No. 47.— 1896.] CAPTURE OF last kandyan king. 107 



HOW THE LAST KING OF KANDY WAS 

 CAPTURED BY THE BRITISH: 



An Eye-witnesses account, rendered from the Sinhalese. 

 By T. B. Pohath. 

 Preface. 



THIS account I have translated for the Society from a letter 

 contributed by D.V. A. Dias, the Interpreter who accompanied 

 the British Troops who captured the king and suppressed the 

 Keppitipola rebellion. Dias was an eye-witness of these 

 occurrences, and he embodied his personal experiences in a 

 series of letters to a Sinhalese magazine then current in 

 Ceylon, entitled " Sinhala Sanghrawa" It was a periodical 

 of great repute printed in the year 1860, and ably conducted 

 by a pandit of the day. The note I have the honour to 

 contribute to-day is one of them, and appeared in the April 

 issue of that magazine in the year 1861. I beg to append the 

 Sinhalese copy of the original for verification.* 



I have gone a little beyond the limits of the original and 

 touched, in the concluding paragraphs, upon the Kandyan- 

 English Convention of 1815, the leading persons interested in 

 the capture of the king, his deportation, and death. I have 

 also added a few explanatory notes to the Paper, and have 

 to crave the Society's indulgence for any shortcomings. 



* (i) Any " Interpreter " selected by the English, authorities to accom- 

 pany troops on an affair of such moment as the capture of the Kandyan 

 King, would be, say, 30 to 35 years of age at least. If alive in 1860 he 

 would therefore be 75 to 80 years old ! 



(ii) A trusty correspondent writes : — " I have searched the Ceylon 

 Govei'nment Gazette of 1815 but find no mention of 'D. V. A. Dias.' 

 Nor can I find his name in the Ceylon Calendar for 1815. The 1 eye? 

 witness's account ' communicated by Mr. T. B. Pohath looks very 

 suspicious, though it may possibly be genuine." 



(iii) The King was captured in 1815 : the Keppitipola (" Uva ") rebellion 

 occurred in 1817-18. 



On present evidence the Paper looks like a compilation of later days 

 foisted on to one " Dias," of which ilk there were two Titular Muhandirams 

 and one Mudaliyar and Second Sinhalese Interpreter in 1817 (Ceylon 

 Calendar*).—^., Hon. Sec. 



