No. 61. — 1908.J 



PROCEEDINGS. 



81 



3. His Excellency the Governor : I would now invite dis- 

 cussion or any remarks upon the lecture, particularly with reference 

 to the sociology of the Veddas. Dr. Seligmann would regard it as 

 a great favour, as he has stated, if anybody would give him infor- 

 mation, especially from old Sinhalese literature. 



Dr. A. Willey said that he was sure they had all listened 

 attentively to Dr. Seligmann. It is not often that they were able 

 to get a man out from England to undertake a concentrated piece 

 of work of this kind ; and anthropologists all over the world, and 

 more particularly the British Empire, will be greatly indebted to 

 the Government of Ceylon for providing the means to carry out 

 this investigation. The presence of His Excellency here to-night 

 shows that the Government of Ceylon recognizes that the money 

 has been well spent ; and this will be more apparent when Dr. 

 Seligmann's final work is published. To-night he has only given 

 a very interesting outline. In a year's time they might expect 

 a book which would probably lay the Veddas' ghost for ever. 



Mr. P. Arunachalam said that Kande Yakd, whom the lecturer 

 had mentioned as the chief god of the Veddas, was most probably 

 the god Kandasami of the Tamil Hindus, who is regarded as a 

 hill god and the special protector of the aboriginal tribes. His 

 principal shrine in Ceylon is among the hills of Kataragama, where 

 he is worshipped with his consort Valli, daughter of an aboriginal 

 hill chief, whom, according to tradition, he married in Ceylon. The 

 name Valli is a common name among Vedda women. Kandasami's 

 favourite weapon is the vel or lance, which is therefore used as 

 the symbol of his worship, and is most probably the original of 

 the " ceremonial arrow," which plays so large a part in Vedda 

 ceremonies. Another important deity worshipped by the Veddas 

 is Bilinda Yakd, brother of Kande Yakd. Bilinda means in Sinha- 

 lese " child." Kandasami's brother Ganesa, who is an important 

 deity in the Hindu temples, is commonly called Pillayar, or "the 

 child." All this goes far to show the identity of Kande Yakd with 

 Kandasami, the Kataragam god. The Veddas were in ancient 

 times intimately connected with the Kataragama shrine, and as 

 far back as 200 B.C. were appointed guardians of the shrine by 

 King Dutugemunu. The present Kapurdlas of the temple claim 

 descent from the Veddas. 



Dr. J. C. Willis wished to know the origin of the Veddas, 

 and how they came to Ceylon. He stated that from the bota- 

 nical point of view it was now fairly well recognized that at one 

 time the continents of South America and Africa formed a single 

 continent, which had a prolongation eastwards through Mada- 

 gascar to Ceylon and South India, and so on to Northern India, as 

 represented by the Himalayas, Assam, and Bengal. He desired 

 to learn if Dr. Seligmann thought the Veddas belonged to the 

 northern continent or southern continent, and whether, for 

 instance, he would connect them with the Malay Peninsula. 



The Hon. Mr. J. Ferguson said the only contribution he had 

 to make to the discussion was by reading from a letter received 

 by the mail before last from Mr. Henry Parker, formerly of the 

 Irrigation Department, who was well known and esteemed as 



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