Kingdom of Kotte

The term Kotte is said to have derived from the Tamil word "Kōttei" which means fortress.[1][note 1]The word Kotte was introduced by Nissankamalla Alagakkonara, who was the founder of the fortress. They were believed to be from the city of Vanchi, identified with Kanchipuram of Tamil Nadu.[4] The Alagakkonara family have also been identified to be of Tamil ancestry.[5][6]

Kotte was founded as a fortress by Minister Alakesvara (1370–1385) of the Alagakkonara clan of the Kingdom of Gampola during the reign of Vikramabahu III of Gampola to checkmate invasions from South India on the western coast, Parakramabahu VI later made Kotte his capital city in 1412. It was well protected by the large swamp which surrounded the area.[7]

Parakramabahu VI first became the king of Raigama in 1412, then in 1415 he made Kotte his capital. The King upgraded the existing citadel and built a new royal palace. Parakramabahu VI waited until ties between the Vijayanagara Empire and Jaffna Kingdom were severed. First he captured the Vanni and made its leaders loyal to him. Sapumal Kumaraya was the commander of the Kotte army at the time. Tamil served as one of the court languages of the Kotte Kingdom at this time.[8]

Demise

Political map of Sri Lanka following the "Spoiling of Vijayabahu"

Kotte Kingdom's downfall began with an event in 1521 which became known as the "Wijayaba Kollaya". The Kotte king Vijayabahu VII's three sons mutinied and killed their father dividing the kingdom among themselves.[12] This gave rise to three minor kingdoms, Kotte, Sitawaka and Principality of Raigama.[13] The divided Kingdom of Sitawaka became more powerful with local popular support and Kotte Kingdom had to rely on Portuguese for help. The king of Kotte after Wijayabe Kollaya, Buvenekabahu VII, got assistance from the Portuguese in order to defeat his brother, Mayadunne. He also allowed his daughter's son, Prince Dharmapala, to be baptized as a Catholic by the Portuguese. After Buvenekabahu had named Dharmapala as his heir, he was shot – supposedly by accident – by a Portuguese soldier.

In 1565,[14] the capital of Kotte was abandoned by Dharmapala of Kotte due to frequent attacks from the Kingdom of Sitawaka led by Mayadunne and his son Rajasinghe I; he was taken into Colombo under Portuguese protection.[15] Most of the areas of Kotte Kingdom were annexed to the Kingdom of Sitawaka[16] however after the downfall of Sitawaka in 1594, these areas were re-annexed to the Kotte kingdom.[17] In 1597 Dharmapala gifted the Kotte Kingdom to the Portuguese throne and Kotte era was officially ended.

The military of the Kotte kingdom was closely associated with both its rise and demise. Poems written in this era give vivid accounts of the contemporary military. Before the arrival of the Portuguese, there are no signs of the use of fire arms in the kingdom. The military consisted of four main departments, namely

• Ath – elephant regiments
• Ashwa – horse regiments
• Riya – chariot regiments
• Pabala – infantry regiments.

The kingdom was situated near Colombo, a very important port at the time. Moorish merchants from India and Arabia dominated the trade of the kingdom until the arrival of the Portuguese. The spice trade, e.g. in cinnamon, cardamom, black pepper, dominated the exports while gemstones also was a big export. After the conquest of Jaffna, Kotte possessed the pearl trading which gave an enormous wealth to the kingdom. Portuguese who arrived in there as traders were able to secure a trading deal with the kingdom on their first visit.

One of the greatest of fields that flourished under his rule was literature and art, since the king himself was very fond of it. Royal patronage was given to literature paving way to a golden age of literature in the island.

Notable art works of the era

A flag of the Catholic Karava Sinhalese who became Catholics during Kotte era

These institutions paved way not only to the enhancement of Buddhist literature but also to the development of Ayurvedic medicine.

• Padmawthi Piriwena, Karagala
• Vijayaba Piriwena,Thotagamuwa
• Sunethradevi Piriwena, Papiliyana
• Siri Perakumba Pirivena, Ethul Kotte

Kelani Viharaya

Buddhism was the religion of majority and given the Royal Patronage. A Temple of Tooth relic was built near the royal palace. Kotte Raja maha Viharaya was enshrined by King Parakramabahu VI to Held Esala Perahara Pegent in Honor of the Sacred Tooth relic. The ancient Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara also was repaired by the king Parakramabahu VI and Sri Perakumba Pirivena and Sunethra Devi Pirivena have become most famous monasteries in the country and still the same.

Hinduism was also given a foremost place in society. Most of the Buddhist temples entrusted shrines of Hindu gods Vishnu, Murugan (god Katahargama) and goddess Paththini and God Gambara as the provincial god. Prince Sapumal (crowned Bhuvanekabahu VI) had built a shrine near the ancient bo tree of the Kotte Raja Maha Viharaya as a vow to defeat Arya chakravarthi. Prince Sapumal is also credited for building or renovating the Nallur Kandaswamy temple in Jaffna.[20]

The Portuguese converted much of the population into the Roman Catholic faith. The last king of Kotte, Don Juan Dharmapala, was one of two Catholic Sinhalese monarchs in Sri Lankan history (the other was Kusumasena Devi), though several other contemporary kings had also been temporarily Catholic.

Battaramulla was a village that provided rice to the king's palace. The royal flower gardens were also located in this village in an area called Rajamalwatta.

• Kastane
• Lascarins
• Saddharmarathnakaraya
• Siege of Kotte (1557–1558)
• List of Sri Lankan monarchs
• History of Sri Lanka

• හත්වැනි බුවනෙකබාහුගේ වටිනාපහ පුවරු ලිපිය (VII Buwanekabahu) (in Sinhala)
• හෙළ සාහිත්‍යයේ ස්‌වර්ණමය යුගය හා කෝට්‌ටේ සවැනි පරාක්‍රමබාහු රජතුමා (in Sinhala)