Parangi Satana 2018
Parangi Satana was our inaugural fundraiser. A historical docu-drama showcasing Sri Lankan dramatic, musical and dance styles, it featured an original bi-lingual script in Sinhala and English, written by AEW President Dr. Sunil Ratnayake, and performed by AEW members and their families. It recounted the events surrounding the historic Battle of Danture' near Kandy, Sri Lanka, between the Portuguese and the Kandyans. The characters, locations and events are accurate and factual according to the best available literature on the period.
According to the recorded history of Sri Lanka, the earliest period (543 BC-377 BC) lasted 166 years. The Anuradhapura kingdom commenced nearly 2394 yeas ago (377 BC – 1017 AD). The King Pandukabhaya was the first ruler of Anuradhapura Kingdom. He is accredited with establishment of the first ever administrative system in Sri Lanka. The Kingdom of Polonnaruwa (1056-1232 AD) was the next important kingdom of Sri Lanka lasted 176 years. Following this were the kingdoms of Jaffna, Dambadeniya, Gampola, Cotte and Sitawaka, all of which are considered as a transitional period of the seats of ruling in the Sri Lankan history (1232-1954 AD).
The Portuguese arrived in Sri Lanka in 1505 under the military commander Lourenco de Almeida and established trade relations with the Kotte Kingdom. During the early 16th century their intentions were directed towards defending their trading interest, particularly the profitable spice trace. However, with time this policy gradually changed to territorial ambitions with the objective of outright conquest, mainly to because of island’s strategic location for both trade and naval security.
The Portuguese in 1594 tried to put their preferred candidate on the throne of Kandy as their proxy ruler. They sought to enthrone Dona Catarina, a Kandyan princes who had been entrusted to the care of the Portuguese from a tender age and was brought up in Catholic European style.
The Danture campaign comprised a series of encounters between the Portuguese and the kingdom of Kandy in 1594. It is considered a turning point in the indigenous resistance to Portuguese expansion. For the first time in Sri Lanka, a Portuguese army was crushed, when they were on the verge of the total conquest of the island. A 20,000 strong Portuguese army, led by the Governor Pedro Lopes de Sousa, invaded Kandy on 5th July 1594. After three months, severely depleted by guerilla warfare and mass desertions, what remained of the Portuguese army was destroyed at Danture by the Kandyan forces under King Vimaladharmasuriya, against Portuguese, Dutch and British armies, until 1815.
