shortly after his coronation. The Portuguese accused a rival Kandyan faction of poisoning Bandara, but the Kandyans blamed the Portuguese, who were forced to withdraw. Vimaladharmasuriya I became the new king of Kandy. Second Portuguese campaign against Jaffna Meanwhile, the Jaffna Kingdom in the north of the island fell increasingly under Portuguese influence. The Portuguese had previously conducted a first campaign against Jaffna where they captured the Mannar Island. In 1591 a Portuguese expedition deposed and killed the Jaffna king Puviraja Pandaram, then installed his son Ethirimana Cinkam as a client ruler. Portuguese conquest of Sitawaka In 1593 Sitawaka forces attempted to re-take Kandy, but were repulsed and their king Rajasinha I died of disease contracted during the fighting. One of the rival claimants to his throne, Jayavira Bandara Mudali, defected to Kotte, and with his support and guidance, the Portuguese captain-major of Ceylon Pedro Homem Pereira set out against Sitawaka with a force of 950 Portuguese and 6000 Sinhalese. The forces of Sitawaka were thrice defeated, first at the Kaduwara fort, then at the Rakgahawatta and Malwana forts using combined land and river operations, and finally at Gurubewira, the Sitawaka fort there being stormed at the end of a bloody struggle. Eventually, the Portuguese marched on the city of Sitawaka and plundered it, obtaining spoils worth 4 million xerafins. The kingdom of Sitawaka submitted thereafter. Campaign of Danture (1594) In 1594 the Portuguese tried again to put their preferred candidate on the throne of Kandy as a client ruler. This time it was Dona Catarina, a Kandyan princess who had been entrusted to the care of the Portuguese and brought up in a Catholic European style. She was then aged ten or twelve. Pedro Lopes de Sousa led a force of about 20,000 in an invasion of Kandy, of which one thousand were Portuguese troops (the majority transferred from Goa in India for the expedition), 15,400 native Lascarin allies, 47 elephants used as pack animals, and the remainder Badaga mercenaries from India and coolie labourers. The initial number of opposing Kandyan forces is unknown, but is estimated at 10,000. The defenders held a distinct advantage in the terrain, as Kandy is a mountainous region and the invading force would be forced to traverse well-defended mountain passes. The Portuguese stormed the pass at Balana with heavy losses, after which the Kandyan forces began to retreat. The Portuguese were able to