Cite
MLA
“Battle of Gannoruwa.” Hindu History, 2026, https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/battle-of-gannoruwa-1638/. Accessed .
APA
Hindu History. (2026). Battle of Gannoruwa. Retrieved , from https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/battle-of-gannoruwa-1638/
The Portuguese army, having burned Kandy, was surrounded on its retreat and destroyed; its commander was killed.
01Kandy burned
Rajasinha II, king of Kandy from 1635, was already in talks with the Dutch to drive the Portuguese from the island. To strike before help could come, the captain-general Diogo de Melo de Castro marched from Colombo into the hills early in 1638 with Portuguese soldiers and lascarins. Rajasinha let him come on. The Portuguese entered Kandy, found it empty, and burned it, including its temples. Then they began the march back.
02The trap at Gannoruwa
Near Gannoruwa, where the road ran beside the Mahaweli under wooded hills, the Kandyans closed the way and attacked from the slopes. As at Randeniwela eight years before, the lascarins went over to the king. The Portuguese were surrounded and cut down; de Melo de Castro was killed. Only a few men were spared and sent back. Within months Rajasinha signed a treaty with the Dutch, and in 1638–39 Batticaloa and Trincomalee fell to their joint forces.
Gannoruwa was the last Portuguese attempt to conquer Kandy and opened the Dutch–Kandyan alliance that drove them out of Lanka.