Sri Vikrama Rajasinha of Kandy

Sri Vikrama Rajasinha (1780 - January 30, 1832) was the last monarch of the kingdom of Kandy in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka. He came to the throne in 1798 after the previous king, Sri Rajadi Raja Singha, died childless. He was eventually deposed by the British following his defeat in the Kandian Wars.

He was a South Indian prince born into the Nayakar dynasty Nayaks of Kandy in 1780, and was then known as Kannasamy and was a nephew of King Rajadhi Raja Singha. Kannasamy ascended the throne in 1798; adopting the name, Sri Vikrama Raja Sinha at his coronation. He would be the last king of the Nayakar dynasty and the last king of Sri Lanka.

However, there was a rival claimant to succeed King Rajadhi Raja Singha, the brother of Queen Upendramma, who had a stronger claim. However, Pilimatalawe, the first Adigar (Prime Minister) chose Kannasamy, with reportedly deep seated plans to usurp the throne to set a new dynasty of his own. The young king, upon ascending the throne faced many conspiracies conspiracies and reigned through one of the most turbulent periods in Sri Lanka's history.

Internal Conflict

During his time, the British who had succeeded the Dutch in the Maritime Provinces had not interfered in the politics of the Kandy. But Pilimatalava, the first Adigar of the king started covert operations with the British, to provoke the King into acts of aggression, which would give the British an excuse to seize the Kingdom. The Adigar manipulated the king into beginning a military conflict with the British, who had gained a strong position in the coastal provinces. War was declared and on March 22, 1803 the British entered Kandy with no resistance, Sri Vikrama Rajasinha having fled. The adigar massacred the British garrison in Kandy in June and restored the king to the throne. Pilimitalava plotted to overthrow the king and seize the crown for himself, but his plot was discovered; and haivng been pardoned on two previous occasions, he was executed.

The disgraced adigar was replaced by his nephew, Ehelepola, who soon came under suspicion of following his uncle in plotting the overthrow of Sri Vikrama Rajasinha. A rebellion instigated by Ehalepola was suppressed, who then fled to Colombo and joined the British. After failing to surrender (after 3 weeks of notice), the exasperated king, dismissed Ehelepola, confiscated his lands and ordered the imprisonment and execution of his wife and children. A highly propagandized account, defaming the king as a tyrant was widely circulated:

The eldest boy, who was eleven years old, clung to his mother terrified and crying; her second son, nine years old, with all the inspiration of martyrdom, heroically stepped forward and bade his brother not to be afraid – as he would show him the way to die. By one blow of a sword his head was severed and thrown into a rice pounding mortar where the pestle was put into the mothers hand and she was ordered to pound it. One by one, the heads of all the children were cut off and, one by one, the mother had to pound them in the mortar. The mother was later drowned in the King's ornamental Bogambara Lake. [1]

Ehelepola himself fled to British-ruled territory, where he persuaded the British that Sri Vikrama Rajasinha's tyranny deserved a military intervention. The pretext was provided by the seizure of a number of British merchants, who were detained on suspicion of spying and were tortured, killing several of them. An invasion was duly mounted and advanced to Kandy without resistance, reaching the city on February 10, 1815. On March 2, the kingdom was ceded to the British under a treaty called the Kandyan Convention. Sri Vikrama Rajasinha was captured and taken as a royal by the British to Vellore Fort in southern India. He lived on a small allowance given to him and his two queens by the British Government. He died of dropsy on January 30, 1832 aged 52 years, bringing to an end the royal line of Kandy.

Miscellaneous

- Kandy Lake, an artificial lake overlooking Kandy was constructed by Sri Vikrama Raja Singha.

- The current flag of Sri Lanka was Sri Raja Vikrama Sinha's Royal Standard. In September 1945 it was proposed in an address to the State Council that the flag be adopted as Sri Lanka's national flag.

"This House is of opinion that the Royal Standard of King Sri Wickrama Raja Sinha depicting a yellow lion passant holding a sword in its right paw on a red background, which was removed to England after the Convention of 1815, should once again be adopted as the official flag of Free Lanka."

- It is claimed that an allowance was paid to his next-of-kin for next 156 years and stopped only when Sri Lanka regained its sovereignty.

Sources

• Kings & Rulers of Sri Lanka
• The Last King
• Robert Binning, A Journal of Two Years' Travel in Persia, Ceylon, etc. Volume 1. (Wm. H. Allen & Co., 1857)
• Horace Hayman Wilson, The history of British India, from 1805 to 1835. (James Madden, 1858)
• The Last King of Kandy
• Capture of the Last King of Kandy
• Sri Lankan Flag