No. 55. — 1904.] ALAKESWARA : HIS LIFE AND TIMES. 301 
and to have been taken captive by the Chinese. The Chinese chroni- 
cles call him A-Iee-ko-nae-wah.'"' That his official designation was 
Sri Wijaya Bahu VI. is clear from the Rdjdvaliya^ which alludes to 
his capture and deportation by the Chinese (p. 66). The Nihdya 
Sangraha, p. 28, runs, " In the twentieth year of Bhuvaneka Bahu V. 
his brother-in-law {suhuru-hadu) Vira Bahu Epana of the Mehenewara 
family attained to the dignity of king," and that he corrected the 
clergy in 1396 (p. 30). 
The Saddharmaratnahara, written by the same author {vide Appendix 
A), records that Yira Bahu Epana was the younger brother of Vira 
Alakeswara, "and that Vira Alakeswara having been defeated by 
his younger brother at Raigama fled the country. Thereafter he 
returned and reigned twelve years." 
This establishes that the warrior who saved Gampola when the king 
fled to Bayigama was not Vira Alakeswara, otherwiseWijaya Bahu VI.,t 
but his younger brother Vira Bahu. The Mayuru Sandesa, vv. 21-23, 
refers to a chief (? Vira) Vikkrama Epa as Bhuvaneka Bahu V.'s yuva- 
rdja^ sub-king and heir apparent at Gampola, and an ancient sword 
inscription {vide note''% p. 287) speaks of a yuva-rdja Vira Bahu living in 
the palace of the Commander-in-Chief at Kotte {circa 1373). It is diffi- 
cult to tell whether these yuva-rdjas are identical, and, if not, which 
of the brothers is meant. Vira Alakeswara was probably at the time 
of the Tamil invasion yuva-roja at Kotte assisting the Prabhuraja. He 
succeeded to the throne of K6tte on the death of Bhuvaneka Bahu V. 
{circa 1400), but his younger brother Vira Bahu of Gampola, with a 
force from the hill-country, defeated him near Rayigama and seized 
the throne. Vira Alakeswara fled the country for a time, but re- 
turning with succours from India, in his turn conquered Vira Bahu 
and wrested the crown, of which he was deprived by the Chinese in 
1408. 
Regarding the date to be assigned to Wijaya Bahu VI.'s reign the 
authorities are conflicting. It is very probable that his predecessor 
Bhuvaneka Bahu V. died circa 1400. His latest sannas was granted 
in the twenty-ninth year of his reign, i.e. 1400. 
Wijaya Bahu VI.'s successor Sri Parakrama Bahu VI., ascended the 
throne in 1415, according to his stone inscription at Peliyagoda and the 
testimony of his great contemporary the Poet Totagamuwa. But 
another contemporary, whose authority stands as high as the courtier- 
monk, Nallurutun, the Sanhas Minister and the reputed son-in-law of 
the king, fixes the date as 1411-12 {Ndmdvaliya, Alwis's translation, 
p. 75). According to the Chinese accounts the Sinhalese Monarch 
Wijaya Bahu VL was released in 1411 (Tennent's Ceylon, vol. I., p. 624), 
* Tennent's Ceylon, vol. I., pp. 622, 623. 
t The KavyasSliara describes Wijaya Bahu (VI.) as the father of the 
reigning monarch Parakrama Bahu VI. 
