The Veddas

Seligman, C. G. (Charles Gabriel); Seligman, Brenda Z.; Myers, Charles Samuel; Gunasekara, Abraham Mendis, d. 1931

Book

The Veddas

University Press • Cambridge • Published In 1911 • Pages: 19, 463

By: Seligman, C. G. (Charles Gabriel), Seligman, Brenda Z., Myers, Charles Samuel, Gunasekara, Abraham Mendis, d. 1931.

Abstract
The authors of this first comprehensive study of the Veddas devoted most of their attention to the jungle-dwelling Veddas whose way of life is more primitive that the Village Veddas and the Coastal Veddas. All of them, however, have come under the influence of foreign cultures. One of the major aims of this book is to trace the course of this acculturation process and to reconstruct the historical development of Vedda society. In describing the contemporary Veddas, the authors supplement their personal observations with reports written by previous observers. The topics discussed include the kinship structure, village organization, economic activities, life cycle, religion, music, language, and sensory perception. A rather extensive list of Vedda words is included in the text.

History

Acculturation and culture contact

External relations

Descriptive somatology

Anthropometry

Prehistory

Historical reconstruction

Dwellings

Clans

Regulation of marriage

Settlement patterns

Behavior toward non-relatives