After three months, severely depleted by guerilla warfare and mass desertions, what remained of the Portuguese army was annihilated at Danture by the Kandyans under King Vimaladharmasuriya.

[13] Victory at Danture notwithstanding, only the mobile section of the Portuguese army in Ceylon was annihilated, while their strongholds remained intact, and so Kandy was unable to follow up with an advance into the lowlands.

Although Vimaladharmasuriya ruled with the support of the inhabitants, being a son of a chieftain made him a usurper while the last legitimate heir to the throne, the princess Dona Catarina, remained with the Portuguese.

[25] His original plan was to enter Kandy with an expeditionary force in order to establish the princess Dona Catarina, then aged ten or twelve,[24] on the Kandyan throne.

[26] Pedro Lopes de Sousa, a highly respected fidalgo from Trancoso, happened to call at Colombo on his way to Goa from Malacca, in order to pick up provisions and fresh water.

[28] First, instead of appointing either Francisco da Silva or Pedro Homem Pereira, Captain-Major of Portuguese Ceylon, both of whom were veterans in warfare with the Sinhalese, the council entrusted the leadership of the expedition to Sousa.

Reluctant to accept the task, Sousa made two demands on behalf of a nephew of his (name unknown): that he, instead of Pereira, be appointed Captain-Major of the Field, and that he be given Dona Catarina's hand in marriage.

[33] (Charges were later laid against Matias de Albuquerque, viceroy of India 1591–1597, for negligence and lack of support for the expedition, holding him largely responsible for its eventual defeat.

Against the advice of veteran soldiers, Sousa made up his mind to proceed with his expedition at once, disregarding the low supply reserves and the upcoming monsoon season.

To feed this host of 20,000 men the Portuguese had provisions sufficient only for a month, but Sousa was confident of supplying his forces from the Kandyan countryside once the territory had been secured.

[37] None of the muster rolls from this era has survived, from which to accurately determine the initial strength of the Kandyan army, but a reasonable estimate of 10,000 men has been made from studies of revenue registers.

By nightfall they had reached Gannoruwa, where they spent the night on the western bank of the Mahaveli River—still separated from the main army, which lagged behind in order to bury the dead and because of its slow baggage train.

[1][35] Sousa rapidly organized a raiding party, which consisted of a hundred Portuguese soldiers under Francisco da Silva and a large number of Lascarins under Jayavira Bandara.

[1] For reasons unknown, Sousa changed his earlier plans and offered the empress's hand in marriage to the Captain Francisco da Silva, who was considered by his men to be the "most good looking man in Portuguese Asia".

)[42] After Silva's departure, Jayavira Bandara Mudali approached Pedro Lopes de Sousa and requested permission to let the empress marry his brother-in-law.

[44] Disappointed, Jayavira expressed his dissatisfaction: "... you who are but a stranger have with my assistance accomplished all your schemes of ambition and now endeavor to trample me underfoot ..."[44] But they ended their conversation on good terms, Sousa agreeing to consider the proposal on his return to Colombo.

[45] So Pedro Lopes de Sousa decided to organize a large raiding party instead of small foraging groups,[44] and Jayavira Bandara persuaded him to send out Luís Moro Mudali, with a force of 3000 men,[44] to the Principality of Uva.

[46] On further inspection, they found a present of inlaid firelocks, velvet and jewels, with a message containing information on the strengths of Brito and Afonso's forces and a request to attack them.

[47]) These items of evidence were secretly brought back to the camp and presented to the war council, which concluded that they had been sent by Jayavira Bandara Mudali to the Kandyan king.

Pedro Afonso Mudali declared that he had previously intercepted messages of similar nature, supposedly sent by King Vimaladharmasuriya to Jayavira Bandara, promising him the kingdoms of Sitawaka and Kotte if he rose against the Portuguese.

The council was divided in their opinion, but Sousa decided to wait until they returned to Colombo to hold an inquiry, as it would be dangerous to seize Jayavira in the middle of the campaign.

It contained a message to King Vimaladharmasuriya requesting that he attack Kandy on the following night, when Jayavira Bandara's men would set fire to a part of the Portuguese camp.

Meanwhile, Jayavira's house was looted, and the Portuguese found there 14 paras (about 9 bushels) of gold coins and gems, with letters indicating locations of other hidden treasures.

[51] (It is believed that this gem was presented to King Sitawaka Rajasinghe by Mutukon Sinha Vidane Henaya from the caste of washers and, as documented in an undated manuscript at Sabaragamu Saman Dewale, it was equal in size to a wild cucumber or kekiri fruit.

The Captain-General appointed Panikki Mudali, a Sitawakan chieftain who had twice defected to the Portuguese during the lowland campaign, to command the remaining Lascarins, less than a thousand in number.

Unable to hold Kandy with his remaining forces, the Captain-General decided to fall back to the fortalice at Balana, expecting to keep it until reinforcement should arrive from Colombo or Goa.

[56] In a last-ditch attempt to replenish themselves before retiring to the Balana fortalice; the Portuguese sent a raiding party to the village of Halloluwa, on the west bank of the Mahaveli River, several kilometers north of the encampment.

The brunt of the attack fell on the advance guard; its commander, D. Gastão Coutinho, and several captains including Simão Pereira and Francisco de Brito were killed.

Following them in, the second column mounted a better resistance, managing to hold out for three hours, but they were eventually annihilated after their captains Henrique Pinto and Diogo Borges were killed.

He served as a double agent for the Kandyans (notably in an assassination attempt against King Vimaladharmasuriya in 1602), giving up his opportunity to be crowned and later rose to the rank of Maha Mudali.