No. 60. — 1908.] PORTUGUESE HISTORY OF CEYLON, 409 



of " Sun of the Pure Doctrine," the erstwhile Dom Joao 

 d' Austria set to work actively to rescue the Buddhist cult from 

 the decay into which it had fallen owing to the fanaticism of 

 the Saivite Raja Sin ha on the one hand and the bigotry of the 

 Portuguese and their puppet " Christian " kings on the 

 other 1 . Though not now needing to take the field in person 

 at the head of his troops, Vimaladaham exercised a keen 

 oversight of all the movements of his army, which continued 

 to harass and be harassed by the Portuguese forces in various 

 parts of the lowcountry during 1595 and 1596, though, with 

 the exception of the engagements mentioned above, details 

 are wanting to us 2 . 



1 Mahdv. xciv. Cf. C. Lit. Reg. vi. 325-6, 341, 342. 



2 See infra , p. 411, note a . 



