The Coast Veddas (, ), by self-designation, form a social group within the minority
Sri Lankan Tamil
Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, live in significant numbers in the Eastern Pr ...
ethnic group of the
Eastern province of
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
. They are primarily found in small coastal villages from the eastern township of
Trincomalee
Trincomalee (; ta, திருகோணமலை, translit=Tirukōṇamalai; si, ත්රිකුණාමළය, translit= Trikuṇāmaḷaya), also known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee Dis ...
to
Batticalao
Batticaloa ( ta, மட்டக்களப்பு, ''Maṭṭakkaḷappu''; si, මඩකලපුව, ''Maḍakalapuwa'') is a major city in the Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, and its former capital. It is the administrative capital of the B ...
. Nevertheless, they also inhabit a few villages south of Batticalao as well. They make a living by
fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...
,
slash and burn
Slash-and-burn agriculture is a farming method that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area. The downed vegeta ...
agriculture,
paddy cultivation
A paddy field is a flooded field of arable land used for growing semiaquatic crops, most notably rice and taro. It originates from the Neolithic rice-farming cultures of the Yangtze River basin in southern China, associated with pre-Aust ...
of rice,
basket weaving
Basket weaving (also basketry or basket making) is the process of weaving or sewing pliable materials into three-dimensional artifacts, such as baskets, mats, mesh bags or even furniture. Craftspeople and artists specialized in making baskets ...
for market and occasional wage labor. Anthropologists consider them to be partly descended from the
indigenous
Indigenous may refer to:
*Indigenous peoples
*Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention
*Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band
*Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...
Vedda
The Vedda ( si, වැද්දා , ta, வேடர் (''Vēḍar'')), or Wanniyalaeto, are a minority indigenous group of people in Sri Lanka who, among other sub-communities such as Coast Veddas, Anuradhapura Veddas and Bintenne Veddas, ...
people, as well as local Tamils. Residents of the Eastern province consider their Vedar (Tamil for "hunter") neighbors to have been part of the local social structure from earliest times, whereas some Vedar elders believe that their ancestors may have migrated from the interior at some time in the past.
They speak a
dialect
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...
of
Sri Lankan Tamil
Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, live in significant numbers in the Eastern Pr ...
that is used in the region. During religious festivals, people who enter a
trance
Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...
or
spirit possession
Spirit possession is an unusual or altered state of consciousness and associated behaviors purportedly caused by the control of a human body by spirits, ghosts, demons, or gods. The concept of spirit possession exists in many cultures and rel ...
sometimes use a mixed language that contains words from the
Vedda language
Vedda is an endangered language that is used by the indigenous Vedda people of Sri Lanka. Additionally, communities such as Coast Veddas and Anuradhapura Veddas who do not strictly identify as Veddas also use words from the Vedda language in part ...
.
[ Most Vedar are ]Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
Saivites
Shaivism (; sa, शैवसम्प्रदायः, Śaivasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the Supreme Being. One of the largest Hindu denominations, it incorporates many sub-traditions rangin ...
and worship a plethora of folk deities, as well as the main Hindu deities such as Murugan
Kartikeya ( sa, कार्त्तिकेय, Kārttikeya), also known as Skanda, Subrahmanya, Shanmukha (), and Murugan ( ta, முருகன்), is the Hindu god of war. He is the son of Parvati and Shiva, the brother of Ganesha ...
, Pillaiyar
Ganesha ( sa, गणेश, ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in Ganapatya sect. His image is found throughout India. Hindu de ...
and Amman
Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite language, Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 a ...
. They also maintain the ancestor worship
The veneration of the dead, including one's ancestors, is based on love and respect for the deceased. In some cultures, it is related to beliefs that the dead have a continued existence, and may possess the ability to influence the fortune of t ...
tradition of the interior Veddas. Clan divisions, if they still exist, do not play an important role in choosing of marriage partners or place of domicile. Most identify themselves as a caste
Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...
among the Tamils as opposed to a separate ethnic group.[Jon Dart (Samarasinghe, S. W. R. de A 'edit'', p. 70] Their economic conditions have been impacted by the Sri Lankan civil war.
Identity
Western observers such as James Emerson Tennent
Sir James Emerson Tennent, 1st Baronet, FRS (born James Emerson; 7 April 1804 – 6 March 1869) was a British politician and traveller born in Ireland. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society on 5 June 1862.
Life
The third son of William ...
(1858) and Charles Gabriel Seligman
Charles Gabriel Seligman FRS FRAI (24 December 1873 – 19 September 1940) was a British physician and ethnologist. His main ethnographic work described the culture of the Vedda people of Sri Lanka and the Shilluk people of the Sudan. He was ...
(1911) have termed the social group Coast Veddahs, Coast Verdas or East Coast Veddas.[Tennent, p.441][Tennent, p.448] Anthropologists have considered them to be at least partly descended from the Veddas of the interior of the island who had migrated at some unknown period in the past to the east coast, intermarrying with the local Tamils.[Seligman, pp. 330–331] Interior Veddas clans themselves have a number of divisions, each claiming either Sinhalese, Tamil, mixed, or pure Vedda lineages. Vedda identity also depends on whether these clans are hunter-gatherers
A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...
or settled agriculturalists. Settled Veddas have tended over a period of time to assume Sinhalese or Tamil identity based on the area of residence. If considered a subdivision of Veddas, then they are by far the largest sub-group amongst the Vedda people.[Jon Dart (Samarasinghe, S. W. R. de A 'edit'', p.68] Residents of Eastern Province consider those who maintain a primitive life style, or are partly dependent on hunting and gathering, as Vedar without any connotations of ethnic origins.
Vedar are not designated as an indigenous community of Sri Lanka. They are placed within the Sri Lankan caste system. Vedar sometimes refer to themselves as "Veda Vellalar", thus claiming a high caste ranking (the Vellalar
Vellalar is a generic Tamil term used primarily to refer to various castes who traditionally pursued agriculture as a profession in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and northeastern parts of Sri Lanka. The Vellalar are members of several ...
are given the highest ritual position within the caste structure of Sri Lankan Tamils in many regions). They also claim to marry into the higher castes of the neighboring region, such as Karaiyar
Karaiyar is a Sri Lankan Tamil caste found mainly on the northern and eastern coastal areas of Sri Lanka, and globally among the Tamil diaspora.
They are traditionally a seafaring community that is engaged in fishing, shipment and seaborne t ...
. But some higher ranked castes did not consider Vedar quite their equals, although still placing them above the lower castes. Members of the Karaiyar caste sometimes downplayed their connections to Vedar as there was stigma attached to such unions. Field studies have indicated that mixed marriages across all caste groups of the eastern littoral was possible with Vedar. Vedar themselves claimed that they would not marry into lower Tamil castes such as Ambattar (barbers), Vannar (washerman) and Pallar
The Pallar, who prefer to be called Mallar, are an agricultural community from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The Pallars traditionally inhabited the fertile wetland area referred to as ''Marutham'' in the literary devices of the Sangam landsc ...
(agricultural workers), but field studies indicated that such unions did sometimes take place.[
Once a non-Vedar married into a Vedar family, he or she was assimilated as part of the Vedar village. Almost all Vedar families had an ancestor who was Tamil or a family member who was married to a Tamil from a neighboring village.][Jon Dart (Samarasinghe, S. W. R. de A 'edit'', p.69]
Some Vedar have gradually lost most aspects of their aboriginal identity and culture and no longer identify themselves as Vedar. During the 1980s and 1990s, most Vedar families were displaced from their native villages due to the effects of the Sri Lankan civil war and were placed in refugee camps along with other Tamil refugees.
History
Ancestors of Vedar migrated to Sri Lanka via the Indian sub continent during the pre-historic period. A number of Mesolithic
The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymous ...
sites have been excavated containing human remains dated to 35,000 BCE. Anthropologists consider these skeletal remains to belong to a group ancestral to some of the surviving Vedar groups. Sri Lanka has also yielded Megalithic
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea.
The ...
burial sites, one of which was excavated close to a present Vedar settlement, Kathiraveli
Kathiraveli or கதிரவெளி (Paddy Field in Tamil) is a town in Batticaloa District, Sri Lanka. It is located about 75 km Northwest of Batticaloa.
See also
*Vakarai Bombing
The Vaharai bombing is a disputed event in the Sri ...
. The precise time in which some of the Vedar lineage founders migrated to the east coast of Sri Lanka is unknown. The earliest written reference to Vedar is a Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
chronicle, ''Nadukadu paraveni kalvettu'', which is maintained amongst the custodians of a prominent Hindu temple in the town of Tirukovil
Thirukkovil or Tirukovil is a town in the Ampara District of Sri Lanka, situated along the eastern coast of the island. It is north of Pottuvil and south of Kalmunai. In Tamil the name translates to God's-temple. It was affected by 2004 India ...
in the Ampara District
Ampara District ( ta, அம்பாறை மாவட்டம், translit=Ampāṟai Māvaṭṭam; si, අම්පාර දිස්ත්රික්කය, translit=Ampāra Distrikkaya) is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the s ...
. It is a Tamil 14th to 16th-century original text. The chronicle documents the presence of a people who practiced hunting and gathering for survival, exercising jurisdiction over vast jungle tracts close to the Akkaraipattu
Akkaraipattu (Tamil language, Tamil: ''அக்கரைப்பற்று'', Sinhala language, Sinhala: ''අක්කරපත්තුව'') is a large town in the Ampara District, Eastern Province, Sri Lanka. The town is strategically lo ...
township. It names a number of Vedar chiefs, such as Kadariyan and Puliyan. These Vedars were not just hunter-gatherers, but were also accepted as the rightful owners of the forest lands.[Seligman, pp. 11−12]
Emerson (1858) documented the presence of Vedar north of Eravur
Eravur is a town in the Batticaloa District of Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, it is located about north-west of Batticaloa. It is governed by the Eravur Urban Council
Eravur Urban Council (EUC) is the local authority for the town of Eravur in east ...
who subsisted by fishing or helping the traditional fisherfolk, as well by cutting wood for Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
traders. He speculated that there were then at least 400 to 500 individuals in the group. He also recorded that it was the British colonial
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
officers, as well as Weslyan missionaries who provided land for them to start cultivating yams and other vegetables.[
Neville (1890) and Seligman (1911) also documented the presence of a subdivision of Vedar called ''Kovil Vanam'' ("Temple precincts" in Tamil) within the southern edges of the ]Batticalo District
Batticaloa District ( ta, மட்டக்களப்பு மாவட்டம் ''Maṭṭakkaḷappu Māvaṭṭam''; si, මඩකලපුව දිස්ත්රික්කය ''maḍakalapūva distrikkaya'') is one of the 25 dist ...
; their name suggests they had originally lived in the jungles close to the Kataragama
Kataragama ( si, කතරගම, translit=Kataragama , ta, கதிர்காமம், translit=Katirkrāmam) is a pilgrimage town sacred to Hindu, Buddhist and indigenous Vedda people of Sri Lanka. People from South India also go there to ...
temple in the Hambantota District
Hambantota District ( si, හම්බන්තොට දිස්ත්රික්කය ''hambantoṭa distrikkaya''; ta, அம்பாந்தோட்டை மாவட்டம் ''Ampāntōṭṭai māvaṭṭam'') is a district i ...
in the Southern Province. By the early 1900s these Vedar had mingled with the local Tamils and Sinhalese and were not encountered as a separate group any more. Local legends attribute the origins of some Hindu temples in the eastern province to the presence of Vedar. Important Hindu temples in villages such as Kokkadichcholai
Kokkadichcholai ( ta, கொக்கட்டிச்சோலை) is a village in Batticaloa District within the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka.
Etymology
According to legend, the name of the village comes from the Kokkatti tree.
Geography ...
and Mandur
Mandur is a village in Guntur district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located in Tsundur mandal of Tenali revenue division
Tenali is a city in Guntur district of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of And ...
have such Vedar creation legends. But Vedar are no longer associated with either the ownership or maintenance of these regionally important temples.
Culture
Clans and family organization
;Clans of the interior Veddas
Interior Veddas have clans
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship
and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...
called ''Waruge'' or ''Variga'' that were named after trees, animals or places of origin. Seligman speculated that these clans were territorial, thus hunting territory was divided amongst the clan, not to be violated by members of other clans. These clans were:
# Morana (after Mora tree)
# Unapana (Water)
# Namudana (Namuda tree)
# Ura (Wild boar)
# Ambilo (Ant)
# Tala (Plains)
# Rugam (Village name)
# Kovil Vannam (Temple precincts)[Meegaskumbura(Samarasinghe, S. W. R. de A 'edit'', p.109]
Among these, the Morana and Unapana clans claimed superior status to Namudana, Ambilo and Ura clans. Seligman reported that Morana and Unapana clans considered the other three as their servile groups, a classification strongly denied by the others. This also led to so-called servile groups denying such clan association when questioned and claiming Morana or Unapana clan origins.
;Retention of Clan system amongst Vedar
When Seligman inquired about the Waruge divisions of the Vedar, most of them did not remember their clan origins. Of those who remembered, most self-identified as Ura Waruge. Others mentioned clans such as Ogatam, Kavatam, Umatam, Aembalaneduwe and Aembale. They also had memories of other clans such as Morana and Unapana.[Seligman, p. 333] By the 1980s the Vedar had no knowledge of any word ''Waruge'', although they vaguely used the Tamil term ''Vamisam'' (family origin) to indicate some division amongst them. Some had come up with a two-fold division of the Vedars based on the Kuti or matrilineal descent system popular in the East coast. These Kutis were supposed to have descended from former local chiefs called ''Vanniyar
The Vanniyar, also spelled Vanniya, formerly known as the Palli, are a Dravidian community or ''jāti'' found in the northern part of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. From the 19th century, peasant castes typically classified under Shudra cat ...
'', who had ruled feudal divisions called ''Vannimai
The Vanni chieftaincies or Vanni principalities was a region between Anuradhapura and Jaffna, but also extending to along the eastern coast to Panama and Yala, during the Transitional and Kandyan periods of Sri Lanka. The heavily forested land ...
''. But these clan divisions and related rules of endogamy
Endogamy is the practice of marrying within a specific social group, religious denomination, caste, or ethnic group, rejecting those from others as unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relationships.
Endogamy is common in many cultu ...
were not totally followed by all Vedar, and there no practical prohibitions from marrying from each Kuti.[Jon Dart (Samarasinghe, S. W. R. de A 'edit'', pp. 70-71]
As with local Tamils, the preferred marriage pattern is based on cross cousin
A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a sa ...
preference. Parallel cousins are considered brothers and sisters and are ineligible as partners. As most marriages take place between first and second cousins, clan endogamy even it is present is of no value. Within a village, most of the residents are related and this carries on over to villages that are three to five miles away as well. The longer the distance the more distantly are the villagers related to each other.[ Related lineages also maintain places of worship that are the private property of the family group.
]
Religion
Vedar are nominally Hindus; they were known to wear the marks of Saivite
Shaivism (; sa, शैवसम्प्रदायः, Śaivasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the Supreme Being. One of the largest Hindu denominations, it incorporates many sub-traditions rangin ...
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
such as Vibuthi ("sacred ash") on their forehead even in the 19th century.[ According to local legends, Vedars are considered to be the builders of most of the regional Hindu temples associated with Hindu high god ]Murugan
Kartikeya ( sa, कार्त्तिकेय, Kārttikeya), also known as Skanda, Subrahmanya, Shanmukha (), and Murugan ( ta, முருகன்), is the Hindu god of war. He is the son of Parvati and Shiva, the brother of Ganesha ...
. Although Vedars frequent regionally important Hindu temples and shrines associated with high Hindu deities such as Murugan, Pillaiyar
Ganesha ( sa, गणेश, ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in Ganapatya sect. His image is found throughout India. Hindu de ...
and Siva, they propitiate local deities of folk Hinduism
In religious studies and folkloristics, folk religion, popular religion, traditional religion or vernacular religion comprises various forms and expressions of religion that are distinct from the official doctrines and practices of organized rel ...
, who are sometimes unique to Veddars. Most of the folk deities are also commonly propitiated by other local Tamils such as Vairavar, Virapathirar, Kali
Kali (; sa, काली, ), also referred to as Mahakali, Bhadrakali, and Kalika ( sa, कालिका), is a Hinduism, Hindu goddess who is considered to be the goddess of ultimate power, time, destruction and change in Shaktism. In t ...
and Narasingan. Seligman (1911) encountered two unique deities, Kapalpei (“Ship spirit”) and Kumara Deivam (“Young god”)[Subramaniam, p.50] who are peculiar to Vedar. The cult of Kappalpei is based on legends of foreigners coming over by ships and landing along the coast where the Vedar usually lived. They are propitiated to ward off evils and hard times. Kumara Deivam was also noted amongst the primitive Sinhalese village of Gonagolla in the Ampara District
Ampara District ( ta, அம்பாறை மாவட்டம், translit=Ampāṟai Māvaṭṭam; si, අම්පාර දිස්ත්රික්කය, translit=Ampāra Distrikkaya) is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the s ...
known as Kumara Devio.[Seligman, pp. 336 - 337] Jon Dart in the 1980s found that these deities were no longer worshipped, but were replaced by the Periyasami cult Periyasamy is a common India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by popu ...
.[Jon Dart (Samarasinghe, S. W. R. de A 'edit'', p.75]
The worship pattern is a combination of Devil-dancing called ''Sandangu'' ("ceremony" in Tamil) and orthodox Hindu Agamic rituals. The devil-dancing is unique to Vedar, but the aspect of spirit possession
Spirit possession is an unusual or altered state of consciousness and associated behaviors purportedly caused by the control of a human body by spirits, ghosts, demons, or gods. The concept of spirit possession exists in many cultures and rel ...
as a part of devil dancing is not unique to Vedar. Locals Tamils also experience spirit procession and trance states during religious festivals. During devil-dancing ceremonies, related family groups congregate in family-owned worship centers and build platforms known as ''Pandals''. These Pandals may have a weapon, such a lance known as a ''Vel'', installed in their middle, a construction similar to the '' Kirikoroha'' function of the interior Veddas as well. Male family members dance throughout the night and as part of the ceremony some become possessed by spirits, sometimes those of their recently diseased family members. This pattern is similar in nature to the ancestor-worshipping patterns of the interior Veddas.[Seligman, p. 335] Most of the Sadangu locations are temporary ones without related permanent structures over them, but some have been turned into temples. In the village of Palchennai, one of these temporary structures has become a temple now identified with Hindu high god Vishnu
Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism.
Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" within t ...
. Vedars also participate in Tamil folk dramas called '' Kuttus'' that depict scenes from Hindu epics such as Mahabharatha
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruks ...
and Ramayana
The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...
.[Jon Dart (Samarasinghe, S. W. R. de A 'edit'', pp. 73-76]
Language
Vedar use the Sri Lankan Tamil dialect
The Sri Lankan Tamil dialects or Ceylon Tamil or commonly in Tamil language Eelam Tamil () are a group of Tamil dialects used in Sri Lanka by its native Tamil people and Eastern Moors, and Coast Veddas that is distinct from the dialects of Tamil s ...
peculiar to the region, known as Batticaloa Tamil dialect, in their day to day conversations. Vedar children also study in that language in schools. During ''Sadangu'' ceremonies, those who are possessed by spirits speak in a mixed language that they call ''Vedar Sinkalam''(Vedar Sinhala") or ''Vedar Bhasai''[ which is the ]Vedda language
Vedda is an endangered language that is used by the indigenous Vedda people of Sri Lanka. Additionally, communities such as Coast Veddas and Anuradhapura Veddas who do not strictly identify as Veddas also use words from the Vedda language in part ...
of the interior Vedas.[ This ''Vedar Sinkalam'' is mixed with many Tamil words, as people no longer know the language.][Jon Dart (Samarasinghe, S. W. R. de A 'edit'', p.73] There is evidence at some point in the past that the people were bilingual
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...
in Vedda language and Tamil, but that is no longer the case.[
]
Geographic distribution
Native chronicles have documented the presence of Vedar or Vedar-like people throughout the island from the beginning of the historic period. Vedar presence in the present Eastern province has been noted during the Kandyan Kingdom
The Kingdom of Kandy was a monarchy on the island of Sri Lanka, located in the central and eastern portion of the island. It was founded in the late 15th century and endured until the early 19th century.
Initially a client kingdom of the Kin ...
period (1469 to 1815). Tennent noted that Vedars were found chiefly from Eravur
Eravur is a town in the Batticaloa District of Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, it is located about north-west of Batticaloa. It is governed by the Eravur Urban Council
Eravur Urban Council (EUC) is the local authority for the town of Eravur in east ...
to Venloos Bay.[ The 1946 Sri Lankan census returned 44 Vedar villages. The largest concentration of villages was close to the ]Vaharai
Vakarai or Vaharai ( si, වාකරේ, ta, வாகரை), The Sinhala name වාකර is pronounced 'vākara'.It is a town in the Batticaloa District of Sri Lanka, located about 65 km Northwest of Batticaloa. The Anglicization vāk ...
peninsula; predominantly Vedar villages there included Ammenthnaveli, Kandaladi, Komatalamadu, Palchennai, Puliyankandadi, Oddumadu, Thaddumunai, Uriyankadu, and Vammivattavan. Vedar are also found further south, in Panichankerni, Mankerni and Kayankerni. There are also Vedars close to Kalkudah
Kalkudah or Kalkuda (Pronounced Kal-Kuda, Tamil translation rock-bay) is a coastal resort town located about 35 kilometers northwest of Batticaloa, Batticaloa District, Sri Lanka. It used to be a popular tourist destination, however due to 200 ...
, in a village called Pallanchenai, and in the Trincomalee District
Trincomalee District ( ta, திருக்கோணமலை மாவட்டம் ''Tirukōṇamalai Māvaṭṭam;'' si, ත්රිකුණාමළය දිස්ත්රික්කය ''Trikuṇāmalaya distrikkaya'') is one ...
, between the towns of Muttur and Foul Point.[Jon Dart (Samarasinghe, S. W. R. de A 'edit'', pp. 82-83]
Economic status
Native chronicles such as ''Nadu Kadu Paraveni Kalvettu'' mention the socio-economic status of the Vedar as that of primitive hunter gatherers. The chronicles also mention that the chiefs amongst them received gifts such as clothes from settlers and state that the Vedar in turn provided meat and honey to the settler population, indicating a system of barter
In trade, barter (derived from ''baretor'') is a system of exchange in which participants in a transaction directly exchange goods or services for other goods or services without using a medium of exchange, such as money. Economists distingu ...
trade between the groups. Vedar also seem to have provided manual labor to clear forest lands, in exchange for an annual portion of the food crops harvested. When Tennent visited the east coast in 1858, the Vedar were living in houses that were made of mud and thatch. They were moved seasonally from place to place dependent on the availability of fish and other game. They were surviving primarily as fishermen, as well as wage laborers working for timber merchants, cutting and transporting timber from the forests.[ By the time Seligman visited them in 1911, he considered the Vedar subdivision to be economically better off than the rest of the Indigenous population of the interior. He attributed this to the assimilation of Tamil economic and cultural values by the Vedar clans, as well as to absorption of non-Vedar Tamils into Vedar families by intermarriage.][Seligman, p. 332] Studies done in the 1980s by the anthropologist Jon Dart, indicated that Vedar in general were poorer than the rest of the Tamil and Muslim communities of the Eastern Province, which Dart attributed to their physical isolation in remote villages, as well as prevailing cultural norms that prevented them from fully integrating within the society. His studies did indicate that some Vedar had successfully integrated in Eastern society, with worldly possessions that did not much differ from those of their non-Vedar neighbors.[ The marked impact of the Sri Lankan civil war was also noted, due to the proximity of the Vedar's native villages to the theaters of operations of both rebel ]LTTE
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...
and government forces.(See Vaharai bombing
The Vaharai bombing is a disputed event in the Sri Lankan civil war. It occurred on November 7, 2006 when, according to survivors of the incident interviewed by Reuters, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam fired artillery at Sri Lankan military ...
)
See also
*Anuradhapura Veddas Anuradhapura Veddas (, ) are people of North Central Province of Sri Lanka who are descendants of indigenous Vedda people of Sri Lanka who have adopted the culture, religion and language of the dominant Sinhalese residents of the province. By far ...
*History of Eastern Tamils History of Eastern Tamils of Sri Lanka is informed by local legends, native literature and other colonial documents. Sri Lankan Tamils are subdivided based on their cultural, dialects & other practices as into Northern, Eastern and Western groups ...
*Balangoda Man
Balangoda Man refers to hominins from Sri Lanka's late Quaternary period. The term was initially coined to refer to anatomically modern ''Homo sapiens'' from sites near Balangoda that were responsible for the island's Mesolithic 'Balangoda Cult ...
Notes
References
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Further reading
Ethnic identity and marginality among the coast Veddas of Sri Lanka
External links
* ttp://kataragama.org/news/wedding.htm Veddas celebrate Kataragama wedding festivalbr>Revisiting the cultural heritage of Sri Lanka:The Veddas (Vanniyaletto)
{{Sri Lankan Tamil people
Sri Lankan Tamil castes
Sri Lankan Tamil society
Vedda