Re-reading Gananaths Obeyesekere’s View of the Vedda people

This paper examines Gananath Obeyesekere’s study of the Vedda people. Obeyesekere is one of the most prominent anthropologists to have studied the Vedda, with a particular focus on their identity. His writings are compared with those of other major researchers and writers on the Vedda, including C. G. Seligman (1873–1940), Brenda Seligman (1873–1940), R. L. Spittel (1881–1969), and Nandadeva Wijesekera (1909–1999). The methodology employed is partly hermeneutic and partly based on a comparative reading of texts. The major works by Gananath Obeyesekere analyzed in this study include Where Have All the Veddas Gone? (2002) and Colonial Histories and Vedda Primitivism: An Unorthodox Reading of Kandy Period Texts (2002). These are compared with selected writings that address similar themes. The approach is informed by a hermeneutic-theoretical framework, with special emphasis on the meanings of the texts. Central to Obeyesekere’s argument is the concept of the “Show Vedda,” which is critically re-examined in this paper