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Battle of Randeniwela

1630 battle in the Sinhalese–Portuguese War

Summary

1630 battle in the Sinhalese–Portuguese War

Field	Value
conflict	Battle of Randeniwela
partof	Sinhalese–Portuguese War
date	25 August 1630
place	Randeniwela near Wellawaya
result	Sinhalese victory
combatant1	King of Kandy.svg Kingdom of Kandy
combatant2	Kingdom of Portugal Portuguese Empire
commander1	King of Kandy.svg King Senarat
King of Kandy.svg Prince Maha Astana
commander2	Portuguese Empire Constantino de Sá de Noronha
strength1	35,000
strength2	1,500 Portuguese
20,000 Lascarins
casualties1	Unknown
casualties2	Most died with 200 POWs

King of Kandy.svg Prince Maha Astana 20,000 Lascarins

The Battle of Randeniwela was fought on 25 August 1630 in the Sinhalese–Portuguese War. It was fought between Portuguese Empire and King Senarth's youngest son Prince Maha Astana, who would later become Rajasinghe II against Portuguese forces commanded by then Governor Constantinu De Sá de Noronha. It was fought at Randeniwela near Wellawaya, a place close to the town of Badulla. The battle broke off when Constantino de Sá launched the invasion via Badulla. The Portuguese army suffered a complete rout subsequent to a mass defection by its Lascarin (local militia) contingent.

Background

Main article: Campaign of Danture

Battle

At Randeniwela the entire Lascarin contingent joined the Kandyan forces. This was followed by a rain of arrows and bullets, in the night, against which it was impossible for the Portuguese to erect any protection. Into the bargain the torrential rain that poured down drenched the Portuguese army for several hours rendering the gunpowder and matches of their arquebuses useless.

Dom Cosmo, one of the four Lascarin captains who eventually rebelled against the Portuguese, is said to have begun the native revolt by 'striking off the head of a Portuguese and holding it aloft on his lance'.

For this service, Dom Cosmo was awarded several Nindagams (tributary villages) and the Katugaha Walauwa by King Senarath. His daughter married (Binna) from a prominent family in the area. Keppetipola Dissawa is believed to be a direct descendant of his.

Aftermath

The Portuguese suffered a devastating defeat in this battle.

References

"Impact | Sundayobserver.lk – Sri Lanka". sundayobserver.lk.
Goonewardena, K.W.. (1958). "The foundation of Dutch power in Ceylon, 1638–1658". Djambatan.
[http://www.ceylontoday.lk/64-92267-news-detail-rasin-deviyo.html Rasin Deviyo] {{webarchive. link. (22 December 2015 – Chandra Tilake Edirisuriya (Ceylon Today) Accessed 2015-12-13)
[http://www.colonialvoyage.com/portuguese-ceylon-portuguese-sri-lanka-before-war-dutch/ The Portuguese in Ceylon: Before the war with the Dutch] – Colonial Voyage Web. Accessed 2015-11-25
8120613341 pp. 20, 91–92
Wickramasinghe, Nira. (2005). "Sri Lanka in the Modern Age: A History of Contested Indentities". C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd.
Ribeyro, João. (1681). "History of Ceylon".
Pieris, Kamalika. "Land tenure in 16th Century Sri Lanka". The Island.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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