CiiAi'. XIL] FATE OF THE SINGHALESE MONARCHY. 417 



dming the reign of the emperor Yung-lo ^ of tlie Ming a.d. 

 dynasty, a celebrated Chinese commander, Ching-Ho, I'ii*^- 

 having visited Ceylon as the bearer of incense and 

 offermgs, to be deposited at the shrine of Buddha, was 

 waylaid, together with his followers, by the Singhalese 

 king, Wijayo Balm VI., and mth difficulty effected 

 an escape to his ships. To revenge this treacherous 

 affront Ching-Ho was despatched a few years afterwards 

 with a considerable fleet and a formidable mihtary 

 force, which the king (whom the Chinese historian 

 calls A-lee-ko-nae-wih) prepared to resist ; but by a 

 vigorous effort Ho and his followers succeeded in 

 seizing the capital, and bore off the sovereign, together 

 with his family, as prisoners to China. He presented 

 them to the emperor, who, out of compassion, ordered 

 them to be sent back to their country on the condition 

 that " the wisest of the family should be chosen king." 

 " Seay-pa-nea-na " ^ was accordingly elected, and this 

 choice being confirmed, he was sent to his native coun- 

 try, duly pro\'ided with a seal of investiture, as a vassal 

 of the empu'e under the style of Sri Prakrama Bahu VI., 

 — and from that period till the reign of Teen-shim, a.d. 

 1434 — 1448, Ceylon continued to pay an annual tribute 

 to China. 



From the beginning of the loth century to the ex- 

 tinction of the Singhalese dynasty in the 18th, the island 

 cannot be said to have been ever entirely freed from the 

 presence of the Malabars. Even when temporarily sub- 

 dued, they remained with forced professions of loyalty ; 

 Damilo soldiers were taken into pay by the Singhalese 

 sovereigns ; the dewales of the Hindu worship were built 

 in close contiguity to the wiharas of Buddhism, and by 

 frequent intermarriages the royal line was almost as closely 

 aUied to the kings of Chola and Pandya as to the blood 

 of the Suluwanse.^ 



' The Minq-she calls the Emperor 

 '^Chino--tsoo'." 



^ So called in the Chinese ori- 

 ginal. 



3 Rajavali,'p.2Q\,^m. In a.d. 1187 

 on the death of MahindoV ., the second 

 in snccession from the great Prak- 

 rama, the crown devolved npon Kirti 



VOL. I. !•: ]■: 



