No. 60. — 1908.] couTO : history of ceylon. 



99 



Dec. V., Bk. h., Chap. x. 



Of the things that happened in Geilad : and of how Madune on 

 the death of his brother Reigao Pandar seized his kingdom : 

 and of how the king of Cota married his daughter to a prince 

 of the caste of the sun : and what caste this is : and why it is 

 so called. 



Madune was much chagrined at the defeat of Paichi Marca . 

 and at the great friendship and favour that his brother, the 

 king of Cota, had with the Portuguese ; the which was so 

 insufferable to him, that he was like to die of pure vexation : 

 and he directed his thoughts towards nothing else, but to seek 

 methods of killing his brother, even to bribing those of his 

 inner chamber to give him poison, which they attempted 

 several times, but were found -out and executed 1 . Things 

 being in this state, and the king of Cota in fear of his brother, 

 the other brother Reigao Pandar 2 died without leaving any 

 sons 3 ; and because that kingdom came by right to the king of 

 Cota, Madune went in great haste, and entered into the city 

 of Reigao Corle, which was the capital of the kingdom 4 , and 

 made himself master of it, and of the treasures of his brother, 

 by this becoming more powerful than the king of Cota. And 

 as the desire of seeing himself ruler of the whole of that island 

 was what inquieted him, he at once resolved to employ his 

 whole strength against his brother as soon as summer set in, 

 and to dispose of that business quickly, before he had another 



1 Cf. supra, p. 90. 2 See supra, p. 71. 



3 The Rdjdvaliya (7 9), in a parenthetical paragraph which is out of its 

 place chronologically, says: — " Rayigam Bandara remained in Mapiti- 

 gama, and died there." As this chronicle says nothing of his having 

 any issue, we may take it that Couto's statement is correct. 



4 Cf. supra, p. 73, note 2 . Couto's statement does not, at first sight, 

 seem reconcilable with that of theRdjdvaliya as given in the previous note . 

 since Mapitigama is in Dehigampal korale of Kegalla District, while the 

 city of Rayigama was, presumably, in Rayigam korale of Kalutara Dis- 

 trict. According to the Rdjdvaliya (78), however, " Rayigam Bandara was 

 brought [by Mayadunne apparently] to Sltavaka and made to reside in 

 Mapitigama ; " so that it is probable that Mayadunne made himself mas- 

 ter of his brother's territory and treasure before the latter's death, and 

 not after it, as Couto leads us to infer. Valentyn,in the version of the 

 Rdjdvaliya of which he gives a translation in his Ceylon, says (76): " About 

 this time [1540, which is too late] the king of Reygamme went on a certain 

 day to the village of Mahoe Pitigam, which is an appanage of Malvane, 

 fell sick there, and died." I think the words I have italicized are an 

 interpolation by Valentyn, who thought the Mapitigama referred to was 

 the one north of the Kelani river, between Malvana and Hay v ell a. 



