Introduction
To reach the monument you need to go to the small town of Medamahanuwara, then walk
for 10 minutes to reach the location. The path is poorly marked, because this isn't
a place dear to Kandyan hearts: it's where their last king, fleeing Kandy and seeking
refuge, instead surrendered to trackers who turned him over to British captivity.
Indeed, were it up to the Kandyans, there would be no monument at all. The stone
was instead placed by the government agent in Kandy in 1908, almost a century after
Sri Wikrama Rajasinha was captured in 1815. He was taken to exile in India, where
he died in 1830.
After the fall of city of Kandy in February 1815 to the British rule, Eheylapola
Maha Adhikaram (who was one of the main conspirators who helped the British to take
over Kandy) sent a group of his people to help the British to capture the king who
had escaped from the palace. After several days this team found that the king was
in hiding in the area of "Bomure"
What happened after the Eheylapola's gang headed by Ekneligoda Nilame surrounded
the house in which the king was hiding on the 18th of February 1815, was published
by C.T.A Dias (who was a translator who participated in the group who captured Kandy)
in the 1861 April issue of Sinpala publication.
After a brief resistance, The king appeared delivered himself. The gang of Ekneligoda
Nilame pulled the king out of the house and stole every valuable worn by the king
and the queen. One of the goons called "Kiriporuwe Mohottala" tore the queen Venkathi
Rangammal's earlobes to steal the earrings worn by her. The queen with the bleeding
earlobes, fearing for her life ran in to the house.
The Tholkamudali called Dias who was with this crowd; called the queen with due
respect and the queen now in her white undergarments (all the cloths being stolen)
came out and asked for protection from him. The Tholkamudali got some hebal plants
treated her bleeding earlobes.
Meanwhile the Ekneligoda Nilame asked his goons for brings some creeper to tie the
king. The Tholkamudali distressed at the way the king is being treated told the
Ekneligoda Nilame, "Sir, we have been under British rule for a long time and we
do not consider him as our king but he has been your king until now and you (the
Kandyans) have been calling him with great respect up to now." and offered his Satakaya
(an Indian Toga) to tie him. But the Ekneligoda Nilame refused it and tied the king
with creepers and delivered to the British. Thus ended the probably the longest
Royal dynasty in the world which survived in Sri Lanka since 6th century BC (over
2350 years)
The king is remembered by Kandyans as a tyrant, which helps to explain why he was
captured by his own people. Their leader, Eheylapola, had his own motive: revenge.
The king had earlier tried to punish him for insurrection. Failing to capture him,
the king had instead ordered the execution of Eheylapola's wife and young children.
Their courage facing death is legendary in Sri Lanka today, although the king himself,
when assailed by the British for such barbarity, insisted that he had acted according
to Kandyan law and custom. J. Penry Lewis, who erected the monument, quotes a source
as follows:
"On the following morning the gratifying intelligence was received at Headquarters
that the King had been surrounded on the morning of the preceding day (i.e., on
February 18, 1815) by some Kandyans of the Province of Dumbara... at a place...
very near to Meydemahanoowera." Lewis also quotes from Henry Marshall's Ceylon,
which offers these additional details: "It appears that the few Malabar attendants
remaining with the King made some resistance, and wounded one of the assailants
under the command of Eheylopola, on which the party fired upon the house. The King
then appeared and delivered himself up. His pursuers forthwith bound and plundered
him of whatever articles of value he had on his person." The stolen garments of
the king Sri Vickrama Rajasinghe and the blood soaked garments of the queen Venkathi
Rangammal was taken home by the Kiriporuwe Mohottala and hidden inside a wooden
chest. These chests (with its contents) after being owned by several generations
were recovered by teacher in 1930's (after about 115 years) that followed a story
he heard in the village. In 1941 these cloths (including the blood soaked blouse)
were handed over to the National Museum of Sri Lanka and even today these clothes
show the cruel ending of the last king of a proud nation.
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