to amend the death sentence to flogging 100 times and deportation to Malacca (Malaysia). Puran Appu, even though his leg of the rebellion was successful in capturing Matale, and was proclaimed as the King of Sinhale by people, was eventually captured, taken to Kandy and executed. Leaders The Matale Rebellion was led by leaders such as, Paranagama Nilame, Swarnapali Paranagama Kumarihami (daughter of Paranagama nilame ), Suriyabandara Nilame (King Of Mathale) (Son), Gongalegoda Banda, Dines, Dingi Rala and Puran Appu who were supported by the people and the village headmen of Matale. These were workers with links to the low country, with rather broader vision than the Kandyan peasants they led. Gongalegoda Banda Gongalegoda Banda, the son of Wansapurna Dewage Sinchia Fernando was the leader of the 1848 Rebellion and King of Kandy. He had been employed by the police and came to reside at Gongalegoda, Udunuwara where he became a popular figure among the Kandyans. He was seen at the Temple of the Tooth just before the 1848 Rebellion broke out. Gongalegoda Banda led a protest march regarding unjustifiable taxes on 6 July 1848, near the Kandy Kachcheri. Veera Puran Appu Weerahennedige Francisco Fernando alias Veera Puran Appu is one of the most colourful personalities in Sri Lanka's history. He was born in November 1812 in the coastal town of Moratuwa. He left Moratuwa at the age of 13 and stayed in Ratnapura with his uncle, who was the first Sinhalese proctor, and moved to the Uva Province. In early 1847, he met and married Bandaramenike, the daughter of Gunnepana Arachchi in Kandy. Legacy The Matale Rebellion was the first transitional step towards abandoning the feudal form of revolt, being fundamentally a peasant revolt. The masses were without the leadership of their native King (deposed in 1815), or their chiefs (either crushed after the Uva Rebellion or collaborating with the colonial power). The leadership passed for the first time in the Kandyan provinces into the hands of ordinary people. The leaders were yeomen-artisans, resembling the Levellers in England's revolution, and mechanics such as Paul Revere and Tom Paine who were at the heart of the American Revolution. The old feudalists were crushed and powerless. No new class capable of leading the struggle and heading it towards power had yet arisen. See also Fort MacDowall Great Rebellion of 1817–18 Revolutions of 1848 References Tyronne Fernando, Veera Puran Appu: stood up