No. 60. — 1908.] COUTO : HISTORY OF CEYLON r' 



69 



panical 1 of the caste of those kings, a man of great activity 

 and sagacity, whom the king welcomed, and married him to 

 a woman of rank, by whom he had two sons and a daughter ; 

 these lads were brought up in companionship with the prince, 

 with whom there was also a first cousin of these lads, the son 

 of a sister of his mother's. These three lads grew up, and 

 came to have such power in the kingdom, that the king 

 noticed in them a change of disposition, from which he feared 

 that on his death they would murder his grandson. And 

 dissembling in regard to this, he resolved to separate them, 

 which he did, commanding the two brothers to go and 

 subject for him the kingdom of Jafanapatao, which had 

 rebelled against him, conferring on the elder one, who was 

 called Queba Permal, the title of king of that dominion 

 with the obligation of vassalage. This man. who was a 

 very great horseman, and of the greatest size and strength of 

 any of that time, in a few days made himself master of that 

 dominion 2 . * 



The emperor Maha Pracura Mabago Pandar 3 having suc- 

 ceeded to the dominion, when he had reigned a year and a 

 half, his uncle, the ruler of the Corlas 4 , died ; and the king 

 gave that dominion to the brother 5 of the king of Jafanapatao. 

 This emperor Javira married a princess of the Seven Corlas, 

 who was of the blood royal and was already a widow, by whom 

 he had a son who was a witling from birth, and a daughter of 

 whom their chronicles do not speak, wherefore she must have 

 died young. This king reigned a few years ; and a sister of 

 his called Manica Pandar, taking her half-witted nephew in her 

 arms, had him sworn as king, and herself as tutor and gover- 

 ness of the kingdom, as she was very prudent and courageous. 

 After this lady had governed the kingdom for two years, 

 seeing that a male sovereign was necessary, because there 

 had already been several disturbances, and the nephew was 

 incapable of reigning, she sent in great haste to summon 

 Queba Permal, king of Jafanapatao, in order to hand over the 



1 For the ordinary meanings of this word see Hob. -Job. s.v. 

 Panikar," and cf. infra, p. 286. Here, however, it seems to have 



some sense of rank. 



2 The person here called Queba Permal was Sapumal Kumara, the 

 commander-in-chief, whom the king did send, as stated, to conquer 

 the kingdom of Jaffna, of which he was made ruler (see Rajav. 68, 69; 

 Sela L. S. st. xxviii.). The family details given by Couto are not found 

 elsewhere (see Bell's Rep. on Keg. Dist. 83). 



3 Vira Parakrama Bahu (? 1467). 



4 Parakrama of Mayadunu (see supra, p. 68). 



5 Ambulugala Kumara (see Rdjdv. 68). - 



