Resource Library

Aspects of Ethnicity and Gender among the Rodi of Sri Lanka

Author : Weeratunge, Nireka

Publisher: International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES)

Place of Publish: Sri Lanka, Colombo

Year: 2002

Page Numbers: 142

Acc. No: 175

Class No: 307.7 WEE-SL

Category: Books & Reports

Subjects: Kinds of Communities

Type of Resource: Monograph

Languages: English

ISBN: 955-580-066-9

‘Rodi’ is a caste recognised as the ‘untouchables’ according to the Sinhala caste system. This is a marginalised group who are Sinhala Buddhists, but they have a mythical tradition, a language unique to them and a hunting tradition. Even though Rodi was a tribe in the past, they have now gradually penetrated to the Sinhala caste system, but lies within the lowest of this system. This study attempts to focus on how a tribe may have got transformed into a marginalised caste of untouchables, under the Sinhala castes system. This study also focuses on the status of women in such a marginalized group and impact from men (and vise versa) over their lives.