Welikala, Anjana, Desai, Shailesh, Pratap Singh, Prajjval, Fernando, Amali, Thangaraj, Kumarasamy, van Driem, George, Adikari, Gamini, Tennekoon, Kamani, Chaubey, Gyaneshwer, and Ranasinghe, Ruwandi
• Language isolate Vedda followed genetic isolation. • Vedda is a drifted group with a limited gene flow from neighbours. • Vedda is genetically linked with Indian tribals without any evidence of linguistic affinity. • The maternal haplogroup M branch mediated the initial settlement of Sri Lanka. • Vedda largely preserved their isolation and showed a deep genetic association with India. Linguistic data from South Asia identified several language isolates in the subcontinent. The Vedda, an indigenous population of Sri Lanka, are the least studied amongst them. Therefore, to understand the initial peopling of Sri Lanka and the genetic affinity of the Vedda with other populations in Eurasia, we extensively studied the high-resolution autosomal and mitogenomes from the Vedda population of Sri Lanka. Our autosomal analyses suggest a close genetic link of Vedda with the tribal populations of India despite no evidence of close linguistic affinity, thus suggesting a deep genetic link of the Vedda with these populations. The mitogenomic analysis supports this association by pointing to an ancient link with Indian populations. We suggest that the Vedda population is a genetically drifted group with limited gene flow from neighbouring Sinhalese and Sri Lankan Tamil populations. Interestingly, the genetic ancestry sharing of Vedda neglects the isolation-by-distance model. Collectively, the demography of Sri Lanka is unique, where Sinhalese and Sri Lankan Tamil populations excessively admixed, whilst Vedda largely preserved their isolation and deep genetic association with India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]