Abstract:
The study examines the Weapons and Armor used by respectively the Sinhalese and
the Portuguese forces during the 16th and 17th Centuries. The paper posits that the
weapons of both combatants evolved in response to each other taking into account also
developments abroad. The study is primarily based on observation and comparison of
specimens in museums, private collections and illustrations from temple art,
contemporary European art and literature.
By the time Portuguese arrived in Sri Lanka the European armies had phased out the
heavy armor used by the knights and were beginning to adopt the somewhat lighter
“cuirassier” armor which was used in Sri Lanka at the earlier part of the Portuguese
wars. With the arrival of the Portuguese the Sinhala armies were faced with a heavier
armored opponent who increasingly relied more on the newly emerging firearms of the
period. The emergence of hand held fire arms during the early 16th century was
changing the face of warfare through out the world. The adaptation of the gun by the
Sinhalese and their proficiency in both use and manufacture of firearms forced the
Europeans to re-adopt and played a role in the demise of heavy armor in the battlefield.
(It is more probable that the Sinhalese first adopted the gun from the Arabs than the
Europeans. It is likely that there were more than one school of gun manufacture in Sri
Lanka.)
The existence of molded shaped Sinhala spearheads with post apical grooving and
arrow points with hardened tips suggest design adaptations which are more suited to the
function as armor piercing weapons. The need for such weapons arose out the use of
heavy armor during the 16th century and it is highly probable that these adaptations
originated during this period.
Several new weapons including the “Patisthana” spear, “Kasthana” sword “Ath-thuwakku
/Bondikula hand guns and the “Kodithuwakku” Grass hopper canon was added to the
Sinhala armory during this era. The Study also looks at the evidence for the use of body
armor by the Sinhalese.
