Veddas - now only a household name
( The Veddas, our
aborigines are almost now extinct. According to anthropoligists,
Dr. Seligman and his wife, Brenda who researched our aborigines
in 1910 the Veddas descended from the Australoid, Negrod Indian
races as described in their book, 'The Veddas’ (1910). Prior
to the coming of Prince Vijaya and his 700 followers, Lanka as
it was then called was inhabited by two fierce tribes, the Nagas
(cobra worshippers), Yakkas (demon worshippers). The former confined
to the coastal belt while the latter to interior of the jungles.)
The ways of the Veddhas ( extracts from the book 'Souvenirs
Of A Forgotten Heritage (1990) by Gamini G. Punchihewa )
Vedda Burials ( The traditional burials of the rock veddas
(Gal-Veddas) who lived in rock caves and hunted game were to
leave them dead in the cave covered with leaves and branches
and this occupy a fresh cave and return to the cave where the
body was abandoned after a lapse of a year or two )
The Kirikoraha Vedda Dance ( The Kiri Koraha ceremony was a bizarre
dance, to appease the evil spirits of the night and day, that
haunted their silent forest )
The story of the seven Vedda brothers
( Seven vedda brothers,
armed with bows and arrows and short axes slung across their
sinewy shoulders had set out hunting along well known game trails
of the jungle fastness )
The Veddha Sanctuary ( The true story of Kombi - daughter
of jungle outlaw Tissahamy of 'Savage Sanctuary' )
Idambowa the santuary of outlaw Tissahamy
( Idambowa means,
'productive land'. Dr. Spittel in his 'savage Sanctuary' describes
Idambowa: ''They wandered Tissahamy and Menike, eating whatever
they came by and resting under the trees )
Seetha Eliya ( The Ramayana introduces King Ravana
as a mighty flamboyant King of Lanka. King Ravana was a devotee
of god Siva the holder of Pushparaga the chariot. It was Ravana
who seized Seetha from Parnasalai in India, the holy hut of Rama
and was brought to Asok Vana, a beautiful park at Seetha-Eliya
on the Pushparaga, an air chariot - without touching her )
The 'Avatars' - deities down to earth( According to the accepted belief,
an 'avatar' is the descent of a deity down to earth in visible
embodiment. This earth emanation or the down coming of deities,
in their different manifestation, is characteristic of Hinduism,
and particularly associated with God Vishnu, the second godhead
of the Hindu 'Trimurti' or the Divine Triad )
50 years of Sri Lankan Tamil literature
( Since the
ethnic riots of 1983, the pattern of life has changed in the
Tamil-majority northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka and these
changes have inevitably been reflected in recent Sri Lankan Tamil
literature. )