Reports of early Dutch visitors Sebald de Veert and Joris van Spilbergen mention him as Don João da Austria.

[3] Joao Rebeiro mentions one Don Juan Appuhamy, a commoner who was sent to conquer the kingdom of Kandy and of Konnapu Bandara.

Tikiri Galagoda Kumarihamy was a relation and descendant of the family of Galagoda.Vimaladharmasuriya's father was murdered by Rajasinghe l. As a result Banḍāra had to flee to Portuguese Goa where he became a Catholic convert as Dom João de Áustria.

In 1594 he married Princess Kusmasana Devi who, as Dona Catherina, was put forward by the Portuguese as the rightful claimant to the throne and became king.

After renouncing Christianity and embracing Buddhism, Vimaladharmasuriya constructed a two-tiered shrine close to his palace in order to sanctify his capital, Kandy, and accommodate the politically-important relic of the tooth of the Buddha.

Following these negotiations, Sebald de Weert was officially sent by Admiral Wybrand van Warwijck to mount a joint counter-attack against the Portuguese.

The king learned that ordained Buddhist monks no longer existed on the island so he sent one of his ministers to Lower Burma and reestablished Buddhism in Kandy.