Kadira

It is from the journey, not the destination one can learn some unexpected life experiences. One such memorable experience was an unscheduled stop at Dambana while travelling from Passikuda to Colombo on A5.

Dambana village is nestled in the forest between Padiyathalawa and Mahiyangana, a mere 2km detour off A5. It is home to about 250 families of the Vedda Community – the Tribal people of Sri Lanka.

We chanced upon our “tour guide” – Kadira, when we asked for directions at the 3 way junction. Kadira turned out to be a gem of a find – a real character with a fantastic sense of humour. He epitomises the changing life style of the Vedda world. The young tribesmen seem to be inevitably caught up with the influences of the outside world. They are ready to experiment; even embrace the screwed up youth culture beyond the forest.

Kadira’s innocent initial inquiry about how to make his hair smooth strayed further afar with jokes about coming to the city with us to buy jeans, sunnies, colour his hair and even to find a nice city kakuli. No doubt, he would have been a hit with the city girls with his great sense of humour and fine physique.

However, he did not abandon his language. He could have spoken in Sinhala if necessary. Perhaps they know the allure of the tribesmen is their language pojja to the local tourists to be amused and confused.

The elders are fiercely determined to preserve their traditions as long as they can.

The soft spoken young acting – chief (the grandson of late Tissahami aththo) seems acutely aware of the impact the outside world is having on their culture. The youngsters do see the technology carried by the visitors. The young tribesmen might even be having mobile phones tucked away in their sarongs. They may have already discovered it is a whole lot easier to communicate via mobile phones while on hunting expeditions or just to coordinate their cricket matches.

The acting chief articulated their frustration in being “caged” into a 1500 acre forest area since some decades ago. Their traditional hunter gatherer life style is no longer sustainable. They cannot move from forest to forest as they used to. Since his father the chief had attended a UN summit for indigenous people in the 90s, there had been many foreigners who had come to their aid. There has been some government recognition of their plight since then and some token concessions made.

They want to practice their traditional life style, their beliefs in spirits of dead relatives and to have unhindered access to the jungles of their traditional homelands. They are proud of the Yaksha tribal history dating back to possibly 37,000 years. “No” the chief chuckled, “our ancestors were not cannibals just because they were known as Yakku”

 Even the elders understand what they are asking for is not practical. They seem almost resigned to the inevitability that within their lifetime their tribe is likely to disappear by assimilation into the mainstream society.

Many tribes around the world who had had their homeland stolen pillaged and plundered by the seafaring invaders in last few centuries. The Native Americans are given token reserves to live their life. Maoris of New Zealand have fared better with a bigger say in their destiny governed by the white men.

The Australian aborigines with stolen generations and their penchant for the alcohol introduced to them by white man after grabbing their land lived on hand-outs until Mabo winning a landmark High Court decision in 1992. In response to the judgment, the Parliament of Australia, controlled by the Labor Party led by Prime Minister Paul Keating, enacted the Native Title Act 1993.

The uranium, iron ore, coal mines owners had to grudgingly accept the fact that the vast tracts of land they now own having been passed down by no more than 5 generations of early settlers do in fact belong to the local tribes. Those tribes now receive royalties from the income generated by those mines.

The point is, as in the case of Australian Aboriginies, Lankadeepa belongs to the Veddas. They were here before Vijaya settled in Lanka. They were here before south Indians settled in the North and the East. They were here before the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British conquered this land.

Their plight deserves more attention by us. They deserve better.

Kadira and his generation should be allowed to preserve their culture. Kadira should not have to go the same way as our young generation who has embraced this bastardised Sri Lankan culture.