled by a line of Tamil Kings, who came from
South India, for nearly eight decades. As King Narendrasinghe, the
last Sinhalese king of Kandy, died without an heir to the throne,
his wife, who was a Tamil from South India, invoked a custom that
was practised in South India which grants the Queen’s family the
right to claim the throne in the event of there being no legitimate
claimant from the King’s side. This unprecedented move by the Queen
paved the way for an unbroken line of Tamil Kings ruling Kandy, and
laid the foundation for the Tamil customs and cultures to take firm
root in the Kandyan society. This influence is evident in every
social activity of the Kandyans to this day. Tamil power in the
Kandyan royal court was such; one of the Queen’s brothers was
brought from South India and enthroned as King of Kandy.
There were many
Sinhalese kings in the past who were married into South Indian royal
families in order to extend their influence, and to protect their
territory against aggression. Tamils held high positions in the
Kandyan Kingdom. The language of the court was Tamil. Hence, even
the high ranking Sinhalese officials in Kandy were fluent in Tamil.
Hindu religion was given an important place along with Buddhism and
none of the Tamil kings ever failed to promote and maintain Buddhism
as a major religion in Kandy. The presence of Hindu temples and the
procession of the Hindu deities during festive seasons were the
result of Tamil influence.
The Queen’s brother ruled Kandy as Sri Vijaya Rajasinghe from 1739
to 1747. When he died without any offspring, his brother-in-law,
Kirthi Sri Rajasinghe (1747 – 1782), inherited the kingdom. Kirthi
Sri Rajasinghe was succeeded by his brother Rajadhi Rajasinghe
(1782-1798). The last Tamil king of Kandy was an 18 year old youth
by the name of Kannusamy: a relative of the royal family but not a
natural heir to the throne. He was, in fact, installed on the throne
by a Sinhalese chieftain called, Pilimatallawe, in spite of other
claimants; one of them was the Queen’s brother, the rightful
candidate by the name of Muthusamy who was also a favourite of the
British.
The last king took the name of Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe and ruled
from 1798 to 1815. This period was full of turmoil and uprisings and
saw the end of the Kandyan kingdom. Sinhalese chieftains of Kandy
disgruntled with the king and his rule instigated the people to
rebel against the king. Furthermore, they sought help from the
British to overthrow the king. They were prepared to accept a
foreign power to rule over their kingdom at the cost of their
independence.
The king did not
hesitate to crush rebellions and punish anyone who betrayed him by
impaling, drowning and so on. Chieftains who were power hungry and
the British whose prime concern was to capture Kandy painted a
picture of the situation in Kandy and of the king’s actions that
conveyed the message that the king was a tyrant and a ruthless
ruler. In fact, he meted out punishments that were in practice for
centuries. Ironically, these types of punishments were common in
Britain and other Western countries at that time. Fabricated stories
spread through the kingdom. Internal uprising against the King and
rivalry among the chieftains furnished the British with an ideal
opportunity to enter the impregnable Kandyan kingdom with the help
of the rebels in 1815, thereby ending the Tamil Nayakar dynasty and
the sovereignty of the kingdom.
Soon after the rebels surrounded the house where the King had taken
refuge, he and his wife were humiliated at the hands of the rebels;
the king was assaulted, kicked and spat at and his hands and legs
were tied to a pole. His wife’s dress was torn and her jewels were
snatched from her person causing injury. British troops arrived at
the scene in time and rescued the King and his family from being
hurt further by the angry crowd and brought them to Colombo via
Negombo with a strong escort. The King and his family were kept in
Fort in a large house over looking Beira Lake. A Dutch dressmaker
made a dress for the Queen to wear for the portrait that was painted
during their stay. They lived there for almost 11 months. When they
were sent back to India there was a large crowd to witness their
departure. It was with great respect and honour they were treated by
the British and most of the high ranking officials accompanied them
to the port.
When the King and his family arrived in South India they were
carried in palanquins to Vellore. In Vellore they were given a large
house with servants and an allowance. Most of the items that they
wanted were provided by the British. In spite of all this they
became heavily in debt due to their lavish spending on luxury items.
Even though this irritated the British, they were given extra money
to pay off part of their debt. Their decedents, at present, are in
need of help because they were left with nothing when the King died
of dropsy on the 30th of January, 1832 at the age of 52.
As mentioned earlier, Kandy was never conquered but surrendered to
the British by a convention signed on the 2nd of March 1815. Out of
11 Chieftains, who were witness to the Convention, many of them
signed the Treaty in Tamil.
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