Qualla: Battle of Gannoruwa https://qualla.com/battle-of-gannoruwa en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:31 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/t/c/3/3/battle-of-gannoruwa-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Battle of Gannoruwa https://qualla.com/battle-of-gannoruwa Battle of Gannoruwa: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-gannoruwa/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. It started with an elephant. In the late 1630s, the Portuguese Captain General in Colombo, Diogo de Melo de Castro, seized an elephant that King Rajasinghe II of Kandy had presented to a merchant. The king responded by confiscating two of Melo's horses and informing the captain general that the horses would be returned when the elephant was. Melo chose war instead. He assembled his troops and marched on Kandy, expecting to finally achieve what the Portuguese had failed to do three times before: conquer the last independent kingdom on the island of Sri Lanka. What he found at Gannoruwa, on 28 March 1638, was not a conquest but a catastrophe.

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]]> Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/c/3/3/battle-of-gannoruwa-wp/tc33-battle-of-gannoruwa-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Gannoruwa: The Last Kingdom Standing https://qualla.com/battle-of-gannoruwa/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The Portuguese had first landed in Sri Lanka in 1505, and their ambition from the start was total control. By 1619, they held the kingdoms of Kotte, Sitawaka, and Jaffna. Only Kandy, sheltered in the central highlands, remained under a native king's rule. The Portuguese had tried...

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]]> Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/c/3/3/battle-of-gannoruwa-wp/tc33-battle-of-gannoruwa-the-last-kingdom-standing.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Gannoruwa: The Empty City https://qualla.com/battle-of-gannoruwa/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Melo's provocations escalated beyond the elephant dispute. He detained a caravan of 600 men and bulls, challenged the terms of an existing peace accord with Kandy, and stationed troops at Atapitiya near the kingdom's borders as a show of strength. The Sinhalese reinforced their p...

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]]> Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/c/3/3/battle-of-gannoruwa-wp/tc33-battle-of-gannoruwa-the-empty-city.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Gannoruwa: The Reckoning at Gannoruwa https://qualla.com/battle-of-gannoruwa/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Sharpshooters hidden in the surrounding forest began picking off stragglers on the fringes of the Portuguese column. On the morning of 28 March 1638, the Sinhalese attacked in force. They struck first at the Lascarins, the local conscripts carrying the Portuguese provisions, sepa...

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]]> Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/c/3/3/battle-of-gannoruwa-wp/tc33-battle-of-gannoruwa-the-reckoning-at-gannoruwa.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Gannoruwa: Thirty-Three Survivors https://qualla.com/battle-of-gannoruwa/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. When the fighting ended, only thirty-three Portuguese soldiers remained alive, along with a number of mercenaries. Rajasinghe and Wijayapala ordered their men to spare the survivors. The heads of the fallen Portuguese were piled before the Sinhalese king. A search for Melo's body...

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]]> Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/t/c/3/3/battle-of-gannoruwa-wp/tc33-battle-of-gannoruwa-thirty-three-survivors.mp3 0:06 5 full