It must have been puzzling for the Kandyans, the sight of Europeans at each other’s throats. King Rajasinha II had agreed to help the Dutch with their siege, in return for some forts on the coast. It was immediately apparent that the VOC had no intention of honouring the deal. Furious, the king set fire to the surrounding countryside and returned to Kandy. He may have got rid of one enemy, but he’d now acquired another, this time pale, mercantile, black clad and Protestant.
