Kirti Sri Rajasinha of Kandy

Meeting with the British The King in mid-1762 sought help from the Governor of Fort St George Madras for assistance. The British eager to obtain the monopoly of trading in cinnamon, pepper, betel nut (puwak) from the Kandyan Kings also wanted to expel the Dutch from the coasts. A reason to call on the British for assistance by the Kandyan King in 1762 was that after the treaty of Paris, the Dutch poured troops into Sri Lanka. They were bent on capturing Kandy from six directions (1764). Anticipating such a scenario the King sent an envoy to the English Governor of Madras to assist him in expelling the Dutch. This envoy, a junior Kandyan Official in the military made a clandestine trip to Madras Fort, and the English responded by sending their councilor Mr Pybus.

John Pybus, a writer of the British East India Company, sailed to Kandy with a backup of five ships and about 200 armed men. A British vessel brought Pybus to Trincomalee on 5 May 1762. The Dutch knew of the arrival of Pybus through their spies and they were kept informed of his movements. Pybus took an exhausting covert trip to meet the King on 24 May 1762. After several talks without any conclusive decisions Pybus left after a month. The King gave him a ring, sword, a gold chain with breast jewels and left the country crossing the river at Puttalam pass while the Dissawa who accompanied Pybus presented the ships commander Samuel Cornish a gold chain and a ring in the name of King "Keerthi Sri Rajasinha ".

John Pybus in his notes described the King as a man of tolerable stature, reddish in complexion and very brisk in his movements. Pybus was amazed as to how the Kandyans had managed to fight a war with Dutch and had captured Matara Dutch Fort. He wrote that "They had put every European to the sword except two officers who are now prisoners of the country."

The Dutch attacked Kandy once again in 1765 and in this occasion, both parties suffered severe casualties. The king went to Hanguranketha and hid there for safety. Battles continued for months and the king wanted peace with the Dutch due to the widening of internal issues of the Kingdom of Kandy. Taking advantage of this opportunity the Dutch forwarded a treaty biased towards the themselves. The king, having no other option signed the treaty in 1766. The Kingdom of Kandy lost its access to the ocean by this treaty.

Marriage He married the daughter of one Nadukattu Sami Nayakkar in 1749. He further married three more Nayakkar queens from Madurai, but had no children. He also married two daughters of Vijaya Manna Naicker who was the grandson of Vijaya Raghava Nayak. He had six daughters and two sons by his favorite Sinhala lady (Yakada Doli), daughter of the late Dissava (Headman) of Bintenna, granddaughter of the blind and aged Mampitiya Dissave. Both his sons survived the king and his daughters married Nayakkar relatives of the king. Mampitiya’s sons claim for the throne was overlooked and the choice fell on the king’s brother who was living in court.

Statues

There are various life-sized portraits of King Kirti Sri Raja Singha in all of the temples he renovated and built. But the most famous are the four life-sized wooden statues still standing as of today, two of them can be seen at Dambulla temple and at Malwatta temple in Kandy.

Legacy and death Keerthi Sri Rajasinha died in 1782, leaving behind a legacy as one of the most influential rulers of the Kandyan Kingdom. His efforts in reviving Buddhism laid the foundation for its survival in Sri Lanka, despite colonial pressures. His successor, Rajadhi Rajasinha, continued his policies, maintaining the independence and cultural richness of the Kandyan Kingdom until the British conquest in 1815.

Today, Keerthi Sri Rajasinha is remembered as a pivotal figure in Sri Lankan history, revered for his religious devotion and efforts to preserve the sovereignty and traditions of the Kandyan Kingdom.