Stranger-Kingship and the Stranger's Religion in an Early Modern Focus

One of the recurring issues in thinking about Sri Lankan history and early modernity in general is the question of how developing notions of cultural distinctiveness can co-exist with an acceptance of foreign dynasties. In Sri Lanka, this is germane to thinking about the use of South Indian royalty and also, of course, acquiescence and resistance to Portuguese imperialism. How ought we to conceptualize the kinds of 'identity' at work here? The notion of the king as intrinsically alien is actually a widespread feature of monarchies throughout the world. And furthermore, how can we reconcile the undoubted religious cosmopolitanism of Sri Lankans in this period with evidence to suggest that conversion to Christianity could undermine a ruler's legitimacy or that religious and political causes could be equated under the pressure of violence? Both issues manifest a more abstract theme of early modernity: the way in which cultural boundaries could become more defined at the same time that they were being increasingly transgressed by the 'connectedness' of the early modern world.