The British Capture of Kandy 1815

In 1815, the last independent kingdom in Sri Lanka fell not to a decisive battle but to a conspiracy of chiefs. This episode looks at the final months of the Kandyan Kingdom — the betrayal of Pilimatalawe, the capture of the last king, Sri Vikrama Rajasinha, and the signing of the Kandyan Convention that handed the hill country to the British. We also explore the kingdom's own internal conflicts: the Nayakkar dynasty's tenuous grip on power, the execution of Ehelepola's family, and the fatal miscalculations that turned the Kandyan aristocracy against their own king. Drawing on the Mahavamsa, British colonial records, and the work of modern historians, we trace the precise events of 1814–1815, the roles of figures like John D'Oyly and Robert Brownrigg, and the complex motivations of the chiefs who signed away their kingdom. Along the way, we touch on the kingdom's economy, its military weakness, and the enduring myth of a noble Kandy betrayed by its own.

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