Prutugisikaraya Lyrics by Sunil Santha

The Portuguese man, an expert at seizing countries
a slayer of enemy kings, a hero out to shake the whole world

He came all the way to Colombo from the city of Lisbon
and along the road he came, merry amusement spread
merry amusement spread

The Portuguese man

It is to teach us that, that he wages war
taking up his cannons and his bayonets
his bayonets

Our guns are the very finest cannons
fire them, and if they land, they knock the world askew
if they land, they knock the world askew

The Portuguese man

Great at eating, and very great at drinking too
and greater still, mighty at making war
mighty at making war

The Portuguese man

This is a satirical song, and the joke is buried in the praise. On the surface every line flatters the Portuguese colonizer, calling him an “expert at seizing countries” and a “hero out to shake the whole world,” but the tone is mock-heroic. Arisen Ahubudu’s clever verse and Sunil Santha’s jaunty tune together salute the invader in a way that quietly exposes his greed and swagger rather than admiring it.

The history is real. The Portuguese reached Ceylon in 1505, sailing “all the way to Colombo from Lisbon,” and the song traces that arrival with a wink, the “merry amusement” they supposedly spread as they came being anything but merry for the island. Then it lets the colonizer boast in his own voice: he makes war only “to teach us,” he hauls out cannons and bayonets, his guns are “the very finest,” so mighty that a single hit could “knock the world askew.” The bragging is deliberately absurd.

The final verse delivers the punchline. This great hero is “great at eating, very great at drinking, and greater still at making war,” a portrait of appetite and aggression dressed up as glory. What the listener is left with is a smile with an edge to it: a colonial power puffed up on its own legend, gently mocked by a colonized people who saw exactly what lay under the fine cannons and the fancy talk.