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Dambana Vedda Heritage Museum |
DDambana Vedda Village (Sinhala: දඹාන ආදිවාසී ගම්මානය) is an eco-tourism site located in Dambana near Mahiyangana in Badulla District, Sri Lanka. It reflects the culture and heritage of Veddas, an indigenous community who is considered one of the primitive human groups in the world and the first ethnic group that inhabited Sri Lanka (Semasinghe, 2021).
History
Vedda People
The Veddas are the original community group in Sri Lanka (Riswan & Bushra, 2020). They inherits a long history and they are the linear descendants of prehistoric Neolithic people of the country (Semasinghe, 2021). They called themselves "Wanniyala-aththo" which means the forest dwellers (Riswan & Bushra, 2020; Semasinghe, 2021). There are three types of Veddas namely, forest, village, and coastal (Semasinghe, 2021). According to sources, these Veddas are in three main regional areas, the Bintenne, coastal and Anuradhapura (Riswan & Bushra, 2020; Semasinghe, 2021).
The Bintenna Veddas inhabit the areas particularly in Batticaloa, Monaragala, Ampara, and Badulla, as well as in the areas close to Verugal, Mahaweli, and Gal Oya Rivers. The Coastal Veddas, also known as Muhudu Veddas, are found along the eastern coastline between Batticaloa and Trincomalee. The third group, the Anuradhapura Veddas, reside in the Anuradhapura District of the North Central Province. Besides these groups, there is another community identified as the "colonized Veddas" who settled in newly established agricultural colonies under various development programs (Semasinghe, 2021).
Vedda Language
The word "Vedda" comes from "Vyadda" of Sanskrit language which means the hunter with bow and arrow (Riswan & Bushra, 2020). Veddas have their own language known as "Vedda language". However, this language is disappearing in many settlements and only old aged Veddas are speaking the language (Semasinghe, 2021). As the Vaddas in the North Central and Uva Provinces have absorbed into Sinhala society, they mainly sepeaks Sinhala, the majority language of the country. Many costal Vaddas in the Batticaloa and Trincomalee districts speaks Tamil, as those regions are dominated mainly by the Tamil society (Semasinghe, 2021).
Dambana Vedda Settlements
Dambana is one of the traditional Vedda settlements located away from Mahiyangana town and adjacent to the Maduru Oya Wildlife Sanctuary. It consists five villages namely Kotabakiniya, Dambana, Wathuyaya, Gurukumbura and Welpallewela (Semasinghe, 2021). Of these villages, the first four comprise only Vadda families while in Welpallewela has both Vadda and Sinhala families as well as mixed families (Semasinghe, 2021).
The community living in Dambana is identified as the Bintenne Veddas and this area is recognized both nationally and internationally as the principal homeland of the Vedda people (Semasinghe, 2021). Within Dambana, the community is organized into several clans, namely Uru Varige, Morana Varige, Nabudana Varige, and Thala Varige (Semasinghe, 2021). Historical sources also reveal two other clans, Ambala Varige and Unapan Varige. The present Chief of the Vedda is Uruwarige Vanniyaleththo, the son of the former Chief, Thisahamy (Semasinghe, 2021). His official residence is located in the Kotabakiniya where the Indigenous Information Center is also sited.
Information Center/ Museum
There is an information center related with the community tourism of the Vedda community in Dambana. This was established with the intervention of Sri Lankan government (Indika, 2011). At this center, there is a museum named Variga Maha Gedara designed to provide visitors with knowledge of both the tangible and intangible heritage of the Vedda community (Indika, 2011). This museum was established by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs of Sri Lanka together with Uva Provincial Tourism Ministry in August 2015 to portray mainly the Vedda heritage and their evolution to date (Ranasinghe & Cheng, 2018).
Alongside the museum a hall built in the style of traditional village architecture. This hall serves multiple purposes, including hosting lectures and discussions related to Vedda culture. The front corridor of the building is also used by community members to sell their traditional crafts and other locally made products such as necklaces and flower carriers made by kirindi seeds, herbal jugs with therapeutic value made by Gammalu wood, animal bone and fabric ornaments and bee honey (Indika, 2011).
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References
Journal Articles
1) Indika, M.A. 2011, Enhancing Ethno-Tourism Utilizing the CBT Approach: A Case Study in Sri Lanka. Santati vol. IV, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya.
2) Ranasinghe, R. and Cheng, L., 2018. Tourism-induced mobilities and transformation of indigenous cultures: where is the Vedda community in Sri Lanka heading to?. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change, 16(5), pp.521-538.
3) Riswan, M. and Bushra, B.R.K., 2020. The “Veddas” in Sri Lanka: Cultural Heritage and Challenges. Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archeology, 8, pp.573-588.
4) Semasinghe, W.M., 2021. An Inquiry into the Causes of Poverty among Vadda Peoples: Special to Dambana Vadda Community. Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Review, 6(4).
Location Map
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Attribution
To Whom
LankaPradeepa.com extends its gratitude to Malsha M. Ranasinghe for providing the necessary photographs required for this article. All the photos are published here with the permission of the author.