Bamboo splinter halts Sitavaka Rajasinha's march against enemies

by Gamini G. Punchihewa

King Rajasinha I, focused attention on the conquest of the Kandyan Kingdom in 1580 A.D. In 1592 the mighty King met his waterloo and suffered defeat at the hands of Konappu Bandara who ascended to the Kandyan throne as Vimala Dharmasuriya 1. Konappu Bandara was an ally of the Portuguese, but at last he turned against the Portuguese, battle at Gannoruwa, King Rajasinha after his failed attempt at capturing the Kandyan kingdom retreated.

According to the "Rajavaliya", the King Rajasinha said, "Since my eleventh year, I have been fighting, no king was able to stand before me, but he (King Vimaladharmasuriya 1) installed himself in the hill country - this time is a favourite fortune, the power of my merits and demerits".

King, Rajasinha 1 in the last stages of his life bequeathed Galboda Korale, to Manamperuma Mohotti and stationed him at Kadurugaskapulla. At the Royal Park at Pethangoda, a bamboo splinter ran into the King's foot and it turned fatal and death struck him. The following is the tribute paid in the "Rajavaliya" on his death.

"King Rajasinha who had united this beautiful Lanka under one royal canopy breathed his last on Thursday, the seventh day in the lunar month, under the asterism Hata ". His death occurred in the seventh lunar month of 1515 years of the Saka era (AD1951).

Now let us go down the "Fatal Memory Lane" where King Rajasinha breathed his last at the royal park in a Bamboo grove in Pethangoda. Pethangoda is about eight miles from Avissawella on Ruwanwella-Kegalle road.

There are two prominent nameboards put up by the Archaeological Department indicating the access road to Pethangoda - "To Pethangoda Bamboo Trees." One such name-board is also installed near the Anguruwella junction.

From the turn off to Pethangoda from the Anguruwella junction the road to Pethangoda covers a distance of about three kilometres. No buses plied on this road Pethangoda in early 1997. I trekked on foot. On either side of this roadway are rows of modern houses.

The plantations around comprise mostly rubber and coffee, while paddy cultivation is also carried out. Water is tapped from small amunus-anicuts. Against this backdrop lie hill ranges filled with rubber woods.

At Pethangoda, in an enclosed barbed wire concrete fence of pillars lie two giant bamboo groves-reminiscent of the ominous but tragic spot where King Rajasinha 1, had retired after his defeat at the Kandyan Kingdom and was injured by a bamboo thorn which caused his tragic death. The colour of these bamboo shoots is dark (and not yellow as mostly seen in other bamboo species)

The formidable prickly-like thorny spike out of the bamboo shoots stand as if in an affronting stare. A slight prick would be painful. There is an arch gateway over the bamboo groves.

Villagers in the locality say that souvenir hunters are in the habit of removing shoots of sharp pointed thorns. Local and foreign tourists flock there. A stretch of paddy fields overlooks this historic landmark coming down from the Sitavaka period. Villagers say that all bamboo groves, rooted were infested with cobras from the time of the Sitavaka kingdom.

The myth about Rajasinha's death is rooted in the belief that he was bitten by a cobra. According to a patriarch villager, once a man had tried to cut one or two bamboo shoots, and a huge cobra emerged hissing and swaying its hood to and fro and was about to strike him.

Then the terrified man screamed and fled after the bitter experience he had in attempting to wrench off the bamboo shoots.

After this deadly incident, the people around there say that no one ever dares to pluck or cut any of the dreaded shoots.

According to another folk-tale about two miles off Pethangoda there is a place called Nagalanda, is named Vangedi Mola Ela. Legend has it that the molgaha (Pestle), Vangediya (Mortar) and Kulla (sieve) made out of stone have been used in pounding the medicinal herbs used to heal the wounds of king Rajasinha caused by the bamboo splinters. It is believed that it was also the favourite spot (Rajapeella) where he had bathed. Pethangoda had been the royal park from the halcyon days of King Rajasinha 1.

The highest peak looming over the Pethangoda area is called Hathmatha which is swathed in rubber plantation.

Whatever the merits and demerits of King Rajasinha's life and reign as recorded in the "Culavamsa and Rajavaliya", and a host of other archaic Sinhala books, Portuguese writings and other records enriched with oral tradition, King Rajasinha owing to his deification of Hindu Gods, to this day is believed to have received divine powers since the people of the area propitiate him as Ganegoda Deiyo (God) who is believed to be the reincarnation of King Rajasinha himself.

Though it is claimed in some chronicles, particularly the "Culawamsa" that King Rajasinha 1 destroyed ancient Buddhist temples - Raja Maha Viharas, on material evidence on ground, it does not hold true.

The famed Maniyangama Raja Maha Viharaya (a cave Vihara) existing even before King Rajasinha's reign continues to this days in its lustre.A felicitation ceremony in honour of King Rajasinha I of Sitavaka, is held annually in March at the Pethangoda Vidyalaya.

A felicitation ceremony was held on March 16, 1995 at the Pethangoda Vidyalaya to mark his 403rd death anniversary.

After Rajasinha's death when Sitavaka was attacked by the Portuguese, his able and trusted General Manamperuma Mohottala defeated them and lived in Sitavaka.

There were some scurrilous Sinhalese verses Kela Paththara, called Kokkanam virindu, sung to defame his character. He was upset over these evil tongues wagging against him.

Utterly disgusted and frustrated over them, Manamperuma Mohottala supported king Dharmapala of Kotte and was conferred the title of Jayaweera Bandara. Later, owing to some conspiracies and intrigues among the Portuguese and other members of the royal household, he was put to death by the Portuguesee.

Oral tradition has it that even today the descendants of this famed Manamperuma Mohottala bear the Pelapath (surname) lineage names such as Summadha Perumal, Padmaperuma, Pulleperuma, Madurapperuma, Thevirajaperuma, Weeraperuma, Kariyapperuma around the thun Korale of Avissawella.