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The Rodya or Rodi people are a small ethnic group in Sri Lanka. They have traditiinally been the the lowest caste in Sri Lankan soiciety. They were the untouchable caste in Sri Lanka. They are not ethnically Singhalese. There origins are not known with any certsiny. It is generally believed that the Rodya are descended from ab original hunters with totemistic belief tribes who migrated from eastern India. They are believed to have first arrived in Sri Lanka sometime about (1st century AD). Others believe that the Rodiya were the Veddas of Sri Lanka, a hunting and gathering tribe that came to live at the margins of the devekoping civilized society of Sri Lsnka and eventually developed a caste status. Little is known about their early history. The stigma of cannabilism seems to have become assiciated with the Rodya from an early point. During the Kandy Kingdom (15-19th centuries) they were descriminated against. The state religion of Kandy was Buddhism, but beginning with the Hindu Nayak dynasty elements of Hinduism began to be incorporated with local Buddhist traditions (18th century). And during this period, the situstion of the Ridya people deteriorated. Both Rodya men and women were compelled to go naked and forced to reside in separate neigborhoods known as kuppayam. As with the untouchables in Hindu India, there was ritualized begging and eating the refuse of higher castes. Even in the early-20th crntury, Rodya men and women commlonly did not wear shirts or other tops.
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