ABSTRACT
The city of Kandy lies in the forests at the mountainous core of Sri Lanka, a region first populated by Sinhalese seeking refuge from Tamil armies attacking from the north. The site was home only to a Buddhist monastery until 1474, when the Sinhalese general Vikramābāhu declared independence from his king in Kotte and established the seat of an autonomous state called Kande-uda-rata (the country on the mountains). His people knew the city as Senkadagala.
