Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c7.3

c7.3

At the close of the eighteenth century, the Kandyan kingdom consisted of ten *disāvana* or districts, each in charge of a *Disāva* (earl), and nine other districts (*raṭa*) each in charge of a chief usually known as the *Raṭēmahatmaya*. All these districts together correspond more or less with the area occupied by the present Central, Sabaragamuwa, Uva, North Central, North Western (part), and Eastern (part) provinces, *i.e.*, the whole of the mountainous districts and some part of the low-country commanded by the mountains, or which the Kandyan kings were otherwise able to protect.