Editing Vedda

{{Short description|Indigenous people in Sri Lanka}}
{{About||the language|Vedda language|articles with similar titles|Veda (disambiguation)}}
{{Distinguish|Vedic people|Venda people}}
{{cleanup reorganize|date=March 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group = Vedda
| image = [[File:Vedda man and child, Sri Lanka.jpg|270px]]
| image_caption = Vedda man and child.
| population = Between '''2,500 - 6,600'''<ref name="encyclopedia.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/places/asia/sri-lankan-political-geography/vedda|title=Vedda &#124; Encyclopedia.com|website=www.encyclopedia.com|accessdate=26 May 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=ved|title = Veddah}}</ref><br /> (less than 0.20% of the population) (2001)<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Portuguese Cultural Imprint on Sri Lanka |last=Jayasuriya |first=S. de Silva |publisher=Lusotopie 2000  |year=2000 |pages=255}}</ref>
| regions = Sri Lanka {{nbsp|6}} 2,500 (2002)
| region1 = [[Badulla District]]
| pop1 = 
| ref1 = 
| region2 = [[Polonnaruwa District]]
| languages = [[Vedda language|Vedda]], [[Sinhala language|Sinhala]], [[Sri Lankan Tamil dialects|Sri Lankan Tamil]]
| religions = Traditional animistic beliefs with [[Buddhism]], [[Hinduism]]<ref name="encyclopedia.com"/>
| related = [[Sinhalese people|Sinhalese]], [[Tamil people|Tamils]]
| footnotes = 
| native_name = 
| native_name_lang = 
}}

The '''Vedda''' ({{langx|si|වැද්දා}} {{IPA|si|ˈvædːaː|}}; {{langx|ta|வேடர்}} (''Vēḍar'')), or '''Wanniyalaeto''',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.shh.mpg.de/906627/forest-reliance-sri-lanka|title=Evidence for persistent forest reliance by Indigenous peoples in historical Sri Lanka|website=www.shh.mpg.de|language=en|access-date=2020-02-08}}</ref> are a minority [[Indigenous peoples|indigenous]] group of people in [[Sri Lanka]] who, among other sub-communities such as [[Coast Veddas]], [[Anuradhapura Veddas]] and Bintenne Veddas,<ref name=":0"/> are accorded indigenous status. The Vedda minority in Sri Lanka may become completely assimilated.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://chandlersfordtoday.co.uk/sri-lanka-ancient-vedda-tribe-becoming-extinct/ |title = Vedda tribe becoming extinct, Chandler's Ford Today|date = 2014-09-06}}</ref> Most speak [[Sinhala language|Sinhala]] instead of their indigenous languages, which are nearing extinction. It has been hypothesized that the Vedda were probably the earliest inhabitants of [[Sri Lanka]] and have lived on the island since before the arrival of other groups from the Indian mainland.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.sundaytimes.lk/140126/plus/race-in-sri-lanka-what-genetic-evidence-tells-us-80911.html |title = Race in Sri Lanka: What genetic evidence tells us &#124; the Sundaytimes Sri Lanka}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1038/jhg.2013.112|pmid = 24196378|title = Mitochondrial DNA history of Sri Lankan ethnic people: Their relations within the island and with the Indian subcontinental populations|journal = Journal of Human Genetics|volume = 59|issue = 1|pages = 28–36|year = 2014|last1 = Ranaweera|first1 = Lanka|last2 = Kaewsutthi|first2 = Supannee|last3 = Win Tun|first3 = Aung|last4 = Boonyarit|first4 = Hathaichanoke|last5 = Poolsuwan|first5 = Samerchai|last6 = Lertrit|first6 = Patcharee|s2cid = 41185629|doi-access = free}}</ref>

A 2024 genetics study using high-resolution [[Autosome|autosomal]] and [[Mitochondrial DNA]] found that the Veddas were genetically closer to the [[Santhal people|Santhal]], [[Juang people|Juang]], [[Irula people|Irula]] and [[Paniya people|Paniya]] tribes (as well as the [[Pallar]] caste) of India, than to the [[Sinhalese people|Sinhalese]] and [[Sri Lankan Tamils]].<ref name="WeliVedda">{{cite journal |last1=Welikala |first1=Anjana |last2=Desai |first2=Shailesh |last3=Pratap Singh |first3=Prajjval |last4=Fernando |first4=Amali |last5=Thangaraj |first5=Kumarasamy |last6=van Driem |first6=George |last7=Adikari |first7=Gamini |last8=Tennekoon |first8=Kamani |last9=Chaubey |first9=Gyaneshwer |last10=Ranasinghe |first10=Ruwandi |title=The genetic identity of the Vedda: A language isolate of South Asia |journal=Mitochondrion |date=May 2024 |volume=76 |pages=101884 |doi=10.1016/j.mito.2024.101884 |pmid=38626841 }}</ref> The study concluded that the Veddas were "a genetically drifted group with limited gene flow from neighbouring Sinhalese and Sri Lankan Tamil populations" and that the maternal [[Haplogroup M (mtDNA)|Haplogroup M]] mediated their initial settlement of the island.<ref name="WeliVedda"/> Other studies have shown the Vedda share genetic components with the Sinhalese and Sri Lankan Tamils as well as genetic affinity with the Irula, Kota and Mulla Kuruma of India, the [[Semai people|Semai]] and [[Senoi]] of Malaysia and tribal groups of [[Upper Myanmar]].<ref name="WeliVedda"/>

The Ratnapura District, which is part of the [[Sabaragamuwa Province]], is known to have been inhabited by the Veddas in the distant past. This has been shown by scholars like Nandadeva Wijesekera. The very name ''Sabaragamuwa'' is believed to have meant the village of the ''Sabaras'' or "forest barbarians". Place-names such as ''Vedda-gala'' (Vedda Rock), ''Vedda-ela'' (Vedda Canal) and ''Vedi-Kanda'' (Vedda Mountain) in the Ratnapura District also bear testimony to this. As Wijesekera observes, a strong Vedda element is discernible in the population of ''Vedda-gala'' and its environs.

== Etymology ==
Ethnonyms of Vedda include ''Vadda'', ''Veddah'', ''Veddha'' and ''Vaddo''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/places/asia/sri-lankan-political-geography/vedda|title=Vedda facts, information, pictures {{!}} Encyclopedia.com articles about Vedda|website=www.encyclopedia.com|language=en|access-date=2017-09-18}}</ref> "Vedda" is a word that stems from the [[Tamil language|Tamil]] word ''Vēdan'' meaning "hunter",<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book|url={{GBurl|id=AtdjAAAAMAAJ|q=vedda+etymology+hunter+tamil}}|title=Knox's Words: A Study of the Words of Sri Lankan Origin Or Association First Used in English Literature by Robert Knox and Recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary|last=Boyle|first=Richard|date=2004|publisher=Visidunu Prakashakayo|location=Boralesgamuwa, Sri Lanka|isbn=955-9170-67-8}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://agarathi.com/word/%E0%AE%B5%E0%AF%87%E0%AE%9F%E0%AE%A9%E0%AF%8D|title=வேடன் {{!}} அகராதி {{!}} Tamil Dictionary|website=agarathi.com|publisher=University of Madras Lexicon|access-date=2017-09-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first1=T|last1=Burrow|first2=M. B.|last2=Emenau|website=A Dravidian Etymological Dictionary|edition=2|title=Search for headword: vēṭṭam, vēṭṭai|year=1984 |url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/app/burrow_query.py?qs=vēṭṭam,%20vēṭṭai&searchhws=yes}}</ref> or from [[Sanskrit]] ''vyādha'' ("hunter") or ''veddhṛ'' ("the one who pierces").<ref>{{cite book|first=Wilhelm|last=Geiger|title=An Etymological Glossary of the Sinhalese Language|location=Colombo|year=1941}}</ref>

== Population affinities ==

=== Anthropology ===
The Vedda are often seen as the native population of [[Sri Lanka]]. A 2011 study on dental characteristics suggested a close relation between Vedda and other South Asians as well as to western Eurasian populations.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Schug|first1=Gwen Robbins|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VAb9CgAAQBAJ&q=vedda+west+eurasian&pg=PA433|title=A Companion to South Asia in the Past|last2=Walimbe|first2=Subhash R.|date=2016-05-16|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-119-05548-8|language=en}}</ref> A 2012 study on crania showed the Vedda to have close affinities with other South Asian populations such as other [[Sri Lankans]], [[Dravidian people|South Indians]], and [[Punjabis]] and to differ significantly from [[Andaman and Nicobar Islands|Andaman islanders]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kulatilake|first=Samanti|title=Cranial Morphology of the Vedda people - the indigenes of Sri Lanka |website=Academia |url=https://www.academia.edu/9637404|language=en}}</ref>

A 2013 craniometric study by Raghavan et al. showed that the Vedda are closely related to other groups in Sri Lanka and [[India]], especially to [[Sinhalese people|Sinhalese]] and [[Tamils]], and also indicated deep relations between South Asian populations and the modern populations of [[Europe]], the [[Middle East]] and [[North Africa]]. According to Raghavan et al. the cranial characteristics of the Vedda are closest to other South Asians and distinct from "Australo-Melanesians". However, Raghavan et al. also, while also noting the distinctiveness of between South Asian (including Vedda) and Andamanese crania, explain that this is not in conflict with genetic evidence showing a partial common ancestry (a non-West Eurasian component known as "Ancestral South Indian" or "ASI") and genetic affinity between South Asians and the native [[Andamanese]] (who are sometimes classified as [[Australo-Melanesians]]), stating that "The distinctiveness of Andamanese and southern Indian crania need not challenge the finding by [[David Reich (geneticist)|Reich]] et al. for an "Ancestral South Indian" ancestry shared by southern Indians and Andamanese", and that the differences may be in part due to the greater craniometric specialization of South Asians compared to Andamanese.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Indian Craniometric Variability and Affinities|volume=2013|pages=836738|last1=Rathee|first1=Suresh Kanta|last2=Pathmanathan|first2=Gayathiri|date=2013|journal=International Journal of Evolutionary Biology|language=en|pmid=24455409|pmc=3886603|last3=Bulbeck|first3=David|last4=Raghavan|first4=Pathmanathan|doi=10.1155/2013/836738|doi-access=free}}</ref>

=== Genetics ===
Groups ancestral to the modern [[Vedda people|Veddas]] were probably the earliest inhabitants of Sri Lanka. Their arrival is dated tentatively to about 40,000–35,000 years ago. They show a relationship with other South Asian and Sri Lankan populations, but are genetically distinguishable from the other peoples of Sri Lanka, and show a high degree of intra-group diversity. This is consistent with a long history of existing as small subgroups undergoing significant [[genetic drift]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Deraniyagala SU | title = Pre-and protohistoric settlement in Sri Lanka. | journal = XIII UISPP Congress Proceedings | date = September 1996 | volume = 5 | pages = 277–285 | url = http://www.lankalibrary.com/geo/dera1.html }}</ref><ref name="Ranaweera_2014">{{cite journal | vauthors = Ranaweera L, Kaewsutthi S, Win Tun A, Boonyarit H, Poolsuwan S, Lertrit P | title = Mitochondrial DNA history of Sri Lankan ethnic people: their relations within the island and with the Indian subcontinental populations | journal = Journal of Human Genetics | volume = 59 | issue = 1 | pages = 28–36 | date = January 2014 | pmid = 24196378 | doi = 10.1038/jhg.2013.112 | s2cid = 41185629 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

In one study on maternal (mitochondrial DNA) haplogroups in Sri Lankan populations (the Vedda, [[Sri Lankan Tamils]], [[Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka]], and [[Sinhalese people|Sinhalese]]), the Vedda were found to carry predominantly haplogroups [[Haplogroup U (mtDNA)|U]] and [[Haplogroup R (mtDNA)|R]] and to carry [[maternal haplogroup]] M at about 17%, unlike the [[Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka]] and many mainland Indian tribal groups, among which [[Haplogroup M (mtDNA)|haplogroup M]] is predominant. The Vedda people and Low-country Sinhalese showed frequencies of haplogroup R at 45.33 and 25%, respectively. The Vedda were found to be distinct but closer to Sinhalese than to other South Asian groups. It was determined in the study to be likely that the branches of haplogroups R and U "found to be particularly prevalent in the Vedda, were derived from ancestors on the Indian subcontinent."<ref name="Ranaweera_2014"/>

Another study on maternal haplogroups in Sri Lankan groups (also the Vedda, Sri Lankan Tamil, and Sinhalese) found similar results, with the Vedda belonging predominantly to the mitochondrial [[Haplogroup N (mtDNA)|haplogroup N]] (which "exists in almost all European, [[Oceania]]n, and many Asian and Amerindian populations.") and its subgroups U and R (with those comprising about two thirds of their maternal lineages), differing from other South Asian groups (such as the Sri Lankan Tamil, Sinhalese, and several Indian Tribal groups) among whom haplogroup M is predominant. The study also found that "South Asian (Indian) haplogroups were predominant" in the three Sri Lankan groups (including the Vedda) but that the Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamil, and Vedda populations also "had a considerable presence of West Eurasian haplogroups." One phylogenetic study on mitochondrial DNA hypervariable segments HVI and part of HVII showed the Vedda to be "genetically distinct from other major ethnic groups (Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamils and Indian Tamils) in Sri Lanka." Another study on alpha-2-HS-glycoprotein allele frequency showed the Veddas and Sinhalese to be more biologically related to each other than to most other ethnic groups in Asia.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=A study of genetic polymorphisms in mitochondrial DNA hypervariable regions I and II of the five major ethnic groups and Vedda population in Sri Lanka|last=Ranasinghe|first=Ruwandi|journal=Legal Medicine |date=2015|volume=17|issue=6|pages=539–46|doi=10.1016/j.legalmed.2015.05.007|pmid=26065620}}</ref>

==Language==
{{Main|Vedda language}}
[[File:Tisahamy Aththo (Vedda Chief).jpg|left|upright|thumb|Most prominent Vedda chief late Tisahamy Aththo]]
[[File:Tisahamy Aththo with Some Vedda Women.jpg|left|upright|thumb|Tisahamy Aththo with some Vedda women]]
[[File:Important locations of Anuradhapura Kingdom.png|thumb|right|[[Malaya Rata]] was the historical center of the [[Vedda language]], a [[Sinhala language|Sinhala]]-based creole.]]
The original language of the Veddas is the [[Vedda language]], which today is used primarily by the interior Veddas of [[Dambana, Sri Lanka|Dambana]]. Communities such as [[Coast Veddas]] and [[Anuradhapura Veddas]], who do not identify themselves strictly as Veddas, also use Vedda language for communication during hunting and or for religious chants.{{citation needed|date=March 2017}} When a systematic field study was conducted in 1959, it was determined that the language was confined to the older generation of Veddas from Dambana. In the 1990s, self-identifying Veddas knew few words and phrases in the Vedda language, but there were individuals who knew the language comprehensively. Initially, there was considerable debate among [[linguists]] as to whether Vedda is a dialect of [[Sinhala language|Sinhala]] or an independent language. Later studies indicate that it diverged from its parent stock in the 10th century and became a [[Creole languages|Creole]] and a stable independent language by the 13th century, under the influence of [[Sinhala language|Sinhala]].

The parent Vedda language(s) is of unknown [[Genetic (linguistics)|genetic origins]], while Sinhala is of the [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan]] branch of [[Indo-European languages]]. [[Phonology|Phonologically]] it is distinguished from Sinhala by the higher frequency of [[palatal]] sounds C and J. The effect is also heightened by the addition of [[animacy|inanimate]] [[suffixes]]. Vedda language word class is [[Morphology (linguistics)|morphologically]] divided into [[nouns]], [[verbs]] and variables with unique [[grammatical gender|gender distinctions]] in animate nouns. Per its Creole tradition, it has reduced and simplified many forms of Sinhala such as second person [[pronouns]] and denotations of negative meanings. Instead of borrowing new words from Sinhala, Vedda created combinations of words from a limited lexical stock. Vedda also maintains many [[Archaism|archaic]] Sinhala terms prior to the 10th to 12th centuries, as a [[relict]] of its close contact with Sinhala. Vedda also retains a number of unique words that cannot be derived from Sinhala. Likewise, Sinhala has also borrowed from the original Vedda language, words, and grammatical structures, differentiating it from its related Indo-Aryan languages. Vedda has exerted a [[Substrata (linguistics)|substratum]] influence in the formation of Sinhala.

Veddas that have adopted [[Sinhala language|Sinhala]] are found primarily in the southeastern part of the country, especially in the vicinity of Bintenne in [[Uva Province]]. There are also Veddas that have adopted Sinhala who live in Anuradhapura District in the North Central Province.{{sfn|Brow|1978}}<ref name=Nira>{{cite web|url=http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2010/07/sri-lankas-conflict-culture-and.html|title=Sri Lanka's conflict: culture and lineages of the past|author-link=Nira Wickramasinghe|first=Nira|last=Wickramasinghe| publisher=Sri Lanka Guardian|access-date=February 20, 2016}}</ref>

Another group, often termed [[East Coast Veddas]], is found in coastal areas of the Eastern Province, between [[Batticaloa]] and [[Trincomalee]]. These Veddas have adopted [[Tamil language|Tamil]] as their mother tongue.<ref name="vedda.org">{{Cite web|url=https://vedda.org/coastal-veddas.htm|title=Sri Lanka's east coastal Vedda indigenous communities|website=vedda.org|accessdate=26 May 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://vedda.org/seligmann-coastal-veddas.htm|title=East Coast Veddas|website=vedda.org|accessdate=26 May 2023}}</ref>

==Cultural aspects==

===Language===
{{main|Vedda language}}
The parent of Vedda language is of unknown [[Genetic (linguistics)|linguistic origin]] and is considered a [[language isolate]]. Early linguists and observers of the language considered it to be either a separate language or a dialect of Sinhala. The chief proponent of the dialect theory was [[Wilhelm Geiger]], but he also contradicted himself by claiming that Vedda was a [[Relexification|relexified]] aboriginal language.<ref name=V227>{{Harvnb|Van Driem|2002|page=227}}</ref>

Veddas consider the Vedda language to be distinct from Sinhala and use it as an ethnic marker to differentiate them from Sinhalese people.<ref name=D81>{{Harvnb|Dharmadasa|1974|page=81}}</ref>

===Religion===
The original religion of Veddas is [[animism]]. The Sinhalized interior Veddahs follow a mix of animism and nominal [[Buddhism]]; whereas the Tamilized east coast Veddahs follow a mix of animism and nominal [[Hinduism]] with [[Dravidian folk religion|folk]] influences among anthropologists.{{clarify|date=March 2020}}

One of the most distinctive features of Vedda religion is the worship of dead ancestors, who are called ''nae yaku'' among the Sinhala-speaking Veddas and are invoked for the game and [[Yam (vegetable)|yam]]s.{{sfn|Seligmann|Seligmann|1911|pp=123-135}} There are also peculiar deities unique to Veddas, such as ''Kande Yakka''.{{sfn|Seligmann|Seligmann|1911|pp=30-31}}

Veddas, along with the Island's [[Buddhist]], [[Hindu]] and [[Muslim]] communities, venerate the temple complex situated at [[Kataragama]], showing the [[syncretism]] that has evolved over 2,000 years of coexistence and assimilation. Kataragama is supposed to be the site where the Hindu god Skanda or [[Murugan]] in [[Tamil language|Tamil]] met and married a local tribal girl, [[Valli]], who in Sri Lanka is believed to have been a Vedda.<ref name="Kataragama">{{Cite web|url=https://kataragama.org/|title=Ruhuṇu Kataragama Dēvālaya &#124; Katirkāmam Murugan Kōvil &#124; dedicated to Kataragama deviyo|website=kataragama.org|accessdate=26 May 2023}}</ref>

There are a number of less famous [[shrine]]s across the island which are sacred to the Veddas as well as to other communities.<ref name="Kataragama" />

===Rituals===
[[File:Veddah ritual.jpg|thumb|A Veddah ritual about to be performed]]
Vedda marriage is a simple ceremony. It consists of the bride tying a bark rope (''Diya lanuva'') that she has twisted, around the waist of the groom. This symbolizes the bride's acceptance of the man as her mate and life partner. Although [[endogamous]] marriage between cross-cousins was the norm until recently, this has changed significantly, with Vedda women even contracting marriages with their Sinhalese and Moor neighbors.

In Vedda society, women are in many respects men's equals. They are entitled to similar inheritance. Monogamy is the general rule, though a widow would frequently marry her husband's brother as a means of support and consolation ([[levirate marriage]]). They also do not practice a [[caste]] system.<ref>[http://www.scenicsrilanka.com/vadda-of-sri-lanka.html Vadda of Sri Lanka]</ref>

Death, too, is a simple affair without ostentatious funeral ceremonies where the corpse of the deceased is promptly buried.

===Burial===
Since the opening of colonization schemes, Vedda burials changed when they dug graves of {{convert|4|-|5|ft|m|abbr=in|order=flip}} deep and wrapped the body wrapped cloth and covered it with leaves and earth. The Veddas also laid the body between the scooped out trunks of the ''gadumba'' tree (''[[Trema orientalis]]'') before they buried it. At the head of the grave were kept three open coconuts and a small bundle of wood, while at its foot were kept an opened [[coconut]] and an untouched coconut. Certain cactus species (''pathok'', ''[[Opuntia dillenii]]'' or ''[[Opuntia stricta|O. stricta]]'') were planted at the head, the middle and the foot. Personal possessions like the bow and arrow, betel pouch, were also buried. This practice varied by community. The contents of the [[betel]] pouch of the deceased were eaten after his death.

===Cult of the dead===
The Veddas practice what is referred to by Western ethnologists as "a cult of the dead".<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last1=Seligman |first1=C. G. (Charles Gabriel) |url=https://archive.org/details/veddas__00seliuoft |title=The Veddas |last2=Seligman |first2=Brenda Z. |date=1911 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |others=Robarts - University of Toronto}}</ref> The Vedda perception of the world when originally studied in the mid 19th and early 20th centuries was not divided into polarities as life and afterlife or living and dead. At that time when asked whether the dead lived on as spirits they found that "they did not consider whether the departed were living or dead, they were just spirits...all spirits were alike neither good nor bad".<ref name=":1" />

In the words of John Bailey studying this population in 1853: "the Veddahs have a vague belief in a host of undefined spirits, whose influence is rather for good than evil...they believe the air is peopled by spirits, that every rock and every tree, every forest and every hill, in short every feature of nature, has its genus loci;but these seem little else than nameless phantoms whom they regard with mysterious awe than actual dread".<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Bailey |first=John |date=1863 |title=An Account of the Wild Tribes of the Veddahs of Ceylon: Their Habits, Customs, and Superstitions |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3014327 |journal=Transactions of the Ethnological Society of London |volume=2 |pages=278–320 |doi=10.2307/3014327 |jstor=3014327 |issn=1368-0366|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

In addition to this experience of the world often referred to as "animism" they have a belief that after death every relative is a spirit "of those who watches over the welfare of those left behind. These, which include their ancestors and their children, the term their 'nehya yakoon', kindred spirits. They describe them as ever watchful, coming to them in sickness, visiting them in dreams, giving them flesh when hunting".<ref name=":2" />

The Vedda behavior at the time of these original ethnological studies regarding the recently dead is quite different from our behavior toward the dead.
"When a person dies it is the hetha that killed him; and the hetha of the dead one remains by the corpse and haunts the vicinity for years."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Spittel |first=Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2tM-AAAAIAAJ |title=Wild Ceylon: Describing in Particular the Lives of the Present Day Veddas |date=1924 |publisher=Colombo Apothecaries Company, Limited |language=en}}</ref>

The majority of the Vedda tribes studied at that time held what is referred to as a "kirikohraha ceremony". This was often held "to present an offering to the newly dead within a week or two of their decease...The yaku of the recently dead....are supposed to stand towards the surviving members of the group in the light of friends and relatives, who if well treated will continue to show loving kindness to their survivors, and only if neglected will show disgust and anger by withdrawing their assistance, or becoming actively hostile."<ref name=":1" />

===Clothing===
[[File:Groepsportret van Veddah mannen in de bossen van Ceylon Veddahs (titel op object), RP-F-F80068.jpg|thumb|Group portrait of Veddah men in the forests, between 1870 and 1904.]]
Until fairly recent times, the clothing of the Veddas was limited. In the case of men, it consisted only of a [[loincloth]] suspended with a string at the waist, while in the case of women, it was a piece of cloth that extended from the navel to the knees. Today, however, Vedda attire is more covering, men wear a short [[sarong]] extending from the waist to the knees, while the women clad themselves in a garment similar to the [[Sinhala language|Sinhala]] ''diya-redda'' which extends from the breast line to the knees.

===Music===

{{organize section|date=March 2017}}

{{blockquote|''Bori Bori Sellam-Sellam Bedo Wannita,''

''Palletalawa Navinna-Pita Gosin Vetenne,''

''Malpivili genagene-Hele Kado Navinne,''

''Diyapivili Genagene-Thige Bo Haliskote Peni,''

''Ka tho ipal denne''

|A Vedda honeycomb cutter's folk song<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://vedda.org/keerthisinghe.htm|title = The Veddas of Sri Lanka}}</ref>}}

Meaning of this song: The bees from yonder hills of Palle Talawa and Kade suck nectar from the flowers and made the honeycomb. So why should you give them undue pain when there is no honey by cutting the honeycomb.

==Livelihood==
[[File:Veddah.jpg|thumb|right|180px|A Veddah hunter with bow and arrow]]
Veddas were originally [[hunter-gatherer]]s. They used bows and arrows to hunt game, harpoons and toxic plants for fishing and gathered wild plants, yams, honey, fruit and nuts.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/wanniyala|title=Wanniyala-Aetto|first=Survival|last=International|website=www.survivalinternational.org|accessdate=26 May 2023}}</ref> Many Veddas also farm, frequently using [[slash and burn]] or swidden cultivation, which is called ''Hena'' in Sri Lanka. East Coast Veddas also practice sea fishing. Veddas are famously known for their rich meat diet. Venison and the flesh of rabbit, turtle, tortoise, monitor lizard, wild boar and the common brown monkey are consumed with much relish. The Veddas kill only for food and do not harm young or pregnant animals. Game is commonly shared amongst the family and clan. Fish are caught by employing fish poisons such as the juice of the ''pus-vel'' (Entada scandens) and ''daluk-kiri'' (Cactus milk).
[[File:Vedar bow and harpoon.gif|thumb|left|60px|Traditional Vedda bow and fishing harpoon]]
Vedda culinary fare is also deserving of mention. Amongst the best known are ''gona perume'', which is a sort of sausage containing alternate layers of meat and fat, and ''goya-tel-perume'', which is the tail of the monitor lizard (talagoya), stuffed with fat obtained from its sides and roasted in embers. Another Vedda delicacy is dried meat preserve soaked in honey. The Veddas used to preserve such meat in the hollow of a tree, enclosing it with clay.
[[File:Equipment used.jpg|thumb|Some of the bows used by the Veddahs]]

Such succulent meat served as a ready food supply in times of scarcity. The early part of the year (January–February) is considered to be the season of yams and mid-year (June–July) that of fruit and honey, while hunting is availed of throughout the year. ''Kurakkan'' (''[[Eleusine coracana]]'') is cultivated very often. Maize, yams, gourds and melons are also cultivated. The Veddas used to live in caves and rock shelters. Today, they live in huts of wattle, daub and thatch.

In the reign of Datusena (6th century CE) the Mahaweli ganga was diverted at Minipe in the Minipe canal nearly {{convert|47|mi|km|-1|abbr=in|order=flip}} long said to be constructed with help from the Yakkas. The Mahawamsa refers to the canal as Yaka-bendi-ela. When the Ruwanweli Seya was built in King Dutugemunu's time (2nd century BCE) the Veddas procured the necessary minerals from the jungles.

Parakrama Bahu the Great (12th century), in his war against the rebels, employed Veddas as scouts.

Rajasinghe II (17th century), in his battle with the Dutch, had a Vedda regiment. In the abortive Uva-Welessa revolt of 1817–1818 of the British times, led by Keppetipola Disawe, the Veddas too fought with the rebels against the British forces.

==Current status==
{{Historical populations
|type = 
|footnote = Source:[[Department of Census & Statistics, Sri Lanka|Department of Census<br />& Statistics]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Population by ethnic group, census years|url=http://www.statistics.gov.lk/abstract2010/chapters/Chap2/AB2-10.pdf|publisher=Department of Census & Statistics, Sri Lanka|access-date=23 October 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111113175023/http://www.statistics.gov.lk/abstract2010/chapters/Chap2/AB2-10.pdf|archive-date=13 November 2011}}</ref><br />Data is based on <br />[[Sri Lankan Government]] Census.
|1881 | 2200
|1891 | 1200
|1901 | 4000
|1911 | 5300
|1921 | 4500
|1931 | 5200
|1946 | 2400
|1953 | 800
|1963 | 400
|1971 | 
|1981 | 
|1989 (est.) | 
|2001 | 
|2011 | 
}}

Some observers have said Veddas are disappearing and have lamented the decline of their distinct culture.<ref name=Nira/><ref name=UN>[https://vedda.org/wanniyalaeto-un.htm Address of Warige Wanniya to the UN], vedda.org Retrieved 4-12-2015</ref><ref>Spittel, R. L. (1950). ''Vanished Trails: The Last of the Veddas''. Oxford University Press.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://vimeo.com/45950118|title=Stuck Between Two Worlds|accessdate=26 May 2023|via=vimeo.com}}</ref> Land acquisition for mass irrigation projects, government forest reserve restrictions, and the civil war have disrupted traditional Vedda ways of life.<ref name=Nira/><ref name=UN/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbO0id6g0NQ|title=Season of the Spirit Bear - Part 5|accessdate=26 May 2023|via=www.youtube.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ae4JoWqWkU|title=Sri Lanka Debrief News - 21. 07. 2010|accessdate=26 May 2023|via=www.youtube.com}}</ref> Between 1977 and 1983 under the Accelerated [[Mahaweli Development programme|Mahaweli Development Project]] and colonization schemes, approximately 51468 hectares were turned into a gigantic hydroelectric dam irrigation project.<ref name=UN/><ref name=passports>[https://vedda.org/wanniyalaeto.htm Sri Lanka's Indigenous Wanniya-laeto: A Case History], vedda.org Retrieved 4-12-2015</ref> Subsequently, the creation of the [[Maduru Oya National Park]] deprived the Veddhas their last hunting grounds.<ref name=passports/> In 1985, the Veddha Chief Thissahamy and his delegation were obstructed from attending the United Nations [[Working Group on Indigenous Populations]].<ref name=passports/> Dr. Wiveca Stegeborn, an [[anthropologist]], has been studying the Vedda since 1977 and alleges that their young women are being tricked into accepting contracts to the [[Middle East]] as [[domestic worker]]s when in fact they will be [[human trafficking|trafficked]] into [[prostitution]] or sold as [[sex slaves]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://gender-policy.tripod.com/backissues/March01.html#Article%20Two |title=Endangered Wanniyala-Aetto Women sent as Sex Slaves to the Middle East |access-date=2006-11-17 |archive-date=2012-02-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120220031338/http://gender-policy.tripod.com/backissues/March01.html#Article%20Two |url-status=dead }}</ref>

However, [[cultural assimilation]] of Veddas with other local populations has been going on for a long time. "Vedda" has been used in Sri Lanka to mean not only hunter-gatherers but also to refer to any people who adopt an unsettled and rural way of life and thus can be a [[derogatory]] term not based on ethnic group. Thus, over time, it is possible for non-Vedda groups to become Veddas, in this broad cultural sense.{{sfn|Brow|1978|p=34}}<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.artsrilanka.org/essays/vaddaprimitivism/index.html |title=Obeyesekere, Gananath. Colonial Histories and Vadda Primitivism |access-date=June 11, 2006 |archive-date=February 17, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130217140154/http://www.artsrilanka.org/essays/vaddaprimitivism/index.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Vedda populations of this kind are increasing in some districts.{{sfn|Brow|1978|p=3}}

==In zoology==
A spider genus endemic to Sri Lanka was named ''[[Wanniyala]]'' as a dedication to Sri Lanka's oldest civilized people.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.pholcidae.de/PDFs/sri_lanka_2005.pdf |author=[[:fr:Bernhard A. Huber|Huber, Bernhard A.]] |author2=Benjamin, Suresh P.|year=2005|title=The pholcid spiders from Sri Lanka: redescription of ''Pholcus ceylonicus'' and description of a new genus (Araneae: Pholcidae)|journal=Journal of Natural History|volume=39|issue=37|pages=3305–3319|doi=10.1080/00222930500145123|bibcode=2005JNatH..39.3305H |s2cid=53418516|access-date=6 May 2016}}</ref>

A species of Sri Lankan snake, ''[[Indotyphlops veddae]]'', was named in honor of the Vedda.<ref>Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0135-5}}. ("Vedda/Veddha", p. 273).</ref>

==See also==
*[[South Asian ethnic groups]]
*[[Charles Gabriel Seligman]]
*The United Nations [[Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples]]

==References==
{{Commons category|Veddas|Vedda people}}{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*{{cite book|last=Brow|first=James|year=1978|title=Vedda Villages of Anuradhapura|publisher=University of Washington Press}}
*{{cite journal|last=Dharmadasa|first=K. N. O.|date=February 1974|title=The Creolization of an Aboriginal language:The case of Vedda in Sri Lanka (Ceylon)|journal=Anthropological Linguistics|publisher=[[Indiana University]]|volume=16|issue=2|pages=79–106|jstor=30029514}}
*{{cite book|last=Van Driem|first=George|author-link=George van Driem|title=Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region |publisher=Brill Academic Publishers|date=January 15, 2002|isbn=90-04-10390-2 }}
*{{cite book|last1=Seligmann|first1=Charles|last2=Seligmann|first2=Brenda|year=1911|title=The Veddas|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|editor-first1=Richard B.|editor-last1=Lee|editor-first2=Richard|editor-last2=Daly|date=March 2005|title=The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Hunters and Gatherers|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-60919-4}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Kulatilake |first1=Samanti |title=The Sarasins' Collection of Historical Sri Lankan Crania |journal=Anthropological Science |date=2020 |volume=128 |issue=3 |pages=119–128 |doi=10.1537/ase.200428 |doi-access=free }}

==External links==
A great deal of information on them can be found at [https://vedda.org Vedda.org]
* [https://www.survival-international.org/tribes.php?tribe_id=59 Survival International profile on the Wanniyala-Aetto]
* [http://www.srilankareference.org/srilankahistory/thammanna.htm Sri Lankan history]
* [http://www.lankalibrary.com/cul/veddha/veddha_1.htm Veddas - now only a household name]
* [http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=32048# Veddas of Sri Lanka]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu3y9sHBWBs Last of the Devil Dancers]

{{Ethnic groups in Sri Lanka}}
{{Indigenous peoples by continent}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vedda People}}
[[Category:Vedda| ]]
[[Category:Indigenous peoples of South Asia]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in the Indian Ocean]]