Battle of Mulleriyawa

VictorKingdom of SitawakaTikiri Bandara (later Rajasinha I), son of Mayadunne

1559vs

Portuguese and the Kotte king DharmapalaPortuguese captains of Colombo

Sitawaka was the Sinhala kingdom that led the fight against the Portuguese in western Lanka. At Mulleriyawa, outside Kotte, its young prince Tikiri Bandara won one of the worst Portuguese defeats in the island.

Date: 1559 (some accounts give 1562)Where: Mulleriyawa, east of Colombo, Sri LankaType: Battle

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Cite

MLA

“Battle of Mulleriyawa.” Hindu History, 2026, https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/battle-of-mulleriyawa-1559/. Accessed .

APA

Hindu History. (2026). Battle of Mulleriyawa. Retrieved , from https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/battle-of-mulleriyawa-1559/

Result

The Sitawaka army destroyed a Portuguese column near Kotte; the Portuguese and their client king were pushed back into Colombo.

01Sitawaka against Kotte

In 1521 the kingdom of Kotte split among three brothers. Mayadunne took Sitawaka, inland on the Kelani river, and fought his nephew’s line at Kotte for the rest of his life. Kotte’s king Dharmapala was baptised and ruled under Portuguese protection. Mayadunne’s son Tikiri Bandara, a fierce soldier, carried the war to the gates of Kotte. The Portuguese sent out a force with their Kotte allies to drive him off.

02The field of Mulleriyawa

At Mulleriyawa, in the low marshy country east of Colombo, the Sitawaka army caught the column and cut it to pieces. The Portuguese chroniclers admit a heavy loss. The date is given as 1559 by some writers and 1562 by others. Tikiri Bandara took the name Rajasinha, the lion king, and after his father’s death ruled Sitawaka until 1593, twice besieging Colombo itself. Late in life he turned to Shaiva worship.

Why it matters

Mulleriyawa made Rajasinha I the leader of Lankan resistance, and for thirty years the Portuguese held little beyond Colombo’s walls in the west.