IIAS | P.O. Box 9515 | 2300 RA Leiden | The Netherlands | T +31-71-527 2227 | F +31-71-527 4162 | [email protected] | www.iias.nl Website: www.IIAS.nl (fragment) <Theme: (1995). Harsh Goenka, Bombay. Bombay. Goenka, Harsh (1995). Psychiatry in Asia Dr. Patels’s Clinic-Lamington Road Clinic-Lamington Patels’s Dr. Atul Dodiya, Dodiya, Atul 30 page 6-11 March 2003 | the IIAS newsletter is published by the IIAS and is available free of charge ¶ p.33 From Aristocrats to Primitives An Interview with Gananath Obeyesekere Gananath Obeyesekere lives on a mountaintop in Kandy. From his eyrie he has a sweeping panorama of the Interview > eastern hills of Sri Lanka, and it is in those hills where the wild Veddas were once supposed to have lived, 7 South Asia according to Sri Lankan histories and stories. These Veddas are the focus of his present research. By Han ten Brummelhuis happened to the Veddas who once lived in this part of the country? he genealogy of Obeyesekere’s research project can be ‘Then, as my fieldwork and thinking progressed, I asked Ttraced back to a classic work, The Veddas, written by myself: if the Veddas were in this vast region north of the area The connection between algebra and Asia is laid bare laid is Asia and algebra between connection The Charles and Brenda Seligmann in 1911. The Veddas were first in which the Seligmanns did their fieldwork, let me figure ¶ recognized in anthropological terms as a classic hunting and out whether they existed in other parts of the country, too. So Roald Maliangkay reviews the first English language book language English first the reviews Maliangkay Roald p. 14 p. gathering society. Edward Tylor, in his textbook on anthro- I probed the sixteenth-century classic literature and poetry Both Jemma Purdey and Bernard Adeney-Risakotta examine the examine Adeney-Risakotta Bernard and Purdey Jemma Both pology (1881), refers to them as ‘shy wild men’, or primitives, written by Buddhist monks and other erudite scholars. And ¶ In A Martyr’s Tale [2], IIAS fellow Ken Hammond tells the story of a of story the tells Hammond Ken fellow IIAS [2], Tale Martyr’s A In living by hunting and gathering. The Seligmanns, however, some of their texts refer to Veddas in other parts of the coun- ¶ pioneered with one of the first field studies of any group from try, for example, roughly around Sri Pada – sometimes known p. 17 p. Koen De Ceuster wonders whether Korean historians are shedding light shedding are historians Korean whether wonders Ceuster De Koen p.3 the British side of our discipline. C.G. Seligmann and W.H.R. as Adam’s Peak – where the sacred footprint of the Buddha Rivers were the first systematic fieldworkers who, in turn, is embedded. Other texts speak of Veddas in the very south taught the two great anthropologists Radcliffe-Brown and of Sri Lanka which is now entirely – and passionately – Sin- ¶ Malinowski, the founding fathers of British Social Anthro- hala Buddhist. Another text refers to Veddas living about > Publications > pology. twenty miles south of the main city of Colombo which is p 24-25 p ‘What I found puzzling about the Seligmanns’ study is that unthinkable as a Vedda habitat nowadays, except symboli- Eurasians in India are the living proof of a blurry divide between colonizer and colonized. [3]. colonized. and colonizer between divide blurry a of proof living the are India in Eurasians ¶ the Veddas were confined by them to a small area in the cally, I suppose, if one were to designate capitalism as a form Debra Diamond visited the traveling exhibition of Chola Bronzes [5] and places these statues in statues these places and [5] Bronzes Chola of exhibition traveling the visited Diamond Debra northern and eastern part of the country called Bintanna, ‘the of hunting and gathering.’ p.15 flat lands.’ Unfortunately, given that their work was still root- Obeyesekere also re-examined some of the ritual texts Nina Cichocki shows the connection between the work of Irans leading sculptor, Parviz Tanavoli and Tanavoli Parviz sculptor, leading Irans of work the between connection the shows Cichocki Nina > In this edition this In > ed in the nineteenth-century preoccupation with the primi- which he had worked on some twenty or thirty years ago. ¶ Freek Colombijn and Peter Nas attend us to the intentions and planning beyond largely unchecked mega- unchecked largely beyond planning and intentions the to us attend Nas Peter and Colombijn Freek tive, the two Seligmanns were out to find the ‘pure’ Veddas; These texts also referred to Veddas as living in different ¶ p.41 and of course they didn’t find any. This was a kind of futile parts of the country. In one fascinating post-harvest ritual p.42 quest, because ultimately only four families, who were living the priest (never the monk) recites an invocation known as in utterly desperate economic and social conditions, were ‘the roll-call of the Veddas’ in which he lists about ninety found to approximate their ideal. Looking from my balcony Vedda villages in a fairly large area north and south of With his review of Moral Tales Nile Green provides a valuable insight in the rich universe of Indian storytelling [4], storytelling Indian of universe rich the in insight valuable a provides Green Nile Tales Moral of review his With ¶ ¶ up on my hilltop, I know that the mountainous area north of Kandy, and some settlements in the heart of the city of p.49 the Seligmanns’ field site was known in ancient Sinhala texts Kandy itself. Further enquiries led Obeyesekere to believe p.30 of nearly three hundred years ago as ‘the Vedda country,’ or that when the city of Kandy was founded in the fifteenth 123456 as ‘the great [maha] Vedda country’, a huge expanse of well century it was a Vedda village named Katupulle, the chief The essence of being good in Tantric Buddhism, lies in being bad. being in lies Buddhism, Tantric in good being of essence The > Asian art & cultures & art Asian > over a thousand square miles. But in my wanderings and of that village being known as Katupulle Vedda. Very much ¶ meanderings in that latter region I found that there are no later, Kandyan texts mention a group of police officers called urbanization [7]. urbanization on Korean film Korean on connection between power and violence in Indonesia. in violence and power between connection on the nations recent history or are merely adding to the confusion [1]. confusion the to adding merely are or history recent nations the on China. post-communist in rehabilitation his and official dynasty Ming willed strong p 16 p a tradition of worship and beauty. beauty. and worship of tradition a traditional Persian writing. [6]. writing. Persian traditional in Frits Staal’s article on Artificial Languages. Artificial on article Staal’s Frits in Veddas today; all who live there claim to be Sinhala Bud- katupulle; the same term. dhists. So the question that posed itself to me was: whatever continued on page 3 > > Editorial > Burmese heritage ver to ver rease of rease g to dis- to g vidence’, terface of terface es such as such es some of the of some s. Director’s Note on ASEM gap between gap y – to accept to – y ence towards ence oach towards oach Since its inception in 1996 the Asia-Europe Meeting has made real progress. The main Waltraud Ernst, Waltraud prospective stu- prospective Director’s components of ASEM, which has thus far been organized on an informal basis, are economic field is best deter- best is field note > cooperation, political dialogue, and education and culture (the so-called three pillars). Certain progress can be said to have been made in all three of these domains, in particular in the economic domain (on trade and investment issues) and in the cultural field, in which the Asia- . The existence of (outside) of existence The . Europe Foundation is very active. The political pillar, however, has delivered fewer results. The parties involved consider the ASEM process as a way to deepen relations between Asia and Europe and as such it is a time-consuming, sensitive exercise in building mutual confidence. Progress on second domain themes, such as good governance, human rights, sustainable par excellence par environment, and the rule of law, can only be made on the basis of trust still today. Yet, there are undeniable signs indicating an increasing readiness, on both sides, to discuss these topics, thus I believe the investment in time to have been worthwhile. By Wim Stokhof sion will probably be taken at the sixth ASEM summit in Hanoi. Meanwhile, he slowly growing process of rap- given the additional EC proposal to T prochement between Asia and enlarge ASEM by accepting India, Aus- Europe is, however, being endangered tralia, and New Zealand, we may won- by recent developments. As we all der in all seriousness what kind of know, the current fifteen EU member organization the EC and its partners states have invited ten countries from have in mind. Central and Eastern Europe to join the Of course, such a proliferation of union. This EU enlargement will members will confront this relatively undoubtedly have far-reaching conse- young configuration of countries with quences for the ASEM process. It can all sorts of practical problems. In fact, be expected that these countries will, in I fear that the often praised interactivi- due time, express their interest in par- ty and informality of the ASEM process ticipating in the Asia-Europe dialogue. will eventually prove an obstacle to a On several occasions and informally, clear and focused exchange of ideas.