Cardinal and Catholicism with Portuguese in Sri Lanka
Cardinal Malcolm has told to a Portuguese catholic priest Salveria that
“You are the ones who brought the Gospel to my country. If it were not for you, we would not be Catholics today!”
It seems Priest Silveira posted this thinking this statement was the highest honor for his nation.
But was the “Gospel” that the Portuguese brought here really “good news”?
Let’s read the history…
With the accidental landing in Sri Lanka in 1505 by the Portuguese — the “Feringhees” led by Lourenço de Almeida who were plundering Moorish ships near the Maldives, both our country’s sovereignty and the Buddhist culture we had preserved for centuries came under severe threat.
The Portuguese did not come to Sri Lanka only for trade and to seize political power.
Their main objective was also to spread their “Roman Catholic faith” throughout Sri Lanka!
History describes them as: “The bayonet in one hand, and the Bible in the other.”
Because of their “religious extremism” and “greed for wealth”, hundreds of large Buddhist temples and devalayas along the coastal regions were systematically looted, set on fire, and razed completely to the ground.
Deceiving the King of Kotte under the guise of trade, the Portuguese quickly built a very strong fort and immediately launched their invasion.
In these invasions, their main target was Buddhist temples.
There were 2 main reasons why the Portuguese targeted Buddhist temples:
The first reason:The immense wealth that Buddhist temples and devalayas possessed!
At that time, kings and people had placed “gold, silver, pearls, gems” and valuable “ivory” inside temples and devalayas as sacred offerings.
The Portuguese saw these as great treasures to be shipped back to their country.
The second reason: The temple was the “center of the cultural and political strength” of the Sinhala people.
So they believed that by destroying temples, they could completely break the mentality and pride of the Sinhalese.
The Burning of the Devinuwara Maha Devalaya.
The most brutal and tragic destruction carried out by the Portuguese was the destruction of the “Sri Uppalawanna Devalaya Complex” in Devinuwara, Matara.
At that time, this Devinuwara Devalaya was such a massive religious center that even sailors voyaging in the Indian Ocean could identify it from far away.
It had a gold-plated copper roof and a thousand beautifully carved pillars. Yes, 1000.
In 1587, Portuguese Captain Tomé de Sousa attacked Devinuwara with his army.
They entered the devalaya and looted all the gold and silver offerings, pearls, gems and everything valuable there.
The Portuguese army then smashed to pieces all the *”god statues”* and *”Buddha statues”*, set the entire building complex on fire and leveled it to the ground!
Not stopping there, to desecrate that sacred ground, they slaughtered the cattle that were there and let the blood flow all over the devalaya!
After that, they built a Catholic church called *”Our Lady”* right on top of the foundation of that devalaya.
*The Destruction of Kelaniya Temple*
Another great destruction by the Portuguese was the demolition of *Kelaniya Raja Maha Viharaya*.
With *Don Juan Dharmapala* of the Kotte Kingdom converting to Catholicism, it became easy for the Portuguese to destroy the sacred site of Kelaniya.
In *1575*, an army led by Captain *Diogo de Melo* stormed into Kelaniya.
They forcibly looted all the treasures in the temple.
Then they set fire to the ancient Kelaniya temple complex, which was thousands of years old, and burned it completely to ashes!
The Portuguese even banned Buddhists from entering the Kelaniya premises, and using its ruins they built a church called *”St. Anne’s”*.
*More Destructions*
In addition to this, the Portuguese also burned and destroyed in the same way many famous temples in areas such as the beautiful *Berendi Kovil* built by King Rajasinha I of Sitawaka, and in Wattala and Totagamuwa.
*The Threat to the Sacred Tooth Relic*
The *Sacred Tooth Relic* was the crown jewel of the Sinhala Buddhists as well as the great symbol of kingship. The Portuguese well knew that whoever possessed the Tooth Relic would gain control over the entire country.
Therefore, their main target was the Sacred Tooth Relic.
However, when the Portuguese army came to surround the Kotte Kingdom in search of the Tooth Relic, the monks residing there had already prepared a very clever strategy in advance.
The Venerable Monks made a *fake Tooth Relic* that looked exactly like the real one, and deliberately placed it in the Tooth Relic chamber of the Kotte Raja Maha Viharaya so that the Portuguese could easily capture it.
Meanwhile, *Hiripitiye Diyawadana Rala*, the custodian of the Sacred Tooth Relic, immediately acted and secretly took the real Sacred Tooth Relic out of the palace with the monks, and took it very secretly to the Sitawaka Kingdom (present-day Avissawella) ruled by King Mayadunne, who was fiercely fighting against the Portuguese.
The Portuguese who came to Kotte were deceived into believing this fake Tooth Relic was the real one, and took it to *Goa* in India.
There, in front of the *Catholic Archbishop*, they crushed it in a mortar, burned it, and threw it into the sea, boasting that they had permanently destroyed the great symbol of Buddhism!
But while the Portuguese were being deceived like this, the real Sacred Tooth Relic remained safely elsewhere.
Because of these cruel actions by the Portuguese, irreparable great damage was done to Buddhist civilization and art in the coastal regions.
Many of our ancient books, documents and works of art were permanently lost to us due to these burnings.
For nearly *150 years* of Portuguese rule, these sacred sites remained overgrown by jungle and in ruins, and until they received the guidance of *Ven. Weliwita Sri Saranankara Thero* and the royal patronage of *King Kirthi Sri Rajasinha* in the Kandy period, Buddhism in the coastal areas existed in a very helpless and dark environment.
During this period, many coastal people were converted to Catholicism under Portuguese persecution and the tactics of missionaries….
_(To be continued)_
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