Seethawaka Fort in Avissawella

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  Miyuru Jayasekara

  :: 01 April 2018 16:50:26

  Sitawaka ( Seetawaka) was made in to a kingdom by King Mayadunne ( 1521-1581) who carved out this region after the murder of his father King Vijayabahu VI (1513-1521) of Kotte by him and the other 2 brothers. The Three brothers then divided the are under Kotte in to 3 kingdoms and Buwanekabahu took Kotte Kingdom, Pararajasinhe took Raigama Kingdom and Mayadunne the Seethawaka Kingdom. Very little remains of Sitawaka Kingdom today. The Palace of the Sitwaka kingdom stood near the Sitawaka river on the opposite bank of the Barendi Kovil. It is said that the Portuguese who invaded Sitawaka Kingdom destroyed the palace and built an small fortress on this ground. Unfortunely this fort too has been destroyed by the British who took the meterials to build the rest house at Sitawaka. The ruins of the fort has been described in the book “An Account of the Interior of Ceylon, and its Inhabitants” by Dr. John Davy the surgeon and physician of Governor Brownrigg, published in 1821. Sittawakka, once a royal residence, and a place of considerable consequence is now merely a name. No traces of what is once was traces of what it once was are now to be seen by the traveller passing along the road; and for a considerable time none were supposed to exist. Lately some remains of a building has been discovered. In June 1819, when travelling this way the third time, I was conducted by the natives to an old fort concealed by wood situated on the tongue of elevated ground, formed by the confluence of a small deep stream with the river. I went in a boat, and ascended from the river by a short flight of hewn-stone steps, and after walking about 100 yards, came to the building which I found to be nearly square, formed of three walls, one within the other thus Fort of SitawakaThe walls were of Kabook as the stone os called by the natives; and in this instance, as in most others appeared to be clay strongly impregnated with red oxide of iron, to which, probably it owes its property of hardening by exposue to the atmosphere. The outer wall was between eight and ten feet heigh and six and eight wide. It was widest at its angles, where it communicated with the enclosure by steps. Between ths wall and the next, the distance might be twenty four or thirty feet; the space was overgrown with bushes. Here I observed a deep well carefully made, and it sides lined with masonry. The inner enclosure was probably roofed, and was the donjon-keep of the fortress. There were no marks of its having been divided in to different compartments, and indeed it was hardly enough to admit of it. Natives who call this ruins Kotuwa (a fort), have a tradition, which probably correct, that it was built and occupied by the Portuguese when the neighbourhood was the arena of bloody contention bhese bold invaders and the prices of Sittawakka. The nature of the building, the circumstances of there being a good well within its walls, its situation of the Columbo side of the river and nearly oppersite to the spot on which there is reason to belive the palace and the town of Sittawakka formally stood, seem to be proof of the correctness of the tradition. Be this as it may, the ruin was not uninteresting. and might have been worth preserving; I say might, – knowing that the work of destruction has commenced, and that the walls which two centuries, at least, had spared, have been pulled down either in part or entirely, and their stones removed to build a new rest-house. The curious traveller may complain of this measure; whilst the indolent one will bless hi stars for being saved the trouble of forcing his way through the thickets to see an old ruin, the material of which, newly arranged, afford him a comfortable shelter.

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  Hashen Madusanka

  :: 21 February 2018 21:02:04