CHAPT~.III m NAYAKKAR DYNASTY OF , GZN;AtCGICAL'tABU - t

lInes. Q?_~Y_

Sena saJIIII:l ta tiltruab ahu ( 1&.69-151" ) T .---, DG,ugt.ter •• Kinn.l1. Haha RalahuIT J a7a v1ra BUlda.ra (1511_1552) gals niece brother-1n-lav of the king of' lCotta l r--~~---I J 1 Su sons Dau&hter Karalllyadde Bandara ~bur III Dharmapa.la of' a Galle gaa Halla lott•• (155'-,7) Masin ICasumasa.na DEI"f't a Vi.lll&la !)ban.5uriya I (159<-16Ot) I r~-I T-- l Sun Son Daugbter Daurbter Senarat(1~-'635) cousin ~r V~la I L a :oMrma Surly" I (1) ·IaS1JllllsUla t.Ti II (2) I- -~ ------a (3)

Bajaa1.aIb& rI(~635-16S7) I ' VUlala Obarllla. Sa:r1.fa Il(168~_1707) I , Rarendrarllllba, \ 1 iO? -1739 ) Sri V1.1aya RaJas1mh& CtI~the~-1.D-·' lC1lIp;s of' law, of Naz-t,nciras1llb&) , Hayaltkar - I ~rti Sri Rajas1l:1b.a • ::.' III'Lrried-to dynasty.-' I Ra,1ad1 &Jasjllh& I Sri l'!krua P.aj u1IIb& 55

When Sri Vijaya Rajasimha, brother-in-law of Narendras1mha, ascended the throne of Kandy in 1139, he inaugurated a dynasty mainly Indian by blood. He traced his descent from the Nayaks of .

Vijaya Rajasimha (1739-11~1) and his three successors,

Kirti Sri RajaSimha (11~7-e2), Bajadhi Rajasimha (1782- 1798) and Sri Vikrama Rajasimba (1198-181S), were the four members of the Nayakltar dynasty. The British 1 exiled the fourth in 1816.

Rajasimha II's son and successor, Vimala Dharma Suriya II (1681-1707) devoted himself to religious pur­ suits. It was his son Sri Vira Parakrama Narendrasimha (1107-39) vho brought the Nayakkars on the !Candy- throne to sucoeed hill.

As stated earlier, vhen Narendrasillha, the last of the royal Sinhalese line of Vikram&bahu (1~69-1S11) died in 1739, the throne passed on to his chief Queen's brother Sri Vijaya Rajasi.ha, a Bayakkar frOIl Madurai region in South India. It was an old tradition vith the royal houses of to seek their brides from Madurai. Vijaya, the eponymous founder of the Sinhalese race, who has been ascribed to about the firth century 56

B.C., refused to be consecrated king without a queen of noble rank. Accordingly, so the national chronicle of the Sinhalese, the MahaYamsa, states, his ministers sent envoys "with many precious girts, jewels and pearls and so fourth, to the city of Madura in southern (India) to woo the daughter of the Pandu king for their lord, de­ voted (as they were) to their ruler, and they also (sent to woo) the daughters of others for the ministers and retainers. When the messengers were quicklY came by ship to the ci ty of Madhura they laid the gifts and letter before the king. The king took counsel with his ministers, and since he was minded to send his daughter (to Lanka), he haTing first received also daughters of others for the ministers (of Vijaya), high upon a hun­ dred maidens, proclaimed with beat of drum; 'Those men here who are willing to let a daughter depart for Lanka shall provide their daughters with a double store of clothing and place them at the doors of their houses. By this sign shall we (knOW that we may) take them to ourselves' • When he had thus obtained _ny maidens and had given compensation to their families, he sent his daughter, bedecked with all her ornaments and all that was needful for the journey, and all the maidens whom he had fitted out, according to their rank, elephants 57

withal and horses and waggons, wortby of a king and craftsmen and a thousand families of the eighteen guilds, entrusted with a letter to the conqueror Vijaya. All this multitude of men disembarked at Mahatittha; for that very reason is that landing place known as Maha- 2 ttit~".

The Sinhalese "considered it a privilege to intermarry with the Madura dynasty". In the late seven­ teenth century it became a matter of policy for the 3 chief queen or queens of Kandy to have been princess or princesses of Madurai.

This mi~t have been due to the tact that there were no other ruling Sinhalese family in Sri Lanka apart trom Kandy, and the Kandy kings insisted on consorts of the Suryavamsa, or the solar lineage, to grace their coronation and also to produce an heir acceptable to the people. Perhaps also, the Kandy kings would not take queens from the noble families of their kingdo. because many of these nobles were hostile to the throne and to marry their daughters would onlY be to strengthen them. They could hope to offset the intrigues or the hostile nobles with a faction of their own. In tact, a contem- 58

porary Sinhalese poem states that Narendrasimha married a lady froll Madurai "in order to quell the power of his rebellious chiefs who were coveting the throne, and also to produce a pure royal line unmixed with the nobility. Therefore, he ignored the royal maidens of Ceylon who were of 'mixed descent' and invited the daughter of It Madura". It was Rajasimha II who, in the late middle , ages, revived the custom of securing brides from Madurai. Interestingly, Rajasimha had also a Kandyan lady of noble birth for wife. To her he gave many gifts. But queenly rank and status was reserved for the Madurai lady.

His successor, Vimala Dharma Suriya II, in the words of the Culayamsa, followed his father's example and "as his !;,ggamahesi he took the daughter of the _hesi 6 in the town of Madhura".

Some details are available of the way that V1mala Dharma Suriya II made an attempt to have his son and successor, Narendrasimha, married to a lady from Madurai. Early in 1705 the chiefs of Kandy requested the Dutch to grant passage in their ships to two envoys 59

who were going to Madurai to seek a bride tor the heir 1 apparent. The Dutch controlled the seas around the island and held the important ports. Without their consent communications with Madurai were impossible.

In 1106 tvo Sinhalese chiefs. PalkUllbure Maho- S ttiyar and Udovita Muhandiram sailed in a Dutch ship from Colombo. The preliminary negotiations for a marriage alliance were in the hands of Venkatapath1 9 Nayakkar and Ramanatha Pillai, two South Indians.

Two Tamils who had settled down in Sri Lanka, Chidambaranatha and Adayapp&.n, accompanied the two Kandy 10 envoys as interpreters. On arrival in !uttukudi, the interpreters, the tvo middlemen and a fev Dutch soldiers proceeded to Tiruchirapalli, at that time the capital of the N'ayaks or Madurai. The envoys, who remained in Tuttukudi, left it for Tiruchirapalli in May, 1106. When they arrived Aithin a league of the oit~~ they were placed in charge of a Rangappa Nayakkar. They then en- 12 tered the city to stay with a chief named Raja Tondaman. 60

In July, the envoys held an interview with Rama Nayakkar and Rangappa Nayakkar and an official called in 13 the records, Mutuven Hayyen. The Sinhalese envoys pre- sented three letters, written in Sinhalese, Tamil and Telugu, aSking for the· hand of a Madurai lady for the 1lt !Candy heir apparent. They were told that the king's request would be granted without delay. But nothing was done. The Dutch governor Simons states that even at the time of writing (16, December 170?>, when Vimala

Dharma suri~~ too, was dead., nothing had come out of this mission. However, the Kandyan court acknowledged the facilities afforded and the honour done by the Dutch 16 and thanked the Governor.

Soon after the heir a pparen t succeeded to the throne on the death of his father on JWle 4, 1?O?, he 17 again turned to Madurai for a queen or queens. In the . 18 words of the CqlAyamsa, the king, "who vas an abode of discernment and manly virtues, in order to protect the

royal dignity in Lanka, fetc~ed princesses from the town of Madhura and made them mahes1s".

Though the Culayamsa calls these ladies "nrln­ cesses" the evidence available on the point is not un- 61

animous. According to Schrender, the Dutch Governor of the Maritime Provinces from 17,1-1162, the king was married to "a princess of the opposite coast, who was 19 the daughter of one Pitti Nayakkar of the Baddesas caste. It is important to try and settle the status of Naren­ drasimhats consort or consorts from Madurai, for it was a brother of hers or theirs who eventually became the first Nayakkar king in Kandy.

( A Tamil documentJNarrative of the Affairs of 20 Kandidesam~ happens to be the sole South Indian source available so far on the marriage alliances between Madurai and Kandy. It says that the Kandy envoys had an audience of the Nayak of Madurai. When they made their request for a Madurai princess, the Nayak became angr,y and re­ fused to accept their presents and ordered the envoys to leave. He stridt17 commanded his relatives not to offer their daughters to them on behalf of the king of !{andy.

Nevertheless, adds this document, a poor man agreed to give his daughter in marriage. The envoys were asked to go to Ramesvaram. There the poor man and his family met them under cover of night. The parties 62

then sailed for Kandy and ti~re the nuptials took place. The consecration of Narendrasimha and the mahesi from

Madura ~as celebrated with great magnificance. Hulan­ gamuve Mydaliya, one of the envoys, was given the village of Ambokka as a gift by the king for performing the ser­ vice of gOing to Madurapura to fetch the br1je for the uncom~rable and extremely magnificent ceremony of con- 21 secration". In January 1710, another bride was brought to Sri Lanka% from South India with her family and re- 22 tinue. After sometime the king died childless and ~as succeeded by the brother of his queens under the title 23 of Vijaya Bala Maharaja.

Thus, the evidence of the Tamil manuscript directly contradicts the CUlayam§a. There 1s no parti-' 2lt­ cular reaaon to accept the assertion of the manuscript. It 1s true'that Vijayaranga Chokkanatha, the Nayak of Madurai at the time, was a conservative in religious matters, and he might have objected to the different religion of the king of Kandy, a BuJdhist. But he must have known that the kingls mother and grandmother had been princesses of Madurai, of bis own stock and pres­ umably of his own caste. He might not have turned down GEP¥tf)U;&I. ': .\8Li • II

lA1Li ~Qil1.i\i ~: jolI~!.s_c£'llt~lCllt:!_~YjIl gr_~

.,.~ 2T.!4A~ 'd117 of f ltP.-fQm VISUlIA1'P.A MA.UU (~S29-15'&.)

I I MaUi BraAeh CoIIateril B~ Saant (1~-'635') a _ , tt1l' .1. JQ'Ua, (0. '623·'6S9) ~n Mutlla, Nayga PaJ ••~ II ('63~_1~7) )laUlol V~ II (165'9·'512) Jlanra kYa.k::l . . I Ia,.... -:uara , I tvo l4aciura queeaa ~_t.b (16'12.1682) ~ra ':'1r'.-..J.a ~& 1 r V1aJ.a DbanIa S 1.U"1y. 1:1 (J 68~.. 1 701) • MiUp_l Bupru ':'1....,..la IIa7U& . • two MIdura , 1 • ~ftC$ J..E..IIda "1ft". ..,.. IIIC16i2.'.) Y1 J&TalNara : . , . I . .. !i&zowadl"u:1.llba (~ 7C'J-1 139 ) "1~ CokIlaaatJ:la ~' __'13.a) •. . ianaappa ~ • tv.., !lldu:a ~ae.a •• ..... I J _I 1 ca.••• ] "cae ('~'?0'1) I $1m ~cm ~t~ • Sri 11'a,.. !a~.si.l;.ba (t?J9-'~7) IltaMtid. (1132.1631) I · .... -.. "' ... Qu_ _ l1rt1'..... J ...... ('''''''781) • fCNZ ~ura, Queens. '- ..J8db1 IaJaaaba ( f?l!2 • f"i'9P )

• F1~ .durs Q~ .... . Sri '&"'2 "-Ja.-1I:!b& (1?198-'8';'~

~.~ JIiIdtI,... " __ :1. 63 the Kandy request. The national chronicle of the Sin-2, ha1ese, the Culayamsa is entitled to better credence. After all, if the Nayak of Madura could ride the high horse, the king of Kandy too could be punctilious and exacting. Would the people of Kandy, also conservative in their way, have accepted a woman who was not a princess as their queen and her son as king?

The social status of the Madurai lady in terms

of caste becomes an import~nt issue because, the union 26 proving childless, king Narendrasimha nominated as his successor a brother of that queen. According to Mand&- 2? rampura ~ta, this brother had accompanied his sister

from ¥~durai to lillndy and had remained at the court since. The Culavarrsa. 91, 1, confirms this. It says, "After Narindrasiha's death the younger brother of the Mahes1 of this king became king, adorned with the ornament of virtue. Kno~ by the name of Sri Vijaya Rajasiha, he was after the attainment of his consecreation as King, piously attached to the Triad of the jewels (that is, the Buddha, the Sangha, and the Dharma). To establish his own dynasty he fetched princesses from the town of 28 Madhura and made them his chief mahesis". 64

The accession of Sri Vijaya Ra,iasimha Jid not go un1isputed. A powerful party at the court supported the claims of Unambuve Banlara, the former king's son by a 29 woman of the Vellala caste. But Unambuve seems to have 1eclined the throne. "Later on he lived safe and sound 30 a t the CO'lrt of Kandy".

Why jbambuve lid not succeed, either because he did not tJish to or because he found discretion the better part of v~lotlr, sheds interesting light on the question o~ royal succession in Kandy. He failed because his mother '..fas not of royal st~tus. She was of the Vellala caste (called the Govikula in Sri Lanka), the highest in social hierarchy. Nevertheless, she was not of royal birth, Therefore, her son could not succeed. Cbi11ren born to the kings of Kandy from women vho were not of 31 royal blood were called 'Qh1nna maim.. They had no legal right to the throne. But they became nobles, and '.ere given lands dnd titles.

The important question no"l1 arises wry Narendra­ si~ha chose the brother of his chief queen to succeed him and not U SOIl of his sister, if he had any. His decision had no precejent in the . 65

The custom did not prevail among the Nayaks of Madurai 32 either. There is no satisfactory explanation of what Narendrasimha did. But it is important to remember that, unprecedented as it was, it received the support of the nobles and the people, and Sri Vijaya Rajasimha did succeed without any problem. 33 "V1ithout doubt" says Geiger, "the Sinhalese right or succession rests on patriarchy. Nevertheless in Sri Lanka as elsewhere in India, the remnants of an older matriarchy have been preserved. This is parti­ cularly noticeable in the part played by the sister's son, the bbagineyya. The fact of this relationsrip being designated by a special term is in itself sig­ nificant (Skt. bbagineya). For a brother's sons no such terms exists. They are simply called sunayo. It is undoubtedly the case that tl:e sister's son enjoyed a certain preference; the last remnant of that special position accorded to him under matriarcty". Lorna Srimathic Devaraja is tempted to say that it was the

m~rumakkathayam principle, which means succession by nephews, popular in Kerala, that influenced the accession 34 of Sri Vijaya Rajas1mha to the throne of Kandy. 66

w"-s While all this 1-s true enough, there was some- thing unusual in what Narendrasimha did. He introduced wbat to Kandy was a new principle of succession. As it happened, no other opportuni~ arose in Kandy, or for ttat matter in the whole of Sri Lanka, to apply it again quite in that form. The three other Nayakkar kings of Kandy, Kirt1 Sri Rajasimha, Rajadhirajasimha and Sri Vikrama Rajasimba, succeeded under different circum­ stances. Sri Vijaya Rajasimha married the daughter of one Narenappa, a ralat1ve of Bangaru Tiruma1a Nayaka, who belon~ed to the collateral branch of Madurai Nayak 35 family of Viswanatha Nayaka (see genealogical table II). Narenappa Nayaka1s paternal grand father, Periya Tiruma1a 36 Nayaka, was married to a sister of a prince of Madura. ori Vijaya Rajasimha died Qn August 11, 1?~? As he was also childless like his predecessor, he n~minated his eldest brother-in-law, Kirti Sri Rajasimha, who had been 3? living in Kandy. He was then a boy of fourteen. Thus the rule of the Nayakkars continued in Kandy. His mino­ rity introduced a new factor in royal successions. The nobles became powerful. Two chiefs, Dumbara and 11am­ pitiya, carried on the administration, though jealous of each other. Two of Kirti ori Rajasimha1s four queens 67

were said to be the descendants of Vijayaraghava Nayak, 38 of Tanjavur (1633-1673).

When Kirti Sri Rajasimha died on January 2, 1782, of the effects of a fall from his horse, a brother of his succeeded him under the title of Rajadhi Raja­ simha. But the Sinhalese nobles, unremitting in tLeir hostility to the Nayakkars at the court, were growing more and more pONerful, a process which culminated in 1815 with the extinction of the Kandy kingdom. The new

king had gone to Sri Lanka as a child along ~ith his brother, and he had been brought up as a Kandyan.

Pil1ma Talavve, the First Adig~ (the principal noble in the State and the highest State functionary) deposed Rajadhi Rajasimha in 1798. Probably his ambition

was to seize the throne for himself with the hel~ of the British. But some of the other chiefs would not accept

him. According to custom, the first A1igak could help in the choice of a successor to the king. Talavve re­ frained from doing this and carried on the administration without any king. 68

Rajadhi Rajasimha chose Muthuswami, a brother of a queen of his, not as successor, but till such time as his queens should select a son of one of their bro­ thers. When Rajadhirajasimha died in 1798, the victim 39 of a malignant fever in 1798, Talavve selected Kannu- 40 swami, the son of a sister of a queen of Rajadh1 Rajasimha. Kannuswami was only one of(manll-ul y Nayakkar relatives of the late king who had claims to the throne under the system of matriarchy. Rajadhi Rajasimha had married two pairs of sisters. The first pair had seven brothers, Muthuswami, Buddhuswami, Kannuswami, Chinnaswami, Appuswami, Ayaswarni and Rangaswami. The second pair had one brother Kandaswami. Anyone of these could have been chosen under the system Narendrasimha had introduced. But Kannuswami was chosen with Talavve's help. Kannuswami was a very young man. Talavve called him "a contemptible 41 person, ¥leak in intellect". His intention was to set him aside when opportunity offered. In the meanwhile, he made the new king who ascended the throne as Sri Vikrama Rajasimha, exile all the Nayakkars and execute many opponents of his own. The queen and all the rela­ tions of the late king were imprisoned. He imprisoned the king's uncle also, and forcibly married his two 69

If.2 daughters. Several royal relations managed to escape into British territory and were given pension by gover- nor North who hoped they might be useful in future. If.3 Among them was Muthuswami, the king's brother-in-law. Talavva Succeeded in making the new rule hateful and contemptible. "The pressures built up by this con­ frontation led to an irreparable breakdown in the political sphere, and the Kandyan kingdom, diviled against itself, became a tempting prey to the British who alrea~ had an iron grip on the coast and were not disinclined to round off total control over the island now that a ~ suitable opportunity had presented itself".

This jynasty has not received much attention from Indian historians. It ruled for only seventysix years, from 1739 to 1815. But its historical importance is out of all proportions to its brief term of rule. In the first place, it was a quaSi-Indian dynasty in a t+5 foreign country, called to the ttrone by the suffrages of the people and the nobles, and not as conquerors. It encountered the jealousy and hostility of many power­ If.6 ful nobles. But when it fell, it was to the superior arms of the British. 70

In the second place, the dynasty quickly assi­ milated the Sinhalese ethos by adopting their names, language and religion. The kings were ardent Buddhists 47 and made magnifi~ent gifts to the Sangha. They had necessarily to build up a faction of their own people to offset the influence of the nobles, many of whom, trrough­ out the term of the dynasty, were intriguing against them, at first with the Dutch in the Maritime Provinces, and, after the expulsion of the Dutch, with the British, wl·o had supplanted them. Hence tr:ey took care to per­ petuate their rule by intermarrying with their kith and kin in South India and nominating as successors to the throne one of thair own blood relations. Nevertheless, tte Nayakkar kings were able to keep the nobles at bay partly bec.:..use they had the support of the people.

In the third place, the story of the Kandy n-: dynasty ofLNayakkars forms an important chapter in the history of Vijayanagar. The subsidiary dynasties of

Ikkeri, Mysore, Gin~ee, Tanjavur and Madurai are well known to historians. The Kandy dynasty should be added 48 to the list. 71

It was not on the same footing as the others. They were in power in the mainland of India, while it held rule in a foreign country, though a nearby one. Its problems were different. Kandy, an inland mountai­ nous kingdom, surrounded by aggressive foreigners all around, had always to fight for its survival. It de­ pended for two of its essential products, salt and fish, on their forbearance. It could not carryon its foreign trade except with their consent. But it had its weapons. The cinnamon which the foreigners coveted was grown mainly in the Kandy kingdom, and the kings could close the frontiers against the rulers of the Maritime Provi­ nces. They also enjoyed the sentimental support of most of tLe people in the Maritime Provinces as the sole sur­ viving Sinhalese kingdom in the island. Their survival depended on their dexterity in mak1n~ the most of their advantages as against their handicaps.

For nearly a century they showed themselves quite able diplomats. If they fell in 1815', it ,,,as only to the rapacious imperialism of the British, who were then making their power felt all over the world. 72

The Kan~ Nayakk&rs' importance. specifically in Indian Histor.r. lies in their attempts to utilise their South Indian connections and influence in their struggles. diplomatic and militar.r. against the Dutch. Their principal object was to get rid of these foreig­ ners who had entrenched themselves in the Maritime Provinces. They believed that they could obtain help from South India in achieving this objective. The" did not succeed, mainly because the Indian powers in the south were weak and were falling under t~e dominance of the British. utilising the financial and military weak­ ness of the Navabs of the Oarnatic, the British vere establishing themselves in the south. Their victory over Tippu Sultan of Mysore in 1199 made themselves the supreme masters.

The Kandy Nayakkars were perhaps unrealistic in expecting any significant help from the Indian powers in the south. But it was, in fact, from the south that the decisive interference in Sri Lanka affa1rs came. It was the Bri Ush from Madras who expelled the Dutch from the Maritime Provinces in 179" and who, twen'tY\years

\ later, annexed the Kandy ldngdom to bring the entire 73

island under their rule. This South Indian intervention in Sri Lanka~affairs proved far more decisive than any Indian invasion previously. For all these reasons, the Nayakkar kings of Kandy deserve careful study by Indian historians.

~e may now turn our attention to the events Which led to the intervention of the British in the affairs of the Kandyan kingdom. 74

1. When the British occupied Kandy on 14th February, 181" they found that the king had left the city

with his family. However) he was captured by the British, placed on board the ship, "Cornwallis" for Madras with his wives, family and dependents. Be was then transported to Vellore where he died on the 30th January 1832, aged fifty two years and leaving one son. See C.R. De Silva, Ceylon under the British OCcupation 1795-1835, p.1'2.

2. MahayamS!, translated by Wilhelm Geiger, pp.5'9-60. Mahatittha is now called Mantota, onposite to the islet of ldannar.

3. The Sinhalese king could have more than one Mabes1 (queen) and the first of them was called aggamAhes1

(chief queen) and she alone~ entitled to playa

role in the abhlshe~ or consecration of the king.

A king could not only have tvo mahes1~ but also two

~gamahes1s. In the Potgul Vihara inscription, the ~ queen Candavati is d~scribed as ~second ag~mabes1 of Parakramabahu I (1153-1186>, the first being Lilavati. See Epigraphia Zevlan1ca, II, p.241. 75

3. cont •••• During this period the king's mahes!. (secondary wives) were known as munda doll or iron Palanauin, to which they were entitled and the age.hesis (chief queen) were known as randoll or golden palanquin.

~. Manadarampura Puyato, verses ~33-436. A Sinhalese poem of' historical nature, it deviates frOID conven­ tional theme, and deals with military, social and economic .atters. It Was probably written during the lat1er years of Kirti Sri Bajasimbals reign.

,. Culayamsa, the continuation of Mahayamsa, translated by Wilhelm Geiger, part II, p.2)8.

6. ~., p.23'.

7. Court Chiefs to Governor Simons, 170" ceylon National Archives. 1/3229.

8. Mahott!va vas an official Who kept the official records, and Muhandiry vas an officer of varying rank. It was

also a title of honour given to p~rson~of the h1ghest caste, the Govikula, or in Indian terms, the Vellala.

~JSORf ONJVr .. iIIYSORE - ;-:', 76

9. Regarding the mission, a detailed report to the chief adigar (chief minister) is available. It is reproduced by P.M.P. Abhayas1ngha (eel.) in Qdarata Vitti, pp. 122-129.

10. The Dutch Governor of Sri Lanka, Cornelies Joan Simons (1703-1707) refers to this embassy of five

people which ~as sent to Madurai in 1706 to retch a bride. e. Memoir of Cornel~s Joan Simons for his success2t, 12Q2 (hereafter Memoir of Ggyernor Simons) p.7.

11. P.M.P. Abhayasingha, Qg.cit., p.127.

12. This Raja must have been a member of the Pudukkottai rulin g house.

13. His real name ~as probably' sometting like Muttu lyer or Muttu lyen.

14. P.M.P. Abhayasin~ha, Op,cit., p.128.

1,. Memoir of Governgr Simons, p.7.

16. Court chiefs to Governor S1mons, 1706, Ceylon National Archives, 1/32,9. 77

1? Narendrasimha, soon after his accession, married a Kandyan lady, the daughter of Monaravila, disayol (provincial Governor) of Matale. She is said to have borne a son to the king. It is very likely that the boy died young, for we hear no more about him. See Hugh Nevill, Collection of Ballads, British Museum, No.85?

18. Culayam§A, p.242.

19. E. Reimerl (translater) Memoir of Johg Sghreuder for his Successor, 1262, (hereafter Memoir of Bobn Schreuder) p.)O.

20. Included in William Taylor, (editor and translator) Q[1ental Historical Manuscripts in Tamil LanJU&ge,

Vol. II, Appendix G, pp.~2~9. See also Regarding the kings of Candia and their connections with Madura, COllin Mackenzie Collection, India Ofrice Library, Vol. IV, p.10?

21. Sesanas of the Central Province, Manuscript in Land Settlement Department, Colombo Secretariat, Vol. It p.8? 78

22. In January 1710 another bride was brought to Sri Lanka, from South India, with her family and retinue. Governor and council of Ceylon to the Governor General and Council, 14 February, 1710, Koloniale Aretie!, 1678, ff. 117-120; See Lorna Srimathie Dewaraja, OJ),c1t., p,3'.

23. William Taylor, Op,cit" pp. 43-41.

24. It was written between 1798 and 1803 and its author is anonymous.

2,. Contra, Lorna Srimathie Dewaraj&, Op.cit., p.34. She says "The brides did cOlle frOll Madura, but it is doubtful whether they belonged to the royal family".

26. Culayamsa, 98.1. Harendrasimha had no children by either of the aigamabesil.

27. Verse, ,10.

28. Culayamsa, Vol. II, p.246.

29. Referred to as a concubine of the king. See E.Reimers, Op.cit., p.30.

30. ~., p.246. 79

31. Culayamsa, 38 .80. Even in the 5'th century, Kassapa I was considered a usurper because his mother was not of royal rank. The designation bandara given to the off­ spring of Sinhalese kings by a secondary wife of the Govikula was not accorded to the offspring of the king by women of a lower caste •

.32. When Chokkanatha Nayaka of died without a male issue it was his wife Minakshi (1732- 1738>, who succeeded him and not his brother-in-law, Venkata Perumal Nayaka. See R.Satyanatha Aiyar,

NaYakS of Madum,p .232; See also Geiger' 8 introduction to his translation of Qulayaasa, l Kingship and law of succession in Medieval Ceylon', Vol.I, p.XXII; Por more details on the law of succession see 'Mother right and succession to the throne in Malabar and Ceylon' in CIYlon JOurn!l ot Historical and Social Studi", Vol.II, Jan-June, 1963, No.1, pp.25'-39; M.B.Ariyapala "Succession to the throne in Ancient Ceylon", Universitv of Ceylon Rey;i.e)!, Vol.XII,No.4,

Oct.195'4, pp. 195-216. Ariyapala~ supports the view that succession depended upon Primogeniture. 80

33. Cqlayamsa, Vol.I.

3~. Lorna Srimath1e Dewaraja (Op.cit., p.37) is tempted to say tha t it was the MarnmakkathayYl principle, which means succession by nephews, that influenced the accession of Sri Vijaya Rajasimha to the throne of Kandy.

35. It is said that dri Vijaya Rajasimha sent an embassy to Madurai for a bride in 1739. The Kandy envoys met the Nayakkar representatives, Ramakrishna Nayaka and Narenappa (Narayanappa ?) Nayaka in Ramanatha­ puram tovn. The Kandyan envoys sauf"ht for their king the hand of a daughter of Narenappa Nayaka. The father agreed. Subsequently Narenappa Nayaka settled down in Kandy along with his family. Sri Vijaya Rajasimha married another Madurai lady seven

years later on April 21, 17~7. William Taylor, Op.cit., Vol. II, App.G.p.47.

36. Narenappa Nayaka's paternal grandfather, Periya Tirumala Nayaka, was married to a sister of a prince of Madurai. MemQir of Joan Gideon Lotan to his

Successor, p.3. Laten was the Dutch Governor of ~ Maritime Provinces betveen 1752-1757. 81

37. E. Reimers, Op.cit., p.30.

38. William Taylor, Op.c1t., Vol. II, Appendix C. p.49. The existence of the marriage alliance between the Nayakkar dynasty of Kandy and the 1escendent of Vijaya Raghava Nayaka of Tanjavur is confirmed by a Telugu manuscript, TanjaYuruyari Carita. See

T. Venkataswamy Rao, A Ma~ual of the Tanjore District 1n the , p.758.

39. Madras M11itary and Political Proceedings, 254, XXII, 359 ff. de Meurn to Harris, 1700 August, 1793.

40. J.Davy, ACQount ot the Interior ot Ceylon, 312.

41. S.Q. Perara, History of CeyloD, II, p.31.

42. J. Davy, 0p,c1t.

43. North to oecret Committee, 26th November 1798; Colonial Office Records, 54.1 ; and North to Secret Committee, 30th January, 1800, Colonial Office Records, 54.1.

44. K.M. De Silva, Op.cit., p.230. 82

~5. There was ~ street in Kandy, named Malabar Street, where only the Nayakkars lived. "Malabar" was a term frequently applied to the Tamils and Telugus of South . It arose from a misconception on the part of the Arabs who gave the name of "Mat bar" to the South Coromandal Coast. This name fre­ quentlY occurs in the records of the time.

t 46. NOb~~S and Sangh~ (order of the monks) were ~ sources of threat to the Kings of Sri Lanka. During the

reign of the Nayakkar king, Kirti Sri Rajasimha I (1747-1760) the second adigar Samanakkodi , and some of the most venerated monks of the land plotted to kill the King by inviting him to a religious fes­ tival. They dug a pit, placed sharp spikes in it and covered it ~ith some drapieries and placed the throne on it. The idea was that the moment the

king i~kM- his seat the drapper1es would give way and he would fall impaled upon the spikes. However ) it failed to materialise since the king had prior information about the plot. Culayamsa, p.23.

47. Cqlayamsa, 100.73. 83

48. Though the Nayakkar dynasty figures in the general histories of Sri Lanka, for example in K.M. de Silva's A History of Sri Lanka, only one book, by itself, has been devoted to it so far. This is The !{andyan Kinidom 1202-1260, by Lorna Srimath1e .twC Dewaraja. It is not primarily a history Of~Naya- kkars, for it begins before they came to power and ends before they lost it. There are standard his­ tories of the Nayaks of Madurai, Tanjavur, G1ngee

(;V and Ikkeri, by R.Sat~tha Aiyer, V.Vriddhagir1san, " C.S. Srinivasachari and K.D.Swamin~than respectively. The Wodeyars of Mysore have been studied by M.Sbama Rao in Mogern Mysore but it carries the story upto 1868.