llowed to retain their own religion and customs.

The Dutch first appeared in 1602 and were welcomed by the Court of
Kandy as allies capable of expelling the Portuguese. This they
succeeded in doing by a series of victories between 1638 and 1658, and
remained masters of a great part of the island until their possessions
were taken by the British in 1795. Kandy however continued independent
until 1815. At first the Dutch tried to enforce Christianity and to
prohibit Buddhism within their territory[96] but ultimately hatred of
the Roman Catholic church made them favourable to Buddhism and they
were ready to assist those kings who desired to restore the national
religion to its former splendour.

4

In spite of this assistance the centuries when the Sinhalese were
contending with Europeans were not a prosperous time for Buddhism.
Hinduism spread in the north,[97] Christianity in the coast belt, but
still it was a point of honour with most native sovereigns to protect
the national religion so far as their distressed condition allowed.
For the seventeenth century we have an interesting account of the
state of the country called _An Historical Relation of the Island of
Ceylon_ by an Englishman, Robert Knox, who was detained by the king of
Kandy from 1660 to 1680. He does not seem to have been aware that
there was any distinction between Buddhism and Hinduism. Though he
describes the Sinhalese as idolaters, he also emphasizes the fact that
Buddou (as he writes the name) is the God "unto whom the salvation of
souls belongs," and for whom "above all others they have a high
respect and devotion." He also describes the ceremonies of pirit
and bana, the perahera procession, and two classes of Buddhist monks,
the elders and the ordinary members of the Sangha. His narrative
indicates that Buddhism was accepted as the higher religion, though
men were prone to pray to deities who would save from temporal danger.

About this time Vimala Dharma II[98] made great efforts to improve the
religious condition of the island and finding that the true succession
had again failed, arranged with the Dutch to send an embassy to Arakan
and bring back qualified Theras. But apparently the steps taken were
not sufficient, for when king Kittisiri Rajasiha (1747-81), whose
piety forms the theme of the last two chapters of the Mahavamsa,
set about reforming the Sangha, he found that duly ordained monks were
extinct and that many so-called monks had