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Saturday, 16 August 2014 00:05 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
A newspaper report recorded that the indigenous community at Dambana celebrated World Indigenous Peoples Day without inviting any politicians. This was as a mark of protest against the Government not keeping to promises made to them, the Veddah Chief, Uruvarige Wanniya, had said. A picture showed him, along with other seniors paying respect to his father Uruvarige Tissahamy, the leader of the Veddah community, at his statue.
World Indigenous Peoples Day is celebrated on 9 August every year to promote and protect the rights of the world’s indigenous people. It recognised the achievements and contribution that indigenous people make to improve world issues such as environmental protection.
An authority on the subject of indigenous people in Sri Lanka, Professor Sarath W. Kotagama says that in the current context it is more appropriate to use the word ‘Vanniyalaaththo’ (people of the forest) as they call themselves, and not Veddahs.
He recalls the fate of the Veddah community when, under the Accelerated Mahaweli Development Project, a need arose for the catchments of Maduru Oya and Ulhitiya to be declared as a protected area for elephant conservation and catchment purposes. The area was declared a National Park under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance, thus not allowing private property or human habitation within that area. Thus the fate of the Veddah community who had lived in that area for generations was sealed.
“Some of us in the wildlife Environmental Impact Assessment felt that they should be integrated to the wildlife sector but the authorities with decision-making powers felt otherwise. The question of ‘should not they become part of the mainstream?’ was posed and answered. The decision was taken – the community must leave to Henanegala. The leader of the community, Tissahamy, his family and seven other families decided to stay on despite the violation of the rules of the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance. Thus began the new chapter of the Veddah community,” he writes in the foreword to the Dilmah Conservation publication, ‘The Veddahs’.
With the passing away of Tissahamy, his son took over. Professor Kotagama describes him as “a strong, tactful, sharp character” compared to his father. He was able to bring old traditions back into the mainstream.
The Dilmah publication traces to the origin of the term ‘Veddah’ to the Sanskrit word ‘Vyadha’ meaning the hunter with a bow and arrow. There are several theories as for the descent of the Veddahs in our country. One is that they descend from a direct line of Sri Lanka’s Neolithic community. Their origins lie as far back as 16,000 BC.
According to the Mahavamsa, however, their lineage is directly connected to Vijaya, the first king of Sri Lanka. When Vijaya abandoned Kuveni for a Pandyan princess, his two children by Kuveni had left for the valleys of the Ratnapura District where gradually the population grew leading to the present Veddah community.
According to anthropologist Dr. Nandadeva Wijesekera, the word Sabaragamuwa, the province where Ratnapura is located, has derived from the dwelling of the Veddahs – ‘Sabaras’ – interpreted as ‘forest dwellers’.
Over time the Veddahs had spread across the rural areas and today Dambana is considered the capital of the Veddah community. Some had moved and integrated with society in areas in North Central and Uva Provinces.
The present mood of the Veddah community is summed up in Uruvarige Vanniya’s address to the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous People in 1996: “We want to survive not only as a people but as a culture,” he said.
The Dilmah publication carries this extract of the speech: “Our relationship with our environment is changing. We are the custodians of the jungle throughout the generations. Now the jungle is no longer ours and we do not feel responsible for its maintenance. A ‘grab and run’ philosophy has developed. We sneak inside, kill what we can get and then run outside again. We would not do that before. We were taught not to kill an animal drinking water, because we all need to drink water. We would not kill a pregnant mother; a deer, a sambhur or any other pregnant animal. We would not kill a four-legged mother giving milk to her younger ones. The very land we, the Vanniyalaaththo, shared with other beings (aththo) is also shared by our ancestral forefathers, gods and goddesses and forest sprits. We are now alienated from them.”
Anthem of the Veddah people
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