The Kingdom of Kandy (මහනුවර රාජධානිය) was a Sinhalese monarchy on the island of Sri Lanka, located in the central and eastern portion of the island. It was founded in the 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 dynasty of South India, Sitawaka Kingdom, and the Dutch colonizers to ensure its survival.
Throughout the 16th century, numerous battles were fought with the Portuguese and later the Dutch, and from the 1590s, Kandy became 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 at bay in the central highlands, before finally falling under British colonial rule 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.
Over the years, the Kingdom of Kandy has been known by many names. These include:
Much of the Kandy Kingdom's territory was 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 from maintaining a strong presence in lowland areas.
The city of Senkadagalapura (Kandy) may have been founded as early as the mid-14th century during the reign of Vikramabahu III (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 autonomous domain with Senkadagalapura at its capital. Following the Vijayabā Kollaya 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.
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.
Under Sitawaka occupation (1582–1592)
The Kingdom of Kandy was invaded twice during the 1570s and 1580s—first in 1574 and again in 1581—by Rajasinghe I of Sitawaka, who had recently ascended the throne. Rajasinghe, already renowned for his decisive victory over the Portuguese at the Battle of Mulleriyawa, succeeded in annexing Kandy outright. The Kandyan king, Karalliyadde Kumara Bandara (also known as Jayavira III), fled north to the Jaffna Kingdom with his daughter, Kusumasana Devi (later known as Dona Catherina of Kandy), and her husband, Yamasinghe Bandara. Both eventually converted to Christianity under Portuguese influence, adopting the names Dona Catherina and Don Philipe respectively. Meanwhile, the Portuguese also pressed their claim to Kandy, citing Dharmapala's donation of 1580 as a precedent
Sitawakan rule over Kandy proved difficult to maintain. Rajasinghe's appointed viceroy, Wirasundara Mudiyanse, rebelled soon after the initial conquest, though his uprising was swiftly suppressed. Another revolt broke out in 1588. Resistance eventually crystallized around Konnappu Bandara, Wirasundara's son, who had fled to Portuguese territory following his father's murder at the hands of Rajasinghe's agents. Between 1591 and 1594, Konnappu Bandara returned, seized the Kandyan throne under the name Wimaladharmasuriya I, and married Dona Catherina. His victories over both the Sitawakans and the Portuguese—who briefly occupied Kandy in 1592—secured his authority.
The strategic situation in Sri Lanka changed dramatically during Wimaladharmasuriya'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, Rajasinghe I died and the kingdom of Sitawaka disintegrated. Kandy remained the sole native polity outside of European dominance. In 1595, Wimaladharmasuriya 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, starting with the Campaign of Danture.
Hostilities between the Portuguese and the Kandyans continued throughout the rest of Wimaladharmasuriya's reign. The Kandyans lent aid to a rebellion led by Domingos Corrêa and later Simão Corrêa, Sinhalese 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.
Relations between the Dutch Republic and the Kandyans were initiated on 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 several of his entourage were killed.
Vimaladharmasuriya I died in 1604, and the throne passed to his cousin, Senarat. At the time of the king's death, Senarat was an ordained Buddhist monk, but he disrobed, married Dona Catherina, and assumed the kingship. Kuruvita Rala, the Prince of Uva of the Karava lineage, launched raids against the Kandyan Kingdom and temporarily forced Senarat out of his capital. In 1611, Portuguese forces, acting in the name of the pretender Mayadunne of Uva, captured Kandy and once again set the city ablaze. Further north, in 1619, Cankili II was deposed and the Jaffna Kingdom absorbed into the Portuguese Empire. Despite these setbacks, Senarat survived as the king and in 1612 had even concluded a treaty with the Dutch East India Company (VOC). When help came, it was in the form of Danish East India Company whose fleet 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 Sá de Noronha was 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 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.