Since it is the independence week, I thought I’d write something about the history of Sri Lanka and its folklore. This is about Senkadagala, the last Sri lankan kingdom.
It was no coincidence that the Sinhalese kings chose Kandy or “Senkadagala” as their kingdom. It all has to do with the etymology of the name “Sen-kada-gala”. This is a tale in folklore that I gathered from my visits.
In the earlier times, there was a craftsman who went into the jungle in search of ingredients. Suddenly, he saw an Elephant chasing him. He ran as fast and as far as he could and climbed upon a rock. The elephant who was chasing him, suddenly changed course and ran in the opposite direction. As the man was contemplating this amazing event, he saw a rabbit being chased by a Fox, the rabbit came to the rock and the Fox started running back to where it came from. The craftsman saw this and reported this to the king. The king thought that this was a great location to establish his capital: the rock where enemy forces are broken to pieces “Sen- kada- gala”.
The senkadagala remained the last bastion of the Sri lankan kingdom, withstanding sieges by all of the colonials. Until internal strife led to its downfall and subsequent surrender of whole of Sri Lanka.
April 5, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Good article.
Thanks for the info.. “The rock where enemy forces are broken to pieces “Sen- kada- gala””