Chap. I.] 



DEATH OF THE KIXG, 



15 



crown ornamented with jewels ; — his ambassadors were a.d. 

 received with signal honours by John III., and the form '^ ' 

 of a coronation in effigy was performed at Lisbon in a.d. 



1541 \ the name of Do7i Juan being conferred on the 

 young prince in addition to his previous patronymic of 

 Dharmapala^ Bahu. 



In return for this condescension, the king of Portugal, 

 true to the pohcy of extending religion conterminously 

 with his dominions ^, exacted a further concession from 

 the Singhalese sovereign. A party of Franciscans were 

 directed to accompany the ambassadors on their return 

 from Lisbon to Ceylon ; hcence was claimed to preach 

 the gospel of Christ in aU parts of the island, and the 

 first Christian communities were organised at various 

 parts of the coast between Colombo and GaUe.^ 



Fresh outbursts of hostihty and rebellion ensued on 

 this attempt to overturn the national faith. Maaya 

 Dunnai and his followers again took up arms, and in 



1542 the pusillanimous king, whilst preparing to en- 15^2. 

 counter him, was accidentaUy shot by a Portuguese 

 gentleman on the banks of the Kalany-ganga.^ His 

 memory in the annals of the Singhalese occupies a place 

 similar to that of Count Juhan in the chronicles of 

 Spain, as a traitor alike to his country and his God ; 



and the circumstances of his death are pointed to as a 

 judgment to mark the indignation of heaven at the 

 calamities which he entailed on his country.^ 



On his death, the young prince, his grandson, nomi- 

 nally succeeded to the throne ; but throughout the 

 eiitke period of his rule, his dominions can scarcely be 



^ Valentyn, Oud en Nietm Oost- 

 Imlien, 8)-c., ch. vii. p. 92. 



' Called Drama liolla JDao by De 



COUTO. 



^ Be Cotjto, dec. vi. lib. ii. ch. vii.; 

 Faria y Souza. vol. ii. pt. ii. ch. vi. 

 p. 121. 



* For an account of the proceed- 

 ings of the Portuofuese missions, see 

 Sir J. Emerson Tennent's Christi- 

 anity in Cmjlmi, ch i. Ue Cotjto 



says, the first Roman Catholic con- 

 verts were made a.d. 1542, at Pan- 

 tiu-a, Macu (Malwane ?) Berbenn, 

 Galle, and Belligam. — Bee. vi. lib. 

 iv. ch. vii. 



^ Be Couto, dec. vi. lib. ix. ch. 

 xvi. torn. iii. pt. iii. p. 339 — .341. 



^ Rajamli, p. 290—293 ; Faria y 

 Souza, vol. ii. pt. iii. p. 364 ; Bal- 

 PiEUS, ch. xl. 



