No. 33. — 1886.] the veddAs op ceylon. 



385 



in the possession of one of the Kandyan chiefs, states that 

 King Dutugemunu (160 B.C.) appointed the Veddas servants 

 of the god Skanda, in the temple Kataragama Dewale built 

 by him, on account of the purity of their caste. As, however, 

 the age of the ola is not known, we can draw no sure con- 

 clusion from this statement. Only the fact that here again the 

 purity of caste is emphasised must make us cautious about 

 looking upon ,the Veddas as a mixed people. When we 

 consider for how long a time, and with what scrupulous care , 

 the people of India have matured and preserved the dis- 

 tinction of caste, the fact that they have acknowledged 

 without exception the unity and purity of such a wild 

 tribe must surely appear of great significance.* 



Indeed, all inquirers testify to the unmixed character of 

 the tribe. The different names which have been given to 

 separate divisions do not indicate different tribes, but geo- 

 graphical and topographical distinctions. Thus the Tamils 

 distinguish the " Manalkadu," or sandy jungle Veddas, from 

 the " Cholaikkadu " Veddas, that is, those living on the sea 

 coast, who speak Tamil and till chena land, from those yet 

 leading a nomadic life, who, as they say, are quite different 

 from the others, have preserved much of their original bar- 

 barism, and inhabit the more remote parts of the Bintenna 

 district. At any rate, this distinction is not to be understood 

 as referring to typical differences in the tribe. 



From the preceding we gather that up to the present time 

 two leading views stand opposed to one another, which are 

 mainly supported by linguistic observations, and only in 

 part by genuine anthropological facts, According to one, the 

 Veddas would be next of kin to the Dra vidians ; according to 

 the other, members of the great Aryan family. In both cases 

 they must have immigrated from the continent, only in the 

 first very much earlier than in the second. I find only one 

 single conjecture mentioned of any such immigration. The 



* Hartshorne, I. c, p. 406, 



f Id., I. c, p. 411. 



