Sri Lanka, March 11 -- With the fall of the Kandyan Kingdom, the Kandyan Convention, ceremonially signed on March 10, 1815, completed the annexation of the island to the British Empire. This brought an end to the rule of Lankan Royalty.

British propaganda successfully portrayed King Sri Vikrama Rajasinghe as a "cruel Tamil tyrant" despite evidence of his achievements in developing Kandy

How did the British succeed in conquering Kandy when the others failed? To learn from the insights, we browsed through once again the pages of "The Doomed King: A Requiem for Sri Vikrama Rajasinghe", where the eminent author/anthropologist Gananath Obeyesekere had made an extensive study of how the conquest was made possible.

Being trounced roundly du...