Dr. O.T.M.R.K.S.B. Kalawana 1st year MD Scholar Department of Kaumarbhritya IPGT & RA, Gujarat Ayurved University Jamnagar, • Sri Lankan aborigine community takes a special place among the indigenous folks of the . • The meaning of the word Vedda is The hunter. • They live in Dambana, a remote jungle village of . • The population of the Dambana is now consisting of only about 350 families of indigenous Vedda people. • As a different group of people they have their own way of living according to their physical, psychological, social and economical environment. • That is more different with the normal Sri Lankan life. • The culture of those comes from generation to generation for thousands of years. • But it is today likely to be fade away due to the tide of globalization. Puberty • The term used for puberty in their language is “Kotahalu Weema”. Generally menarche is occurred at the age of 11 – 15 years. • But there was only one woman who had menarche at the age of 7 years and another woman at the age of 18 years. Customs followed by the menarche • Veddas don’t consider about an auspicious time for the events of the menarche. • Just soon after the signs of menarche is seen, the girl is given a bathe under a tree, contains latex and which is called ‘Kiri Gaha’. • Most commonly a Jack fruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) is used for that. • Then she is taken in to a hut, which has been made near her house known as ‘Kili Geya / Kili Pela’. • The girl has to stay in this hut for a period of 3-9 days. Her mother or another old lady stays with her in the hut. • They are singing special songs called ‘Was Kavi’ in this period. • She is given various yams, mixed curry prepared with 07 vegetables called ‘Hath Maluwa’, raagi, corn, bee’s honey and venison & meat of iguana. But beef is not given. • Those girls are not given a chance to meet boys during this period. • After 9 days the girl is taken in to home again after giving a bathe. • Then the hut is burnt with all the clothes and items used by her during that period. • But due the gradual changes of the Veddas’ culture; as a result of modern social influences, some Veddas have a small celebration on that day. Customs followed by the menstruation • The term used is ‘Mase maaru weema’. • The girl has to live in the ‘Kili Geya’ , a hut made outside the house. • They don’t associate with males during menstruation. • They are having a bath daily and several times per day. • During this period they don’t participate in any religious activities. • They don’t eat sour foods and fish during the menstruation. • For the menstrual pain they are doing ‘Yaathu Karma’ by chanting a lime and drinking it. • They also take some home remedies such as medicated water boiled with Darvee (Coscinium fenestratum), Methi (Trigonella foenum-gracum L) and Dhanyaka (Coriandrum sativum)’ to relieve the pain. Marriage • After the menarche the girl is considered as fitting for marrying. • The Veddas’ marriage ceremony is a very simple affair. • Ritual consists of the bride ties a rope made by her own by twisting a bark of a tree, which is called diya lanuva , around the waist of the bridegroom. • This is the fundamental nature of the Veddas marriage and is symbolized the bride's acceptance of the man as her mate and life partner. • Although marriage between cross-cousins was the norm until recently, this has been changed significantly, with Vedda women are now getting married with their neighbors. Pregnancy period • Most of women are not following any monthly regimen during pregnancy period. • Pregnant mothers are given specially prepared food with hoof of deer & samburs, eggs & tail of iguana and other wild animals’ meat, seeds of breadfruit (Artocarpus nobilis), green gram, yams, leafy green vegetables and bees honey. • But they are not given Bhraamara honey and meat of the hedgehog. They believe that if pregnant mother eats those foods, the fetus become somnolent. • Pregnant women do some religious things like wearing a thread or applying oil chanted with special ‘Manthras’. • The gender of the fetus can be found before the delivery, by using prophesy. • During the whole pregnancy period women are attending the day to day works at home like cooking, bringing water, pounding rice, etc. And also they are attending farming, collecting fire-woods, food materials from the jungle too. • But they don’t cut woods and bring water while holding the water pot on the hip during pregnancy. Child Delivery • Up to the present time the child delivery has been taken place in their houses itself by an experienced adult woman called ‘Willambuwa’ • When doing a baby delivery at the home, mother take an aid of a rope ‘Wili Lanuwa / Bada Lanuwa’ tightening to the joist of the roof. She is straining while holding this rope as a support. • After the delivery this rope is tied around the mother’s abdomen in order to prevent protrusion. • If the delivery is belated or mother is having more pain they do some rituals like ‘Manthra, Kem Karma (secret treatment), tie holy threads to mother and pray for devil spirits. • They use a sharp blade of a knife for cutting the umbilical cord. They heat the blade with fire flame for sterilization. • paste of Beejaka (Pterocarpus marsupium) is applied on the cut end of the umbilical stump. • For the condition of retain placenta, medicinal fomentation is used. • After the delivery, smoke of leaves of Citrus family is applied to the vagina. The oil called ‘Deli thel’ prepared with burnt Harithaki (Terminalia chebula) is applied to prevent bleeding. Some herbal paste is applied for healing the wound. • Mother is given the rice with special gravy prepared with garlic (Allium sativum),pepper (Piper nigrum), ginger ( Zingiber officinale), curry leaves (Murraya koenigii), and Vrikshamla (Garcinia cambogia). • Coffee is given to drink . • Magosa Oil is also given to prevent ‘Sanni Roga’ . • There were three old birth attendants (Willambuwa) and among them one woman was very special. She was 98 years old and has assisted nearly 1500 deliveries. • There was also one Vedda woman who delivered 9 children without any assistant. She had taken a help from her husband only for cutting the umbilical cord. Now she is 65 years old and still in a good health condition without any gynecological disorder like uterine prolaps, backache.etc. and that all 9 children are healthy too. • But at present, 100% of child deliveries are done at the government hospital. Pregnant women have been instructed to attend for the anti natal clinic of the general hospital, too. • The authorities have banned the home deliveries and if Veddas don’t obey that rule a case will be filed against them and will be punished. • But many adult women especially the midwives women totally repudiate that rules. Preventive measures / ‘raksha karma’ for the new born • At present all of them have to follow the national immunization programme according to the instruction given by the hospital. • And also first nine days they use some traditional preventive measures to protect their baby from the ‘devils’. • Burnt Harithaki (T. chebula) mixed with Magosa oil is applied to the umbilical sepsis. • They are given Vacha (Acorus calamus L.) for the neonates on first 2-3 months. • After three months baby is given medicated water boiled with Ajamoda (Trachyspermum involucratum) and brahmi (Bacopa monnieri)’. • In case of excessive crying of the baby and the lack of breast milk they use special ‘Mantras’. • Some religious activity called, ‘Kiri Koraha Nateema’and ‘Devatha Madu Nateema’ (special dancing with playing drums) is done for the protection of neonates & mothers. • For the small Vedda community it is indeed a struggle in between maintaining their traditional way of life and the encroaching demands of the modern world. • Although the Veddas were originally hunters; nowadays Veddas have been engaged in Chena cultivation and other commercial activities with restricted by the authorities. • When considering their food habits, it seems that they are having highly nutritious foods which give more energy for maintaining their life in the jungle. • But due to the influence of modern society young Veddas have used to a sedentary life and to consume artificial foods and hence there a threat of having diabetes, hypertension, obesity, etc among the Vedda community . • When comparing their own procedures for gynecological and obstetrical events with Ayurvedic methods there are some variations. • As an example, according to the Ayurveda, girls are not allowed to have full bath during menstruation. But Vedda women are bathing daily. They don’t control oily foods and meats but According to the Ayurveda those foods are not given during menstruation. In Ayurveda there is a special monthly regimen for pregnancy period. But it couldn’t be observed in Veddas. • According the experience of the midwife who attended more than 1500 deliveries there was not any single still birth or neonatal death during the labor. It shows that because of Vedda women have nutritious diet and engage in many hard works up to the date of delivery, their pelvic muscles would be relaxed and engaging of fetal head also occurred properly. • It is clear that they also have a very good knowledge regarding the medicinal plants. As in Ayurveda they are also giving vacha, brahmi to the new born baby. • It was observed that although they have effective traditional treatment for many disorders, they didn’t like to tell the remedies. • It clears that their unique approaches for gynecological and obstetrical events and traditional treatment methods for the related medical problems are very suitable to their social life in the jungle. • 21st century is a transient period of them. The Veddas are so influenced by the imposing dominant culture which is a risk of losing their traditions and what has been their livelihood for centuries. • However they remain determined that their way of life will continue for the future generations and to survive not only as a people but also as a culture. • It can be concluded that there are effective unique approaches for gynecological and obstetrical events and traditional treatment methods for the related medical problems. • But due to imposing modern health rules and regulations and commercialization those procedures and their traditional way of living is being disappeared gradually from Veddas. • But as one of the indigenous folks of the world, necessary steps should be taken in order to safeguard of this Vedda community. • Language problem • Shyness of the old Vedda women and they do not prefer to talk with visitors • Many of them had attended their livelihood formalities

• Senaratna, L.K., (ed.), 2001, A check list of the flowering plants of Sri Lanka, National Science Foundation of Sri Lanka.