Rajapakse Wickremasekera Mudiyanselage Monarawila Keppetipola, the warrior Dissawe of Uva, better known as Veera Monarawila Keppetipola Dissawe was beheaded on November 26, 1818, at the Bogambara Execution Grounds in Kandy, by the British who accused him of being a traitor against the British Crown.

His name, fame and skull reamins to date. The skull is in the memorial urn erected in his memory in the outer courtyard of the Kandy esplanade. A statue of him stands on the Nuwara Eliya-Badulla Road, backing the Uva hills where he fought for his motherland.

The Kandyan Convention, signed on March 2, 1815, brought the entire country under the British who were administering the maritime provinces of the island. They became the sole rulers of the country, having deported King Sri Wickrema Rajasinghe to Vellore in India.

Sometime back, the British Government appointed Keppetipola, a section of one of the most distinguished and influential Kandyan families, as Dissawe of the Uva Province. In the meantime, Duraisamy, a relative of the deposed king who was claiming his rights to the throne was mustering the support of the Sinhala people in the Uva Province for a rebellion. Reports reached the authorities that most of the Sinhala people too had joined him. He was the son of Kalu Nayakkar, a relation of the former king. He was a native of Sath Korale, a Buddhist monk for sometime and appeared in public as Wilbawe. These facts were later confirmed by the evidence of Udugama Unnanse, at the trial.

The immediate cause for the commencement of the Uva Rebellion was the shooting down of a British official in the Uva Province. The other was the appointment of a Malay, Muhandiram Hadji Marikkar as the Muhandiram of Wellassa. This provocation and noxious new appointment was regarded as an insult to the Uda Rata people and chieftains.

Keppetipola was sent from Kandy to crush the rebels and control the situation, by the government. However, Keppetipola decided to join the Sinhala patriots and commanded the British soldiers to return with their arms and ammunition. In doing so he declared that it was unbecoming of the Sinhala nation to use the enemy’s weapons against the enemy.

The rebellion flared up under Keppetipola and spread through Wellassa, Bintanna, Ulapane, Hewaheta, Kotmale and Dumbara and continued for a year.

Finally, it was revealed that the Sinhala force was short of fighters to face the British army. One by one, the Sinhala chieftains were captured. The Sinhala rebels fought more in spirit than in might. The British ordered their troops to destroy all property of the peasants. The soldiers entered villages and completely destroyed houses by setting them on fire.

The Sinhala peasants were subjected to horrible deaths by execution, hunger and disease. Many a Sinhala noble and Bhikkhu linked to the rebellion were beheaded to terrorize the population.

Keppetipola was arrested at Nuwara Kalaviya, Anuradhapura. Following his arrest and that of his lieutenant Madugalle, both were tried by Military Court and sentenced to death on November 26, 1818. Both were beheaded.