The King Seethawaka Rajasinghe – the Monarch who suffered from PTSD
Posted on February 8th, 2017
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge
The King Seethawaka Rajasinghe (Tikiri Bandara ) the 16th century monarch of Sri Lanka was a great warrior who came to the battlefield at the age of 16. He fought against the Portuguese invaders and witnessed many deaths and destructions. He was a fearless fighter who used effectual war tactics and overpowered the fully equipped and fully trained Portuguese war machine. The King Seethawaka Rajasinghe ruled 39 years from 1554 – 1593 AD. He was a military genius and a strategist. One Portuguese historian compared him with Hannibal.
Prince Tikiri Bandara (The King Seethawaka Rajasinghe)
In 1562, the Battle of Mulleriyawa took place and Tikiri Bandara fought against the 16th Century Super Power – Portuguese war machine. The Portuguese army was led by Captain Major Afonso Pereira de Lacerda and Captain Major Jorge de Meneses Baroche. The conflict took place outside Colombo on the southern bank of the Kelani River. Tikiri Bandara attacked the Portuguese army like a thunderbolt. The invincible 16th century super power was in the verge of a defeat in front of his sword. According to the Rajavaliya – 17th-century historical, chronicle of Sri Lanka, more than 1600 Portuguese and support troopers (Lascarins) perished on the Mulleriyawa battlefield.
At the height of his military success the King Seethawaka Rajasinghe gathered 100,000 soldiers and attacked the Portuguese Fort in Colombo. The Portuguese were desperate. Fear and famine fell upon them. Despite the attacks the Portuguese were able to get external naval support from Goa. The battle was a fiasco and the King became furious. He suspected most of his Generals and assassinated them one by one. King Seethawaka Rajasinghe poisoned his right wing man Wicramasinghe Maha Senevi then Weerasundara Bandara. These Generals helped him in numerous battles.
Following the long years of combat Tikiri Bandara alias King Seethawaka Rajasinghe was exhausted and obviously suffered from battle fatigue. In the later years, his mental health was declining. The King Seethawaka Rajasinghe became extremely suspicious showed outburst of anger, irritability, deep mistrust, alienation, emotional numbing and various other PTSD related symptoms. There were clear personality changes in him. With these changes, the great warrior launched a chain of terror against his own people creating a deep void in the hearts and minds.
He acted as a tyrant and used brutal methods to punish people. He never felt any remorse or compassion. The King Seethawaka Rajasinghe even killed his own father King Mayadunne who ruled the Kingdom of Sitawaka from 1501 to 1581. This despicable act could be interpreted as a reaction following emotional anesthesia, which is evident in PTSD. He banished his religion, embraced Hinduism, and murdered thousands of his subjects who refused to follow Hinduism.
The King Seethawaka Rajasinghe destroyed Buddhist temples and killed Buddhist monks by drowning. His emotions were unstable. Very often, he acted with sudden rage. Gradually he made himself alienated. He had no close associates and the King became an isolated and a broken man. After many battles, he was physically and mentally worn out. Many aristocrats had left him because they could not stand his false accusations and outrageous behavior. The Great warrior had become another victim of combat stress.
His final battle took place in Kandy. He had to face Konappu Bandara ails the King Wimaladharmasurya the son of Weerasundara Bandara. One time Weerasundara Bandara was King Seethawaka Rajasinghe s faithful supporter. Weerasundara Bandara helped King Seethawaka Rajasinghe to fight Portuguese. However, King Seethawaka Rajasinghe unreasonably suspected Weerasundara Bandara and killed him. The battle was atrocious. The King Wimaladharmasurya proclaimed that he would take the revenge for killing his father.
King Seethawaka Rajasinghe lost the battle. While retreating he fell down from the horse and sustained an injury. A bamboo prick pierced his leg and after a few days he died may be due to tetanus or septicemia. Thus, a legend came to an end. He was called the Lion of Seethawaka who brought fear to the Portuguese invaders. He was a liberator but later became an enigma. May be PTSD ruined his inspirations and the goals in life. If these personality changes did not occur, he would have been one of the great heroes in the Sri Lankan history.
The King Seethawaka Rajasinghe’s Palace
The King Seethawaka Rajasinghe’s Tomb
February 10th, 2017 at 3:41 pm
We thank Dr Ruwan Jayatunge for his untiring efforts to help in the medical needs of Sri Lanka Armed Forces and others. He brings out past History to help present day people in need.
I found this article in the Huffington Post. Here Homeopathy Medicines have been used to help a person with PTSD.
There are a number of articles on the internet on the use of H’pathy for PTSD.
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A Veteran With PTSD Gets Help From Homeopathy
Updated Sep 18, 2012
by Larry Malerba, D.O.
Physician, educator, author, and pioneer of new paradigm medical thinking.
Any chronic mental, emotional, or physical problem that results from severe trauma can be likened to a stubborn energetic vortex that refuses to release the suffering individual from its pull. Traumatic events, like the ones that trigger most cases of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), can easily throw the bioenergetic life force into disarray. Homeopathic treatment is designed to restore balance by prescribing an energy of similar quality and intensity to match the energetic imprint of the illness of the suffering individual.
When homeopathy is applied to PTSD, it can serve to relinquish the condition’s energetic hold on its victim. Since it is the energetic “shock” of a trauma that sets up the subsequent pattern of dysfunction in PTSD, a chemical solution represented by conventional pharmaceutical therapy will commonly yield unsatisfactory results. Drug therapy only serves as a temporary straightjacket to “control” the symptoms precisely because it does not address the underlying energetic nature of the condition. Likewise, while talk therapy may help patients to psychologically manage the effects of PTSD, it is usually not capable of releasing the person from its recurring tendency. An energetically-induced illness like PTSD requires an energy-based therapy in order to achieve true therapeutic success.
Homeopathic medicine has been around for over 200 years and is practiced the world over by a variety of health care professionals. Homeopathy operates by the principle of similars, not unlike that old classic cartoon plot where the main character is hit on the head and loses his or her memory, only to have it return when accidentally hit on the head again. In my home, we routinely use the homeopathic medicine Apis mellifica, made from the honeybee, whenever a wasp or bee stings someone. Likewise, any effective psychotherapeutic process utilizes the same principle of similarity, which hinges upon the client’s willingness and capacity to go back and face the source of his or her suffering. Homeopathic practitioners take the same fundamental approach when treating any physical, mental, or emotional health problem.
The nice thing about homeopathy is that it takes as its basic assumption that body, mind, and emotions cannot be separated and must be treated as a whole. For example, homeopathic Aconite is derived from the poisonous monkshood plant, which when accidentally ingested can induce heart palpitations and a very sudden and intense state of anxiety. As such, it has been successfully employed in its diluted homeopathic form for almost two centuries to treat states of panic and fright that are accompanied by palpitations. Aconite can bridge the gap between mind and body, providing relief for both anxiety and palpitations. I have successfully prescribed Aconite many times in my own practice to treat the chronic consequences resulting from frightening experiences.
One given case of PTSD does not by any means reflect all other cases of PTSD. Therefore, an understanding of the unique nature of each individual case is of paramount importance in successful homeopathic prescribing. Good homeopathic care requires detailed history- and case-taking such that a clear picture of the symptom pattern and core issues of each individual client may be ascertained. All homeopathic medicines used in the United States have been FDA-approved and regulated for many years. I have used homeopathic medicines with good success over the years to treat many cases of PTSD and a variety of ailments resulting from traumatic brain injuries (TBI). The following is the case of Jack, who had survived a war but continued to carry within him deep scars that had been inflicted upon his psyche and soul.
By the time Jack contacted me for help, he had spent 14 years in the VA system receiving treatment for his PTSD, including six years of inpatient psychiatric care. As a combat veteran of Vietnam, he had witnessed and participated in tremendous violence, and had sustained mortar wounds to a shoulder and a knee. Having watched 13 men from his therapy group die over the past couple years, he presented to me complaining about the drug treatment prescribed to him and was determined to find another way. His regimen at that time included Trazadone for depression, Xanax and Restoril for sleep and anxiety, and Oxycodone and a Fentanyl patch for pain.
As he sat in my office, looking lethargic and over-sedated, he struggled to explain that after returning from the war he “wasn’t the same person,” and had become “a wild man” with “no values and no rules.” He had tried to run people over with his car, had stabbed a man during a “flashback,” and had held a knife to his wife’s head during another. At the time he consulted me he was still prone to suicidal thoughts, frequent flashbacks of rage, alcohol abuse, violent knee pains, and relentless nightmares from which he would wake “shaking and scared to death.” His daughter was in the custody of his mother and he was currently living in a hotel where he sat up many sleepless nights rocking in pain holding his knees. Jack believed that most of his trouble had come directly from the trauma of war and that some of it could be attributed to a head injury he had sustained about ten years prior.
After much deliberation, homeopathic treatment was begun with instructions for him to check in by phone or visits to my office on a weekly basis. As he began to show signs of improvement, he very slowly reduced some of the heavy doses of medications that he’d been on. His first observation was that he knew he was feeling better because he felt less suicidal and had begun to help his daughter with her homework. After five weeks the nightmares and knee pains hadn’t changed much but he was no longer suicidal, was helping his mother with some chores, and had decreased the dosage of his Fentanyl patch. At the two-month mark he had completely weaned himself from Fentanyl and the nightmares had subsided dramatically. He had less knee pain, stated that his “paranoia” was “pretty much gone” and, amazingly, he had begun to put in a few hours of work at his mother’s antique store. All the while, he continued his support services at the VA, which included daily AA meetings.
After three months, Jack was down to three of the original five drugs, was no longer having flashbacks, and stated, “My mind is starting to come back to me.” He declared himself “definitely motivated” and ready to enter a program at the VA in order to detox from his pharmaceutical dependency. After successfully completing the program, he began to sleep in four-to-eight-hour chunks at night. Over the ensuing months he continued to have small bouts of various symptoms, but they would always settle down relatively quickly, and his overall status steadily improved. He even began to cut down on his cigarette smoking. Seven months after beginning homeopathic treatment he enrolled in night classes to learn about computers. He was also beginning to identify long-buried emotions. “I’m trying to feel guilt. Before I didn’t know what reality was like. I was always on drugs.” He expressed having difficulty with the third AA step because it was hard to accept God given all the horrible things that he had experienced.
One full year from when I had first met Jack he moved into a new two-bedroom apartment where his daughter stayed with him on weekends. The changes were remarkable. He was no longer suicidal, was not having flashbacks, had minimal knee pain, had been off all medications for months, attended regular AA meetings, and was able to get an acceptable amount of sleep. Noting that he had begun proceedings to regain legal custody of his daughter he remarked, “I leave that up to my higher power.” I felt deeply privileged to be witness to this man’s courageous journey to reclaim his soul and gather together the shattered fragments of his life.
While several different homeopathic medicines had been prescribed for Jack at different points in his treatment, Belladonna had been particularly helpful in his case. It was indicated, among other reasons, because it matched the attacks of rage and the intense throbbing, pulsating pains he felt in his knees. It is important to emphasize that each case is unique, and chronic problems like PTSD are best handled by a qualified homeopathic practitioner.
When combined with proper medical management, emotional support, and spiritual counseling, a well-chosen homeopathic medicine that resonates with the energetic imprint of an individual’s symptom pattern can relieve a great deal of the suffering associated with PTSD.
Recommended Resources:
– Larry Malerba, DO. The Bioenergetic Basis of Illness (part I) (part II). http://www.docmalerba.com
– Edward Tick. War and the Soul: Healing Our Nation’s Veterans from Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder. Quest Books, 2005
– Website: Healing Combat Trauma
– Nan Levinson. Mad, Bad, Sad: What’s Really Happened to America’s Soldiers
For more by Larry Malerba, D.O., click here.
For more on natural health, click here.
Larry Malerba, DO, DHt is a physician, educator, and author whose mission is to build bridges between conventional medicine, holistic healing, and spirituality. For more than 25 years he has been a trailblazer of new paradigm medical thinking. He is the author of Green Medicine: Challenging the Assumptions of Conventional Health Care. He writes for Huffington Post, Natural News, and the American Holistic Medical Association.
February 13th, 2017 at 5:54 am
Please allow your readers to read about the glorious recent history of our lost community.
http://groundviews.org/2011/04/12/a-lost-white-tribe-the-eurasians-in-sri-lanka/
Thank you
LW