 They gained access to the seaports of Trincomalee and Batticaloa in the east, but the Jaffna peninsula proved more convenient as an entry port for military aid arriving from South India.Furthermore, it was feared by the Portuguese that (due to its strategic location) the Jaffna kingdom might become a beachhead for Dutch landings.It was king Cankili I who resisted contacts with the Portuguese, and even massacred six to seven hundred Parava Catholics in the island of Mannar.