Jayaweera III now deposed with his teenage daughter queen and nephew Yamasinghe Bandara fled to Mannar where the queen and the king died of small-pox. Rajasinghe I of Seethawaka came to Senkadagala in 1582 and placed Weerasundera Bandara in the throne. His daughter is Kusumasana Devi about whom this commemorative article is written.

The deposed king II Jayaweera’s son murdered Wickrama Bahu and ascended to the Senkadagala throne as Jayaweera III alias Karalliyadde Kumara Bandara (1579-1581). The rebels placed on the throne Weera Wickrama Bahu alias Rankodipathirannehe, son of Thunayama who ruled for 36 years from 1543-1579. The king went to Goa where he died in 1589 This alliance was not in favour of the Buddhist Priests in Kandy and lay leaders like Giddawa Bandara, Dumbara Satan Bandara, Kandure Bandara, Pattiya Bandara and others who revolted against the king and expelled him. This may be why Karalliyadde Bandara gave his daughter Shantana Devi in marriage to Dharmapala who was baptized as Don Juan.

This led to a matrimonial alliance between Kotte and Senkadagala as Jayaweera II too had married a princess from Keeravella. Buwanekabahu had married a princess from Keeravella for the first time and a sister of Mayadunne his second marriage. Jayaweera II gave his daughter in marriage to Dharmapala of Kotte (1592-l597) the grandson of VII Buwanekabahu who was ruling from Kotte from 1521-1597.

Asgiri Thalpatha is the most authentic record of Senkadagala history. It is from this period that the Dutch historian Phillip Bauldius and the Portuguese historian Father Queorose records our history. Jayaweera II alias Karalliyadda Bandara expelled Thunayama who ruled in Pallepitiya and Poddalgoda in present Uda Dumbara area and succeeded to the throne to rule from Senkadagala (1514-1542). Hence king Thunayama succeeded to the throne (1497-1514). Jayaweera died leaving no heir to the throne. Senasammatha was succeeded by his son Jayaweera (1483-97). The Senkadagala kingdom was established in 1436 by Senasammatha Wickramabahu, according to “Asgiri Thalpatha”. This is the story of the last Queen of Senkadagala kingdom. How did she go to the distant place Mannar having been born in the salubrious Kandyan hills. She became an orphan at a very early age of her childhood and was brought up in a Catholic orphanage in Mannar after being baptizd as Dona Catherina. Kusumasana Devi’s life is unique in the annals of the history of Sinhala and her achievements in her short life span of nearly 32 years is unparalleled in our history. Queen Dona Catherina (Kusumasana Devi) being welcomed by the General Conquistador Pedro Lopez de Souza

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