Veddah

Vedda

Vedda chief Uruwarige Wannila Aththo.
Total population
2,500 (2002), Coast Veddas 8,000 (1983), Anuradhapura Veddas 6,000 (1978)
Regions with significant populations
Sri Lanka       2,500 (2002)
Languages
Vedda (extinct), Sinhala, Tamil
Religion
Animism, Buddhism, Hindu
Related ethnic groups
Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamils

The Vedda (Sinhalese: වැද්දා [ˈvædːaː], Tamil: வேடர் Vēdar) are an minority indigenous group of people in Sri Lanka who, among other self-identified native communities such as Coast Veddas and Anuradhapura Veddas, are accorded indigenous status. Most speak Sinhala and Tamil instead due to the near-extinction of their indigenous languages.

According to the 5th-century genesis chronicle of the Sinhala people, the Mahavamsa ("Great Chronicle"), the Vedda are descended from Prince Vijaya (6th–5th century BCE), the founding father of the nation who originated from North India, through Kuveni, a woman of the indigenous Yakkha whom he married. The Mahavansa relates that following the repudiation of Kuveni by Vijaya, in favour of a Kshatriya-caste princess from Pandya, their two children, a boy and a girl, departed to the region of Sumanakuta (Sri Pada or Adam's Peak in the Ratnapura District), where they multiplied, giving rise to the Veddas. Anthropologists such as Charles Gabriel Seligman believed the Veddas to be identical to the Yakkha.

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.