[Footnote 1:  Rajavali, p. 263; Mahawanso, ch. lxxxvii.]

[Sidenote:  A.D. 1410.]

It was during this period that an event occurred, which is obscurely alluded to in some of the Singhalese chronicles, but is recorded with such minute details in several of the Chinese historical works, as to afford a reliable illustration of the condition of the island and its monarchy in the fifteenth century.  Prior to that time the community of religion between Ceylon and China, and the eagerness of the latter country to extend its commerce, led to the establishment of an intercourse which has been elsewhere described[1]; missions were constantly despatched charged with an interchange of courtesies between their sovereigns; theologians and officers of state arrived in Ceylon empowered to collect information regarding the doctrines of Buddha; and envoys were sent in return bearing royal donations of relics and sacred books.  The Singhalese monarchs, overawed by the magnitude of the imperial power, were induced to avow towards China a sense of dependency approaching to homage; and the gifts which they offered are all recorded in the Chinese annals as so many “payments of tribute.”  At length, in the year 1405 A.D,[2], during the reign of the emperor Yung-lo[3] of the Ming dynasty, a celebrated Chinese commander, Ching-Ho, having visited Ceylon as the bearer of incense and offerings, to be deposited at the shrine of Buddha, was waylaid, together with his followers, by the Singhalese king, Wijayo Bahu VI., and with difficulty effected an escape to his ships.  To revenge this treacherous affront Ching-Ho was despatched a few years afterwards with a considerable fleet and a formidable military force, which the king (whom the Chinese historian calls A-lee-ko-nae-wih) prepared to resist; but by a vigorous effort Ho and his followers succeeded in seizing the capital, and bore off the sovereign, together with his family, as prisoners to China.  He presented them to the emperor, who, out of compassion, ordered them to be sent back to their country on the condition that “the wisest of the family should be chosen king.” “Seay-pa-nea-na"[4] was accordingly elected, and this choice being confirmed, he was sent to his native country, duly provided with a seal of investiture, as a vassal of the empire under the style of Sri Prakrama Bahu VI.,—­and from that period till the reign of Teen-shun, A.D. 1434-1448, Ceylon continued to pay an annual tribute to China.

[Footnote 1:  See Part v. ch. iii.]

[Footnote 2:  The narrative in the text is extracted from the Ta-tsing-yi-tung, a “Topographical Account of the Manchoo Empire,” written in the seventeenth century, to a copy of which, in the British Museum, my attention was directed by the erudite Chinese scholar, Mr. MEADOWS, author of “The Chinese and their Rebellions.”  The story of this Chinese expedition to Ceylon will also be found in the Se-yih-ke-foo-choo, “A Description of Western Countries,” A.D. 1450; the Woo heo-pecu, “A Record of the Ming Dynasty,” A.D. 1522, b. lviii. p. 3, and in the Ming-she, “A History of the Ming Dynasty,” A.D. 1739, cccxxvi. p. 2.  For a further account of this event see Part v. of this work; ch. iii.]