Lot Essay
This complete set of attractive views is titled 'Ceylon View No.1 [-6]', and captioned: Amanapoora, on the Road from Columbo to Kandy; The Summit of the Balani Mountain; The King's Palace at Kandy; Ferry at Wattepalogoa, three miles from Kandy; Tombs of Kandyan Kings at the North end of the Town of Kandy; Town of Kandy, from Castle Hill. Little is known about Lt. William T. Lyttleton who arrived in Ceylan on 28 October 1814 with a detachment of the 73rd. regiment and served with the expedition against the kingdom of Kandy in 1815.
Situated at the height of 1600ft, Kandy, capital of the Homonym kingdom, and last stronghold of the Sinhalese rulers, had been founded in 1592 by Vimala Dharmasuriya I and was surrendered to the British in 1815 after the British had captured its last king Sri Wickrama Rajasingha. The convention which followed agreed that Buddhism be inviolate and assured protection of the places of worship: considerable prestige was bestowed on Kandy for its sacred relic of the Tooth of Buddha.
The name of the town, known by the Sinhalese as Senkadagalapura or Maha Nawura ("Great Town"), was derived from the Portuguese contraction of Kanda Udarata or "Hill Country".
Situated at the height of 1600ft, Kandy, capital of the Homonym kingdom, and last stronghold of the Sinhalese rulers, had been founded in 1592 by Vimala Dharmasuriya I and was surrendered to the British in 1815 after the British had captured its last king Sri Wickrama Rajasingha. The convention which followed agreed that Buddhism be inviolate and assured protection of the places of worship: considerable prestige was bestowed on Kandy for its sacred relic of the Tooth of Buddha.
The name of the town, known by the Sinhalese as Senkadagalapura or Maha Nawura ("Great Town"), was derived from the Portuguese contraction of Kanda Udarata or "Hill Country".