The average Wanniyala-aetto family size is six persons. Generally, residence is patrilocal. Descent is traced bilaterally. Marriage is preferred between patrilateral cousins, although anyone but the father’s brother’s child can be a potential spouse. A Wanniyala-aetto hamlet may involve three to nine families clustered together, each family in its own house. An average family includes a husband, wife and approximately three children.
Each group is named for local topography. Those dwelling near “mora” berries (Nephelium longana) are the Morana Warige. The people of the grasslands (“talawa”) are the Tala Warige.
Men were trained to use the bow, track animals, listen and interpret sounds of the nature, engage physical and mental activity and skills related to hunting. Adult women were the primary caretakers of the children. A child might be nursed until the age of four to five years – this prolonged lactation served as a method of birth control (Stegeborn 1993).
There was always someone at the house who took care of the youngest children, either an older sibling or someone from the extended family.
Stegeborn (1993) described in details the relationships with a dog. The hunting dog was a life-long partner, it was playmate for the children when it was a puppy and the disciplined companion of the hunter when it had become an adult. A well-trained dog knew when to bark and when to be quiet. The dog had to warn the house if elephants approach, but it had not been allowed to bark. It ran inside the house, sniffed its owner and danced around until everybody was alert. Stegeborn (ibid.) supposed that barking would have attracted the elephants to the hamlet because they seem to connect the dog with cultivation, and recognize that the barking sound means food, and perhaps salt from burned hearth wood. The domestic dog spent its life like any other member of the Wanniyala-aetto family, “the only difference is that he sleeps outside at night” (ibid.).
Veddas of Henebedda village (Nilgala district) belonged to Namadewa warige at the time of Seligmanns’ research (1911) lived in bark-covered huts, gather honey and hunt, several of them possess guns, and some of them rear cattle for the Sinhalese villagers. But Bailey (1863) first induced some Veddahs in the Nilgala district to make chenas (cultivated rain-fed lands) about the middle of the 19th century, before which all the Veddahs in this district were probably living their natural hunting and gathering life. While Veddahs of Danigala village of the same district were named as the classical “wild Veddahs”, at the time of Seligmanns’ research (1911) their own customs have been almost entirely forgotten. They have had chena and banana plantation and did a good trade in cattle both by herding for the Sinhalese (in case of herding received every fifth calf that born).
A number of Morane men stated that their ancestors came from Moranegala in the Eastern Province, but no Unapane man ever suggested that his clan had originally come from the place of that name near Kallodi. “Moranegala” is a hill name, and probably the hill has been named from the mora trees (Nephelium longana) which it may be assumed grew there, so that “Moranegala” means “the hill of the mora trees”, and it might be argued that Morane warige derived it’s name from the mora tree. In songs, collected at Sitala Wanniya, both men and women of Morane warige are addressed as “mora flowers” (Deschamps 1892).
A number of the Veddahs were politically organized in the 16th century and that one of the most important of their chiefs, described in a contemporary manuscript as “Panikki”, was appointed to the high office of Bandara Mudiyanse. It is recorded that Panniki the Veddah caught elephants and took them to the king (Mesuruer 1886).
The Wanniyala-aetto can be classified as sedentary people, as they generally stay at one place for several years. Normally the group moves together and the new site is located quite near the old one.
Seligmans (Seligman 1911) give the information about the mobility of Veddah. Their residental moves per year are 3 times, average distance is 11,2 km (with total distance of 36,3 km). Logistical mobility is zero days and primary biomass is 17,2 kg per square meter. Total area of mobility is 41 square kilometers.
COASTAL VEDDAHS
The Veddah community in the east, often referred to as “Muhudu Veddah” or “Veddahs of the sea”, reside mainly in the Districts of Trincomalee and Batticaloa. Despite being intrinsically connected to the “original inhabitants of the land”, this community bears very little resemblance to the original Veddahs. The Veddahs themselves have a belief that they migrated from the inlands, being driven from their native Sabaragamuwa during the 17th century.
The Coastal Veddahs are often referred to as “Vardar”, “Vardaa” or “Vedar”. They are also referred to as “Palaya aalkal” (“ancient people”), a term ethnic Tamils fall back to when referring to a Veddah. Veddahs themselves prefer referring to them as “Vedar”, “Vedar Vellar” or just simply “Veddahs”. Canagaratnam considered the Vedar as a separate caste among the Tamil community itself (Canagaratnam 1921).
The title “Vellalar” is associated with the Tamil caste system prevalent in the north and the east. According to the caste hierarchical system, the Vellalar are an elite caste, thereby they receive privileges that are not associated with those of the lower castes. The Vellalar caste represents farmers, who are considered the highest of all castes apart from the Brahmins in the north of the country. This linkage with the title of Vellalar has helped the Veddah to shun his natural identity resulting in some acceptance within modern society. However, upon close inspection one would find out that this term has not been associated with Veddahs of the previous generation.
The older generation of Veddahs, despite not being able to give a clear date or place of their arrival in the coast, were of the opinion that their forefathers migrated to the coast of the country from a place with the name of “Gala” (“stone”). Taking the above into consideration, we can assume that these Veddahs migrated from either Dimbulagala or Nilgala, habitats situated close to the Batticaloa District. The Coast Veddahs do not know when they came or how they came, but they say that long ago their ancestors came from Gala, far beyond the hills to the west. They also sometimes say they came from Kukulugam near the Verukal, other suppose it to be somewhere far away.
Seligmanns (1911) suggested that the Coastal Veddahs and the Veddahs from Dimbulagala share certain similarities, including affiliation to the “Aembalawa” clan and this is used as a tool to evidence the relationships between the Veddahs of Dimbulagala and the Coastal Veddahs, thereby refuting the claim that they were in fact driven away from Sabaragamuwa Province in the 17th century.
Seligmanns wrote that “The Coast Veddahs do not know when they came or how they came, but they say that long ago their ancestors came from the Gala, far beyond the hills to the west. They also sometimes say they came from Kukulu-gammaeda and spread out along the coast. Some say this is near Verukal; others suppose it to be somewhere far away” (Seligmann 1911).
When due recognition is given to empirical data it can be deduced that the origins of the Coastal Veddahs can be traced back to the 13th and 14th centuries. During that period, ethnic Sinhalese dominated the dwellings of Batticaloa and Hugh Neville’s research shows a presence of Coastal Veddahs during that time (Neville 1887). But Seligmanns stated (1911) that the Coastal Veddah settlements was limited to the north of Batticaloa. According to his discovery, the Nadukadu Record goes on to state that when Mudliyar Rajapakshe visits Batticaloa, he brings with him two Veddahs akin to modern day bodyguards. The reason was his fear of attack from another Veddah clan, which resided in an area then known as Palwekam. There is also a record of the visit of King Senarath to the eastern coast. During this visit it is said that the Veddah of the “Vegoda” clan played the role of “obedient servant”