Uruwarigay Wanniya-laeto, leader of Sri Lanka’s indigenous community, holds an axe and addresses his community people during the national indigenous ceremony on World Indigenous Day, at Dabana, Mahiyangana, in August 9 2007.Sri Lanka's indigenous inhabitants, the Veddas, preserve a direct line of descent from the island's original Neolithic community dating from at least 16,000 BC and probably far earlier according to current scientific opinion.
Today only a few remaining indigenous inhabitants still manage to preserve their cultural identity and traditional lifestyle despite relentless pressure from the surrounding dominant communities.
[Photo and story by Rt]
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