An Anthropological Study of the Social Status of Coastal Aboriginal Community of Sri Lanka

Abstract

The specific sea aboriginal community known as “Muhudu Vaddas” live in the East coast in Sri Lanka. Kunchamkulam which is located in Wakare is selected as study area. The purpose of this study is to study the social status of the sea aboriginal community and to identify how their social status has changed over time. In this study, the data were gathered from sea aboriginal community in Kunchamkulam using the simple random sampling method. The data were obtained from sea aboriginal community using the personal interviews and group conversation with the unorganized questions as the primary data resources and Demographic censuses report and data displaced people as the secondary data resources. Their economic situation depends on fisheries events which are their main livelihood and agricultural events because their daily wages belong to the category of lower income. The cultural elements that existed in this society are declining. The findings from the study revealed caste segregation exists among the members of this community: “Manara Warigaya, Uthuru Warigaya, Pilana Warigaya, Ambala Warigaya” are main castes. This study found that today, the sea aboriginals have lost their native language and use the Tamil, Sinhala languages. It was identified that this group has mixed with the Eastern Tamils due to marriage and war situation in the Eastern Province. As a result, the indigenous identity of this community is lost. Therefore, the sea aboriginal community can be identified as community that needs to be conserved and its socio-anthropological value is significant.