World Indigenous Day 2020: Lankan Veddah Community

In today's world, Indigenous People are one of the most vulnerable groups of people in the world. They are often unheard and as a measure to raise awareness of their needs, August 9th is commemorated as the International Day of Indigenous Peoples.

Indigenous peoples live in all regions of the world and own, occupy or use some 22% of global land area. Numbering at least 370-500 million, indigenous peoples represent the greater part of the world’s cultural diversity, and have created and speak the major share of the world’s almost 7000 languages.

Talking about the indigenous people in Sri Lanka, the origin of 'Veddahs', also termed as the 'Wanniyalaetho' is fully not known. Some of us believe Veddahs are descendants of Prince Wijaya, who is allegedly Sri Lanka's first king, and some of us believe that the origin of Veddahs dates far beyond that- around 6th Century BC.

The Veddahs used to be greatly concentrated in an area known as 'Mahiyanganaya' in the southern central jungles.  They had their own language, believed in Animism and they mainly survived by hunting and reserving. The word Veddah stems from a Tamil word 'Vedu', meaning 'hunter.' They are famously known for their rich meat diet that includes flesh or rabbit, lizard, turtle, wild boar, etc. The Veddahs only kill for food and they do not harm young or pregnant animals. Another special feature is that the women are treated equally as the men. 

Due to Sinhala and Tamil Villages growing in their habitats, they started adapting to modern customs which caused to put their existence in danger. For example, today, most of the Veddahs speak Sinhalese or Tamil and believe in Buddhism and Hinduism as a religion. In recent years, they also have changed their attire to the typical sarongs that Sinhalese and Tamils wear.

This invasion of modern culture is threatening the existence of indigenous groups of Veddahs. We only can hope that there will come no day that the Veddahs will no longer be a part of the Lankan Community!