386 JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VoL. XVIII. 
generality of cases, is fairly well observed. But in Raja 
Sinha's case it seems to have been reversed by his enemies. 
They not only painted him more hideous than he was, but 
also gave him a background more in keeping with such a 
picture. For it was often asserted by the Portuguese, and 
sometimes even by the Dutch, that Raja Sinha was no prince 
bred or born, but only a barber who had risen by a military 
inclination, backed up by surprising good fortune in its 
pursuit.* 
The story with regard to the longevity of Raja Sinha seems 
to be beset with as much difficulty as the one of his 
parricide. According to all accounts he died in the year 
1592.t We have it on the authority of the Rdjdwaliya that 
when he was sent on his first military expedition, against 
Vldiye Bandara, which was some time after 1542,J he was in 
the eleventh year of his age.§ Giving the earliest possible 
date to this expedition by placing it at 1542, we find he 
could still have been only sixty-one years old when he died 
in 1592, a time of life which may easily account for the 
energy and vigour with which he was conducting operations 
against the Portuguese at Colombo, and the promptitude 
with which, on the outbreak of the Kandyan rebellion, he 
straightway marched to meet it and crush it,|| and met with 
the accident which led to his death. 
If we accept this age for Raja Sinha as correct, then the age 
of his father too loses its fabulous character and assumes 
human proportions. For according to our calculations based 
* See Baldseus, Churchill's " Collection," vol. III., p. 668. 
f See among others Mahdwansa^ chap. XOIV.; Rajdwaliya (Si^.), p. 78, 
Eng. translation, p. 94. 
% This event took place after Don Juan Dharmapala had come to the 
throne, which was in 1542. See Bell, Report on K^galla District, p. 6. 
§ See reference already given on page 2 sujjra, 
II Rajdwaliya, Eng. trans., pp. 92-93; Knighton, pp. 241-24:3 ; Tennent, 
" Ceylon," vol. II., pp. 19-22 ; Mr. H. C. P. Bell, loc. eit., p. 7. 
Mr. F. C. Danvers, in his valuable work " Portuguese in India," vol. II., pp. 
72 et seq., gives a full and instructive account of the extent and character 
of Raja Siijha's operations against the Portuguese stronghold of Colombo. 
