Study on Royals Funeral Rituals in Kandyan Kingdom

In the ancient period, special funeral rituals were followed after the death of elites. Also, many special funeral rituals were followed at royal funerals. Detailed information about the royal funerals of Sri Lanka is found in the Kandy era. This research aims to find out the royal funeral rituals of the Kandy era. The problem of this research is identifying the order of royal funeral rituals in the Kandy era. The research method is studying literary sources. There is a detailed account of the royal funeral of Prince Maha Astana, the eldest son of King Wimaladharmasuriya I (1590-1604); apart from that, some information about the funerals of Wimaladharmasuriya I, Rajasinghe II (1635-1687) and Sri Vijaya Rajasingha (1739-1747) can be found. According to the sources, there are several royal funeral rituals. It has received Buddhist background as well as Hindu and Western inspiration. In the beginning, the royal funerals of the Kandy era were solemn and elaborate, but later it became simple. The political instability in the kingdom may have caused it.