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The Island Features Wednesday 22nd July, 2009 11 gene pool of 55%. The Sri Lankan Tamils are mostly Hindus with a sig- nificant Christian population. Sri Lankan Tamil literature on topics including religion and the sciences flourished during the Medieval Period in the Court of the Jaffna Kingdom. Sri Lankan Tamil dialects are noted for their archaism and retention of words not in everyday use in the Tamil Nadu state in India. Veddahs: The aboriginal Vanniyala-Aetto, or “forest people”, more commonly known as Veddas or Veddahs, are an indigenous people of Sri Lanka. They were never numerous and are now few in num- ber. Sinhala-speaking Veddahs are found primarily in the southeastern part of the country, especially in the vicinity of Bintenne in Uva Province. There are also Sinhala- Like some other speaking Veddas who live in Anuradhapura District in the North peoples of Sri Central Province. Another, largely distinct group, Lanka, the often termed East Coast Veddas, is Sinhalese“ have a found in coastal areas of the “ Eastern Province, mostly between caste-based socie- Batticaloa and Trincomalee. These Veddas speak Tamil as their pri- ty borrowed from mary language. India and with a Their language, usually referred A plantation worker to as ‘Veddah,’ is closely related to complex structure Sinhala, although much of its vocab- ulary (especially terms associated based largely on with the forest and their lifestyle) can not be traced to Sinhala and occupation. may be from an archaic language Marriage partners spoken before the adoption of the Sinhala language. are usually taken Examples include the Wanniyala- One Nation: Aetto word ruhang for friend, while from persons of the Sinhala word is yaluva There are also communities of Wanniyala- the same caste, Aetto who speak Tamil in the East diversity and preferably from Coast. Some observers have said Veddas the children of the are disappearing and have lamented mother’s brother the decline of their distinct culture. multiculturalism - III Developments, and government for- or father’s sister. est reserve restrictions, have dis- by J.B. Müller rupted traditional Veddah ways of Sinhalese were estimated to number percent of the national population. Monogamy is the life. However, cultural assimilation about 14.8 million, or 70 percent of They served as middlemen for the of Veddas with other local popula- s we have seen, each segment the population. Their ancestors are trade with the interior, in which the rule, although in tions has been going on for a long of the Sri Lankan population believed to have come from northern Europeans were so interested, and the 19th century time. Today many Sinhalese people Ahas contributed to its develop- India, traditionally in the 5th century they have adopted much of European and some East Coast Tamils claim ment and prosperity in manifold BCE. Their language belongs to the culture. Until recently, the Kandyan’s among the that they have some trace of Veddah ways. These groups also continue to Indo-European family. attitude of aristocratic superiority blood. Intermarriage between mix and by so doing continue to Most Sinhalese are agricultural- toward the Low Country Sinhalese Veddas and Sinhalese is very fre- Kandyans a man“ enrich the already heterogeneous ists. The low-country Sinhalese of precluded marriage between them. “ quent. The current leader of the gene pool. the southern and western coastal But with the increase in wealth and may occasionally Vanniyala-Aetto community is Uru As a strategically-positioned regions have been heavily influenced sophistication of the latter, due to Varige Vanniya. Island in the southernmost extremity by European culture, while the European and other outside influ- have had more The story of our Motherland is of South Asia, it has attracted people Kandyan Sinhalese of the highlands ences, these barriers are gradually than one wife or a not a story of one race or communi- from all directions save Antarctica are more traditional. The Sinhalese breaking down. ty alone, but a story of all the people and this has contributed to its diver- are Theravada Buddhists except for a The Sinhalese are a peaceful, tol- woman more than and all the circumstances which sity. Indeed, history and circum- Christian minority. erant, friendly and hospitable people, have shaped its course. We have all stance has woven a beautiful tapestry Like some other peoples of Sri quite insular in their outlook and one husband. been in the crucible and all have out of these different strands. Lanka, the Sinhalese have a caste- easy to get on with. made sacrifices of life and limb to Unfortunately, a vociferous lunatic- based society borrowed from India Tamils, Indian: The Indian Tamils learn the lesson that we are fallible fringe has attempted to burn holes in and with a complex structure based of Sri Lanka are Tamil people of human beings. Every one in Sri this tapestry whilst others desperate- largely on occupation. Marriage part- Indian origin in Sri Lanka. They are Lanka today should feel proud of the ly strive to patch the holes. Today, we ners are usually taken from persons also known as Hill country Tamils, contribution which his or her com- continue the series with the North of the same caste, preferably from Up-country Tamils or simply Indian munity has made towards the shap- Indian Sindhis. the children of the mother’s brother Tamils. They are partly descended ing and moulding of the Sri Lankan Sindhis: Sindhis are an Indo- or father’s sister. Monogamy is the from workers sent from South India Nation. If we stand together, united, Aryan language speaking socio-eth- rule, although in the 19th century to Sri Lanka in the 19th and 20th cen- According to anthropological evi- under ONE flag, as Sri Lankans, we nic group of people originating in among the Kandyans a man may turies to work in coffee, tea and rub- dence, Sri Lankan Tamils have lived will surely stand up and stand out Sind which is part of present day occasionally have had more than one ber plantations. Some also migrated on the Island since the Second centu- and flourish. It is desperately impor- Pakistan. Sindhis that live in wife or a woman more than one hus- on their own as merchants and as ry BCE. Most modern Sri Lankan tant that those who live here today Pakistan are predominantly Muslim, band. other service providers. These Tamil- Tamils descend from the Jaffna should recognize their contribution while many Sindhi Hindus emigrated The Sinhalese divide themselves speakers mostly live in the central Kingdom, a former kingdom in the and should be proud of it not as an to India when British India was into two groups, the “Up Country highlands, also known as the north of the island and Vannimai exclusive, superior or separate enti- divided in 1947. The Sri Lankan com- people” or Kandyan and the “Low Malayakam or the Hill Country yet chieftaincies from the east. They con- ty, but as ONE thread in the pattern munity had established itself here Country people.” The Kandyans others are also found major urban stitute a majority in the Northern we are striving so hard to weave. from early British times. inhabit the highlands of the south- areas and in the Northern Province. Province, live in significant numbers We should be able to live, unsuspi- Sindhis usually flourish in busi- central region and constitute 38 per- They are instrumental in the con- in the Eastern Province, and are in cious of each other, truly enjoying ness particularly that of cloth and cent of the Sinhalese and 25.8 per- tinuing viability and prosperity of the minority throughout the rest of the variety and diversity of this textiles. Most Hindu Sindhis are cent of the national population (as of the Plantation Sector economy. the country. mosaic of cultures. Appreciating identifiable by the “ani” at the end 1971). The Kandyan are the more con- Generally, their socio-economic stan- Sri Lankan Tamils are culturally our differences as the ingredients their last names like Ambani, servative of the two groups. dard of living is below that of the and linguistically distinct from the that contribute the ‘spice’ to the Hirdaramani, Lalvani, Bharwani, Culturally, religiously, and economi- National average. Politically they other two Tamil-speaking communi- indigenous ‘rice’ is the starting Motwani, Vaswani, Chellani, cally, they are closer to traditional have supported most of the ruling ties in Sri Lanka, the Indian Tamils point. Let’s dance to the hot, pulsat- Khubani . Sinhalese ways. coalitions since the 1980s. and the Sonakar Moors. Genetic ing rhythms of the Baila, the Sinhalese: Sinhalese are a people The Low Country people, who pri- Tamils, Sri Lanka: Sri Lankan studies indicate that they are most Kaffiringha and Manja and sing the who constitute the largest single marily occupy the southern and Tamil people or Ceylon Tamils are an closely related to the Sinhalese peo- lyrics in Sinhala, Tamil, Creole, or ethno-socio-cultural group on the western coastal regions, account for ethnic group native to the Island who ple than any other ethnic group, English and celebrate the life we Island. In the early 21st century the 62 percent of the Sinhalese and 42.8 predominantly speaks Tamil. with both groups sharing a common have. ! William de Silva... From page 9 He acknowledged that Buddhist mass- Gunawardena deviated from Industries and Fisheries. Meetiyagoda. He boosted the hand-loom later came to terms with the UNP, he left es too were an oppressed group in Sri International Marxist polemics and allied Philip Gunawardena and William de industry. His various incentives encour- the MEP. Lankan society. By 1954 from being a fig- itself with non-Marxist parties like the Silva were the force behind the nationali- aged private industry.

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