During the period of Portuguese rule of the coastal areas of southern India and Sri Lanka, from around 1505 to 1658, the Portuguese were able to exploit the pearl resources mainly on the Indian side of the Gulf, on the fishery coast, starting from about 1525, when they first took control of the fishery, until when they were ousted by the Dutch from Tuticorin in 1658. On the Sri Lankan side of the Gulf, initially from 1505 to 1560, they were not able to exploit the pearl banks as they were under the control of the Arya Chakravarty kings of the Jaffna kingdom, who successfully kept the Portuguese at bay, probably with the help of the Muslim Cosairs from Malabar and the Fishery Coast. In fact king Sankili I who ruled from 1519 to 1561, successfully fought the Portuguese and even massacred 600-700 Parava pearl divers in the Island of Mannar, who were brought from the Fishery Coast in India, to exploit the lucrative pearl fisheries on the Sri Lankan side. The Jaffna kingdom successfully fought off all attacks by the Portuguese, and the first expedition that was partially successful took place in 1560, when Constantino de Braganca captured only the Mannar Island from the kingdom, but was not able to subdue Jaffna. Constantino de Braganca built a fort in Mannar, where the Portuguese usually took refuge from attacks by the forces of the Jaffna kingdom. It was in the fort of Mannar that the Paravas also took refuge, after the Portuguese temporarily withdrew from the Fishery Coast, with their Parava subjects, in response to attacks and harassments of the Vadugars of the Madurai Nayak. The Portuguese finally subdued the Jaffna kingdom only in 1619 after the defeat of Sankili II, destroying all Hindu temples in Jaffna and the Saraswathy Mahal Library in Nallur, the royal repository of all literary output of the kingdom. During the period 1560 to 1619, when the Portuguese were confined mainly to the fort in Mannar, it is not known to what extent they were able to exploit the pearl banks on the Sri Lankan side of the Gulf, that extended from Chilaw to Adams Bridge, connecting Mannar Island to Rameswaram. From 1619, the Portuguese were free to exploit the pearl resources on the Sri Lankan side of the Gulf, until 1658 when the Dutch captured Jaffna. During this short period of about 40 years, it is not known to what extent the Portuguese were able to exploit the pearl resources on the Sri Lankan side, as they were busy suppressing at least four rebellions against them in Jaffna, and the arrival of the Dutch in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka in 1602 was itself a destabilizing factor for them, as they lost no time in signing a treaty with their enemy the Nayak of Madurai.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Aug 2013 14:04:29 +0000