Ethirimanna Cinkam (died 1617) was the penultimate ruler of the Aryacakravarti line of Kings of the Jaffna Kingdom

Jaffna Kingdom

The Jaffna kingdom , also known as Kingdom of Aryacakravarti, of modern northern Sri Lanka was a historic monarchy that came into existence around the town of Jaffna on the Jaffna peninsula after the invasion of Magha, who is said to have been from Kalinga, in India...

 in northern Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

. He came to power due to the second Portuguese

Portuguese Empire

The Portuguese Empire , also known as the Portuguese Overseas Empire or the Portuguese Colonial Empire , was the first global empire in history...

 expedition led by André Furtado de Mendonça in 1591. In that expedition, the King of Jaffna, Puviraja Pandaram

Puviraja Pandaram

Puviraja Pandaram ruled the Jaffna Kingdom during a period of chaos during and after the death of his father Cankili I in 1565. He became the King in 1561 when due to a local uprising against Cankili 1. Although he was the nominal King, Cankili I wielded real power behind the throne until his...

 (1561–65, 1582–91) and the father of Ethirimnna Cinkam was killed.

A client

Ethirimanna Cinkam was injured in the battle and was saved by a Portuguese captain Simão Pinhão. Eventually he was installed as client monarch. The conditions imposed were that Catholic missionary activity to be freely allowed and the Elephant export monopoly to be handed over to the Portuguese as well as the tribute to paid by the Kingdom was increased.

Balancing act

But Ethirimanna Cinkam who became the king under the name Parasasekaran VII (1591–1617) interrupted the Catholic missionary activities and the Portuguese monopoly on Elephant exports. He carried out an undercover campaign against the Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

 missionaries and did not look with favor on converts. He interfered with the passage and shipping of Elephants of the Portuguese government through his territories thereby securing advantageous terms for his Elephants. By 1595 the King of Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 had issued an order to remove him but colonial authorities in Goa

Goa

Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...

 did not oblige as Ethirimanna Cinkam was not overly disruptive to Portuguese colonial interests.

The end

He also helped the re-founded Kandyan Kingdom kings Vimaladharmasuriya I (1593–1604) and Senarat (1604–1635) to secure help from South India

South India

South India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...

 to resist the Portuguese. Like Bhuvanekabahu VII of Kotte Kingdom through a mixture of native cunning and the ability to perform a delicate balancing act he secured a surprising degree of room for maneuver. He died peacefully in April 1617 leaving a young son as the heir apparent that precipitated events leading to the demise of the Kingdom.