CHAP. XII.] FATE OF THE SINGHALESE MONARCHY. 417 



during the reign of the emperor Yung-lo ! of the Ming A.D. 

 dynasty, a celebrated Chinese commander, Ching-Ho, 141 - 

 having visited Ceylon as the bearer of incense and 

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

 waylaid, together with his followers, by the Singhalese 

 king, Wijayo Bahu VI., who held his court at Gampola, 

 and with 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 military force, which the king (whom the 

 Chinese historian calls A-lee-ko-nae-wih) prepared to re- 

 sist; but by a vigorous effort Ho and his followers 

 succeeded in seizing the capital, and bore off the sove- 

 reign, together with his family^ as prisoners to China. 

 He presented them to the emperor, who, out of com- 

 passion, 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 " 2 was accordingly 

 elected, and this choice being confirmed, he was sent 

 to his native country, duly provided with a seal of in- 

 vestiture, as a vassal of the empire under the style of Sri 

 Prakrama Bahu VI., and from that period till the reign 

 of Teen-shun, A.D. 1434 1448, Ceylon continued to pay 

 an annual tribute to China. 



From the beginning of the 13th 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. The latter, even when tem- 

 porarily subdued, 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 allied to the kings of Chola and Pandya as to the 

 blood of the Suluwanse. 3 



1 The Miiig-she calls the Emperor 

 "Ching-tsoo." 



2 So called in the Chinese ori- 

 ginal. 



3 ^/m/z,p.261,262. In A.D. 1187 

 on the death of MahindoV., the second 

 in succession from the great Prak- 

 rama, the crown devolved upon Kirti 



VOL. I. E E 



