Hiripitiye Rala had a dream. A white-clad human approached him and uttered: Kotte kalale kisille, data medaganna rale. This onomatopoeic pattern sounds puzzling in Sinhala and weird when said in English: ‘Kotte’s rug in armpits, better brush your tooth officer’. Hiripitiye held the rank equivalent to today’s Diyavadana Nilame, the chief officer in charge of Dalada Maligawa, which was then in Kotte. He deciphered the cryptic statement: ‘affection for Kotte is gone to the trash bin, bring the Tooth to the centre, officer’ (officer, give up affection for Kotte and move the Tooth relics to Kandy).
Hiripitiye Rala left for Sabaragamuwa to see Ven Devanagala Rathanalankara Thera, Incumbent of Delgamu Vihara. This was when King Dharma Parakramabahu IX reigned the kingdom which was under Portuguese dominance. We still have this legend thanks to elder generation, likes of Tissa Abeysekara D P Wickramasinghe who have written it down.
But the threat – as the legend has it - was not yet over. The Portuguese were after the relics too for they shared the common belief of attributing royal symbol of authority to the sacred relics. They feared a rightful Sinhala Buddhist king in possession of the relics. Delgamu Incumbent had to make a strategic move. He made artificial replicas in ivory, replaced in its original place and gave the other to Vidiya Bandara. The genuine one, he kept to himself, well preserved inside a grinding stone, in Palabaddala until he met the rightful heir to the treasure.
Portuguese were taken in by the fake relics and sent it to Goa. They somehow got the wind of accurate news later on, though in part. They still relied on anti-Portuguese Vidiya Bandara, who they feared would become a king. Bandara was arrested in Jaffna on orders of Goa’s Archbishop who then destroyed the relics. Portuguese were yet to know the fate of genuine relics still preserved inside something they would never ever fathom.
Don John, who grew up with the Portuguese, ascended the throne by then. Delgamu Incumbent went all the way to see the new king with the relics. The king was happy too. He gave up Catholicism and became known as Wimaladharma. Two of his major tasks were to build a separate mansion for the relics and a temple for Delgamu Incumbant.
How did Wimaladharma – who was Don John - easily give up his faith and what made Delgamu Incumbent trust him? It is but an interesting saga about Wimaladharma’s ancestry.
King Sitavaka Rajasinghe killed Sundara Bandara lest the latter would take over the kingdom. For Bandara’s luck he had sired a son who was known as Konappu Bandara. Following the father’s death Bandara took up Roman Catholicism becoming Don John and lived along with the Portuguese, his motif being to avenge his father’s death.
However he was expelled to Goa for something he did offensive in Colombo. He won the favour of the Portuguese after a while, and was sent back to Colombo. For the throne there were disputes: Don Philip descending from King Karalliyadde who reigned before King Sitavaka Rajasinghe demanded more rights to the throne, though John proved himself to be more effective. The Portuguese finished off all affairs with a Dear John letter. John was any way not in very much good terms with the Ceylon’s first European invaders.
This only wreaked an unwanted havoc for the Portuguese. John rioted against the Portuguese and Philip, having mustered the support from Kandyan aristocrats.
Wimaladharma was never all over the Portuguese again and he did all his best to preserve the relics. His brother King Senerat, who succeeded him, had reverence for relics too. He took all steps to protect them from the Portuguese.
