{"id":229843,"date":"2022-11-07T09:22:17","date_gmt":"2022-11-07T03:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=229843"},"modified":"2022-11-07T09:22:17","modified_gmt":"2022-11-07T03:52:17","slug":"review-of-the-vaddas-in-sri-lankan-history-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/review-of-the-vaddas-in-sri-lankan-history-society\/","title":{"rendered":"Review Of The V\u00e4ddas In Sri Lankan History & Society"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0R S Perinbanayagam<\/a>\u00a0\u2013<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Prof. R S Perinbanayagam<\/p><\/div>\n

The Creation Of The Hunter –\u00a0Gananath Obeyesekere<\/a><\/span> (Colombo: Sailfish Publications:2022).<\/em>\u00a0In earlier works Obeyesekere demolished the claims of both We<\/i>stern scholars and European colonizers that cannibalism was a general practice among the natives of some of the countries they sought to rule and exploit and with his work he de-apotheosized Captain Cook and his sanctification by some western scholars. In his work on Sri Lanka he was at it again. With his book on the Pattini cult and the practices at the temple in Kataragama, he challenged certain constructions about Sinhala society and its ethnic make-up and religious practices. In his work on Buddhism in modern Sri Lanka he showed how it was influenced by Protestant Christianity just as it did in Bengal, in the shape of the Brahma Samaj. And so on.<\/p>\n

Now, in another of his learned works Gananath Obeyesekere comes this time to challenge another thesis developed by many authors about the V\u00e4ddas of Sri Lanka and to provide an alternative, strictly evidence based, interpretation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He describes his approach in this mind-bogglingly detailed study of the V\u00e4ddas as follows:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The historical methodology I adopt is as follows.\u00a0 <\/span>It is impossible to deal with the long historical run of the V\u00e4dda presence in Sri Lanka without understanding their presence in more recent times.\u00a0 <\/span>Thus, I will focus on the Kandy period literature, particularly between the late 16<\/i>th<\/sup><\/i> and the early 19<\/i>th<\/sup><\/i> centuries, a period for which we have reasonable historical records.\u00a0 <\/span>Once we have this historical understanding, followed by the colonial intrusions, especially the disruptive British conquest of the Kandyan kingdom, and also our current fieldwork, we might be able to reach back to earlier times, albeit with extreme caution and tentativeness owing to the paucity of records.\u00a0 <\/span>The texts that I examine are not classical historical and literary works in Pali and Sinhala written by highly sophisticated literati, mostly monks, but rather those written by a village intelligentsia on palm leaf manuscripts (pus-kola pot) found nowadays in public and private collections.<\/i><\/p>\n

This methodological approach consists of using folk documents as sources of data. These documents are: bandaravalia, <\/i>and vamsa katha<\/i>(stories about given families), kadaim pot<\/i>( boundary records of given provinces) and vitti pots<\/i>(records of various events and episodes).This approach is indeed a revolutionary one with which to study Sri Lankan\u00a0 <\/span>historiography and is\u00a0 <\/span>certainly a\u00a0 <\/span>departure from the standard ones. These documents are just simple records of\u00a0 <\/span>given families and events as well as descriptions of territorial boundaries\u00a0 <\/span>and was not composed for the serene joy of the pious.1<\/sup><\/p>\n

This methodological approach allows Obeyesekere to explore a variety of issues: the territory inhabited by the Vaddas, the religious life of the\u00a0 <\/span>the Vaddas and the rituals they practiced, their connection to the cult of Pattini and to the temple to Murugan\/Skanda at Kataragama and its relationship to that of the Sinhalas, on Buddhism\u00a0 <\/span>and its\u00a0 <\/span>arrival in Sri Lanka\u00a0 <\/span>and its impact on Sri Lanka, the frequent connection to Southern Indian communities, the careers of various monarchs ,the role of the Vaddas in various local conflicts etc. Insofar as this is the case, it is impossible to deal with them all here and I will deal with the overarching theme of the work which is the story of the Vaddas. I will discuss Obeyesekere \u2019s work focusing on two themes: Who were the V\u00e4ddas? And what happened to them?<\/p>\n

Who were the V\u00e4ddas?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

One answer to the first question was given by two early anthropologists the Seligmans. Obeyesekere notes:<\/p>\n

C.G. and Brenda Z. Seligmann dealing with one of the world\u2019s most \u201cprimitive\u201d hunting and gathering groups, the V\u00e4ddas of Sri Lanka, published in 1911 their work entitled The V\u00e4ddas. It was one of the first systematic forays into ethnographic fieldwork\u2026\u00a0 <\/span>.<\/p>\n

The V\u00e4ddas, they imagined to be a wild man of the woods, clad only in a scanty loin cloth, carrying his bow and arrows on which he depended for his subsistence, simple and untrained, indeed, little removed from the very animals he hunted.\u00a0 <\/span>Nowadays many middle-class Sri Lankans have accepted a version of this image assisted by grotesque caricatures of the V\u00e4dda represented in the local media.<\/p>\n

Obeyesekere challenges these observations. In the opening chapter Obeyesekere shows the role the V\u00e4ddas played in the Kandyan kingdom. I will give a good example of this. Seeking support for a military campaign the King of Kandy tries to recruit some who can fight his battles. Obeyesekere reproduces one report:<\/p>\n

In order to seek help from his own region of Matale, he summoned Niyarepola Alahakon Mohottala, and asked him to name the denizens (that is, men and animals) of Matale and the reply, Your worship (hamudurvane) there are only three [noble] houses in the rata of Matale” and when the king asked what these houses were, “Your worship [hamuduruvane) there is Kulatunga Mudiyanse of Udupihilla, Vanigasekere Mudiyanse of Aluvihara, Candrasekere Mudiyanse of Dumbukola , [and then also] Gamage V\u00e4dda and Hampat V\u00e4dda of Hulangamuva, and when the king asked who are the people in the lands beyond – (epita rata), your worship, on the other side of the steep waters (hela-kandura) of Biridevela, there is Kannila V\u00e4dda in control of (hirakara hi\u1e6diya)\u00a0 <\/span>Kanangamuva, and Herat Banda in control of Nikakotuva, and Maha Tampala V\u00e4dda at Palapatvala, Domba V\u00e4dda at Dombavela-gama, Valli V\u00e4dda at Vallivela, Mahakavudalla V\u00e4dda at Kavudupalalla, Naiyiran V\u00e4dda [some texts Nayida] at Narangamuva, Imiya V\u00e4dda at Nalanda, Dippitiya Mahage [a female] controlling an area of nine gavuvas(leagues) in the district known as Nagapattalama, and Makara V\u00e4dda and Konduruva employed in the watch of the boundary (kadaima), Mahakanda V\u00e4dda controlling Kandapalla [today’s Kandapalla korale], Hempiti Mahage controlling Galevela, Baju Mahage controlling the Udasiya Pattuva of Udugoda Korale,\u00a0 <\/span>Minimutu Mahage controlling the [same] Pallesiya Pattuva, Devakirti Mahage controlling Melpitiya\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

One can\u2019t think of a better example of the integration of the V\u00e4ddas and the Sinhala people, and that some V\u00e4ddas shared high social status with the Sinhala others.–that is to say, they were not just primitive hunters and gatherers.<\/p>\n

Here is another example from Obeyesekere\u2019 s work that shows the integration of the Vaddas with the mainstream and that they like their Sinhala neighbors. have taken to agriculture.:<\/p>\n

The text goes on to say that King Prakramabahu (that is Vira Prakrama) gave the V\u00e4dda followers of Eriyave Malala V\u00e4dda equal proportions of land from the four sub-districts (hatara pattuva) of the Vanni and advised them not to quarrel among themselves.\u00a0 <\/span>Their lands were demarcated with stone markers, earth bunds and with fences made of sticks (that presumably will sprout).\u00a0 <\/span>The king also gave deeds of gift or sannas indicating that the lands were theirs \u201ctill the sun and moon lasted,\u201d a standard phrase in all such deeds.\u00a0 <\/span>When they were given the lands they were now to be called vanni unn\u00e4h\u00e4la or \u201clords of the Vanni\u201d by royal command and they were entitled to dues and\/or services from villages of carpenters (k \u1e6d\u1e6d\u00a0 <\/span>badda), washer folk (rada-badda), drummers (berava-badda), and villages that have unspecified new sources of services (nava-badda).\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

It is clear from these descriptions that the Vaddas were not isolated from the mainstream society but were an essential part of it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Where have all the V\u00e4ddas gone?<\/p>\n

The numbers of the Vadda people have dwindling seriously over the years\u00a0 <\/span>leading to this question.<\/p>\n

Here is Obeyesekere\u2019 s summary:
\n\u201cI want to make a preliminary conclusion by addressing the implications of the physical omnipresence of the V\u04d3ddas, if not their demographic significance, in a tentative manner.\u00a0 <\/span>Let me emphasize that as far as Sri Lanka was concerned there were no \u201cindigenous peoples,\u201d no \u201caborigines,\u201d no \u201cwild men\u201d and \u201ctribes\u201d of the Western imagination.\u00a0 <\/span>I am as much an \u201caborigine\u201d as anyone else and as genetically and culturally hybrid<\/i>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nowadays, we are accustomed to think that the main structural opposition in history is between Sinhalas and Tamils. Yet, this oppositional relationship is a historically contingent one, that is, it depends on particular historical circumstances such that periods of Sinhala-Tamil opposition might be followed by alliances expressive of amity; or both opposition and amity might co-exist in the same time span; at other times neither opposition nor amity seem to matter and both communities went on \u201cliving and partly living\u201d if I might borrow a well-known phrase.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Obeyesekere\u2019 s conclusion about the significance of his work in modern Sri Lanka needs to be quoted in full:<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, we hope that this research questions the current nationalist ideology of the Sinhala-Buddhists that Sri Lanka was an exclusive Buddhist civilization.\u00a0 <\/span>I hope to eventually demonstrate that the non-Buddhist V\u00e4ddas were a powerful visible presence although their approximate numbers cannot be calculated.\u00a0 <\/span>Contrary to early European and current Buddhist prejudice we shall show that there was a constant interplay between V\u00e4ddas and Sinhala Buddhists, such that over historical time V\u00e4ddas could become Sinhala Buddhists and Sinhala Buddhists could become V\u00e4ddas.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Another of his observations deserves to be quoted too:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis leads to my final point: if V\u04d3dda versus Sinhala was a structural opposition of the long run and a historically consistent phenomenon, the opposition between Tamil and Sinhala was historically contingent, and only emerges when Tamilness is associated with false belief or heresy.\u00a0 <\/span>Otherwise, Tamil affinity, in its technical sense, is intrinsic to Sinhala-ness and this is primordially recognized in the Vijaya story of Sinhala origins.\u00a0 <\/span>The historically contingent oppositional feature against which the Sinhala place themselves is the Tamil-Shaivite one and that also when it is expressed in terms of invasion or conquest.\u00a0 <\/span>This is in radical contrast to the oppositional dialectic of Tamil and Sinhala nationalism of our own day.\u00a0 <\/span>However, the Kandyan discourse, as with contemporary nationalism, anchors the discourse on the exemplary example of “kings of yore.”\u00a0 <\/span>Is this an invention of tradition or a truth about history or both?<\/i><\/p>\n

He observes in conclusion:<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, we hope that this research questions the current nationalist ideology of the Sinhala-Buddhists that Sri Lanka was an exclusive Buddhist civilization.\u00a0 <\/span>I hope to eventually demonstrate that the non-Buddhist V\u00e4ddas were a powerful visible presence although their approximate numbers cannot be calculated.\u00a0 <\/span>Contrary to early European and current Buddhist prejudice we shall show that there was a constant interplay between V\u00e4ddas and Sinhala Buddhists, such that over historical time V\u00e4ddas could become Sinhala Buddhists and Sinhala Buddhists could become V\u00e4ddas<\/i>.\u201d1<\/sup><\/i><\/p>\n

This work, ostensibly about the V\u00e4ddas, is much more than that: It is, to begin with, about the heterogeneous\u00a0 <\/span>composition of Lankan society with the Sinhala society as the dominant one but the Sinhalas contain former and current V\u00e4ddas, Indians such as the Mallalas from Malladesa, Malayalees from Kerala, Tamils from Tamil Nadu, many of whom came as soldiers to fight for the local kings and some were given land grants in return for their services and stayed\u00a0 <\/span>behind.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Obeyesekere further challenges the simple use of the logic of structuralist theories. While its basic premises, in my view, are not disputable, it can be used in crude and mechanical ways: the civilized (we) and savages (they), we (eaters of animals and birds) and they (eaters of each other), we (have great literature and you don\u2019t.) George Babington McCauley famously said:”A single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia.\u201d And so it goes.<\/p>\n

Clearly anthropologising Sri Lanka through empirical studies, with both historical data and studies of modern times have inestimable value in every imaginable way and this work is a signal example of the contribution that such studies can make to dispel misconceptions as well as ideological reconstructions.2<\/sup><\/p>\n

NOTES<\/sup><\/p>\n

1. Obeyesekere discusses these topics with due regard to evidence and connects them to the larger story of Sri Lanka while keeping faith with his theme of the search for the hunter. The documents from which he draws his information were composed in the immediacy of the people and the events they describe and have a strong claim to authenticity.<\/p>\n

One may add these documents are in many ways comparable the Doomsday Book\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>from England and the Scottish Chronicles and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,.<\/p>\n

2. One can see also the use of the Vaddas and their relations with the Sinhala people in Leonard Woolf\u2019s novel The Village in the Jungle<\/i>.It\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>shows\u00a0 <\/span>the Sinhala characters treating the Vadda people with contempt To treat them thus, it is\u00a0 <\/span>obvious that they were not isolated in jungle habitats but part of the community. Further, Woolf\u2019s characters both the Vaddas and the Sinhalas are shown to be hunting for their sustenance. It seems to me that Woolf was describing not only a village in the jungle but also jungle in the village! Woolf must surely know since he was king of Beddagama\u2014or at least the agent of King George of England!<\/p>\n

*Robert Sidharthan Perinbanayagam –\u00a0Professor of Sociology (emeritus),\u00a0Hunter College of the City University of New York<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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