Total population
8 to 10 million
Regions with significant populations
Albania: 70,000[citation needed]
Argentina: 300,000[citation needed]Bosnia and Herzegovina:17,000[citation needed]Brazil: 678,000[1]Bulgaria:313,000 (1992 census), 700,000 - 800,000 est[2]Croatia: 14,000[3]Czech Republic: 12,000[4]; 300,000 according to NGOs FranceFinland: 10,000[5]Germany: 100,000 (mostly Sinti)[citation needed]Greece: 200,000 according to the Greek government; 300,000-350,000 according to the Greek Helsinki Monitor [6]Hungary: 190,046 (2001 census), 500,000 est.[6]Iran: 110,000[7]ItalyRepublic of Macedonia: 53,879[8]MoldovaPoland: 15,000–50,000 est.[9]Portugal: 40,000[10]Romania: 535,140 (2002 census), Independent estimates range from 1 to 2 million people[11]Russia: 183,000[12]Serbia, MontenegroSlovakia: 92,500[13]Spain: 600,000–800,000 est.[14]Turkey: 2-5 million[15][16]United Kingdom: 1,000[citation needed]Ukraine: 48,000[17]
Language
Romani, languages of native region
Religion
Christianity, Islam
Related ethnic groups
Doms, Domba, Lyuli, Europeans and Indo-Aryans.
The Roma People (singular Rom; sometimes Rroma, Rrom), sometimes called "Romany Folk" in the United Kingdom, often referred to as Gypsies or Gipsies, are a diverse ethnic group who live primarily in Southern and Eastern Europe, Western Asia, Latin America, the southern part of the United States and the Middle East. They are believed to have originated mostly from the Punjab and Rajasthan regions of India. They began their migration to Europe and North Africa via the Iranian plateau around 1050.[18]
Traditionally most Roma spoke Romani (Romany), an Indo-Aryan language. Today, however, most Roma speak the dominant language of their region of residence.
Contents[hide]
1 Population
2 History
3 Society and culture
3.1 Religion
3.2 Music
4 Language
5 Etymology
6 Genetics
7 Relations with other peoples
7.1 Persecution
7.2 Assimilation
7.3 Roma and crime
7.4 Roma in Central and Eastern Europe
7.5 Roma in Spain
7.6 Roma in Israel
8 Fictional representations of Roma
9 Groups in Europe sometimes mistaken for Roma
10 Notes
11 References
12 See also
13 Further reading
14 External links
14.1 Non-governmental organisations
14.2 Roma news media sources
14.3 Museums and Libraries
[edit] Population
Worldwide, there are an estimated 8 to 10 million Roma, most of whom reside in Europe. Although the largest Roma populations are found in the Balkan peninsula, significant numbers may also be found in the Americas, the former Soviet Union, Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.
The Roma recognize divisions among themselves based in part on territorial, cultural and dialectal differences. Some authorities[citation needed] recognize five main groups:
Kalderash are the most numerous, traditionally coppersmiths, from the Balkans, many of whom migrated to central Europe and North America;
Gitanos (also called Calé) mostly in the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa, and southern France; associated with entertainment;
Sinti (also known as Manush) mostly in Alsace and other regions of France and Germany; often travelling showmen and circus people;
Romnichal (Rom'nies) mainly in Britain and North America; and
Erlides (also known as Yerlii or Arli) settled in Southeastern Europe and Turkey.
Each of these main divisions may be further divided into two or more subgroups distinguished by occupational specialization or territorial origin, or both. Some of these group names are: Machvaya (Machwaya), Lovari, Churari, Rudari, Boyash, Ludar, Luri, Xoraxai, Ungaritza, Bashaldé, Ursari and Romungro.
[edit] History
Main article: History of the Roma people
First arrival of the Roma outside Berne in the 15th century, described by the chronicler as getoufte heiden "baptized heathens" and drawn with dark skin and wearing Saracen style clothes and weapons (Spiezer Schilling, p. 749).
Linguistic and genetic evidence indicates the Roma originated on the Indian Subcontinent[7]. The cause of the Roma diaspora is unknown. One theory suggests the Roma were originally low-caste Hindus recruited into an army of mercenaries, granted warrior caste status, and sent westwards to resist Islamic military expansion. Or perhaps the Muslim conquerors of northern India took the Roma as slaves and brought them home, where they became a distinct community; Mahmud of Ghazni reportedly took 500,000 prisoners during a Turkish/Persian invasion of Sindh and Punjab. Why the Roma did not return to India, choosing instead to travel west into Europe, is an enigma, but may relate to military service under the Muslims.
Contemporary scholars have suggested one of the first written references to the Roma, under the term "Atsingani", (derived from the Greek atsinganoi), dates from the Byzantine era during a time of famine in the 9th century. In the year 800 A.D., Saint Athanasia gave food to "foreigners called the Atsingani" near Thrace. Later, in 803 A.D., Theophanes the Confessor wrote that Emperor Nikephoros I had the help of the "Atsingani" to put down a riot with their "knowledge of magic".
"Atsinganoi" was used to refer to itinerant fortune tellers, ventriloquists and wizards who visited the Emperor Constantine IX in the year 1054.[19] The hagiographical text, The Life of St. George the Anchorite, mentions that the "Atsingani" were called on by Constantine to help rid his forests of the wild animals which were killing off his livestock. They are later described as sorcerers and evildoers and accused of trying to poison the Emperor's favorite hound.
In 1322 a Franciscan monk named Simon Simeonis described people in likeness to the "atsingani" living in Crete and in 1350 Ludolphus of Sudheim mentioned a similar people with a unique language who he called Mandapolos, a word which some theorize was possibly derived from the Greek word mantes (meaning prophet or fortune teller).[20]
Around 1360, an independent Romani fiefdom (called the Feudum Acinganorum) was established in Corfu and became "a settled community and an important and established part of the economy."[21]
By the 14th century, the Roma had reached the Balkans; by 1424, Germany; and by the 16th century, Scotland and Sweden. Some Roma migrated from Persia through North Africa, reaching Europe via Spain in the 15th century. The two currents met in France. Roma began immigrating to the United States in colonial times, with small groups in Virginia and French Louisiana. Larger-scale immigration began in the 1860s, with groups of Romnichal from Britain. The largest number immigrated in the early 1900s, mainly from the Vlax group of Kalderash. Many Roma also settled in Latin America.
Wherever they arrived in Europe, curiosity was soon followed by hostility and xenophobia. Roma were enslaved for five centuries in Romania until abolition in 1864. Elsewhere in Europe, they were subject to ethnic cleansing, abduction of their children, and forced labor. During World War II, the Nazis murdered 200,000 to 800,000 Roma in an attempted genocide known as the Porajmos. Like the Jews, they were sentenced to forced labour and imprisonment in concentration camps. They were often killed on sight, especially by the Einsatzgruppen on the Eastern Front.
In Communist Eastern Europe, Roma experienced assimilation schemes and restrictions of cultural freedom. The Romani language and Roma music were banned from public performance in Bulgaria. In Czechoslovakia, they were labeled a "socially degraded stratum," and Roma women were sterilized as part of a state policy to reduce their population. This policy was implemented with large financial incentives, threats of denying future social welfare payments, misinformation, and involuntary sterilization (Silverman 1995; Helsinki Watch 1991). In the early 1990s, Germany deported tens of thousands of illegal immigrants to Eastern Europe. Sixty percent of some 100,000 Romanian nationals deported under a 1992 treaty were Roma.
[edit] Society and culture
Main article: Roma society and culture
A Gipsy Family - Facsimile of a woodcut in the "Cosmographie Universelle" of Munster: in folio, Basle, 1552.
The traditional Roma place a high value on the extended family. Virginity is essential in unmarried women. Both men and women often marry young; there has been controversy in several countries over the Roma practice of child marriage. Roma law establishes that the man’s family must pay a dower to the bride's parents.
Roma social behaviour is strictly regulated by purity laws ("marime" or "marhime"), still respected by most Roma and among Sinti groups by the older generations. This regulation affects many aspects of life, and is applied to actions, people and things: parts of the human body are considered impure: the genital organs, because they produce impure emissions, and the lower body. Fingernails and toenails must be filed with an emery board, as cutting them with a clipper is taboo. Clothes for the lower body, as well as the clothes of menstruating women are washed separately. Items used for eating are also washed in a different place. Childbirth is considered impure, and must occur outside the dwelling place. The mother is considered impure for forty days. Death is considered impure, and affects the whole family of the dead, who remain impure for a period of time. Many of these practices are also present in cultures such as the Balinese. However, in contrast to the practice of cremating the dead, Roma dead must be buried[citation needed]. It is possible that this tradition was adapted from Abrahamic religions after the Roma left the Indian subcontinent.
[edit] Religion
Roma have usually adopted the dominant religion of the host country while often preserving aspects of their particular belief systems and indigenous religion and worship. Most Eastern European Roma are Catholic, Orthodox Christian or Muslim. Those in Western Europe and the United States are mostly Catholic or Protestant. Most Roma in Latin America are Orthodox. In Turkey, Egypt, and the southern Balkans, the Roma are split into Christian and Muslim populations.
Roma religion has a highly developed sense of morality, taboos, and the supernatural, though it is often denigrated by organized religions. It has been suggested that while still in India the Roma people belonged to the Hindu religion, this theory being supported by the Romani word for "cross", trushul, which is the word which describes Shiva's trident (Trishula).
Since World War II, a growing number of Roma have embraced Evangelical movements. Over the past half-century, Roma have become ministers and created their own churches and missionary organizations for the first time.[8] In some countries, the majority of Roma now belong to the Roma churches. This unexpected change has greatly contributed to a better image of Roma in society. The work they perform is seen as more legitimate, and they have begun to obtain legal permits for commercial activities.
Evangelical Roma churches exist today in every country where Roma are settled. The movement is particularly strong in France and Spain; there are more than one thousand Roma churches (known as "Filadelfia") in Spain, with almost one hundred in Madrid alone. In Germany, the most numerous group is that of Polish Roma, having their main church in Mannheim. Other important and numerous Romani assemblies exist in Los Angeles, Houston, Buenos Aires and Mexico. Some groups in Romania and Chile have joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
In the Balkans, the Roma of Macedonia, Kosovo (Southern province of Serbia) and Albania have been particularly active in Islamic mystical brotherhoods (Sufism). Muslim Roma immigrants to Western Europe and America have brought these traditions with them.[citation needed]
[edit] Music
Main article: Roma music
Roma music is very important in Eastern European cultures such as Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, Hungary, Russia and Romania, and the style and performance practices of Roma musicians have influenced European classical composers such as Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms. The lăutari who perform at traditional Romanian weddings are virtually all Roma, although their music draws from a vast variety of ethnic traditions—for example Romanian, Turkish, Jewish, and Slavic—as well as Roma traditions. Probably the most internationally prominent contemporary performers in the lăutar tradition are Taraful Haiducilor. Many famous classical musicians, such as the Hungarian pianist Georges Cziffra, are Roma, as are many prominent performers of manele. Zdob şi Zdub, one of the most prominent rock bands in Moldova, although not Roma themselves, draw heavily on Roma music, as do Spitalul de Urgenţă in Romania, Goran Bregović in Serbia and Darko Rundek in Croatia.
The distinctive sound of Roma music has also strongly influenced bolero, jazz, flamenco (especially cante jondo) in Europe. European-style Gypsy jazz is still widely practised among the original creators (the Roma People); one who acknowledged this artistic debt was guitarist Django Reinhardt.
The Roma of Turkey have achieved musical acclaim from local audiences. They perform for special holidays. Their music is usually performed on traditonal Turkish instruments such as the darbuka and saz. One of the most prominent Turkish Roma groups are Gypsy Music of Constantinople[citation needed].
Later, Roma people who came to the Americas contributed to almost every musical style. Salsa, rumba, mambo and guajira from Cuba, the tondero, zamacueca and marinera from Peru, mariachi music from Mexico, "llanero" from the borders of Venezuela and Colombia, and even American country music have all been influenced by their mournful violins and soulful guitar.
The Roma anthem is called Gelem, Gelem.
[edit] Language
Main article: Romani language
Most Roma speak Romani, an Indo-Aryan language. Today, however, most Roma also speak the dominant language of their region of residence. Romani is not currently spoken in India.
Some Roma have developed creole languages or mixed languages, including:
Caló or Iberian-Romani, which uses the Romani lexicon and Spanish grammar (the calé).
Romungro or Carpathian Romani
Lomavren or Armenian-Romani
Angloromani or English-Romani
Romano-Greek or Greek-Romani
Traveller Norwegian/Swedish or Norwegian/Swedish-Romani
Romano-Serbian or Serbian-Romani
Boyash, a dialect of Romanian with Hungarian and Romani loanwords
Sinti-Manouche-Sinti (Romani with German grammar)
[edit] Etymology
Most Roma refer to themselves as Rom. In the Romani language, Rom (man) derives from the Sanskrit ḍōma (man). Alternate spellings of "Rroma" for the people and "Rromanes" for the language, were rejected by the last World Romani Congress, which defined the universal Romani alphabet.
The English term Gypsy (or Gipsy), originates from the Greek word Αιγύπτοι (Aigyptoi), modern Greek γύφτοι (gyphtoi), in the erroneous belief that the Roma originated in Egypt, and were exiled as punishment for allegedly harboring the infant Jesus.[22] This ethnonym is not used by the Roma to describe themselves, and is often considered pejorative. However, the use of "gypsy" in English is now so pervasive that many Roma organizations use the word gypsy in their own names. In North America, the word "Gypsy" is often misunderstood as a reference to lifestyle or fashion, and not to the Roma ethnicity. The Spanish term gitano and the French term gitan may have the same origin.[23]
In most of continental Europe, Roma are known by many names, most of them similar to the Hungarian cigány (pronounced IPA /ˈʦiɡaːɲ/). Early Byzantium literature suggests that the various names now referring to Gypsies, such as tzigane, zincali, gitani, cigány, etc., are derived from the Greek ατσίγγανοι (atsinganoi, Latin adsincani), applied to Roma during Byzantine times,[24] or from the Greek term αθίγγανοι (athinganoi)[25] in reference to a 9th-century heretical sect that had been accused of practising magic and fortune-telling.[26] In modern Greek, aside from the term Rom (Ρομ), the terms gyphtoi (Greek:γύφτοι) and tsigganoi (Greek:τσιγγάνοι) are interchangeable and both are used when referring to the Roma.
Outside Europe, Roma are referred to by more varied names, such as Kowli (کولی) in Iran; Lambani, Labana Lambadi, Rabari or Banjara in India; Ghajar (غجر) or Nawar (نور') in Arabic; and tzo`anim צוענים in Hebrew (after an ancient city in Egypt and the biblical verb צענ ṣā‛an - roaming).
There is no direct connection between the name Roma (ethnicity) and the city of Rome, ancient Rome, Romania, the Romanian people or the Romanian language.
[edit] Genetics
To meet Wikipedia's quality standards, this section may require cleanup.Please discuss this issue on the talk page, and/or replace this tag with a more specific message. Editing help is available.This section has been tagged since October 2006.
Gipsy Encampment - facsimile of a copper-plate by Callot.
Spanish Roma (1917)
Genetic data strongly supports linguistic evidence that the Roma originated on the Indian subcontinent. Studies of Bulgarian, Baltic and Vlax Roma genetics suggest that about 50% of observed haplotypes belong to Y-chromosomal haplogroup H. Similar studies of the same population with mitochondrial DNA show 50% belong to female mitochondrial haplogroup M. Both of these are widespread across South Asia.
This genetic evidence indicates that approximately half of the gene pool of these studied Roma is similar to that of the surrounding European populations. Specifically, common Y-chromosome (i.e. male-line) haplogroups are haplogroups H (50%), I (22%) and J2 (14%), and R1b (7%). Common mitochondrial (i.e. female-line) haplogroups are H (35%), M (26%), U3 (10%), X (7%), other (20%). Whereas male haplogroup H and female M are rare in non-Roma European populations, the rest are found throughout Europe. However, female haplogroups U2i and U7 are almost absent from female Roma, but are present in South Asia (11%-35% approx).
By contrast, male Sinti Roma in Central Europe have H (20%), J2 (20%) and a high frequency of R2 (50%) which is found frequently in West Bengal and among the Sinhalese of Sri Lanka. The M217 marker, which accounts for about 1.6% of male Roma, is also found in West Bengal (Kivisild (2003) et al). Haplogroup L is found in about 10% of Indian males but is absent from Roma (though Gresham et al. does not seem to test for it), and also from West Bengal and Central Asian Sinti (Kivisild (2003) et al). However, a search of the Yhrd database shows that some Roma populations in Europe have considerable percentages of male haplogroup R1a1. Yhrd gives few matches with South Asian populations, but a large number of matches on haplogroup H with British Asian Londoners, a population that has a large proportion of Bengali and Sri Lankan groups.
All these genetic studies indicate a South-East Indian origin of the male Roma population. Haplogroup R1a1 occurs around 35-45% in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent, but only 10-15% in the southeast. On the other hand, Y-haplogroups H, R2 and J2 increase in frequency towards the southeast. R2 occurs around 20-40% in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh (Bamshad et al. 2001, Kivisild et al. 2003, Sengupta et al. 2006, Sahoo et al. 2006). H and J2 occur 20-30% in South and East India. A study published in Nature[citation needed] associates the Roma with the Sinhala, and must be viewed from this genetic profile of Romas. Sinhalese are mostly descendants of East and South Indian communities.
Luba Kalaydjieva's research has shown that the original group appeared in India some 32-40 generations ago and was small, likely under 1,000 people.
(Ref: Origins and Divergence of the Roma (Gypsies), David Gresham, Bharti Morar, Peter A. Underhill, et al, Am J Hum (2001); The Eurasian Heartland: A continental perspective on Y-chromosome diversity, Wells et al.)
[edit] Relations with other peoples
Roma arrivals at the Belzec death camp await instructions.
[edit] Persecution
Because of their nomadic lifestyle and differences in language and culture, there has been a great deal of mutual distrust between the Roma and their more settled neighbours. According to legend in some European nations, particularly in the Black Forest region, at the time of the Crucifixion, no blacksmith would make the nails for the cross. One blacksmith agreed to do so, however, and the spirit of these nails came back to haunt him and his family some years later, forcing them to constantly wander and become the Roma[citation needed]. Another legend has it that one of the Rom stole the nail that had been made to drive through Jesus' heart, thereby gaining the gratitude of Heaven and the right to steal as they wish for all the Rom[citation needed]. Persecution of Roma reached a peak during World War II in the Porajmos, the Nazi genocide of Roma during the Holocaust. The extermination in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was so thorough that the Bohemian Romani language became totally extinct as a result.
There are still tensions between the Roma and the majority populations around them. Common complaints are that Roma steal and live off social welfare, and residents often reject Roma encampments.
In the UK, "travellers" (referring to Irish Travellers and New Age Travellers as well as Roma) became a 2005 general election issue, with the leader of the Conservative Party promising to review the Human Rights Act 1998. This law, which absorbs the European Convention on Human Rights into UK primary legislation, is seen by some to permit the granting of retrospective planning permission. Severe population pressures and the paucity of greenfield sites have led to travellers purchasing land, and setting up residential settlements almost overnight, thus subverting the planning restrictions imposed on other members of the community.
Travellers argued in response that thousands of retrospective planning permissions are granted in Britain in cases involving non-Roma applicants each year and that statistics showed that 90% of planning applications by Roma and travellers were initially refused by local councils, compared with a national average of 20% for other applicants, disproving claims of preferrential treatment favouring Roma. [9]
They also argued that the root of the problem was that many traditional stopping-places had been barricaded off and that legislation passed by the previous Conservative government had effectively criminalised their community, for example by removing local authorities’ responsibility to provide sites, thus leaving the travellers with no option but to purchase unregistered new sites themselves. [10]
In Denmark there was much controversy when the city of Helsingør decided to put all Roma students in special classes in its public schools. The classes were later abandoned after it was determined that they were discriminatory, and the Roma were put back in regular classes. Reference page in Danish
Despite the low birth rate in the country, Bulgaria's Health Ministry is considering a law aimed to curb the birth rate among minority groups, particularly Roma.[27]
[edit] Assimilation
During the Enlightenment, Spain briefly and unsuccessfully tried to assimilate the Roma into the mainstream population by forcing them to abandon their language and way of life; even the word gitano was made illegal. Many nations have subsequently attempted to assimilate their Roma populations.
[edit] Roma and crime
The popular image of Roma as tramps and thieves unfit for work contributed to their widespread persecution. This belief is often cited as the etymological source of the term gyp, meaning to "cheat", as in "I got gypped by a con man." The German name Zigeuner is often thought through popular etymology to derive either from Ziehende Gauner, which means 'travelling thieves', or from the Hungarian Cigány from their word "szegény" meaning "poor". The validity of these derivations, however, is disputed.
Roma in European population centers are often associated with petty crime such as pickpocketing. A UN study [11] found that Roma in Eastern European countries such as Bulgaria are arrested for robbery at a much higher rate than other groups. The causes of this association are unclear; it may be due to police discrimination, selective reporting of race, or widespread poverty among the Roma, or could be due to cultural factors within the Roma themselves.
Law enforcement agencies in the United States hold regular conferences on the Roma and similar nomadic groups. It is common to refer to the operators of certain types of travelling con artists [12] and fortune-telling [13] businesses as "gypsies," although many are Irish Travellers or not members of any particular nomadic ethnic group.
[edit] Roma in Central and Eastern Europe
Main article: Roma in Central and Eastern Europe
A significant proportion of the world's Roma live in Central and Eastern Europe, often in depressed squatter communities with very high unemployment, while only some are fully integrated in the society. However, in some cases—notably the Kalderash clan in Romania, who work as traditional coppersmiths—they have prospered. The current and historical situation of Roma in the region differs from country to country. Although small numbers of Roma still embrace a nomadic lifestyle, most migration is actually forced, as most communities do not accept Roma settlements.
[edit] Roma in Spain
Main article: Roma in Spain
Roma in Spain are generally known as Gitanos and tend to speak Caló which is basically Andalusian Spanish with a large amount of Romani loan words. Estimates of the Spanish Gitano population range as low as 600,000 and as high as 800,000 with the Spanish government estimating between 650,000 and 700,000.[14]
[edit] Roma in Israel
Roma in Israel, as in the rest of the Middle East, are known as Domari. Before 1948, there was an Arabic-speaking Domari community in Jaffa, whose members were noted for their involvement in street theatre and circus performances. They are the subject of the play "The Gypsies of Jaffa" (Hebrew: הצוענים של יפו), by the late Nissim Aloni, considered among Israel's foremost playwrights, and the play came to be considered a classic of the Israeli theatre (see [15]). Like most other Jaffa Palestinians, this community was uprooted in the face of the Israeli advance in April 1948, and its descendants are assumed to be presently living in the Gaza Strip refugee camps; it is unknown to what degree they still preserve a separate Domari identity. Another Domari community is known to exist in East Jerusalem. In October 1999, the nonprofit organisation "Domari: The Society of Gypsies in Jerusalem" was established by Amoun Sleem to advocate on this community's behalf.[16]
Some Eastern European Roma are known to have arrived in Israel in the late 1940s and early 1950s, having intermarried with Jews in the post-WWII Displaced Persons camps or, in some cases, having pretended to be Jews when Zionist agents arrived in those camps. The exact numbers of these Roma living in Israel are unknown, since such individuals tended to assimilate into the Israeli Jewish environment. According to several recent accounts in the Israeli press, some families preserve traditional Romani lullabies and a small number of Romani expressions and curse words, and pass them on to generations born in Israel who, for the most part, speak Hebrew.[citation needed]
[edit] Fictional representations of Roma
Main article: Fictional representations of Roma
A Roma family travelling (1837 print)
Many fictional depictions of the Roma emphasize their supposed mystical powers or criminal nature. They often appear as stock villains, bucolic nomads, or a sort of supernatural deus ex machina.
[edit] Groups in Europe sometimes mistaken for Roma
Main article: Nomadic peoples of Europe
In Europe, where the settled lifestyle has long been the norm, other non-Indo-Aryan nomadic peoples, have also been labeled Gypsies for convenience or by accident. The Roma used to refer to some of these groups as didicoy.
Saint Sarah in her crypt.
Saints Portal
Saint Sarah is a patron saint venerated by the Roma (Gypsy) people. She is also known as Sara-la-Kali (Sara the black) (See McDowell, 1970, p.p. 38-57 for general information on Sarah, Roma and the Carmague). The center of her cult is Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, a place of pilgrimage for Roma in the Camargue, in southern France, where legend identifies her as the servant of the two saints Mary commemorated in the town. An alternative legend has her as a pagan of noble birth and being converted to the faith of Abraham.
Contents[hide]
1 Tradition
2 History
3 Possible influences
4 In fiction
5 References
6 External links
[edit] Tradition
In the traditional account, Saint Sarah was a native of Upper Egypt; after the Crucifixion of Jesus, Mary Salome, Mary Jacobe, and Mary Magdalene were cast adrift in a boat that arrived off the coast of what is now France "a sort of fortress named Oppdium-Râ", and the location was known as Notre-Dam-de-Ratis (Râ becoming Ratis, or boat)(Droit, 1961, 19); the name being changed to Notre-Dame-del-la-Mer, and then Le Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer in 1838. Some say that the boat arrived in AD 42, and they were accompanied by Saint Joseph of Arimathea and the Holy Grail. Sarah was the black Egyptian servant of Mary Salome and Mary Jacobe according to some, servant to Mary Magdalene according to others. Saint Sarah's feast day is 19th August. In France the official day of her pilgrimage is 24th May. Her statue is carried down to the sea on this day to reenact her arrival in France.
[edit] History
Though the tradition of the Marys and company coming to France is quite old (it appears in the 13th century Golden Legend, for instance), Sarah first appears in The Legend of the Saintes-Maries (1521) by Vincent Philippon. However, there are many different opinions as to who Saint Sarah is. In some, she is tied with the Maries as an Egyptian servant; in others, with the Roma. She is called Sarah-la-Kali (Black Sarah), a moniker that brings together two strands of this tradition. When the Maries' boat arrived at the shore where the village now stands, she taunted the three saints in the boat, and one of the Maries climbed out of the boat and stood on the rough waters, inviting Sarah to walk out to her. Sarah attempted this but floundered and nearly drowned. One of the Maries lifted her up and carried her to safety.
Droit explains that Sarah and the two Maries stayed to found a Christian community, building an altar to the Virgin themselves, which was excavated in 1448 on the orders of King René of Provence (Droit, 1961, 19)
Records of Saint Sarah's veneration are not found before 1800s.
[edit] Possible influences
It is interesting to note that Sarah-la-Kali (Black Sarah) is identified with the Indian goddess Kali (aka Bhadrakali, Uma, Durga, and Syama") (Fonseca, 1995, 106-107). Though it was traditionally believed that the Roma came from Egypt, it is now believed that they came from India around the 9th century. According to Lee:
if we compare the ceremonies with those performed in France at the shrine of Sainte Sara (called Sara e Kali in Romani), we become aware that the worship of Kali/Durga/Sara has been transferred to a Christian figure... in France, to a non-existent "sainte" called Sara, who is actually part of the Kali/Durga/Sara worship among certain groups in India. (Lee, 2001, 210)
That is, Saint Sarah is local and Christianized manifestation of Kali. Weyrauch notes that:
The ceremony in Saintes-Maries closely parallels the annual processions in India, the country in which the Roman orginated, when statues of the Indian goddess Durga, also named Kali, are immersed into water. Durga, the consort of Shiva, usually represented with a black face, is the goddess of creation, sickness and death. (Weyrauch, 2001, 262)
According to Franz de Ville (Tziganes, Brussels 1956), Sarah was Roma:
One of our people who received the first Revelation was Sara the Kali. She was of noble birth and was chief of her tribe on the banks of the Rhône. She knew the secrets that had been transmitted to her....The Rom at that period practiced a polytheistic religion, and once a year they took out on their shoulders the statue of Ishtari
RomaniRomani / रोमानी
Spoken in:
The speakers of Romani are widespread and stateless
Total speakers:
4.8 million
Language family:
Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Central Zone Romani
Official status
Official language of:
Shuto Orizari (Republic of Macedonia), officially-recognised minority language of Sweden, co-official in 79 rural communes in Romania and one town (Budeşti)
Regulated by:
no official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1:
none
ISO 639-2:
rom
ISO/FDIS 639-3:
variously:rom — Romani (generic)rmn — Balkan Romanirml — Baltic Romanirmc — Carpathian Romanirmf — Kalo Finnish Romanirmo — Sinte Romanirmr — Caló (Spanish Romani)rmy — Vlax Romanirmw — Welsh Romani
This page contains Indic text. Without rendering support you may see irregular vowel positioning and a lack of conjuncts. More...
Romani (or Romany) is the language of the Roma and Sinti, peoples often referred to in English as "Gypsies". The Indo-Aryan Romani language should not be confused with either Romanian (spoken by Romanians), or Romansh (spoken in parts of southeastern Switzerland), both of which are Romance languages.
Contents[hide]
1 Classification and status
2 History
3 Modern language
4 Standardization
5 Romani loanwords in English
6 Distribution
7 See also
8 External links
9 References
[edit] Classification and status
Analysis of the Romani language has shown that it is closely related to those spoken in northern India, Punjabi in particular. This linguistic relationship is believed to indicate the Roma's and Sinti's geographical origin. Loanwords in Romani make it possible to trace the pattern of their migration west. They came originally from the Indian subcontinent or what is now northern India and parts of Pakistan. The Romani language is usually included in the Central Indo-Aryan languages (together with Western Hindi, Bhili, Gujarati, Khandeshi, Rajasthani etc.). Current conjecture is that the origin of the name Sinti is the same as that of the toponym for the Sindh region of southeastern Pakistan and far western India (Rajasthan and Gujarat), around the lower Indus River. It was primarily through comparative linguistic studies of the Romani language with various north Indian dialects and languages that the origins of the Roma people were traced back to India.
Romani, Punjabi, and Pothohari share some identical words and similar grammatical systems. A 2003 study published in Nature suggests Romani is also related to Sinhalese,[1] presently spoken in Sri Lanka.
The Romani language is considered alternatively a group of dialects or a collection of related languages that comprise all the members of a single genetic subgroup.
While the language is nowhere official, there are attempts currently aimed at the creation of a standard language out of all variants (such as those from Romania, the USA, Sweden). Also, different variants of the language are now in the process of being codified in those countries with high Roma populations (for example, Slovakia).
[edit] History
There are no sure historical documents about the early phases of the Romani language. It was cited in the epic Shah Name by the 11th century Persian poet Firdausi. He wrote about the 10,000 or 12,000 Desi musicians who were given in the 5th century AD by King Shankal of Kanauj (in Sindh) to Bahram Gur the King of Persia and it was pointed out that they should be the ancestors of the Roma.
However, new research (Masica, 1991:221) shows this to be unlikely. The Romani language proves to be a New Indo-Aryan language (NIA), not a Middle Indo-Aryan (MIA), as it would have to be to fit Firdausi's scheme. It has only two genders (masculine and feminine). Until around the year 1000, the Indo-Aryan languages (named MIA) had three genders (masculine, feminine and neuter). By the turn of the 2nd millennium they changed into the NIA phase, losing the neuter gender. Most of the neuter nouns became masculine while a few feminine, like the neuter अग्नि (agni) in the Prakrit became the feminine आग (āg) in Hindi and याग (yag) in Romani. The parallels in grammatical gender evolution between Romani and other NIA languages is proposed to prove that the change occurred in the Subcontinent. It is therefore believed that it was not possible that the Romas' ancestors left there prior to 1000.
It is known that the period of time around 1000 AD was one of great turmoil in the northern part of the Indian Subcontinent. The Muslim invasions wrought havoc and led to massive population movements. The scholar Ian Hancock and also W.R. Rishi wrote that the Roma ancestors left the Subcontinent as a result of these circumstances. Between the years 1001 and 1026, the Muslim Afghans and Turks known as Ghaznavids made seventeen invasions in the Punjab and Sindh areas, fighting against the local Hindus. The Rajputs played a major role in the resistance. They were a mixture of different jāti (castes) brought together by a common desire to repel the foreign invaders. There are accounts that many of them were captured and sent to Central Asia to be used as conscripts in further fighting, and that others left the war zone, heading west.
These movements of population involved many categories, because the Rajputs would go to war with their families and their associates frequently. The Romani language sustains the claimed Rajputic ancestry: most of the words related to war are of Indo-Aryan ancestry like bust (spear), patava (gaiters), xanrro (sword), tover (axe) [1]. The name for those who are not Roma, gaje derives from Prakritic gajja (civilian, domestic, non-military). There is an 80% match of Romani words of Persian origin with the Persian words in Urdu. The latter is the Indo-Aryan language (with many Persian and Arabic loans) that evolved in the new society of Desi converts to Islam or those captured by the Muslims (the word Urdu itself originally meant army). Also there are cultural similarities between Roma and Rajputs and DNA research demonstrates genetic proximity.
The short-lived Ghaznavid Empire was polyglot, but Persian was official. This could explain the share of Persian loanwords in Romani, loans from no earlier than 10th century Persian. However, the greatest changes to the Romani language occurred much further West. The Seljuks (who defeated the Ghaznavids in 1038), also defeated the Byzantine Empire in 1071 and conquered eastern Anatolia.
Historical documents relate the subsequent movement of populations from Central Asia to eastern Anatolia. It seems that it was here that, according to Ian Hancock's thesis, the Romani language evolved as a koine from the many Indo-Aryan languages spoken by the ancestors of the Roma. The original status of Romani as a lingua franca is supported by the vocabulary of Indo-Aryan origin. It cannot be linked to a certain area, but it includes words from all across the northern Subcontinent. During its development, it underwent a certain degree of influence from the local Greek. This influence is secondary in weight after the Indo-Aryan ancestry of the language, both in vocabulary and in grammar (there are some suffixes of Greek origin). Other Anatolian languages contributed to the creation of Romani as well (most notably Armenian).
This is also when it seems that the Roma developed their identity as a distinct people, abandoning the jātī differences. Moreover, they had to adapt to the life of the foreign lands and find economic niches for survival. Analysis of Romani vocabulary indicates that the Romas' ancestors were not originally nomadic. Indo-Aryan words like kher (house), udar (door), gav (village), thagar (king), balo (pig), khaini (hen), giv (wheat) seem to indicate a settled society instead. Words related to nomadism come from Anatolia, where this lifestyle first became common for the Roma. For example, grast (horse) and char (grass) are from Armenian, vurdon (waggon, cart) is from Kurdish, drom (road) and petalo (horseshoe) are from Greek. Also the skills of metalworking were acquired here: the words for metals (except for those for gold, silver and iron, which are Indo-Aryan) are from Greek and Armenian, as well as for the tools used in this field.
The Mongol invasion of Europe beginning in the first half of the 13th Century triggered another westward migration. The Roma arrived in Europe and afterwards spread to the other continents. The great distances between the scattered Romani groups led to the development of local community distinctions. The differing local influences have greatly affected the modern language, splitting it into a number of different (originally exclusively regional) dialects.
Today Romani is spoken by small groups in 42 European countries [2]. A project at Manchester University in England is transcribing Romani dialects, many of which are on the brink of extinction, for the first time. [3]
[edit] Modern language
Today's dialects of Romani are differentiated by the vocabulary accumulated since their departure from Anatolia, as well as through divergent phonemic evolutions and grammatical features. Many Roma no longer speak the language or speak various new contact languages from the local language with the addition of Romani vocabulary.
A long-standing common categorisation was a division between the Vlax (from Vlach) from non-Vlax dialects. Vlax are those Roma who lived many centuries in the territory of Romania. The main distinction between the two groups is the degree to which their vocabulary is borrowed from Romanian. Vlax-speaking groups include the great number of speakers (between half and two-thirds of all Romani speakers). Bernard Gillad Smith made first this distinction and coined the term Vlax in 1915 in the book The Report on the Gypsy tribes of North East Bulgaria. Subsequently, other groups of dialects were recognized, primarily based on geographical and vocabulary criteria, including:
Balkan Romani: in Turkey, Albania, Greece, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine
Romani of Wales
Romani of Finland
Sinte: in Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia, and Switzerland
Carpathian Romani: in the Czech Republic, Poland (particularly in the south), Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Ukraine
Baltic Romani: in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland (particularly in the north), Belarus, Ukraine and Russia
Turkish dialects:
Rumeli (Thrace) dialect (Thrace, Uskudar, a district on the Anatolian side of the Bosphorus): most loanwords are from Greek
Anatolian dialect. Most loanwords are from Turkish, Kurdish and Persian
Posha dialect, Armenian Gypsies from eastern Anatolia mostly nomads although some have settled in the region of Van, Turkey. The Kurds call them Mytryp (settled ones).
In the past several decades, some scholars have worked out a categorisation of Romani dialects from a linguistic point of view on the basis of historical evolution and isoglosses. In a series of articles (beginning from 1982), Marcel Courthiade proposed a new classification. He concentrates on the dialectal diversity of Romani in three successive strata of expansion, using the criteria of phonological and grammatical changes. Finding the common linguistic features of the dialects, he presents the historical evolution from the first stratum (the dialects closest to the Anatolian Romani of the 13th century) to the second and third strata. He also names as "pogadialects" (after the Pogadi dialect from Great Britain) those which have only a Romani vocabulary grafted into a non-Romani language.
A table of some dialectal differences:
First stratum
Second stratum
Third stratum
phirdom, phirdyom
phirdyum, phirjum
phirdem
phirdem
guglipe(n)/guglipa
guglibe(n)/gugliba
guglipe(n)/guglipa
guglibe(n)/gugliba
guglimos
pani
khoni
kuni
pai, payi
khoi, khoyi
kui, kuyi
pai, payi
khoi, khoyi
kui, kuyi
ćhib
shib
shib
jeno
zheno
zheno
po
po/mai
mai
The first stratum includes the oldest dialects: Mechkari, Kabuji, Xanduri, Drindari, Erli, Arli, Bugurji, Mahajeri, Ursari (Rićhinari), Spoitori (Xoraxane), Karpatichi, Polska Roma, Kaale (from Finland), Sinto-manush, and the so-called Baltic dialects.
In the second there are Chergari, Gurbeti, Jambashi, Fichiri, Filipiji and a subgroup of the Vlax dialects of Romania and Bulgaria.
The third comprises the rest of the so-called Vlax dialects, including Kalderash, Lovari, Machvano.
[edit] Standardization
Main article: Romani language standardization
There are independent groups currently working toward standardizing the language, including groups in Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, the USA, Sweden, etc. A standardized form of Romani is used in Serbia, and in Serbia's autonomous province of Vojvodina Romani is one of the officially recognized languages of minorities having its own radio stations and news broadcasts. In Romania, the country with the largest identifiable Roma population, there is a unified teaching system of the Romani language for all dialects spoken in the country. This is primarily a result of the work of Gheorghe Sarău, who made Romani textbooks for teaching Roma children in the Romani language. He teaches a purified, mildly prescriptive language, choosing the original Indo-Aryan words and grammatical elements from various dialects. The pronunciation is mostly like that of the dialects from the first stratum. When there are more variants in the dialects, the variant that most closely resembles the oldest forms is chosen, like byav instead of abyav, abyau, akana instead of akanak, shunav instead of ashunav or ashunau, etc.
An effort is also made to derive new words from the vocabulary already in use, i.e., xuryavno (airplane), vortorin (slide rule), palpaledikhipnasko (retrospectively), pashnavni (adjective). There is an ever-changing set of borrowings from Romanian as well, including such terms as vremea (weather, time), primariya (town hall), frishka (cream), sfïnto (saint, holy). Neologisms taken from Hindi include bijli (bulb, electricity), misal (example), chitro (drawing, design), lekhipen (writing) and from English (printisarel, prezidento).
Language standardization is presently also being employed in the revival of the Romani language among various groups (in Spain, Great Britain and elsewhere), which have ceased to speak the language. In these cases, a specific dialect is not revived, but rather a standardized form derived from many dialects is learned.
[edit] Romani loanwords in English
Romani has lent many words to English, including posh, pal, dukes (meaning fists, as in the expression "put up your dukes"), and lollipop. These mostly turn up in slang—such as gadgie (man), shiv or chiv (knife), or cooshtie (good) — and in regional dialects, such as radge (adj bad or angry, noun a state of irritation) and jougal (dog) in south east Scotland and parni (water) and bewer (woman) in West Yorkshire in England, also seen as beor in Corkonian slang within Hiberno-English. Urban British slang shows an increasing level of Romani influence, with some words becoming accepted into the lexicon of standard English (for example, chav from an assumed Anglo-Romani word, possibly charvy meaning either "baby" or "mate" depending on context, chavi meaning male child or charver meaning prostitute).
[edit] Distribution
Distribution of Romani speakers in Europe according to Bakker et al. (2000) [4]. Percentage (%) shows the percentage of Romani speaking Roma population in each country.
Country
Speakers
%
Albania
90,000
95%
Austria
20,000
80%
Belarus
27,000
95%
Belgium
10,000
80%
Bosnia-Herzegowina
40,000
90%
Bulgaria
350,000
80%
Croatia
28,000
80%
Czech Republic
140,000
50%
Denmark
1,500
90%
Estonia
1,100
90%
Finland
3,000
90%
France
215,000
70%
Germany
85,000
70%
Greece
160,000
90%
Hungary
260,000
50%
Italy
42,000
90%
Latvia
18,500
90%
Lithuania
4,000
90%
Macedonia
215,000
90%
Moldova
56,000
90%
Netherlands
7,000
90%
Poland
4,000
90%
Romania
1,030,000
80%
Russia
405,000
80%
Serbia and Montenegro
380,000
90%
Slovakia
300,000
60%
Slovenia
8,000
90%
Spain
1,000
1%
Sweden
9,500
90%
Turkey
280,000
70%
Ukraine
113,000
90%
United Kingdom
1,000
0.5%
Source: Wikipedia
Monday, January 23, 2012
Veddahs - the great descendants of Ravana and his Yakkhas of Sri Lanka
The Wanniyala-Aetto, or "forest beings", perhaps more commonly known as "Veddas" or "Veddahs" (transliteration of "වැද්දා" in Sinhala, IPA /væddaː/) are an indigenous people of Sri Lanka, an island nation in the Indian Ocean.
Sri Lanka's indigenous inhabitants, the Veddas -- or Wanniya-laeto ('forest-dwellers') as they call themselves -- preserve a direct line of descent from the island's original Neolithic community dating from at least 18,000 BC and probably far earlier according to current scientific opinion. Even today, the surviving Wanniya-laeto community retains much of its own distinctive cyclic worldview, prehistoric cultural memory, and time-tested knowledge of their semi-evergreen dry monsoon forest habitat that has enabled their ancestor-revering culture to meet the diverse challenges to their collective identity and survival. With the impending extinction of Wanniya-laeto culture, however, Sri Lanka and the world stand to lose a rich body of indigenous lore and living ecological wisdom.
Contents[hide]
1 Roots
2 DNA studies
3 Subdivisions
4 Cultural aspects
4.1 Religion
4.2 Society
4.3 Music
4.4 Art
5 Livelihood
6 Place in History
7 Linguistics
8 Current status
9 References
10 External links
[edit] Roots
Human remains in Sri Lanka dating from as early as 18,000 BC show a genetic continuum with present-day Veddas.[1]
According to the ancient chronicle of Sinhalese royalty, the Mahavansa , the Pulindas (Veddhas) are descended from Prince Vijaya (6th-5th century BC) the founding father of the Sinhalese nation, through Kuveni, a woman of the "Yakkha" clan whom he had espoused. The Mahavansa relates that following the repudiation of Kuveni by Vijaya, in favour of a "Kshatriya" princess from the "Pandya" country, their two children, a boy and a girl, departed to the region of "Sumanakuta" (Adams Peak in the Ratnapura District) where they multiplied giving rise to the Veddhas. Anthropologists such as the Seligmanns (The Veddhas 1911) believe the Veddhas to be identical with the "Yakkhas" of yore.
Veddas are also mentioned in Robert Knox's history of his captivity by the King of Kandy in the 17th century. Knox described them as "wild men," but also said there was a "tamer sort," and that the latter sometimes served in the king's army.[2]
The Ratnapura District, which is part of the Sabaragamuva Province is known to have been inhabited by the Veddhas in the distant past. This has been shown by scholars like Nandadeva Wijesekera (Veddhas in transition 1964). Indeed, the very name Sabaragamuva is believed to have meant the village of the Sabaras or "forest barbarians". Such place-names as Veddha-gala (Veddha Rock), Veddha-ela (Veddha Canal) and Vedi-kanda (Veddha Mountain) in the Ratnapura District also bear testimony to this. As Wijesekera observes, a strong Veddha element is discernible in the population of Veddha-gala and its environs. As for the traditional Veddha lifestyle, a number of authorities have delved on this and we can easily describe their life-style as it existed in the past, and as it exists today.
[edit] DNA studies
DNA studies [citation needed] suggest that Wanniyala-Aetto may have been the ancestors of most Sri Lankans before the Indo-Aryan language speakers arrived from North India. Both Sinhala and Vedda lore says that the two races shared a few common ancestors.
[edit] Subdivisions
Sinhala-speaking Veddas are found primarily in the southeastern part of the country, especially in the vicinity of Bintenne in Uva District. There are also Sinhala-speaking Veddas who live in Anuradhapura District in the North Central Province.[3]
Another, largely distinct group, often termed Coast Veddas, is found in coastal areas of the Eastern Province, mostly between Batticaloa and Trincomalee. These Veddas speak Tamil as their primary language.
[edit] Cultural aspects
[edit] Religion
The interior Veddahs follow a mix of animism and nominal Buddhism where as the east coast Veddahs follow a mix of animism and nominal Hinduism known as folk Hinduism amongst anthropologists.
One of the most distinctive features of Vedda religion is the worship of dead ancestors: these are termed nae "yaku" among the Sinhala-speaking Veddas.[4] There are also peculiar deities that are unique to Veddas. One of them is "Kande Yakka".[5]
Both the sub divisions of the Veddas along with the Island's Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim communities venerate the temple complex situated at Kataragama, showing the syncretism that has evolved over 2,000 years of coexistence and assimilation. Kataragama is supposed to be the site at which the Hindu god Skanda or Murugan in Tamil met and married a local tribal girl, Valli, who in Sri Lanka is believed to have been a Vedda.[6]
There are a number of other shrines across the island, not as famous as Kataragama that are as sacred to the Veddas as well as to other communities.[6]
Veddha religion centred round a cult of ancestral spirits known as Ne yaku , whom the Veddhas invoked for game and yams.
[edit] Society
Marriage
The Veddha marriage ceremony is a very simple affair. The ritual consists of the bride tying a bark rope (diya lanuva) of her own twisting, around the waist of the bridegroom. This is the essence of the Veddha marriage and is symbolic of 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 changed significantly, with Veddha women even contracting marriages with their Sinhalese and Moor neighbours.
Women
In Veddha society, woman is in many respects man's equal. She is entitled to similar inheritance. Descent is also reckoned through the female line. Monogamy is the general rule, though a widow would be frequently married by her husband s brother as a means of support and consolation. The women are said to make faithful wives and affectionate mothers.
Death
Death too is a simple affair sans any ostentatious funeral ceremonies and the corpse of the deceased is promptly buried without much ado. Although the medical knowledge of the Veddha is limited, it nevertheless appears to be sufficient. For example, python oil (pimburu tel) a local remedy used for healing wounds, has proven to be very successful in the treatment of fractures, deep cuts and so on.
Burials
Main article Burials of wanniyala aetto
Since the opening of colonisation schemes Veddha burials changed when they dug graves of about 4-5 feet in depth and left the body wrapped in some cloth and covered with leaves and earth.The Veddas also scooped the trunks of the Gadumba tree and laid the body between the scopped out wood planks held together and then buried.At the head of the grave were kept three open coconuts and a small bundle of wood, while at its foot were kept an opened coconut and an untouched coconut.Certain plants of the cactus species (pathok) were planted at the head of the grave, the middle and the foot their personal possessions like the bow and arrow, betel pouch, were also buried. This practice varied according to the different communities of the aboriginal settlements.The contents of the betel pouch of the deceased were eaten after his death, Never was a burial custom inherited to them.
In Vedda burial rituals the dead body was scented or smeared with some juice obtained from the leaves of jungle trees or a lime tree. The foot or the head of the grave was never lit either with fire or wax and water was not kept in a vessel by the grave side.
Cult of the Dead
The Veddas believe in the cult of the dead. They worshipped and made incantations to their Nae Yakka (Relative Spirit) followed by other customary ritual (called the Kiri Koraha) which is still in vogue among the surviving gam veddas of Rathugala, Pollebedda Dambana and the Henanigala Vedda re-settlement (in Mahaweli systems off Mahiyangane).
They believed that the spirit of their dead would haunt them bringing forth diseases and calamity. To appease the dead spirit they invoke the blessings of the Nae Yakka and other spirits, like Bilinda Yakka, Kande Yakka followed by the dance ritual of Kirikoraha.
According to Sarasin Cousins (in 1886) and Seligmann's book - 'The Veddas' (1910).
"When man or woman dies from sickness, the body is left in the cave or rock shelter where the death took place, the body is not washed or dressed or ornamented in any way, but is generally allowed to be in the natural supine position and is covered with leaves and branches. This was formerly the universal custom and still persists among the less sophisticated Veddas who sometimes in addition place a large stone upon the chest for which no reason could be given, this is observed at Sitala Wanniya (off Polle-bedda close to Maha Oya), where the body is still covered with branches and left where the death occurred.
Clothing
Until fairly recent times, the raiment of the Veddhas was remarkably scanty. In the case of men, it consisted only of a loincloth suspended with a string at the waist, while in the case of women, it comprised of a piece of cloth that extended from the navel to the knees. Today, however, Veddha attire is more modest, men wear a short sarong extending from the waist to the knees, while the womenfolk clad themselves in a garment similar to the Sinhalese diya-redda which extends from the breastline to the knees.
[edit] Music
Bori Bori Sellam-Sellam Bedo Wanniya,
Palletalawa Navinna-Pita Gosin Vetenne,
Malpivili genagene-Hele Kado Navinne,
Diyapivili Genagene-Thige Bo Haliskote Peni,
Ka tho ipal denne
(A Vedda honeycomb cutter's folk song)
Meaning of this song - The bees from yonder hills of Palle Talawa and Kade suck nectar from the flowers and made the honeycomb. So why should you give them undue pain when there is no honey by cutting the honeycomb.
[edit] Art
Vedda cave drawings such as those found at Hamangala provide graphic evidence of the sublime spiritual and artistic vision achieved by the ancestors of today's Wanniyala-Aetto people. Most researchers today agree that the artistes most likely were the Wanniyala-Aetto women who spent long hours in these caves waiting for their menfolk's return from the hunt.
Understood from this perspective, these cave drawings depict brilliant feats of Wanniyala-Aetto culture as seen through the eyes of its womenfolk. The simple yet graceful abstract figures are portrayed engaging in feats of vision an daring that place them firmly above even the greatest beasts of their jungle habitat.
The nimbus or halo about the human figures' heads represents the sun's disc and, equally, the sacred power bordering upon divinity that accrues not only to great hunters but to all those endowed with the vision to behold and apprehend the marvel of divinity in humble guise. Even up to modern times, the Wanniyala-Aetto used to swear oaths of truth by the divinity of the sun, saying 'upon Maha Suriyo Deviyo'.
Such cave drawings have long served as visual memory aids and as teaching tools for the transmission of ancestral wisdom traditions to succeeding generations. To this day, they provide silent testimony to the profound heights attained by Lanka's indigenous culture expressed with elegant simplicity that people of all communities may appreciate.
[edit] Livelihood
Veddas were originally hunter-gatherers. They used bows and arrows to hunt game, and also gathered wild plants and honey. Many Veddas also farm, frequently using slash and burn or swidden cultivation, which is called "chena" in Sri Lanka. East Coast Veddas also practice fishing.Veddhas are famously known for their rich meat diet. Venison and the flesh of rabbit, turtle, tortoise, monitor lizard, wild boar and the common brown monkey are consumed with much relish. The Veddhas kill only for food and do not harm young or pregnant animals. Game is commonly shared amongst the family and clan. Fish are caught by employing fish poisons such as the juice of the pus-vel (Entada scandens) and daluk-kiri (Cactus milk). Veddha culinary fare is also deserving of mention. Amongst the best known are gona perume, which is a sort of sausage containing alternate layers of meat and fat, and goya-tel-perume, which is the tail of the monitor lizard (talagoya), stuffed with fat obtained from its sides and roasted in embers. Another Veddha delicacy is dried meat preserve soaked in honey. In the olden days, the Veddhas used to preserve such meat in the hollow of a tree, enclosing it with clay.
Such succulent meat served as a ready food supply in times of scarcity. The early part of the year (January-February) is considered to be the season of yams and mid-year (June-July) that of fruit and honey, while hunting is availed of throughout the year. Nowadays, more and more Veddha folk have taken to Chena (slash and burn) cultivation. Kurakkan (Eleusine coracana) is cultivated very often. Maize, yams, gourds and melons are also cultivated. In the olden days, the dwellings of the Veddhas consisted of caves and rock shelters. Today, they live in unpretentious huts of wattle, daub and thatch.
[edit] Place in History
In the reign of King Datusena (6th century A.D.) the Mahaweli ganga was diverted at Minipe in the Minipe canal nearly 47 miles long said to be constructed with help from the Yakkas. The Mahawamsa refers to the canal as Yaka-bendi-ela. When the Ruwanweli Seya was built in King Dutugemunu's time (2nd century B.C.) the Veddas procured the necessary minerals from the jungles.
King Parakrama Bahu the great of (12 century) in his war against the rebels employed these Veddas as scouts.
In the reign of King Rajasinghe II (17 century A.D.) in his battle with the Dutch he had a Vedda regiment. In the abortive Uva-Welessa revolt of 1817-1818 of the British times, led by Keppetipola Dissawe, the Veddas too fought with the rebels against the British forces.
[edit] Linguistics
Main article Wanniyala Aetto language
Their language, usually referred to as Veddah, is closely related to Sinhala, although much of its vocabulary (especially terms associated with the forest and their lifestyle) can not be traced to Sinhala and may be from a language(s) spoken before the adoption of the Sinhalese language.
Examples include the Wanniyala-Aetto word ruhang for friend, while the Sinhala word is yaluva (IPA /jaːluaː/). There are also communities of Wanniyala-Aetto who speak Tamil in the east coast (Vetas).
[edit] Current status
Some observers have said Veddas are disappearing and have lamented the decline of their distinct culture.[7] Development, government forest reserve restrictions, and the civil war have disrupted traditional Vedda ways of life.
However, cultural assimilation of Veddas with other local populations has been going on for a long time. "Vedda" has been used in Sri Lanka to mean not only hunter-gatherers or people who have an aboriginal ancestry, but also to refer to any people who adopt an unsettled and rural way of life and can be a derogatory term based on the contet. Thus, over time, it is possible for non-Vedda groups to become Veddas, in this broad cultural sense.[8][9] Vedda populations of this kind are increasing in some districts.[10]
Today many Sinhalese people and some east coastal Tamils claim that they have some trace of Veddah blood. Intermarriage between Veddas and Sinhalese is very frequent. They are not considered outcasts in Sri Lankan society unlike the untouchable caste called Rodiyas (see Caste in Sri Lanka).
The current leader of the Wanniyala-Aetto community is Uru Warige Wanniya.
@ WWW Virtual Library Sri Lanka
Veddas - now only a household name
(@Script & Photos: Gamini G. Punchihewa/The Island)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).
Later our famed 'Surgeon and author about the Wilderness', Dr. R. L. Spittel at the turn of the century studied the Veddas in their original settlements and wrote many books on these aborigines, among them 'Wild Ceylon' (1925), ‘Far Off Things' (1930), 'Vanished Trails’, ‘Savage Sanctuary’(1939/45) the last being the epic life story of Wannaku Tissahamy, the jungle outlaw.
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.
Chieftain Kalu Appu and Thappal Bandiya of Henanigala Veddha re-settlement
Vijaya married Kuweni, a beautiful daughter of a Yakka chieftain. When he took a consort from India, he deserted Kuweni and her two children. Her tribe in wrath killed her while the two children took asylum in the Peak Wilderness (Sri Pada Adaviya). Kuweni's descendants were called the Pulindas who according to legend are the descendants of the present day Veddas.
Another tradition states that the Veddas' ancestors were the Yakkas. The Mahavamsa records that King Pandukabhaya (5th century BC) built shrines dedicated to ‘vyaadha deva', the god of the hunters.
The word Vedda is derived from sanskrit Vyaddha — meaning one who lives by chase, thus meaning a hunter. The Vedda language itself is a mixture of Pali, Sanskrit and Elu, a form of archaic Sinhala. In the 6th century BC King Panduvasdeva and his retinue arrived in Lanka, and were welcomed by Yakka tribes who showed them the way to Vijithapura.
Sabaragamuwa means the land of jungle tribes (Sabara means primitive people), hence it is said in some traditions that the Vedda habitat once upon a time existed in Sabaragamuwa. With places like Veddagala, Veddacombe, Veddawala (lying close to Kalawana) and Pothupitiya.
Coming to the reign of Pandukabhaya (5th century BC) he fought his seven embittered uncles with the support of the Yakka chieftain and his tribe.
In the reign of King Datusena (6th century A.D.) the Mahaweli ganga was diverted at Minipe in the Minipe canal nearly 47 miles long said to be constructed with help from the Yakkas. The Mahawamsa refers to the canal as Yaka-bendi-ela. When the Ruwanweli Seya was built in King Dutugemunu's time (2nd century B.C.) the Veddas procured the necessary minerals from the jungles.
King Parakrama Bahu the great of (12 century) in his war against the rebels employed these Veddas as scouts.
In the reign of King Rajasinghe II (17 century A.D.) in his battle with the Dutch he had a Vedda regiment. In the abortive Uva-Welessa revolt of 1817-1818 of the British times, led by Keppetipola Dissawe, the Veddas too fought with the rebels against the British forces.
Dr. Seligmann classifies the Veddas into three groups.— the Gal Veddas (Rock Veddas) who dwelt in caves-hunting animals with bow and arrow and lived a food gathering existence, Gam Veddas (Village Veddas) those who intermarried with the neighbouring Sinhalese and cultivated chena and other food crops with the Coastal Veddas (Mudu Veddas) were confined mostly to the eastern coastal belt, like Kalkuda.
Today no Rock Veddas exist, instead a few Gam Veddas are still confined to the aboriginal settlements like Pollebedda (Maha Oya), Rahtugala (off Bibile and Gal Oya Valley), Dambana (off Mahiyangane).
Inroads of CivilizationWith the damming of the Gal Oya river (lying in the eastern province and Uva) in 1950 and the creation of the Senanayake Samudraya well known Vedda settlements like Hennebedda, Gallobe, vanished. Other vedda settlements were submerged and they were then called 'tankbed people'. Some of them were re-settled in new settlement under the Gal Oya scheme, like Paragahakelle and Wavinna (first village units to be created in 1950/52), while the rest opted to seek other pastures like Pollebedda, Bandaraduwa and even in Namal Oya.
The Mahaweli Accelerated Development Programme in the 1980's extended into the Bintenna called in ancient times, as Maha Vedirata and Mahiyangana, Maduru Oya, Yakhura, Dimbulagala regions. Consequently the few remaining shoots were either wiped out, or integrated into the Mahaweli settlement in Systems B and C.
Among the other traditional Vedda settlements is the Dambana which lies between the Mahaweli Ganga and Maduru Oya.
Dr. Seligmann who had studied almost all the aboriginal settlements in 1910, like Danigala, Hennebedda, Yakhura, Nilgala, Sorabora had also visited Dambana.
A few Vedda settlements around Mahaweli systems, like Keragoda, Kotabakina, Koteya and Kende Ganwila were displaced. Most of those age old aboriginal settlements got engulfed in the newly created Maduru Oya National Park (in 1983) and eventually were displaced. Those Vedda evacuees about 113 were re-settled in an exclusively carved out settlement at Hennanigala lying off Mahaweli System C, in Giriandurukotte, about 15 miles away from Mahiyangane.
Most of them accepted the new life style but chieftain of Dambana-Uruwarige Tissahamy and a few others refused to discard their Vedda trappings and sought refuge in the sanctuary of the Maduru Oya National Park.
The Veddas believed in the cult of their dead whom they propitiated rituals and dances to invoke their blessings. When death stalked their cave homes, they abandoned them and went in quest of other caves.
They believed in Nae Yakka (after death-the spirit of the dead relative haunted them). To appease the Nae Yakka they did a ritual accompanied with dance and song called Kirikoraha which these Gam Veddas still indulge in. Their other spirits were Kande Yakka, Bilinda Yakka, Rahu Yakka, Kiri Amma, etc.,
The two Vedda patriarchs Hennanigala re-settlement are Kalu Appu (the chieftain) and Tappal Bandiya. They and a few other elders did not fit with the new self-style in their new settlements as they had no jungle to hunt or collect bee's honey. Each of these evacuees were given 1/2 acre of highland, a 2 acre irrigable plot at Henanigala in System C, off Girandurukotte.
Sri Lanka's indigenous inhabitants, the Veddas -- or Wanniya-laeto ('forest-dwellers') as they call themselves -- preserve a direct line of descent from the island's original Neolithic community dating from at least 18,000 BC and probably far earlier according to current scientific opinion. Even today, the surviving Wanniya-laeto community retains much of its own distinctive cyclic worldview, prehistoric cultural memory, and time-tested knowledge of their semi-evergreen dry monsoon forest habitat that has enabled their ancestor-revering culture to meet the diverse challenges to their collective identity and survival. With the impending extinction of Wanniya-laeto culture, however, Sri Lanka and the world stand to lose a rich body of indigenous lore and living ecological wisdom.
Contents[hide]
1 Roots
2 DNA studies
3 Subdivisions
4 Cultural aspects
4.1 Religion
4.2 Society
4.3 Music
4.4 Art
5 Livelihood
6 Place in History
7 Linguistics
8 Current status
9 References
10 External links
[edit] Roots
Human remains in Sri Lanka dating from as early as 18,000 BC show a genetic continuum with present-day Veddas.[1]
According to the ancient chronicle of Sinhalese royalty, the Mahavansa , the Pulindas (Veddhas) are descended from Prince Vijaya (6th-5th century BC) the founding father of the Sinhalese nation, through Kuveni, a woman of the "Yakkha" clan whom he had espoused. The Mahavansa relates that following the repudiation of Kuveni by Vijaya, in favour of a "Kshatriya" princess from the "Pandya" country, their two children, a boy and a girl, departed to the region of "Sumanakuta" (Adams Peak in the Ratnapura District) where they multiplied giving rise to the Veddhas. Anthropologists such as the Seligmanns (The Veddhas 1911) believe the Veddhas to be identical with the "Yakkhas" of yore.
Veddas are also mentioned in Robert Knox's history of his captivity by the King of Kandy in the 17th century. Knox described them as "wild men," but also said there was a "tamer sort," and that the latter sometimes served in the king's army.[2]
The Ratnapura District, which is part of the Sabaragamuva Province is known to have been inhabited by the Veddhas in the distant past. This has been shown by scholars like Nandadeva Wijesekera (Veddhas in transition 1964). Indeed, the very name Sabaragamuva is believed to have meant the village of the Sabaras or "forest barbarians". Such place-names as Veddha-gala (Veddha Rock), Veddha-ela (Veddha Canal) and Vedi-kanda (Veddha Mountain) in the Ratnapura District also bear testimony to this. As Wijesekera observes, a strong Veddha element is discernible in the population of Veddha-gala and its environs. As for the traditional Veddha lifestyle, a number of authorities have delved on this and we can easily describe their life-style as it existed in the past, and as it exists today.
[edit] DNA studies
DNA studies [citation needed] suggest that Wanniyala-Aetto may have been the ancestors of most Sri Lankans before the Indo-Aryan language speakers arrived from North India. Both Sinhala and Vedda lore says that the two races shared a few common ancestors.
[edit] Subdivisions
Sinhala-speaking Veddas are found primarily in the southeastern part of the country, especially in the vicinity of Bintenne in Uva District. There are also Sinhala-speaking Veddas who live in Anuradhapura District in the North Central Province.[3]
Another, largely distinct group, often termed Coast Veddas, is found in coastal areas of the Eastern Province, mostly between Batticaloa and Trincomalee. These Veddas speak Tamil as their primary language.
[edit] Cultural aspects
[edit] Religion
The interior Veddahs follow a mix of animism and nominal Buddhism where as the east coast Veddahs follow a mix of animism and nominal Hinduism known as folk Hinduism amongst anthropologists.
One of the most distinctive features of Vedda religion is the worship of dead ancestors: these are termed nae "yaku" among the Sinhala-speaking Veddas.[4] There are also peculiar deities that are unique to Veddas. One of them is "Kande Yakka".[5]
Both the sub divisions of the Veddas along with the Island's Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim communities venerate the temple complex situated at Kataragama, showing the syncretism that has evolved over 2,000 years of coexistence and assimilation. Kataragama is supposed to be the site at which the Hindu god Skanda or Murugan in Tamil met and married a local tribal girl, Valli, who in Sri Lanka is believed to have been a Vedda.[6]
There are a number of other shrines across the island, not as famous as Kataragama that are as sacred to the Veddas as well as to other communities.[6]
Veddha religion centred round a cult of ancestral spirits known as Ne yaku , whom the Veddhas invoked for game and yams.
[edit] Society
Marriage
The Veddha marriage ceremony is a very simple affair. The ritual consists of the bride tying a bark rope (diya lanuva) of her own twisting, around the waist of the bridegroom. This is the essence of the Veddha marriage and is symbolic of 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 changed significantly, with Veddha women even contracting marriages with their Sinhalese and Moor neighbours.
Women
In Veddha society, woman is in many respects man's equal. She is entitled to similar inheritance. Descent is also reckoned through the female line. Monogamy is the general rule, though a widow would be frequently married by her husband s brother as a means of support and consolation. The women are said to make faithful wives and affectionate mothers.
Death
Death too is a simple affair sans any ostentatious funeral ceremonies and the corpse of the deceased is promptly buried without much ado. Although the medical knowledge of the Veddha is limited, it nevertheless appears to be sufficient. For example, python oil (pimburu tel) a local remedy used for healing wounds, has proven to be very successful in the treatment of fractures, deep cuts and so on.
Burials
Main article Burials of wanniyala aetto
Since the opening of colonisation schemes Veddha burials changed when they dug graves of about 4-5 feet in depth and left the body wrapped in some cloth and covered with leaves and earth.The Veddas also scooped the trunks of the Gadumba tree and laid the body between the scopped out wood planks held together and then buried.At the head of the grave were kept three open coconuts and a small bundle of wood, while at its foot were kept an opened coconut and an untouched coconut.Certain plants of the cactus species (pathok) were planted at the head of the grave, the middle and the foot their personal possessions like the bow and arrow, betel pouch, were also buried. This practice varied according to the different communities of the aboriginal settlements.The contents of the betel pouch of the deceased were eaten after his death, Never was a burial custom inherited to them.
In Vedda burial rituals the dead body was scented or smeared with some juice obtained from the leaves of jungle trees or a lime tree. The foot or the head of the grave was never lit either with fire or wax and water was not kept in a vessel by the grave side.
Cult of the Dead
The Veddas believe in the cult of the dead. They worshipped and made incantations to their Nae Yakka (Relative Spirit) followed by other customary ritual (called the Kiri Koraha) which is still in vogue among the surviving gam veddas of Rathugala, Pollebedda Dambana and the Henanigala Vedda re-settlement (in Mahaweli systems off Mahiyangane).
They believed that the spirit of their dead would haunt them bringing forth diseases and calamity. To appease the dead spirit they invoke the blessings of the Nae Yakka and other spirits, like Bilinda Yakka, Kande Yakka followed by the dance ritual of Kirikoraha.
According to Sarasin Cousins (in 1886) and Seligmann's book - 'The Veddas' (1910).
"When man or woman dies from sickness, the body is left in the cave or rock shelter where the death took place, the body is not washed or dressed or ornamented in any way, but is generally allowed to be in the natural supine position and is covered with leaves and branches. This was formerly the universal custom and still persists among the less sophisticated Veddas who sometimes in addition place a large stone upon the chest for which no reason could be given, this is observed at Sitala Wanniya (off Polle-bedda close to Maha Oya), where the body is still covered with branches and left where the death occurred.
Clothing
Until fairly recent times, the raiment of the Veddhas was remarkably scanty. In the case of men, it consisted only of a loincloth suspended with a string at the waist, while in the case of women, it comprised of a piece of cloth that extended from the navel to the knees. Today, however, Veddha attire is more modest, men wear a short sarong extending from the waist to the knees, while the womenfolk clad themselves in a garment similar to the Sinhalese diya-redda which extends from the breastline to the knees.
[edit] Music
Bori Bori Sellam-Sellam Bedo Wanniya,
Palletalawa Navinna-Pita Gosin Vetenne,
Malpivili genagene-Hele Kado Navinne,
Diyapivili Genagene-Thige Bo Haliskote Peni,
Ka tho ipal denne
(A Vedda honeycomb cutter's folk song)
Meaning of this song - The bees from yonder hills of Palle Talawa and Kade suck nectar from the flowers and made the honeycomb. So why should you give them undue pain when there is no honey by cutting the honeycomb.
[edit] Art
Vedda cave drawings such as those found at Hamangala provide graphic evidence of the sublime spiritual and artistic vision achieved by the ancestors of today's Wanniyala-Aetto people. Most researchers today agree that the artistes most likely were the Wanniyala-Aetto women who spent long hours in these caves waiting for their menfolk's return from the hunt.
Understood from this perspective, these cave drawings depict brilliant feats of Wanniyala-Aetto culture as seen through the eyes of its womenfolk. The simple yet graceful abstract figures are portrayed engaging in feats of vision an daring that place them firmly above even the greatest beasts of their jungle habitat.
The nimbus or halo about the human figures' heads represents the sun's disc and, equally, the sacred power bordering upon divinity that accrues not only to great hunters but to all those endowed with the vision to behold and apprehend the marvel of divinity in humble guise. Even up to modern times, the Wanniyala-Aetto used to swear oaths of truth by the divinity of the sun, saying 'upon Maha Suriyo Deviyo'.
Such cave drawings have long served as visual memory aids and as teaching tools for the transmission of ancestral wisdom traditions to succeeding generations. To this day, they provide silent testimony to the profound heights attained by Lanka's indigenous culture expressed with elegant simplicity that people of all communities may appreciate.
[edit] Livelihood
Veddas were originally hunter-gatherers. They used bows and arrows to hunt game, and also gathered wild plants and honey. Many Veddas also farm, frequently using slash and burn or swidden cultivation, which is called "chena" in Sri Lanka. East Coast Veddas also practice fishing.Veddhas are famously known for their rich meat diet. Venison and the flesh of rabbit, turtle, tortoise, monitor lizard, wild boar and the common brown monkey are consumed with much relish. The Veddhas kill only for food and do not harm young or pregnant animals. Game is commonly shared amongst the family and clan. Fish are caught by employing fish poisons such as the juice of the pus-vel (Entada scandens) and daluk-kiri (Cactus milk). Veddha culinary fare is also deserving of mention. Amongst the best known are gona perume, which is a sort of sausage containing alternate layers of meat and fat, and goya-tel-perume, which is the tail of the monitor lizard (talagoya), stuffed with fat obtained from its sides and roasted in embers. Another Veddha delicacy is dried meat preserve soaked in honey. In the olden days, the Veddhas used to preserve such meat in the hollow of a tree, enclosing it with clay.
Such succulent meat served as a ready food supply in times of scarcity. The early part of the year (January-February) is considered to be the season of yams and mid-year (June-July) that of fruit and honey, while hunting is availed of throughout the year. Nowadays, more and more Veddha folk have taken to Chena (slash and burn) cultivation. Kurakkan (Eleusine coracana) is cultivated very often. Maize, yams, gourds and melons are also cultivated. In the olden days, the dwellings of the Veddhas consisted of caves and rock shelters. Today, they live in unpretentious huts of wattle, daub and thatch.
[edit] Place in History
In the reign of King Datusena (6th century A.D.) the Mahaweli ganga was diverted at Minipe in the Minipe canal nearly 47 miles long said to be constructed with help from the Yakkas. The Mahawamsa refers to the canal as Yaka-bendi-ela. When the Ruwanweli Seya was built in King Dutugemunu's time (2nd century B.C.) the Veddas procured the necessary minerals from the jungles.
King Parakrama Bahu the great of (12 century) in his war against the rebels employed these Veddas as scouts.
In the reign of King Rajasinghe II (17 century A.D.) in his battle with the Dutch he had a Vedda regiment. In the abortive Uva-Welessa revolt of 1817-1818 of the British times, led by Keppetipola Dissawe, the Veddas too fought with the rebels against the British forces.
[edit] Linguistics
Main article Wanniyala Aetto language
Their language, usually referred to as Veddah, is closely related to Sinhala, although much of its vocabulary (especially terms associated with the forest and their lifestyle) can not be traced to Sinhala and may be from a language(s) spoken before the adoption of the Sinhalese language.
Examples include the Wanniyala-Aetto word ruhang for friend, while the Sinhala word is yaluva (IPA /jaːluaː/). There are also communities of Wanniyala-Aetto who speak Tamil in the east coast (Vetas).
[edit] Current status
Some observers have said Veddas are disappearing and have lamented the decline of their distinct culture.[7] Development, government forest reserve restrictions, and the civil war have disrupted traditional Vedda ways of life.
However, cultural assimilation of Veddas with other local populations has been going on for a long time. "Vedda" has been used in Sri Lanka to mean not only hunter-gatherers or people who have an aboriginal ancestry, but also to refer to any people who adopt an unsettled and rural way of life and can be a derogatory term based on the contet. Thus, over time, it is possible for non-Vedda groups to become Veddas, in this broad cultural sense.[8][9] Vedda populations of this kind are increasing in some districts.[10]
Today many Sinhalese people and some east coastal Tamils claim that they have some trace of Veddah blood. Intermarriage between Veddas and Sinhalese is very frequent. They are not considered outcasts in Sri Lankan society unlike the untouchable caste called Rodiyas (see Caste in Sri Lanka).
The current leader of the Wanniyala-Aetto community is Uru Warige Wanniya.
@ WWW Virtual Library Sri Lanka
Veddas - now only a household name
(@Script & Photos: Gamini G. Punchihewa/The Island)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).
Later our famed 'Surgeon and author about the Wilderness', Dr. R. L. Spittel at the turn of the century studied the Veddas in their original settlements and wrote many books on these aborigines, among them 'Wild Ceylon' (1925), ‘Far Off Things' (1930), 'Vanished Trails’, ‘Savage Sanctuary’(1939/45) the last being the epic life story of Wannaku Tissahamy, the jungle outlaw.
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.
Chieftain Kalu Appu and Thappal Bandiya of Henanigala Veddha re-settlement
Vijaya married Kuweni, a beautiful daughter of a Yakka chieftain. When he took a consort from India, he deserted Kuweni and her two children. Her tribe in wrath killed her while the two children took asylum in the Peak Wilderness (Sri Pada Adaviya). Kuweni's descendants were called the Pulindas who according to legend are the descendants of the present day Veddas.
Another tradition states that the Veddas' ancestors were the Yakkas. The Mahavamsa records that King Pandukabhaya (5th century BC) built shrines dedicated to ‘vyaadha deva', the god of the hunters.
The word Vedda is derived from sanskrit Vyaddha — meaning one who lives by chase, thus meaning a hunter. The Vedda language itself is a mixture of Pali, Sanskrit and Elu, a form of archaic Sinhala. In the 6th century BC King Panduvasdeva and his retinue arrived in Lanka, and were welcomed by Yakka tribes who showed them the way to Vijithapura.
Sabaragamuwa means the land of jungle tribes (Sabara means primitive people), hence it is said in some traditions that the Vedda habitat once upon a time existed in Sabaragamuwa. With places like Veddagala, Veddacombe, Veddawala (lying close to Kalawana) and Pothupitiya.
Coming to the reign of Pandukabhaya (5th century BC) he fought his seven embittered uncles with the support of the Yakka chieftain and his tribe.
In the reign of King Datusena (6th century A.D.) the Mahaweli ganga was diverted at Minipe in the Minipe canal nearly 47 miles long said to be constructed with help from the Yakkas. The Mahawamsa refers to the canal as Yaka-bendi-ela. When the Ruwanweli Seya was built in King Dutugemunu's time (2nd century B.C.) the Veddas procured the necessary minerals from the jungles.
King Parakrama Bahu the great of (12 century) in his war against the rebels employed these Veddas as scouts.
In the reign of King Rajasinghe II (17 century A.D.) in his battle with the Dutch he had a Vedda regiment. In the abortive Uva-Welessa revolt of 1817-1818 of the British times, led by Keppetipola Dissawe, the Veddas too fought with the rebels against the British forces.
Dr. Seligmann classifies the Veddas into three groups.— the Gal Veddas (Rock Veddas) who dwelt in caves-hunting animals with bow and arrow and lived a food gathering existence, Gam Veddas (Village Veddas) those who intermarried with the neighbouring Sinhalese and cultivated chena and other food crops with the Coastal Veddas (Mudu Veddas) were confined mostly to the eastern coastal belt, like Kalkuda.
Today no Rock Veddas exist, instead a few Gam Veddas are still confined to the aboriginal settlements like Pollebedda (Maha Oya), Rahtugala (off Bibile and Gal Oya Valley), Dambana (off Mahiyangane).
Inroads of CivilizationWith the damming of the Gal Oya river (lying in the eastern province and Uva) in 1950 and the creation of the Senanayake Samudraya well known Vedda settlements like Hennebedda, Gallobe, vanished. Other vedda settlements were submerged and they were then called 'tankbed people'. Some of them were re-settled in new settlement under the Gal Oya scheme, like Paragahakelle and Wavinna (first village units to be created in 1950/52), while the rest opted to seek other pastures like Pollebedda, Bandaraduwa and even in Namal Oya.
The Mahaweli Accelerated Development Programme in the 1980's extended into the Bintenna called in ancient times, as Maha Vedirata and Mahiyangana, Maduru Oya, Yakhura, Dimbulagala regions. Consequently the few remaining shoots were either wiped out, or integrated into the Mahaweli settlement in Systems B and C.
Among the other traditional Vedda settlements is the Dambana which lies between the Mahaweli Ganga and Maduru Oya.
Dr. Seligmann who had studied almost all the aboriginal settlements in 1910, like Danigala, Hennebedda, Yakhura, Nilgala, Sorabora had also visited Dambana.
A few Vedda settlements around Mahaweli systems, like Keragoda, Kotabakina, Koteya and Kende Ganwila were displaced. Most of those age old aboriginal settlements got engulfed in the newly created Maduru Oya National Park (in 1983) and eventually were displaced. Those Vedda evacuees about 113 were re-settled in an exclusively carved out settlement at Hennanigala lying off Mahaweli System C, in Giriandurukotte, about 15 miles away from Mahiyangane.
Most of them accepted the new life style but chieftain of Dambana-Uruwarige Tissahamy and a few others refused to discard their Vedda trappings and sought refuge in the sanctuary of the Maduru Oya National Park.
The Veddas believed in the cult of their dead whom they propitiated rituals and dances to invoke their blessings. When death stalked their cave homes, they abandoned them and went in quest of other caves.
They believed in Nae Yakka (after death-the spirit of the dead relative haunted them). To appease the Nae Yakka they did a ritual accompanied with dance and song called Kirikoraha which these Gam Veddas still indulge in. Their other spirits were Kande Yakka, Bilinda Yakka, Rahu Yakka, Kiri Amma, etc.,
The two Vedda patriarchs Hennanigala re-settlement are Kalu Appu (the chieftain) and Tappal Bandiya. They and a few other elders did not fit with the new self-style in their new settlements as they had no jungle to hunt or collect bee's honey. Each of these evacuees were given 1/2 acre of highland, a 2 acre irrigable plot at Henanigala in System C, off Girandurukotte.
Communalization of India by Congress for Minority votes
While the majority like orphans look on -
http://newstodaynet.com/col.php?section=20&catid=33&id=10486
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/kerala-hc-wants-probe-into-love-jihad/523630/
http://www.kaumudi.com/news/102509/breakpage.stm#20
While such truths are hidden from us: http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/381907.aspx http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste_system_in_India#Caste_system_among_non-Hindus
School texbooks depict Hindu Caste system as something very bad though concerned Nationalists know the truth that Casteism is a prevalent social problem of hereditary class everywhere including Christian &Islamic societies of West & Hinduism allows only merit & occupation based 4 Varna system. But, due to foreign invasions we adopted the current perverted anti-Hindu multiple casteism like them. Also, Manu Smriti is no authentic authorative Hindu Scripture like Veda or its Divine Synopsis by Lord Krishna Himself (as said in it) - the Bhagvad Gita and is merely later perverted interpolation by some mischief mongers (as original Manu Samhita lost during Muslim invasions).
Vedas told - I am a bard, my father is a physician, my mother's job isto grind the corn." (Rig Veda 9.112.3) & Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 4, Shloka 13: cāturvarṇyaṃ mayā sṛṣṭaṃ guṇakarmavibhāgaśaḥ .tasya kartāramapi māṃ viddhyakartāramavyayam .. 4\-13..The four-fold order was created by Me according to the divisions ofquality and work. Though I am its creator, know Me to be incapable ofaction or change. Cāturvarṇyaṃ: the four-fold order. The four varnas are named -Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra.
Sickulars exposed: The conspiracy was hatched at the house of Moulvi Umerji and executed by two men. Petrol was obtained from a petrol pump in Godhra a day before, says the Nanavati report - http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080066669&ch=9/25/2008%203:22:00%20PM http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/74309/godhra-report-tabled-modi-gets-clean-chit.html
http://newstodaynet.com/col.php?section=20&catid=33&id=10486
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/kerala-hc-wants-probe-into-love-jihad/523630/
http://www.kaumudi.com/news/102509/breakpage.stm#20
While such truths are hidden from us: http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/381907.aspx http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste_system_in_India#Caste_system_among_non-Hindus
School texbooks depict Hindu Caste system as something very bad though concerned Nationalists know the truth that Casteism is a prevalent social problem of hereditary class everywhere including Christian &Islamic societies of West & Hinduism allows only merit & occupation based 4 Varna system. But, due to foreign invasions we adopted the current perverted anti-Hindu multiple casteism like them. Also, Manu Smriti is no authentic authorative Hindu Scripture like Veda or its Divine Synopsis by Lord Krishna Himself (as said in it) - the Bhagvad Gita and is merely later perverted interpolation by some mischief mongers (as original Manu Samhita lost during Muslim invasions).
Vedas told - I am a bard, my father is a physician, my mother's job isto grind the corn." (Rig Veda 9.112.3) & Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 4, Shloka 13: cāturvarṇyaṃ mayā sṛṣṭaṃ guṇakarmavibhāgaśaḥ .tasya kartāramapi māṃ viddhyakartāramavyayam .. 4\-13..The four-fold order was created by Me according to the divisions ofquality and work. Though I am its creator, know Me to be incapable ofaction or change. Cāturvarṇyaṃ: the four-fold order. The four varnas are named -Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra.
Sickulars exposed: The conspiracy was hatched at the house of Moulvi Umerji and executed by two men. Petrol was obtained from a petrol pump in Godhra a day before, says the Nanavati report - http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080066669&ch=9/25/2008%203:22:00%20PM http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/74309/godhra-report-tabled-modi-gets-clean-chit.html
Pakistani Islamic Society is violently casteist compared to much peaceful among Indian Hindus & Christians: -
Mukhtaran Bibi (born c. 1972) now known as Mukhtār Mā'ī is a Pakistani woman from the village of Meerwala, in the rural tehsil (county) of Jatoi of the Muzaffargarh District of Pakistan. Mukhtar Mai suffered a gang rape as a form of honour revenge, on the demands of tribesmen — or by some accounts, on the orders of a panchayat (tribal council) — of a local Mastoi Baloch clan that was richer and more powerful than Mukhtaran's clan, the Gujjar Tatla. By custom, rural women are expected to commit suicide after such an event. Instead, she spoke up, and using word of mouth, took her case to court where her rapists were arrested and charged. She took settlement money provided to her by the government following the court case, and opened a center for refuge and education, the Mukhtar Mai Women's Welfare Organization.
February 21, 2009
It is a cliché now to say that Pakistan is a country in transition — on a highway to somewhere. The direction remains unclear but the speed of transformation is visibly defying its traditionally overbearing — and now cracking — postcolonial state. Globali-sation, the communications revolution and a growing middle class have altered the contours of a society beset by layers of confusing history. What has, however, emerged despite the affinity with jeans, FM radios and McDonalds is the visible trumpeting of caste-based identities. In Lahore, hundreds of cars with the owner’s caste or tribe are displayed as a marker of pride. As an urbanite, I found it difficult to comprehend the relevance of zaat-paat (casteism) until I experienced living in the peri-urban and sometimes rural areas of the Punjab as a public servant. Identity rulesI recall the days when, in a central Punjab district, I was mistaken for a Kakayzai (a Punjabi caste that claims to have originated from the Caucasus). It was also here that a subordinate told me in chaste Punjabi how the Gujjar caste was not a social group but a ‘religion’ in itself. Or that the Rajputs were superior to everyone else, second only to the Syeds (descendants of the Prophet Mohammad). All else was the junk that had converted from the ‘lowly Hindus’ (of course this included my family). My first name is also a matter of sectarian interpretation. Another subordinate in my younger days lectured me on the importance of sticking together as the ‘victims’ of the Sunni majoritarian violence in Pakistan. Mistaken as a Momin, I got a chance to know the intra-group dynamics better and also how closely knit are such groups. It reminds me of the horrific tales our domestic help used to tell us about the Shias, until one day my Sunni parents fired her for poisoning their children’s minds. Now, in the footsteps of the great Urdu poet Ghalib, I view myself as half a Shia. Can I not exist as a human being without being part of a herd? Obedience to hierarchies, conformity and identification with groups are central tenets of human existence, especially in Pakistan. Punjab’s entire electoral landscape is still defined by biradari loyalties. In the 1980s, party-less elections helped General Zia ul Haq to undermine Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party; but it also gave enormous leeway to the state agencies to choose loyalties when the election was all about the biradari elders. Haq’s Arain (a lesser land-tilling caste) background became a topic of discussion, as many Arains used this card to great personal advantage. It’s similar to what the Kashmiris have perceived under the multiple reigns of the Sharifs of the Punjab, who are proud Kashmiris. Why blame Punjabis only? One of the reasons for Zardari-bashing in Sindh has to do with the Zardari tribe’s historical moorings. They were camel herders as opposed to the ruling classes with fiefs. In the early years of Pakistan, migrants from India had set the ground for the politics of patronage along group lines. Karachi became divided into little Lucknows, Delhis and other centres of nostalgia. Employ-ment opportunities and claims of property, as several personal accounts reveal, were doled out on the basis of affiliation to pre-Partition networks such as neighbourhoods in Aligarh, Delhi, UP and Hyderabad. The same goes for the smaller provinces of Pakistan. Pride and prejudice We pride ourselves on being a nuclear-armed Islamic state that broke away from the prejudiced Baniyas whose caste system was abominable. But what do we practise? My friends have not been allowed to marry outside their caste or sect, Christian sweepers in Pakistani households are not permitted to touch the utensils, and the word ‘choora’ (untouchable sweeper) remains the ultimate insult after out-of wedlock sex and incestuous abuse. I once heard a lawyer remark about a high-ranking public official, calling him a nai (barber) and therefore branding him as the lowest of the low. The untouchables remain the underbelly of our existence. Admittedly, these incidences are far lesser than in India. That is a function of demographics and religious sanction in the not so loved neighbour. Even Mohammad Iqbal, the great reformist poet, lamented: Youn tau Syed bhi ho, Mirza bhi ho, Afghan bhi ho/Tum sabhi kuch ho, batao tau Mussalman bhi ho (You are Syeds, Mirzas and Afghans/You are everything but Muslims).When youngsters rocking on mast music or dating on masti chats display the caste characteristic on their windscreens, one worries if the ongoing change can deliver a better society. Superficial signs of change cannot make up for the need for a robust educational system, equality of opportunity and accountability of political elites who use caste as an instrument of power. More bewildered, I wonder where I belong. Bulleh Shah has taught me that shedding categories is the first step towards self-knowledge. But I live in a society where branding is essential, if not unavoidable. For this reason I am peeved that I still don’t know who I am.
(Raza Rumi blogs at razarumi.com and edits the e-zines Pak Tea House and Lahore Nama. The article was first published in The Friday Times, Pakistan)
February 21, 2009
It is a cliché now to say that Pakistan is a country in transition — on a highway to somewhere. The direction remains unclear but the speed of transformation is visibly defying its traditionally overbearing — and now cracking — postcolonial state. Globali-sation, the communications revolution and a growing middle class have altered the contours of a society beset by layers of confusing history. What has, however, emerged despite the affinity with jeans, FM radios and McDonalds is the visible trumpeting of caste-based identities. In Lahore, hundreds of cars with the owner’s caste or tribe are displayed as a marker of pride. As an urbanite, I found it difficult to comprehend the relevance of zaat-paat (casteism) until I experienced living in the peri-urban and sometimes rural areas of the Punjab as a public servant. Identity rulesI recall the days when, in a central Punjab district, I was mistaken for a Kakayzai (a Punjabi caste that claims to have originated from the Caucasus). It was also here that a subordinate told me in chaste Punjabi how the Gujjar caste was not a social group but a ‘religion’ in itself. Or that the Rajputs were superior to everyone else, second only to the Syeds (descendants of the Prophet Mohammad). All else was the junk that had converted from the ‘lowly Hindus’ (of course this included my family). My first name is also a matter of sectarian interpretation. Another subordinate in my younger days lectured me on the importance of sticking together as the ‘victims’ of the Sunni majoritarian violence in Pakistan. Mistaken as a Momin, I got a chance to know the intra-group dynamics better and also how closely knit are such groups. It reminds me of the horrific tales our domestic help used to tell us about the Shias, until one day my Sunni parents fired her for poisoning their children’s minds. Now, in the footsteps of the great Urdu poet Ghalib, I view myself as half a Shia. Can I not exist as a human being without being part of a herd? Obedience to hierarchies, conformity and identification with groups are central tenets of human existence, especially in Pakistan. Punjab’s entire electoral landscape is still defined by biradari loyalties. In the 1980s, party-less elections helped General Zia ul Haq to undermine Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party; but it also gave enormous leeway to the state agencies to choose loyalties when the election was all about the biradari elders. Haq’s Arain (a lesser land-tilling caste) background became a topic of discussion, as many Arains used this card to great personal advantage. It’s similar to what the Kashmiris have perceived under the multiple reigns of the Sharifs of the Punjab, who are proud Kashmiris. Why blame Punjabis only? One of the reasons for Zardari-bashing in Sindh has to do with the Zardari tribe’s historical moorings. They were camel herders as opposed to the ruling classes with fiefs. In the early years of Pakistan, migrants from India had set the ground for the politics of patronage along group lines. Karachi became divided into little Lucknows, Delhis and other centres of nostalgia. Employ-ment opportunities and claims of property, as several personal accounts reveal, were doled out on the basis of affiliation to pre-Partition networks such as neighbourhoods in Aligarh, Delhi, UP and Hyderabad. The same goes for the smaller provinces of Pakistan. Pride and prejudice We pride ourselves on being a nuclear-armed Islamic state that broke away from the prejudiced Baniyas whose caste system was abominable. But what do we practise? My friends have not been allowed to marry outside their caste or sect, Christian sweepers in Pakistani households are not permitted to touch the utensils, and the word ‘choora’ (untouchable sweeper) remains the ultimate insult after out-of wedlock sex and incestuous abuse. I once heard a lawyer remark about a high-ranking public official, calling him a nai (barber) and therefore branding him as the lowest of the low. The untouchables remain the underbelly of our existence. Admittedly, these incidences are far lesser than in India. That is a function of demographics and religious sanction in the not so loved neighbour. Even Mohammad Iqbal, the great reformist poet, lamented: Youn tau Syed bhi ho, Mirza bhi ho, Afghan bhi ho/Tum sabhi kuch ho, batao tau Mussalman bhi ho (You are Syeds, Mirzas and Afghans/You are everything but Muslims).When youngsters rocking on mast music or dating on masti chats display the caste characteristic on their windscreens, one worries if the ongoing change can deliver a better society. Superficial signs of change cannot make up for the need for a robust educational system, equality of opportunity and accountability of political elites who use caste as an instrument of power. More bewildered, I wonder where I belong. Bulleh Shah has taught me that shedding categories is the first step towards self-knowledge. But I live in a society where branding is essential, if not unavoidable. For this reason I am peeved that I still don’t know who I am.
(Raza Rumi blogs at razarumi.com and edits the e-zines Pak Tea House and Lahore Nama. The article was first published in The Friday Times, Pakistan)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)