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by Derrick Schokman

The nineteen-seventies was a time of great activity in the Uva. Agricultural scientists had discovered that this province was a good place to grow sugar cane.

Consequently sugar cane covered the land all the way from Haldamulla down to Wellawaya. Farmers had cottage industries preparing jaggery and "sakkarai", and they also sold the cane for the manufacture of potable alcohol.

In Pelwatte a large estate and factory had been created to manufacture plantation white sugar. Another was in the making in Siyambalanduwa. There were no civil disturbances or war at that time and no restrictions on travel, so we had no hesitation in seizing the opportunity to explore the Uva Welessa of a "thousand ricefields" that looked like turning into the country's sugar bowl.

And, of course, having come that far we had to visit the Senanayake Samudra or Senanayake Sea, a giant irrigation reservoir that had been created in 1952 by D. S. Senanayake, our first Prime Minister, known popularly as the Father of Agriculture because of his great interest in restoring ancient irrigation works and settling farmers in colonisation schemes.

The Senanayake Samudra is located in what is now the Galoya National Wildlife Park. The Park which is 100 sq. miles in extent acts as the catchment area for the reservoir. Not long ago, before the creation of the reservoir and the park this place was the home of the Veddahs, an aboriginal race of people who are directly linked with the first humans that inhabited the Earth.

Veddahs

A million years ago when Europe and Central Asia were bitterly cold during the Pleistocene period the first humans appeared somewhere in Africa and gradually gravitated to the forests of the Himalayas and Hindu Kush.

In the process they lost their Negrito characters and acquired Australoid characters. As they steadily progressed eastwards they left behind groups along the line of march. One such group came down the sub-continent into Sri Lanka, and concentrated its hunting and food-gathering activities in "vedirata", a triangle between Mahaoya, Ampara and Bibile.

This area is made up of low hills, shallow valleys, streams and rivers. On the slopes of the hills are undulating parklands (damana) comprised mainly of coarse grasses like illuk and mana and a tangle of trees and shrubs widely spaced eg. arulu, bulu, nelli, gammalu kahata and ehela - all of therapeutic value in ayurvedic medicine.

This unique concentration of valuable trees and shrubs has given rise to the belief that this was once King Dutugemunu's gigantic arboretum cultivated to supply his army hospital. It contains specifics for anything from high blood pressure to gall stones and snake bite.

Dominating this landscape are rocky hills such as Danigala, Nilgala and Henebedde with plenty of caves. These caves sheltered the last of the true cave Veddahs (gal veddahs). They were known as the Sithala Wanniya clan as the climate in this area was cooler (sithala) than in the regular dry zone.

Other Veddah settlements were found at Pollebedde near Maha-oya and Rathugala near Mullegama. Dr. R. L. Spittel who was greatly concerned about the declining welfare of the Pollebedde Veddahs was able to interest D. S. Senanayake in setting up a Backward Communities Welfare Board to help them and other Veddahs.

Translocated

With the envisaged construction of the Senanayake Samudra however the Veddahs were translocated from "Vedirata" and settled in Dambana near Mahiyangana. They were given houses and land by the government which hoped to convert the gal veddahs into gam veddahs who would gradually integrate with mainstream civilization.

The Senanayake Samudra, all 37 sq. miles of it, was created by damming the Gal-oya at a narrow gap in the Inginiyagala hills.

The reservoir was completed in 1952 just after its visionary D. S. Senanayake had met with a tragic death, having been thrown off the horse he was riding on Galle Face Green.

On his 20th death anniversary, his son Dudley when Prime Minister placed a lifesize brass bust of his father on the rock at the top of the dam overlooking the great reservoir, which has a liquid contour of 60 miles when full.

Standing beside that memorial bust we were reminded of an interesting bit of hydraulic information in respect of Senanayake Samudra, the first large reservoir constructed by independent Lanka, and the Parakrama Samudra which was the last large reservoir constructed by the kings of Lanka.

Travail

The bund of the Parakrama Samudra, nine miles long and 50 feet high is estimated to contain 4 1/2 million cubic yards of earth. One-thousand men working with mammoties 24 hours a day would take 12 years to complete the bund.

The bund of the Senanayake Samudra on the other hand, 3600 feet long and 154 feet high contains five million cubic yards of earth. It would have taken 1000 men working with mammoties 24 hours a day 13 years to complete the bund. But viola! the bund was actually completed in 1 1/2 years by the American contractors Morrison and Knudsen. How come? - The answer: mechanical power had replaced muscle power, the present had overtaken the past.

Gazing over that vast expanse of water we allowed our thoughts to backtrack to the continuing travail of the Veddahs who had been translocated from "Vedirata" to Dambana.

With the development of the Mahaweli Diversion Scheme and the formation System C for agriculture and another national wildlife park at Maduru-oya, the Dambana Veddahs were once again required in 1983 to resettle at Henanigala near Girandurukotte.

Chief Tissahamy and a few other diehards refused to leave their domain, but the majority had to comply. Finding it difficult to adapt to an agrarian lifestyle and depressed at losing their identity, these translocated Veddahs have appealed to the government and even to the UN Working Group for Indigenous Populations (1996) to let them return to their traditional homelands.

All to no effect. Their status has remained unchanged. It seems so sad that these aborigines whose numbers are fast dwindling should not be given the opportunity to live out their terminal years in time-honoured manner before they finally vanish into limbo, leaving nothing behind but lore and legend and a few crude drawings on a cave wall near the Illukapitiya Raja Mahavihara.

Que sera sera - what will be will be! With that thought we concluded what we would like to remember as a pleistocene day in the Uva "vedirata".

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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