A New York Times News Service article about the American Anthropological Association's efforts to insure the welfare of certain cultural groups misstated its position regarding the Wanniya-laeto people, or Veddas, of Sri Lanka, who some anthropologists say have been excluded from traditional hunting and gathering grounds in a national park.
42.
However, cultural assimilation of Veddas with other local populations has been going on for a long time . " Vedda " has been used in Sri Lanka to mean not only hunter-gatherers, but also to refer to any people who adopt an unsettled and rural way of life and thus can be a derogatory term not based on ethnic group.
43.
This was formerly the universal custom and still persists among the less sophisticated Veddas who sometimes in addition place a large stone upon the chest for which no reason could be given, this is observed at Sitala Wanniya ( off Polle-bedda close to Maha Oya ), where the body is still covered with branches and left where the death occurred ."
44.
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 " ( Adam's Peak in the Ratnapura District ), where they multiplied, giving rise to the Veddas.
45.
According to the genesis chronicle of the Sinhala people, the Mahavamsa ( " " Great Chronicle " " ), written in the 5th century CE, the Pulindas believed to refer to Veddas are descended from Prince Vijaya ( 6th 5th century BCE ), the founding father of the nation, through Kuveni, a woman of the indigenous " Yakkha " he married.
