Blessed Joseph Vaz: Part 8 – The Apostle of Sri Lanka Arrested at Weuda on the Way to Kandy

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By T.V. Antony Raj

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The Kingdom of Kandy

Located in the central and eastern part of the island, the Kingdom of Kandy known in Sinhalese as Mahanuwara Rajadhaniya, was an independent monarchy founded in the late 15th century. It was initially a dependent kingdom of the Kingdom of Kotte. During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Kingdom of Kandy established itself as an independent monarchy. To ensure its survival the Kingdom at various times allied itself with the Jaffna Kingdom, the Madurai Nayak Dynasty of South India, Kingdom of Sitawaka, the Portuguese and finally the Dutch.

The capital of the Kingdom of Kandy has been known by various names. Some scholars suggest that the original name was Katubulu Nuwara. However, the more popular historical name officially is Senkadagala Siriwardhana Mahanuwara (meaning ‘the great city of Senkadagala of growing resplendence’).  This long name is generally shortened to ‘Mahanuwara‘ (meaning ‘Great City’ or ‘Capital’) or simply as “‘Nuwara‘.

The Sinhalese called the region “Kanda Uda Rata” (“the land on the mountain”) and “Kanda Uda Pas Rata” (“the five counties/countries on the mountain”). The Portuguese shortened this to ‘Candea‘ and used it as the name for both the kingdom and its capital. The English transformed the Portuguese word to ‘Kandy’.

Through the thick jungles and the many mountains only a few paths led to the capital of the Kingdom of Kandy. Due to the mountainous terrain was easy to defend the few roads. The subjects of the kingdom kept these routes secret, and they were aware that revealing any paths to a foreigner was an offense punishable by death.

The mountains and the thick forests hindered commerce with neighbouring kingdoms and movement of goods to and from ports and harbours. But this encumbrance proved to be an invaluable asset in guaranteeing the safety of the Kingdom of Kandy from attacks by its neighbours and by the marauding foreign colonialists.

The English East India Company

The English were first of the major European maritime powers of the 17th century to enter the East India trade. The English East India Company was founded in 1600 as The Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies. It gained a foothold in India in 1612 after the fourth Mughal Emperor Nur-ud-din Mohammad Salim, known by his imperial name Jahangir, granted it the rights to establish a factory or trading post, in the port of Surat on the western coast.

he Dutch East India Company

In 1602, the Dutch  established the Dutch East India Company or the United East India Company (Dutch: Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, VOC).   The States-General of the Netherlands granted the chartered company a 21-year monopoly to carry out trade activities in Asia.

France was the last of the major European maritime powers of the 17th century to enter the East India trade. Six decades after founding the English and Dutch East India companies, and at a time when both companies were multiplying factories on the shores of India, the French still did not have a viable trading company or a single permanent establishment in the East.

In 1642, to revive commercial intercourse with the East, Cardinal Richelieu formed a new Company named “La Compagnie des Indes” for the sole purpose of trading in the Indies. Letters patent, dated June 24, 1642, accorded it privileges for 20 years. On December 4, 1642 Cardinal Richelieu died.

In 1664, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the Minister of Finances, restructured the Company and designated it as La Compagnie française des Indes Orientales (The French East India Company) to compete with the English (later British) and Dutch East India companies in the East Indies. He sent an expedition to Madagascar, discovered by Marco Polo in 1298, and then forgotten.

In 1667, the French East India Company sent out another expedition, under the command of François Caron. The French reached Surat in 1668 and established the first French factory in India. In 1673, the French acquired the area of Pondicherry from the Kiladar of Valikondapuram under the Sultan of Bijapur and thus laid the foundation of Pondichéry.

The French in Ceylon

François Caron had spent 30 years working for the Dutch East India Company, including more than 20 years in Japan. He suggested to Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the Minister of Finances that set a firm foot in India, it was necessary to capture some land and hold it in absolute possession. The captured place he said should be unassailable by the natives. Then they could use it as a stronghold for commercial operations with the inhabitants of the mainland. For this purpose, like Albuquerque, he favoured occupation of the island of Ceylon, then partly occupied by the Dutch. He also pointed out the commercial advantages which France would gain by participating in the spice trade.

Caron also intimated that he had discussed with King Rajasinghe II, the ruler of the Kingdom of Kandy the subject of the dispossessing the Dutch from the island and had promised him the support of the French East India Company to do that.

When Colbert approved Caron’s project, a fleet under the command of Admiral de la Haye, a man with a bad reputation who had quit high civil employment to gratify his passion for warlike operations, was placed at the disposal of Caron to carry out his design.

Caron and de la Haye made their first attempt towards the end of the year 1672 at Point de Galle, but were unsuccessful. However, the French were more fortunate at Trincomalee, which they took and garrisoned.

Just when the French finished landing the guns necessary to defend the fortress, a Dutch fleet under Commodore Rylackoffe van Goens, came in sight. Immediately Admiral de la Haye sent Nanclares de la Norelle, an adventurous French Huguenot, to the court of King Rajasinghe II to negotiate for urgent food supplies for their fleet and the garrison at Trincomalee.

Though King Rajasinghe II may have earlier considered involving the French in the island’s politics in an attempt to get yet another European power to displace the Dutch, he did not accede to the request since the French wanted to make Trincomalee their port.

Admiral de la Haye without opposing the Dutch fleet set sail for Mylapore, then known as St Thomé or San Thome, on the Coromandel coast. He left a few soldiers to guard the garrison at Trincomalee. The French soldiers who had been left behind, had no other alternative than to cede Trincomalee and the garrison to the Dutch fleet.

Nanclares de la Norelle, remained in Kandy. He married and settled there and gained some influence at the King’s Court. He tried to influence some Catholics to embrace Calvinism, among them being the family of the relative of Antonio Sottomayor who had befriended Joseph Vaz.

Joseph Vaz arrested at Weuda

Joseph Vaz hoped to make Maha Nuwara, the capital of the Kingdom of Kandy, the centre of his future missionary activities.

In August 1692 after his apostolate of one year and nine months in the Puttalam area, Joseph Vaz along with his servant John and his new acquaintance Antonio Sottomayor left for Maha Nuwara, the capital of the Kingdom of Kandy, ruled by King Vimaladharmasurya II, who had succeeded his father, King Rajasinghe II.

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The distance between Puttalam and Kandy is about 82 miles (132 km). On their way, they had to pass through the village named Weuda situated 18 miles from Kandy. Weuda was an important check-post before entering the capital. In this village, Antonio Sottomayor had a house and was staying there with his family. It took them about eight days to walk from Puttalam to Weuda.

Leaving Joseph Vaz and John with his family, Sottomayor went to Kandy to get the visa for the priest to enter the city. Meanwhile, Vaz started preaching to Sottomayor’s family and their neighbors.

Antonio Sottomayor was not aware that Nanclares de la Norelle had converted his relative to Calvinism. As soon as the French Huguenot, learned that Sottomayor wanted to bring a Catholic priest into Kandy he went to the King’s court. He told the king that Antonio Sottomayor was trying to help a Portuguese spy to enter Kandy in the garb of a Priest.

The king directed his soldiers to arrest Sottomayor first and then go to Weuda and bring the priest and his servant staying in his house.

Joseph Vaz and John bound in chains were taken to the Capital by the king’s soldiers. Charged as Portuguese spies, they were incarcerated along with Sottomayor in the “Maha Hiragé” (“Great prison”).

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To be continued…

← Previous: Part  7 – The Apostle of Sri Lanka in Puttalam

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RELATED ARTICLES

• BLESSED JOSEPH VAZ: PART 1 – THE EARLY YEARS
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• BLESSED JOSEPH VAZ: PART 3 – THE APOSTLE OF KANARA
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• BLESSED JOSEPH VAZ: PART 4 – PERSECUTION OF CATHOLICS IN CEYLON BY THE DUTCH (tvaraj.com)
• BLESSED JOSEPH VAZ: PART 5 – TRAVEL TO CEYLON (SRI LANKA) tvaraj.com)
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• BLESSED JOSEPH VAZ: PART 7 – THE APOSTLE OF SRI LANKA IN PUTTALAM (tvaraj.com)
• Joseph Vaz (en.wikipedia.org)
• BLESSED JOSEPH VAZ (josephnaikvaz.org)
• Blessed Joseph Vaz (newadvent.org)
• “Without the Blessed Vaz, there would be no priest on the island”(asianews.it)
• The relevance of Blessed Joseph Vaz to the evangelization of Asia today (oratoriosanfilippo.org)
• Bl. Joseph Vaz, first saint to Sri Lanka (en.radiovaticana.va)
• The Apostle of Sri Lanka: Blessed Joseph Vaz (1651-1711)
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• Kingdom of Kandy (en.wikipedia.org)
• APOSTOLATE IN KANDY (blessedjosephvaz.org)
• THE DUTCH PERIOD (1658-1796) (xoomer.virgilio.it)
• East India Company  (en.wikipedia.org)
• Dutch East India Company  (en.wikipedia.org)
• French East India Company  (en.wikipedia.org)
• Jean-Baptiste Colbert (en.wikipedia.org)
• KANDY AND ITS STRUGGLE WITH EUROPEAN POWERS
  (britannica.com)
• History of the French in India: From the Founding of Pondichery in 1674 to the Capture of that Place in 1761 (Google eBook)
  (books.google.co.in)
• Pope Francis lauds first Sri Lankan saint’s ‘undivided love for God’ (catholicnewsagency.com)

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