NO. 50.--1899.] ALAGIYAVANNA MOHOTTALA. 



119 



commanded, and that there be restored to him the portions of villages 

 and lands that Dom Nunes Alures Peir a when general of Ceillao took 

 from him, they having been confirmed to him by the camara and junta 

 of villages.* Having seen this claim of his, I have thought fit to 

 remit it to you, and request you to consider it on receipt and advise 

 me thereupon as to what you think right by the list of rescripts. 

 Written in Lisbon on the Twenty-fourth of March, One thousand Six 

 hundred and Twenty. 



From the above letter we learn that Alagiyavanna had 

 been deprived of certain lands by Dom Nuno Alvares 

 Pereira, who may possibly also have superseded him in his 

 office of Mohottiyar, since he is referred to in the document 

 of March 26, 1616, as " late moetjaer." Though the date of 

 his petition is not stated, we may very well suppose it to 

 have been written towards the end of 1618, shortly after 

 Constantino de Sa took over (in September of that year) the 

 reins of office from Nuno Alvares.t Whether Alagiyavanna 

 succeeded in the object of his petition I am unable to say, 

 as I have found no further reference to him. 



It is evident from these documents that it was by the 

 Portuguese, and not by the Dutch, that the poet-secretary 

 was employed ; and, as the -Hollanders were not in a position 

 to undertake tombo-mdikmg in Ceylon until half a century 

 later,J it is extremely improbable that Alagiyavanna was 

 then alive. Nor, had he been, is it likely that the Dutch 

 would have consulted Raja Sinha on the subject. 



A curious question arises out of the date, 1610, when the 

 Kusajdtaka Kdvyaya was written. The poet there writes as 

 a Buddhist ; in 1616 he was a (professed) Christian: his 

 " conversion," therefore, must have taken place between 

 those two dates. 



* The camara or chamber of Colombo consisted of the vercadores, or 

 aldermen, and other leading citizens. Regarding the junta, see the 

 statement of Sa e Menezes, C. A. S. Journal, vol. XL, p. 532. — D. W. F. 



f See C. A. S. Journal, vol. XL, pp. 494 and 495 (where " 1619 " is an error 

 for " 1618 ") ; compare p. 513. — D. W. F. 



| The earliest reference to the subject that I know of is that by Ryklof 

 van G-oens, in his " Consideratien over Ceylon," dated June 21, 1661, as 

 given in Valentyn (Ceylon), p. 157. — D. W. F. 



