Vedda People of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka's aboriginal inhabitants, the Veddhas, are a truly fascinating people. Descended from the island's stone age inhabitants, they have clung tenaciously to their age-old way of life — living off the hunt and gathering the fruit of the land — despite the ongoing pressures of industrialization and modernization.

The Veddhas are proud of their distinct sylvan heritage and call themselves Vanniyalette, meaning Those of the forest. The term "Veddha," by which their Sinhalese neighbours denote them, comes from the Sanskrit word Vyadha, meaning hunter with bow and arrow.

Origins and Identity

Unlike the Sinhalese, who speak an Indo-Aryan language and claim Aryan descent, the pure Veddhas are related to the Austro-Asiatic peoples found scattered across many parts of southern Asia. Their kin, by this reckoning, include the aboriginal tribes of Chota Nagpur in eastern India — such as the Hos and Birhors — the Sakai of Malaysia, the Kubu of Indonesia, and the Australian aborigines. This broad web of ancient kinship speaks to a time long before the modern boundaries of nations and cultures took shape.

A Forest Way of Life

What sets the Veddhas apart is their enduring connection to the natural world. Theirs is not merely a historical identity but a living one, sustained through traditional hunting practices and the gathering of forest produce. Even as the world around them has changed, many among them have maintained this relationship with the land that their ancestors inhabited for thousands of years.

The Veddhas stand as a remarkable testament to the depth and diversity of Sri Lanka's human heritage — a community that traces its roots not to the island's recorded history, but to a far older story written in stone and forest.

Dambana