Kandy Nayaks
| Kandy Nayak Dynasty | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Country | Sri Lanka |
| Parent house | Madurai Nayak Kingdom |
| Founded | 1739 |
| Founder | Sri Vijaya Raja Singha |
| Final ruler | Sri Vikrama Rajasinha |
| Current head | None |
| Dissolution | 1815 under the terms of the Kandyan Convention |
| Cadet branches | None |
The Nayaks of Kandy (a.k.a. Kandy Nayak Dynasty) were the rulers of Sri Lanka with Kandy as their capital from 1739 to 1815. They were also the last dynasty to rule Sri Lanka.
They were related to the Madurai Nayak dynasty and to the Tanjore Nayak dynasty. There were four kings of this lineage and the last king, Vikrama Rajasinha, was captured by the British and exiled to Vellore Fort in India Much earlier to the establishment of the Kandy Nayak dynasty, it was not unknown for the Sinhalese to take wives from ruling clans across Southern India. The first to do so was King Vijaya who procured his royal consort from the city of Madurai. Later kings followed suit.
Because the Kandy kings received military support from the Nayaks of Madurai and the Tanjore Nayak dynasty to fight off the Portuguese, alliances between Kandy, Madurai and Tanjore were already established. In the 17th and 18th centuries, marital alliances between Kandyan kings and Nayak princesses were a matter of policy. When a Sinhalese Kandyan king, Narendra Sinha, died without an offspring, the brother of his Madurai Nayak queen succeeded the throne in 1739 under the crown name of Sri Vijaya Raja Sinha. Thus in 1739 the Nayaks came to rule the Kandy kingdom.
These Nayak kings continued to marry with their Tanjore and Madurai counterparts. The Nayak kings were Hindus. They later converted to Buddhism and were responsible for renaissance of Buddhist culture in the Island.
The Nayaks of South India started as governors of Vijayanagara Empire ruling parts of Tamil Nadu during the 14th and 15th centuries. After the Vijayanagara Empire collapsed in the mid-16th century some of these governors declared independence and established their own kingdoms in Gingee, Tanjore, Madurai and Chandragiri.
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