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The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c29.s5: (c) Toungoo 1280–1531

The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c29.s5

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English

(c) Toungoo 1280–1531

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In 1280 two brothers built a stockade round their village on the hill-spur (*taunggnu*), and thus founded Toungoo; the stockade was probably a necessity against the ferocious slave-raiders of Karenni. The Pagān kingdom was then on its death-bed, and Toungoo grew up without even such slight traditions of loyalty as other towns possessed. In the next two centuries she was ruled by twenty-eight chiefs, of whom fifteen perished by assassination.

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Other places, notably Prome, were equally independent, but Toungoo differed in this, that she remained predominantly Burmese. The Shāns made life so unbearable in Upper Burma that every now and then crowds of Burmese families would flock south and settle round Toungoo with its stronghold on the hill. The first migration took place when Pyanchi (1368–77) was lord of Toungoo; he joined the chiefs of Āva and Pegū in making offerings at Pagān, and in an inscription² at the Shwezigon he and his lady record with natural pride that they gave refuge to the Burmese who fled after the Shān sack of Sagaing and Pyinya. These twain prayed that in their next existence they might be man and wife together again, and dwell in the land of Toungoo, and once more rule the people they loved so well.

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² Tun Nyein, *Inscriptions of Pagān, Pinya and Āva*, p. 149.

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The lords of Toungoo styled themselves kings and had a golden palace at Gyobinzeik village, with elephant stables, and even an occasional white elephant. And indeed the little throne sometimes descended from father to son. But as often as not they paid homage to Āva, and Āva sometimes sent her nominee to rule as governor.

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Toungoo was usually on good terms with Pegū, and when she went raiding it was to the north, especially to Kyaukse. She always looked longingly on that prosperous hollow, growing three crops a year when she could grow only one, and the stronger she grew the more she encroached there. Her greatest chief, Minkyinyo (1486–1531), finally secured it when the chief of Āva gave him a daughter, and, as her dowry, Kyaukse itself together with the country leading up to it from Toungoo, such as the Yamethin villages Taungnyo, Pyagaung (Kyidaunggan), Shwemyo, Kintha, Talaingthe and Petpaing. He deported the population of these to fill the new town Dwayawadi (Myogyi near Toungoo) which he founded. In 1510 he moved and founded the present Toungoo, digging the lake within the walls and laying out orchards. When the Shāns finally took Āva in 1527 he sallied forth and deliberately devastated the country in the central zone, filling in the walls and breaking down the channels so as to place an impassable belt between himself and the Shāns. While he was doing this, the last great influx of Burmans came fleeing from the Shān terror; the lords of Pyinya in Sagaing district, Myittha in Kyaukse, and Hlaingdet in Meiktila, with many a Burmese family, noble and commoner, fled south to take refuge at his feet. In delight he exclaimed: 'Now I know why the bees swarmed on the gate of Toungoo: it meant that my city would be populous'; it meant more than that, although he did not realise it—it meant that Toungoo would see the re-birth of the Burmese race.

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Chiengmai as well as Pegū recognised Minkyinyo as an independent chief, and he was so strong that Karenni sent him propitiatory homage. He was a great fighter, and once, when taking Kyaungbya (south-east of Toungoo) from the Talaings, he killed its Shān governor by jumping on to his elephant and cutting him down. He could trace his descent indirectly through forbears of rank to the Pagān dynasty, and dying at the age of seventy-two he bequeathed a great name to Tabinshwehti, his son by the daughter of the headman of Penwegon, six miles north of Toungoo.

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THE successive raids from Southern India, described in volume II of this history, which had thrown Ceylon into confusion during the first twelve years of the thirteenth century, reached their climax in the irruption of the wicked Kāliṅga prince Māgha, who, with an army of Keralas or Malabaris, overran the country, destroying all that lay in his way. He entered the capital, Poḷonnaruva, took its ruler, Parakkama Paṇḍu, captive, and despoiled the city of its treasures. He then ascended the throne under the title of Kāliṅga Vijaya-Bāhu, and ruled over the north central part of the Island for twenty-one years (a.d. 1213 to 1234).

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His domination was characterised by wanton cruelty, and the Sinhalese chronicles give a heartrending account of the destruction of sacred edifices, the expulsion of priests, and other outrages, extending even to the destruction of the literature of the Island.

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While Māgha and his confederate, Jaya-Bāhu, were thus oppressing the inhabitants of Poḷonnaruva and the neighbouring districts, a few Sinhalese chieftains successfully defended the religion and liberties of the people in the less accessible highlands. At Subha-pabbata (now Yāpavu in the North-Western Province) was the military commander Subha-senāpati; at Gaṅgādoṇi-pabbata in the Maṇimekhalā district was Saṅkha, another military commander; in Rohaṇa (Southern Ceylon) Bhuvaneka-Bāhu bore sway; and Prince Vijaya-Bāhu, leading a Sinhalese army from the Vanni district, drove the Tamils from the Māyā, or central region of the Island, and, having built for himself a stronghold at Jambudoṇi (Dambadeṇiya), reigned there, contemporaneously with Māgha, for four years, from about a.d. 1227 to 1231. His chief work was the restoration of the Buddhist church, the recovery of such literature as remained, and the revival of letters. He invited to his capital Vāchissara¹, and all other learned Buddhist monks who had fled from the tyranny of Māgha, brought the Tooth and Bowl relics of the Buddha from Kotmale, where they had been hidden, to his capital, and afterwards enshrined them with great ceremony on the top of the Beligala Rock. He convened a Council of Elders consisting of the well-known author Saṅgha-rakkhita, the two Theras named Medhaṅkara, and other representatives of Buddhist fraternities, who sat in his own temple, Vijayārāma, and, after rehearsing the Buddhist canon, issued an ecclesiastical rescript (*Katikāvata*) for the guidance of the clergy. He also caused copies of important Buddhist works to be made, to replenish the temple libraries rifled by the invaders.

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¹ See Mv. lxxxi, 18, B. M. Cat. of Sinh. mss., pp. xvi, xvii, and Katikāvat-saṅgarā, p. 8.

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Vijaya-Bāhu III had one daughter and two sons, Parakkama-Bāhu and Bhuvaneka-Bāhu. The first son, under the tutorship of the renowned Saṅgha-rakkhita Thera, made such progress in learning that he received the title Kalikāla Sāhichcha Sabbañña Paṇḍita (‘the Omniscient Pandit of the Kaliyuga epoch of Literature’).

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He succeeded his father on the throne at Dambadeṇiya as Parakkama-Bāhu II, probably in A.D. 1231, while the usurpers Māgha and Jaya-Bāhu were ruling over Pihiṭi-raṭa at Poḷonnaruva. As soon as he ascended the throne he set himself to restore order in the kingdom. He appointed his younger brother, Bhuvaneka-Bāhu, to the office of sub-king, and held a great festival in honour of the Tooth-relic. He then led a large army against the strongholds of the invaders and in the course of about three years succeeded in expelling them from Ceylon. With his nephew, Vīra-Bāhu, he repulsed a raid led by Chandrabhānu, a Jāvaka, or Malay chieftain, and, as soon as peace and order were restored to the land, turned his attention to the purification of the Buddhist church. He held a convocation of elders, and the canon was rehearsed, sinful priests were excommunicated, and a new rescript or *Katikāvata* was issued for the use of the clergy. He gave every encouragement to art and learning, and it appears from the glowing accounts of him in the *Dambadeṇi-asna* and the *Rājaratnākara* that his own accomplishments were many. His *Visuddhi-magga-sannaya* and *Vinaya-vinichchhaya-sannaya* (Sinh. *Vanavinisa-sanne*) which he entitled *Nissandeha* are remarkable for their comprehensiveness, and his *Kavsiḷumiṇa* is a masterpiece of Sinhalese poetry, which has furnished the author of the Sinhalese grammar, *Sidatsaṅgarā*, with an example establishing the existence in the Sinhalese language of the semi-nasal *saññaka*. His just rule and the facilities for study afforded by him, by Devapratirāja, his chief minister, and by his other ministers, resulted in the production of many important works. Dhammakitti Thera continued the compilation of the *Mahāvaṁsa*, under the title *Chūlavaṁsa*, from the date on which Mahānāma had relinquished it to the end of the reign of Parakkama-Bāhu I (A.D. 1153–86), and was probably prevented only by death, or by political disorders, from continuing the chronicle to his own times (A.D. 1235–65). Among other contemporary writers may be mentioned Mayūrapāda Thera, the author of the well-known *Pūjāvaliya*, and of a medical work named *Yogārṇava*, both in Sinhalese prose.

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Parakkama-Bāhu II had five sons, (1) Vijaya-Bāhu, (2) Bhuvaneka-Bāhu, (3) Tiloka-Malla, (4) Parakkama-Bāhu, and (5) Jaya-Bāhu, called Siri Vijaya-Bāhu in the *Rājāvaliya*, and the nephew, Vīra-Bāhu, mentioned above. They were all skilful and experienced soldiers, and the eldest, Vijaya-Bāhu, was entrusted with the government of the country while his royal father was devoting his time to literature.

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This prince was a master of strategy and a great organiser. He placed his two youngest brothers, Parakkama-Bāhu and Jaya-Bāhu, with their father, sent Tiloka-Malla to command the Sinhalese army of the south, and placed Bhuvaneka-Bāhu in the fortress of Sundara Pabbata (Yāpavu) in order that he might defend the northern districts of the Island. He himself, with his cousin Vīra-Bāhu, journeyed through the length and breadth of the country, put down evil-doers, and freed the Island of enemies, among those whom they vanquished being Chandrabhānu, who was making a second attempt to gain the sovereignty of Ceylon. After visiting many places of importance, including Vāta-giri, Adam's Peak, Gampola, Kuruṇāgala, and Yāpavu, and restoring peace and prosperity to all, they remained for a time in Anurādhapura, where they restored the sacred buildings. They conciliated the Vanni princes, and went on to Poḷonnaruva, which they completely restored. Vijaya-Bāhu then invited his father from Dambadeṇiya to Poḷonnaruva, and in 1779 A.B. (A.D. 1235) held in great splendour the second coronation festival, a record of which is contained in the *Attanagaluvamsa*, and in the *Mahāvaṁsa* (lxxxix, 10). The *Pūjāvaliya*, which is a contemporary work, gives the duration of Parakkama-Bāhu's reign as thirty-three years, while the *Mahāvaṁsa* gives it as thirty-five. According to the *Nikāyasaṅgraha* and the *Rājaratnākara* he appears to have died in 1809 A.B. (A.D. 1265).

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His eldest son, Vijaya-Bāhu IV, also known as Bosat Vijaya-Bāhu, then ascended the throne at Dambadeṇiya, but had reigned for barely two years (A.D. 1266–68) when he was slain at the instigation of an officer named Mitta, who attempted to usurp the throne, but was put to death by the troops, who placed the murdered king’s brother, Bhuvaneka-Bāhu I of Yāpavu on the throne of Dambadeniya. He ruled for about eleven years (A.D. 1268–79), and was sedulous in promoting the interests of the Buddhist church. Shortly after his death Ceylon was visited by a famine. Āryachakravarti, who was then reigning in Jaffna, invaded the country, and succeeded in carrying away from Yāpavu the Tooth-relic, which he delivered to his king, Kulaçekhara, who has been identified with the Pāṇḍyan king, Māṟavarman Tribhuvana-chakravartin Kulaçekhara-deva (*c.* 1268–1308)¹. For nearly a year after this incident the land was in confusion, until Parakkama-Bāhu III, a son of Vijaya-Bāhu IV, assumed sovereignty at Poḷonnaruva. He made peace with Kulaçekhara, and recovered the Tooth-relic, which he afterwards deposited in a temple at Poḷonnaruva. He seems to have reigned for about seven years (A.D. 1281–88) before Bhuvaneka-Bāhu II, son of Bhuvaneka-Bāhu I, deposed him and reigned for two years at Kuruṇāgala. According to the *Daḷadāsirita* these two kings reigned contemporaneously at their respective capitals until the latter, for some reason or other, deposed the former, and brought the Tooth-relic from Poḷonnaruva to Kuruṇāgala.

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¹ See *Madras Epigraphy, Report for 1907*, p. 70, and Hultzsch, *J.R.A.S.*, 1913, p. 531.

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Parakkama-Bāhu IV, called also Paṇḍita Parakkama-Bāhu II (*c.* A.D. 1291–1326), son of the preceding king, then ascended the throne at Kuruṇāgala. The duration of his reign is not given in any known historical work, but it may be gathered from the colophon to the *Daḷadāsirita* that he was reigning in A.D. 1325 (*Saka* 1246 expired 1869 A.B.), and in the inscription at Kitsirimevan-Kälaṇi-Vihāra it is stated that Vilgammūla Mahāthera, who translated the *Bodhivamsa* into Sinhalese at the request of this king, was in A.B. 1876 (A.D. 1322, seven years after the compilation of the *Daḷadāsirita*) still holding the position of Māhimi. The king’s death seems to have taken place between A.D. 1325 and 1332, probably in 1326, after a reign of thirty-five years. He was a patron of learning, and during his reign many religious and historical works were composed. To the king himself is ascribed the authorship of the Sinhalese Jātaka book², a monumental work, and the *Daḷadāsirita*³. The second section of the *Chūlavamsa*, from Vijaya-Bāhu II to Parakkama-Bāhu IV (A.D. 1186–1326), also was probably compiled during this period.

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² Mv. xc, 83.

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³ Mv. xc, 79.

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Of the next two kings, Bhuvaneka-Bāhu III, called also Vanni Bhuvaneka-Bāhu, and Vijaya-Bāhu V, called in the *Mahāvamsa* Jaya-Bāhu, and in Sinhalese works Savuḷu Vijaya-Bāhu, hardly anything is known. They seem to have reigned in Kuruṇǟgala for about twenty years, one after the other, from A.D. 1326 to 1346. Bhuvaneka-Bāhu IV then ascended the throne. His capital was Gaṅgāçrīpura (Gampola). The Laṅkātilaka inscription (British Museum copy) of this king's minister, Senālaṅkādhikāra, gives *Saka* 1264 (A.D. 1342) as the date of his accession, but according to the *Mahāvaṁsa* and other historical works he succeeded in A.B. 1890 (A.D. 1346). The difference of four years may be explained by assuming that the first was the year of his accession to the rank of sub-king, and the second that of his assumption of sovereign power. The Vāgiri-devāle inscription is dated in the tenth regnal year, so that Bhuvaneka-Bāhu IV must have reigned for at least ten years, four years (1342–46) as Äpā, and six years (1346–52) as king.

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The next king was Parakkama-Bāhu V, called in Sinhalese Savuḷu Pärākum-raja, probably a son of Vijaya-Bāhu V. From inscriptions and other sources it appears that he ruled at Gampola and Dädigama for at least eleven years—four years (1348–52) as Äpā, and seven years (1352–59) as king. He was succeeded at Gampola by his nephew, Vikkama-Bāhu III, who reigned, according to inscriptions, for about eighteen years. He was sub-king for about three years (A.D. 1356–59), and paramount sovereign for fifteen years (1359–74). During his reign Niççanka Alagakkōnāra of Amaragiri, otherwise called Alakeçvara, an intrepid warrior of the Girivaṁsa lineage¹, who was allied by marriage to Senālaṅkādhikāra Senevirat, a minister of Bhuvaneka-Bāhu IV, came into prominence, rose to the rank of minister and *Prabhu-rāja*, and dwelt in Perādeṇiya. With a view to checking the ever-growing domination of the Tamils under their ruler, Ārya Chakravarti of Jaffna, he prepared for war, and built strong fortresses at Rayigama, and Kōṭṭe, near Colombo. In 1912 A.B. (A.D. 1368–69) he summoned a convocation of Buddhist priests under the presidency of the Elder Dhammakitti I, and inaugurated reforms in religion. Towards the end of Vikkama-Bāhu's reign Alakeçvara reviewed his army and, finding himself strong enough to cope with the Tamil king, defied him by hanging his tax-collectors. Ārya Chakravarti replied by sending his army in two divisions, one by land and the other by sea, against the Sinhalese. Bhuvaneka-Bāhu V, who had succeeded Vikkama-Bāhu III on the throne of Gampola, was struck with panic, fled from Gampola, and took refuge in the fortress of Rayigama. In the battles which ensued Ārya Chakravarti's power was crushed. Bhuvaneka-Bāhu returned to Gampola, but his cowardly behaviour had made him so unpopular that he retired to Kōṭṭe, and left the management of public affairs in the hands of his powerful minister, Alakeçvara, who in *Saka* 1304 (A.D. 1382) was still in power, and Alakeçvara’s brother, Atthanāyaka, was also a minister of state (*Attanagaluvaṁsa*). Bhuvaneka-Bāhu V seems to have ruled as Āpā both at Gampola and at Kōṭṭe from A.D. 1359 to 1370, as *Yuva-rāja* from A.D. 1370 to 1374, and as king from A.D. 1374 to 1390—about thirty years in all. The *Mahāvaṁsa* gives the duration of his reign as twenty years.

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¹ For a fuller account see Perera's contribution to the *J.C.B.R.A.S.*, 1904.

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After the Tamil war the *Prabhu-rāja*, Niççaṅka Alakeçvara, and his brother, Atthanāyaka, lived for a while at Rayigama, but afterwards the *Prabhu-rāja* settled for the remainder of his life at Kōṭṭe, the city which he had himself built, where Bhuvaneka-Bāhu V also held his court, for the reason already explained. At Rayigama, the family seat of the clan, the *Prabhu-rāja’s* son, Kumāra Alakeçvara, probably assumed the reins of government in the usual course, and shortly afterwards, perhaps on the death of the *Prabhu-rāja* and his son (*c.* A.D. 1381–86), his sister’s son, Vīra Alakeçvara, became governor of Rayigama, and another nephew, Vīra-Bāhu, who had distinguished himself as a soldier, succeeded him as Āpā of Bhuvaneka-Bāhu V, and lived at Gampola, but Vīra Alakeçvara, being the elder of the two nephews, challenged Vīra-Bāhu’s right to the throne of Kōṭṭe, and a civil war ensued, in which Vīra Alakeçvara was vanquished and driven from the country. It may be added that Senālaṅkādhikāra Senevirat, of the Meheṇavara clan, a close relation of the royal family, probably married the *Prabhu-rāja’s* sister. The two nephews were the issue of this marriage, and hence are referred to as scions of the Meheṇavara clan, and Vīra-Bāhu is styled *saleko* (Sinh. *suhuru-baḍu*) of Bhuvaneka-Bāhu V. It is this last reference that lends some colour to the statement in the *Mahāvaṁsa* and in the *Rājaratnākara* that Niççaṅka Alagakkōnāra became King Bhuvaneka-Bāhu V, but contemporary records, which are to be preferred, controvert this statement. On the death of this king, Vīra-Bāhu II ascended the throne of Gampola and Kōṭṭe, and reigned for about six years, from A.D. 1390 to 1396. Under his patronage another convocation of Buddhist priests, presided over by the Mahāthera Dhammakitti II, author of the *Nikāyasaṅgraha* and other treatises, was held in A.D. 1395. Vīra-Bāhu had two sons, Vijaya Āpā and Tunayesaya, but neither his fate nor theirs is known.

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Vīra Alakeçvara, probably called also Vijaya-Bāhu VI, having been defeated by his younger brother, Vīra-Bāhu II, fled into Southern India, but returned in about A.D. 1397 with a large army, and, having ousted his brother from Kōṭṭe, ascended the throne there, and reigned for twelve years, from A.D. 1397 to 1409. At this period the kings of Kōṭṭe, owing, probably, to the great military achievements of the late Prabhu-rāja, were recognised as paramount sovereigns of the Island, and it is possible that Vīra Alakeçvara, like many another Sinhalese sovereign, took the *biruda* Vīra-Vijaya-Bāhu, but the evidence at our disposal is insufficient to prove that he assumed this name, and neither the inscriptions nor the Sinhalese works of the period throw much light on the matter.

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In A.D. 1405 the Chinese eunuch Tcheng Houo arrived in Ceylon, apparently for the purpose of carrying away the Tooth-relic, but his designs were frustrated and he was plundered by Alagakkōnāra, who may be identified with Vīra Alakeçvara. Four years later, in A.D. 1409, he came again, this time with an army, and succeeded in capturing the king, with his queen and family¹. He returned to China with his captives in A.D. 1411, and from 1409 to about 1414 Ceylon was without a king; but according to *Saddharma-ratnākara*, a grandson of Senālaṅkādhikāra Senevirad, Parakkama-Bāhu by name, who held the rank of Āpā, ruled the Island during the interregnum. If this was so Parakkama-Bāhu was a member of the Alakeçvara family, perhaps a son of the captive king, or of his brother, Vīra-Bāhu II. He may therefore be identified with the ruler appointed by the Chinese as their vassal, and also with the Alakeçvarayā of the *Rājāvaliya*, who made several attempts to kill the young Lambakaṇṇa prince, a grandson of Parakkama-Bāhu V, whom Visidāgama had arranged to place on the throne as Parakkama-Bāhu VI. Vīra Alakeçvara and the other captives were released about A.D. 1411–12 by the Chinese, but on the night after their return to Ceylon Vīra Alakeçvara is said to have been murdered in his capital².

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¹ *Spolia Zeylanica*, June 1912.

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² See Perera on Alakeçvara in *J.C.B.R.A.S.* for 1904.

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The Lambakaṇṇa prince, although he had been elected to the throne, could not venture within reach of Parakkama-Bāhu Āpā, but he established himself at Rayigama, and was at war with the Āpā until 1414, when he ascended the throne at Kōṭṭe as Parakkama-Bāhu VI. These vicissitudes of the early years of his reign explain discrepancies between the various authorities as to the date of his accession. He reigned for nearly fifty-seven years from his election as king in A.D. 1409 until his death in A.D. 1466. His long reign, during which Toṭagamuve Çrī Rāhula Thera and his learned colleagues and pupils flourished, was a period of great literary activity and brilliancy. Çrī Rāhula, who was the abbot of Vijaya-Bāhu Pariveṇa, and belonged to the Uttaramūlanikāya, was the greatest scholar of the age, and was patronised and encouraged by the king, himself the author of a metrical vocabulary of Elu words, entitled *Ruvanmal-nighaṇṭu*. Çrī Rāhula's devotion to the royal family is exhibited in many affectionate references to members of it in his writings. He was an accomplished linguist, being master of six languages, and was also a poet of the first rank.

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The king had two sons and one daughter, the Princess Ulukuḍaya Devī. His elder son was Senānāyaka Sapumal Kumāra, who invaded the kingdom of Jaffna, killed its Tamil king, Ārya Chakravarti, and established himself as its ruler. The second son was the Prince of Ambulugala, who led a punitive expedition into the Kanda Uḍa-raṭa (the Kandyan district), which was then a subordinate principality, subdued its refractory ruler, and appointed another, a solar prince of the Gampola royal family, to rule over the district.

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On the death of the king in A.D. 1466 his grandson, Jaya-Bāhu II, called also Jaya Vīra Parakkama-Bāhu, son of Ulukuḍaya Devī, ascended the throne in Kōṭṭe, but did not long retain the sceptre, for in A.D. 1468 Prince Sapumal, the rightful heir, came from Jaffna with a large army, put his nephew to death, and ascended the throne under the title of Bhuvaneka-Bāhu VI. His brother, the Prince of Ambulugala, quelled a rebellion in the south raised by Çrīvardhana Pratirāja and Kūragama Himi. The Kalyāṇi Upasampadā ordination was held in this king's reign, and is recorded in the Kalyāṇi Inscription¹.

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¹ See *Indian Antiquary*, Vol. xxii, 1893.

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Bhuvaneka-Bāhu VI died in A.D. 1476 after a reign of seven years, and was succeeded by his adopted son, Parakkama-Bāhu VII, called also Paṇḍita Parakkama-Bāhu, who reigned for about eight years (A.D. 1476-84). The Prince of Ambulugala then rose against him, defeated his army, and slew his principal officers in battle, and, entering Kōṭṭe, slew him at midnight. The next morning the prince ascended the throne under the title of Vīra Parakkama-Bāhu, or Parakkama-Bāhu VIII. He had one daughter and six sons, namely, (1) Dhamma Parakkama-Bāhu, (2) Çrī Rājasimha, (3) Sakkāyudha, (4) Rayigam Baṇḍāra, (5) Taniyān Vallabha, and (6) Sakalakalā Vallabha. Of these the second and third lived at Mänikkaḍavara, as associated husbands of a Kīravälle princess; the fourth at Rayigama; and of the fifth and sixth, who were sons by a second wife, the former lived at Mādampe, where his daughter had two sons, Vīdiya-Kumāra and Tammiṭa-Baṇḍāra by a Malabar prince, and the latter settled at Uḍugampola. All these princes played an important part in the history of the Island.

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Parakkama-Bāhu VIII reigned for about twenty years, from A.D. 1485 to 1505, and at his death was succeeded by his eldest son, Dhamma Parakkama-Bāhu, or Parakkama-Bāhu IX, who reigned for about twenty-two years, from A.D. 1505 to 1527. It was in his reign, in September 1506, that the Portuguese, under Dom Lourenço de Almeida, son of the viceroy, Francisco de Almeida, first reached Colombo. On hearing of their arrival the king summoned to his presence his brothers and took counsel with them, and on the advice of his brother Sakkāyudha, who had secretly seen the strangers, he entered with the Portuguese into a treaty of friendship and commerce, undertaking to pay tribute in cinnamon and elephants to the King of Portugal, who, in return, was to protect Ceylon from all enemies.

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