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Title: The Todas
Author: W. H. R. Rivers
Release date: October 8, 2023 [eBook #71828]
Language: English
Original publication: London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1906
Credits: Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net/ for Project Gutenberg (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TODAS ***
THE TODAS
BY
W. H. R. RIVERS
FELLOW OF ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
London
MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited
NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1906
PREFACE
It has been my object in writing this book to make it, not merely a
record of the customs and beliefs of a people, but also a demonstration
of anthropological method. The great need of anthropology at the
present time is for more exact method, not only in collecting material,
but also in recording it, so that readers may be able to assign its
proper value to each fact, and may be provided with definite evidence
which will enable them to estimate the probable veraciousness and
thoroughness of the record.
With this idea in my mind I have tried to describe as fully as possible
the way in which my account has been built up, and have been careful to
point out the different degrees of trustworthiness of different
portions of my story. Perhaps I have been so anxious to make it clear
when my record is of doubtful value that sometimes I may have laid
undue stress on its uncertainties and deficiencies.
I have tried to make a clear distinction between my description of Toda
custom and belief, and any theoretical conclusions drawn by myself, and
have kept the latter for sections at the ends of chapters or for
special chapters, of which those numbered xi, xix, xxix and xxx are the
most important.
It may be thought by some that the book is unduly loaded with minute
detail, and I am myself aware that I have often complicated, perhaps
even obscured, the story I am telling by the mass of detail with which
it is accompanied. I have had, however, no scruples on this score,
partly because I wished my readers thoroughly to grasp the nature of
the material on which my account is based, but still more, because
details which may seem insignificant or trivial are often of great
importance in the comparative study of custom and belief.
I have not attempted such a comparative study of Toda institutions. It
was often very tempting to suggest resemblances with the practices of
other peoples of the present or the past, but the result would have
been to swell the book to unwieldy dimensions, and perhaps to have
obscured the description of the life of the people. In giving parallels
for Toda custom I have therefore limited myself to examples from other
parts of India, and even here I have only dealt with a few resemblances
which illustrate certain suggestions made in the final chapter on the
origin and affinities of the Toda people.
In conclusion, I am very glad to express my gratitude for help received
from many sources. The researches on which the book is based were
undertaken in consequence of the award to myself of the income of the
Gunning Fund of the Royal Society for the years 1901–2, and my work was
also assisted by a grant from the British Association. In India I
received every assistance from those whose official positions gave them
the means of helping me, and my thanks are especially due to Mr. Edgar
Thurston, whose kind interest and assistance I cannot sufficiently
acknowledge. I owe much to the care and attention with which my two
interpreters, P. Samuel and Albert Urrilla, performed their duties, and
I am greatly indebted to the managers of the Church of England Zenana
Missionary Society at Ootacamund for the services of the former, and to
Mr. C. M. Mullaly and Mr. Hadfield for giving the latter leave from his
forest duties in order that he might help me.
Of friends in England I am especially indebted to Dr. C. S. Myers, who
kindly read nearly the whole of the book in proof; to Syed Ali Bilgrami
for information on various points connected with Indian custom; to Don
M. da Zilva Wickramasinghe for reading Chapter xxv, dealing with the
language; and to Mr. H. N. Webber for help, especially in the revision
of the genealogical tables.
Most of the illustrations in the book are from photographs taken under
my direction by Messrs. Wiele and Klein of Madras, and I am indebted to
H. M. India Office for permission to make use of illustrations from “An
Account of the Primitive Tribes and Monuments of the Nilagiris,” by the
late J. Williamson Breeks (1873), and to Messrs. Longmans Green and
Co., for permission to make use of illustrations from “A Phrenologist
amongst the Todas,” by the late Colonel William E. Marshall (1873).
W. H. R. R.
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER II
THE TODA PEOPLE 18
CHAPTER III
DAIRIES AND BUFFALOES 38
CHAPTER IV
THE VILLAGE DAIRY 56
CHAPTER V
THE TI DAIRY 83
CHAPTER VI
BUFFALO MIGRATIONS 123
CHAPTER VII
ORDINATION CEREMONIES 144
CHAPTER VIII
SPECIAL DAIRY CEREMONIES 166
CHAPTER IX
THE TODA GODS 182
CHAPTER X
PRAYER 213
CHAPTER XI
THE DAIRY RITUAL 231
CHAPTER XII
DIVINATION AND MAGIC 249
CHAPTER XIII
SACRIFICE AND OFFERINGS 274
CHAPTER XIV
BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD CEREMONIES 313
CHAPTER XV
FUNERAL CEREMONIES 337
CHAPTER XVI
FUNERAL CEREMONIES (continued) 372
CHAPTER XVII
SACRED DAYS AND NUMBERS 405
CHAPTER XVIII
SACRED PLACES AND OBJECTS 417
CHAPTER XIX
THE TODA RELIGION 442
CHAPTER XX
GENEALOGIES AND POPULATION 461
CHAPTER XXI
KINSHIP 483
CHAPTER XXII
MARRIAGE 502
CHAPTER XXIII
SOCIAL ORGANISATION 540
CHAPTER XXIV
ARTS AND AMUSEMENTS 570
CHAPTER XXV
LANGUAGE 602
CHAPTER XXVI
PERSONAL NAMES 619
CHAPTER XXVII
RELATIONS WITH OTHER TRIBES 628
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE CLANS OF THE TODAS 643
CHAPTER XXIX
TEIVALIOL AND TARTHAROL 679
CHAPTER XXX
THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE TODAS 693
APPENDIX I 719
APPENDIX II—BIBLIOGRAPHY 731
APPENDIX III—LIST OF VILLAGES 734
APPENDIX IV—LIST OF PLANTS 738
GLOSSARY 741
INDEX 749
GENEALOGICAL TABLES.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FIG. PAGE
1. Toda Man. Full Face 19
2. Toda Man. Side Face 20
3. Toda Woman. Full Face 21
4. Toda Woman. Side Face 22
5. The Village of Taradr, showing two Dairies in the Foreground
and three Houses in the Background 25
6. The Village of Taradr, showing the Houses surrounded by a
Wall, in which there is one Opening in the Middle 27
7. The chief House of the Village of Kiudr 28
8. The Village of Peivòrs, showing a Double Hut (in the
Background). The two Buildings on the Left are Dairies, and
the Structure in the Centre is a Calf-House 29
9. A Toda Man, Siriar (20), with his Wife and Child, showing the
ordinary Method of wearing the ‘Putkuli’ 30
10. Kòdrner performing the Salutation called ‘Kaimukhti.’ His
Right Arm is bared (‘Kevenarut’), and he has removed his
Turban 31
11. Women Pounding and Sifting. The Broom is on the Ground to
the Right 33
12. The ‘Kalmelpudithti’ Salutation taking place at the Village
of Nòdrs. On the Left is the House; on the Right is the less
important Dairy of the Village (the ‘Tarvali’), and in Front
of it is the Stone called ‘Menkars’ 35
13. The Conical Dairy of Nòdrs. The Stone at the Right-Hand End
of the Wall is the ‘Teidrtolkars’ 44
14. The lower part of the Conical Dairy of Nòdrs, which is hidden
by the Wall in Fig. 13. The ‘Wursol’ is shown eating ‘Al’
from a Leaf-Plate 46
15. Òd (26) Churning 51
16. The morning Milking at the Village of Molkush. In the
Background is a modern ‘Tu’ made of Wooden Palings 53
17. A Milking Scene 54
18. The chief Dairy Vessels 59
19. The ‘Wursol’ of Nòdrs carrying the ‘Adimu’ and ‘Patatpun’
to fetch Water 63
20. The ‘Palikartmokh’ Saluting the Threshold of the Dairy at
Kiudr, ‘Pavnersatiti’ 65
21. The ‘Kudrpali’ of Kars, with the ‘Kudrpalikartmokh’
standing on the Wall. In the Foreground is the Mound
called ‘Imudrikars.’ In the Background on the Right is
the Calf-House 67
23. The ‘Wursol’ of Kars, Kernpisi (56), standing by the side
of his Dairy 75
24. The ‘Kugvali’ of Taradr. On its Left is the ‘Kwotars,’
and on the extreme Right, under the Tree, is the ‘Kush.’
The flat Stone to the Right of the ‘Kugvali’ is the
‘Püdrshtikars’ 77
25. The ‘Poh’ of Kanòdrs. The two Walls are shown 80
26. Showing the General Plan of the Ti Dairy 87
27. The ‘Palol’ Karkievan, saluting at Mòdr. He is standing in
the ‘Pepkarmus.’ The Building next to the ‘Palol’ is the
‘Ti poh’; that on the Right is the ‘Karenpoh’ and between it
and the ‘Ti poh’ can be seen the Hut where the Inhabitants
of the ‘Ti mad’ sleep 95
28. To show the Attitude adopted by the ‘Palol’ when Praying 96
29. To show the Method of carrying the Contents of the Dairy.
The boy Kalmad (64) is carrying the ‘Patatpur’; Karsüln (15)
the ‘Ertatpur.’ In front of Kalmad is the entrance of the
Pen at Kars called ‘Althftu’ 125
30. 1. A. The ‘Madth.’ B. A ‘Patat.’ C. Another ‘Patat.’ D. The
‘Parskadrvenmu.’ E. The ‘Irkartpun.’ 2. A. The axe. B. The
fire-sticks. C. The ‘Majpariv.’ D. The ‘Pòlmachok.’ E. The
‘Ertatpun.’ F. A ‘Tek.’ G. The lamp 127
31. The Dairy of Kiudr with the ‘Palikartmokh’ Etamudri (58); on
the Right of the Dairy above and to the Left of the head of
Etamudri is the Stone called ‘Neurzülnkars,’ by which the
‘Patatmani’ is laid 129
32. The ‘Neurzülnkars’ of Kiudr, by the side of which the
‘Ertatmani’ are laid 130
33. The four ‘Neurzülnkars’ at Mòdr. Behind the Stones on the
Right is Karkievan, the ‘Palol’ of the ‘Tiir’; on the Left
is Nerponers, the ‘Palol’ of the ‘Warsir’; in the Centre
is the ‘Kaltmokh,’ Katsog, carrying a sickle-shaped Knife 141
34. Punatvan (53) drinking during his Ordination as
‘Palikartmokh’ of Karia 146
35. Imitation Buffalo Horns 190
36. Midjkudr and Mongudrvan Divining at a Funeral 253
37. Punatvan and Pichievan attempting to make Fire at the
‘Erkumptthpimi’ Ceremony 277
38. Punatvan uttering the ‘Erkumptthpimi’ Prayer. He is holding
the ‘Erkumptthkud,’ and one of the ‘Tudr’ Leaves in his
hand can be distinctly seen 279
39. Stroking the back of the Calf with the ‘Toashtitudr.’
Punatvan is beginning the third Movement, and one of the
Branches of Leaves can be seen on the Ground behind the Calf 280
40. Punatvan and Pichievan cutting up the Calf. In the
Background Kòdrner is sharpening up the ‘Ko’ 281
41. Roasting the pieces of the Calf 283
42. The ‘Irnörtkars’ at Kars. In the Background is the ‘Wursuli’ 299
43. Gap in the Wall at Nòdrs through which the Calf is driven
at the ‘Irnörtiti’ Ceremony 301
44. The ‘Nersatiti’ Salutation 304
45. The ‘Puzhars’ at Molkush 314
46. Tersveli sitting at the Door of the ‘Puzhars’ at Karia
with her face turned from the Sun 325
47. Sintagars drinking at the ‘Marthk maj atpimi’ Ceremony.
The boy, Pongudr, is sitting behind her 328
48. Funeral Hut round which women are lamenting. Several pairs
are pressing their foreheads together. The Hut is not
within a stone circle, showing that the Funeral is not
being held at an old Funeral Place 339
49. The ‘Puzhutpimi’ Ceremony. In the Centre is the Corpse.
The foremost man on the Left is kneeling down preparatory
to throwing Earth 346
50. The ‘Puzhutpimi’ Ceremony. Throwing Earth backwards on
the Corpse 347
51. The Wooden ‘Teiks’ at Inikitj 350
52. Leading the Buffalo to be Killed 353
53. The Corpse by the head of the dying Buffalo 355
54. Saluting the dead Buffalo 357
55. The Mourners round the Body 358
56. Kotas playing Music at a Toda Funeral 364
57. Keinba and Perpakh; the former is holding in his hand the
imitation Bow and Arrow and has his Cloak over his Head 393
58. Bough of the ‘Tudr’ Tree. (From Marshall.) 434
59. The Memorial of Keirevan 440
60. Kuriolv and Pilimurg 552
61. Showing Methods of wearing the Toda Garments and of doing
the Hair 573
62. Tilipa (12) wearing his Hair long on account of a vow made
at a Hindu Temple 575
63 and 64. To show Method of Shaving the Head of a Child 577
65. Karol (64), the ‘Wursol’ of Taradr, making Fire 582
66. To show a Stage in the construction of a Hut 584
67. (From Breeks).—The first Man on the Left is holding a Bow
and Arrow; the second a Club (probably the ‘Nanmakud’) in
his Right Hand, and the ‘Tadri’ in his Left; the third Man
is carrying a Club, and the fourth Man is playing the ‘Buguri’ 587
68. (From Breeks).—The five Tribes of the Nilgiri Hills 629
69. A Badaga greeting a Toda 631
70. A view of Nòdrs. The Stone in the Foreground on the Left
is the ‘Nerovkars’; that on the Right is the ‘Uteiks.’
In the Background in the Centre is an old ‘Tu.’ The lower
part of the Conical Dairy can be seen between the Boy and
the ‘Uteiks’ 646
71. The Stones at Pishkwosht called ‘Teuar’ 657
72. The Village of Umgas, showing the ‘Nadrkkars’ in the Centre.
Behind the Stones is the ‘Poh’ of this Village, and on its
Right are the Dwelling-Huts 673
73. Plan of ‘Etudmad’ 689
74. Plan of Ancient Toda Villages 690
75. (From Breeks).—A Cairn on the Nilgiri Hills 711
76. Various objects found in the Nilgiri Cairns, taken from Breeks 713
PHONETIC SYSTEM
The following is the phonetic system which has been used in this book.
The use of many of the signs is more fully described in Chapter XXV.
Vowels.
â, the a of father.
a, the u of hut.
ä, the a of hat.
ê, the ei of their.
e, the e of met.
î, the ee of meet.
i, the i of hit.
ô, the o of post.
o, the o of pot.
ö, the o of word.
ò, the aw of law.
û, the oo of moon.
u, the u of full.
ü, the German vowel.
ai, the i of bite.
au, the ou of house.
ei, the a of date.
eu, the French diphthong.
oi, the oy of boy.
Consonants.
b, as in English.
ch, the ch of church.
d, used in the text for the English sound and also
for the lingual consonant ḍ. [1]
f, as in English.
g, the g of sing.
gg, the g of finger.
gh, the ch of ich.
h, used for a sound of doubtful nature (see p. 611).
j, as in English.
k, as in English.
kh, the ch of auch.
l, used in the text for the English sound and for the
lingual consonant ḷ.
m, as in English.
n, as in English.
ñ, a nasal n, as in French.
p, } as in
r, } English.
s, a sound resembling the English s.
sh, as in English.
t, as in English and also for the lingual ṭ.
th the th both of though and throw.
v, } as in
w, } English.
z, the z of zeal.
zh, the si of occasion.
Sounds represented by ch, s, sh, and th, very frequently inserted
euphonically in Toda words, have usually been omitted. I have also
omitted the signs showing the long vowels whenever a word occurs
frequently throughout the book, and the glossary should be consulted to
ascertain the correct method of pronouncing such words. Similarly,
Appendices III and IV should be consulted to ascertain the proper
pronunciation of the names of places and plants.
I do not use the plurals of Toda words, either in the English form or
in that proper to the Toda language; thus, I write “the two palol” and
not “the two palols” or “the two palolam.”
MAP.
The names printed in the same type as Kârs are those of Toda villages;
the names in italics, as Nanjanad are those of Badaga villages; the
names in small black type, as Ootacamund are those of towns with a
general population, or of dâk bungalows.
THE TODAS
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
The people whose manners and customs I am about to describe live on the
undulating plateau of the Nilgiri Hills in Southern India. The hills
were visited by a Portuguese missionary in 1602, and have been invaded
by Indian tribes on various occasions, but, at the beginning of the
last century, the plateau and its inhabitants were absolutely unknown
to Europeans. The earliest definite information about the hills at this
time is given in a letter from William Keys, an assistant revenue
surveyor, written in 1812, but it was not till several years later that
further information about the people began to be published.
Of the various tribes inhabiting the hills, the Todas excited the
greatest interest, and this interest has continued, partly because the
people are so different from any other of the races by which they are
surrounded, but still more because both they and their customs are so
picturesque and, in many ways, so unique.
A very large literature [2] has accumulated about the Todas and their
customs. This literature is so extensive that when I determined to go
to the Nilgiri Hills, I was reproached by more than one anthropologist
for going to people about whom we already knew so much; and one even
said that, so far as his department of knowledge was concerned, he was
sure that we had all the information we could expect to get.
A review of the literature, however, showed me that there were certain
subjects about which our information was of the scantiest. This was
especially the case in matters connected with the social organisation.
Little was known of the system of kinship, and it was not known whether
there was any definite system of exogamy. The Todas furnish one of the
best existing examples of the custom of polyandry, but scarcely
anything was known about the various social regulations which must be
associated with such a practice.
I had not worked long among the Todas before I discovered the existence
of many customs and ceremonies previously undescribed, and I was able
to obtain much more detailed accounts of others which had already been
repeatedly recorded. I found that there was so much to be done that I
gave up an intention of working with several different tribes, and
devoted the whole of my time to the Todas.
This book is not intended to be a complete account of all that is known
about the Toda people. Their physical anthropology has been so ably
dealt with by Mr. Edgar Thurston that I leave this subject almost
untouched, and I omit all but a brief mention of my own psychological
observations which I have published in detail elsewhere. [3] The book
deals almost exclusively with the religion and sociology of the people.
Even here, however, the account will be far from complete. After
several months’ work among a people about whom “we knew all there was
to be known,” I came away knowing that there were subjects of which I
had barely touched the fringe, and many others on which my information
could have been made far more complete with greater opportunity. About
certain subjects the Todas are extremely reticent, and my information
is in consequence very defective. There are many points on which I know
my information to be far from complete, and doubtless there are far
more numerous examples of deficiency of which I am not aware.
Some deficiencies of the record are due to certain untoward events
which occurred during my visit. After I had been working among the
Todas for about four months, various misfortunes befell some of those
who had been my chief guides to Toda lore. One man who had pointed out
to me certain sacred places fell ill and made up his mind that he was
going to die. Another man lost his wife a few days after he had shown
me the method of performing one of the most sacred of Toda ceremonies.
A third man who had revealed to me the details of the ceremonial of the
most sacred Toda dairy, suffered the loss of his own village dairy by
fire.
The Todas consulted their diviners, who ascribed these events to the
anger of the gods because their secrets had been revealed to the
stranger. In consequence my sources of information ran dry to a large
extent, and the difficulties in the way of the investigation of the
more sacred topics were greatly increased. By the time it was settled
that I was to blame I was nearly at the end of my visit, but it was in
the last two or three weeks that I had hoped to overcome the scruples
of the people and to obtain information on many doubtful points about
which I had to come away unsatisfied.
One of the subjects on which my material is defective is the folk-lore.
I have a number of tales, but they are only a small part of the store
of Toda legend. I regret especially the incompleteness of my work in
this respect because I believe that the Todas are rapidly forgetting
their folk-tales and the legends of their gods, while their ceremonial
remains to a large extent intact, and seems likely to continue so for
some time.
I was especially struck by this because, in previous anthropological
experience in the islands of Torres Straits with Dr. Haddon, we had
found the exact opposite to be the case. In these islands, the
ceremonial had disappeared, and the only record of it to be obtained
was that derived from the memories of the oldest inhabitants.
Nevertheless in Torres Straits the store of legend was still ample, and
the agreement of the stories obtained from different individuals was so
great that it was evident that the people had preserved their folklore
with fidelity.
The difference between the two communities is easily explained. In
Torres Straits missionary influence is strong, and missionary effort is
always directed to break down the practices associated with belief. The
ceremonial in Torres Straits had been swept away, while the stories of
the legendary heroes were almost all that remained to the people of the
old life and were in consequence still cherished.
Among the Todas missionary influence, whether of Christian or Hindu,
has had little effect, and the ritual of the Todas in some parts of the
hills is almost, if not quite, untouched by outside influences. [4] The
effect of intercourse with other peoples seems to be showing itself
largely in the form of loss of interest in the stories of the past.
One of the most striking aspects of the customs and ceremonies of the
Todas is that these have in many cases no exact parallels in other
places. Perhaps the most definite result which modern research in
anthropology has brought out is the extraordinary similarity of custom
throughout the world. Customs apparently identical are found in races
so widely separated geographically and so diverse ethnologically that
it seems certain the customs must have developed in total independence
of one another. There seems to be an identity of idea actuating custom
in peoples very different from one another in their surroundings and
conditions of life.
The nearest parallels to Toda custom and ceremonial are undoubtedly to
be found in the Indian peninsula, but even here, though there is often
a general resemblance, this breaks down on going into detail. Even when
the resemblance is so close as to suggest a common origin, the
differences in detail are often very great. [5]
One clue to this exceptional nature of Toda custom and belief is to be
found in the geographical position of the people, which has to a large
extent isolated them from the world in general.
The plateau on which they live, broken by numerous hills and valleys,
is the top of a scarp formed by the meeting of the Eastern and Western
Ghats. Some of the hills project more than the rest above the general
level of the plateau, which ranges from 6,000 to 7,500 feet above the
sea, and the loftiest of these hills reaches the height of 8,760 feet.
The plateau is so high that, though it is situated only about eleven
degrees from the equator, the thermometer rarely rises above 70° F.,
and in the nights of the cold season may touch the freezing point.
In every direction the sides of the hills leading up to the plateau are
steep and often precipitous. To the south-east, east, and north-east
there is a rapid fall of about 5,000 feet to the plains of the
Coimbatore district, though to the south this plain only forms a gap
about twenty miles in breadth between the Nilgiri and the Anaimalai
Hills. On the north-west the slope is more gradual and is broken by the
Wainad district about 3,000 feet above the sea. To the north there is a
steep fall, but only for about 4,000 feet, to the plateau of Mysore,
which is about 3,000 feet above the sea.
The south-western part of the hills is known as the Kundahs and may be
regarded as a range separate from the greater part of the plateau, from
which it is divided by a wide valley, the Avalanche Valley. From the
Kundahs there is an extremely precipitous fall to the Malabar district.
The steep sides leading up to the plateau on which the Todas live are
clothed with thick, almost impenetrable jungle, which is extremely
malarious, so that a night spent on the way to the summit is very
likely to produce fever.
The hills appear to have been for long an object of reverence to Hindus
on account of their height and inaccessibility. Dubois states that “as
it is very difficult to reach the top of this mountain, a view of the
summit alone (and it is visible a long way off) is considered
sufficient to remove the burden of sin from the conscience of any
person who looks at it.” [6]
When the hills were first visited by Europeans, their use as a
sanatorium was long delayed owing to the difficulty of making roads,
and it was not till after many years that the hills became a regular
resort of the European population. We shall see later that the
isolation of the Todas has certainly not been complete, and that the
hills have been invaded by strangers, especially from the side of the
Wainad; but the isolation has probably been considerable, and, for long
periods, it may have been complete.
In their isolation from the world in general, however, the Todas have
not been alone. Two other tribes, the Kotas and the Badagas, occupy the
plateau with them, and the peculiar relations between the three tribes
are among the most interesting features of the social life of the
Nilgiris. The Todas are a purely pastoral people, limiting their
activities almost entirely to the care of their buffaloes and to the
complicated ritual which has grown up in association with these
animals. The Badagas are chiefly agriculturists; the Kotas are artisans
and mechanics; and both supply the Todas with part of their produce.
There is here a well-marked instance of division of labour, in which
the labour of the Todas is reduced to a minimum. Their privileged
position is usually held to be due to the tradition that they are the
“lords of the soil,” and the produce which the Todas receive from the
other tribes is supposed to be of the nature of tribute.
The jungle on the slopes of the hills is inhabited by two wild,
dwarfish tribes, the Kurumbas and Irulas, who have a general
resemblance to the many other jungle tribes of Southern India. These
people are much feared by the tribes of the plateau for their supposed
magical powers, but they have little to do with the complex social life
of the others.
The district in which the three tribes live is not extensive. The
extreme length of the plateau, from east to west, is about forty-two
miles, and its average breadth, from north to south, about ten miles,
the maximum breadth being fifteen miles in the centre of the district.
The total area of the plateau is less than 500 square miles. In this
district there live about 800 Todas, 1,200 Kotas, and 34,000 Badagas.
In addition, there are now extensive European settlements, the largest
of which is Ootacamund, the seat of the Madras Government for six
months of the year. The other large European settlements are Coonoor
and Kotagiri, while Wellington, near Coonoor, is a military station.
The plateau of the Nilgiris is divided into four districts, ordinarily
known by the names, Todanad, Mekanad, Peranganad, and Kundanad, and
these districts are recognised by the Todas. The Todanad is the largest
district, and is the part where the majority of the Todas live. Their
own name for it is Marsâdr.
The Mekanad is called by the Todas Karâdr, and is now very sparsely
inhabited, though there are many old villages in the district.
The Peranganad is the eastern part of the hills, and is called by the
Todas Purgòdr, and is the chief seat of a few of their clans.
The fourth district, or Kundanad, is that already mentioned as the
Kundahs in the south-west part of the hills. It is the chief seat of
one Toda clan, but it also contains villages belonging to others. It is
especially visited in the dry season, since its large rainfall often
provides ample pasturage when this is burnt up on other parts of the
hills. The Toda name of the district is Mêdr.
A few Todas live near Gudalur in the Wainad, some 3,000 feet lower than
the main plateau.
METHODS
The description of Toda life to be given in this book is the outcome of
an attempt to apply rigorous methods in the investigation of sociology
and religion. In the brief time which was at my disposal, it was
essential to employ methods of investigation which would enable me to
tell with some certainty whether I was obtaining accurate and
trustworthy information. Two great sources of error in anthropological
investigation are the dependence on the evidence of only a few
individuals and the necessity of paying for information.
The first source of error was easily avoided, and I was able to obtain
my information from a large body of witnesses, usually independently of
one another. As regards the second source, the Todas are inveterate
beggars, and are now thoroughly accustomed to receive payment for every
service rendered to the European, even of the most trivial kind.
Payment for information was inevitable, but I minimised the danger by
arranging that every man who came to me for work should receive a
definite stipulated sum as a recompense for his time and trouble. I
paid, not for the information, but for the trouble taken in giving a
day or half a day to my service. As a general rule, anything like
payment by results was carefully avoided. The sum paid was for coming
to me, and if anyone was reluctant to talk about one subject, we passed
on to another. Only at the end of my visit did I depart from this rule
on a few occasions, and offered rewards to one or two individuals for
certain items of information; but by this time I was in a position to
judge the value of the information I received, and I only employed this
procedure in cases where I knew the degree of trustworthiness of my
informant.
Definite methods for the verification of the evidence obtained were the
more necessary in my work among the Todas, in that I was obliged
throughout to depend on interpreters. I was, however, very fortunate in
my assistants. I first worked with a forest ranger, Albert Urrilla, who
knew the Todas very well, though he had no special knowledge of their
customs. He translated faithfully, and, owing to his wide knowledge of
the hills, he was extremely useful in helping me to become familiar
with the names and positions of the many Toda villages. After about six
weeks’ work, Albert had to return to his forest duties, and, except for
a week towards the end of my visit, the interpreter for the rest of my
work was P. Samuel, a catechist who had been endeavouring for ten years
to convert the Todas to Christianity, under the auspices of the Church
of England Zenana Missionary Society. When he began to work with me,
Samuel had a very limited acquaintance with Toda ceremonies, but he was
very familiar with the general life of the people, and was especially
acquainted with the actual working of many of their social customs.
Some of the Todas at first objected strongly to his helping me,
probably on account of his missionary efforts, but he soon overcame
this initial difficulty and gained the general confidence of the
people. He was well acquainted with the Toda language, and soon became
a very careful inquirer into customs and beliefs, and I owe much to his
help. He often obtained independent information about customs, and I
was put by him on the track of much that might otherwise have escaped
me. I had hoped that he would have continued to make inquiries for me
after I had left the hills, and soon after my departure, he forwarded
to me a very valuable account of a ceremony which I had not been able
to witness and other important material. While with me he had
discovered, however, how little progress he had made with the people
during his ten years’ work among them, and how little he had known of
their beliefs, and, soon after my departure, he asked to be given a new
sphere of work and was removed to the Wainad, so that I have not had
the opportunity for which I hoped, of making further inquiries into the
many doubtful points which always arise in working up the notes of
anthropological investigation.
One of the chief dangers arising from the use of interpreters is that
they will often transmit, not what they are told, but their own
versions of what they are told. They interpret the meaning as well as
the words of the informants. I think I can be certain that this danger
was avoided with both my interpreters, and that they gave me as
accurate an account as possible of what the Todas told them. We always
used the Toda names for all specific objects, individuals, and places,
so that the information transmitted to me by the interpreters was often
in such a form that nearly every noun was Toda in a setting of English
verbs, adverbs, and pronouns. Thus, referring to one of my notebooks at
random, I find the following: “After cleansing the poh in this manner,
each palol puts salt in the ponmukeri, and takes it and the karpun to
the upunkudi, taking also five pieces of tudrpül, five sprigs of
puthimul, and a bundle of taf.” In fact, we habitually used so many
Toda words that the Todas sometimes obviously knew the general drift of
my questions before they were interpreted to them, and, similarly, I
could often understand the general drift of the answer.
The first principle of my investigation was to obtain independent
accounts from different people; I then compared these independent
accounts and cross-examined into any discrepancies. The general result
of this method was highly satisfactory from the point of view of Toda
veracity. The general agreement of the accounts obtained from different
individuals was very striking, and, whenever discrepancies occurred, it
was nearly always found that they were due either to misunderstanding
or to differences in the practices of different sections of the Toda
people. These differences are so great that in many cases it made a
rigorous application of the method of direct corroboration impossible.
There are distinct differences in the ceremonial and social customs of
the two chief divisions of the Todas and some differences in the
practices of different clans. In the investigation of the dairy ritual,
there were found to be great differences in the practices of different
dairies, and, for the practice of any one dairy, I had sometimes to be
content with the information of one native only; but I did not content
myself with such independent accounts till I had satisfied myself of
the trustworthiness of the witness, and had learnt enough of the
customs in question to be in a position to weigh the evidence. As
regards the differences in the customs of different sections of the
community, many of my informants were able to describe the practices
not only of their own section but also of others.
After a time I managed to put myself on such terms with my chief
informants that they were always ready to confess any deficiencies in
their knowledge and would refer me to others whose special experience
would make them more satisfactory informants. Occasionally, however,
they carried this a little too far and pleaded ignorance of a subject
when they were really only reluctant to reveal the more esoteric
knowledge.
Still more important than this method of direct corroboration of
independent accounts is what I may call the method of indirect
corroboration. By this I mean the method of obtaining the same
information in different ways. Often this indirect corroboration
occurred accidentally. The whole of Toda ceremonial and social life
forms such an intricate web of closely related practices that I rarely
set out to investigate some one aspect of the life of the people
without obtaining information bearing on many other wholly different
aspects, and the information so gained often afforded valuable
corroboration of what I had been told on other occasions and by other
individuals. Thus, in obtaining a prayer, various matters would arise
which would confirm the accuracy of a legend obtained weeks earlier, or
the investigation of a funeral custom would lead to the indirect
corroboration of evidence concerning the regulation of marriage.
The most important way in which this method of indirect corroboration
may be intentionally applied is by obtaining the same information first
in an abstract form and then by means of a number of concrete
instances. As an example of what I mean I may cite the method by which
I inquired into the laws of inheritance of property. I first obtained
an account of what was done in the abstract—of the laws governing the
inheritance of houses, the division of the buffaloes and other property
among the children, &c. Next I gave a number of hypothetical concrete
instances; I took cases of men with so many children and so many
buffaloes, and repeating the cases I found that my informant gave
answers which were consistent not only with one another but also with
the abstract regulations previously given. Finally I took real persons
and inquired into what had actually happened when A or B died, and
again obtained a body of information consistent in itself and agreeing
with that already obtained.
By far my most valuable instrument of inquiry was that provided by the
genealogical method. [7] The Todas preserve in their memories the names
of all their ancestors and relatives extending back for several
generations. In the tables given at the end of this book, I have
recorded the pedigrees of seventy-two families, including the whole of
the Toda community. Whenever the name of a man was mentioned in
connexion with ceremony or social custom, his name was found in the
genealogical record and the relation was ascertained in which he stood
towards others participating in the ceremony or custom. By this means a
concrete element was brought into the work which greatly facilitated
inquiry. Customs and rites were investigated by means of concrete
examples in which the people taking part were real people to me as well
as to my informants. In a later chapter I shall consider more fully the
rôle of the genealogies in anthropological investigation. I mention
them here to give a preliminary indication of the extensive part they
played in my investigations. In order to give my readers the
opportunity of following my method in some measure for themselves, I
have given after the name of any individual mentioned in the book the
number of the genealogical table in which his name occurs; thus
“Kòdrner (7)” means that Kòdrner is a member of the family of which the
pedigree is recorded in Table 7.
I have already referred to the trustworthiness of the evidence given by
the Todas. I must now speak of the great differences in this respect
shown by different individuals. Some would give full and elaborate
accounts of ceremonial which close investigation showed to be, so far
as one could tell, thoroughly accurate. Others gave careless and
slovenly accounts, full of omissions and inaccuracies of detail, though
they rarely said anything which was distinctly untrue.
After some experience had been gained, one day’s work was usually
sufficient to enable me to make up my mind whether a man was a careful
witness, and if he did not seem to be so, he was not again called upon
for help. Different men were known to have especial acquaintance with
certain branches of knowledge, and I always endeavoured to obtain such
people. In the case of the religious ritual, it was not practicable to
make use, to any great extent, of men actually holding any of the
sacred offices, but I always had recourse to people who had held these
offices and were personally familiar with the ceremonial.
Among the many aspects of social life and religion, I soon found that
there were some about which there was no reticence, and these could be
discussed in public with men, women, or children standing by and
perhaps taking part. There were others which were of a more sacred
nature, and, if they were approached in public, it was immediately
obvious that the people were ill at ease and their answers became
hesitating and unsatisfactory. After a short time I adopted the
practice of devoting the mornings to my psychological work and to the
discussion of affairs of a non-sacred character. In the afternoons I
had private interviews with one individual at a time, or occasionally
two. If I approached any dangerous topic during the morning, my guide
made me a sign and I changed the subject, to return to it at an
afternoon sitting.
In the investigation of all the more sacred ceremonies, it was found to
be best that the narrator should be alone. He knew that he was telling
what should not be told and was embarrassed if any other Todas were
there to hear him.
One of the difficulties of anthropological inquiry is that the good and
trustworthy narrators are often the most reticent. They are trustworthy
because they are honest and pious members of their community, and are
therefore naturally reluctant to offend against the sanctity of their
religious customs by talking of them to a stranger. Some of my best
informants were such men, who were gradually led on to tell me far more
than they had ever intended, and then, having told me so much about a
given subject, they would sometimes throw reticence to the winds and
tell me all. It was very instructive in such a case to start a fresh
topic which I knew to be forbidden ground and observe the complete
change of attitude. One old man who had entirely lost his scruples in
our absorption in the details of dairy ritual absolutely refused to
speak a word when I turned to the subject of animal sacrifice, and for
this and some other topics I had to be content with less scrupulous but
at the same time less trustworthy witnesses.
I only found one Toda who was deliberately untruthful, and yet he was
so much less reticent and less scrupulous than others that I often had
to have recourse to his services. After I had been able to convict him
more than once of having given unsatisfactory evidence, he was more
accurate, but I was especially careful to check and obtain independent
accounts of everything he told me, and I have only made use of so much
of his evidence as I believe to be trustworthy. His knowledge was not
deep or accurate, but he often told me enough to enable me to extract
the full account from others, who, seeing I knew something, thought
they might as well tell me all. On one or two subjects, the whole of my
information is derived from this man, but whenever this is the case I
mention the fact, so that my readers may know the doubtful nature of
the evidence. I only give such information, however, when I believe it
to be correct. The informant in question was one of the cleverest of
the Todas, and his usual fault was not that he deliberately deceived,
but that he supplied the lacunæ in his knowledge by having recourse to
his imagination. In the matter of folk-tales, where the difficulties of
checking an account are especially great, I was obliged wholly to
reject his assistance.
An altogether different type of witness was my constant attendant,
Kòdrner. His special business was to bring me people as the subjects
for my psychological work and to act as my guide in visiting various
parts of the hills. He did not profess to any wide knowledge of custom
or ceremonial, and was always diffident about the information he gave;
but he was a good observer, and could give an excellent account of any
ceremony which he had witnessed or of any procedure in which he had
been involved.
Except in a few cases the Todas were quite unable to give any
explanations of their customs, the answer to nearly every inquiry being
that the custom in question was ordained by the goddess Teikirzi. In
the few cases in which an explanation was forthcoming, it seemed to me
that it was usually a recent invention. The explanations of customs
given in this book are therefore almost invariably those arrived at by
myself from the study of the available evidence.
While I was working I had by me the books or papers of Harkness,
Marshall, Breeks, and Thurston, the chief previous writers on the
Todas, and I inquired into most of the details mentioned by them; but I
have not attempted any criticism or comment on the work of others
except on special occasions when my own information is lacking or when
I am uncertain as to the truth of their statements. Except in those
cases in which I definitely refer to the work of others, every
statement made in this book is the outcome of my own inquiry or
observation. Whenever my account differs from those of others, it may
be accepted that I have inquired into the discrepancy and that my
account represents the result of a careful investigation.
As some of the accounts of the Todas were written many years ago, there
is always the possibility that two dissimilar accounts may both be true
and that the differences may represent changes in custom with lapse of
time. There is one fact, however, which makes it probable that this
explanation of discrepancies is not the true one. The accounts of the
Todas which show the closest correspondence with my own are some of the
earliest, especially the book of Captain Harkness, published in 1832,
and the papers of Bernhard Schmid and C. F. Muzzy, published in 1837
and 1844 respectively. In many cases my work agrees more closely with
these than with the accounts of later observers.
This is, perhaps, a suitable place to mention what I believe to be the
chief source of error in previous accounts of the Todas. In their
extensive intercourse with the Badagas, the Todas use the language of
this people, with which they appear to be perfectly familiar. The Toda
language is very difficult to understand, and the literature shows that
from the first, most of those who have investigated Toda customs have
used the Badaga language or Tamil as their means of communication.
Every Toda village, every Toda institution or office, and nearly every
object used by the Todas has its Badaga name as well as its proper Toda
name, and, owing to intercourse through the intermediation of the
Badagas, these names have come to be used not only by nearly all who
have written on the Todas, but also in official documents connected
with the people.
The names by which the Toda villages are known to Europeans are always
the Badaga names and not those of the Todas, and similarly with the
names of institutions such as clans, dairies, or ceremonies. The
practice of giving Badaga names in their intercourse with Europeans has
become so engrained that a Toda invariably uses these names when
speaking to a European. During the first few weeks of my work, I
received exclusively Badaga names, and to the end of my visit, whenever
I visited a new district, the Badaga names would crop up till the
people found that I wanted Toda and not Badaga. Kiunievan, who was the
chief informant of Mr. Breeks in 1872, is still alive, and when I asked
him why he gave Mr. Breeks the Badaga names in every case, he answered
“He did not seem to want anything else,” and this answer seems to me to
give the clue to much of the error which has found its way into many of
the accounts which have been given of the Todas.
One of the most serious errors which has arisen in this way is one
connected with the Toda clans. Every account which has been given of
the clan-system of the Todas is that of a system which is current among
the Badagas as the Toda system, but has only a limited correspondence
with the actual system as it is in use among the Todas themselves.
Every Toda, if asked by a European to what clan or division he belongs,
will promptly give his division according to the Badaga classification,
and this has led to the incorporation of this classification in all the
accounts of the Todas which deal with their social organisation.
Some words are necessary about the general plan of the book. I should
have preferred to begin with the social organisation, and to approach
the religious aspect of the life of the Todas through the ceremonies
accompanying the chief incidents of life, including birth, marriage,
and death. The ideas borrowed from the ritual of the dairy, however, so
pervade the whole of Toda ceremonial, that I have been obliged to
consider the ritual of the dairy at an early stage. After a preliminary
chapter sketching the general character and life of the people, I have
therefore given a full description of the elaborate ceremonial which
centres round the dairy; and on this follow the accounts of other
ceremonies and sacred institutions and a general discussion of the
religion of the people. I then turn to the social aspect of life, and
consider kinship, marriage, and the various factors upon which the
social organisation depends. Then, after some chapters on diverse
topics, I describe the relations of the Todas with the other tribes of
the Nilgiris, and in the final chapters discuss certain special
problems, including the origin and affinities of the Toda people.
CHAPTER II
THE TODA PEOPLE
I do not propose to describe at any length the physical characters of
the Todas. [8] It must be sufficient to say here that the people differ
remarkably in general appearance, and perhaps still more remarkably in
general bearing, from the other inhabitants of Southern India. The
average height of the men is about 5 ft. 7 in., and that of the women 5
ft. 1 in.; both are well-proportioned, and the men robustly built.
Their heads are distinctly dolichocephalic, the cephalic index of the
men being 73.3. The shaved heads of the children show very well the
great length, and probably owing to the special method of shaving (see
Figs. 63 and 64), this feature is in them exaggerated so as to seem
almost abnormal.
The nose is usually well-formed and not especially broad, the nasal
index being 74.9. It is often distinctly rounded in profile. The skin
is of a rich brown colour, distinctly lighter than that of most of the
Dravidian inhabitants of Southern India. The skins of the women are
lighter than those of the men. There is much hair on the bodies of the
men, who usually grow thick beards, and the hair of the head is
luxuriant in both men and women. The men are strong and very agile; the
agility being most in evidence when they have to catch their infuriated
buffaloes at the funeral ceremonies. They stand fatigue well, and often
travel great distances. One day I met an old man about seventy years of
age going to the market at Gudalur for a supply of grain, and in the
evening I met him on his return carrying a large and heavy bag. He had
travelled over thirty miles, had gone down and again come up some 3,000
feet, and most of his journey had been in a climate much warmer than
that of his native hills.
My guide at the end of the day would sometimes go a distance of eight
or ten miles and back to arrange for my supply of men for the next
day’s work, and I have seen him on these occasions running at a steady
pace which he would keep up for miles. In going from one part of the
hills to another, a Toda always travels as nearly as possible in a
straight line, ignoring altogether the influence of gravity, and
mounting the steepest hills with no apparent effort.
In all my work with the men, it seemed to me that they were extremely
intelligent They grasped readily the points of any inquiry upon which I
entered, and often showed a marked appreciation of complicated
questions. They were interested in the customs of other parts of the
world, and appeared to grasp readily the essential differences between
their own ways and those of other peoples. It is very difficult to
estimate general intelligence, and to compare definitely the
intelligence of different individuals, still more of people of
different races. I can only record my impression, after several months’
close intercourse with the Todas, that they were just as intelligent as
one would have found any average body of educated Europeans. There were
marked individual differences, just as there are among the more
civilised, and it is probable that I saw chiefly the more intelligent
members of the community.
My time was largely devoted to experimental work, especially on the
nature of the sensory and perceptual processes. The people entered
readily into this work, quickly grasped the nature of the methods
employed, and showed the same power of close attention and careful
observation which, as I have found in other races, enable even more
definite and consistent results to be obtained from uncultured races
than from most classes of a civilised community.
I had slighter opportunities of estimating the intelligence of the
women than that of the men, but, as a general rule, it seemed to me
that there was a very marked difference between the two sexes. Some of
the younger women, when examined by various tests, showed as ready a
grasp of the methods as any of the men, but most of the elder women
gave me the impression of being extremely stupid. It was often obvious
that they were not attending and were thinking far more of their
personal appearance and of the effect it was having on the men of the
party than of the task they were being set, but even when a liberal
discount was made for this, it seemed to me that they were distinctly
less intelligent than the men.
The characteristic note in the demeanour of the people is given by
their absolute belief in their own superiority over the surrounding
races. They are grave and dignified, and yet thoroughly cheerful and
well-disposed towards all. In their intercourse with Europeans, they
now recognise the superior race so far as wealth and the command of
physical and mental resources are concerned, but yet they are not in
the slightest degree servile, and about many matters still believe that
their ways are superior to ours, and, in spite of their natural
politeness, could sometimes not refrain from showing their contempt for
conduct which we are accustomed to look upon as an indication of a high
level of morality. It is in the matter of ethical standards that the
difference between the Todas and ourselves comes out most strongly.
THE VILLAGE AND THE HOUSE
The Todas live in little villages scattered about the hills. The
greater part of the plateau consists of grass-covered hills separated
by valleys, sometimes narrow, more often of wide extent. In every
valley there are streams and in many places swamps. In the hollows of
the hills are small woods, generally known as sholas, and it is usually
near these sholas that the Toda villages are to be found. Some parts of
the hills are much more thickly beset with villages than others, and
this is especially the case in the neighbourhood of the part known as
Governor Shola, about six to eight miles west and north-west of
Ootacamund.
In other parts one may go considerable distances without finding a Toda
village, but relics of the former history of the Todas may be found
widely scattered over the hills, and I think there can be little doubt
that at one time the Toda habitations were much more generally
distributed than they are at present. The bazaar at Ootacamund has now
become an important place in the economic life of the Todas; they sell
there the ghi or clarified butter in which form their dairy produce
chiefly goes to the market, and they procure in return at the bazaar
the rice and grain and other things which have now taken their places
among the necessaries of life. In consequence there exists a tendency
for the larger part of the Todas, especially those of the Todanad, to
live within an easy distance of Ootacamund, and many of the villages in
the more distant parts of the hills are now only occupied for a few
weeks in the year.
The Toda name for a village is mad, [9] but this is now often replaced
by the Badaga form of the word, mand, and the latter word is used
exclusively by the Europeans and others living on the Nilgiri hills. A
mad usually consists of several huts. In some villages there may be
only one hut, and the maximum number I have seen is six. At some places
where there was formerly a village with dwelling-huts there is now only
a dairy, but the term mad is still applied to the place at which the
dairy is situated. The term mad is also given to the funeral-places of
the Todas. Sometimes the funeral-place is also a village at which
people live; sometimes it has only a dairy; while in other places there
may be no trace of human habitations; but the term mad is equally
applied in all three cases. The term is also used for the dairies and
accessory buildings connected with the most sacred herds of buffaloes
(the ti). Each group of buildings is called a mad or ti mad. The term
has therefore a wider significance than “village” and denotes rather a
“place”—a place connected in any way with the active life of the Todas.
The chief village of a clan and certain other sacred or important
villages are called etudmad and other villages are often known as
kinmad.
A typical Toda village consists of a small group of huts (ars), often
on a piece of ground slightly raised above the surrounding level and
enclosed by a wall (katu). In this wall there are two or three narrow
openings, large enough to admit a man but not a buffalo. In most
villages there is a dairy or there may be several dairies. Each of
these buildings is also enclosed by a wall, usually higher than that
surrounding the dwelling-huts. The dairies may be near the huts, but
more commonly are at some little distance from the latter. Somewhere
near the dairy will be found a circular enclosure, the buffalo-pen, or
tu, [10] in which the buffaloes are enclosed at night, and there may be
more than one tu for use on different occasions or for different kinds
of buffalo. There will be a small pen for the calves which is called
kadr, and there may also be a house for the calves (kwotars). A small
structure called kush (? kudsh), used as an enclosure for calves less
than fifteen days old, may often be seen, situated between the
spreading roots of a tree.
Close to the village there will be at least one stream (nipa), and very
often there are two streams. If possible, there should be two streams,
in order that one may be used for the sacred purposes of the dairy, the
pali nipa, while the other is used for household purposes, the ars
nipa. Where there is only one stream, different parts are used for the
two purposes, and the two parts of the stream then receive the names
pali nipa and ars nipa. In this case the pali nipa is always above the
ars nipa, so as to avoid the danger that the water used for the dairy
shall have been contaminated by contact with household vessels. At some
villages there may even be a third stream, or part of a stream, used in
the ordination ceremonies of the dairymen.
It has often been a subject of remark by visitors to the Nilgiri Hills
that the Todas have chosen the most beautiful spots for their
dwellings, and interest has been taken in the love of beauty in nature
which this choice shows. I think there can be little doubt that the
choice of suitable dwelling-places has been chiefly determined by the
necessity of a good water-supply, and if possible of a double
water-supply, and the Todas have chosen the beautiful spots, not
because they are beautiful, but because they are well watered. Their
choice has been dictated, not by a love of beautiful scenery, but by
the practical necessities of their daily life.
In the immediate neighbourhood of a village there are usually well-worn
paths by which the village is approached, and some of these paths or
kalvol receive special names. Some may not be traversed by women. When
I first visited the village of Taradr, nearly the whole population of
the village met me at the spot where the path to the village leaves the
road. We all went along together till I suddenly found that I was
walking with the men and boys only, while the women and girls were
following another path. We were going by the way over which the sacred
buffaloes travel when leaving or approaching the village, and the women
might not tread this path, but had another appointed way by which they
were to reach their home.
Within the village there are also certain recognised paths, of which
two are especially important. One, the punetkalvol, is the path by
which the dairyman goes from his dairy to milk or tend the buffaloes;
the other is the majvatitthkalvol, the path which the women must use
when they go to the dairy to receive buttermilk (maj) from the
dairyman. Women are not allowed to go to the dairy or to other places
connected with it, except at appointed times when they receive
buttermilk given out by the dairyman, and when going for this purpose
they must keep to the majvatitthkalvol. This path is sometimes
indicated by a stone, the majvatitthkars, and the spot where the women
stand to receive the buttermilk is called the majvatvaiidrn.
At many villages there are other stones which have definite names and
mark the sites where certain ceremonial functions are performed.
The house is called ars, and is of the kind shown in Fig. 7. It is
shaped like half a barrel, with the barrel-like roof and sides
projecting for a considerable distance beyond the front partition
containing the door. The size of the hut is by no means constant; in
some cases it is sufficiently roomy to enable people to move about with
ease and comfort, while in others it is so small that it is unbearably
stuffy, and the smoke from the fire, which is always burning, makes it
difficult to believe that anyone can long live in it. The entrance to
the hut is always very small, and is closed by a door which slides over
the opening on its inner side.
Some houses are much longer than others, with a door at each end and a
central partition, so as to form a double hut which is called
epotirikhthars, i.e., “both-ways-turned house.” This kind of hut did
not seem to be common, and I only saw three or four examples, of which
one is shown in Fig. 8.
A much more common kind of double hut is called merkalars, i.e.,
“other-side house,” in which the back part of the hut is partitioned
off, with a door at one side.
In some Toda villages there may now be found huts of the same kind as
those of the Badagas. In the cases in which I found such huts, I was
told that they had been built by Badagas who had lived in the villages
while the Toda occupants were away. Todas may also occasionally be
found living away from their own villages, usually near tea
plantations. They do this because there is a demand for buffalo manure
at the plantations, and when living in this way they not uncommonly use
huts of the Badaga pattern.
In front of the hut on either side of the door there are usually raised
seats called kwottün, and there are similar raised portions, called
tün, within the huts on which the people sleep. The floor of the hut is
divided into two parts, which are marked off from one another by the
hole in which grain is pounded by the women. The part in front of this
is often used for churning, and with this part women have nothing to
do, their operations being limited to the hinder part.
There is little difference between the dress of men and women. Each
wears a mantle called the putkuli, which is worn thrown round the
shoulders without any fastening. Under it is worn a loin-cloth called
tadrp, and the men also wear a perineal band called kuvn, corresponding
to the Hindu languti. The kuvn is kept in position by a string round
the waist called pennar, a string which, we shall see later, is of
considerable ceremonial importance.
There are various ways of wearing the cloak which will be more fully
described in Chapter XXIV. It will be sufficient to say here that when
showing reverence, a Toda bares his right arm, this method of wearing
the cloak so that the arm is exposed being called kevenarut. It is
shown in Figs, 1 and 10.
THE DAILY LIFE OF THE TODAS
The daily life of the Toda men is largely devoted to the care of their
buffaloes and to the performance of the dairy operations. As we shall
see later, much of the dairy work is the duty of certain men set aside
to look after the sacred buffaloes and the sacred dairies connected
with them. A large proportion, however, of the Toda buffaloes are not
sacred, and their care falls on the ordinary Todas. The milking and
churning is chiefly the duty of the younger men and boys, but the older
men also take their part, while the head of the family exercises a
general superintendence.
On rising in the morning, the men salute the sun with the gesture
called kaimukhti, shown in Fig. 10, and then they turn to their work of
milking the buffaloes and churning the milk.
When the dairy operations of the morning are over, the buffaloes are
driven to the grazing ground, the people take their food and go about
any business of the day. Some may collect firewood and procure the
leaves used as plates and drinking vessels; others may carry out any
necessary tendance which the buffaloes require, or may go to fetch
grain or rice from Badaga villages or from the bazaar. The chief men of
the village may perhaps have to attend a meeting of the naim, or
council, which holds very frequent sittings to adjudicate upon the many
disputed points which arise in connexion with the intricate social
organisation of the people.
While the men are doing their work, the women will have been seeing to
their special tasks, of which three, represented in Fig. 11, have come
to be regarded as pre-eminently woman’s work.
They pound the grain with the wask in a hole situated in the middle of
the floor of the hut, [11] and when the pounding is finished the grain
is sifted with the murn, or sieve, and the hut is swept with the kip.
It seemed that pounding grain is normally performed wearing the tadrp
only.
Though these are the three operations which are regarded as
pre-eminently woman’s work, the women have other things to do. They rub
the seats or beds both inside and outside the hut with dried
buffalo-dung, and use the same material to cleanse the various
household utensils. They mend the garments of the family, and some
women devote much time to the special embroidery with which they adorn
their cloaks.
The ordinary routine of the day is often broken by the visits of people
from other villages, who may have come to talk over a proposed marriage
or transference of wives; to announce some approaching ceremony; to
discuss some business connected with the buffaloes, or perhaps, but
probably rarely, to pay a friendly call. Such a visit will probably
give the opportunity of observing the characteristic Toda salutation
shown in Fig. 12. [12] This is essentially a salutation between a woman
and her male relatives older than herself. If a man visits a village in
which he has any female relatives younger than himself, these will go
out to meet him as he approaches the house, and each bows down before
the man, who raises his foot, while the woman places her hand below the
foot and helps to raise it to her forehead, and the same salutation is
repeated with the other foot. This mode of greeting is called
kalmelpudithti, [13] or “leg up he puts.” It is usually a salutation in
which women bow down before men, but it may also take place between two
men or between two women, while on certain occasions a male may bow
down and have his forehead touched by the feet of a woman.
In the evening the buffaloes again find their way to the milking-place,
and the operations of the morning are repeated. When these are finished
the buffaloes are shut up in the enclosure, or tu, for the night; the
lamp is now lighted and saluted by the men who use the same gesture as
that with which the sun had been saluted in the morning. The people
then take their food and retire to rest.
SKETCH OF SOCIAL ORGANISATION
I shall consider the social organisation in detail at a much later
stage, but it is necessary to give here a brief sketch in order to make
its main features clear before going on to describe the Toda
ceremonial, which often shows differences according to the division or
clan with which the ceremony is connected. The fundamental feature of
the social organisation is the division of the community into two
perfectly distinct groups, the Tartharol and the Teivaliol. As we shall
see more fully later, there is a certain amount of resemblance between
these two divisions and the castes of the Hindus. There is a certain
amount of specialisation of function, certain grades of the priesthood
being filled only by members of the Teivaliol. Further, marriage is not
allowed between members of the two divisions, though certain irregular
unions are permitted; a Tarthar man must marry a Tarthar woman, and a
Teivali man a Teivali woman. The Tartharol and Teivaliol are two
endogamous divisions of the Toda people.
Each of these primary divisions is subdivided into a number of
secondary divisions. These are exogamous, and I shall speak of them
throughout this book as ‘clans,’ using this word as the best general
term for an exogamous division of a tribe or community.
Each clan possesses a group of villages and takes its name from the
chief of these villages, the etudmad, and the people of a clan are
known as madol, or village people.
The Tartharol are divided into twelve clans, which take their names
from the villages of Nòdrs, Kars, Pan, Taradr, Keradr, Kanòdrs,
Kwòdrdoni, Päm, Nidrsi, Melgars, Kidmad, and Karsh. [14] The people of
each clan are known as Nòdrsol, Karsol, Panol, &c. The Kidmadol and
Karshol are much less important than the other ten clans, having split
off from the Melgarsol in comparatively recent times. The original
number of Tarthar clans appears to have been ten, and I have no record
that any clan of this division has become extinct.
The Teivaliol are divided into six clans, or madol, taking their names
from the villages of Kuudr, Piedr, Kusharf, Keadr, Pedrkars, and
Kulhem. The people of Kuudr are called both Kuudrol and Kuurtol, and
similarly the people of Piedr and Keadr are often called the Piertol
and Keartol.
Here again two clans, the Pedrkarsol and the Kulhemol, are less
important than the others. They are offshoots of the Kuudrol, but the
separation is of very long standing.
There was some doubt as to the existence of another clan, the
Kwaradrol, but it seemed certain that these people, who have now died
out, formed a subdivision of the Keadrol.
One Teivali clan has become extinct, its last member having died, it
was said, about a hundred years ago. This clan took its name from the
village of Kemen, which was near Kiudr, but no trace of this village
exists at present and I think it probable that the Kemenol have been
extinct longer than the Todas suppose.
The villages of each clan are usually situated in the same part of the
hills, though there are very often outlying villages far from the main
group. At any one period of the year, only some of the villages of the
clan are occupied. The people may move about from one village to
another according to the need for pasturage, and the villages in the
Kundahs and other outlying parts of the hills appear only to be visited
during the dry season before the south-west monsoon sets in.
Each clan is further subdivided, these subdivisions being of two kinds.
One, called the kudr, is only of ceremonial importance, and we shall
meet with it first in the chapter dealing with offerings. The other,
called the pòlm, is of more practical importance, and is the basis of
the machinery for regulating any expenses which fall on the clan as a
whole.
CHAPTER III
DAIRIES AND BUFFALOES
The milking and churning operations of the dairy form the basis of the
greater part of the religious ritual of the Todas. The lives of the
people are largely devoted to their buffaloes, and the care of certain
of these animals, regarded as more sacred than the rest, is associated
with much ceremonial. The sacred animals are attended by men especially
set apart who form the Toda priesthood, and the milk of the sacred
animals is churned in dairies which may be regarded as the Toda temples
and are so regarded by the people themselves. The ordinary operations
of the dairy have become a religious ritual and ceremonies of a
religious character accompany nearly every important incident in the
lives of the buffaloes.
Among the buffaloes held by the Toda to be sacred there are varying
degrees of sanctity, and each kind of buffalo is tended at its own kind
or grade of dairy by its own special grade of the priesthood; buffaloes
and dairies forming an organisation the complexities of which were far
from easy to unravel.
Each kind of dairy connected with its special kind of buffalo has its
own peculiarities of ritual. The dairies form an ascending series in
which we find increasing definiteness and complexity of ritual;
increasing sanctity of the person of the dairyman-priest, increasing
stringency of the rules for the conduct of his daily life, and
increasing elaboration of the ceremonies which attend his entrance upon
office. There are also certain dairies in which the ritual has
developed in special directions, and there are special features of the
organisation of buffaloes and dairies not only in each of the two chief
divisions of the Toda people, but also in many of the clans of which
each division is composed.
I propose in this chapter to sketch some of the chief features of the
buffalo and dairy organisation, and in succeeding chapters there will
follow detailed accounts of the different dairies and of the ceremonial
which accompanies the daily work of the dairy and the important events
of buffalo life.
THE DAIRY ORGANISATION
The first distinction to be made concerns the buffaloes. These animals
are divided into those of a sacred character and those which may be
called ‘ordinary buffaloes.’ The latter are known as putiir; they may
be kept at any village, are tended by the men and boys of the
village—in Toda language, they are tended by perol, or ordinary
persons—and their milk is churned in the front part of the
dwelling-hut. There is no special ritual of any kind connected with
these buffaloes or with their milk, and there are no restrictions on
the use of the milk or its products.
The classification of the sacred buffaloes is very different in the two
divisions of the Toda people. The Teivaliol possess only one class of
sacred buffalo and these buffaloes are called collectively pasthir. The
Tartharol, on the other hand, have several classes of sacred buffalo,
and, so far as I could ascertain, they have properly no collective term
for all of them, though they are often spoken of by the Teivali term,
pasthir.
Possessing only one kind of sacred buffalo, the dairy organisation of
the Teivaliol is comparatively simple. The milk of the pasthir is
churned in dairies at the more important villages of each clan. The
dairy is, in general, called pali, [15] and the dairyman is called
palikartmokh, ‘dairy watch-boy,’ or palikartpol, ‘dairy watch-man,’
[16] according to his age; but, probably owing to the general custom of
employing youths or young men to fill the office of dairyman, the term
palikartmokh is in far more general use, and is often employed even
when the dairyman is an elderly man.
At many of the chief Teivali villages, there are two dairies; a large
dairy, called etudpali, and a smaller, called kidpali. Each of these
dairies should have its own palikartmokh, and this is still the case
when both dairies are used, but at most villages at the present time
one of the two dairies has been disused and there is in consequence
only one dairyman.
Both ordinary and sacred buffaloes are the property, not of the whole
clan, but of families or individuals, and the buffaloes tended at the
dairy of a village are, in general, the property of the family living
at that village. A large clan with many villages, such as that of
Kuudr, has many dairies in working order and a corresponding number of
dairymen.
Among the Tartharol the organisation is far more complicated. Most
Tarthar clans have more than one kind of sacred buffalo in addition to
the ordinary buffaloes or putiir. In every clan there is one kind of
sacred herd which may be said to correspond to the pasthir of the
Teivaliol. The milk of these buffaloes is churned in a dairy called
pali by a dairyman called palikartmokh or palikartpol. There are,
however, two grades of dairy corresponding to these buffaloes. The
lower grade is called the tarpali, or more commonly tarvali, and is
served by a tarvalikartmokh. The higher grade is called kudrpali,
tended by a kudrpalikartmokh. There is no distinction of buffaloes
corresponding to this distinction of dairies, the same buffaloes being
tended sometimes at a kudrpali and sometimes at a tarvali. The
distinguishing feature of a kudrpali is the possession of a mani, or
sacred bell, and the greater elaboration and stringency of its ritual
is due to the presence of this sacred object.
In addition to the buffaloes tended at the tarvali or kudrpali, most
Tarthar clans possess other sacred buffaloes called wursulir. These
buffaloes are tended by a dairyman called wursol and their milk is
churned in a dairy called wursuli or wursulipali. One point which marks
off this branch of the dairy organisation from the preceding is that
the dairyman, or wursol, must belong either to the Teivaliol or to the
Melgars clan of the Tartharol. Both tarpalikartmokh and
kudrpalikartmokh are chosen from the Tartharol, either of the same or
of a different clan from that of the dairy, but the wursol must be
taken either from the members of the other chief division of the Todas
or from one special clan of the Tartharol, a clan which has many other
peculiar privileges and occupies a position in some ways intermediate
between Tartharol and Teivaliol.
The ritual of the wursuli is distinctly more elaborate than that of
either tarvali or kudrpali, and the wursol is a more sacred personage,
so far as one can judge from his rules of conduct and the elaboration
of his ordination ceremonies.
Two Tarthar clans have dairies of especial importance and sanctity, in
both of which there are distinctive features of ritual.
The people of Taradr possess a herd of buffaloes called kugvalir which
take their name from the dairy, the kugvali or kugpali, meaning the
chief or great dairy. The kugvalir are tended by a kugvalikartmokh, who
must belong to the Taradrol. The six chief families of this clan take
charge of the buffaloes for periods of three years in rotation, and the
head of the family in charge selects the kugvalikartmokh.
The other Tarthar dairy which occupies an exceptional position is that
of Kanòdrs, which is called a poh, and is tended by a dairyman called
pohkartpol. The ritual both of this dairy and of the kugvali of Taradr
resembles in some respects that of the most sacred Toda dairies, the
dairies of the institution called the ti.
The number and nature of the dairies are different in the different
Tarthar clans and in different villages of the same clan. The Melgars
clan has only one kind of dairy, the tarvali. The Nòdrs clan now has a
tarvali and a wursuli, and at most Kars villages there are both
kudrpali and wursuli, but formerly both at Nòdrs and Kars there were
three kinds of dairy, tarvali, kudrpali, and wursuli. Some Pan villages
have tarvali and wursuli, others kudrpali and wursuli. At Taradr there
are both tarvali and wursuli in addition to the special institution of
that clan, the kugvali.
All these various kinds of dairy are situated at the villages where the
people live. In addition, five Tarthar clans possess dairies where are
kept herds of great sanctity, the herds of the ti or the tiir. These
buffaloes are kept at special dairies far from any village where people
live. A place where such a dairy is situated is called a ti mad, or ti
village, and each sacred herd moves about from one ti mad to another at
different seasons of the year, and the group of places, together with
the herds connected with it, is known collectively as a ti. [17] The ti
is thus the name of a special institution comprising buffaloes,
dairies, grazing grounds, and the various buildings and objects
connected with the dairies.
The ti is presided over by a dairyman-priest called palol, who is
assisted by a boy or youth called kaltmokh or, more rarely, kavelol.
Formerly it was the custom in most cases that a ti should have two
palol, each of whom had his own herd of buffaloes and his own dairy, so
that each ti mad had two dairies. This custom now persists in full at
one ti only, though in other cases there are still two dairies, of
which one is not used, or is only used on special occasions.
Though the ti is, in every case, regarded as the property of a Tarthar
clan, the palol must be chosen from the Teivaliol, and in some cases
the choice is restricted to certain Teivali clans. The kaltmokh must
belong either to the Teivaliol or to the Melgars clan of the Tartharol.
The dairy of a ti is always called a poh.
The ritual of the ti reaches a far higher degree of complexity than is
attained in any village dairy. The palol is a far more sacred personage
than the wursol or the palikartmokh; his life is far more strictly
regulated, and the ceremonies attendant on his entrance into office are
far more elaborate. The ceremonies connected with dairy or buffaloes
are more numerous, and when they correspond to ceremonies performed at
the lower grades of dairy, they are much more elaborate and prolonged.
THE DAIRY
There are two forms of Toda dairy. One resembles very closely the
ordinary hut, and, but for its situation and the higher wall which
surrounds it, it might often be supposed to be one of the huts. The
vast majority of dairies are now of this form. The other kind of dairy
is circular with a conical roof. There are now only three or four of
these buildings in existence, though others have only fallen into ruins
in recent times. Breeks, who wrote in 1873, says [18] that at that time
there were four, and a fifth in ruins.
The best known of these dairies is that at Nòdrs (the Manboa of
Breeks), shown in Fig. 13. It has received the name of “the Toda
Cathedral,” and is one of the show places of the Nilgiris. Another
(shown in Fig. 25) is at Kanòdrs (the Mutterzhva of Breeks). Both are
village dairies of especial sanctity; the Nòdrs building is in full
working order, while that of Kanòdrs is only occupied occasionally. A
third dairy of the conical form is at the ti place of Anto near Sholur
(the Kiurzh of Breeks) and should be regularly visited once a year,
though the year in which I was on the Nilgiris was an exception. The
fourth dairy of the kind (called by Breeks Tarzhva) is at Tarsòdr on
the Kundahs. It is also a ti dairy, but is now falling into ruins,
having been disused for about twenty years. The ruined dairy mentioned
by Breeks (Katedva) is said to be still in the same condition. It was
used as a ti dairy, and is near Makurti Peak.
There is no doubt that conical dairies were at one time more numerous.
There was one at the ti place of Enòdr, not far from Ootacamund. There
was another at the village of Kars, and the circular wall which once
surrounded the dairy still remains, and has been converted into a
buffalo pen.
The various names given to the Toda dairies are at first sight very
confusing. We have already seen that each kind of dairy is named
according to the kind of buffalo connected with it—according to its
position in the dairy-series connecting tarvali with ti. Each dairy has
also its own special or individual name; thus the kudrpali of Kars is
called Tarziolv, and the wursuli of the same village, Karziolv.
In addition to these two sets of names, there is another distinction of
a more general kind. There are two general names, poh and pali, and
every dairy is one or other of these. The former name is given to every
ti dairy, to every dairy of the conical form, [19] and to certain other
dairies at the older and more important villages. Some of the latter
are ordinarily called pali, but the name poh lingers in the name
employed for the dairies in prayer (see Chapter X), or in the
individual names of the dairies; thus the dairy at the ancient village
of Nasmiòdr is ordinarily called a pali, but its individual name is
Tilipoh. I think it probable that originally poh and pali were the
names of the two forms of dairy, the conical kind being called poh and
the ordinary kind pali. At the present time every existing conical
dairy is a poh, and every dairy which is said to have been in the past
of the conical form is called poh. It seems probable that in many cases
a dairy, originally of the conical form, has been rebuilt in the same
form as the dwelling-hut, owing to the difficulty and extra labour of
reconstruction in the older shape; and that in some of these cases the
dairy of the new form has retained the name of the old and is still
called poh, at any rate on certain occasions. All the dairies to which
the name poh is ever given are either ti dairies or are situated in
villages of especial antiquity and sanctity.
There is now no definite rule as to the grade of dairymen who shall
serve at a dairy called poh. The poh of a ti is, of course, occupied by
a palol and kaltmokh. The conical poh of Nòdrs, the old conical poh of
Kars, and several old dairies which are still called poh in the prayers
are, or were, tended by dairymen of the rank of wursol, while several
poh of the ordinary shape belonging to the Teivaliol are occupied by
dairymen called palikartmokh. The only place at which the dairyman
takes his name from the poh is Kanòdrs, where the conical dairy is
occupied by a pohkartpol.
There is a considerable degree of uniformity in the orientation of
dairies of all grades. The doors usually face in an easterly direction,
and in the majority of those I observed the door faced north of east,
the most frequent direction being some point between east and
north-east. In one case, that of the ti poh at Mòdr, the door of the
dairy faces south-east; but in front of the door there is a screen, and
on leaving his dairy the palol always turns to the left, so that he
faces north-east as he goes towards his buffaloes. In a few dairies the
door faces directly west, and, according to Breeks, this is the case at
the conical dairy of Anto.
THE TODA BUFFALO
The Toda buffalo is a variety of the Indian water-buffalo, but the life
on the hills seems to have produced a much finer animal than that of
the plains. Although thoroughly under the control of the Todas, the
buffaloes are semi-wild and often attack people of a different race
from their owners, and Europeans have frequently been severely injured
by the onslaught of these animals.
The Toda name for the male buffalo is er, and for the female ir, but
either term may be used when the people speak of buffaloes
collectively. Calves have different designations at different ages. A
young calf is kar, one from one to two years of age is pòl, and a
three-year-old calf is nakh.
Defective buffaloes, and especially those with only one horn, are
called kwadrir, and those whose horns bend downwards are kughir. Barren
buffaloes are called maiir.
There are considerable differences of colour among the buffaloes. Those
much lighter than the rest are called nerir or pushtir, and there is a
legend about the origin of these buffaloes, which, however, I failed to
obtain. The only obvious way in which the animals differ from one
another in marking is that some have a black stripe running down either
side of the neck very much in the position which would be occupied by
the chain suspending a bell.
There do not seem to be any physical differences between the buffaloes
of different classes, and, as we shall see shortly, the nature of the
breeding of the Toda buffaloes is such as would have entirely destroyed
any distinctions of the kind if they had ever existed.
Every adult female buffalo has an individual name, which is usually
given when her first calf is born. The number of buffalo names is
limited, so that many buffaloes bear the same name.
The following are among the buffalo names of which I have
records:—Kûdzi or Kûrsi, Kâsimi, Pän or Pern, Kiûd or Kiûdz, Enmon,
Koisi, Keien, Ilsh or Idrsh, Kârsthum, Perûv or Perov, Kebân, Enmars,
Persud, Nerûv, Kôzi, Perith, Pülkoth, Persuth, Tòthi, Kerâni, Keirev,
Püthiov, Peires, Nersâdr, Tâlg, Ûf, Köji, Persv, Arvatz, Kòjiû, Pundrs,
Purkîsi, and Òrsum.
Both Tartharol and Teivaliol have the same names for their buffaloes,
and it seemed that a buffalo of any village herd might have the same
name as one belonging to the ti. It is possible, however, that certain
names may be restricted to the ti herds. I collected some names which
occurred only in these herds, but I cannot say positively that they
might not also be used for less sacred buffaloes.
Male buffaloes are unnamed and appear to have little or no sanctity
even when born of cows of the most sacred herds. The greater number of
male calves are either killed at erkumpthtiti ceremonies (Chap. XIII)
or given away to the Kotas. A few are kept for breeding purposes,
usually in the proportion of two to every hundred females.
There is a singular absence of care about the breeding of the
buffaloes. The Todas have many herds of which every female has some
degree of sacredness, and it might have been expected that the bulls of
a sacred herd would have been carefully chosen from the male calves of
that herd. So far as I could ascertain after repeated inquiries, there
was no restriction of any kind in the mating of the sacred animals; a
bull of the ordinary buffaloes (putiir) of a village might even mate
with the highly sacred animals of a ti dairy. No importance seemed to
be attached to the question of paternity among the buffaloes, and so
far as I could ascertain the people were quite indifferent whether the
male was related or unrelated to the female, whether of the same or of
another herd.
I did not hear of the existence of any ceremonies connected with the
chosen male buffaloes. Marshall states [20] that a bull new from one of
the sacred ti herds undergoes a process of sanctification before he is
permanently installed, by being isolated for a day and night in a small
pen in the sacred woods of the ti, during which time he is deprived of
food, though allowed access to water. Marshall also states that it is
permissible to introduce a bull from an ordinary drove “after due
sanctification.” Though I failed to obtain definite confirmation of
Marshall’s statement, it is possible that something of the kind may at
one time have taken place or may even still take place.
At the present time the buffaloes are tended entirely by males, and
males only are allowed to take any part either in the work of the dairy
or in those dairy operations which are performed in the house. There is
a tradition that at one time women attended to the buffaloes at the
time of calving, and one incident is recorded in which women performed
Cæsarian section on a dying buffalo (p. 78), but this custom has now
long ceased to be followed.
The first buffaloes were created by one of the chief Toda gods, Ön, and
his wife. The buffaloes created by the male deity were the progenitors
of the sacred buffaloes, while the ordinary buffaloes or putiir are
descended from those created by the wife. Certain other buffaloes are
descended from ancestors created by other gods, but the account of
their various creations may be deferred till the chapter containing the
legends of the gods. I was told by some that the sacred buffaloes were
descended from a sambhar deer, but it was later found that this was
only believed to be true of one special group of buffaloes belonging to
one clan.
DAIRY PROCEDURE
The general plan of the dairy procedure is the same in all dairies, the
difference between different dairies lying chiefly in certain
formalities accompanying certain stages of the procedure.
The day’s operations begin with the churning of the milk drawn on the
previous evening. The milk is poured from the milking-vessels into
earthenware pots, and during the night it will have coagulated. The
coagulated mass is first broken up by the churn; water and butter
already made are added, and then the churning is continued till the
milk separates into a solid part, which I shall speak of as ‘butter,’
and a liquid, which I shall call ‘buttermilk.’ It must be remembered,
however, that these do not correspond to the butter and buttermilk of a
European dairy. The milk coagulates before the cream has risen in any
quantity, and there is no skimming. The ‘butter’ consists of both the
fat and casein of the milk, while the ‘buttermilk’ ought perhaps rather
to be called ‘whey.’
In order to avoid this ambiguity in the use of the words ‘butter’ and
‘buttermilk’ it might have seemed desirable to use the Toda terms for
these products; but I have not done so, partly in order to avoid the
too frequent use of Toda words, partly because the names are not
constant among the Todas themselves, different terms being used in
different dairies.
When the churning is finished, the butter and buttermilk are put into
their appropriate vessels, and the dairyman goes out to milk the
buffaloes, using for this purpose a bamboo milking-vessel, into which
he has put some buttermilk from the previous churning. The newly drawn
milk is poured into the earthenware vessels, in which it stands till
the afternoon. By this time the milk will have become solid, and is
churned as in the morning.
The ‘butter’ is used chiefly in the form of ghi, or clarified butter,
for which the Toda name is nei. The butter is clarified by keeping it
over the fire after the addition of grain or rice. The latter sinks to
the bottom of the vessel, while the nei consists of the liquefied fat
of the milk. The nei or ghi is partly used by the Todas, but is largely
sold at the bazaar. The deposit of grain or rice is called al, and is
one of the chief Toda foods. It is, no doubt, mixed with part of the
proteid constituents of the milk precipitated during the process of
clarification.
The milking-vessel is of bamboo, and several of the small vessels used
in the dairy procedure are also made from bamboo of various sizes. The
vessels into which the milk is poured and in which it is churned are of
earthenware, and the vessels in which the butter and buttermilk are
kept are also of this kind. The earthenware vessels used in the
ordinary dairy-work are made by the Kotas.
The names of the different dairy vessels vary according to the dairy in
which they are used, and these, together with a complete list of the
dairy vessels and implements, will be reserved till later.
The method of churning is shown in Fig. 15. The churning is always done
within the hut or dairy, but in order to obtain a photograph of the
process a staff was put in the ground outside a hut, so that the figure
shows exactly the method used within the hut or dairy. The upright
staff is called palmän, or ‘milk-tree’; the two rings by means of which
the churning-stick is fastened to the palmän are called palkati, or
‘milk-ties.’ The cord by which the churning-stick, or madth is revolved
is called kudinan or palv.
The general plan of the dairy operations appears to be much the same as
that practised elsewhere in India. There are, however, two special
features of the Toda procedure which, so far as I know, are not in
general use elsewhere. One of these is the addition of buttermilk from
a previous churning. This addition probably hastens the process of
coagulation, and has a material use, but in the hands of the Todas it
has become of great ceremonial importance, and forms the basis of some
of the most interesting features of the dairy ritual.
The other special feature which does not seem to be generally found in
India is the addition of grain or rice when clarifying the butter.
Unlike the addition of buttermilk, this has no ceremonial value, and is
chiefly important in providing the Todas with one of their favourite
foods.
THE CARE OF THE ORDINARY BUFFALOES
The ordinary buffaloes, or putiir, of a village are looked after and
milked by the males of the village; by those who in Toda terminology
are perol, or ordinary men, as compared with those who have been
ordained to one of the sacred dairy offices.
When the people rise in the morning, the buffaloes are released from
the pen, or tu, in which they have been enclosed for the night, and the
animals make their way at once to the place where they are accustomed
to be milked, the irkarmus. At the same time, or a little later, the
calves are released from their enclosure, the kadr, and each calf runs
to its mother. The milk of the previous night is churned in the
interior of the dwelling-hut, usually by one of the youths of the
family. In the dairy one man has to carry out all the dairy operations,
and here the churning is always finished before the milking begins; but
in the case of the ordinary buffaloes, where many take part in the
work, the two operations may go on simultaneously, and while one man or
boy is churning, others will be milking the buffaloes and carrying the
milk into the hut. Usually it seemed that each of the males of the
family was taking his part in the proceedings.
Whenever I watched the milking operations, I saw one man, the head of
the family, walking about and superintending the operations, while
several other men and youths were milking the buffaloes or churning the
milk within the hut. It seemed as if in general each buffalo gave very
little milk, and a man soon left one buffalo to go to another, and as
the bamboo milking-vessels are small and have soon to be emptied, there
was a constant moving about from one buffalo to another and from the
milking-place to the hut. A typical milking scene is shown in Fig. 16.
Each man carries a stick, with which he keeps off troublesome calves
who may come to suck while the milking is going on (see Fig. 17). If a
buffalo and its calf are troublesome, milk is sometimes smeared on the
back of the calf, and the buffalo occupies herself with licking the
calf, a process which keeps both quiet. At other times, a man may pour
milk into his hollowed hand which he gives to one of the buffaloes to
drink.
When the milking is over, the buffaloes are driven to their
grazing-ground, where they remain till the afternoon, when they return,
often spontaneously, to the milking-place, and the operations of the
morning are repeated.
While at the pasturage, one or two small boys are often in attendance
to keep the buffaloes from straying beyond the proper grazing-ground.
CHAPTER IV
THE VILLAGE DAIRY
This chapter will be devoted to a description of the various kinds of
dairy which are found at the Toda villages. An account will be given of
the daily course of the dairy operations and of the ritual accompanying
it. The description of special ceremonies which occur in connexion with
the dairy will be reserved till future chapters, in which ceremonies of
the same nature occurring in all grades of dairy can be considered
together.
A village dairy is often situated at some little distance from the huts
in which the people live, though sometimes it is in their immediate
neighbourhood. When of the same form as the hut, it may not at once be
distinguished from the latter, but it is usually enclosed by a higher
wall which surrounds the building more closely, so that there is very
little room between the two. The door seemed to me to be usually
smaller than that of most of the huts, and it is always capable of
being closed by a shutter on the inner side.
The dairy is usually divided into compartments completely separated
from one another by a partition extending to the roof, one room being
entered from another by a small door of the same kind as that by which
the dairy itself is entered. The majority of dairies have two rooms, an
inner room called ulkkursh and an outer room called pòrmunkursh. Many
dairies, especially among the kind called wursuli, have only one room.
At five Tarthar villages, viz., Nòdrs, Taradrkirsi, Keradr,
Akirsikòdri, and Tim, there are dairies which have three rooms, the
inner and outer rooms being separated by a third, called the nedrkursh.
Each of the five villages at which these dairies are found is the
funeral-place for males of the clan to which the village belongs, and
the body of a dead man is placed in the outer room of the dairy at each
place during the funeral ceremonies.
At Nòdrs and Tedshteiri (villages of the Nòdrs clan) it is said that
there were at one time dairies each of which had seven rooms. The ruins
of these, which were of the grade called kudrpali, are still to be
seen.
Sometimes the same building serves for two dairies, especially at the
less important villages of a clan. In these cases the building
resembles that kind of hut which is called merkalars, one compartment
of the hut opening at the side. At the villages at which I found
dairies of this kind, the front part of the hut was a kudrpali and the
part with the door at the side was a wursuli. In these cases each dairy
has only one room.
In every dairy which has more than one room, the dairy vessels are kept
in the inner room and the actual dairy operations are performed by the
dairyman in this room. He only is allowed to go into the inner room,
while other men may go into the outer room and, in those cases in which
there are three rooms, into the middle room.
When a village dairy has two or more rooms, the outer room first
entered from the outside is often used as a sleeping-place and in this
case usually has two of the couches called tün, one on each side with a
fireplace between them. That on the right-hand side as one enters is
called the meitün (meiltün), or high (superior) bed, and that on the
left-hand side is the kitün, or low (inferior) bed.
In the outer room is kept the kepun or kaipun (hand vessel), used to
hold the water with which the dairyman washes his hands. The masth, or
axe used for cutting firewood, and the tek or tekh, a basket used to
bring rice or grain into the dairy, are also kept in this room.
The fireplace between the two sleeping-places is usually made of four
stones and is called kudrvars. At the wursuli it is made of three
stones and is called waskal.
The room of the dairy which contains the dairy vessels is divided into
three parts: the patatmar, the ertatmar, and the kalkani.
The patatmar takes its name from the patat, an earthenware vessel into
which the milk is poured from the milking vessel and in which it is
churned. The vessels kept in this part of the inner room, which are
known collectively as patatpur, are those which are actually used in
the milking and churning.
The ertatmar takes its name from the ertat, a bamboo vessel used to
carry buttermilk or butter out of the dairy. The ertat and the vessels
kept with it, known collectively as the ertatpur, are those which
receive the products of the churning or are used to convey these
products out of the dairy. The lamp and the fire-sticks used for making
fire by friction are also kept in this part of the dairy.
In the third part of the room, called the kalkani, are kept leaves,
firewood, knives, and various sticks or wands. According to some
accounts, the vessel called penpariv is also kept here.
When the dairy vessels are taken into a new dairy (see Chap. VI.), they
are placed on ferns. I do not know whether they always rest on a bed of
ferns or whether the ferns are only used when the vessels are first
placed in the dairy.
The following is a list of the patatpur, the vessels and other objects
which are kept in the part of the dairy called patatmar:
Patat or tat. Earthenware vessels into which the freshly drawn milk is
poured and in which it is churned (Fig. 18, F). There are several of
these vessels, one of which may be used to hold water.
Irkartpun or patatpun. The bamboo milking-vessel (Fig. 18, I).
Parskadrvenmu or parskadrpenmu, i.e., milk churn butter mu (Fig. 18,
H). This is also sometimes called kazhmu, and is a small earthenware
vessel in which is kept the butter (pen) which is added while churning.
Except when the churning is in progress, it is used as a cover for the
patat.
Adimu. An earthenware vessel (Fig. 18, K) into which some of the
coagulated milk may be poured while churning. It may also be used to
fetch water from the dairy stream.
Madth or parskartmadth. Churning-stick (Fig. 18, C).
Palkati. Bamboo rings for holding the churning-stick while churning.
Parskurs or ularwurthkurs. Stick or wand used chiefly for driving off
calves while milking.
Tatkich. The cut-up ends of a churning-stick, used for cleaning the
patat.
Tedshk. Rings made of rattan (Fig. 18, D), used in carrying the dairy
vessels.
The garment of the dairyman, called tuni, is also kept here, and when
there is a mani (bell), it is kept on the patatmar. The churning-stick
is kept on a stand called agar.
The following are the objects kept on the ertatmar:
Majpariv. Vessel in which buttermilk is kept.
Penpariv. Vessel in which butter is kept. (According to some, this
vessel is kept in the part called kalkani.)
Ertatpun. Vessel used to take buttermilk or butter out of the dairy
(Fig. 18, E).
Majertkudriki. A small earthenware pot used like a ladle to take
buttermilk out of the majpariv. It is also called ashkiok.
Pòlmachok. A bamboo vessel (Fig. 18, G) used to hold the buttermilk
which is distributed to the people of the village.
Nirsi. The fire-sticks for making fire by friction.
Pelk. The lamp.
Tòratthadi. Cooking vessel which may be used for anything except
barley.
Put, a stirring-stick.
When there is only one room, the masth, axe for cutting firewood, may
be kept on the ertatmar; otherwise it is kept in the outer room.
The vessels and other objects of the patatmar are those which come
directly into contact with the milk of the buffaloes or which may at
any time come into contact with the buffaloes themselves.
The vessels and objects of the ertatmar, on the other hand, are those
which contain the dairy products which are going out to ordinary people
(perol), or which come into contact with food or other materials
obtained from ordinary people.
The things of the patatmar are always kept apart from those of the
ertatmar. When the buffaloes migrate from one grazing-place to another,
the things of the patatmar are carried by one man and those of the
ertatmar by another.
In connexion with many dairies there is a house in which calves are
kept, the kwotars, and a place for very young calves, called kush or
kudsh, which is sometimes partly formed by the spreading roots of a
tree.
I am in some doubt as to whether the buffaloes belonging to a village
dairy ever have a special tu in which they are enclosed for the night.
In general, however, there is no doubt that the sacred buffaloes of the
dairy occupy the same pen as the ordinary buffaloes. Similarly I am not
clear whether the dairy always has its own irkarmus, or milking-place,
or whether ordinary and sacred buffaloes are not often milked at the
same spot, the dairyman recognising the buffaloes committed to his
charge and milking them only.
Every dairy has its own place from which water is drawn the pali nipa.
This may be a different stream from that used for household purposes,
but is, perhaps, most commonly part of the same stream, the higher part
being used for dairy purposes. When a village has more than one dairy,
each dairy has its own place for drawing water, usually different parts
of the same stream.
The foregoing account holds good of all kinds of village dairy. The
different grades of village dairy present differences in the daily
procedure, in the qualifications and rules of conduct of the dairyman,
and in other respects. I will begin with the tarvali of the Tartharol.
THE TARVALI
This is the name applied to the lowest grade of Tarthar dairy and may
mean “the ordinary dairy,” the first syllable being probably the same
as in the word “Tarthar.”
The tarvali is always of the ordinary form and is never called poh. The
dairyman, or tarvalikartmokh, is often a youth or man of the village to
which the dairy belongs, but he may be taken from any other village of
the clan or from other Tarthar villages, the choice in some cases being
restricted to certain clans. The only Tarthar clan which is strictly
limited to its own members in the choice of tarvalikartmokh is that of
Melgars. In all cases this grade of dairyman must be one of the
Tartharol; he is never taken from the other division of the Toda
people.
When the dairyman is taken from another clan, he may receive certain
wages, viz., two cloaks (putkuli) in the year and six rupees, together
with the loan of a milking buffalo for the use of his family. I have no
definite information whether anything is given to dairymen who are
members of the clan or family to which the dairy belongs.
The dairyman is regarded by the Todas as a servant, especially when
taken from another clan. I was often told that a man was working for
another and was his servant, and always found that the so-called
servant was palikartmokh at the dairy of the village at which the
master lived. Correspondingly, there seemed to be no doubt that the
dairyman was treated with very scant respect, except on ceremonial
occasions and when actually performing the ritual of his office.
The tarvalikartmokh wears nothing but the kuvn, or perineal band, when
he is in the dairy, and wears a loincloth called irkarthtadrp when
milking. When away from his work or when looking after his buffaloes on
the grazing-ground, he wears the ordinary cloak, or putkuli. He usually
sleeps in the outer room of the dairy, but is allowed to sleep at any
time in the dwelling-hut. When he goes there he may only touch the
sleeping-place (idrtül) and the floor (kuter). If he touches any other
part of the hut, he at once loses his office and becomes an ordinary
person. There are no restrictions on the intercourse of the
tarvalikartmokh with women.
When the tarvalikartmokh rises in the morning, he leaves the dairy,
raising one or both hands to his face as in Fig. 10 and saying Sami or
Swami. He often also says this word when getting up from the
sleeping-place. He first lets the buffaloes out of the pen (tu) in
which they had been put for the night and then goes into the dairy to
churn. He does not light the lamp in the morning unless it is dark, nor
does he pray. The milk poured into the patat overnight will have
coagulated, so that it forms a solid mass called adrpars. The dairyman
puts the churning-stick into the patat and churns for a little time
till he has broken up the adrpars. [21] Then he pours off most of the
semi-fluid milk into another vessel (also a patat), leaving about one
kudi [22] in the churning-vessel. He adds to this some butter from a
previous churning, which he takes from the parskadrvenmu, adds also
some water, and churns the mixture till butter is formed. He pours out
the buttermilk into the majpariv, keeping the butter in the patat, adds
more coagulated milk and water, and churns again, transferring the
buttermilk to its vessel when butter is formed. He continues in this
way till all the milk has been churned, and he then transfers the
butter which has been formed to the vessel called penpariv, also
putting a small portion in the parskadrvenmu.
The palikartmokh then goes out to milk, with the irkarthpun and the
wand called parskurs or ularwurthkurs. He puts into the milking-vessel
some buttermilk, the buttermilk used for this purpose being called pep,
and he also smears some butter on the edge of the vessel to put on the
teats of the buffaloes. When he goes out, he salutes by raising the
irkarthpun and parskurs to his forehead in the same manner as is shown
in Fig. 27. When he has filled the milking-vessel, he goes into the
dairy and empties the milk into the patat and returns to the buffaloes.
This is repeated till all the buffaloes have been milked, after which
the dairyman takes food and buttermilk, but with no prescribed ritual
as in the case of more sacred dairies. He also gives out buttermilk to
the people of the village. After the work of the morning is over, the
palikartmokh may go out to look after the buffaloes, or may collect
firewood, leaves, or other things necessary for his work. During the
later hours of the morning the palikartmokh may often be seen lying
down taking a rest before he begins the work of the afternoon, which is
more ceremonial than that of the morning.
About three o’clock in the afternoon he goes to the dairy, bows down
and touches the threshold with his forehead (pavnersatiti, Fig. 20),
enters and touches a vessel on the patat side, and then a vessel on the
ertat side. He then lights the fire and inspects the milk drawn in the
morning. If it has not become solid, he puts it on the fire for a few
minutes to hasten the coagulation. He lights the lamp and prays, using
the prayer of the dairy (see Chap. X), and then churns as in the
morning. When he has finished churning, he clears the churning-stick of
the butter clinging to it, and after holding it to his forehead and
uttering the sacred word “Oñ”, he puts it in the stand called agar. He
then goes out to milk as in the morning, taking buttermilk in the
milking-vessel. When the milking is over, he shuts up the buffaloes in
the pen for the night, and as he does so, he repeats the prayer of the
dairy, the prayer being exactly the same as that used when lighting the
lamp. He then takes food and goes to sleep, often saying Swami as he
lies down for the night.
The tarvali of the Melgars people is in some ways regarded as superior
to the other tarvali of the Tartharol. The Melgars tarvalikartmokh may
not go to the tarvali of another Tarthar clan, though the
tarvalikartmokh of another clan may go to a Melgars tarvali. This was
said to be due to the higher degree of sanctity of the Melgars dairy
and office, but there do not appear to be any differences of ritual
corresponding to this different degree of sanctity.
THE KUDRPALI
The special feature of the kudrpali is that it contains one or more of
the bells called mani. This involves several additions to the
ceremonial of the dairy, and these are accompanied by more stringent
rules of conduct for the dairyman.
Whenever engaged in his work, the kudrpalikartmokh must be naked except
for the kuvn. In the cold Nilgiri mornings it must often be a very
unpleasant task to have to milk the buffaloes with no covering, and I
was told that at some places, and especially at Nòdrs, the people gave
up the maintenance of a kudrpali on account of the difficulty
experienced in obtaining men to undertake the office of dairyman.
When the kudrpalikartmokh is taking his meals, he must hold his food in
his hands till he has finished. He is not allowed to put it down on the
ground, as may be done by the dairyman of the tarvali.
Soon after beginning to churn, the kudrpalikartmokh takes up some of
the broken-up curd (adrpars) and puts it on the bell (mani) three
times, saying “Oñ” each time, and milk from the vessel first brought
into the dairy is also put on the bell in the same manner.
At the kudrpali of Kars, the dairyman puts the curd and milk on a board
called pato. The bells of this dairy have been lost, and the dairyman
puts the milk on the board on which the bells used to hang. The process
of putting milk on the bells is properly called terzantirikiti, but the
Todas often speak of the process as “feeding the bell.” At the kudrpali
of Kuzhu, belonging to the Kars clan, milk is put in the same way on a
gold bracelet.
When making butter, it will be remembered that the dairyman of the
tarvali makes a certain amount, and then pours away the buttermilk, and
repeats this till all the adrpars has been converted into butter and
buttermilk. Whenever the kudrpalikartmokh pours away buttermilk, he
takes a piece of the bark of the sacred tudr tree (Meliosma pungens and
Wightii) and beats three times on the patat, saying “Oñ” each time.
This ceremony is called pepeirthti, and is the exclusive privilege of
the kudrpalikartmokh. If this ceremony should be omitted, the
buttermilk may not be drunk by any one.
The kudrpalikartmokh is allowed to sleep in the ordinary hut, but only
on special days—viz., Sunday, Wednesday, and Saturday—and on these days
he must, like the tarvalikartmokh, avoid touching anything in the hut
except the sleeping-place and the floor on pain of losing his office.
He is allowed intercourse with any Tarthar woman, but must have nothing
to do with the women of his own division, the Teivaliol.
While in office, the kudrpalikartmokh is not allowed to visit the
bazaar, [23] and if he does so he becomes an ordinary person at once.
One afternoon when I was working with Parkurs (8), one of the elders of
the Kars clan, Sakari (7), who had been kudrpalikartmokh at Kuzhu, came
to announce that he had visited the bazaar at Ootacamund. He was
therefore no longer palikartmokh, and he came to tell Parkurs that a
successor must be appointed. It seemed to me in this case that Sakari
had visited the bazaar because he was tired of office and wished to
become free. I had a suspicion also that he wished to become acquainted
with my proceedings, for he came straight to me from the bazaar and was
one of my most regular attendants for some time after his deprivation.
The kudrpalikartmokh is prohibited from entering a tarvali, though the
tarvalikartmokh may enter a kudrpali.
The milk of buffaloes connected with a kudrpali is more sacred than
that of buffaloes milked at a tarvali. Any one may drink milk from a
tarvali, but the milk of the kudrpali may only be drunk by the
palikartmokh. If any one else drinks the milk of the kudrpali it is
believed that he will die. I could learn of no case in which a man had
taken this milk, but Kòdrner (7) had seen a cat die on the day it had
drunk milk of the martir, the buffaloes of the kudrpali of Kars.
Kòdrner was somewhat of a sceptic in connexion with many of the beliefs
of his people, but he was very much in earnest on this occasion, and
when my interpreter said he should like to drink some of the milk,
Kòdrner offered to give him one hundred rupees if he drank the milk of
martir for four days and remained alive.
The buffaloes tended at the tarvali and kudrpali are of several named
kinds. According to tradition, each clan at the original distribution
of buffaloes by Teikirzi (see p. 186) was given a certain kind. To Kars
were given the buffaloes called martir; to Nòdrs were given
nashperthir; to Pan, pineipir; to Melgars, persasir; these buffaloes
originally given being called in general nòdrodvaiir; lit. “buffaloes
who rule.”
In various ways the buffaloes originally given to one clan have passed
into the possession of other clans. This has happened when buffaloes
have been purchased, but is chiefly due to the existence of several
customs which involve gifts of buffaloes. The tradition also runs that
soon after the buffaloes were originally given, the Nòdrs people built
the kudrpali with seven rooms to which I have already referred and
begged the Kars people for martir to milk at this dairy. Similarly the
people of Kanòdrs borrowed martir from Kars to milk at their conical
dairy, and similar transferences of buffaloes may have occurred between
other clans. In these and possibly in other ways buffaloes have passed
from one clan to another, and as the buffaloes have in many cases kept
their original names, most clans now possess buffaloes of several
kinds.
I was for a long time very doubtful about the relation of the kudrpali
and tarvali to one another, and had very great difficulty in finding
out which buffaloes belonged to each kind of dairy. Finally, it became
quite clear that the same buffaloes might be milked either at a
kudrpali or a tarvali, and that the possession of a mani was the chief
point which determined whether a given dairy was a kudrpali or a
tarvali.
The same kind of buffalo may be milked at one kind of dairy in one clan
and at the other kind in another clan. The nashperthir of Nòdrs are
milked at the tarvali of that place, but those of Kars are milked at
the kudrpali together with the martir. Further, in at least one case,
the same buffaloes might be milked in one village of a clan at a
kudrpali and in another village at a tarvali. The Pan people now live
chiefly at Naters and the chief villages of the clan in the Kundahs,
Pan and Kuirsi, are deserted during the greater part of the year. When
these villages are occupied the pineipir are milked at their kudrpali
dairies, but when the people are at Naters the same buffaloes are
milked at the tarvali. The mani is left at Pan, and I was told that if
the bell were to be brought to Naters a kudrpali would have to be built
for its reception and the pineipir would then be milked at this dairy.
At the present time the only clan which has a kudrpali in constant use
is that of Kars. The Pan clan only uses its kudrpali during the few
months that the villages in the Kundahs are occupied. The Nòdrs clan is
said to have had a kudrpali at one time, but the fact that they had to
borrow buffaloes for it from Kars points to the especial connexion of
the kudrpali with the latter clan.
Although the Karsol and Panol are the only clans which have a kudrpali,
the special feature of which is the possession of a mani, these are not
the only clans which own these sacred bells. In other cases the mani
belongs to the next higher grade of dairy, the wursuli, and the Kars
clan itself also possesses mani kept at this grade of dairy. Indeed,
although the Kars kudrpali is said to have bells as its special
feature, these bells do not really exist, having been stolen some years
ago. The fiction of their presence is, however, kept up, and, as we
have seen, the place where they should hang is still ‘fed’ with curd
and milk.
In one case, that of the Kars kudrpali, I worked out in detail the
ownership and care of the buffaloes called martir. There were
altogether forty-eight of these buffaloes kept at six places and tended
by seven dairymen, who were chosen from the Karsol or from the people
of Nòdrs, Pan, Taradr or Keradr.
The distribution at the time of my visit was as follows:—
Kutadri (7) possessed 8 buffaloes kept at Kars tended by Idjen of Taradr (22)
Kutthurs (12) ,, 8 ,, ,, ,, ,, Tilipa of Kars (12)
Parkurs (8) ,, 8 ,, ,, Isharadr ,, Kosners of Nòdrs (6)
Pidrvan (9) ,, 6 ,, ,, Pakhalkudr ,, Tidjkudr of Nòdrs (6)
Kuinervan (14) ,, 6 ,, ,, Peletkwur ,, Pons of Keradr (26)
Potheners (10) ,, 6 ,, ,, Keshker ,, Palpa of Pan (16)
Nudriki (8) ,, 3 ,, ,, Kuzhu ,, Mutkudr of Kars (15)
Mongeithi (15) ,, 3 ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,,
It will be noticed that in only two of the dairies did the palikartmokh
belong to the Karsol, and in each case he looked after the buffaloes of
his own father, Mutkudr also tending the buffaloes of Nudriki. Idjen
was the son-in-law of Kutadri, and Palpa had married a Kars woman, who
was not, however, closely related to Potheners, to whom he was acting
as dairyman. Kosners and Tidjkudr were given to me as examples of a
practice in which a man of one clan works for one of another, [24] and
they received the same wages as in the case of the tarvalikartmokh (see
p. 62).
These facts show clearly that the kudrpalir are not regarded as the
property of the whole clan, but belong to different families, and the
same is true of the buffaloes milked at the tarvali. Each family
possesses its own sacred buffaloes as well as its ordinary buffaloes or
putiir, and in some cases the buffaloes of each family have their own
dairyman, even when the milk of two herds is churned in the same dairy.
THE WURSULI
Most of the Tarthar clans possess herds of buffaloes called
collectively wursulir, each herd being tended by a dairyman called
wursol at a dairy called wursuli or wursuli pali. The buffaloes of
different clans have special names. At Nòdrs, they are called
mersgursir; at Kars and Taradr, püdrshtipir; at Pan, kudeipir; at
Keradr, miniapir; and at Nidrsi and Kwòdrdoni, keitankursir. The people
of Päm, Kanòdrs, and Melgars have no wursulir; Päm and Kanòdrs both had
buffaloes of this kind at one time, but they have been allowed to die
out. Melgars, on the other hand, never had wursulir, the tradition
being that none of these buffaloes were assigned to the clan at the
original partition by Teikirzi.
The wursulir are said to have been given to most clans at the original
partition of buffaloes, but no reason could be given for the creation
of this special kind of buffalo. The Keradr clan are believed to have
received their wursulir from Korateu (see Chap. IX), the buffaloes
being descended from a sambhar calf given by this god.
A special feature of the wursuli is that the dairyman or wursol of this
Tarthar dairy has to be taken either from the Teivaliol or from the
Melgars clan of the Tartharol. The Melgars people could hold the office
of wursol, but had no wursulir themselves. At the present time the
majority of men who hold this office are drawn from the Teivaliol, only
two belonging to Melgars, and it seemed that it was only when the
supply ran short among the Teivaliol that the Tarthar people had
recourse to members of their own division. The Melgarsol do not share
fully the privileges of the Teivaliol in respect of this office, for
though they may perform the ordinary work of the dairy, there are
certain duties of the wursol, such as those at the funeral ceremonies,
which may only be performed by a Teivali occupant of the office.
The wursol has to go through more complicated ordination ceremonies
than the palikartmokh, and has a distinctly higher degree of sanctity
so far as one can judge from the rules for his conduct. He may not be
touched by any ordinary person, and in general the rules regulating his
conduct are more stringent than those for the ordinary dairyman.
The wursol has two dresses; one, the grey garment called tuni, which is
worn at his dairy work and kept in the dairy; the other, the ordinary
putkuli, which he wears when not engaged at his special work.
The wursol does not sleep in his own dairy, but in one of a different
kind, a village which has a wursuli always having at least one other
dairy. At Kars he sleeps in the kudrpali, and at Nòdrs in the tarvali.
He is allowed to sleep in the hut of a Tarthar village on two nights in
the week—viz., Sunday and Wednesday—and on these occasions he may have
intercourse with any Tarthar woman. Except on these occasions he loses
his office even if touched by a woman. He is not allowed to have
intercourse with any Teivali woman, even with his wife if he is
married, on pain of becoming an ordinary person.
He may go to any Tarthar village, but to no Teivali village—i.e., if
one of the Teivaliol, he is allowed to visit none of his own people.
When he goes to the dwelling-hut, care is taken to remove from the hut
the objects shown in Fig. 11—viz., the murn or sieve, the wask or
pounder, and the kip or broom. It seems as if these three objects are
removed because they are used by women. The emblems of womanhood are
not allowed to contaminate the house while the wursol is present,
although, at the same time, he is not restricted from intercourse with
the women themselves. On the mornings after he has slept in the hut he
bathes from head to foot before going to the dairy, and prostrates
himself at the threshold before he enters.
If the cloak of the wursol requires cleaning or mending, it may only be
taken to the hut for these purposes on the same days as those on which
the wursol may sleep there—viz., Sunday or Wednesday.
The food of the wursol is prepared for him by the palikartmokh of the
dairy in which he sleeps. The wursol never prepares food either for
himself or others, except on the occasion of the festival called
irpalvusthi (see Chap. VIII).
Most wursuli have only one room, the exception being the poh at Nòdrs,
and the wursuli of Nasmiòdr and Òdr. It is noteworthy that these,
however, are three of the most ancient and important dairies of the
Todas. The reason why the other wursuli have one room is probably the
fact that the wursol is not allowed to sleep in the dairy, and
consequently there is no necessity for an outer room. When these
dairies have been rebuilt, or new dairies have been made, the Todas
have probably not thought it worth while to keep two rooms except at
the especially important and sacred places. I was also told, however,
that each of the three places which have two rooms had been at one time
a ti dairy, and, as we shall see later, dairies of this, the highest,
grade always have two rooms.
Another indication of the special sanctity of these three dairies is
that at them, and also at the wursuli at Kozhtudi, the wursol must
never turn his back on the contents of the dairy—i.e., he must do all
his work and go in and out of the dairy facing the place where the mani
is kept. The Todas call this proceeding in which the back is never
turned on the contents of the dairy “kabkaditi.”
The vessels of the wursuli are divided, like those of the ordinary
dairy, into those of the patatmar and those of the ertatmar. The
following sketch of the arrangement was made by Kòdrner, but I do not
feel confident of its accuracy.
The lamp is of iron, bought in the bazaar: it is called tudrkpelk or
tagarspelk, according as it is hung by a hook or on a chain. This
distinction probably holds for other village dairies.
THE DAILY LIFE OF THE WURSOL
The dairy work of the wursol is carried out on the same general lines
as that of the palikartmokh, but the order and method of the various
operations are more strictly regulated. Before the wursol goes into the
dairy in the morning he washes his hands with water from the vessel
called kepun, [25] bows down at the threshold and enters the dairy;
salutes the mani (kaimukhti), goes to the ertatmar and touches the
majpariv; then to the patatmar and touches the patat. Then, after
lighting the fire, he takes the mu off the patat, and, if the milk has
coagulated, he begins to churn. After churning for a little while he
puts some of the coagulated milk on the mani. After the churning is
over, he milks, putting some of the first milk on the bell.
After the milking is finished, buttermilk is distributed to the women,
and a mixture of milk and buttermilk is given to the men, who come to
drink it standing outside the dairy. The wursol then drinks buttermilk
and eats. When taking buttermilk he pours it from the vessel called
ertatpun into the leaf [26] from which he drinks. When he goes to
attend to the buffaloes, he leaves the tuni in the dairy and puts on
his putkuli in a special way which is only adopted by the wursol and
only by him when engaged in looking after the buffaloes. Placing one
end of the cloak over the left shoulder, he brings the other end under
the right arm, and, taking this end in his right hand, throws it round
the back of his neck so that it rests on the left shoulder. The result
of this adjustment is that the front part of his body is uncovered as
shown in Fig. 23. I could not ascertain why the wursol should wear his
cloak in this special way, nor why this method of wearing the garment
should be peculiar to his office. [27]
In the afternoon the wursol again washes his hands, bows down to the
threshold and enters the dairy, salutes the mani, touches the majpariv
and patat as in the morning, and lights the fire. He then lights the
lamp, and prays, using the prayer of the village. Then he churns and
“feeds the bell,” but his procedure differs from that of the morning in
that he distributes the buttermilk at this stage of the proceedings.
When he milks he puts some of the first milk on the bell, and when he
shuts up the buffaloes in their enclosure (tu) for the night, he
recites the same prayer as when lighting the lamp. He then takes his
food, eating it outside the dairy, puts his tuni on the patatmar, and
goes to rest.
The procedure thus differs from that of the tarvali and kudrpali in
that the dairy vessels are touched ceremonially at the beginning of
both morning and evening operations. The wursuli resembles the other
dairies, however, in that prayer is offered in the evening only. The
differences are less pronounced in ritual than in the rules of conduct.
THE KUGVALI OF TARADR
The people of Taradr have a special institution which is in many ways
intermediate between the dairies of the village and the institution to
be described in the next chapter—the ti.
The buffaloes connected with this institution are known as the
kugvalir. They are said to belong to the whole of the Tartharol, but
this only seems to mean that they are so important that every Toda
looks up to them and feels that they are in some measure his. It does
not mean that every Toda has a voice in their management or share in
their produce.
The people of Taradr are divided into six families (pòlm), and each
family has charge of the kugvalir in turn for periods of three years,
the head of the family having the chief direction. At the present time
they are in charge of Siriar (20), having only recently passed to his
family.
The head of the family in charge appoints the dairyman, who is called
kugvalikartmokh. This dairyman must be a member of the Taradr clan, but
need not necessarily be a member of the family in charge.
Each of the chief Taradr villages has a special dairy for the kugvalir.
It is called the kugvali (kugpali) or chief dairy (kug = etud = chief),
and it was said to be the chief of all the dairies. All these dairies
have one room only, except that at Taradr itself, where there are two
rooms. These dairies do not at present differ in form or general
appearance from dairies of other kinds. The kugvali at Taradr is shown
in Fig. 24, and it is the dairy on the right-hand side of Fig. 5.
The kugvalir have one feature peculiar to themselves. They are never
recruited from any other herd. Even the buffaloes of the ti often have
additions to their number, especially through the ceremony of irnörtiti
(Chap. XIII), but in no circumstances are any additions from outside
made to the kugvalir.
There is a legend that the original buffaloes of this herd were sent
from Amnòdr [28] by the god Ön to the people of Taradr. A long time
after they came to Taradr the herd was on the point of dying out, only
one cow buffalo remaining, which was so old that it had lost its teeth.
This sole survivor was pregnant, and when about to calve the delivery
was much delayed, and it seemed that the buffalo would die before the
calf was born. Only women were present and they cut open the belly of
the buffalo and took out the calf, which was tended very carefully and
lived, and the existing kugvalir are descended from this calf.
This story preserves a tradition of the practice of women attending to
the buffaloes at the time of calving, which is said to have been at one
time the regular practice.
The kugvalikartmokh sleeps in the kwotars or calf-house, except at
Taradr, at which place he sleeps in the outer room of his dairy. He is
allowed to sleep in the ordinary hut on certain nights in the week, and
may only have intercourse with Tarthar women.
He wears the grey garment, or tuni, which he ties round his waist when
churning and wears over his shoulders when milking.
The work of the dairy is carried out on the same general lines as that
already described, but with certain distinguishing features.
All the work is done kabkaditi; the dairyman never turns his back to
the contents of the dairy. In those villages in which he sleeps in the
calf-house he goes naked (except for the kuvn) to the kugvali, washes
his hands, prostrates himself at the threshold, enters, and puts on his
tuni which is kept on the patatmar. He salutes the mani which he feeds
with curd and milk as in other dairies. He also knocks on the patat
three times, saying “Oñ” each time.
As in the other village dairies, he only prays and lights the lamp in
the evening. When he gives out buttermilk, he must use the vessel
called pòlmachok. He drinks buttermilk (peputi) in a distinctly more
ceremonial manner than in the ordinary dairy, sitting on the seat
(kwottün) outside the dairy, and pouring from the ertatpun into a
leaf-cup made of two leaves of the kind called kakuders. He drinks
three times only, raising the leaves to his forehead and saying “Oñ”
each time.
In this more definite ceremonial when drinking buttermilk, we have a
transition to the ritual of the ti, and this resemblance to the
procedure of the ti is still more marked in the following features. In
addition to the kugvalir, the kugvalikartmokh has certain ordinary
buffaloes, putiir, to provide milk for his personal use, and these
buffaloes are milked in a special vessel called kuvun (kupun). This
vessel is also used to transfer butter and buttermilk from the patatmar
to the ertatmar, i.e., buttermilk is not poured directly from the
patatpun into the majpariv, but poured from the former into the kuvun
and from this into the majpariv, and similarly the butter is
transferred from patatpun to penpariv by means of the same vessel.
THE DAIRY OF KANÒDRS
Another dairy-temple which occupies an exceptional position is the poh
at Kanòdrs. This is a dairy of the conical form, shown in Fig. 25,
which differs from that of Nòdrs in being surrounded by two walls
(katu), both of which are shown in the photograph.
According to one account the people of Kanòdrs borrowed martir from
Kars to be milked at this dairy, but at the present time, when the
dairy is occupied, the cattle milked are those called nashperthir.
The dairyman at this poh is called pohkartpol and must be a Kanòdrs
man. During my visit, the dairy was not occupied and the office of
pohkartpol was vacant. At the present time a dairyman is appointed
about once a year and holds office for thirty or forty days only. So
far as I could ascertain, the failure to occupy the dairy constantly is
due to the very considerable hardships and restrictions which have to
be endured by the holder of the office of dairyman, and the time is
probably not far distant when this dairy, one of the most sacred among
the Todas, will cease altogether to be used.
When a pohkartpol is in office he is allowed to have one companion, who
is a perol, or ordinary person, i.e., he undergoes no special
ordination ceremony. With the exception of the two men, no one is
allowed to go near the building for any purpose. When I visited the
place, my guide stayed a considerable distance away from and out of
sight of the dairy while I went with my interpreter to inspect the
building and its surroundings. The pohkartpol and his companion sleep
in the kwotars, or calf-house, in which there is a bed (tün) for each.
This building has no door and is a very flimsy structure, so that
sleeping in it can differ very little from sleeping in the open air.
There is a fireplace between the two beds, but its warmth can hardly be
sufficient for any degree of comfort. Further, the pohkartpol may only
wear the tuni, a very scanty garment as compared with the putkuli. The
pohkartpol must be celibate while in office, and his companion, must
also be celibate while at the dairy. The pohkartpol must take his food
sitting on the outer wall which surrounds the dairy. He must not put
his hand to his mouth, but must throw his food in; nor must he put the
leaf used as a cup to his lips, but must pour into his mouth from
above.
Several of these rules and restrictions are even more severe than those
for the palol, to be considered in the next chapter. The reason given
for the strictness of ritual is that the god Kwoto or Meilitars “had
done so many wonderful things on that side” (see Chapter IX).
One feature peculiar to the Kanòdrs dairy is that milk receives the
special name persin. This is the name of the churning-vessel of the ti,
but is not used for milk in any other dairy. Otherwise the names used
at Kanòdrs are the same as at other village dairies.
THE TEIVALI DAIRY
Among the Teivaliol, the various grades of dairy and dairymen so far
considered have no existence. Many Teivali villages have two dairies,
but each is served by a palikartmokh of the same rank.
The general procedure of the Teivali dairy does not appear to differ in
any very marked respect from that of the Tarthar tarvali. The most
marked difference which I could discover is in the clothing of the
dairyman. When engaged in the dairy operations, the Teivali
palikartmokh wears, at any rate in some cases, the tuni, or garment of
dark grey cloth of the same kind as that worn by the wursol.
The sacred buffaloes of the Teivaliol are known as pasthir, and there
are no differences corresponding to the different grades of the
Tartharol. Similarly with one exception, the Teivali pasthir of each
clan have no special names like the martir, nashperthir, &c., of the
Tartharol. The exception is that the buffaloes of the Piedr clan are
called kudeipir or kudipir, apparently the same name as that of the
wursulir of Pan.
The village of Kiudr, belonging to the Kuudrol, possesses a dairy of
special sanctity (see Fig. 31). It is served by a palikartmokh, and it
does not appear to have any special complexities of ritual except in
connexion with certain bells which this dairy contains. There are six
of these bells, two kept on the patatmar, called patatmani, and four
kept on the ertatmar, called ertatmani. During the dairy ceremonial
these bells are ‘fed’ by the palikartmokh, the patatmani receiving milk
and the ertatmani buttermilk. I only became aware of the existence of
these bells incidentally, and had not the opportunity of ascertaining
their history or meaning. It is clear, however, that they differ from
the mani of the Tartharol and from those of the Piedr clan among the
Teivaliol in that they are never used at a funeral (see p. 352).
CHAPTER V
THE TI DAIRY
The ti is the name of an institution which comprises a herd of
buffaloes with a number of dairies and grazing districts tended by a
dairyman-priest or priests called palol with an assistant called
kaltmokh. Each dairy with its accompanying buildings and pasturage is
called a ti mad, or ti village.
In most cases there are two kinds of buffaloes at each ti, and each
kind should properly be tended by its own palol and kaltmokh. There is,
however, only one ti which possesses two palol at the present time, and
they share a kaltmokh between them, though a second is appointed on
certain ceremonial occasions. In other cases one palol tends both kinds
of buffalo, and in others, again, the dairies are unoccupied for the
greater part of the year and the office of palol is only filled for
certain limited periods.
Each ti is regarded as the property of a Tarthar clan, but the palol
has to be taken from the Teivaliol, the choice being in some cases
restricted to one or two Teivali clans; thus, the palol of the Nòdrs ti
must belong either to Piedr or Kusharf. The palol is chosen by the
Tarthar owners, but the latter do not seem to gain any material
advantage from their possession. In fact, it involves them in some
expense owing to the necessity of giving certain feasts, and this
expense was put forward as one reason why a ti is often unoccupied.
Nevertheless the Tartharol are very proud of the fact that the
institution of the ti belongs to their division, and whenever I asked a
Tarthar man why he considered his people superior to the Teivaliol, the
answer always ran that they had the ti and that the Teivaliol who
tended the ti were their servants.
The buffaloes belonging to a ti are of two kinds, distinguished as
persinir and punir. The former are the sacred buffaloes, and the
elaborate ceremonial of the ti dairy is concerned with their milk. The
punir correspond in some respects to the putiir of the ordinary village
dairy, and their milk and its products are largely for the personal use
and profit of the palol and are not treated with any special ceremony.
The persinir are usually of various kinds, but the nature of their
classification is different at each ti and its consideration may be
postponed till later.
I obtained most of my information from people connected with the Nòdrs
ti. During the whole of my visit the herds of this ti were at Mòdr,
which is only about a mile from the Paikara bungalow. Owing to the
restrictions on intercourse with so sacred a personage as a palol, it
was not practicable to obtain all my information from those actually in
office, and I found it best to work with men who had formerly held the
post and had retired. I worked chiefly with Kaners (63), an old man who
had been palol at the Nòdrs ti, and with Koboners (58), who had been at
the Kars ti. For some time I worked with one or other of these two men
every day, paying occasional visits to Mòdr to observe as much of the
ceremonial as I was allowed to see. On these occasions I was also able
to consult Karkievan, the chief palol, on points about which the
ex-officials were doubtful.
Both Kaners and Koboners were trustworthy witnesses, but Kaners was old
and had given up his office some time before, and in consequence often
committed faults of omission. Koboners was an admirable informant, and
the fulness of the account of the ti ceremonial is largely due to him.
It must be remembered that I was only able to see for myself a few
superficial features of the ceremonial, and that my account is based on
the descriptions given by these and other men, but nevertheless I have
a considerable degree of confidence in its essential accuracy.
The dairy of a ti is always called poh, whatever its shape may be, and
at those places where there is, or should be, more than one palol, each
has his own dairy. In these cases the work of one dairy goes on quite
independently of the other, each palol being only allowed to enter and
work in his own building. In addition to the dairy, or dairies, there
is at each ti mad a hut in which the palol and kaltmokh sleep and in
which the latter takes his food. When there are two palol, both sleep
in the same hut. There is a house for the calves called karenpoh,
corresponding to the kwotars of the village dairy.
The milking-place of a ti mad is called pepkarmus instead of irkarmus,
as at the ordinary dairy, and is usually enclosed so that the buffaloes
are screened from the eyes of ordinary people.
There is always one buffalo-pen, or tu, [29] for ordinary use, and at
some places two others, called pon tu, or festival pens, used on the
ceremonial occasions of migration from one place to another and of
salt-giving.
The surroundings of the dairy are called pül, and there is a special
part of the pül to which alone the ordinary Toda is allowed to go, and
he may only go there by a special path. Each ti dairy which I visited
was by the side of a wood and the place for ordinary Todas was in the
wood.
At a little distance from the dairy there is the source from which the
water for sacred purpose is drawn. This source is called kwoinir, and
at Mòdr, where there was a kwoinir for each palol, it was a spring
built in with stones, and not a stream as at most villages. In addition
to the kwoinir there is also a stream from which water is taken by the
kaltmokh, who is not allowed to go to the sacred spring.
There are various stones and other objects of ceremonial importance at
most ti places, but the description of these may be given with that of
the ceremonies in which they play a part.
At Mòdr, the dairy place I know best, all the buildings and objects of
the ti mad are shut off from the outer world either by walls or by the
natural configuration of the ground or forest. Within this screen,
partly natural and partly artificial, there is the large milking-ground
which may be entered by the buffaloes from two directions, and on one
side of this are the three pens, the two dairies, and other buildings.
The more important of the two dairies has situated close to it the
sleeping-hut and two huts for the calves, and this small group of
buildings, shown in Fig. 27, is surrounded by a wall like that round
the ordinary village dairy, leaving little space between the wall and
buildings. These buildings, being within the outer boundaries of the ti
mad, are already well screened from the world, and in consequence the
surrounding wall is low. The other dairy is situated on the boundary,
so that it can be seen by anyone outside the ti mad, and the wall
around it is therefore high, so that a person standing outside can see
nothing of the proceedings of the dairyman. At Mòdr the water springs
are at some distance from the dairies and there is a special path by
which the palol goes from the dairy to fetch water.
At another dairy, that of Anto, there is one path by which the palol
goes to fetch water and another by which he returns, but I do not know
if this is so at all dairies.
Although I visited Mòdr on many occasions, I never had an opportunity
to investigate the buildings closely. I was never allowed to go within
the walls enclosing the dairies, much less to go inside these
buildings. If the annual programme of the ti had been carried out, the
buffaloes would have left this place before the end of my visit, and I
intended to make a thorough inspection after they had gone; but owing
to various causes I mention elsewhere (see Chap. VI) the herds stayed
at Mòdr till after my departure, and I had no opportunity of
ascertaining the exact plan of the dairies and their surroundings.
The dairy of a ti always has two rooms, an inner room, the ulkkursh,
and an outer room, the pòrmunkursh. These are divided from one another
by a screen, or patun, which stretches about two-thirds of the way
across the breadth of the building and is about three feet high. The
palol stands in the outer room and performs the dairy operations proper
to the inner room leaning over the top of the screen. The object of the
screen is to keep the sacred objects of the dairy from the gaze of
anyone who may look in, and especially from that of the kaltmokh; but
in the only dairy of the kind into which I had the chance of looking,
the screen was made of vertical sticks with wide intervals between
them, so that I could easily see through. This dairy was, however,
unoccupied, and if dairy vessels had been there, it is possible that
they would have been screened from view in some way. In this dairy the
screen extended from the right-hand wall as one looked in, but at Mòdr
I was told that the screen was attached to the left-hand wall, and
there were certain facts which make it almost certain that this
statement is correct, though I had not the opportunity of confirming it
by actual observation.
I did not discover whether there were any differences between the
internal arrangements of the conical dairies and those of the dairies
of the ordinary form. Breeks has given a description of the conical
dairy at Anto, and from this it would seem that the dairy is divided
into two rooms by a partition extending to the roof, the two rooms
communicating by a door. There are two possibilities as to procedure.
It is possible that only one room of this dairy is used for the
ceremonial and that it is again divided by an incomplete screen into
inner and outer rooms, or it may be that the dairyman churns in the
inner room. I have no information on this point, but the general nature
of the churning procedure at the ti dairy makes it highly probable that
the former supposition is correct and that the inner room is divided
into two parts.
In the plan on p. 87, I have adopted the arrangement in which the
patun, or screen, is attached to the left-hand side of the building,
but this is certainly not the case in all dairies. In some dairies also
the fireplaces are on the other side.
THE CONTENTS OF THE POH
{ One mani.
{ Three persin.
{ Two tòrzum.
{ Two kòghlag.
(a) In the inner room. { One persinkudriki.
{ One pohvet or pohpet.
{ One kwoi.
{ One kwoinörtpet.
{ Several tedshk.
(b) Between inner and { Pelk, or lamp.
outer rooms. { Idrkwoi.
{ Two fireplaces { Pelkkatitthwaskal.
{ { Tòratthwaskal.
{ Several alug.
{ Uppun.
(c) In the outer room. { Mòrkudriki.
{ Karpun.
{ Turavali.
{ Guduboi.
{ Unused kòghlag.
Another vessel, the mòrpun, is kept in the sleeping-hut, where two or
more horns are also kept which are blown by the kaltmokh every night
before going to rest.
The things of the inner room correspond in general to those of the
patatmar in the ordinary dairy, and the things of the outer room
correspond to those of the ertatmar. The things of the outer room are
sometimes called the alugpur, just as those in the village dairy are
called ertatpur, but I did not hear of any corresponding term for the
things of the inner room. I have no record of the place where the
fire-sticks (nirsi) are kept, but they will almost certainly belong to
the outer room, since, in the village, they belong to the ertatmar.
The nature of each of the vessels and other objects of the dairy is as
follows:
Persin. This is an earthenware vessel containing about five kudi, i.e.,
2½ gallons. The freshly churned milk is poured into and churned in
three of these vessels. The persin corresponds to the patat of the
village dairy.
Tòrzum. This is an earthenware vessel containing two or three kudi. Two
of these vessels are kept in the inner room, one, called the
karitòrzum, to hold water, and the other to hold the butter added while
churning. The latter is called the peptòrzum because it is also used to
give buttermilk to the buffaloes on certain occasions. When not in use
the two tòrzum are placed on and act as covers for two of the persin.
The tòrzum corresponds to the mu of the ordinary dairy.
Kòghlag. This is the churning-stick which corresponds to the madth.
Both kòghlag and madth are alike in having the peculiar shape shown in
Fig. 18 (see also p. 111). The thong by means of which the stick is
turned, ordinarily called palv, is here called poinurs, and consists of
a strip of the skin of a male calf. The kòghlag is made by the palol
from bamboo growing on the Nilgiris. In addition to two used and kept
in the inner room, five or six new churning-sticks are kept in the
outer room.
Persinkudriki. This is a small piece of bamboo with a handle called
tutth, used to knock against the persin when praying.
Pohvet (pohpet). A wand used when praying.
Kwoi. A bamboo vessel containing about three kudi. It is the vessel
taken out by the palol to milk the buffaloes. It corresponds to the
irkartpun of the village dairy and is made by the palol from bamboo
obtained by the kaltmokh.
Kwoinörtpet. A wand carried by the palol with the kwoi and used to keep
away the calves when milking.
Tedshk. Rattan rings used when carrying the dairy vessels.
Idrkwoi. A bamboo vessel containing about one kudi. It is used to
transfer butter and buttermilk from the vessels of the inner room to
the vessels of the outer room, and is kept midway between the two
rooms. There is nothing corresponding to it in the village dairy,
except at the kugvali, where the kuvun is used in the same way.
Alug. Earthenware vessels used as receptacles for buttermilk and butter
in the outer room. There are at least two of these vessels, usually
more. This vessel corresponds to the pariv of the village dairy.
Uppun. A bamboo vessel which is used to hold the buttermilk which the
palol drinks.
Mòrkudriki. A vessel used like a ladle to transfer buttermilk from the
alug to the uppun or the mòrpun. It corresponds to the majertkudriki or
ashkiok of the ordinary dairy.
Karpun. A bamboo vessel used to milk the punir, or ordinary buffaloes
of the ti herds.
Turavali. The cooking-pot of which the ordinary name is tòratthadi.
Guduboi. An earthenware pot to hold nei or ghi. Its ordinary name is
pathrs.
The mòrpun, kept in the sleeping-hut, is a bamboo vessel used by the
kaltmokh to hold buttermilk both for himself and for certain privileged
visitors called mòrol.
The earthenware vessels of the inner room are not obtained from the
Kotas, like the ordinary vessels, but are made by Hindus, and are
procured through the Badagas.
The palol has two garments, one of which, the kubuntuni, he wears when
not engaged in dairy-work, while the other, the pòdrshtuni, is worn
during the dairy-work or other ceremonial. The latter is kept in the
outer room when not in use.
There are usually two kinds of bell at the ti, one kind connected with
the more sacred buffaloes and another belonging to the punir. The bells
of the first kind, called mani, are kept in the inner room, and are
tied on the necks of certain buffaloes for a short time on special
occasions. The other bells, called kudrs mani, are kept outside the
door of the dairy and are put on the necks of the punir on the same
occasions.
There were several points of interest about the lamps used to light the
dairies. At one time it seems that every palol was provided with an
iron lamp with a number of cavities, each cavity being fitted with a
wick. These lamps are reputed to have been as old as the foundation of
the ti dairies. One of the lamps which is still in existence at the
Nòdrs ti (that of the warspoh) is said to have been brought from
Amnòdr. There is some doubt about the exact number of cavities and
wicks in these lamps, but in the existing lamp of the Nòdrs ti there
seems to be little doubt that there are seven cavities and wicks, and
the lamp is called önavpelk, “the lamp of the seven holes.” All the
seven wicks are only lighted on special occasions (ponnol), and on most
days only one is used. At some dairies these iron lamps have been long
lost, and in these cases the palol used to make lamps of the bark of
the tudr tree. According to Marshall (p. 141), these lamps have five
wicks, and this appears to be still the case at the Kars ti, where
there were formerly two iron lamps, one with five cavities and one with
four, and in the lamp now used at this ti they still keep up the use of
five wicks on special occasions, using only two on ordinary days. It is
possible that Marshall derived his information from a man who had been
palol at this ti. At one of the dairies of the Pan ti there is an old
iron lamp with seven cavities, and at the other, where a bark lamp is
used, it has three wicks. At the present time the dairymen rarely
trouble to make bark lamps, but are content with earthenware lamps
procured from the bazaar. If these are broken and cannot be replaced at
once, bark lamps are used during the interval. The wicks of the lamps,
for whichever lamp they may be used, are always made of tuni taken from
the garments worn by the palol, and the substance used in the lamps is
butter.
Of the two fireplaces in the outer room, the tòratthwaskal is used for
ordinary purposes, for cooking food, &c. The other, called
pelkkatitthwaskal, or sometimes persinkaftthwaskal, is used for
lighting the lamp or for any other purpose directly connected with the
vessels of the inner room.
THE DAILY LIFE AT THE TI
The inhabitants of the ti rise before it is light, probably about five
a.m., and on getting up from the bed some say “ekirzam meidjam.” [30]
The kaltmokh goes at once to open the tu in which the buffaloes have
been penned for the night. The palol salutes with hand to forehead when
he leaves the sleeping-hut and goes to the front of the dairy, where
there is water standing in a bamboo vessel called papun, corresponding
to the kepun of the village dairy. He washes his hands and face, and
then washes out his mouth by taking up water with his right hand,
pouring into his left, and taking the water into his mouth from the
latter. It is noticeable that the palol uses his left hand for this
purpose of personal cleanliness, and not the right hand, which is
chiefly used in his sacred work. He then ties up his straggling hair at
the back of his head, bows down at the threshold of his dairy and
enters, in some cases saying “ekirzam meidjam” as he does so.
When the palol enters the outer room of the dairy, he transfers fire
from the tòratthwaskal, where it has been burning all night, to the
other fireplace, the pelkkatitthwaskal, and then takes off the
kubuntuni, which has been his covering during the night and puts the
pòdrshtuni round his loins. He lights the lamp by means of three pieces
of wood of the kind called kid, taken from the pelkkatitthwaskal, and
while so doing begins to pray, using the prayer of the ti. After
lighting the lamp, and while still continuing to pray, he takes up the
persinkudriki and knocks with it on the middle of the three vessels
called persin, going from one persin to another, when he pauses to take
breath. I had the greatest difficulty in finding out exactly what
happened in connexion with this prayer, but after I had settled on the
foregoing description as correct I was allowed one day by the kaltmokh
to go near the dairy while the palol was praying, and was able to hear
the beating on the earthenware vessel with each word of the prayer.
The next step is to take up the pohvet and place it against the wall,
and then the palol begins to churn the coagulated milk in the middle
persin, milk in this state being here called kudabpol instead of
adrpars, as in the ordinary dairy.
In those cases in which the mani is ‘fed,’ the palol puts kudabpol on
the bell shortly after beginning to churn. This is done three times,
the syllable Oñ being uttered each time. When the palol does anything
three times in this way, he says that he does it mushtiu. This
expression for ‘thrice’ is not used in the ordinary dairy.
The next steps are to pour into the kwoi and karitòrzum most of the
coagulated milk which has been broken up by the churning, to add to the
milk remaining in the persin some persinpen, or butter especially kept
for the purpose in the peptòrzum, to add water, and to churn the
mixture of coagulated milk, water, and butter in the middle persin.
When the new butter is formed, the palol pours out the buttermilk into
the vessel called idrkwoi, keeping back the butter with his hand. The
buttermilk is transferred from the idrkwoi to one of the alug in the
outer room. Some of the milk which had been put into the kwoi or
karitòrzum is then poured back into the middle persin, more water is
added, and the mixture is churned, after which the buttermilk is again
transferred by means of the idrkwoi to the alug, while the butter is
kept in the persin. This procedure is repeated till all the milk of the
middle persin has been churned.
The persin on the right-hand side of the palol is then taken, and its
position exchanged with that of the vessel hitherto used, and the
churning is continued in exactly the same manner. The buttermilk is
transferred to the alug, but the butter when formed is transferred to
the persin, which had been originally in the middle. When the contents
of the second persin have been churned, the third persin is placed in
the middle and the same procedure is followed, so that when the
churning is over all the butter which has been formed will be in the
persin which was originally in the middle. Some of this butter is put
into the peptòrzum to act as persinpen on another occasion, and the
remainder is transferred to the butter alug by means of the idrkwoi.
The two tòrzum are then put on the tops of two of the persin as covers,
the peptòrzum being placed on the middle persin and the palol takes the
milking-vessel (kwoi) and wand (kwoinörtpet) in his right hand and goes
out to milk, having first put some buttermilk, called pep, into the
kwoi.
When the palol leaves the dairy, he raises the milking-vessel and wand
to his forehead and salutes in the way shown in Fig. 27. The Todas say
that he is saluting the sun and the buffaloes. It is probable that, in
general, the palol faces approximately east as he salutes, but there is
no doubt that, at the present time, his salutation is chiefly to the
buffaloes. He salutes in the same direction both morning and evening,
and certainly pays no attention to the direction in which the sun lies.
This salutation is now often done in a very perfunctory manner. The
vessel and wand may be raised hastily to the forehead for a few seconds
only as the palol goes towards his buffaloes, and I am doubtful whether
the salutation is ever performed exactly as shown in the figure, for
the vessel contains some of the buttermilk called pep, which might be
spilt if the vessel were held quite horizontally.
When the palol salutes, he says “Oñ” three times, and repeats two or
three clauses of the dairy prayer, usually the kwarzam of the more
important gods of the dairy.
When going to milk and when going from one buffalo to another, the kwoi
and kwoinörtpet are always held together in the right hand. When the
kwoi is filled, it is taken into the dairy. If it is the custom of the
dairy to put milk on the mani, this is now done three times, saying
“Oñ” each time, and then the milk is poured into the middle persin, the
kwoi being held in the left hand, and the palol goes out again to
refill the kwoi. When all the persinir have been milked, the milk of
the three persin is mixed together by pouring from one to the other.
The reason for this is that the buttermilk, called pep, is only taken
out in the kwoi on first going to milk, and in consequence the pep
would affect the milk of the middle persin only if its contents were
not mixed with those of the vessels filled later.
The palol next goes out to milk the punir, taking for this purpose the
vessel called karpun and an ordinary wand, the kwoi and kwoinörtpet
being only used for the more sacred buffaloes. There was some
difference of opinion as to what should be done with the milk of the
punir. According to some it may be used to fill the persin if these are
not filled by the milk of the persinir; according to others it is wrong
to do this, and the milk of punir should on no account be put in the
more sacred vessels of the inner room. I think there is no doubt that
at the Nòdrs ti at any rate the first procedure is followed. At this ti
the punir outnumber the persinir by far, and it is probable that the
milk of the former is used to supplement that of the more sacred
buffaloes, although it is contrary to tradition that this should be
done.
The three persin being filled, the tòrzum are again put on as covers,
and the palol takes up the wand called pohvet, and prays, standing in
front of the screen (patun) with his hands lying over one another
cross-wise on the top of the stick as shown in Fig. 28. He recites the
full prayer of the ti, then replaces the pohvet between the persinand
the patun and this act of replacing the wand marks the end of the more
sacred part of the dairy operations. If a Toda wishes to ascertain if
the work of the dairy is over, he asks, “Has he taken the pohvet?”
The palol now unties his hair, sees to anything necessary in connexion
with his food, fills the uppun with buttermilk, and then leaves his
dairy and goes to sit on the seat called pohvelkars on one side of the
door of the dairy, viz., on the opposite side to that on which the mani
is placed. At Mòdr he sits on the stone on the right side of the door
when going in (K in Fig. 26), and the fact that he does so is one of
the reasons which make it probable that the arrangement of the poh of
that place is as I have given it in the plan.
When the palol has seated himself on the pohvelkars, he calls out to
the kaltmokh “Kaizhvatitva,” “Come here and pour buttermilk!” When the
kaltmokh comes, the palol gives the uppun to the boy, who says three
times “Kaizhvatkina”, “Shall I pour buttermilk?” and the palol replies
each time, “Vat!” The kaltmokh pours from the uppun into a cup made of
the leaf called kakuders held by the palol, who drinks after raising to
his forehead. This is repeated till the palol is satisfied, when the
leaf-cup from which he has been drinking is thrown away, [31] and he
goes again into the outer room to get food. He gives food to the
kaltmokh, who eats it in the sleeping-hut, while the palol himself eats
sitting on the pohvelkars. If any mòrol (see p. 107) are present, they
are fed at this stage with buttermilk and food by the kaltmokh, who
gives them the buttermilk out of the mòrpun, pouring it into leaf-cups
as when giving to the palol.
The rest of the morning is passed in looking after the buffaloes,
cutting firewood, plucking leaves used as cups and plates, or doing any
other work connected with the ti.
In the afternoon the palol returns to his dairy and goes through the
same operations as in the morning, except that he fetches water from
the kwoinir early in the proceedings, usually bringing enough for the
work of that afternoon and of the next morning. He churns the milk
drawn in the morning, and when the time for milking has arrived, the
buffaloes will have returned to the milking-place, and as soon as they
arrive their calves are let out from the house (karenpoh) in which they
have been kept.
When the churning and milking are over, the buffaloes are shut up in
the tu for the night. The palol then takes buttermilk as in the
morning, and both he and the kaltmokh take their food. The latter eats
his food in the sleeping-hut as in the morning, and the palol does not
enter till the boy has finished. As the palol enters, the kaltmokh says
“Oñ” thrice, takes the horn or horns, and standing at the door blows
three times (if there are two horns, three times on each horn), and
then re-enters the hut and all go to rest.
In the afternoon the palol prays three times; when lighting the lamp,
and after milking and filling the three persin as in the morning, and
again after shutting up the buffaloes in the tu for the night, when he
stands in front of the entrance to the pen. In each case he uses the
whole of the ordinary prayer of the dairy. He also utters a few clauses
of the prayer when going out to milk. These prayers will be given in
Chap. X.
THE PALOL
The palol, who must belong to the Teivaliol, is chosen by the members
of the Tarthar clan to which the ti belongs. He may hold office for as
long as he pleases up to eighteen years, and, according to some
accounts, he might continue in office even after this period, though
there is no case known in which this has happened.
The usual duration of office seems now to be only two or three years,
though a man may often be reappointed either to the same or another ti.
At the time of my visit, one palol had been continuously in office for
sixteen years, another for six years, and the rest for shorter periods.
At the present time the office of palol is vacant at several dairies
owing to the difficulty of obtaining qualified occupants.
During the whole time he holds office, the palol may not visit his home
or any other ordinary village, though he may visit another ti village.
Any business with the outside world is done either through the kaltmokh
or with people who come to visit him at the ti. All business with the
Badagas is transacted through a special man of this caste called the
tikelfmav. If the palol has to cross a river, he may not pass by a
bridge, but must use a ford; and it appears that he may only use
certain fords; thus it is easy to cross the Paikara river just above
the bridge, but the palol of the Nòdrs ti was not allowed to do so and
had to use a ford nearer to the dairy at Mòdr.
The palol must be celibate, and if married, he must leave his wife, who
is in most cases also the wife of his brother or brothers. According to
the account given by Finicio in 1603, the palol could send for his wife
and meet her in a wood every week or so and might also send for the
wives of any other Todas. It is possible that this may still happen,
but I failed to obtain an account of it and understood that the palol
was really celibate. According to Finicio the restriction to which the
palol is subject is that he may not touch a woman in the house. We have
seen that in the lowest rank of the dairyman-priesthood intercourse
with women in the house is allowed at any time and in the higher ranks
only on certain days of the week. It is quite consistent with this that
in the highest rank intercourse in the house should be altogether
forbidden, but might still be allowed in the forest, and it is quite
possible that Finicio is correct. I was unacquainted with his account
at the time of my visit, and all other writers had been so unanimous as
to the complete celibacy of the palol that I did not press my inquiries
on this point very closely.
If a death occurs in the clan of a palol, he cannot attend any of the
funeral ceremonies unless he gives up his office. If he resigns he is
not again eligible for the office till the second funeral ceremonies
have been completed. When a man of one clan gives up his office in this
way, his place must be taken by a man of some other clan. Karkievan of
Piedr was palol of the Nòdrs ti eighteen years ago and resigned when
his wife died, his place being taken by Tulchievan of Kusharf. Two
years later Karkievan resumed office and has been palol continuously
since that time. Though there have been many deaths among the Piedrol,
he has not attended a funeral, and has not, therefore, had to resign
his post again.
In old times, it seems probable that it was usual to give up the office
of palol when there was a death in the clan. According to tradition,
the division of the Keadrol into the Keadrol and Kwaradrol by Kwoten
(see Chap. IX) was ordained in order that there might still be men to
undertake the office of palol when there was a death in the clan, the
men of the Keadrol taking office when there was a death among the
Kwaradrol and vice versa.
It has been stated by several writers on the Todas that the palol does
not profit in any way by his sacred office. I made most careful
inquiries on this point, and there seemed to be no doubt that the palol
may often make a considerable income from the sale of the ghi made from
the milk of the herd under his charge; one palol was stated to make six
rupees a week in this way, and while he has been in office is said to
have increased his own herd (i.e., that of his own family) by no less
than twenty-five buffaloes. In one recent case, a man has resigned the
post of palol to the Pan ti because he found the income was too small.
According to my informant, Kaners, a man used always to accept the
office of palol unwillingly. When the offer came to him, he would say,
“I cannot leave my buffaloes; I cannot leave my wife and my children.”
Then the people would say, “You are born for the ti; it is your
birthright; you must not refuse”; and the man would reluctantly
consent. Now the Todas are in more need of money than they used to be,
and there is no difficulty in obtaining candidates for those dairies at
which the pecuniary advantages are sufficiently great, so that people
will now beg to be appointed as palol to certain dairies, and it is
even whispered that bribes have been offered in order to obtain office.
There is no doubt whatever that the pecuniary reward is the chief
inducement to people to undertake the charge.
The Nòdrs ti has the largest herd of buffaloes, and I was told that
this ti is very much coveted, while others which have few buffaloes are
unable to obtain a palol at all. My Teivali friends invariably talked
about the ti in exactly the same kind of way that an Englishman talks
about a benefice.
At the present time there are several instances in which the office of
palol is vacant, and there seems to be a growing difficulty in filling
many of these places. There is little doubt that the chief reason for
this is that the herds have become very small, so that the resulting
profit does not offer sufficient inducement; but there is also no doubt
that the exclusion from the home and the limitation of intercourse with
the world in general act as deterrents to those who are thinking of
becoming candidates for the vacant places.
Another point about which several writers have erred is in supposing
that the palol is important in the general government of the Todas and
in stating that the Todas go to him for counsel and advice. I inquired
into this very carefully, and there seemed to be no doubt whatever that
the palol has absolutely no functions outside the management of his
dairy and of ceremonies connected with it. He has no place on the naim,
or council, and only appears before it as defendant or witness in
matters connected with the ti. I could not ascertain that any one ever
consults the palol on any business except that of the ti, and outside
his office he has nothing whatever to do, and is little thought of by
the Todas. The sanctity attaching to the palol and the reverence paid
to him are attached and paid wholly to the holder of the office and not
at all to the man.
The ordinary Toda may only approach the palol on two days of the week,
Monday and Thursday. On other days, if he wishes to communicate, he
must stand a considerable distance from the ti—it was said as much as a
quarter of a mile—and carry on his conversation from this distance. I
had, however, the opportunity of observing that the distance was
diminished on some occasions.
On no account may a palol ever be touched by an ordinary person. A
palol becomes himself an ordinary person, or perol, if either he or his
dairy should be touched by any unconsecrated person. Recently Nòdrners
(67) lost the office of palol to the warsir at the Nòdrs ti, because a
Tamil man went to his dairy while he was out looking after his
buffaloes; he was soon reappointed, but to another ti.
The Toda who approaches the palol must go kevenarut, i.e., with his
right arm out of the cloak, and there is a definite form of salutation
which is different for Tartharol and Teivaliol. When one of the former
approaches, the palol says “Bañ,” and the Tarthar man replies “Ir
kaûdâ,” literally “Buffalo, calf, have you?” To one of the Kuudrol, the
chief Teivali clan, the palol says the kwarzam, or sacred name of
Kuudr, followed by the word idith, i.e., he utters the words Ivikanmokh
kûtmeil teu idith. When any other Teivali man approaches, the palol
says “Pekein,” but all the Teivaliol reply with the same formula as the
Tartharol. If a Tarthar man and a Teivali man approach the palol
together, the former will be greeted first. The palol greets the man to
whose division the buffaloes belong before the man of his own clan or
division.
If a Toda is in the condition called ichchil, i.e., has been defiled in
connexion with funeral or other ceremonies, it was said that he might
not approach the palol. I had an interesting example, however, of the
way in which a regulation of this kind is observed. While Teitnir(52)
had ichchil, owing to the fact that the funeral ceremonies of a
relative had not been completed, he went with me to the Mòdr ti one day
and approached within a few yards of the palol. He had taken off the
semi-European clothing he often wore, and had his right arm bare, but
no greeting of any kind took place between him and the palol; the
latter did not recognise his presence in any way and behaved as if
Teitnir were not there. On this occasion Teitnir was ichchil on account
of the death of a more or less distant relative. Later his wife died,
and then there seemed to be no doubt that he would not under any
circumstances have approached the ti or the palol.
There are several regulations concerning the food of the palol. Any
grain he eats must be that provided by the Badagas. At the present time
more rice is eaten than was formerly the case. This is not grown by the
Badagas, but nevertheless the rice for the palol must be obtained
through them. The palol may drink milk, but only that from the
buffaloes called punir. He must take his food sitting on the seat, or
pohvelkars, outside the dairy, and, as we have seen, he uses for this
purpose the seat which is not on the same side as the mani. He usually
prepares the food himself and cooks it on the fireplace called
tòratthwaskal in the outer room of dairy; but there is also a fireplace
outside the dairy which is used sometimes, especially when food has to
be prepared for many people, and then the palol may be assisted by the
kaltmokh. If food is prepared by the kaltmokh, the fireplace outside
the dairy must be used.
The only food which the palol is altogether forbidden is chillies.
The palol wears garments of the kind called tuni, of a dark grey
material made at Nulturs in the Coimbatore district. They are brought
to the palol by the Badaga called tikelfmav. [32] Each palol has two of
these garments. One is worn as a loincloth and is called pòdrshtuni. It
is only worn when definitely engaged in dairy-work and on certain
ceremonial occasions, and at other times is kept in the outer room of
the dairy. The other garment is called kubuntuni, and is worn like the
ordinary cloak, but always with the right arm out (kevenarut). It is
worn when not engaged on sacred business, and on a few occasions is
worn together with the pòdrshtuni. The small perineal cloth ordinarily
called kuvn is made of the same material as the tuni and is called
kagurs at the ti, while the string which passes round the waist and
holds the kagurs in place is called kwainur or kwoinur.
I was told that the palol should never cut his hair or his nails while
he is in office.
If a palol has held office for eighteen years without a break, he
performs a special ceremony. The essential feature of this ceremony is
that the palol has intercourse in the day-time with a girl or young
woman who must belong to the Tartharol. The woman is chosen by the
palol and the matter is arranged by the clan to which the ti belongs.
On the appointed day the woman is brought to a village near the dairy
at which the palol is living; if he is at Mòdr, for instance, the woman
will come to the adjacent village of Perththo. She must bathe carefully
and be adorned with all possible ornaments and fine clothing. After the
work of the morning is over, the palol gives rice and milk to the
kaltmokh and tells him to have food ready for him when he returns at
night. He then goes covered with his kubuntuni to a wood near the
village, where the woman will be awaiting him. Later the woman returns
to the village and the palol remains in the wood completely naked till
sunset, when he dresses and returns to the neighbourhood of his dairy,
but remains in an adjoining wood till midnight. He then bathes in a
stream and going to the dairy calls “Kaltmokhia!” twice. The kaltmokh
comes out of the sleeping hut and brings a stone resembling the
pohvelkars, on which the palol sits, and the kaltmokh pours buttermilk
(kaizhvatiti) for the palol according to the customary ritual. Then the
kaltmokh brings the papun, and the palol washes his hands and goes to
rest. There was some difference of opinion among the Todas as to
whether the palol would continue to hold office after this ceremony. He
undoubtedly returns to his work, but it seemed probable that he would
retire after a short time and his place be taken by another. In this
ceremony the celibate priest after eighteen years of office has
intercourse with a woman belonging to the division not his own. This
takes place in the day-time, the palol thus committing an act which is
ordinarily regarded by the Todas as immoral. [33]
The last occasion on which this ceremony was performed was when it was
done by Kodrizbon, who lived before the time of the grandfather of
Kaners, who is himself an old man. Karkievan has now been palol of the
Nòdrs ti for sixteen years, and there was already at the time of my
visit much talk among the Todas about the ceremony which he might be
expected to perform two years later.
A man who has given up the office of palol is known as patol. It was
quite clear that, on resigning office, he entirely lost his sanctity,
and it did not seem that he derived any great social importance from
having held the sacred office. I could find no instance of a man who
had been palol having any special influence or power either in his clan
or among the Todas generally. Only in one way are the patol important,
and that is as repositories of the knowledge of the dairy ritual, and
any man about to enter on the office of palol will learn the details of
the ritual from those who have held office before him.
I could learn of one privilege only pertaining to a patol. He is
allowed to go to the ti mad on the day called upkarvnol, after the
ponup ceremony (see Chap. VIII), and on that occasion he receives food
from the palol.
THE KALTMOKH
The kaltmokh is usually a boy, but he may occasionally continue to hold
office till he is about twenty years of age. He must belong either to
the Teivaliol or to the Melgarsol. He is a general assistant to the
palol, and has also certain definitely assigned duties, such as giving
buttermilk to the palol and blowing the horns at night. He also takes
part in several important ceremonies.
When away from the dairy and its immediate surroundings he wears an
ordinary cloak, but always with his right arm outside. When engaged in
his work at the dairy or in the pül of the ti, he must be naked except
for the kuvn. When he has been away from the ti he may not return by
the path used by the palol, but must use a special path, carrying the
cloak folded and hung over his shoulder. At the Mòdr dairy, however, I
noticed that the kaltmokh sometimes kept his cloak in a tree just
outside the ti mad, and then went in and out by the same path as the
palol.
The kaltmokh sleeps in the same hut as the palol, from whom he receives
his food. When there are two palol and only one kaltmokh, the two
dairymen divide the duty of feeding the boy between them.
The kaltmokh never goes into the dairy, but he may put his hand into
the outer room to take out those vessels which he is allowed to touch.
He may never touch the vessels of the inner room.
There are two grades in the office of kaltmokh, a lower called
perkursol and a higher called tunitusthkaltmokh or full kaltmokh. The
latter wears a piece of tuni called petuni on the left side of the
string (kerk) supporting the perineal cloth.
The perkursol is allowed to go to certain places and do certain things
which are not allowed to the full kaltmokh. Whenever it is necessary
that the kaltmokh should do any of the forbidden things, or even if he
is likely to be in such a position that he may have to do these things,
he becomes perkursol. This he does by throwing off the petuni and
dipping one leg either into the pool of water called tarupunkudi (see
p. 177) or into the dairy stream (pali nipa) of an ordinary dairy (if
he dipped his leg into the ars nipa, or part of a stream used for
ordinary household purposes, he would at once lose his office entirely
and become an ordinary person). As soon as he has dipped his foot, he
becomes perkursol and may do the following things summed up in the
general expression tarskwarârkûdthodi. He may pass a village where
there is a woman in the seclusion-hut (puzhars), or where the relics of
the dead are being kept between the two funeral ceremonies; he may go
to a place where the people have been in communication with a village
in which either of these conditions exist; he may pass a river by a
bridge, and he may go to the wursuli of a Tarthar village. If the full
kaltmokh does any of these things, even unwittingly, he would at once
become an ordinary person (perol). The kaltmokh degrades himself to the
rank of perkursol even when there is merely the danger that he may
infringe any of the restrictions; thus, one day when there was a woman
at Karia who was in seclusion after childbirth, the kaltmokh at Mòdr,
Katsog (55), was going to the hut of the forest guard near Paikara. He
would not have to pass Karia, but there was a chance that the forest
guard might have been in communication with the people of Karia, and
therefore Katsog became perkursol. A perkursol is regarded as of the
same rank as a wursol, and the people spoke of perkursol as a ti word
for wursol—i.e., a wursol at the ti was called perkursol, just as a
madth (churn) at the ti was called kòghlag. In order to regain his rank
as full kaltmokh, the perkursol has to perform the same ceremony as
that which takes place at the end of the ordination to this office (see
Chap. VII).
While the kaltmokh is degraded to the rank of perkursol he may not
touch any dairy vessels; he may not pour buttermilk for the palol, nor
may he blow the horns—i.e., he may do none of the more important and
sacred duties of his office.
THE MÒROL
I have said that no ordinary Toda is allowed to approach the palol
except certain days, and then may only go to a certain place in the
surroundings of the ti. There is, however, one very remarkable
exception to this rule, the members of certain clans having the
privilege of going to the ti at any time and taking buttermilk (mòr).
Owing to the latter privilege they are always known as mòrol.
The most important mòrol are the members of the Melgars clan, and at
the Nòdrs ti they are the only people possessing these peculiar rights.
A Melgars man may go to the ti on every day of the week, when he enters
the small enclosure in which the dairy is situated, going, however, by
a special opening at the back so that he does not actually pass the
dairy and sits down in front of or may enter the sleeping hut. He is
given buttermilk by the kaltmokh after it has been given to the palol,
and he also receives food. At the Nòdrs ti the two palol divide the
responsibility of providing food between them; if four mòrol come, each
palol gives food for two men.
The rights of the Melgarsol appear to be exercised very constantly. I
rarely visited the Mòdr ti without finding several mòrol present, and
so far as I could observe they made the most of their privileges and
enjoyed themselves well. It was very remarkable to see several Todas
making themselves quite at home at the ti, while other Todas were
standing outside wholly prohibited from entering into the life of the
place. On one occasion when I visited Mòdr, the brother of one palol
was standing without at the appointed spot waiting till the business of
the morning was over, while several mòrol were within enjoying their
privileges to the full.
The Melgarsol have certain other rights and duties in connexion with
the ti, and especially on the occasion of the procession which takes
place when the buffaloes migrate from one place to another (see Chap.
VI), after which ceremony the mòrol sleep at the ti mad. At some
dairies members of other clans may act as mòrol, but in no case do they
occupy quite so privileged a position as the people of Melgars. Thus,
at the Kars and the Pan ti the people of Kars are mòrol, but they may
only visit the ti and take buttermilk and are not allowed to sleep
there, nor have they any of the special ceremonial duties of the
Melgarsol.
When the dairy of a ti mad needs to be repaired or rebuilt, this is
done by Melgars men, who must previously undergo an ordination ceremony
of the same character as that for the office of wursol, and the men
rank as wursol while engaged in the work. The hut of the ti mad is also
repaired or rebuilt by the Melgarsol, but in this case the work is done
without any special ceremony. In either case the Melgars men are not
allowed to leave the ti mad, and they sleep in the living hut while the
work is being done.
Another duty of the Melgarsol is to assist in carrying the corpse of
palol who has died in office.
On the occasion of the teutütusthchi ceremony in 1902, when the palol
and kaltmokh left the dairy at Mòdr for several hours, I found a
Melgars man in the neighbourhood of the dairy, and it seemed to me that
he was watching the dairy while the regular guardians were away. I was
told however, that this was not one of the recognised duties of a
mòrol, and I suspected that he was stationed at Mòdr at the time of my
visit, because it was feared that I might take advantage of the absence
of the palol to make a closer inspection of the dairy than was allowed.
NEW DAIRY VESSELS
The earthenware vessels of the inner room (persin and tòrzum) are
procured from Hindus through the Badagas. They were formerly obtained
from a place called Kulpet (Kundapeta), near Nanjankudi in Mysore, and
I was told that the Todas used to go down to fetch them.
The earthenware vessels of the outer room (alug) are obtained from the
Kotas like those of the ordinary dairy. The churn or kòghlag is made by
the Todas themselves from the slender bamboo growing on the hills.
The material out of which the bamboo vessels (kwoi, idrkwoi, karpun,
uppun) are made, is procured from a place called Ebenput(?) near
Musinigudi. When new vessels are required, and there is only one
kaltmokh, a second is appointed, who goes to Ebenput, where he cuts
bamboo called kôli, which is large enough for the dairy vessels. The
bamboo is taken by the kaltmokh to the ti, and the new vessels are
manufactured by the palol.
It is possible for the kaltmokh to go to Ebenput and back in one day,
but if unable to do this he may stay the night at Taradr, the nearest
etudmad to Musinigudi. The bamboo for the new vessels, however, must
not be taken to Taradr, but must be left in a wood near the village,
and taken on to the ti mad on the following day.
Any new vessels or implements must be purified before being used. The
earthenware vessels of the inner room are taken from the Badagas who
bring them, and are rubbed over, inside and out, with the bark of the
tudr tree, after which the bark is put inside the vessel, water is
poured in three times, saying “Oñ,” and the contents rinsed round and
poured out. Water is then put in the vessel, which is placed for a time
on the fireplace to make it look old, the fireplace used being the
pelkkatitthwaskal. The kòghlag or churning stick is purified by rubbing
tudr bark over it and pouring water all over it three times. The
churning stick and the earthenware vessels of the inner room are both
purified in the outer room of the dairy, and the purification must be
performed on a Sunday.
The kwoi is purified on the same day of the week in front of the
buffalo enclosure or tu. After churning, the palol takes the new kwoi,
and a tòrzum full of water, and purifies the former with tudr bark and
water three times in the way already described. He then milks into the
new kwoi for the first time, and on this occasion he must be careful
not to fill the vessel completely.
The idrkwoi is purified in the same manner as the other vessels and
also on a Sunday, but the purification is performed at the junction of
the inner and outer rooms of the dairy.
New vessels and other objects belonging to the outer room are purified
with the same procedure in their own room, but on a Tuesday or
Wednesday.
The kwoi or milking vessel is the only vessel which is not purified
inside the dairy. With the exception of this vessel all the other
objects used in the dairy are purified in the outer room or at the
junction of the inner and outer rooms.
All old, broken or worn-out vessels or implements are thrown away
except the kwoi, which must be buried in a wood near a dairy. Thus this
vessel is treated unlike other contents of the dairy, both when being
purified and when rejected as of no further use. I could obtain no
explanation of this, and can only suggest that the exceptional
treatment is due to the fact that it comes into actual contact with the
sacred buffaloes.
THE FIVE TI
At present there are only five ti in existence, belonging to the clans
of Nòdrs, Kars, Pan, Kwòdroni, and Nidrsi. The Keradrol are said to
have had a ti at one time which was spirited away by the god Kwoto (see
Chap. IX) and the name of one of its places, Tîkîrs, is still
preserved.
The most important ti belongs to Nòdrs and this is one of the original
institutions, the ti of Kars and that of Kwòdrdoni being the others.
The Pan ti is derived from that of Nòdrs (see story of Kwoten), and the
Nidrsi ti is an offshoot of the Kwòdrdoni institution.
Of these five ti, that of Nòdrs is the only one which still has two
palol. The Kars ti has only one palol, and similarly that of Pan. The
ti of Kwòdrdoni and Nidrsi are at present unoccupied. At the Kwòdrdoni
ti the office is filled once a year for a limited period in order to
satisfy certain requirements of the Kotas.
No ti is allowed to be vacant when the final funeral ceremonies are
performed for any member of the clan to which the ti belongs, and it is
only on the occasion of these ceremonies that palol is now appointed to
the Nidrsi ti.
Each ti has certain features of organisation and procedure peculiar to
itself. There are certain differences of ritual and differences in the
names and kinds of the buffaloes and sacred objects. The history and
special features of each ti will now be considered.
THE NÒDRS TI
The goddess Teikirzi lived at Nòdrs and was its ruler, and Nòdrs was in
consequence especially favoured when the various buffaloes were
distributed by this deity. When Püv died and Ön went away to Amnòdr
(see p. 185), the Nòdrs ti and its buffaloes went with him. Teikirzi,
who remained behind, found after a time that it was not good to rule a
country without a ti, so she complained to Ön and asked him to send the
buffaloes back. He consented and people were sent from Nòdrs to Amnòdr
to fetch the buffaloes. Ön gave them the buffaloes and all the things
of the ti, and he also gave a milking vessel and a churning stick made
of gold. When the men started to bring back the buffaloes, they went
some way and then found that they had forgotten the gold vessel and
churn given to them by Ön. So they went back and asked Ön for the two
things. Ön refused to give them up as they had not been taken at first,
and it is believed that they are still in the dairy at Amnòdr.
Ön told the men who returned to ask for the things they had forgotten
that the Todas were to make the vessel and churn of bamboo. They were
to go to the hill called Teikhars or Kulinkars, where they would find a
flower called kavulpuv, and he told them to make a new kòghlag of the
same shape as that flower. They did so, and ever since that time the
churning-stick both at the ti and at the ordinary village has been made
so that it is like the flower kavulpuv.
Another incident which occurred during the journey of the ti buffaloes
back from Amnòdr was the birth of a mani. One of the two palol was
carrying the dairy vessels of the inner room, and the other was
carrying the mani called Keu. When they were about half-way back to
this world, the palol who was carrying the dairy vessels found that
they had become very heavy, so he put them down, and, taking off the
tòrzum which was covering one of the persin, he found a bell in the
milk of the persin. So they called the bell Persin because it was the
son of a persin, and to this day the bell is fed with milk because it
was born in milk. It is the mani which is kept in the ti poh of the
Nòdrs ti, while the other mani Keu, carried by the other palol, is kept
in the wars poh and this bell, Keu, is not fed with milk.
When the buffaloes of the Nòdrs ti returned from Amnòdr, they talked
like men. One day when the palol told the kaltmokh to bring the calves,
the buffaloes used bad language such as may not be uttered before
women; they would not obey the palol, and refused to allow him to milk
them. Then Teikirzi found that it was bad that buffaloes should have
the tongues of men, and she dragged the tongues out of the mouths of
the buffaloes and made them new tongues of tudr bark. The buffaloes
could then talk no longer, and they allowed themselves to be milked.
Originally the Nòdrs ti had three places, or ti mad, given to it by
Teikirzi: Anto, Òdrtho, and Kulâdrtho. Later the people made other ti
mad, and at one time, in addition to the three, they had the following
places:—Mòdr, Kudreiil, Majòdr, Mûkòdr, Tidj, Pûth, and Pòos. Several
of these are now disused or have disappeared altogether, but are still
mentioned in the prayer of the ti. Of the three original places,
Kulâdrtho has disappeared and its place is occupied by the Prospect tea
estate. The sites of Tidj and Pûth are also occupied by tea estates.
The way to Pòos has been blocked by a Kota village, so that the
buffaloes would be unable to reach it without being defiled by going
through the village, and, in consequence, this dairy is not used.
Mukòdr is very close to another ti mad, probably Majòdr, and the palol
“were lazy” and allowed it to fall into ruins. There is a conical
dairy, now in ruins, near Makurti Peak, which belonged to the Nòdrs ti,
and it is possible that this is the dairy of Mukòdr.
The herds now spend the greater part of the year at Mòdr, but still go
in most years to Anto, Òdrtho, Kudreiil, and Majòdr at certain seasons.
The Nòdrs ti has two kinds of persinir, the tiir and the warsir, each
of which has its own palol. There are also the punir for the special
use of the palol. The tiir have three subdivisions, the unir, the atir,
and the teirtir, so called because descended from certain buffalo
ancestors, or nòdrkutchi, who were connected with Anto, Tidj, and Teir.
The warsir, are divided into two groups, the kulatir and the perithir,
so called because their nòdrkutchi were connected with Kulâdrtho and
Perithi respectively. Teir is close to Mòdr, but does not seem at any
time to have been itself a ti mad, and I could not ascertain why it
should have given its name to one group of the buffaloes. Perithi is
near Gudalur, and in the prayer of Anto (see p. 225), there is a
reference to a ti dairy at this place from which the buffaloes
evidently took their name.
At most of the dairies the buffaloes stand together and the two palol
occupy the same ti mad, though each has his own dairy; but when one
herd, that of the tiir, goes to Òdrtho, the other herd, that of the
warsir, goes to another place called Kudreiil. These two places are
quite close to one another, but are regarded as separate ti mad. The
reason given for this separation was that at one time the warsir did
not behave properly at Òdrtho, and Teikirzi ordered that they should
not stand there again, but should go to another place. I could not
ascertain what the buffaloes did to merit this punishment.
I obtained a full account of the buffaloes of the Nòdrs ti at the time
of my visit. There were seven unir; four adult buffaloes, called Kôzi,
Perith, Kâsimi, and Uf, and three young buffaloes not yet named; five
atir, Persuth, Enmars, Tòthi, and two unnamed; three teirtir, Pülkoth,
Köji, and one unnamed. Of kulatir there were four, Köji, Keirev, and
two young buffaloes; of perithir five, Kâsimi, Kiûd, Persv, and two
unnamed. Thus the ti palol had fifteen persinir, and in addition about
thirty punir, while the wars palol had nine persinir and about fifteen
punir.
The dairy of the tiir is often called the ti poh, and that of the
warsir, the wars poh, and every dairy has also its special name; thus,
at Anto the dairy of the tiir is called Medrpoh, and the dairy of the
warsir is called Kadpoh or Kadvoh. One of these dairies is of the
conical form, but my record does not tell me which. According to Breeks
the name of the conical dairy is Kiurzh. This is possibly the same word
as Kad(poh), the name of the dairy of the warsir. The two dairies at
Mòdr are Pänpoh and Känpoh. The name of the ruined conical dairy near
Makurti Peak which belonged to the Nòdrs ti was Kateidipoh (Breeks,
Katedva).
The palol of the Nòdrs ti must be chosen either from the people of
Piedr or from those of Kusharf. Originally it was ordained that the
palol should be chosen from the Piedrol, but later the Kuudr people
obtained the right of becoming palol. This lasted till about seven or
eight generations ago, when there is a story that the people of Kwurg
(Coorg) came to fight the Todas and drove off the buffaloes of the
Nòdrs ti, which were standing at Mòdr. The palol was touched by the
Kwurg people and in consequence ceased to be palol, but instead of
pursuing the invaders, he sat down by the ti waiting till he could be
reinstated in his office. The kaltmokh, who belonged to Piedr, followed
the Kwurg people, who had carried off a large mani called Kän, and some
people of Nòdrs and Kusharf also followed with the boy. The Kwurg
people saw the kaltmokh and told him that he might have the buffaloes
back if he would give them as many rupees as Kän would hold. The
kaltmokh had inside his loincloth a little gold coin called pirpanm,
which he took out and put into Kän and immediately the bell became full
of rupees and the gold coin fell out. The Kwurg people took the rupees,
and the kaltmokh took the bell and drove the buffaloes back to Mòdr.
As the Kwurg people were making their way home, they suddenly found
that all the rupees had disappeared, so they turned and pursued the
kaltmokh and the buffaloes. Then the kaltmokh prayed:
Per wadrth vêdrmâ, kârs wadrth vêdrmâ, män mas vêdrmâ.
“May the high hills be broken, may the rocks be broken, may the trees
fall down.”
Directly there was a loud noise, the hills were divided, stones
rattled, and trees fell down. Then the Kwurg people were afraid and
returned to their own homes. [34] The Todas held a council, and it was
decided that, as the palol had not followed the buffaloes, the Kuudr
people should no longer have the privilege of becoming palol of the
Nòdrs ti, and that in future the palol of this ti should be taken
either from Piedr or Kusharf.
At the present time [35] the palol of the tiir is Karkievan of Piedr,
who has now been continuously in office for sixteen years, having also
had a previous period of office as palol. The palol of the warsir is
Nerponers of Kusharf (66), who had been in office for about a year at
the time of my visit. The kaltmokh is Katsog of Kuudr (55).
Although now one palol belongs to Piedr and the other to Kusharf, it is
not necessary that this should be so and it has happened frequently
that both palol have belonged to the Piedrol.
The mani of the tiir, which is said to be made of iron, is that called
Persin, of whose miraculous birth an account has been given. The mani
of the warsir is called Keu, and is said to be made partly of gold,
partly of silver, and partly of iron. Milk is put on the former bell by
the palol at every churning and milking, but Keu is not ‘fed.’
In addition there are four mani of the kind called kudrs, which are
tied to the punir and kept outside the door of the dairy. Three of
these belong to the punir of the ti palol, and are called Arvatz,
Kiûdz, and Kerâni, and should be tied to buffaloes named Püthiov,
Peires, and Nersâdr respectively. The fourth bell belongs to the punir
of the wars palol, and is called Kerâni. It should be tied to a buffalo
named Tâlg.
The lamp of the wars poh is one of those made of iron, and is said to
have come from Amnòdr. It is called Önâvpelk, the lamp of the seven
holes. The ti poh had a similar lamp at one time, but it has been lost.
Three horns are kept in the sleeping-hut of the Nòdrs ti. Two belong to
the tiir, and are called Kiûdrkûdr and Pudothkûdr. The third belongs to
the warsir, and is called Teigun. (For the origin of these horns see
the story of Korateu or Kuzkarv in Chap. IX.)
One feature of the ti poh at Mòdr, which is certainly not general, is
the presence of a screen in front of the door. The effect of this
screen is to protect the palol from the gaze of the ordinary Todas when
they are standing in their appointed place. When I visited Mòdr I was
allowed to go into the enclosure where the buffaloes are milked, but
this privilege was not accorded to my Toda guides, and in consequence I
was often able to observe the doings of the palol when they were hidden
from my guides by the screen.
The wars poh, on the other hand, has no such screen, but the wall
surrounding this dairy is much higher than at the ti poh and
effectually screens the palol from the public gaze. The door of the
wars poh faces between north and north-east, and that of the ti poh
south-east, but owing to the presence of the screen the palol has on
coming out to turn to the left, and therefore faces north-east when
saluting.
THE KARS TI
The following story gives the traditional origin of the ti mad at
Makârs, one of the chief places of the Kars ti, but I could not
ascertain definitely whether it was supposed to give the origin of the
ti as a whole or only of the ti mad at Makârs. The story runs that Anto
created buffaloes, one of which came to Makârs, where a tudr tree was
standing. The buffalo rubbed against the tree and part of the bark came
off, and that is why the place became a ti. When the buffalo found that
there was no palol at Makârs and no kaltmokh, it was very angry and
raged about furiously. While it was doing this, it jumped some stones
and fell into the river called Kitheri, and it also jumped a stream
called Warwar. In spite of its falling into the river, however, it did
not die, but got out and pushed stones together with its horns so as to
make a tu. Later a dairy was built near the tudr tree. Whether this was
the origin of the ti or only of the ti mad of Makârs, it seemed quite
clear that the Kars ti is believed to be one of the very early
institutions of the Todas. Its two ancient places were Enòdr and
Makârs. At each there were two dairies, and one at least of those at
Enòdr was of the conical variety and had the special name of Medrpoh.
Enòdr has now fallen into disuse. It was a few miles to the north-east
of Ootacamund, and it was no longer visited because the buffaloes would
have had to pass through Ootacamund in going from Makârs to Enòdr and
would have been defiled. Makârs, which is near the Nanjanad valley, is
now the chief place of the ti, and the buffaloes were there at the time
of my visit.
Another important and ancient place of the Kars ti is Kòn (Lingmand) in
the Kundahs. In the story of Kwoto (see p. 204) the buffaloes were
going to Enòdr from Kòn when the boy showed his miraculous knowledge of
the buffalo kwarzam. Two other places are Nerâdr and Pars. Both Kòn and
Nerâdr are still used, but Pars, which is not far from Ootacamund, is
no longer used, having been given up because Badagas went to live near
it.
As at the Nòdrs ti, there are two kinds of persinir in addition to the
punir. The two kinds are called pürsir and parsir, the former being
also sometimes called enòdrir. Although there are two kinds of sacred
buffalo with their corresponding dairies, there has never been more
than one palol. When a palol is appointed to this ti, he is ordained to
the office of palol to the parsir, and, for the first month, he attends
to these buffaloes only and enters their dairy, the parspoh, only. At
the end of the month, he becomes palol to the pürsir, with certain
ceremonies, to be described later, and from that time to the end of his
period of office he works in the pürspoh only and never enters the
parspoh, although he continues to attend to the parsir as well as to
the pürsir. The milk of the parsir is mixed with that of the pürsir in
the vessels of the dairy belonging to the latter kind of buffalo. This
dairy, which is usually called pürspoh after the buffaloes, has also
the special name of Kakanmudri.
There is one bell belonging to the pürsir which has three names,
Perner, Uner, and Persagan, but it is also often called Ner. Koboners
told me that this bell is usually quite black, but that he had once
rubbed off the thick layer of soot and dust with which it is covered
and had found that it was made of gold. It seems to have been of a
light colour and may have been made of bronze. There is also a bell
belonging to the parsir called Talg.
Formerly the palol of the Kars ti was chosen from the Melgarsol, but
this clan lost the privilege owing to the misbehaviour of one of their
number when holding the sacred office. The buffaloes were standing at
Enòdr, and the Melgars palol was milking a buffalo, when he saw a
honey-bee. He got up, left the buffalo, and went after the bee, leaving
his milking-vessel behind. He followed the bee, found the nest, took
the comb, ate some of the honey, gave the remainder to the kaltmokh to
put in the hut, and then went back and continued to milk the buffalo,
whose name was Kän. When he had finished milking, he was taking the
milk into the dairy when a plank fell on his head and he was killed.
Then it was decided that Melgars people should no longer be palol, and
that the office in future should be filled from the Teivaliol. Whenever
the Todas wish to refer to the fact that the Melgars people have lost
the right of being palol, they say, “Kän kârvûk kiûztheniz ûpi vûchi,”
or, “Kän milking, bee he followed after.”
The palol is now taken from Piedr, Kusharf or Kuudr, and the present
holder of the office is Nòdrners (67) of Kusharf. The dairies of this
ti are always near those of the Pan ti, and the two palol share one
kaltmokh between them, the present holder of this office being Teitun
(64) of Piedr.
THE PAN TI
The legend of the origin of this ti will be given in full in the story
of Kwoten (Chap. IX). When this hero was reproved by his wife because
the Pan people had no ti, he obtained buffaloes from the Nòdrs ti, so
that the Pan ti appears to have been later in origin than those of
Nòdrs and Kars, and to have been derived from the former.
Certain of the buffaloes are reputed to be descended from an ancestor
made by Teikhars or Kulinkars (see the story of this god in Chap. IX).
The most important dairy of this ti appears to have been situated at
Tarsòdr or Tazòdr in the Kundahs, which is the place to which the
buffalo created by Teikhars found its way. Tarsòdr is about two miles
from Kòn, and there is still a dairy of the conical kind at this place
which is probably one of those mentioned by Breeks under the name of
Tarzhva. Its special name was Pôhûjpoh or Pûverizpoh, and it belonged
to the group of buffaloes of the ti called tarsir. It is now falling
into ruins, having been disused for about twenty years. The last palol
who went there was Pethovan (70) of the Kwaradr division of the
Keadrol. He died at Tarsòdr soon after going there in perfect health
from Kudòdr. His son, Kiudners, later became palol to the tarsir, but
was afraid to go to Tarsòdr because his father had died there. Like his
father, Kiudners died in office at Kudòdr, and the death of both father
and son while holding the office of palol so alarmed the Todas that no
one has been to the dairy of Tarsòdr since. I was told that the dairy
had been given up because the gods of Tarsòdr were so severe, i.e., it
was assumed that both father and son had been killed by the gods for
some infringement of dairy regulations. New dairies have since been
built near Kòn, the seat of the Kars ti in the Kundahs.
The place at which the buffaloes were standing at the time of my visit
was Kudòdr, near Makârs, and this is the ti mad which is occupied
during the greater part of the year. Another dairy is at Nerâdr, again
near the ti mad of the same name belonging to the Kars ti.
A fourth place, Uterâdr, is now rarely visited, since the buffaloes may
only go there when there are two palol.
There seems to be a very close association between the ti institutions
of Kars and Pan. The buffaloes of the two always move about together,
and the dairies are so close to one another that, at present, they are
able to share the same kaltmokh.
The Pan ti has two kinds of buffalo in addition to the punir, viz., the
tarsir and the warsir. At one time the warsir belonged to one division
of the Pan clan, called the Panol, and the tarsir belonged to the other
division, the Kuirsiol. At Kòn there are two dairies, one for each kind
of buffalo, and each kind should also have its own palol. At the
present time there is only one palol, who looks after the tarsir. The
dairy of the warsir, or the warspoh, is closed and may not be entered
by the palol, and he is not allowed to milk the warsir, though he may
milk the punir belonging to the warspoh.
Formerly the palol of the tarsir was chosen from the Kwaradr division
of the Keadrol and the palol of the warsir from the other division of
this clan, this arrangement being said to have been ordained by Kwoten.
The Kwaradr division is now extinct and the remainder of the Keadrol
are not very numerous, and the present palol of the tarsir is Peilet
(64) of Piedr. A few years ago both dairies were occupied, the palol of
the tarsir being Naburs (64) of Piedr, and the palol of the warsir,
Pichievan (69) of Keadr. The latter is said to have thrown up his
office because the income was not large enough.
If there should be a death among the Panol, the second funeral
ceremonies (the marvainolkedr, or so-called ‘dry funeral’) could not
take place unless both dairies were occupied. Since Pichievan resigned,
no Pan man has died, but when this happens a second palol would have to
be appointed before the marvainolkedr could be held.
The tarsir have two bells, called Kòsi and Pongg. The former is tied on
a buffalo called Kòsi, and Pongg on one called Enmars. Milk is only put
on the bell called Kòsi. At the dairy of these buffaloes there is an
iron lamp of the ancient kind with seven cavities and seven wicks, and
the horn is called Kwatadr. The warsir have one bell, called Keituzan,
which is put round the neck of a buffalo called Kòjiu. The old iron
lamp belonging to these buffaloes has been lost and an earthenware or
bark lamp is used in its stead. The horn is called Persagan, but as
these buffaloes have no palol, this horn is not now blown.
The people of Pan are mòrol at this ti.
THE KWÒDRDONI TI
There was some difference of opinion as to the origin of this ti, which
is often called the Arsaiir ti by the Todas. According to one account,
given to me by Kwòdrdoni people, the buffaloes called arsaiir came from
the sea and were the mothers of all the tiir. Another account, which
seemed to be more generally accepted, was that the Kwòdrdoni ti was
instituted by Ön, like those of Nòdrs and Kars, but that one day, when
the palol was milking, the mani, called Pushodipongg, came from the sea
and sat on the side of the milking-vessel.
The chief place of this ti is Pursâs, situated between Kwòdrdoni and
Kotagiri. The other dairies in the past were at Kakwai, Karküln,
Pobkars, and Kadrin, but only the first of these, which is close to
Kwòdrdoni, is now used.
At the time of my visit there was no palol, and the buffaloes, only
about eight in number, were standing at Kakwai, but were not being
milked.
A palol is appointed every year shortly before the ceremony in honour
of the god Kamataraya, which is celebrated by the Kotas in January.
When the Kotas announce that they are about to hold this ceremony, a
palol and kaltmokh are appointed who go to Pursâs. The buffaloes are
milked and the ghi which is obtained from the milk is given to the
Kotas. The palol remains in office for about twenty days, and his
appointment is made altogether on behalf of the Kotas, who would be
very angry if it were not done. It seemed that the success of the Kota
ceremony would be seriously impaired if there were no palol at the
Kwòdrdoni ti.
A palol would also be appointed if it were wished to hold the second
funeral ceremonies, or marvainolkedr, of a Kwòdrdoni person.
The Kwòdrdoni ti has never had more than one kind of buffalo, and never
more than one palol or kaltmokh. The buffaloes, or arsaiir, are those
which disobeyed the commands of Ön (see Chap. IX), and are said to be
responsible for the dangers suffered by buffaloes from tigers.
The people of Nòdrs and Kars have the privilege of taking buttermilk
and food at the ti, and are known as mòrol, but they may not sleep at
the ti mad, nor do they take any part in the buffalo migration.
According to one account, the people of Pan are also mòrol, and may
even sleep at the ti.
THE NIDRSI TI
This is an offshoot of the Kwòdrdoni ti. One evening, after the
buffaloes and calves of the Kwòdrdoni ti had been shut up for the
night, the women of an adjoining village were pounding the grain called
ragi. When the calves heard the noise of the pounding, they ran out of
their pen and made their way to Pursâs. One of the wooden tasth which
bar the entrance of the pen became entangled in the neck of one of the
calves, and when the calf reached a place near Edrpali village, the
tasth dropped and became a wood, and the place is now called
Tasthnòdrpem. From here the calf went on to Pursâs. The Kwòdrdoni
people went to Pursâs to fetch back the calf, but when they got to the
place they changed their minds and said that the calf should stop at
Pursâs, and that the Nidrsi people should make a ti there and appoint a
palol; and this was the origin of the Nidrsi ti, which is called kar ti
because it was derived from a calf, while the ti of Kwòdrdoni is called
ir ti. The two institutions have different dairies, but both are at
Pursâs.
I could obtain little satisfactory information about the customs of the
Nidrsi ti. There is only one ti mad, viz., that at Pursâs near the
dairy of the Kwòdrdoni ti. Any of the Teivaliol may hold the office of
palol, but at the time of my visit there was no palol, and the six
buffaloes, which are all that remain of the herd, are being looked
after, though not milked, by a Tarthar man, Todrigars (41), at one of
the ordinary villages. A palol would have to be appointed before the
second funeral ceremonies of one of the Nidrsiol could be performed,
but apparently he would only hold office for a short time.
CHAPTER VI
BUFFALO MIGRATIONS
At certain seasons of the year it is customary that the buffaloes both
of the village and the ti should migrate from one place to another.
Sometimes the village buffaloes are accompanied by all the inhabitants
of the village; sometimes the buffaloes are only accompanied by their
dairyman and one or more male assistants.
There are two chief reasons [36] for these movements of the buffaloes,
of which the most urgent is the necessity for new grazing-places.
During the dry season, lasting from about December to March, the
pasturage around the villages where the Todas usually live becomes very
scanty, and the buffaloes are taken to places where it is more
abundant. Many of these places are in or near the Kundahs, where the
rainfall is greater than over the rest of the hills, and others are
scattered here and there about the hills in spots where, owing to
favourable conditions, the ground is less parched than elsewhere. At
other seasons of the year it may happen that the grazing in the
neighbourhood of a village becomes exhausted, and it becomes necessary
to take the buffaloes to another place.
The other chief reason for the migrations is that certain villages and
dairies, formerly important and still sacred, are visited for
ceremonial purposes, or out of respect to ancient custom. Some of these
places, such as the villages of Piedr and Kusharf, are in outlying
parts of the hills, and are entirely unoccupied except on the occasion
of these ceremonial visits. Another example is the ancient and sacred
village of Nasmiòdr, of which there now only remains a dairy, situated
in a grove in the middle of a valley cultivated by Badagas. It is
visited once a year by the wursulir of Kars for about a month, and, as
there is only scanty pasturage available, there is little doubt that
the visit to this dairy has no utilitarian motive.
At the ti the same reasons hold good. Several of the ti herds have
dairies, in or near the Kundahs, to which they go during the dry months
of the year, while other dairies of special sanctity are visited only
for a short time in each year. The dairy of Anto is a good example of
the latter case; it is in an outlying part of the hills, and should be
visited for one month every year, because it is the most sacred dairy
of the ti.
The migrations of the ti buffaloes are more strictly regulated than are
those of the village herds, and there are definitely prescribed rules
for the order in which the dairies of the ti shall be visited, and for
the duration of the stay at each, though, as we shall see later, these
rules are not always followed.
As a general rule, the more ancient and sacred the dairy to which the
buffaloes are going, the more elaborate are the ceremonies on reaching
the new destination.
The day of migration is called irskidithbutnol or irnödrthnol.
MIGRATIONS OF THE VILLAGE BUFFALOES
My account of the ceremonial accompanying the migration from one
village to another is unfortunately very incomplete. The following
accounts were given by Teivali men, and I cannot guarantee that they
hold good for both divisions and for all clans.
When it is decided to move to a fresh village certain men are chosen to
help in the removal, and are told to come on the appointed day, which
must not be one of the sacred days of the village (see Chap. XVII). On
the morning of this day the palikartmokh abstains from food. He does
the ordinary work of his dairy, and gives out buttermilk and butter to
the women as usual. He then calls to the chosen men who have come to
the village, and they stand outside the door of the dairy. The
palikartmokh comes out, holding in his right hand the milking-vessel
(irkartpun) and churning-stick (madth). He stands facing the sun, and
salutes holding the vessel and churn to his forehead, and says “ekirzam
meidjam,” the kwarzam of Teikirzi and Tirshti. Then all present pray,
using the prayer of the dairy. The palikartmokh puts the milking-vessel
and the churning-stick at the back of the dairy (the palimerkal), and
then brings the other dairy things, carrying out those of the patatmar
first and then those of the ertatmar. Two stout sticks are prepared,
each called pütusht, and the various objects of the patatmar are
fastened on one stick and those of the ertatmar on the other, in the
way shown in Figs. 29 and 30. [37] When the things have been fastened
on the sticks, all go to the front of the huts of the village and take
food, after which the procession starts. It is headed by the buffaloes,
followed by the dairyman and the men carrying the dairy vessels. Each
of the latter carries the staff on his left shoulder and has the right
arm out of the mantle. The man carrying the things of the patatmar
walks in front of the man carrying those of the ertatmar, as shown in
the figures. After the buffaloes, the dairyman, and the dairy vessels,
there follow any men who are accompanying the procession, and if all
the inhabitants of the village are migrating, the women and children
follow the men.
On leaving the village the women and girls may have to go for a certain
distance by a different path from that taken by the buffaloes, but
during the greater part of the journey there does not seem to be any
regulation to prevent the women following in the wake of the sacred
animals.
On reaching the new village, the palikartmokh purifies the dairy by
throwing into it water mixed with tudr bark. [38] The dairy things are
taken off the sticks at an appointed spot. The palikartmokh salutes the
sun with irkarthpun and madth as in the morning, and then all pray.
After the prayer, the palikartmokh takes some ferns (taf) and puts them
on the place within the dairy where the things of the patatmar are to
stand, and these are put in their places on the ferns. The things of
the ertatmar are then arranged in the same way. The palikartmokh makes
fire by friction, lights the lamp, and then goes to milk the buffaloes.
If he has brought milk with him, he will churn it. Meanwhile a ceremony
called nòtiteiti will have been performed by a little girl about six or
seven years of age in those cases in which all the inhabitants of the
village are migrating. Before leaving the village from which the people
are coming this girl will have been given food in the dairy. On
reaching the new place, the girl plucks three blades of the slender
grass called kakar and goes to the front of the dairy and sweeps the
threshold with the grass. She does this with her right arm outside her
cloak, and when she has swept she bows down with her forehead to the
threshold three times. If there is more than one dairy, she sweeps the
threshold of each. The palikartmokh then gives her a small handful of
butter and the girl goes to the huts. Up to this time the women will
have been waiting near the village, but when they see that the girl has
performed her ceremony, they go to the huts and prepare the food called
ashkkartpimi. [39]
When the palikartmokh has finished milking, he also prepares food, and
when it is ready he throws some into the fire, tòrtütrsersthi, “food
into the fire he throws,” and then gives out the food to the people,
and they eat both this and that prepared by the women.
At some places the ceremonial is more complicated than at others, the
degree of elaboration depending on the sacredness of the dairy to which
the buffaloes are going. When they migrate to the especially sacred
village of Kiudr the extra complexity seems to depend on the presence
of the bells of the dairy of that village. When the palikartmokh
reaches Kiudr, he puts the dairy things he has brought with him at the
back of the dairy. Another palikartmokh goes into the inner room and
brings out the bells called patatmani and lays them by stones called
neurzülnkars at one side of the dairy (see Fig. 31). He enters again
and brings out four ertatmani, which he lays by the side of another
group of stones called neurzülnkars (see Fig. 32). The second
palikartmokh then purifies the dairy with tudr bark and puts the
vessels which have been brought to Kiudr in their places on a bed of
ferns in the way which has been described. After all the vessels are in
their places, he takes the patatmani to the dairy stream, while the
first palikartmokh brings tudr bark. The tudr bark is pounded and the
juice squeezed over the bells. The two patatmani, having thus been
purified, are then put on a forked stick and carried to their usual
place in the dairy. The same procedure is repeated with the ertatmani,
which are strung on a piece of bamboo and hung on another piece of
bamboo which projects from the wall on the ertat side of the dairy.
Then milk is put on the patatmani and buttermilk on the ertatmani as
usual.
MIGRATION OF THE TI BUFFALOES
I obtained a very full account of the migration of the buffaloes of the
Nòdrs ti and will first give an account of the proceedings for this
herd.
The Toda year begins during October with the ceremony of teutütusthchi
(see Chap. XIII) and at this time the buffaloes should be standing at
Mòdr, near Paikara. Soon after this ceremony, the herd goes to Anto,
the most important and sacred of the ti places. They stay here for a
month and then go to Majòdr, not far from Makurti Peak, where they stay
during the dry season, stopping about three months or longer, according
to the nature of the weather. It is often not until May is reached that
the buffaloes return to Mòdr and stay there till August, when they
cross the Paikara river to the two dairies, Òdrtho and Kudreiil, on the
opposite bank. The tiir stay at Òdrtho and the warsir at Kudreiil for a
month and then both return to Mòdr.
In 1902 this plan was very much disturbed. In order to go from Mòdr to
Òdrtho and Kudreiil the herds and their attendants have to cross the
river, and under no circumstances is the palol allowed to cross by the
bridge. He usually watches his opportunity till the river is low enough
at a certain ford to allow him to cross, but the summer of 1902 was
unusually wet and the river was never sufficiently low to allow the
passage, and in consequence Òdrtho and Kudreiil were not visited in
that year.
Later it was arranged that the migration to Anto should take place on
November 2nd. I was told that I might accompany the procession for part
of the way, and was looking forward greatly to the occasion, as it was
evident that it was my only chance of seeing and photographing the
contents of the dairy. As the day approached, the migration was
postponed because Teitnir, who was celebrating the funeral ceremonies
of his wife and was therefore ichchil, had crossed the way by which the
procession would have to pass. The ceremony was next arranged for
November 23rd, but was then further postponed till the 30th. This was
the last Sunday before the day on which I intended to leave the hills,
and again I made arrangements to see the proceedings. No sooner had I
done so than I was told that the procession was postponed for a week
and was to take place on the day after I had left Ootacamund. I at once
altered my plans and arranged to see the procession on December 7th. A
new obstacle at once intervened, and I was told that the journey to
Anto was deferred indefinitely, and, as I learnt afterwards from
Samuel, the buffaloes did not go to Anto at all that year, but went
direct from Mòdr to Majòdr on Wednesday, January 7th. All this occurred
after the misfortunes had happened to which I have already
referred—misfortunes which were believed to be the direct consequence
of my investigations—and it seemed quite clear that the various
postponements and final abandonment of the journey to Anto were due to
the fear that some misfortune might befall the sacred herd if I saw the
procession.
It will be noticed that the herd of the Nòdrs ti may pass the greater
part of the year at Mòdr, which is not one of the three most ancient
dairies of the ti. It has become the most frequented because it is the
most convenient, occupying a more central situation than most of the
other dairies. Majòdr is also not one of the most ancient dairies, but
is visited purely on account of grazing necessities. Anto and Òdrtho,
the two out of the three places given originally by Teikirzi according
to the legend, are visited not from necessity, but on account of their
sanctity, and, as we have seen, it may happen under exceptional
circumstances that neither place may be visited and the whole year
passed at Mòdr and Majòdr.
It is only when going to Anto and Òdrtho that some of the most
remarkable features of the buffalo migration ceremonies are carried
out, and if these dairies should fall into disuse, as would seem not
improbable, these features of the migration ceremonies would certainly
vanish.
As we have seen, the migration to the relatively unimportant dairy of
Majòdr may take place on a Wednesday, but when going to the more
important places a Sunday must be chosen. The orthodox day is the first
Sunday after the new moon, but so far as I could gather from the
various days appointed for the migration during my visit there is no
very strict adherence to the rule. A week before the migration a second
kaltmokh is appointed who goes through the customary ordination
ceremony. It is also arranged that a Melgars man (mòrol) shall come to
carry some of the contents of the dairy. When the buffaloes are going
either to Anto or Òdrtho it is absolutely necessary that a mòrol shall
be present, who goes in front of both palol and kaltmokh and has
certain well defined duties. The procession may also be accompanied by
any Toda who has no ichchil and these people may help in driving the
buffaloes and in carrying the less important things from the dairy.
Badagas may also accompany the procession.
The day of the migration is called irnödrthnol, and on the morning of
this day the churning is done as usual, and sufficient milk is drawn to
provide as much as can be safely carried in one of the persin without
spilling it. All who take part in the procession must go without food
on the morning of this day, and the palol does not take buttermilk as
usual. The various objects which are to be taken with the buffaloes are
brought out of the dairy and laid by a stone called the pepkusthkars,
which in some places, and possibly everywhere, is in or near the wall
of the tu.
The dairy vessels are carried according to well-defined rules. The
things of the inner room and the intermediate objects, the lamp and the
idrkwoi, are carried by the palol. The mòrol carries some of the things
of the outer room and one of the horns. The two kaltmokh carry the
other things of the outer room, the other horns and their own
possessions.
The dairy vessels, &c., are carried by each man on a staff cut from the
mòrs tree, the staff being called pepkati (the pütusht of the village
migration). Each of the persin and alug is fixed on the staff by
placing it on a roll of kakhudri, called a tedshk, round which six
pieces of the string called twadrinar are tied. The six strings are
passed round the vessel and fastened to the staff. The palol fastens on
the three persin in such a way that when the staff is on his shoulder
two of the vessels will be in front of him and the other behind his
back, one of the vessels in front containing milk. The tòrzum are
placed on the top of the persin as when they are in the dairy, and the
persinkudriki is carried in the peptòrzum. The kwoi is fastened on in
front, and the kòghlag and wands are placed along the staff. The lamp
is put inside the idrkwoi and the latter tied to the end of the stick,
so that it is behind the back of the palol when being carried. Care is
taken that an interval is left between the idrkwoi and the other
things; even when being carried from one dairy to another the objects
intermediate between those of the inner and those of the outer room are
kept separate from and not allowed to touch the more sacred vessels of
the inner room. The staff with its burdens is carried by the palol on
his left shoulder in the same way as is shown in Fig. 29, illustrating
the method of carrying the things of the village dairy.
The mani is carried by the palol on his right side. A staff of kiaz
wood is cut, about five cubits (mogoi) in length, which must be
perfectly straight with a fork at one end. The bell is covered
completely with kiaz leaves tied with rattan fastenings, and put on the
fork of the staff by its ring. The staff is carried upright in the
right hand of the palol; if he becomes tired he may rest it on his
shoulder, but this must be done in such a way that the forked end of
the stick carrying the bell comes in front of his body, otherwise the
palol would be presenting his back to the sacred object.
At the Nòdrs ti there is an exception to the ordinary rule in the case
of the mani of the tiir. It will be remembered that this bell is
reputed to have been born in a persin during the migration from Amnòdr,
and the bell is therefore carried in one of the persin during the
migration from one dairy to another. In its place the palol of the tiir
carries in his right hand the churning stick with its churning end
upwards.
The mani is the only object of the inner room which is covered with
leaves, so that it may not be exposed to the vulgar gaze. The lamp is
also hidden from view within the idrkwoi, but I do not know whether
this is for the same reason or merely because it is a convenient way of
carrying it.
The mòrol carries the large earthenware vessels of the outer room
(alug), which are at least four in number. They are tied on a staff by
means of tedshk in the same manner as are the persin. This is done by
the kaltmokh, who puts the staff and its burden on the left shoulder of
the mòrol, taking particular care that the vessels do not touch the
man. The mòrol carries one of the horns in his right hand.
Before the procession starts each mani is hung on the neck of a calf,
left on for a minute or so, taken off and put on its staff. The mani of
the tiir called Persin is put on the neck of a two-year-old calf of the
unir, and that of the warsir, Keu, is put on the neck of one of the
perithir.
If any dairy vessels or implements are not taken with the buffaloes,
they are not left in the dairy, but hidden in a wood.
The procession then starts with the mòrol at its head. In some cases a
halt is made when passing certain places, and prayer is offered by the
palol. In going from Mòdr to Anto the procession stops first at Pòrstib
near Tedshteiri village (belonging to the Nòdrsol), where the wars
palol puts the staff carrying the mani on a stone and prays while
touching the staff with his hands. The next halt is made at Ponvtüt,
where the buffaloes separate from the palol and follow a slightly
different route, and here the wars palol again prays. The procession
halts for a third time at a place called Teirpül, near Anto, but this
time it is the ti palol who prays after having placed the churning
stick and bell on a stone.
On its way to Anto the procession passes near the village of Kiudr.
When the buffaloes are seen to be coming, the women leave the house and
go to the outskirts of the village, taking with them the pounder, sieve
and broom, and wait there while the procession is going by. All the
people of Kiudr fast on this day till after the buffaloes have passed.
It was said that on this day the palikartmokh of Kiudr used to rub
clarified butter on the stones called neurzülnkars, but there was some
doubt about this, and if the custom ever existed it seems to have
fallen into disuse.
According to some accounts, certain clauses especially referring to the
migration of the ti buffaloes are used in the prayer of the Kiudr dairy
(see Chap. X).
On reaching the outskirts of the new place, the Todas who have
accompanied the procession go away. The staff carried by the mòrol is
taken off by the kaltmokh, who is again very careful that the vessels
do not touch their bearer. Although the mòrol is allowed to carry some
of the less sacred vessels, care is taken throughout that the vessels
shall not be contaminated by touching his body or his clothing.
All the dairy vessels are taken off and laid by a stone called the
perskars, and then follows the ceremony of peputi. Each palol has
carried with him some milk in one of the persin. Some of this is poured
into the peptòrzum [40] and given to certain buffaloes, one of each
kind belonging to the ti; thus, at the Nòdrs ti, the milk is given to
five buffaloes, to three by one palol and to two by the other. The milk
may be given to buffaloes directly from the tòrzum, or it may be poured
into the hands of the palol from which the appointed buffaloes drink.
The next business is the purification of the dairy, called nòdrkorsi
arspishpimi—i.e., we wash with nòdrkorsi. The palol goes to the dairy
spring or kwoinir with the karitòrzum, carrying the kwoinörtpet under
his left arm. He throws tudr bark into the spring, fills the karitòrzum
and returns. He puts tudr bark into the karitòrzum and also into the
idrkwoi and then pours the water from the karitòrzum into the idrkwoi,
which he takes to the dairy and throws the water with his hands first
over the dairy vessels and then well into the dairy itself so that it
penetrates to the inner room. He throws the water first on the floor,
then to the roof and to the sides, three times to each. Next he takes
three sprigs of the plant ordinarily called kabudri (Euphorbia
Rothiana), but at the ti called nòdrkorsi and ties it over the door of
the dairy.
The dairy vessels, which have been untied and placed on the ground near
the perskars, are then purified and put in their places. The palol
first takes up the peptòrzum with the persinkudriki within it, the
kòghlag, the kwoi and kwoinörtpet, all in the right hand, and carries
them to the front of the dairy, where he repeats certain kwarzam of the
prayer, then turns to the east and says the whole prayer of the dairy,
salutes the dairy holding the four things to his forehead, enters, puts
the things except the kwoinörtpet in their places, comes out with the
kwoinörtpet under his left arm and without turning his back to the
interior of the dairy, and shuts the door of the building. He then
takes in the other vessels of the inner room, carrying the kwoinörtpet
under his left arm and without repeating the prayer. One persin is
taken in first, then the others, the karitòrzum and the tedshk. Then
the mani is taken, being carried in the right hand and laid temporarily
on the floor near the persin; when taking in the bell certain kwarzam
are said.
The wand called pohvet is next taken in and laid in its place, and then
the things intermediate between the inner and outer room—viz., the
lamp, which is hung in its place, and the idrkwoi, which is put exactly
at the line of junction of the two rooms.
After this the things of the outer room are put in their places. Fire
is made by friction, and the tòratthwaskal lighted, light transferred
from this to the pelkkatitthwaskal, and with the fire so made the palol
lights the lamp.
In most cases the buffaloes are then milked, but at Anto and Òdrtho,
before milking, the palol begins an extraordinary ceremony, in which
the kaltmokh is concerned, which is continued till the following day.
For this ceremony food is especially prepared by the palol. He mixes
husked grain (patcherski), brought by the Badagas who accompany the
procession, with buttermilk and jaggery, [41] spreads butter on the
mixture, and, putting it on a kakud leaf, takes it out to one of the
two kaltmokh who is sitting in a given place about ten yards from the
dairy. The kaltmokh must now stay on this spot till the evening.
After the palol has milked, he takes food himself and gives it to the
mòrol. Before going to rest for the night a ceremony is performed
called irtupadrchiti, “he prays for the buffaloes at the tu.” The two
palol go to the front of the tu [42] in which the buffaloes have been
put for the night and they pray, using the kwarzam of the ti and of the
gods only. They then go to the sleeping hut, where the second kaltmokh
has swept the floor and prepared a fire. When the palol come to the hut
they bawl out in a high key three times and the kaltmokh does the same
and they go to bed, the two palol occupying one bed (tün) and the mòrol
and the second kaltmokh the other. After they have been in the hut some
time, the first kaltmokh, who has been sitting till now outside at the
place where he was given food, creeps into the hut and lies down to
sleep between the two beds without any covering. No notice of him must
be taken by the other occupants of the hut.
The following day is called punirsnol. In the early morning, before the
others are awake, the first kaltmokh must get up, light the fire, warm
himself, and then go out and sit on the same spot as on the previous
evening. He remains there till the two palol come to him to continue
the ceremony in which he is concerned.
When the palol rise they do their usual work, and when they have milked
they perform a ceremony called karkutkîrsiti, [43] in which the calves
are prayed for in the same way that the buffaloes were prayed for on
the previous evening. The second kaltmokh collects the calves in the
pepkarmus, or milking-place of the buffaloes, and the two palol, each
with empty kwoi and with kwoinörtpet, pray as on the previous evening
using the kwarzam of the ti and some of the kwarzam of the gods, and
then bawl out in a high key three times in order to scatter the calves.
The ceremony with the kaltmokh is then continued. Each of the palol
takes the vessel used for ladling buttermilk (mòrkudriki); one palol
fills his vessel with the milk of punir and the other fills with nei
(clarified butter). Each leaves his dairy, and they both call to the
kaltmokh, who comes to the threshold of the ti poh, and stands there
while the two palo, mix the milk and nei. The kaltmokh is then told to
hold out his hands, and each palol pours out the mixture into the hands
of the boy, who rubs it over his head first, and then all over his
body. After the kaltmokh has thus been bathed in milk and nei, the
three people walk in procession to the spot where the kaltmokh had been
sitting, the kaltmokh going first, followed by the wars palol and the
ti palol in order. As they walk, the two palol say the following
words:—
Köda mâ; pîrzi puti vurmâ; pob ers vurmâ; per
die may (he); tiger catch (him) may; snake bite (him) may; steep hill
pûdith vurmâ pâkh pûdith vurmâ pudi eri
fall down (on him) may; river fall (on him) may [44]; wild boar bite
mâ; kâdr pat mâ; kedrman par mâ.
may; wild beast hold (catch him) may; bear carry (him) away may.
When they come to the spot where the kaltmokh had been given the food,
the boy remains standing there while the two palol turn round and walk
back in the dairy, saying:—
Köda mâ, idvaik, ultâmâ; pîrzi par mâ,
die may (he), as was said, may he be well; tiger carry away may,
idvaik, para vômâ; per pur mâ, idvaik, puva
as was said, carry away may not; steep hill fall may, as was said, fall
vômâ; pòb eri mâ, idvaik, eria vômâ; pâkh pur mâ,
may not; snake bite may, as was said, bite may not; river fall may,
idvaik, puva vômâ; kâdr pat mâ, idvaik, pata
as was said, fall may not; wild beast catch may, as was said, catch
vômâ; kedrman par mâ, idvaik, para vômâ;
may not; bear carry away may, as was said, carry away may not;
pudi eri mâ, idvaik, eria vômâ.
wild boar bite may, as was said, bite may not.
The ti palol then enters his dairy and brings out an especially large
ball of the food called ashkkartpimi, more than can possibly be eaten
at one sitting. It is given to the kaltmokh, who sits on the same spot
as before, and eats as much of it as he can.
All this ceremony has been done after milking, and before drinking
buttermilk (kaizhvatiti), which is now poured out by the second
kaltmokh for the palol, who then go about their usual business. When
the first kaltmokh has eaten as much as he can of his ball of food he
leaves it on the spot where he has been sitting, and goes with the
palol. The Todas say that the food left behind will never be touched by
the crows, who will eat any other food.
In the afternoon the palol transact their ordinary dairy business and
the kaltmokh returns to his place and resumes the consumption of his
ball of food, staying on the spot till the end of the day. When the two
palol have gone into the sleeping hut for the night, the kaltmokh goes
into the hut after them and may then talk to the other occupants, and
after this follows the usual routine.
During the whole of this ceremony the kaltmokh, who takes so prominent
a part in it, is called the neurzutpol.
At the other dairies of the Nòdrs ti a ceremony which is obviously
closely connected with that which has been described is performed at
certain stones called neurzülnkars. At Mòdr there are four of these
stones (shown in Fig. 33), and three of them are rounded and worn quite
smooth, probably by much repetition of the ceremony about to be
described.
On the day following the migration each palol takes a mòrkudriki, which
one fills with milk and the other with butter (pen, not nei, as when
rubbed on the kaltmokh). The two palol put milk on the stones and then
rub them with butter. There is no cursing and the kaltmokh plays no
part in the ceremony. There can be little doubt that the stones are
regarded as taking the place of the kaltmokh, for while the latter is
performing his ceremony he is called neurzutpol, and the stones
anointed in the same way are called neurzülnkars.
The ceremony with the kaltmokh which follows the migration to the
dairies of Anto and Òdrtho is one of the most extraordinary of Toda
ceremonies. The leading feature of the ceremony appears to be the
cursing of the kaltmokh, followed immediately by the removal of the
curse. I was wholly unable to obtain any explanation of the ceremony
from the Todas, but it seems probable that the kaltmokh is being made
responsible for any offence which may have been committed against the
very sacred dairies of Anto and Òdrtho. The kaltmokh having been
cursed, and so made responsible, the curse is then removed in order to
avoid the evil consequences which would befall the boy if this were not
done.
It is possible that the kaltmokh is chosen as the person to be made
responsible merely because he is the most convenient person to act as
the recipient of any evil consequences. It is, however, probable that
on this day the kaltmokh does something which he does not do on
ordinary days, and thus commits an offence which has to be expiated. On
the day of migration the kaltmokh does, as a matter of fact, see the
sacred vessels of the inner room which are ordinarily hidden from his
gaze behind the screen of the dairy. He sees the mani in its leafy
covering, and he may even see the bell itself before it is covered. He
also touches some of the vessels of the outer room which he does not
ordinarily touch, and it may be that the cursing and other features of
the ceremony are intended to obviate the possible evil consequences of
these acts. At the ancient and sacred dairies of Anto and Òdrtho the
ceremony is still carried out in its entirety, but at other dairies
many of the chief features of the ceremony have disappeared and all
that remains is the anointing of the neurzülnkars, which take the place
of the head of the kaltmokh.
When the kaltmokh comes into the sleeping hut on the first night of the
ceremony, my informants laid great stress on the fact that the other
occupants of the hut must take no notice of the boy, who creeps in
after the others have taken their places on the beds, and he must go
out in the morning before they show signs of waking. It is probable
that the boy had originally to sit all the night in the open air at the
appointed spot, and though he is now allowed to come into the hut, no
notice is taken of him because theoretically he is not there. It is
quite in accordance with Toda ideas that this should be done and other
instances of similar procedure will be given.
Another noteworthy feature of the ceremony is the act of giving the
kaltmokh a larger portion of food than can possibly be consumed at one
meal. This feature occurs in other Toda ceremonies, and especially in
connexion with the ordination of the palol, to be described in the next
chapter. I know nothing of the significance of this procedure.
At some time during the day following the arrival at the new ti mad,
the dairy is well cleansed with dried buffalo-dung. Soon after the
migration—on the following Wednesday at the Nòdrs ti and on Sunday at
the Kars and the Pan ti—a special ceremony called ponup is performed,
in which salt is given to certain sacred buffaloes, but this will be
described, together with the other salt-giving ceremonies, in Chapter
VIII.
The Melgars man who accompanies the procession of the Nòdrs ti stays at
Anto till the following Wednesday; at other places he only stays till
the day after the procession. The Toda way of putting this is that at
Anto he stays erdpunrs—i.e., “two punrs.” One punrs is a day and its
next day, so that erdpunrs is equal to four days. At other places the
Melgars man stays only one punrs—i.e., he leaves the ti mad on the day
following the migration.
The foregoing account applies to the Nòdrs ti. The general procedure is
the same at the migration of other herds, but the ceremonial is, in
general, less elaborate. At no other ti is there anything corresponding
to the ceremonies in which the kaltmokh plays so important a part, and
at no other ti is it absolutely necessary that a mòrol should take part
in the procession, though, as a matter of fact, he usually also leads
the way at the migrations of the Pan ti.
At the Kars ti the buffaloes pass the greater part of the year at
Makars. They usually go to Neradr, where they stay about a month, and
then go to Kòn for the dry season, returning to Makars in April.
Sometimes they again stop at Neradr on their way from Kòn to Makars. It
is probable that when the sacred dairy of Enòdr was still in use the
ceremonial was more elaborate than it is at present. In the legend of
Kwoto (see Chap. IX) an account is given of a ceremonial which occurred
in former times during the migration from Kòn to Enòdr, and it is
possible that this persisted until Enòdr was given up as a ti mad.
The herds of the Pan ti usually migrate with those of the Kars ti. They
stand during the greater part of the year at Kudòdr, near Makars, and
go to Neradr and Kòn as the dry season approaches.
In the case of the Pan ti, it seems that the bells travel on the necks
of buffaloes; the mani called Kòsi on the neck of a buffalo called
Kòsi, Pongg on a buffalo called Enmars, and Keituzan on one called
Kòjiu. In this procession a mòrol goes first, followed by the tars
palol, the wars palol, and the two kaltmokh in order.
At the present time there are no migrations of the buffaloes of the
Kwòdrdoni ti or of the Nidrsi ti, and I have no information about the
past. At Pursas, the present dairy of the Kwòdrdoni ti, there is a
stone called neurzülnkars. I was told that nothing was done to it in
connexion with the migrations of the buffaloes, but that it was rubbed
with clarified butter and milk whenever the irnörtiti ceremony (see
Chap. XIII) was performed at the ti.
CHAPTER VII
ORDINATION CEREMONIES
Before a dairyman enters upon office he has to undergo certain initial
rites, which may fitly be spoken of as “ordination ceremonies.” These
ceremonies vary greatly in their elaborateness, according to the dairy
in which the candidate is to serve.
In the case of the ordinary dairyman, or palikartmokh, the proceedings
are simple and may be accomplished in a few minutes, while for the
highest grade of the priesthood they are extremely elaborate and
prolonged over more than a week.
The essential feature of all the ordination ceremonies is a process of
purification by drinking and washing with the water of a stream or
spring used for sacred purposes only (palinipa or kwoinir). In every
case the water is drunk out of certain leaves, and the body is rubbed
with water mixed with the juice of young shoots or bark.
A general name for ordination is pelkkodichiti or pelkkatthtiti, “lamp
he lights.” This name is derived from the fact that the first act in
connexion with the dairy work which a new dairyman has to perform is to
light the lamp of the dairy. The former of the two names given above
was used especially in the case of the ordinary dairy and the latter in
the case of the ti, but I am doubtful whether there is any strict
limitation of the terms in these senses.
Another general name used for the ceremony of ordination is niròditi,
which in a more limited sense is applied to the drinking and
purification at the dairy stream or spring which is the essential
feature of the ceremony. This term was very often used for the ceremony
of ordination to the office of palol.
THE PALIKARTMOKH
The ceremony of ordination of the palikartmokh is called pelkkodichiti
and very often muliniròditi, the latter being derived from the muli
leaves used in the ceremony. The ordination may take place on Sunday,
Wednesday, or Saturday. On the day before the ceremony the candidate
goes to the dairy, takes his food there, and sleeps at night in the
outer room. His food is prepared and given to him either by the
outgoing palikartmokh or by some other man holding this office.
On the morning of the ceremony the candidate washes his hands in the
pali nipa and goes to the front of the dairy, having a piece of the
ordinary mantle round his waist. The assisting palikartmokh will have
placed a small piece of the dark cloth called tuni on the threshold of
the dairy, this small piece being called petuni. The candidate bows
down (nersatiti), as in Fig. 20, at the threshold to the petuni, which
he then raises to his forehead and puts in the string of his kuvn on
the left side.
The candidate then plucks seven leaves of the kind called muliers—i.e.,
leaves of a plant called muli (Rubus ellipticus). This plant is also
often called pelkkodsthmul, after the ceremony in which it is used. He
also plucks a handful of young shoots or nan of the same plant, and
takes the leaves and shoots to the dairy stream. At the stream he
pounds the shoots with water on a stone, takes up some water from the
stream with the pounded shoots, drops this water into one of the leaves
three times, raises the leaf to his forehead, drinks (see Fig. 34),
throws the leaf over his head and puts the shoots down on one side.
When he squeezes the water from the shoots into the leaf-cup he holds
the former in his right hand and the latter in his left, but when about
to raise the leaf-cup to his forehead and drink he transfers it to his
right hand. The candidate then takes a fresh piece of the pounded
shoots and repeats with a second leaf, and so on till the seven leaves
are finished, throwing the leaf over his head in each case after
drinking.
He then takes all the pounded shoots which he has placed on one side,
dips them in water, rubs them over his face and body three times, and
puts them in his back hair, whence they are allowed to drop anywhere.
In the only case in which I saw this ceremony I noticed that they
remained in the hair till the end of the day.
The candidate then goes to the dairy, bows down at the threshold as in
Fig. 20, and enters. If there are two rooms, he bows down in the same
way at the threshold of the inner room. If there is a mani, he salutes
it (kaimukhti) with hand to forehead. He next bows down to the patatmar
and to the ertatmar, and finally touches a vessel of the ertatmar,
usually the majpariv, and a vessel of the patatmar, the patat, and by
doing this becomes a full palikartmokh. He proceeds to light the fire
and the lamp and goes to milk the buffaloes.
There are a few small points in which the ordination of a Teivali
dairyman differs from that of the Tartharol. The Teivaliol use three
pieces of the grass called kakar, with which the candidate sweeps the
threshold of the dairy before bowing down and entering, the grass being
left on the threshold. Among the Teivaliol also the place of the petuni
may be taken by the special kind of cloth called twadrinar, which is
manufactured by the Todas, and in the case in which I saw the ceremony,
the candidate wore this instead of petuni. The Tartharol must use
petuni.
In the only case in which I saw this ceremony the ordination was to a
Teivali dairy and the candidate was completely naked except for the
kuvn. The Tarthar tarpalikartmokh wears part of an ordinary mantle as a
loincloth during his ordination. The ceremony is the same for the
kudrpalikartmokh as for the tarvalikartmokh, except that the former is
quite unclothed except for the kuvn and that he alone has a mani to
salute.
THE WURSOL
The ceremony begins either on Tuesday or Friday and lasts two days. On
the first day the candidate goes early in the morning to the ordinary
dairy of the village at which he is to be wursol; at Kars he goes to
the kudrpali. He receives food from the palikartmokh and eats it
sitting on the seat (kwottün) outside the dairy. He stays near the
dairy till the afternoon. When the palikartmokh has finished his
afternoon work and has distributed butter and buttermilk, one of the
men of the village comes to the candidate and says, “Niròd!” The
candidate throws off his cloak and is given either a full tuni or a
piece of this garment called petuni. The palikartmokh then stands in
front of the door of his dairy, and the candidate stands opposite to
him and asks three times “Tunivatkina?”—“Shall I put on the tuni?” The
palikartmokh replies each time “Vat!”—“Put on!” Then the candidate
raises the garment to his forehead and if he has been given a complete
tuni he puts it on; if only a petuni he puts it in the string of his
kuvn. This string is ordinarily called pennar, but is now called kerk,
and this part of the ceremony is called kerkatiti. The fact that this
name is given seems to indicate that properly the complete garment
should not be given till a later stage of the proceedings.
The candidate then finds seven leaves called muliers and seven shoots
or nan of the same plant and goes through exactly the same ceremony at
the stream as in the ordination of palikartmokh, putting the shoots in
his back hair at the end. This part of the ceremony is called
muliniròditi, and its object is to make the candidate a palikartmokh as
a step towards becoming wursol. He is taken through the lower degree on
his way to the higher.
After muliniròditi the candidate goes to the wall of the dairy and
stands outside it. The palikartmokh brings a firebrand from the dairy
and lights with it a fire of muli wood, at which the candidate warms
himself. The firebrand must be one of the three following kinds—kid,
pasòr or kiaz. After warming himself, the candidate goes to fetch bark
of the tudr tree, which must not be cut, but knocked off with a stone.
He also brings seven perfect tudr leaves, and goes again to the dairy
stream. He pounds the bark on a stone and dips it in water, squeezes
the water into one of the tudr leaves, drinks, throws over his head and
puts the bark on one side exactly in the same way as before, but using
tudr bark and leaves instead of the shoots and leaves of muli. After
doing this seven times he dips the pounded bark in water, sprinkles his
head and face three times, puts the bark in his hair, and, going a
little way off, shakes his head.
The candidate then goes again to find bark and leaves of tudr, and
repeats the whole ceremony and continues to repeat it till he has done
it seven times—i.e., he drinks out of the tudr leaves seven times
seven. After this he goes to the wood near the stream (at Kars, called
Tarskars) and the palikartmokh comes to him there with the ertatpun
filled with buttermilk, and with four leaves of the kind called
kakuders. Two leaves are given to the candidate and two kept by the
dairyman, and each folds the leaves in the usual way to make a cup
(ersteiti). The dairyman then puts the ertatpun between his thighs and,
holding it there, depresses it so that he can pour buttermilk into his
leaf-cup; from this he pours into the leaf-cup of the candidate who
then drinks, and this is repeated till the latter is satisfied. The
palikartmokh brings food and fire from the dairy and both stay in the
wood for the night, being allowed to have companions. The place where
they sleep is called tavarpali.
In the morning the candidate again goes for tudr bark and leaves, and
carries out the whole ceremony seven times as on the previous evening.
He then goes to the tavarpali and waits there till the palikartmokh has
finished his morning work, when the candidate again receives buttermilk
and food. Then both go out together to look after the buffaloes.
When they return in the afternoon the candidate goes to the dairy
stream and bathes from head to foot. This bathing is called
tudraspipini (tudr I have washed), its object being to wash off the
tudr bark previously used. After this he takes a piece of the cloth
called twadrinar and, using it as a girdle in addition to that he
already wears, he goes to the wall of the dairy while the palikartmokh
digs up a vessel called mu which is buried in the buffalo pen. (At Kars
the mu which is used is that of the tarvali.) The palikartmokh then
puts the mu on the ground and stands by it. The candidate asks three
times, “Muvatkina?” “Shall I touch the mu?” and the palikartmokh
replies each time “Muvat!” The candidate then touches the mu, and by
doing so becomes a full wursol. The mu is reburied by the palikartmokh.
All the ceremonies so far have taken place at or near the ordinary
dairy, either tarvali or kudrpali, or at the stream belonging to one or
other of these dairies. The candidate now for the first time goes to
the dairy in which he is to be wursol (the wursuli) and prostrates
himself at the threshold. He next enters and prostrates himself to the
patatmar and then to the ertatmar. He takes up and puts in its place
one of the vessels of the ertatmar and then one of the vessels of the
patatmar. He salutes the mani (kaimukhti), lights the fire and the lamp
and prays, using the prayer of the village. He then cleans the vessels
and goes to milk, doing mani terzantirikiti with the first milk as
usual.
I was especially told that if the candidate for the office of wursol
wishes to scratch his head during his ordination ceremonies he must do
so with a stick, but this is probably a feature of all ordination
rites.
In the case of the wursol, it seemed that there is a difference in the
ceremonial according to whether the dairy is occupied or not when the
new dairyman enters upon office. The foregoing account applies to the
case in which the dairy is already occupied and the new dairyman
replaces another, so that there is no break in the continuity of the
dairy proceedings. If the dairy should be unoccupied, I was told that
the candidate would have to sleep for two nights in the wood, and there
would almost certainly be additional purifications, but I did not learn
the exact nature of the proceedings in this case.
Though I was only told of this difference of procedure in the case of
the wursol, it is not unlikely that there is a corresponding difference
of procedure in the case of other dairies when the dairy has been
unoccupied. There will certainly be a ceremony of purification of the
dairy, such as takes place when the buffaloes migrate to a new village,
and probably the dairy vessels will also have to be purified.
THE KUGVALIKARTMOKH OF TARADR AND THE POHKARTPOL OF KANÒDRS
The ordination ceremonies of these two dairymen appear to be almost
identical. So far as I could ascertain, the feature which the
kugvalikartmokh of Taradr and the pohkartpol of Kanòdrs have in common
is that they serve institutions to which a high degree of sanctity is
attached. The ritual of both dairies bears some resemblance to that of
the ti and, as we have already seen, the regulations for the conduct of
the pohkartpol are, in some respects, even more stringent than those of
the palol.
The kugvalikartmokh is ordained either on Wednesday or Sunday, the
pohkartpol on Tuesday. On the night preceding the ordination the
candidate sleeps in the wood. Seven leaves are used of the following
kinds: pelkkodsthmul, [45] puthimul, änmul, takmul, kadakmul, tòrimul,
and pathanmul. One leaf of each kind is taken and the leaves pounded
together and used in the same way as the shoots of muli or the bark of
the tudr tree, water being dropped from them into leaves of puthimul.
The pounded leaves are then placed in the back hair as usual. This is
followed by the ceremony of drinking water three times out of a leaf
containing water and some buffalo-dung. The bark of the tudr tree is
then rubbed all over the body, though no tudr leaves are used for
drinking. The candidate attains his full office by touching a mu,
prostrates himself at his dairy, enters and begins his work as in the
dairies of a lower grade.
THE KALTMOKH
The ordination of the kaltmokh begins either on Sunday, Wednesday or
Thursday. In the case of a kaltmokh of the Nòdrs ti, the first part of
the ceremony takes place at the village of Nòdrs, while in some cases
it seems that the candidate may go to the same village of Òdr which is
visited by the palol during his ordination. I have no information about
the place of ordination in the case of the other ti dairies.
A boy who is to become kaltmokh of the Nòdrs ti goes to Nòdrs either on
Sunday, Wednesday, or Thursday, and, going to the ordinary dairy of
that place (tarvali), he is given water by the palikartmokh in the
vessel called pòlmachok. The boy washes his hands with this water and
puts on a tuni which the palikartmokh gives him, after saying the same
formula as in the ordination of wursol. He then does muliniròditi and
so reaches the grade of palikartmokh. This and the following ceremony
are done at a special stream at Nòdrs called niròdigudr. The
purification ceremony is then performed with tudr bark and leaves till
the candidate has drunk seven times seven. Food and buttermilk are
given by the palikartmokh, and then the boy together with the
palikartmokh and the wursol of Nòdrs pass the night in the wood near
that place.
The next morning the candidate goes to the ordination stream and washes
himself from head to foot. This is called tudraspipini, its object
being the same as in the ordination of the wursol. The boy next goes to
the front of the tarvali, where the palikartmokh gives him a special
string made of twadrinar, which he puts round his waist as kerk, and
then warms himself at a fire of muli wood. The palikartmokh brings a
mu, which the candidate touches with the same formalities as in the
ordination of wursol, and by so doing reaches the grade called
perkursol, which is of the same rank as that of wursol. The perkursol
then takes the mu into the tarvali, prostrating himself at the
threshold before entering. He prostrates himself to the patatmar and to
the ertatmar, puts the mu on the patatmar and comes out. He then goes
to the poh, or conical dairy of Nòdrs, prostrates himself at the
threshold, enters, and prostrates himself before patatmar, ertatmar
and, finally, before the mani. Up to the point of saluting the bell in
this way he keeps on the tuni but at this stage he throws it down and
comes out of the dairy naked (except for the kuvn), puts on the
ordinary cloak and goes to the dairy at which the ti buffaloes are
standing.
When he reaches the ti mad, the candidate goes to the palol, whom he
salutes with the words “îr kar ûdâ,” this salutation being called
pîrwadrikpini. He goes to the sleeping hut, prostrates himself before
the horns which are kept in this building, and then goes to the front
of the dairy. He is now perkursol, and in order that he shall become
full kaltmokh or tunitusthkaltmokh, the palol gives him a piece of tuni
(petuni). The boy asks three times, “Tunitusthvaskina?”—“Shall I go to
wash the tuni?”—to which the palol answers each time “Tusthva!”—“Wash,
go!” The boy takes the petuni to the stream for ordinary use (not the
kwoinir) and bathes from head to foot. He puts to himself three times
the question, “tunitoikina?” and laying the piece of tuni on a stone,
he pours water on it three times and returns with the petuni in his
hand to the palol who will be sitting on his pohvelkars in front of the
dairy. The palol asks three times, “Tunitusthpacha?”—“Have you returned
from washing the tuni?”—and each time the boy replies,
“tunitusthpuspini”—“I have come from washing the tuni.” Then both palol
and boy go to the front of the kadr in which the calves are kept and
the palol puts into the gate three bars (tasth), which shut the opening
of the enclosure. The boy asks three times, “Tasthvatkina?”—“Shall I
touch the tasth?”—and each time the palol replies “Tasthvat!” The boy,
who hitherto has been perkursol, now touches the tasth, and by so doing
attains the full rank of kaltmokh, and at once goes and pours
buttermilk (kaizhvatiti) for the palol.
The latter parts of the ordination ceremonies of the kaltmokh, from the
point at which he receives petuni from the palol to the touching of the
tasth, are always performed whenever the kaltmokh returns to the ti
after a journey in which it has been necessary to degrade himself to
the rank of perkursol (see p. 106). The initial stages of becoming a
kaltmokh are known in general as niròdibudnudr.
THE ORDINATION OF THE PALOL
In accordance with the fact that the palol belongs to the highest and
most sacred grade of the dairy-priesthood, we find that the ceremonies
preceding his entrance upon office are far more elaborate and prolonged
than for the minor grades.
In order that a Teivali man may become a candidate for the office of
palol he must first have gone through a preliminary qualifying ceremony
called tesherst. When the office of palol becomes vacant, the people of
the clan to which the ti belongs are restricted in their choice to
those men who have been through this ceremony. When one of these
qualified men has been selected, he then goes through the proper
ordination ceremonies, known as niròditi.
In the case of a palol of the Nòdrs ti, the niròditi ceremonies are
performed partly at Nòdrs, partly at Òdr, one of the most sacred
villages of the Nòdrs clan, and finally at the ti mad where he is to
hold office.
THE TESHERST CEREMONY
This qualifying ceremony for the office of palol is always performed by
a number of men at the same time. The number taking part must be three,
five, seven or nine. There seemed to be no doubt that it was not
permissible for four, six or eight men to perform the ceremony
together. One or two Todas told me that an even number of men might do
the ceremony, but all the more trustworthy witnesses were agreed that
there must be an uneven number, and on all the occasions of which I
could obtain records of actual ceremonies, an uneven number of men had
done tesherst together. The ceremony may not be performed while the
funeral ceremonies of any Teivali person are uncompleted.
At the time of my visit there were only nine or ten men who had been
through the tesherst ceremony, including those who were holding or had
held the office of palol. It was proposed that a number of the younger
men should perform the ceremony about this time, but it had to be
delayed till the second funeral ceremonies of two Teivali women had
been held.
The tesherst ceremony always begins on a Monday after the new moon. It
takes place at certain villages where people are living, and in all the
cases of which I obtained records it had been done at Kudrnakhum,
belonging to the Nòdrsol, or at Pushtar, belonging to the Taradrol.
People must be living at the village at the time the ceremony is
performed.
The candidates go to the village on Monday evening, accompanied by two
or three Nòdrs men. All go to a stream by a wood and the ceremony
begins after sunset, when all the candidates throw off their cloaks and
stand in a row. A man of the Nòdrs clan has a tuni in his hand and each
candidate asks three times, “Tunivatkina?”—“Shall I touch the
tuni?”—and each time the Nòdrs man replies, “Tunivat!” The first man in
the row touches the tuni and then the others in order. The Nòdrs man
then gives the tuni to the first man who touched it, and he tears it
into as many pieces as there are candidates, giving a piece to each
man, who puts it in the string of his kuvn. All then go in search of
the leaves of muli and each plucks seven leaves and seven shoots. They
go to the stream, one by one, and each drinks and rubs himself with the
shoots seven times, as in the ordination ceremony, and puts the shoots
in his back hair.
While they are doing this, the Nòdrs man will have made fire by
friction, using the wood of muli, and the men warm themselves at the
fire. Each man then goes in search of seven tudr leaves and tudr bark
and carries out the usual purification ceremony once only, drinking out
of each of the seven leaves, after which the men take food prepared by
another of the Nòdrs men, and all pass the night in the wood. Next
morning the men fetch tudr bark and leaves and repeat the drinking and
rubbing ceremony of the previous evening, but on this occasion each man
says “Teshniròdinem,” as he throws the leaf over his head after
drinking. All then bathe completely in the stream.
While they are doing this, the Nòdrs men have been cooking a large
amount of food, more than the candidates can readily eat, and an old
woman of the Tartharol who is to take part in the ceremony has bathed
and dressed in her best clothes and put on all the ornaments she can
procure: gold earrings, necklace, bracelets, and rings. When the men
have bathed, they wait till the message comes that the food is ready,
and then each man takes off his piece of tuni and his pennar and his
kuvn, so that he is completely naked. The Nòdrs man portions out the
food and puts it on tudr leaves, the portion for each man being more
than he can possibly eat at one sitting, and the portions of food are
given to the old woman, who sits down with her back to the men. Each
man goes up behind the back of the old woman, and she gives him his
portion of food by putting her hand behind her back so that she does
not look at him, and in doing so she says three times
“Teshtòrtudenk?”—“Tesh food have I not given?” The men take the food,
go into the thickest part of the wood and eat it. None of the food
prepared on this occasion may be eaten by the Nòdrs men or by the old
woman, but though the amount is excessive, the whole of it must be
eaten by the candidates during the day. After each man has eaten to the
full he may put on his cloak. The Nòdrs men and the old woman go back
to their villages and they must hold no communication of any kind with
the candidates after the food has been given. The men remain in the
wood all day, and when it is getting dark they go to the nearest
village at which any of them live, taking care that no one sees them on
the way.
One of the most remarkable features of this ceremony is the part taken
by the old woman. She must be one of the Tartharol; she must be past
the age of child-bearing, and she must never have had intercourse with
one of her own clan. In the last particular the word of the woman is
trusted, for it was said that she would never deceive in such a matter.
Every woman believed that if she did not speak the truth she would die,
and all those concerned in the ceremony would either die or have
serious illness. I was told that it was by no means easy to find a
woman who fulfilled this requirement, and in each of the cases of which
I have records the same woman officiated—viz. Naspilthi of Taradr (21).
Other remarkable features of this ceremony are that the men should be
given more food than they are readily able to eat, as in the ceremony
connected with the kaltmokh after the migration (p. 139), and that they
receive this food in a condition of complete nudity, a condition which
only occurs in one other dairy ceremonial.
The tesherst ceremony is one in which candidates for the office of
palol go through certain of the rites which ordinarily form part of the
process of ordination, with the addition of special ceremonies, in
which a superabundant portion of food is given by a woman who fulfils
certain peculiar conditions.
When the office of palol becomes vacant, the clan to which the ti
belongs chooses from among those who have been through the tesherst
ceremony, and the chosen man has then to undergo the ordination
ceremonies proper, or niròditi.
THE NIRODITI CEREMONY
The ceremony begins on a Saturday evening, after the new moon, when the
chosen candidate goes to a village of the clan to which his future ti
belongs and sleeps there in the ordinary hut.
On the following morning he goes before daybreak to the front of the
dairy of the village, naked except for his kuvn, and a man of the
village stands at the door of the dairy holding a tuni in his hand, and
says three times, “Tunivatkia!”—“Touch the tuni!” The candidate
answers, “Tunivatkin,” and takes the tuni. If the garment is a complete
one, he puts it on; if only a piece, he puts it in his pennar and
taking seven tudr leaves and tudr bark he goes to the stream of the
dairy and performs the usual drinking and rubbing ceremony, and after
putting the tudr bark in his hair, goes a little way off and shakes his
head so that the bark falls out. He repeats the ceremony twice, so that
it is performed three times altogether—i.e., he drinks from the tudr
leaves three times seven. This ceremony is called teshnir, and is done
in view of the inhabitants of the village. The candidate stays for the
rest of the day at the village. If there is a wursol there, the food of
the candidate is prepared by this dairyman [46]; if no wursol is
present, it is prepared by the palikartmokh. The food is grain boiled
in milk, and is only eaten in the evening. The candidate sleeps that
night in a wood near the village, but not the same wood as that by the
stream where teshnir had been done. Either the wursol or the
palikartmokh must pass the night in the wood with the candidate, and
other men of the village may also be their companions. Until the
candidate lies down to sleep he must remain naked (except for the
kuvn), but when sleeping he may cover himself with his ordinary cloak.
Next morning (Monday) the candidate gets up at sunrise, lays aside his
cloak, and goes to bathe completely in the stream, saying three times,
“Tudraspinem,” [47]—“Tudr I have washed,” thus washing off the tudr of
the previous day. He then returns to the place where he had slept, puts
on his ordinary cloak with the right arm out, and goes to the front of
the dairy. He is given food by the wursol, or, in his absence, by the
palikartmokh, and eats it outside the dairy, after which he washes. He
then goes to the ordinary stream of the village (ars nipa) and takes up
water with his hand, and by so doing he becomes perol—i.e., he loses
any sanctity he has acquired by the ceremony of the previous day.
The candidate then goes direct to the village of Òdr and stays near
that village till the evening, when he makes his way to the front of
the dairy of that place. He stands about ten yards from the dairy and
throws off his cloak. A man of the clan to which his future ti belongs
now gives him a complete tuni of the kind worn in the village dairy (a
mad tuni, not a ti tuni), saying three times, “Tunivatkia,” to which is
replied “Tunivatkin.” The man who gives the tuni now remains as
assistant and companion till the candidate reaches his future dairy.
The candidate puts the tuni round his loins, goes to the stream of the
dairy, and performs the drinking and rubbing ceremony with muli leaves
and shoots as in the ordination of palikartmokh. The assistant makes
fire by friction and lights a fire of muli wood, at which the candidate
warms himself.
The drinking ceremony with tudr is then carried out in the same way as
at teshnir, and then the wursol of Òdr brings buttermilk in an ertatpun
and gives it in cups of kakud leaves to both the candidate and his
assistant. They also receive food from the wursol, while any other men
present go to the ordinary hut for their meal. That night is passed at
a special spot under a tree not far from the dairy at Òdr, the wursol
and assistant being the companions of the candidate. On that night the
candidate may not touch his ordinary cloak and has to be content with
the scanty covering of the tuni. [48]
On the next day (Tuesday), the ceremony with tudr leaves and bark is
repeated three times as on the previous days, and after the wursol has
finished his dairy work he gives buttermilk and food to both the
candidate and his assistant. On the afternoon of this day the tudr
ceremony is performed again, but on this occasion seven times, so that
the candidate drinks from the tudr leaves seven times seven. In the
evening buttermilk and food are again given by the wursol and the three
men pass the night in the wood.
On the next day (Wednesday) the candidate fetches bark of the tree from
which the material called twadrinar is made and makes for his temporary
use a rough kuvn. When it is ready, he bathes in the dairy stream,
takes off the old pennar and kuvn and puts on the newly made garment,
together with the tuni, and goes with the wursol to the dairy where the
buffaloes of his ti are standing. When they approach the ti mad the
wursol goes away and leaves the candidate to go to the dairy alone,
where he sits on the outskirts (pül) of the ti mad. When the kaltmokh
sees the candidate approaching, he collects the buffaloes at the
milking place (pepkarmus) and catches hold of the tails of certain
buffaloes which are to be taken in charge by the new palol, saying to
himself three times for each buffalo, “Tover vatkina?”—“Tail shall I
hold?”—and replying to himself each time, “Vat!” At the Nòdrs ti if the
candidate is to be palol of the tiir, the kaltmokh holds the tails of
three buffaloes, one of each kind; if he is to be palol of the warsir,
two buffaloes only take part (see p. 112). After this the kaltmokh
prepares food in the pül of the dairy and gives it to the palol
designate. While the kaltmokh is attending to the new palol he must
become a perkursol—i.e., he degrades himself to this rank before
undertaking these duties. During the night the candidate together with
the kaltmokh and the other palol already in office (if there are two,
as at the Nòdrs ti) sleep in the hut of the ti mad.
The next day (Thursday) the new palol goes to the stream and performs
the tudr ceremony three times in the morning and nine times in the
afternoon; i.e., he drinks from the tudr leaves three and nine times
seven. On this day the kaltmokh milks the punir, takes the milk to the
pül, churns there and gives buttermilk, butter and other food to the
new palol. On that night all sleep in the karenpoh or calf-house.
The proceedings of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are the same as those
of Thursday, except that the new palol may now drink the milk of the
punir like the full palol.
On Monday morning the new palol enters on his office. In the morning he
bathes and then takes off the temporary pennar and kuvn he has been
wearing and replaces them by others made in the same way. A Badaga (the
tikelfmav) then brings one of the two cloaks of the palol, that called
pòdrshtuni, and lays it down at the outskirts of the dairy. It is taken
up by the kaltmokh and given to the new palol, who spreads it out on
the place where the buffaloes are milked. He then takes pounded tudr
bark, says the kwarzam of the gods, of the ti and of the buffaloes (see
Chap. X) and throws the pounded bark on the garment. He turns the
garment over so as to expose the other surface and purifies this in the
same way. He then asks himself, “Pòdrshtuni tutkina?”—“Shall I tie the
pòdrshtuni?”—and throwing off the mad tuni he has been wearing
hitherto, he puts on the pòdrshtuni. The kaltmokh returns the mad tuni
to the Nòdrs people, who come on this day and stand on the outskirts of
the place.
The new palol then purifies his dairy by sprinkling it with water and
tudr bark in the same way as is done when going to a new dairy (see p.
136). He next takes the uppun, puts into it water and tudr bark, and
turning towards the Nòdrs people with the vessel to his forehead, says
three times to them, “Poh pûkhkina?”—“Shall I enter the dairy?” All the
Nòdrs people cry “Pûkh!” and the new palol enters his dairy with the
full rights of his position.
At some period before entering into office as full palol the candidate
touches a tasth or bar of the entrance into the tu. This ceremony is
similar to that performed by the kaltmokh, and as in this case it
seemed to be the special indication of entrance on full office, but
unfortunately my notes do not make it clear exactly when this touching
of the tasth is done nor with what ceremonial it is accomplished.
For a month from this day there will be what is called pon, nothing
being either sold or given from the dairy. At the end of the month, on
a Monday, a tuni of the kind called kubuntuni is brought by the
tikelfmav, and is put on in the usual way. (During the previous month
the pòdrshtuni will have been used both as a cloak and as a loincloth,
and will have been taken into the sleeping hut.) The palol is visited
by the dairymen of his rank from the other ti dairies, and there will
be many visitors from all the Todas, who come and sit in the pül of the
dairy and feast. The new palol also receives greetings on this day from
the Todas for the first time since his entry upon office. He greets the
Tartharol first, saying “Bañ” in the usual way, and then the Teivaliol,
saying “Pekein,” and each reply in the customary manner.
The ordination ceremonies of the palol are thus very prolonged. There
is a preliminary qualifying ceremony in which the would-be candidates
receive pieces of tuni, perform both the muli and the tudr purificatory
ceremonies, each once only, and on the following day go through the
very peculiar ceremonial in which they are given superabundant food by
an old woman while in a condition of complete nudity.
The proper ordination ceremonies begin on a Sunday, when the candidate
receives tuni, performs the purificatory ceremony with tudr three times
seven, and sleeps in a wood. On Monday he washes off the tudr, becomes
a perol, and goes to the village of Òdr, where he again receives tuni,
goes through the muliniròditi ceremony which makes him a palikartmokh,
and then performs the tudr ceremony three times seven and sleeps in the
open, covered only with the tuni. On Tuesday he performs the tudr
purification three times seven in the morning and seven times seven in
the evening and again sleeps in the open. On Wednesday he bathes and
assumes a special kuvn and goes to his future dairy, where the kaltmokh
performs the tail-holding ceremony and the candidate sleeps in the hut.
On the four next days the tudr ceremony is performed three times seven
in the mornings and nine times seven in the afternoons, and the
calf-house is used as a sleeping-place. On the following Monday the
palol enters upon office, assuming the pòdrshtuni, touching a tasth,
and entering his dairy.
The foregoing description of the ordination of the palol applies
primarily to the Nòdrs ti, but in its main details it holds good for
other places.
I am doubtful as to the part taken by the village of Òdr, and am not
clear whether part of the ordination ceremony is performed at this
place by every palol or only by those of the Nòdrs ti. It is possible
that it is only the latter who visit the village, but I do not know of
any corresponding village visited by the candidates for the post of
palol at other ti dairies. My impression is that every candidate for
the office of palol visits this village.
The only definite modification of the ceremonies attendant on entrance
into office of which I know occurs at the Kars ti. Here the palol is
first ordained to the parsir—i.e., he becomes the palol of this herd of
buffaloes and tends them only. At the end of a month he becomes palol
of the pürsir, and the ceremony of entrance upon this office was spoken
of as pelkkatthtiti to the pürspoh. In this case the ceremony of
ordination to the parspoh is called niròditi, and that of removal to
another dairy pelkkatthtiti.
On the afternoon of the appointed day the palol churns the milk of the
morning in the parspoh and then shuts the door of this dairy, which he
never re-enters as long as he is in office. He could only do so if he
should cease to be palol and be re-ordained to the same ti.
A new pòdrshtuni is brought by a Badaga and is assumed by the palol
after purification in the usual manner. At the same time he puts on a
new kagurs, [49] which has been purified by the kaltmokh, who has also
cut a new kwoinörtpet on the hill of Kulinkars which the palol then
purifies with tudr bark in the usual manner, saying the names of the
four deities, Anto, Nòtirzi, Kulinkars, and Kuzkarv.
The palol then digs up earth from the footprints of one of the pürsir,
saying the whole prayer of the ti as he does so. He drives the buffalo
slightly to one side by touching it with the wand, and takes earth from
the exact place where the foot of the buffalo had been resting and puts
the earth into a cup which he has made of tudr leaves. He adds pounded
tudr bark and goes to the spring (kwoinir) of the dairy, where he mixes
water with the earth and bark. He then goes to the stone called
pepkusthkars, where he has previously laid a complete set of new dairy
vessels and implements of the inner room, together with the lamp and
the bell (Ner) of the pürspoh. The bell is laid on the stone, the other
things by its side.
Wearing the pòdrshtuni and holding the kwoinörtpet under his left arm,
the palol sprinkles the contents of the leaf-cup over the dairy vessels
and other objects, beginning with the bell, and as he does so he prays,
using the whole prayer of the dairy. He then ties all the vessels and
other contents of the dairy on a staff called pepkati in exactly the
same manner as when taking them from one ti mad to another. The bell is
tied up in a leafy covering of kiaz and everything is done as in the
migration from one place to another, and the staff with its burden is
then borne by the palol from the pepkusthkars to the stone called
perskars, by the side of which the dairy vessels are laid, while the
mani is uncovered and laid on the stone. The staff is then placed at
the back of the dairy.
Having untied the dairy vessels and arranged them by the stone, the
palol pounds fresh tudr bark, and with the kwoinörtpet under his left
arm goes with the karitòrzum to the sacred spring, into which he throws
the bark, takes water, and returns. Taking more pounded bark, he puts
it in the idrkwoi and pours water into this vessel from the karitòrzum.
He takes the idrkwoi with its contents to the front of the dairy, and
with his right hand sprinkles the water over the outside of the dairy
and then into its interior till the vessel is emptied. The dairy
vessels are not again purified, but are taken into the dairy with the
same procedure as that described in the last chapter. The vessels of
the outer room, which have been purified by the kaltmokh, are then
taken to their places. Fire is made by friction; one fireplace is
lighted and fire transferred to the other, and from this the lamp is
lighted, and the palol, who is now palol of the pürsir, goes out to
look after and milk his new charges. On this evening no food is taken,
nor does the palol drink buttermilk as usual, and the kaltmokh does not
blow the horn in the evening. On the following day, which is the
occasion of a feast for all Todas, the usual routine is followed.
The most interesting feature of this ceremony at the Kars ti is that
the vessels of the inner room are taken by the palol from the
pepkusthkars to the perskars, a distance said to be about fifty yards,
in exactly the same manner as that in which they are carried from one
dairy to another during the migrations when the distance may be many
miles.
The essential feature of the various ordination ceremonies is
purification by drinking water from certain leaves and rubbing the body
with the juice of certain plants or the bark of a tree mixed with water
from a dairy stream or spring. The ordinary dairyman uses the leaves
and shoots of muli; the dairymen of the Taradr kugvali and the Kanòdrs
poh use seven kinds of leaves and rub themselves with tudr bark, while
the three grades of dairyman open only to Teivali or Melgars people not
only rub with the juice of tudr bark, but use tudr leaves for the
purificatory drinking.
The palikartmokh drinks and rubs himself seven times only, the wursol
and kaltmokh seven times seven, while at various stages in his
ordination the palol uses tudr bark three times seven, seven times
seven, and nine times seven.
The final stage of ordination or induction is marked by touching some
sacred object of the dairy. The ordinary dairyman touches one or more
of the sacred vessels of the dairy; the wursol, kugvalikartmokh, and
the pohkartpol of Kanòdrs touch the mu, a dairy vessel buried in the
buffalo pen, which is dug up for the ordination ceremony. The kaltmokh
and the palol touch a tasth, the former touching a bar of the calf
enclosure and the latter one in the opening of the pen used for adult
buffaloes.
According to one account, the Teivali palikartmokh also touches a mu on
entrance into office, but it is very doubtful if this is correct.
Nothing was said about it at the ordination at which I was present, and
I saw nothing to indicate that this vessel was being used, but it is
possible that the mu had been dug up earlier in the day and put inside
the dairy.
Another interesting feature of the ordination ceremonies is that a
dairyman of a higher grade may be taken through the lower stages on his
way to the higher office. Thus both wursol and palol perform the
purificatory ceremony with muli, which is the chief feature of the
ordination of the palikartmokh. There did not seem to be any stage in
the ordination of the palol when he could be said to be a wursol,
though the ceremonies of Monday evening and Tuesday are very much like
those of the wursol, the chief difference being in the exact number of
times that the tudr purification is performed.
CHAPTER VIII
SPECIAL DAIRY CEREMONIES
I have so far dealt with the organisation and ritual of the dairy, with
the ceremonies accompanying the movements of the buffaloes from one
place to another, and with the ceremonies attendant on the entrance of
the dairymen into office. There remain ceremonies which accompany
certain events in the course of the dairy ritual or in the lives of the
buffaloes. One of these, the pepkaricha ceremony, is performed whenever
any evil befalls a certain dairy vessel which is buried in the buffalo
pen. Another ceremony celebrates the birth of a calf, and a group of
ceremonies are connected with the act of giving salt to the buffaloes.
THE PEPKARICHA CEREMONY
In the account of the daily work of the dairy, it will be remembered
that whenever the dairyman goes out to milk for the first time he puts
some buttermilk into his milking vessel. This is done in every dairy,
and the buttermilk so added is called pep. The milk of every day has
mixed with it some of the buttermilk from the milking of the day
before, and in this way continuity is kept up in the dairy operations.
Under certain conditions this continuity is broken and new pep has to
be made, and the process of doing so is the ceremony called pepkaricha,
pepkarichti, or pepkarichanudr—i.e., “pep he purifies,” or, “if pep is
purified.”
In some cases new pep has to be made for the whole clan (madol); in
other cases it has only to be made for one of the dairies of the clan.
The ceremony is performed for the whole clan whenever anything goes
wrong with a certain dairy vessel called mu, which is buried in the
buffalo pen at the chief village of the clan. We have seen that this
vessel is used in the ordination to certain dairy offices, and it is
also inspected as a matter of routine about once a year. If it is
broken or has been stolen or tampered with in any way, it becomes
necessary to make new pep for the whole clan.
Among the Tartharol, new pep has also to be made after the funeral of a
male on account of the defilement of the mani involved in its exposure
to the ordinary people at the funeral ceremonies.
The conditions which necessitate the making of new pep for a single
dairy are, (1) if a Tamil or other “foreigner” has entered the dairy,
(2) if an ordinary Toda (perol) has gone into the dairy at night, (3)
if the dairyman has used tobacco. In these cases the people of the
village at which the offence has been committed procure a new mu, and,
after purifying it, go to some other dairy of the clan, where they
procure some buttermilk to act as pep and take it to their own dairy.
It is only when new pep has to be made for the whole clan that the
prolonged ceremony of pepkarichti has to be carried out. This ceremony
differs in its details for each clan, and is more complicated in some
cases than in others. As an example, I will give the proceedings for
the Kuudr clan.
When it becomes necessary to make new pep for the whole group of
dairies belonging to the clan it is necessary to take the buffaloes to
one special dairy. The Kuudr people go to the dairy of Kwirg near
Sholur. On the day of going to Kwirg, a feast is held at which the food
called ashkkartpimi is eaten.
Whenever new pep is made it is necessary to have a new palikartmokh,
and the man who is to undertake the duties goes to Kwirg with the
milking buffaloes of the pasthir and is accompanied by a number of
Kuudr men. The men take with them a new and complete set of dairy
vessels, and reach Kwirg in the early morning of a Sunday after the new
moon. The buffaloes are at once penned in the tu. The first business is
the ordination of the new palikartmokh, which is carried out as usual.
When at the stream for the purification ceremony, the palikartmokh has
with him a new mu, which he fills with water at the stream. He takes
this vessel to the tu in which the buffaloes are penned, and knocks one
of the buffaloes on the back with his wand (pet), so that it moves to
one side. Then with the wand he digs some earth from the spot where the
hoof of the buffalo had been resting, and mixes this earth with tudr
bark. He places part of the mixed earth and bark in the mu and puts the
rest on one side; this part of the ceremony is called mukatchkudrspini,
or purification of the mu, literally “mu purification I have purified.”
The palikartmokh then brings all the other dairy vessels and
implements, beginning with the patat, and purifies them by throwing on
them mixed earth and tudr bark, sprinkling them with water from the mu
three times, saying “Oñ” each time. The things of the patatmar are
purified first and then the things of the ertatmar, and the purified
objects are placed in the dairy. Fire is made by friction and the
palikartmokh goes out to milk. Buttermilk is not put into the
milking-vessel as usual, and the lamp is not lighted. The milk is
poured into the patat, and the palikartmokh then prepares food, which
he gives to the people who have come with him, but he himself fasts.
All the men then go away except one or two, who are to remain as
companions of the dairyman. In the evening the palikartmokh takes off
some of the cream, [50] which has risen to the top of the milk, and
puts it into the lamp which he lights, and then prays, using the
kwarzam of Kwirg [51] and the kwarzam of the pep only.
If the milk has coagulated it is now churned, and then the buffaloes
are milked as usual, but if the milk has not coagulated, it is left
till next morning. In the evening the dairyman takes food as usual.
On the following day, it seems that the milk has always become solid
and is churned. Immediately after churning and without taking food, the
dairyman puts together the dairy things according to the usual method
followed when going from one village to another, and goes with his
buffaloes to the village of Kiudr. The dairy vessels are carried in the
usual manner, the new buttermilk called puthpep being in the patat and
the butter in the mu.
The people living at Kiudr leave the village, and the man who has been
filling the office of palikartmokh there throws away all the old dairy
things and takes the mani to the stones by the side of that dairy
called neurzülnkars (see p. 129). After leaving the bells there for a
little time, the dairyman takes them to the pali nipa, and then his
office ceases and he becomes perol.
The new palikartmokh, who has come from Kwirg, purifies the dairy and
his new dairy vessels and the mani in exactly the same way as when
reaching a new dairy, and then places the bells, vessels, and other
objects in the dairy. During the next month, till the following new
moon, the dairyman and his companions stay alone at Kiudr doing the
ordinary business of the dairy. During this time they may be visited by
men of the Kuudr clan, but neither by women nor by men of other clans.
At the end of the month, on the Sunday after the new moon, the
palikartmokh drives the buffaloes (now called ponir, festival
buffaloes) to Kuudr, taking with him the puthpep and the dairy vessels.
When the people at Kuudr see the dairyman coming with the ponir, they
leave the village and all go to Kiudr, which the buffaloes have just
left. There they hold a feast to which many people of other clans, both
men and women, are invited.
When the palikartmokh reaches Kuudr, he purifies the dairy as he had
done at Kiudr and puts the vessels in their places.
Certain men of the clan then come, each with a new mu, and these
vessels are laid by the side of the stones called keinkars and
tashtikars in the wall of the pen. At Kuudr fifteen new mu should be
brought by the fifteen heads of families of the Kuudr clan. The
palikartmokh then purifies each mu with tudr bark in the usual way and
places the vessels on the patatmar of the dairy, after which he gives
food to those who have provided the vessels.
The palikartmokh with his companion or companions then stay at Kuudr
for a month, when, again on a Sunday after the new moon, all the
Kuudrol assemble at Kuudr and hold a feast. On that day a new
palikartmokh is appointed for each dairy of the Kuudr clan. Each man
goes through the usual ordination ceremony and then receives one of the
new mu containing some of the new pep, which he takes to his dairy.
Each new dairyman also provides new dairy vessels, and, when he reaches
his dairy, purifies the mu and the new dairy things in the way already
described. He puts the vessels into the dairy and then goes to milk,
taking some of the new pep in his milking-vessel, and thereafter
matters go on as usual. Each new dairyman fasts while going to his
dairy with the new pep, although the rest of the people are feasting.
Those who remain at Kuudr bury the mu in which the pep was brought from
Kwirg. It is buried by the side of the pen, under a tree called
teikhkwadiki.
The ceremony of making new pep is carried out on the same lines in all
dairies, but usually it is less complicated and fewer villages have to
be visited than in the case of the Kuudrol. It seems that there is a
tendency in some clans to perform the ceremony less rigidly than of
old. Thus, the Kars people used to go to Keshker for new pep, but now
they perform the ceremony at Kars itself, so that the migration to a
new place with its attendant ceremonial is avoided.
There are certain differences in the procedure in the case of Teivali
and Tarthar clans. One, the necessity for new pep after the funeral of
a male, has been already mentioned.
Another difference is that there is a buried mu for each kind of dairy,
so that a clan which has two or three kinds of dairy will have two or
three mu buried in the pen. If it is the mu belonging to the wursuli
which is broken or tampered with, the ceremony is performed by the
wursol, who takes earth from the footprints of one of the wursulir. If
the mu of the kudrpali is injured, the kudrpalikartmokh performs the
ceremony, taking earth from the footprints of one of the other kinds of
sacred buffaloes. Thus at Kars he takes it from the prints of the
martir.
At Kanòdrs new pep has to be made at a place called Kautarmad, which I
could not identify. It is a long way from Kanòdrs, but the people have
to go there because the god Kwoto used to make pep there. There is one
feature peculiar to the ceremony for this clan. Earth has to be taken
from a certain spot from which it was taken by Kwoto, and this earth is
mixed with that taken from the footprints of the buffalo.
Another special feature of the Kanòdrs dairy is connected with the
buried mu and is probably the result of the fact that this dairy is now
only occupied occasionally. When the pohkartpol leaves the dairy on
vacating office, he takes up the buried mu, pours into it a small
quantity of pep, and reburies the vessel, covering it on the top with a
stone. When he resumes office, he takes up the mu and purifies it with
the two kinds of earth used in the full ceremony, and puts the pep
which has been buried into his milking-vessel when he goes out to milk
for the first time. As in other Tarthar clans, the full ceremony of
pepkaricha is only carried out when the mu is broken or stolen, and
after the funeral of a male.
A characteristic feature of Toda dairy procedure is the coagulation of
the milk before it is churned. This coagulation occurs in a few hours
without the addition of rennet or other special coagulating agent, the
milk drawn in the morning being nearly always solid at the time of the
afternoon churning. This rapid coagulation of the milk is almost
certainly assisted By the added buttermilk or pep, the curdling being
probably an acid coagulation set up or hastened by the addition of the
sour buttermilk. If this were the case, it might be expected that
habitual failure of the milk to coagulate might be regarded as a reason
for making new pep, and I therefore inquired carefully into this point.
It was quite clear, however, that delay in the coagulation was not
looked upon as a reason for the ceremony. If there was habitual delay,
it was customary to consult the diviners, and they always gave one of
two reasons for the delay: either that it was due to the action of a
sorcerer, or that the dairyman had committed one of the offences
against the dairy of which a list is given on p. 295.
If delay were said to be due to the first cause, the sorcerer would be
invited to the village, entertained with food, and induced to remove
his spell; if to the second cause, the dairyman would have to perform
the irnörtiti or similar ceremony; but there was never any question of
making new pep, the necessity for this ceremony being entirely
dependent on the condition of the buried dairy vessel.
THE IRPALVUSTHI CEREMONY
The ceremony of irpalvusthi (buffalo milk he milks) is performed about
the fifteenth day after the birth of a calf. It only takes place when
one of the sacred buffaloes has calved, and is not performed in
ordinary villages for putiir, nor at the ti for punir. It is performed
after the birth of both male and female calves. The ceremony is carried
out in the same fashion at the wursuli, the kudrpali and the tarvali,
but has different features at the kugvali of Taradr and at the ti.
There are special days for the ceremony. At the tarvali, it must be
performed on Sunday, Wednesday, or Saturday; at the kudrpali and
wursuli, on Sunday or Wednesday; at the kugvali on Saturday. The
ceremony is performed at the ti, but I omitted to obtain any account of
the proceedings at this grade of dairy.
When this ceremony is held at the village of Kuudr, a man from Òdr
belonging to the Nodrsol must attend, and similarly a man from Kuudr
must be present when the ceremony is performed at Kuudr, this
regulation being the result of certain events in the histories of the
buffaloes of these places (see p. 647).
At each of the three kinds of dairy which follow the same procedure,
the chief part is taken by the dairyman. At the wursuli, the wursol
officiates, and at the kudrpali and tarvali, the palikartmokh.
The first appropriate occasion after the fifteenth day from the birth
of the calf is appointed and the dairy is purified with dried
buffalo-dung. Contrary to the general rule, the lamp is lighted on the
morning of this day. All the buffaloes are milked as usual; one or two
pun of milk being poured into the patat and all the rest into the
ertat.
The dairyman then puts some milk into the milking-vessel, and, carrying
his wand, he leads the fifteen-day-old calf to its mother to be
suckled. While the calf is being suckled, the dairyman strikes the
mother on the right side of the back three times with the wand, saying
“Oñ” each time. He then puts the wand on the top of the milking-vessel
and, holding both in his left hand, milks the buffalo once or twice
with the other hand, so that the milk splashes on the wand as it falls
into the vessel. The vessel and wand are then laid at the back of the
dairy, which the dairyman enters to prepare food, boiling grain or rice
with milk in a special vessel (ertat) kept for the purpose. While the
food is being cooked the dairyman takes some of the grass called kakar
and the plant called kabudri, and sweeps the interior of the dairy with
them, beginning at the patatmar. While doing this and during his other
operations on this day, he must not turn his back to the contents of
the dairy. After having swept the dairy, he lays the kakar and kabudri
by the wall of the building, again takes the milking-vessel and wand
from the back of the dairy, and, having called the people of the
village, he salutes by raising the vessel and wand to his forehead and
prays, all present praying with him. I am not certain whether it is the
prayer of the village or a special prayer which is used on this
occasion. After praying, the dairyman lays the wand on the top of the
patat and pours the milk which he obtained from the buffalo into the
patat over the wand. He puts the latter in its appointed place and then
goes to the ertatmar, where he prepares a large number of leaves on
which he portions out the food (tòrkisthiti) which he has prepared, and
all the people present take this food outside the dairy. On the
following day, the buffalo which has calved is milked with the rest.
When this ceremony is performed at the wursuli dairy, it is the only
occasion on which the wursol prepares food; at all other times, the
food of this dairyman is prepared by the palikartmokh. On this occasion
the wursol not only cooks food for himself but for all those present.
Another distinctive feature of this ceremony is that it is the only
occasion on which the milk of the wursulir is ever drunk.
The day of irpalvusthi is the only day on which the dairymen of the
three kinds of dairy, with the exception of the wursol of certain
dairies, do their work kabkaditi, i.e., do not turn their backs to the
contents of the dairy.
At the kugvali of Taradr, the ceremony is more elaborate. It begins in
the afternoon, when the dairy is purified with dried buffalo-dung.
Three large pieces of the wood called kid are brought, and the dairyman
ties the small piece of cloth called petuni to the milking-vessel and
to a special wand called irpalvusthpet. [52] He also ties petuni in the
form of rings round the ring and little fingers of his right hand and
round the ring finger of his left hand. He then goes out with the
milking-vessel and wand, and after saluting by raising them to his
forehead, he goes to the place where the buffaloes are milked and prays
there.
The kugvalikartmokh then takes the calf to its mother and milks as at
the other dairies, but in this case he milks the buffalo completely,
and if, by doing so, he has not filled his milking-vessel, he fills it
with the milk of putiir. He pours this milk into the majpariv, which
has been carefully cleaned, and puts the three pieces of kid wood in
the fireplace. He puts into the milk three measures (ak) of rice, but
adds neither salt nor jaggery. When the food is ready, he portions it
out on leaves and gives to those present, who must on this occasion be
limited to the people of the village. This ceremony occurs on Saturday
evening.
On the following day, the ceremony is repeated, being called on this
occasion îrpatadûthti, i.e., “buffalo milk he uses publicly.” When
preparing food on this day the kugvalikartmokh puts into the milk
eleven ak of rice [53] and adds both salt and jaggery. The number of
pieces of wood used is not limited to three, but any quantity may be
burnt. When the food is ready, he goes out of the dairy and finds
assembled a large number of people, including guests from other
villages and clans. Among them a Melgars man must be included or there
could be no ceremony. When the dairyman sees the people, he says “Ol
pudra?” “People, have you come?” They answer “Pudspimi,” “We have
come.” The dairyman then brings the stirring-stick (put), and, taking
up some of the food on the stick, says “Tütr erkina?” “At the fire
shall I throw?” and the people answer “Tütr eri!” “At the fire, throw!”
The dairyman then throws the food on the stick into the fire, and
portions out the rest of the food among the people, who eat it outside
the dairy.
From the birth of the calf until this ceremony, the buffalo is not
milked and the calf is kept, when not with its mother, in the small
enclosure called kush. After the ceremony, the buffalo is milked like
the rest of the herd, and the calf joins the others in the ordinary
calf-house, or kwotars.
GIVING SALT TO BUFFALOES
Salt is given to the buffaloes five times a year, both at the ti mad
and the ordinary village. At the ti the salt is given with buttermilk,
and the ceremony is known as mòrup. At the ordinary village buttermilk
is not given, and there is no general name for the ceremony, though
there are special names for three of the five occasions on which salt
is given. These special names are also used at the ti. The first
occasion is kòrup, or ‘new grass salt,’ which takes place in the month
Nalani (February-March). The second is marup or ‘again salt,’ a month
later in Ani. The next two occasions have no special names, but in the
ordinary village are known as arsup, ‘house salt,’ given in the months
Ovani and Kirdivi (June-July and September-October). The last occasion
is in the month Emioti (November-December), and is known as paniup,
meaning ‘frost salt.’ In the case of kòrup and paniup, it seemed that
salt was given shortly before the time at which the young grass and
frost respectively were expected.
At the ti the ceremony is performed on the Sunday or Tuesday following
the new moon. At the Nòdrs ti it should be done for the tiir on Sunday
and for the warsir on Tuesday, but this now only happens when the
buffaloes are at Òdrtho and Kudreiil, where the dairies of the two
kinds of buffaloes are at some distance apart. At Mòdr and Anto and
other dairies, the ceremony is performed for both kinds of buffalo on a
Sunday. At the Pan ti the day for the ceremony is Tuesday, and at the
Kars ti, Sunday.
On the day before the ceremony each palol [54] digs a round hole called
the upunkudi at a prescribed spot, or more commonly enlarges the hole
remaining from a previous ceremony. On the following day each palol
carries out the usual morning churning and milking, but before drinking
buttermilk the dairy is cleansed with buffalo-dung. The palol then
pours into the vessel called alug two kudi of buttermilk and takes the
vessel and some salt to the upunkudi. He throws bark of the tudr tree
three times into the hole, three times into the buttermilk and on the
salt, and going to the spring he throws the bark three times into the
water, saying “Oñ” each time. The palol then fills the alug with water
from the spring, mixing it with the buttermilk already in the vessel.
He adds salt, saying “Oñ” three times, and the whole is poured into the
upunkudi. A special buffalo is then brought to the upunkudi; at the
Nòdrs ti the ti palol first leads up the buffalo belonging to the unir
which is called Enmars and the wars palol takes the buffalo of the
perithir called Òrsum, this act of sending a special buffalo first
being called îrpârsatiti. After this all the buffaloes are taken to
drink in groups of five or six. When the hole has been emptied, it is
refilled with salt and water, but this time no buttermilk is added.
When all the buffaloes have drunk, each palol pulls some of the grass
called kargh and throws it into the hole three times and returns to his
dairy to take buttermilk from the kaltmokh as usual.
At the ordinary village the salt-giving ceremony is performed about a
week after it has been done at the ti. Any day may be chosen except the
madnol, palinol, or arpatznol. [55] Thus at Kuudr the ceremony may be
performed on any day except Tuesday and Friday; at Kars, on any day
except Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.
On the three occasions with special names, kòrup, marup, and paniup,
guests come from other villages, but at the arsup this does not happen.
As in the case of the irpalvusthi ceremony, a man from Kuudr must be
present at the salt-giving ceremony of Òdr and a man from Òdr must be
present at Kuudr.
The ceremony is performed by the palikartmokh after the people of the
village have made the hole or upunkudi. [56] The palikartmokh takes
from the dairy the vessel corresponding to the alug of the ti, viz.,
the tat, but does not take buttermilk. Tudr bark is used in the same
way as at the ti.
At a Teivali village, the pasthir drink first. At a Tarthar village at
which there is a wursol, the wursulir drink first, the act of sending
certain buffaloes first being called irparsatiti as at the ti. After
the buffaloes have drunk, kargh grass is thrown into the hole, first by
the dairyman and then by all the others present, but it is only thrown
once by each person, who says “Oñ” as he throws.
The object of this ceremony is said to be that the buffaloes shall give
a plentiful supply of milk.
THE PONUP CEREMONY
At the ti dairy salt is given to the buffaloes on certain other
occasions and with a far more elaborate ritual. The ceremony is then
called ponup, or ‘festival salt,’ and takes place soon after the
migration from one dairy to another. At the Nòdrs ti the salt is given
on the Wednesday following the Sunday on which the migration has
occurred, and at the Kars ti and the Pan ti, on Sunday, a week later
than the procession.
On the night before the ceremony the palol shuts up the buffaloes in
the special pen called the pon tu.
On the morning of the appointed day, when the churning is finished, but
before the buffaloes have been milked, each palol brings six sprigs of
the shrub called puthimul, each sprig having on it five or six leaves.
Three of these sprigs are put on one side, and the other three are used
as follows:—Rice has been previously prepared and placed either on the
leaf called kakuders or on that called katers. The palol makes a hole
in this food in which he puts butter, and, taking the first sprig of
puthimul, he plucks from it one leaf and, using it as a spoon, takes up
some of the food and puts it on the fire in the fireplace called
tòratthwaskal, saying the name of the chief teu or god of the ti. He
then takes some of the butter, and holds it over the fire till it
drops, when he utters the name of the same god. He repeats this with a
second leaf of the puthimul, saying the name of the second most
important god of the ti, and so on with the other leaves. I obtained
the fullest account of ponup from Koboners, who had been palol of the
Kars ti, and here food and butter were put on the fire six times,
saying the names of Anto, Nòtirzi, Kuzkarv, Kulinkars, Onkomn, and
Karmanteu.
The kaltmokh then brings water taken from the ordinary stream in the
vessel called mòrkudriki, and gives it to the palol, who sits in the
outer room facing towards the inner room, and throws some of the rice
in front of him once, some behind him once, and the rest outside the
dairy. He puts some salt on the fire, and taking the water brought by
the kaltmokh, he sprinkles it before and behind him as he had done with
the food.
Then follows kaizhvatiti, i.e., the kaltmokh pours out buttermilk for
the palol. This is the only occasion on which this act takes place
before the buffaloes have been milked, the ceremony of drinking
buttermilk on every other occasion taking place when the morning’s work
is over. The palol gives food to the kaltmokh, and here, again, there
is a feature peculiar to this day, for the kaltmokh eats his food
sitting in the place in the hut where the palol usually sits.
The buffaloes are then milked, after which the palol fetches three
sticks of the kind ordinarily called kwadrikurs, but at the ti, kakul.
Each is used for a special purpose and has a corresponding name, one
being called irpasthkakul, the second kwarkul, and the third parkul.
The palol takes buffalo-dung in both hands and the irpasthkakul in the
right hand, and separates certain buffaloes from the rest by knocking
their backs three times with the dung and stick. At the Kars ti two
buffaloes are separated in this way; at the Nòdrs ti five buffaloes are
set apart, one of each kind, three by the ti palol, and two by the wars
palol. These buffaloes are known as ponir. The dairy is then purified
with the dung and water. The irpasthkakul is laid on one side, and the
palol puts salt in the basket called ponmukeri, and takes it with the
water-vessel called karpun to the place where salt is to be given,
taking also the remaining sprigs of puthimul and a bundle of fern.
At the place for the ceremony there is a stone called ponkars (when
there are two palol there will be two stones), and at the stone the
palol makes a vessel of clay and water so as to resemble a
milking-vessel. This clay vessel is called teukwoi (teu, god, and kwoi,
milking-vessel).
The palol then takes two perfect tudr leaves, and fastens them together
with the petioles of other leaves, so that they form a cup which is
called püvup. Salt is placed in this leaf vessel, which is laid down by
the side of the teukwoi. One such vessel is made for each buffalo, two
at the Kars ti and five at the Nòdrs ti.
The palol then takes the stick called kwarkul, and with it makes a hole
in the middle of each teukwoi, saying (at the Kars ti) “antok teukwoi
ûrîj, paln!” (“To Anto in teukwoi make hole, O palol!”). He then makes
other holes round the sides of the clay vessel, saying the names of the
other gods in the same manner. (At the Kars ti those which have already
been given. At the Nòdrs ti the names of five gods are mentioned—Anto,
Kulinkars, Nòtirzi, Kuladrvan, and Kuzkarv.) Two pieces of tudr bark
and a sprig of puthimul are then placed in each hole, saying for the
first, “Antok teukwoi et, paln!” (“To Anto in teukwoi put, O palol!”),
and this is repeated with the name of a different god for each hole.
Next the palol takes the stick called parkul, which has a sharpened
end, and makes small holes called upunkudi as in the mòrup ceremony. At
the Kars ti only two upunkudi are made; at the Nòdrs ti one palol makes
three and the other two holes. Tudr bark is thrown three times into the
holes and into the water of the spring. Water is taken from the spring
in the karpun, salt is put into the water three times and the salt and
water are poured into the holes, and the buffaloes previously set apart
are led to the holes and drink three times, one buffalo from each hole.
The leaf vessels previously made (püvup) are then given to the
buffaloes, and are eaten by them. Care is taken to give the leaf
vessels in such a way that the end of the leaf corresponding to the
petiole enters the mouth of the buffalo first.
The palol takes Anto’s leaf from the teukwoi and puts it in the karpun
with water, then faces towards the place where Anto lives (Anto’s hill)
and pours in that direction, saying “Antok,” “to Anto.” This is
repeated with the other leaves, the palol in each case turning and
pouring towards the place where the god lives.
Then follows the ceremony called tafkeirpudrti, i.e., “fern pool he
strokes.” The palol takes the bundle of fern which he has brought with
him and goes to the stream, which is blocked up, so that the water
accumulates and forms a pool. He waits till the pool is so deep that
the water would come half-way up his thighs, when he steps in with the
bundle of fern in his right hand and strokes the bundle over the water,
saying the kwarzam, or prayer names of certain gods and buffaloes (at
the Nòdrs ti the palol says, “Anto idith, Kûlinkârs idith, Nòtîrzi
idith, Kûlâdrvan idith, Kuzkârv idith, Mûv idith, Mòrs idith, Pan
idith, Kûdreij tîdj idith”: see Chapter X). The palol then buries the
fern at the bottom of the pool, so that there is no chance that it may
come up again, and throws the grass called kargh into each upunkudi
once only.
The palol then goes to the buffaloes and knocks one of the ordinary
kind called punir to one side with a bush called pîrskwadriktûr and
pours a little water on its back. This is called punîr ûvk nîr atiti,
i.e., “he pours water on the back of the punir.”
Finally the palol goes to a stream near the upunkudi and washes there
from the hands to the elbows. This final washing is called peiaspiti.
Pei is the Tamil word for ‘demon,’ and the word suggested that there
was an idea of warding off the influence of some kind of evil spirit,
but it seemed that peiaspiti was merely the ti form of kaiaspiti, “he
washes the hands.”
The following day is called ûpkârvnol. On this day small Badaga
children go to the ti mad and the palol gives them clarified butter on
a leaf. On this day also any one who has been a palol (patol) may go to
the ti mad and receive food unless the funeral ceremonies for one of
his clan should still be uncompleted.
The ceremonies of ponup were said to be designed to invite the gods to
be present by means of the clay vessels. The tudr bark and leaves were
said to be used in order to purify these vessels after their defilement
by human hands in the process of making.
CHAPTER IX
THE TODA GODS
The ceremonies which have been described in the last five chapters make
up a large part of the ritual of the Toda religion, but there is one
important feature of this ritual which has so far been left on one
side, or only cursorily mentioned, because its full consideration only
becomes possible after an account has been given of the Toda gods.
In describing the ritual of the dairy and the various ceremonies
connected with the buffaloes, it has been mentioned that at certain
times the prayer of the dairy or the prayer of the village is used. In
these prayers there are references to various incidents in the lives of
the gods, and many of the clauses would be unintelligible without a
knowledge of these lives. It therefore becomes necessary to consider
this branch of Toda mythology before dealing with the prayers in
detail.
The typical Toda god is a being who is distinctly anthropomorphic and
is called a teu. In the legends he lives much the same kind of life as
the mortal Toda, having his dairies and his buffaloes. The sacred
dairies and the sacred buffaloes of the Todas are still regarded as
being in some measure the property of the gods, and the dairymen are
looked upon as their priests. The gods hold councils and consult with
one another just as do the Todas, and they are believed to be swayed by
the same motives and to think in the same way as the Todas themselves.
At the present time most of the gods are believed to inhabit the
summits of the hills, but they are not seen by mortals. Before the
Todas were created, the gods lived on the Nilgiri Hills alone, and then
it is believed that there followed a period during which gods and men
inhabited the hills together. The gods ruled the men, ordained how they
should live and originated the various customs of the people. The Todas
can now give no definite account of their beliefs about the transition
from this state of things to that which now exists.
Each clan of the Todas has a deity especially connected with it. This
deity is called the nòdrodchi of the clan, and is believed to have been
the ruler of the clan when gods and men lived together. I am doubtful
whether there is at the present time any belief that the nòdrodchi
exerts an influence over the clan with which he is connected.
There was no department of Toda lore which gave me greater difficulty
than the study of the beliefs about the gods. There was no doubt that
two gods stood out pre-eminent among the rest. One was a male deity
whose name was Ön, and the other a female deity, Teikirzi. A simple
question which I had the greatest difficulty in settling was the
relation of these deities to one another. According to one account they
were brother and sister; according to another, father and daughter. It
seemed quite certain they were not husband and wife, and most probable
that they were brother and sister. Others of the gods were believed to
be related to one another, but on such points as this I found it almost
impossible to obtain trustworthy information. It may have been
reticence which made the difficulty, but I do not think so, and am
inclined to think that the Todas have now only vague ideas about the
histories of their more ancient gods, and have nothing like the
definite traditions which they possess about deities of obviously more
recent origin.
Sometimes there were discrepancies between different accounts which I
could not clear up, and in such cases I give the account which seems to
me to be the most trustworthy.
PITHI
This god is the earliest of whom any tradition is preserved. His name
is Pithi or Püthi, and he is often called Pithioteu. He was born near
the sacred dairy of Anto in a cave which had the same shape as the
ordinary Toda hut. According to one account, Pithi created Todas and
buffaloes, but there seemed to be little doubt that this is not the
correct tradition, which assigns the act of creation to his son Ön.
There is a suggestive resemblance between the name of this god and the
Sanscrit word for earth, Prithivi, which is in common use in Southern
India.
ÖN
Ön was the son of Pithi. He created the buffaloes and the Todas and
became the ruler of Amnòdr, the world of the dead, where he now lives.
One day Ön went with his wife Pinârkûrs to Mêdrpem (the top of the
Kundahs). There he put up an iron bar which stretched from one end of
the pem to the other. Ön stood at one end of the bar and brought forth
buffaloes from the earth, 1,600 in number. Then Pinarkurs tried to
produce buffaloes and she stood at the other end of the bar and
produced 1,800 buffaloes.
Behind Ön’s buffaloes there came out of the earth a man, holding the
tail of the last buffalo, and this was the first Toda. Ön took one of
the man’s ribs (parikatelv or magalelv) from the right side of his body
and made a woman, who was the first Toda woman. The Todas then
increased in number very rapidly so that at the end of the first week
there were about a hundred. [57]
The descendants of the buffaloes created by Ön became sacred buffaloes,
while the descendants of those created by his wife are the ordinary
buffaloes.
Ön had a son called Püv. One day when Püv was acting as palikartmokh at
Kuudr, he was churning in the dairy with a ring on the little finger of
his right hand. When the dairyman goes to fetch water he should always
take the churning stick out of the patat or vessel in which the milk is
churned. On this occasion Püv left it in the patat and went out to
fetch water. As he was going a black bird called karpüls tried to check
him, saying “tîs, tîs, tîs,” meaning “Don’t go to the water,” but Püv
paid no attention and went on. When he was taking the water the ring
dropped from his little finger into the spring. Püv saw the ring in the
water, but could not reach it, and so he got into the spring. The water
was not deep, and yet as soon as he stepped into the spring it
completely covered him and he was drowned. When Ön found that his son
was lost he cried very bitterly and covered himself with his cloak
(tuni). (Ön is said to have been a palol at this time.) When Ön covered
himself he looked downwards and saw, as through a veil, his son in
Amnòdr playing with the ring, putting it on and off his finger. [58]
When Ön saw that his son was in Amnòdr he did not like to leave him
there alone and decided to go away to the same place. So he called
together all the people and the buffaloes and the trees to come and bid
him farewell. All the people came except a man of Kwòdrdoni named
Arsankutan. He and his family did not come. All the buffaloes came
except the arsaiir, the buffaloes of the Kwòdrdoni ti. Some trees also
failed to come. Ön blessed all the people, buffaloes and trees present,
but said that because Arsankutan had not come he and his people should
die by sorcery at the hands of the Kurumbas, and that because the
arsaiir had not come they should be killed by tigers, and that the
trees which had not come should bear bitter fruit. Since that time the
Todas have feared the Kurumbas, and buffaloes have been killed by
tigers. All the Todas and all the buffaloes appear to have suffered for
the evil deeds of Arsankutan and the arsaiir.
Then Ön went away to Amnòdr, taking the buffaloes and the palol of the
Nòdrs ti with him, and since that time Ön has ruled over Amnòdr, which
is sometimes called Önnòdr after him.
TEIKIRZI
This goddess is perhaps the most important of the Toda deities. She is
said to have been the sister, and probably the elder sister, of Ön. I
could learn very little about the story of her life, but nearly all the
customs of the Todas were referred to her, and it seemed clear that
when Ön left this world Teikirzi became the ruler or nòdrodchi of the
Todas. Whenever I tried to obtain from the Todas an explanation of any
ceremony or custom I nearly always received the reply, which was
regarded as final, that it had been so ordained by Teikirzi.
It seems doubtful whether Teikirzi dwells in any special hill like
other Toda deities, though there is a hill near Nòdrs especially
connected with her. I was told that she lives everywhere in this world,
and in answer to a question it was said even that her influence extends
to London, where she dwells as she dwells everywhere else.
She is regarded as the ruler or nòdrodchi of all the Todas, and this
world is often spoken of as Eikirzinòdr. At the same time Teikirzi is
especially connected with Nòdrs, and she is the special nòdrodchi of
this clan.
Five customs, or sets of customs, are ascribed especially to Teikirzi.
These are:—
(i) Madol pâkht kwadrt vai, “Who divided and gave madol (clans).”
Teikirzi is also said to have divided the Todas into their two chief
divisions.
(ii) Ir pâkht kwadrt vai, “Who divided and gave buffaloes.”
Below Nòdrs, near a swamp called Keikudr, there is a small stream which
at the present time Todas will not cross at a certain spot, and
Teikirzi stood in this stream. According to one account she beat the
water with a wand, saying “Ir padri ma” (“May buffaloes spring”), and
buffaloes sprang out of the stream; but it seemed to be more generally
accepted that she only divided the buffaloes on this spot by touching
each animal on the back with a wand and saying the name of the clan to
which it was to belong. The first portion went to Nòdrs, the second to
Kuudr, the third to Kars, and the fourth to Taradr. Up to this point
she used a wand of kid wood (kidkurs). For the next clan, that of
Keadr, the kidkurs was put away and she used a wand of tavat wood, and
several other kinds of wand were used. Teikirzi was also said to have
ordained at the same time that wursulir should be milked by Teivaliol
and to have settled the general regulations concerning the different
kinds of buffalo.
(iii) Püliol pâkht kwadrt vai, “Who divided and gave püliol.”
Teikirzi is said to have ordained that certain people should be the
püliol of a man, and that püliol should not marry one another (see
Chap. XXI).
(iv) Ir patz id vai, “Buffalo catch who said.” Teikirzi ordained that
buffaloes should be caught at the funeral ceremonies (see Chap. XV).
(v) Kwarzam pep ostht ad vai, “Who told the kwarzam and gave pep.”
Teikirzi gave to each village its kwarzam, or sacred name, and settled
the method of making new pep.
The name of Teikirzi occurs frequently in other legends. One story not
mentioned elsewhere is the following:—
When Teikirzi was living at Nòdrs the people of Mysore came to fight
her, but as they approached, the woods made a great noise. When the
Mysore people heard the noise they stopped, and then Teikirzi cursed
them and said, “Let them become stones,” and they were turned into
stones, which are still to be seen below Nòdrs.
TEIPAKH, OR TIRSHTI
I know very little about the life-history of this deity, but he is very
widely mentioned in the prayers and incantations of the Todas, and is
one of their most important gods. He was the brother of Teikirzi, and
differs from most other Toda deities in being a river god, Teipakh
being the Toda name of the Paikara river.
Teipakh is the nòdrodchi of the Piedr and Kusharf clans.
Although there was considerable agreement that Teipakh and Tirshti were
one and the same god, there was some doubt about it, and, according to
one account, Tirshti was only another name for Teikirzi.
ANTO
I am very doubtful about the name and identity of this god. There
seemed to be little doubt that he had the same name as the chief dairy
of the Nòdrs ti and was the chief deity connected with this dairy.
According to one account he was the son of Ön, but it is possible that
the two deities were identical, Anto being Önteu. His name was
sometimes pronounced Anteu or perhaps more correctly Änto or Änteu.
I have only a few incidents from the life of Anto. He once rolled a
huge stone with the hair of his head from Nelkòdr in the Wainad to the
top of a hill called Katthvai near the dairy of Anto. The god now lives
near this dairy, resting his head on a spot called Ködrs, and
stretching his legs on a spot called Tudrs. These places are about two
furlongs apart so that Anto is evidently a god of a large size.
Anto is said to have made buffaloes, and the buffalo which founded the
ti mad of Makars (see p. 116) was one of his creation. The fact that
Anto created buffaloes increases the probability of his identity with
Ön, but this is far from conclusive for there were undoubtedly several
independent creations of these animals.
KULINKARS
This deity is the nòdrodchi of the Kars clan. His original name appears
to have been Kulin, and this was changed to Kulinkars. He is also
called Teikhars. He inhabits a hill near Makurti Peak, which is so
steep and rocky that “no man has ever climbed it.”
The following story is told of Kulinkars or Teikhars:—He once knocked
on the ground and so made two buffaloes. He then told the monsoon
(kwadr) to drive the buffaloes to the place to which they were to go,
saying, “you must push them on.” As the buffaloes were being driven on
by the monsoon, a tiger went after them. When they reached a certain
hill, the hill divided into two and the buffaloes went between the two
parts, but still the tiger followed them. Then the buffaloes came to
Kwaradr and went into the pen, and the tiger also went into the pen.
When the buffaloes saw that the tiger had come into the pen, they
kicked it and it died. Then one of the buffaloes said to the other,
“You stay here in the pen; I am going to Tarsòdr.” Then the monsoon
drove on this buffalo to Tarsòdr, which is one of the dairies of the
Pan ti. The descendants of the buffalo which stayed in the pen are the
pasthir of Kwaradr and the descendants of the other are among the
buffaloes of the Pan ti.
Kulinkars was connected with the erkumptthpimi ceremony (see Chap.
XIII) and was the mokhthodvaiol or paramour of Nòtirzi. His relation to
Nòtirzi is said to have been the origin of the mokhthoditi custom (see
Chap. XXII), but I was not able to obtain any detailed account of this
part of the history of the god.
Kulinkars has a son called Teikhidap, who lives on Makurti Peak, and
the proper Toda name for this hill is Teikhidap.
NÒTIRZI
I have no details of the history of this female deity. She is the
nòdrodchi of the two important clans of Melgars and Kuudr, and lives on
the hill now known as Snowdon, the Toda name of the hill being the same
as that of the goddess. This hill is especially sacred, and any Toda
who visits it has to salute with hand to forehead (kaimukhti) in all
directions. Like her mokhthodvaiol, Kulinkars, Nòtirzi is connected
with the erkumptthpimi ceremony. She is said to have had a son called
Tikuteithi or Teukuteithi. It is possible that this is the same as
Teikuteidi, who appears in the story of Kwoten (see p. 193), but they
are more probably two different deities.
A stone which is said to have been thrown by this goddess from her hill
is shown close to the village of Pòln, under the tree known to English
visitors to the Nilgiris as the ‘umbrella tree.’
KORATEU OR KUZKARV
Korateu was the son of Teikirzi. One day when Teikirzi was going from
one village to another she went into a cave called Teivelkursh, by the
side of a stream called Kathipa, near Kakhudri, and there gave birth to
a son, who was called Azo-mazo. The afterbirth dropped into the stream
and was carried down to Teipakh (the Paikara river). It travelled down
the river as far as a place called Marsnavai, where there were growing
two plants called tib and purs in which it became entangled. The
afterbirth then slowly arose and became a boy, and the boy was Korateu.
When Azo-mazo became a man he went to live at Pernòdr in the Kundahs,
but Korateu lived in the river till he was eight years old. The river
Teipakh was the brother of Teikirzi. As he sat in the lap of his uncle
Korateu used often to play at making the buffalo horns called tebkuter
(Fig. 35). [59] When he was eight years old he founded a ti and created
a male and a female buffalo, making both out of earth. He also built a
dairy and a buffalo pen and made the garment called tuni. As soon as
the buffaloes had a calf, he went to fetch a churning-stick from
Kaiers, beyond Makurti Peak, and took it to Nerva, near Mòdr, where his
buffaloes were standing. He then went to Kurkòdr, a bamboo grove near
Meipadi in the Wainad, and made a kwoi or milking vessel. He next made
the persin and the mani and all the other things of a ti and became
palol of the buffaloes at Òdrtho. There was a buffalo here of the kind
called kughir, with the horns growing downwards. Korateu cut off these
horns and gave them to the kaltmokh at Òdrtho and they are now the
horns of the Nòdrs ti. Korateu then made a law that the people of Piedr
should fill the office of palol and that the kaltmokh should be taken
from the Melgarsol. He appointed a palol and a kaltmokh from these
clans, handed over the charge of the ti to them, and went away to the
hill Korateu, where he lived in an iron cave which he called a poh. He
used to bathe in a pool near the hill.
At this time Korateu was not recognised as a teu, and when the gods
held council he was not summoned as a member. This made him very angry.
Near Korateu there was a wood in which there stood a tree of the kind
called mòrs (Michelia nilagirica) which was about 80 feet high. Korateu
ordered that honey bees (peshtein) should come to the tree, and after a
time there were about 300 nests, which made the tree bend down with
their weight. One day about twenty men came to collect honey, Todas,
Irulas, and Kurumbas. The Todas made a fire under the tree, while the
Irulas and Kurumbas climbed and collected honey from the nests. When
they had collected the honey from all except three or four nests, the
tree became so light that it sprang back and killed the Irulas and
Kurumbas, and the Todas went home.
At this time Korateu was unmarried and he carried a stick of iron. One
day a Kurumba woman came to the mòrs tree in search of honey. Korateu
knocked her on the head with the iron stick and at once she became
pregnant. That evening she gave birth to a daughter, who was very
beautiful, and Korateu decided to marry the child and sent away the
mother that night. (According to another version, the child was so
beautiful that the mother was frightened and went away to her own
village, and Korateu fed the child with milk and fruit and honey, and
when she grew up he married her.)
Soon after the death of the Irulas and Kurumbas a sambhar calf came to
Korateu, who caught it, tamed it, and kept it for a month. Then certain
Todas went to Korateu and asked him for a place. Korateu gave them a
place and said that it should be called Keradr. The people of Keradr
then asked for buffaloes. So Korateu gave them the sambhar calf and
said that it should become buffaloes for them, and he ordered that the
buffaloes should be called miniapir, and that the calves should be
called mâvelkar—i.e., calf from a sambhar. This was the origin of
Keradr and of its wursulir, which are still called miniapir, and they
are the only buffaloes of the Todas which were made from sambhar.
After these things had happened the gods recognised that Korateu was a
teu, and calling him asked him who he was. He answered that he was the
son of Teikirzi, and the manmokh or sister’s son of Teipakh. He was
then admitted as one of the gods and now lives on the hill Korateu, but
still sometimes sits in the lap of Teipakh. He is the nòdrodchi of the
Keradr and Keadr clans, and the chief villages of these clans are near
his hill. He is called Kuzkarv when mentioned in prayer.
Another god, called Etepi, is said to be the same god as Korateu. It
appeared, however, that Korateu lived on one hill and Etepi on another,
and I could not ascertain the true relation of the deities to one
another.
Azo-mazo is mentioned in the prayer of the Kars ti as two deities, Azo
and Mazo.
PUZI AND KURINDO
I am very doubtful as to the identity of Puzi. According to some
accounts Puzi or Purzi was merely another name for Teikirzi; according
to other accounts Puzi was a male deity and the husband of Teikirzi. In
the following story Puzi is a female deity, inhabiting a hill near
Nòdrs. She gave birth to a son called Kurindo. As soon as Kurindo was
born he became fire. Puzi did not approve of this, as it seemed to show
that the boy was too powerful, so she took a leaf of the kind called
kwagal, pounded it and mixed it with water and sprinkled it on the
fire. The fire then turned back again into a boy who was bent to one
side.
Puzi said, “I will put you on a hill opposite to me.” So she put him on
the hill called Mopuvthut, near the village of Naters, and in order to
make the hill higher she put three baskets of earth on the top, so that
her son might be seen by everybody.
When Kurindo was on his hill he thought to himself, “My mother has
treated me badly; she sprinkled me with water and quenched my power,
and she has made me bent to one side; I do not like to be opposite to
her.” So he went away to a hill near Kanòdrs. This was before the time
of Kwoten and before the Kamasòdrolam had run away (see p. 195). While
Kurindo was living on this hill a strange tribe came to the hills, so
Kurindo again moved and went away to the hill of Arsnur on the Mysore
side, where he still lives.
There is a hill called Puthi on which a fire is lighted at certain
times (see p. 291) and the god inhabiting this hill was, according to
one account, the husband of Teikirzi. It is possible that Puthi and
Puzi are the same, but I think it more probable that they are two
separate gods, each having his own hill, Puthi being the husband of
Teikirzi, and Puzi being the deity of this legend.
The following legends differ from the preceding in that they appear
almost certainly to record the lives of deified men. The first legend
deals with three men of different clans, but the sons of three sisters.
The second deals with the life of Kwoto, and professes to be the
history of a being of miraculous birth who came to be accepted by the
gods, not only as one of their number, but as superior to themselves.
These two legends were known far more thoroughly and universally than
any of the preceding. It seems most probable that they are records of
men who really lived, and that the life of each has become a nucleus
round which have grown various miraculous and portentous incidents.
KWOTEN, TEIKUTEIDI, AND ELNÂKHUM
There were once three men, the children of three sisters. The eldest
was Kwoten, who belonged to Pan, the second was Teikuteidi, who
belonged to Taradr, and the youngest was Elnâkhum of Nòdrs. (According
to one account the father of Kwoten was Purten, and his mother was
Tiköni of Keradr. They lived at Pan and Kiursi, and Kwoten was born at
Pan. Purten died when Kwoten was thirty years old and Tiköni died six
years later.)
Kwoten had a wife called Kwoterpani. She did not like her husband, but
preferred a man of Kanòdrs called Parden. One day Kwoten took his wife
to a place called Timukhtar (near the spot where Sandy Nullah toll-bar
now stands). He gave her only the loin-cloth called tadrp to wear,
hoping that she would be cold and uncomfortable and would sleep with
him, but she refused. Kwoten then took her to Kûdrîdjpül near Mulòrs,
where there was a large wood. In this wood there was a tree of the kind
called külmän, into which Kwoten climbed and made a bed. Below him,
about three feet above the ground, he made a small bed for his wife,
and under the tree, close to his wife’s bed, he tied a big male
buffalo. He did this because he thought a tiger might come to take the
buffalo during the night when his wife would be frightened and would
climb up the tree to his bed. During the night a tiger came and took
away the buffalo, but even this did not induce the woman to go to her
husband. Next morning Kwoten took his wife to Pòlâdri, which belonged
to the Panol. This village was near Miuni, and there Kwoten became a
palikartmokh. One day Kwoten was in the dairy and his wife in the hut
when Parden came from Kanòdrs. Kwoten’s wife knew that her husband was
in the dairy, and endeavoured to prevent Parden from going into the hut
by giving him buttermilk. Kwoten found that Parden had come, and
sharpened a big knife to kill him, and when he came out of the dairy,
Parden ran away towards Kanòdrs and Kwoten followed with the knife.
Kwoten’s sister had married a Kars man and was living with him at
Nasmiòdr, and at this time Kwoten’s mother was staying at this place.
As Parden ran away, pursued by Kwoten, they had to pass Nasmiòdr, and
Kwoten’s mother saw them, and said, “How is it that my son does not
catch Parden?” Then she cursed Parden, saying “On sati udairnùdr,
Kârkaḍith mul uḍith pâtmâ”—viz., “If I have reverence to the village,
may he be checked by the tree with thorns in the Kark wood.” When
Parden reached a stone now called Pardenkars, Kwoten caught him up and
tried to kill him, but the knife struck the stone instead and split it
into two pieces. Then Parden ran on to the wood called Kark, where he
was caught by a tree with thorns (brambles) so that Kwoten was able to
kill him.
When the news of the death of Parden reached Kanòdrs all the people
were very much afraid, and all ran away except one old man and his
wife. As the people were going, they sent a message to the Kotas at
Tizgudr. Two Kotas took a grain pounder (wask) and went to Pòladri.
When Kwoten was told that the Kotas were coming he went and hid
himself. The Kotas came and stood near the village and were told that
Kwoten had gone away. Then they told Kwoten’s wife, who at this time
was pregnant by Parden, to come out of the hut. She came out and went
to the Kotas, who asked her where Kwoten was. She said she did not
know, whereupon the Kotas were vexed, and pierced her belly with the
pounder, so that she died. Her funeral took place at Tadendari, and
that of Parden at Arâdr.
The people of Kanòdrs ran away to a place called Penasmalpet, near
Malmathapenpet, and are known as the Kamasòdrolam. They have never been
seen since, but the Todas have heard from various wandering tribes that
they still exist and that they live on a hill from which they can see
Kanòdrs, and that when the Kamasòdrolam see a fire at Kanòdrs they
shave their heads and make a special kind of food called ashkkarthpimi.
When the Kanòdrs people ran away there remained behind one old man
called Muturojen and his wife Muturach, [60] who were living in a
village near Kanòdrs called Mîtâhârzi. When the people left, the old
man went to the Kanòdrs dairy to churn the milk left there by those who
had run away, and he stayed there, sleeping in the kwotars or calves’
hut, as the dairyman should do at Kanòdrs. His wife used to come every
day as far as a place called Pîtipem, where she rubbed a place with
buffalo-dung and sat down.
While sitting there one day an eagle (kashk) sat on her head, and she
became pregnant, and went back to the village and gave birth to a son.
When Kwoten heard of this he wished to kill the child and set out to do
so. The old woman’s daughter, who had married a Kars man, sent her
husband to warn her parents that Kwoten was coming to kill them. The
Kars man met Kwoten and ran away from him towards Kanòdrs, followed by
Kwoten’s dog. When he came to a hill above the village he called out
that Kwoten was coming. When the old man heard him, he cursed Kwoten
and those with him; the latter became stones and Kwoten himself
(according to the story as told by the Kanòdrs people) was stung by
honey bees and died. The people of Kanòdrs are descended from the son
born to the old woman. If this old woman was not a Toda, as her name
and that of her village suggest, this would seem to point to a
tradition that the people of Kanòdrs are descended from an ancestor of
a different race from the other Todas (see p. 640).
Owing to the behaviour of Kwoten to the Kanòdrs people there has ever
since been karaivichi (trouble) between the people of Pan and Kanòdrs.
They do not intermarry and no Kanòdrs man may go to one of the chief
villages (etudmad) of the Pan people nor may a Pan man go to an etudmad
of Kanòdrs.
According to the above account Kwoten died after being cursed by the
old man, but this is only a feature of the story as told by the Kanòdrs
people, and in the account given by others Kwoten had many other
adventures and finished his life in this world in a very different
manner. He married a second wife, who, like the first, objected to her
husband and preferred a man of Keradr, whose name was Keradrkutan.
Kwoten lived with this wife at Kazhuradr, near Isharadr. At that time
women wore the garment called än, which is dark grey like the tuni of
the palol, and is now only used as a funeral garment.
Keradrkutan used frequently to come to Kazhuradr, and this vexed
Kwoten, who told his wife to have nothing to do with the man. She
encouraged Keradrkutan, however, and this vexed Kwoten so much that he
took off her än and brought a thorny bush called peshteinmul and beat
her all over with the bush, so that she became covered with blood.
Kwoten at this time wore the garment called tuni, which he then took
off, dipped it in water, and rubbed it all over his wife so that she
became the colour of tuni, and then he gave her back her än and went to
his dairy. While he was in the dairy Keradrkutan came stealthily to the
village. When the woman saw Keradrkutan she cried very bitterly and
said, “Kwoten has beaten me very severely so that I shall die; come and
see me.” When Keradrkutan went into the hut, the woman died.
Before this time, when Kwoten was one day beating his wife, she abused
him, saying, “Talrs ti oditha vai, Kòlrs kûv oditha vai; en
puspad”—“You have no ti, you have no Kotas: why do you beat me?” This
was to reproach Kwoten because the Pan people had no ti buffaloes and
had no Kotas to make things for them. So Kwoten went and complained to
his brother Teikuteidi. Teikuteidi was very sorry, and in order to
remove the reproach he persuaded Elnâkhum of Nòdrs to give certain
buffaloes of the kind called unir from the Nòdrs ti. Elnâkhum gave a
two-year-old calf (pòl) and a one-year-old calf (kar), and also two
bells (mani) to put on their necks. The two bells were called Tarskingg
and Takhingg. The calves were then standing at Kuladrtho and were taken
by Kwoten to the tars poh of Pan. He tied the two bells to one of the
calves called Kazhi. These bells ought properly to have been tied to
the buffalo called Enmars which remained behind at Kuladrtho. Then
Enmars went to Anto and complained as follows:—
“kî mêdr, kî kevi, ninkûtth pòrâni” [61]
“inferior neck, inferior ear, to your council I will not come”
i.e., “I will not come to your presence with naked neck and ear.” Anto
told him not to grieve because he had lost the mani, and that instead
Melgarsol teirpülk mudâ mâ nî pud Antosh pep ûn
Melgars man pül of Anto to in front go may you come at Anto pep drink
i.e., “When you go to Anto, a Melgars man shall go in front of you to
the pül of Anto; when you come to Anto you shall drink pep.” To this
day, when the buffaloes of the Nòdrs ti go in procession to Anto a
Melgars man goes in front and the buffalo called Enmars drinks pep at
Anto. At the same time Anto prophesied to Enmars that a misfortune
would befall Teikuteidi, saying
“wûrâdr nols Teikuteidi tan ennâth piriedkin,
“whole year day himself without numbering I will divide,
at vokh!”
go away!”
When Teikuteidi heard of this prophecy he was much grieved, and was
very careful to do all the following ceremonies:—erkumptthiti, upatiti,
punkudrtiti, tatmadthkudrtiti, petkudrtiti, mukudrtiti, adikudrtiti,
parivkudrtiti, tatòtiti, muòtiti, ponkastiti and irpalvusthi—viz.,
sacrifice of calf, salt-giving, purification of pun, tat and madth,
pet, mu, adi, and pariv, etc. [62] He performed all these ceremonies to
escape the prophesied evil, for if he had succeeded in doing them all
for the whole twelve months the prophecy would not have been fulfilled.
On the very last day he forgot the prophecy and did not perform the
ceremonies, but went to a place called Kirspem, where he sat under the
shade of pülmän. There is a flower which blossoms on this tree in the
rainy season only, and then the bees come. When Teikuteidi was sitting
under the tree it was not the rainy season and he was very much
surprised to hear the humming of honey bees in the tree. The noise was
being made by a kazun [63] which had taken the form of a bee. He looked
up to see if there were any flowers to attract the bees and could not
see them, neither could he see any bees. Then he thought for a little
while and remembered Anto’s prophecy, so he did not remain under the
tree, but went away to Kirsgòrs to attend the funeral of a wursol of
Nòdrs (see p. 439). When the funeral was over Teikuteidi set out with
companions to go to Kerkars (a place near Paikara). On the way they
passed Kwongudrpem (near Kuudi). There he stopped and began to count
his companions; he counted them, but forgot to include himself, saying
that there were twenty when they started and now only nineteen, and he
thought for a long time who the lost person could be. When he was
looking in the direction of the funeral-place for the lost companion,
he saw a lame man named Keikarskutan, who had a purs and ab (bow and
arrow). Keikarskutan lay down and shot the arrow [64] and it came
towards Teikuteidi with a sound like a bird’s voice. Teikuteidi was
looking to see what sort of bird it was when the arrow pierced both his
eyes [65] and he died. When his companions found that he was dead, they
held the funeral at Kerâs, and at the place where he died they made a
mark with four stones like a cross, one for his head, one for his legs
and one for each hand.
Kwoten was responsible for various features of the organisation of the
Pan people. He divided them into two parts, the Panol and Kuirsiol, and
also divided the ti into two parts, the wars ti, which was to belong to
the Panol, and the tars ti to the Kuirsiol. He settled that the palol
of the ti should be chosen from the people of Keadr. When there is a
funeral in any clan a palol belonging to that clan must give up his
office; hence, in order that his ti should never be without a palol,
Kwoten separated the people of Keadr into two divisions, the Keadrol
and the Kwaradrol, so that a member of one division might be palol if a
member of the other division died. This was the origin of the division
of the Keadr people into the Keadrol and the Kwaradrol.
One day Kwoten went to the wars ti of Pan and took buttermilk and slept
there, and he did the same at the arsaiir ti of Kwòdrdoni, and since
that day the people of Pan have had the privilege of taking buttermilk
and sleeping at the places of each ti.
Kwoten also made two teiks (stones or wooden posts at which buffaloes
are killed at the funerals), the parsteiks for the Panol and the
kirshteiks for the Kuirsiol.
It is owing to the example of Kwoten that the Todas now take meals in
Kurumba villages. Before his time they had never done so, but Kwoten
one day went to a Kurumba village and took food, and since that time
all Todas have done so.
Kwoten was also the first Toda to go to a Kota village. He wanted one
day to go to Mitur in the Wainad, and as it was getting dark and he was
still on his way, he went to the Kota village of Kulgadi (Gudalur). He
sat on their tün, or bed, got new pots and food from them, and, taking
both to the stream called Marspa or Marsva, he cooked and ate the food
there, and then, returning to the village, slept on a Kota tün. Since
that time Todas have gone to that village, and have done as Kwoten did,
but they will not go to any other Kota village.
One day Kwoten went with Erten of Keadr, who was spoken of as his
servant, to Pòni, in the direction of Polkat (Calicut). At Pòni there
is a stream called Palpa, the commencement of which may be seen on the
Kundahs. Kwoten and Erten went to drink water out of the stream at a
place where a goddess (teu) named Terkosh had been bathing. When Kwoten
was about to drink from his hands, he found in the water a long golden
hair; he measured the length of the hair and found it was greater than
his height; he had a long stick in his hand called pirs, and found that
the hair was longer than this stick. Then he asked Erten about it.
Erten knew it was the hair of a teu, but thought it best not to tell
Kwoten, and tried to persuade him that it was of no importance, and
proposed that they should return home. Kwoten, however, insisted on
finding out from whom the hair came, so they went along the stream.
Kwoten went first and Erten had to follow him. As they went they met
the bird called karpüls going from the right side to the left, [66]
uttering its cry. Kwoten asked Erten why they met the bird, why it went
from right to left, and why it made a cry. Erten replied as follows:—
“Nòdr udoi kwudrpedrshai; Naraian sami kaipedrshai.”
“Country (God) if there is you will die; Naraian will kill you.”
In spite of this warning, Kwoten persisted in going on, and finally
they came to Terkosh, who said to Kwoten, “Do not come near me, I am a
teu.” Kwoten paid no heed to this, but said, “You are a beautiful
woman,” and went and lay with her. Then Terkosh went away to her hill
at Pòni, where she is now, and to this day the Kurumbas go there once a
year and offer plantains to her and light lamps in her honour.
Kwoten and Erten returned home. Kwoten went to Kepurs, a village now in
ruins, close to Nanjanad, and Erten went to a village called Kapthòri
belonging to the Keadrol. Kwoten had about five hundred buffaloes
grazing at Pazhmokh, near Kepurs. That night Kwoten slept on the idrtul
over which he had spread a sambhar skin. He had on his finger a thick
silver ring, which may still be seen at Naters and is used in the
funeral ceremonies of men of the Pan clan. When the people awoke next
morning they found that Kwoten had disappeared and that there only
remained, lying on the sambhar skin, the silver ring and some pug. [67]
Kwoten had been carried away by Terkosh and it was found that his five
hundred buffaloes had also disappeared.
When Erten got up next morning he went to Kepurs and called out to the
wursol of that place, “Wursolia, tar tûrshoḍthrska” [68]—“O wursol, is
the man up yet?” The wursol replied, “Pülmâv tars pògh udisvichi”—“On
the sambhar skin blood is lying.” Erten replied, “Aroth pun pârs Pâlmän
kwark putvai, nadrtivadr”—“Take sixty vessels of milk to the wood of
Palmän and pour out.” So the wursol took sixty pun of milk and poured
it out in the wood as Erten had ordered him.
Then since Kwoten had gone away, Erten did not want to live any more;
he took a large creeper called melkudri, and tied it round his neck and
tried to strangle himself, but when he pulled the creeper it broke into
several pieces. He was much disappointed, but took another kind of
creeper called kakkudri, but this broke in the same way. He then tried
teinkudri, which also broke. Finally he took kakhudri, [69] and with
this he succeeded in strangling himself. Then the wursol and all those
who had helped in pouring out the milk also strangled themselves with
kakhudri. Since this time it has been a custom among the Todas to
commit suicide by strangling.
Kwoten and Terkosh are now living on two hills near Pòni, which face
one another, and Erten has also become a teu and lives on a smaller
hill near those of Kwoten and Terkosh. Whenever a Toda sees Kwoten’s
hill for the first time, he lies down on his right side and sings twice
the following words: “Seizâr zon, Kwoten âr zon, Seizâr zon, Terkosh âr
zon.” I could not discover the meaning of these words, and fancy that
the Todas themselves do not know exactly what they mean. It is possible
that âr is the word meaning six.
The history and fate of Teikuteidi, the second brother of Kwoten, has
been given in the story of Kwoten. He belonged to Taradr, and according
to one account the kugvalir of that place were sent to him. Very little
is related about the third brother, Elnâkhum. He had 1,800 buffaloes,
but though he had so many, he was always going to other Todas and
saying “I have nothing to milk; lend me a buffalo to milk,” and all his
life he used to beg. It is owing to his example that the Todas have
begged ever since, and are not ashamed to do so even when they are
rich.
Elnâkhum is said to have built the long wall which still exists at the
village of Nòdrs.
The story of Kwoten reads very much like that of a man who really lived
and was deified after his death. The minute detail with which several
of the natural incidents of his life are known might be held to point
in this direction, but perhaps more important is the fact that his ring
can still be seen, and that his spear was, according to Breeks, in
existence not long ago. It looks as if Kwoten was a man who raised Pan
from a comparatively insignificant position among the Todas to be one
of their chief clans, and was the means of introducing several
innovations in Toda custom. It is probable that he was deified after
his death, and that some of the incidents of his life have acquired
miraculous characters.
KWOTO OR MEILITARS
There was once a man belonging to Melgars who married a woman of
Kanòdrs and took her to Melgars. When she became pregnant, the woman
was taken by her husband to Kanòdrs. On the way back to Melgars they
passed Ushadr, the place where the funeral ceremonies of Melgars men
took place. They were standing in front of the funeral hut at that
place when the man found a good twadri tree, [70] and, cutting three or
four sticks from it, brought them to his wife, who stripped the bark
from the sticks. While she was doing this, the pains of labour came on,
and soon after she gave birth to a gourd (kem). Both husband and wife
were very much ashamed, and they decided to say that a child had been
born and had died, and the man went round to all the villages to say
that this had happened and that the funeral would be held at Ushadr.
Accordingly they had the etvainolkedr (first funeral ceremony) at
Ushadr, the gourd being covered with putkuli (cloak), so that it was
taken to be the body of a child.
First the buffaloes were caught and killed, and then the supposed
corpse was taken to the burning-place, where a fire was made and the
gourd in its mantle was put on the fire. The fire first burnt the
cloak, and when it reached the gourd, this broke into two pieces. One
piece became a little baby, a boy, which took a piece of the burnt
cloak and went away in the air to Neikhârs, where there is a big tree,
under which it alighted. The other piece of the gourd was split into
many fragments by the heat of the fire, and some of the fragments were
driven with such force that they killed a kite which had come to the
funeral. (To this day the kite does not eat the buffaloes at funerals
at Ushadr, though it does so at other places.) The father and mother
followed the child to Neikhârs, where they found it sitting on the
tree. [71] The father and mother said to the child “Ena, itvâ”—“My son,
come here,” and the boy came down and went to them, and was taken away
by his parents to Melgars.
As the parents and child were on their way to Melgars they met the
buffaloes of the Kars ti going from Kòn to Enòdr. At that time the
buffaloes of Melgars and Kars used to go with the ti buffaloes as far
as a place called Irgûdrval, on the way between Kars and Enòdr. A Kars
man went with the buffaloes, and he wore on his right wrist a gold
bracelet (which is still kept at Kuzhu). At Irgûdrval there is a stone
called Pidûtkars, and it was the duty of the man with the bracelet to
sit on this stone and to make the Melgars buffaloes pass on the right
side, the Kars buffaloes on the left side, and the ti buffaloes in the
middle. When he had done this, the palol prayed at the stone, and then
the buffaloes of Melgars and Kars turned back and the ti buffaloes went
on to Enòdr. When the man and his wife saw the buffaloes coming, they
waited near Pidûtkars, and while they were waiting the baby laughed.
The father asked the boy, “Why do you laugh?” The boy answered, “I know
the kwarzam [72] of the ti buffaloes, perner persagun; I know the
kwarzam of the Melgars buffaloes, narsüln natüln nâkh; also I know the
kwarzam of the Kars buffaloes, inâtviḍshti inâtvan; that is why I
laughed.” After the buffaloes had gone on to Enòdr, the parents and
child went on their way to Melgars. After they had been at Melgars
fifteen days, they noticed that the child grew so rapidly that they
could see him getting bigger from day to day, and he was soon grown up.
He was called Kwoto.
One day Kwoto went into the buffalo pen and played there with the
buffalo-dung, so that he was covered with the dust of the dung. His
father rebuked him and was blowing on him to get rid of the dust when
the boy changed into a kite and flew away. The next day he resumed
human form, but from that time he only stayed in the village at times,
and at other times stayed in the woods. This went on for about eight
days, and then he refused to take food from the village and became a
companion of the gods.
At this time the gods used to hold councils on the slopes below a hill
called Tikalmudri. The place where they sat was called Pòlkab. When the
gods were holding council at Pòlkab, Kwoto went and sat on the top of
the hill Tikalmudri. Then the gods said to one another, “How is it that
he sits on the top of the hill while we sit below? It is not at all
good.” They consulted together and decided to kill him. So three or
four of the gods went to Kwoto and said in a cunning way, “We will show
you your country” (i.e., the place which should belong to him; each of
the gods had his appointed place). So they took him to a steep
precipice called Teipâper, and having deceived him that they would show
him his country, they threw him down. Kwoto, however, was not killed,
but took the form of a kite and flew back to Tikalmudri. Then all the
gods were surprised that he was not dead, but decided to try and kill
him again, and they took him to the hill Kòdrtho, near Nidrsi, and
threw him down. (The hill Kòdrtho was inhabited by the god Kòdrtho.)
Kwoto was not killed, but pulled up a bamboo tree with its roots, and
flew back and struck Kòdrtho on the head, and Kòdrtho’s head split into
three pieces. One of these pieces is now the well-known hill, the Drug,
seen from Coonoor, while the other two pieces are eminences on the
ridge running out to the Drug.
Kwoto then returned to Tikalmudri. The gods said, “We cannot kill him;
he has some power; let us try his power.” So they gave him the
following task:
“Peivoi tirikvâ, pîdâr pîrichvâ?”
Low turn high fill?
i.e., “Can he turn the low stream and fill the high stream?” (According
to another account the words in which the task was given were, “Alvoi
tiriki, Kalvoi pîrsvôka,” i.e., “Can he turn the stream Alvoi and fill
the stream Kalvoi?”)
Kwoto then took a huge stone, which may still be seen near Kanòdrs, and
put it in the stream so that it flowed upwards. Then the stream begged
Kwoto, “We are going upwards according to your order, but it is very
difficult for us; we wish to be allowed to go our ordinary way.” So
Kwoto took away the stone and the stream resumed its natural course.
The gods saw what Kwoto had done and decided to try his power in
another way, so they said:
“Kânêr ât, kutei kurs ütia?”
Sun tie, stone chain can he do?
i.e., “Can he tie the sun with a stone chain?” Kwoto then took a stone
chain and tied it to the sun and brought the sun down to Nern, near
Kanòdrs, and tied it to a tree. When the sun wanted to drink, Kwoto
took it to the stream Kalvoi, from which the sun drank, and there is
now to be seen a hole in this stream at the place where the sun drank.
[73] Then Kwoto took the sun to a pool surrounded by trees called
Nerpoiker, also near Kanòdrs. While the sun was tied in this way, it
was dark both in this world and in Amnòdr. Then the people of Amnòdr
came to the gods and asked why they allowed Kwoto to do these things,
and said that they were now living in thick darkness, and they begged
that Kwoto should be allowed to put the sun back in its right place.
Then the gods went to Kwoto and asked him to put the sun back, and they
acknowledged that he was a god and the most powerful of the gods. They
said that he should no longer be called Kwoto, but that his name should
be Meilitars, because he was superior to all the gods; also that he
should go “parnur nòdr, putnur nòdr”, “to 1,600 places, 1,800 places,”
i.e., he should not belong to one place only, like the other gods, but
should go everywhere.
Then Meilitars put back the sun in its proper place.
(According to another version, the task of tying the sun was given in
the words:
“Kânêr ât, pîrsagun patrôkâ?”
Male buffalo tie, sun can he catch?
The sun was said to have been at this time sitting on the back of a
male buffalo, and Kwoto was told to tie the buffalo and catch the sun.
According to this account Kwoto first used an iron chain, kabantagars,
which was melted by the heat of the sun. Next he tried a bronze (?)
chain called kuchtagars, which also melted. Then he used a stone chain,
or karstagars, which did not melt, and he succeeded in tying the sun
with this. (This version of the story corresponds with that given by
Breeks.)
Kwoto or Meilitars was closely connected with two clans, those of
Melgars and Kanòdrs. It is said to be owing to the fact that Kwoto was
a Melgars man that Melgars people have the special privileges and
duties which are peculiar to that clan. At any rate, this is the view
held by the people of Melgars. At Kanòdrs, the name of Kwoto occupies a
prominent place in the prayer of the dairy, and several of the special
features of the ritual of the Kanòdrs dairy are said to exist in
consequence of the many wonderful things which Kwoto had done in its
neighbourhood. When new buttermilk has to be made for Kanòdrs, it is
made at a place called Kautarmad, far away, because Kwoto made new
buttermilk there, and in the ceremony at this place earth is taken from
certain places from which Kwoto took it.
Kwoto or Meilitars is the hero of several stories, in none of which
does he play a very creditable rôle.
At one time the Todas used to go to and fro between this world and
Amnòdr. Those who were dead stayed permanently in Amnòdr, but living
people could go to visit them and return. One day Punatvan of Kars went
with Meilitars to Amnòdr. They stayed there two days and two nights,
and then Meilitars came away without Punatvan’s knowledge. At that time
the people of Kars were living at Nasmiòdr, so Meilitars went to
Nasmiòdr and said that Punatvan intended to stop in Amnòdr, and wished
the Kars people to perform the funeral ceremonies for him, killing
thirty buffaloes. So the Kars people caught thirty buffaloes, the chief
one being called Enmon. Round the neck of Enmon were hung the two bells
(wursuli mani) called Karsod and Kòni. They cut a piece of stick and
put it in a putkuli to represent the dead body and then killed the
thirty buffaloes. As the buffaloes were on their way to Amnòdr, they
met Punatvan on his way back. Punatvan asked the chief buffalo, Enmon,
“Why do you come here?” Then Enmon told him what Meilitars had done.
The man and buffalo put their heads together and cried, and their tears
became a pool of water. [74] Then Punatvan took the two bells from the
neck of Enmon and sent them back to Nasmiòdr, where they are kept to
this day, but he returned to Amnòdr with the buffaloes. Then Ön, the
ruler of Amnòdr, ordered that in future no one should return to the
world of the living from Amnòdr, and since that day the Todas have not
been able to go to and fro between the two worlds as they used to do.
At the present time the people of Keradr have no ti. Once they had a ti
which they lost through the action of Kwoto, who went one day to their
dairy at Tîkîrs, near Mòdr, and, hiding the kaltmokh in the wood, took
his place. When the palol milks, it is the duty of the kaltmokh to let
out the calves and send them to the palol. Kwoto did not do this
properly, but sent more calves than were required, so the palol became
angry and took his stick (kwoinörtpet) to beat the supposed kaltmokh,
but the stroke missed and fell on the palol himself.
Another day the palol told Kwoto to pour out the remainder of the
buttermilk at the appointed place. Instead of doing this Kwoto poured
it into the stream, and the buttermilk so poured became a god called
Mòraman, who sends smallpox. [75] Then the palol became very angry and
said he would no longer be palol, if he had to keep such a kaltmokh.
Then Kwoto revealed to the palol and to the real kaltmokh that he was a
god, and gave them a medicine called mûvòmad, which has the property
that anyone who takes it will never grow old.
After giving mûvòmad to the palol and kaltmokh, Kwoto sent them into
the air, together with the dairy and the buffaloes and everything
belonging to the ti, and they all went in the air to Kupars, near Pan;
they stayed there for some time and then disappeared, and now nothing
can be seen of them, but if people go near Kupars, they hear the voices
of the palol and kaltmokh when they are talking to one another.
Since that time the people of Keradr have been without a ti.
Another story in which Kwoto played a prominent part is connected with
the custom of eating flesh. I received several versions of this story
and was unable to satisfy myself which was correct.
According to one account Kwoto once went to Mitur in the Wainad, where
Kurumbas live. Kwoto played with these people, and one day caught and
killed a wild buffalo. He said to the Kurumbas, “I have killed this
buffalo; let us eat its flesh”; and he gave to each a portion. The
Kurumbas ate their portions, but Kwoto only pretended to eat; he held
out his putkuli in front of him and instead of eating dropped his
portions inside the cloak. When the Kurumbas had finished, Kwoto got up
and all saw on the place where he had been sitting the flesh which he
had pretended to eat. Then the Kurumbas were angry and went to beat
Kwoto with sticks, asking why he had not eaten the flesh, and they
insisted that Kwoto should eat some of it. Kwoto ran away, and when the
Kurumbas pursued him he pretended that he was lame and consented to eat
some of the flesh of the buffalo. He also told them that he was a god
and said that he would dance before them, and did so like a lame man.
He told the Kurumbas that whenever he came in the future, he would
dance to the Kurumbas first and then to the Todas; and now the Kwoto
teuol, or diviner (see Chap. XII), when he dances, does so first to the
Kurumbas, and when he dances before them he does so as if he were lame.
After this Kwoto disappeared and since that time has not been seen. He
is said to live in a temple at Mitur, but “wherever there is a god,
there also is Kwoto, or Meilitars.”
According to another account, this story was told of the people called
Panins (Panyas), but in this version Kurumbas were also said to be
present, though it was the Panins who were made to eat the flesh.
According to a third account, obtained, however, from an untrustworthy
informant, Kwoto practised this deception on the gods themselves, and
made them eat the flesh of a calf while only pretending to eat himself.
This was said to have been the starting-point of the erkumptthpimi
ceremony, and Kwoto was said to have killed the calf with the same
formalities as are now used in this ceremony. All other Todas
strenuously denied that Kwoto made the gods eat flesh. There was,
however, so much reticence about the erkumptthpimi ceremony and its
history, that I am not confident that Kwoto was not in some way
connected with its origin, and that the version of my untrustworthy
informant may in this case have been correct.
OTHER GODS
There are very many other deities. Of the following I can give little
more than the names.
Atiato is the nòdrodchi of the Kwòdrdoni clan and also of Pedrkars. He
lives near the chief villages of these clans, and has a temple of which
the priest is said to be an Irula, and Todas sometimes give to this god
offerings of clarified butter.
Konto or Konteu is the nòdrodchi of the Panol, and lives on the hill
Konto, to which fire is set by the palol of the Kars or Pan ti (see
Chap. XIII).
Kòdrtho is the nòdrodchi of Nidrsi. He played a part in the history of
Kwoto, and according to some accounts he was the mun, or maternal
uncle, of this god.
Near the source of the Paikara river, there is a cave in which there is
a pool called Alvoi. Sometimes this pool gives forth a loud bubbling
noise, and this is believed to be due to a teu dipping himself in the
water. The name of the god is Alvoi Kalvoi, Kalvoi, situated at some
distance from the pool, being a hill on which the god usually lives.
There are other gods about whose histories I have no information.
Tiligush is the nòdrodchi of Päm and Karadr of Taradr. Pòrzo inhabits a
hill near Nòdrs, and Karzo, a hill near Kars, and the names of other
gods, such as Kaladrvan, Teikhun, Peigwa, Karmunteu, Kondilteu and
Mundilteu, are mentioned in the prayers of the ti dairies.
In addition to these, who are certainly true Toda gods, the Todas also
pay respect to the gods of the other tribes on the Nilgiris, while
occasionally the names of Hindu gods are mentioned in their ceremonies.
If a Toda be asked if he worships one of these gods, he will almost
certainly assent, but at the same time he distinguishes them from his
own gods. The only deity who seemed to be confused with their own gods
by some of the Todas was Petkon, whose Badaga name was said to be
Betakarasami. Breeks calls him Betikhan, and states that he is a
hunting god; and according to some Todas Petkon was a son of Teikirzi.
Previous accounts of the Toda gods have been very erratic. Some writers
have given the names of Hindu gods. Breeks gives the names of dairies
as those of gods, though he also records abbreviated versions of
several of the stories given in this chapter. The most curious account,
however, of the Toda gods is that of Marshall, who gives [76] the
following as the names of five gods which are muttered when milk is put
on the sacred bells:—Ânmungâno, Godingâtho, Beligoshu, Dekulâria, and
Kazudâva. We puzzled over these words for a long time, and could not
discover the names of gods even remotely resembling them. Finally it
became clear that the last was “kars ud âva” (“Give me one rupee”).
Similarly there was little doubt that “Beligoshu, Dekulâria” stood for
“beli karsu tudkersia” (“Will you not give me a silver coin?”), the
Badaga equivalent of the last word being very much like Dekulâria. The
first two names we could not identify with certainty, but the first is
possibly “en mûn gânei” (“Do not see my face”), and the second is
possibly the name of a Badaga buffalo-pen.
CHAPTER X
PRAYER
In the chapters in which the ritual of the dairies has been described,
one of the most important features of the ceremonial has been passed
over which must now be fully described. This feature is the prayer
which is always offered at certain stages of the dairy operations. In
the village dairies, of whatever kind they may be, no prayer is offered
at the morning ceremonial. In the evening the prayer of the dairy is
recited twice—once when lighting the lamp, and once when shutting the
buffaloes in their enclosure for the night, the prayer on this occasion
being said in front of the entrance to the pen.
At the ti dairy the palol prays both morning and evening. In the
morning he prays when lighting the lamp and after he has finished
milking; in the evening prayer is offered on both these occasions, and
also when shutting up the buffaloes for the night. The palol also
repeats a few clauses when going out to milk. Prayers are said on
certain other ceremonial occasions, and clauses from the prayers are
frequently uttered during the many ceremonies of the dairy.
At the evening ceremonial of the village dairy the prayer is said when
the lamp is lighted, while during the morning ceremonial, at which the
lamp is usually not lighted, there is no prayer. This suggests that the
prayer is especially related to the lamp-lighting, and that some idea
of worship of the light is involved, but occasionally for some special
reason, such as unusual darkness, the lamp may be lighted in the
morning, and on these occasions the prayer is not used. Nevertheless,
the relation between lamp-lighting and prayer both at the village and
ti dairies has probably some significance, and, taken in conjunction
with the undoubted salutation of the sun, it points to some degree of
worship of light and its sources which may at one time have formed a
more marked feature of the Toda religion than seems at present to be
the case.
The prayer when shutting up the buffaloes for the night is common to
both ti and village dairies. The night is the dangerous time for Toda
buffaloes, which are not infrequently killed by tigers, and the prayer
on the occasion of closing the pen is probably designed to promote
their safety.
At the prayer uttered at the close of the milking at the ti dairy the
palol adopts a special attitude which is shown in Fig. 28. He prays
leaning on his wand, the pohvet, with his hands crossed over one
another. This attitude is not employed in the village dairy, and only
on this occasion at the ti dairy.
In all cases the prayer is uttered “in the throat,” so that the words
cannot be distinguished by any one who may hear them. Whenever I
listened to the recital of a prayer as it was being offered by a
dairyman within the dairy, I heard only a gurgling noise in which no
words could be distinguished. On one occasion I was allowed to approach
the ti dairy at Mòdr while the first prayer was being offered by the
palol. I heard the beating on the persin (see p. 92) which accompanies
this prayer, and at intervals in the monotonous sound produced by the
voice of the palol there were pauses. As we shall see, the prayer of
the ti has certain sections which are distinguished from one another,
and it seemed possible that these pauses marked off the different
portions of the prayer, but it was clear that this was not the case,
the palol only stopping when the necessity for taking a new breath
became imperative.
Each village has its own prayer, and so far as I could ascertain this
prayer is used in all the dairies of the village; thus I believe that
at Taradr the same prayer would be used in both kugvali and tarvali.
This is not, however, a point on which I can speak positively, for
there was much reluctance to talk about this subject and many of the
Todas absolutely refused to discuss it. One point seemed quite clear,
at any rate among the Teivaliol, viz., that the different villages of a
clan had different prayers, though often with many clauses in common.
In general, the prayer of the ti is longer and more elaborate than that
of the village dairy. Different prayers are used at different dairies
of the same ti, though here again they may have many clauses in common.
In all cases the prayer consists of two distinct parts: a preliminary
portion consisting chiefly of names known as kwarzam, followed by a
portion which may be regarded as the prayer proper.
The prayer proper should be the same in every dairy, but it seemed to
me that there was a good deal of laxity as regards this portion, and
there is no doubt that it is often slurred over hastily and is less
strictly regulated than the preliminary portion of the prayer.
The following is the most generally accepted form:
Tânenmâ; târmâmâ;
may it be well or may be blessed; may it be well or may be merciful;
îr kark tânenmâ; nûv ârk mâ;
with the buffaloes and calves may it be well; may there be no disease;
kazun ârk mâ;
may there be no destroyer;
nudri ârk mâ;
may there be no poisonous animals (snakes and insects);
kâvel ârk mâ;
may there be no wild beasts (tigers, &c.);
per kârt pâ mâ; pustht kârt pâ mâ;
may be kept from (falling down) steep hills; may be kept from floods;
tüt ârk mâ; mâ un mâ; maj eu mâ;
may there be no fire; may rain fall; may clouds rise;
pul pûv mâ; nîr ûr mâ.
may grass flourish; may water spring.
The prayer then concludes with the names of two of the most important
gods or objects of reverence, followed by the words:
âtham idith emk tânenmâ.
them for the sake of for (or to) us may it be well.
There does not seem to be any strict regulation as to the clauses of
the prayer, and in different versions some of the given above were
omitted, while others were added, especially requests for protection
against special animals, as pob ârk mâ, “may there be no snakes,” and
pîrzi ârk mâ, “may there be no tigers.” One man concluded with the
words erdâdrsink erdâdri ini, “I know half to pray, I know not half to
pray,” [77] but I do not know whether this was an individual
peculiarity or a special feature of the prayer of his dairy.
It seemed clear that the whole prayer referred to the buffaloes. It may
be summarised as follows:
“May it be well with the buffaloes, may they not suffer from disease or
die, may they be kept from poisonous animals and from wild beasts and
from injury by flood or fire, may there be water and grass in plenty.”
The first part of the prayer contains a number of clauses each of which
usually consists of the name of an object of reverence followed by the
word idith (often contracted into ith). This word is said to mean “for
the sake of,” so that the prayer as a whole seems to consist of clauses
mentioning a number of objects of reverence for the sake of which the
prayer is said, followed by the prayer consisting of clauses directed
to avert evils or bring blessings on the buffaloes of the dairy. The
word idith is used in the sense of “for the sake of” in ordinary
language. Thus, “for my sake, leave him,” would be “en idith, an pidr”
(me for the sake of, him leave).
The objects of more or less sanctity thus mentioned in the prayer are
not called by their usual names, but are referred to by means of
special names to which the general term of kwarzam is given. In some
cases the kwarzam differs little from the ordinary name, while in other
cases it bears no resemblance to it.
The kwarzam mentioned in the prayer fall into several groups: there are
the kwarzam of the gods, of the buffaloes, of the villages, of the
dairy and of its various parts, vessels and implements. In some cases,
especially in the case of the ti, we shall find that different dairies
differ in the prominence given to each kind of kwarzam; that the prayer
of one place consists chiefly of kwarzam of the dairy, while in the
prayer of another the kwarzam of the gods or of the buffaloes
predominate.
In some prayers there occur kwarzam of a special kind containing
references to incidents in legend—incidents which occurred in the life
of some deity especially connected with the dairy at which the prayer
is used, or other kwarzam may refer to incidents in the history of the
dairy or of the village in which the dairy is situated.
I had great difficulty in obtaining examples of the prayers, or rather
of those portions consisting of the kwarzam of the sacred objects.
There was little objection to giving the prayer proper; it was only
when the kwarzam were approached that the difficulty arose. It was
evident that it was this portion of the prayer which was regarded as
especially sacred and mysterious, and this was doubtless due to the
mention of sacred beings and objects by their sacred names.
With much difficulty I succeeded in obtaining the prayers of four
village dairies, three belonging to the Kuudrol, while the fourth was
the prayer, or part of the prayer, of the Kanòdrs poh. I was also
successful in obtaining two ti prayers and fragments of others.
THE VILLAGE PRAYER
The following are the kwarzam of the prayer used in the dairy of the
village of Kuudr, the etudmad of the Kuudr clan. On the left-hand side
of the page are given the kwarzam, each of which is followed by the
word idith when the prayer is uttered. On the right-hand side of the
page are given the objects, beings or incidents to which the kwarzam
refer.
PRAYER OF KUUDR
Atthkâr Kuudr village and probably also the Kuudr clan
or Kuudro.
òners Kuudr village.
palitûdrpali large dairy at Kuudr (tûdrpali).
palikidpali small dairy at Kuudr (kidpali).
tûdrpalshpelk lamp (pelk) of large dairy.
kidpalshpep all the sacred objects of small dairy.
tûtòdrtho large buffalo-pen (tû) at Kuudr.
tûkidtû small buffalo-pen (tû) at Kuudr.
kadrtorikkadr calf enclosure (kadr) at Kuudr.
keishkvet sacred buffaloes (pasthîr) of Kuudr.
tarskivan ordinary buffaloes (putiîr).
känpep portion of buttermilk (pep) originally given
by Teikirzi for pasthîr.
âtthpep portion of pep for putiîr.
mutchudkars stone in buffalo-pen at Kuudr where the
vessels of the large dairy are purified.
tarskikars stone in pen where the vessels of the small
dairy are purified.
nîrkiznîr sacred dairy spring of Kuudr.
Eikisiov a buffalo whose milk was the origin of the
spring.
Pülmâlpül a hill near Kuudr.
Emalpûv a buffalo which once lived at Kuudr.
Kakathûmûk a hill near Kuudr.
Karstum a buffalo which once died on this hill.
teikhkwadiki a tree by which the dairy vessel called mu is
buried (see p. 170).
manikiars the kiars tree by which the sacred bell (mani)
is laid when the dairy things are being
purified.
Keikars a hill near Kuudr.
keitnòdi hill near which the erkumptthiti ceremony is
performed (see Chap. XIII).
petüt pati pethût ir chief buffaloes given when Teikirzi divided
the buffaloes with wand in hand (see p. 186).
Literally, “wand with divide chief buffaloes.”
pûthion nâkh tarzâr calf which was the ancestor of the Kuudr
maj putiîr.
Thus, the prayer would run, “Atthkâr idith; òners idith; palitûdrpali
idith; .....” and the translation would run, “For the sake of the
village and clan of Kuudr; for the sake of the village of Kuudr; for
the sake of the large dairy of Kuudr;....” as far as the end of the
kwarzam given above, and then would follow the prayer proper, “tanenma,
tarmama,....”
This prayer begins with two kwarzam of the village or clan, followed by
others referring to the dairies and dairy vessels, buffalo pens and
buffaloes. Then follow certain kwarzam of the pep or buttermilk which
is of so much importance in the dairy ritual, and those of stones which
play a part in the ceremonies attending purification of the dairy
vessels. After the kwarzam of the dairy spring, there follow a number
of kwarzam referring to certain incidents in the history of the dairy.
Eikisiov is the kwarzam of a buffalo which was one day being milked at
Kuudr when some of the milk was spilt on the ground. From that day the
ground became swampy, and on digging, a spring of water was found which
has ever since been used as the dairy spring and is called kiznîr. The
two following kwarzam refer to incidents of which I have no record.
Karstum is the kwarzam of a buffalo which was one day grazing on the
hill Kakathûmûk when it began to bellow and could not be induced to
stop; the people tried to take it back to the pen, but it would not go
and died on the hill, and has ever since been remembered in the prayer.
These kwarzam are followed by two referring to trees of ceremonial
importance—one the tree by which is buried the mu on the integrity of
which the continuity of the dairy procedure depends, while the other is
connected with the sacred bell.
Then follow the kwarzam of a hill on which there are cairns and that of
the sacrificial place of the village. The prayer concludes with two
kwarzam of a different kind. The first refers to the act of the goddess
Teikirzi, who portioned the buffaloes and assigned to each clan its
share. In so doing we have seen that she touched each buffalo on the
back with her wand, saying in each case to whom the buffalo should
belong, and this act is commemorated in the prayer in the form, “for
the sake of the dividing of the chief buffaloes with the wand.” The
last kwarzam is that of the calf, from which the ordinary buffaloes or
putiîr of Kuudr are descended, but I was unable to ascertain the
meaning of the words, except nakh, which is the name of a
three-year-old buffalo.
In the Kuudr prayer several of the kwarzam refer to incidents of a more
or less miraculous nature which are believed to have happened at the
village where the prayer is used, while the last kwarzam but one refers
to one of the chief events of Toda mythology.
It will be noticed that many of the kwarzam used in this prayer
correspond very closely to the names in ordinary use. Some, such as
keitnòdi and teikhkwadiki, are the same words as those in general use,
while others differ from the ordinary words in the reduplication of
part of the name, tûdrpali becoming palitûdrpali and kiznîr becoming
nîrkiznîr.
PRAYER OF KIUDR
The following are the kwarzam of the prayer used at Kiudr, which is one
of the most sacred of Toda villages.
Kwarzam of
Kîlvòh the dairy at Kiudr.
kerâni one of the patatmani of Kiudr.
mêdrâni the other patatmani.
pongg one of the ertatmani.
nongg another ertatmani.
pelteirzi the lamp of the dairy.
îrtîrzi also the lamp.
känmûv the way by which the dairyman goes from the
dairy to milk; the punetkalvol.
nîrtâkh the dairy stream.
nîrtîrshki also the dairy stream.
keitu the buffalo-pen.
tülivaners the posts at the entrance of the
buffalo-pen.
tashtpâlûv the bars of the entrance of the pen.
kadrtûlikkadr the calf enclosure.
arkatchar the household stream.
inerti also the household stream.
ârsvitchkârs the house (ars) at Kiudr.
eivitchâv also the house.
nersâdrvel the milking place.
keikûdr the stream which runs between the house and
the dairy (see 307).
kwoteiners }
kwelthipushol }
etamûdri } all of Kiudr village.
eraikin }
kârmus }
pârvakûdr }
arspem slope of hill (pem) near Kiudr.
The special features of the Kiudr prayer are the large number of
kwarzam of the village and the inclusion of the kwarzam of the house
and household stream. The prayer of Kiudr is the only Toda prayer in
which either the house or household stream is mentioned, and this fact
is in accordance with the high degree of sanctity which has become
attached to this village. It will be noticed also that the buffaloes
are not mentioned, and that nearly all the clauses of the prayer apply
to the buildings and their contents or to other parts of the village or
to the village itself. Only the last kwarzam of the prayer applies to a
place not actually in the village itself, and I could not ascertain why
this place was so favoured. With this exception, the Kiudr prayer is
one in which the kwarzam are entirely limited to those of the village
and the dairy.
It will be remembered that when the buffaloes of the Nòdrs ti migrate
from Mòdr to Anto they pass by the village of Kiudr, and that the
occasion is observed in various ways by the people of the village (see
p. 135). I was told that certain kwarzam referring to this occasion are
used in the Kiudr prayer. According to one man, these kwarzam are
always recited in the prayer before those which have been already
given, but others denied that they were so used. It is possible that
these kwarzam are only said on special occasions, such as the day of
migration, or it may be that they were formerly used, but are now being
forgotten.
These kwarzam are as follow:
uner pâgit nòdr ti buffaloes, come near country.
unkeu pâgit nòdr bell of wars dairy, come near country.
eupalol pâgit nòdr god palol, come near country.
eutuni pâgit nòdr god tuni, come near country.
eitût pâgit nòdr hair done up, come near country (this has
reference to the practice of tying the hair which
is followed by the palol when engaged at his
sacred work (p. 92).
Teigun ürpit nòdr horn (of warsir) blow country.
Kiudkudr ürpit nòdr horn (of liir) blow country.
Then follow the kwarzam already given.
These kwarzam are of a different form from those used in the general
form of prayer, and the various persons or objects mentioned are
referred to either by their usual names or by slight modifications of
them, as in eupalol or euvalol and eutuni. There seemed to be no doubt
that these words were abbreviations of teupalol and teutuni, the
omission of an initial t being not uncommon in the Toda language. Thus
in this prayer the dairyman is called “god palol,” and his garment “god
tuni.”
PRAYER OF KWIRG
Kwirg is one of the villages of the Kuudrol and is the place to which
their buffaloes go when it is necessary to make new pep for the whole
clan.
Kwatakwirg Kwirg village.
kûlpudshol Kwirg village.
palikeithiolv the dairy.
tûmadshû the pen.
kadrkeiri the kadr (calf enclosure).
nîrtiûdsh the dairy stream.
pinpunûv a hill.
pilkârs a hill.
âtthpep }
känpep }
mutchudpep }
keishkvet } see Kuudr prayer.
tarskivan }
petüt pati pethût îr }
pûthion nâkh tarzâr maj }
It will be seen that many of the clauses are common to this prayer and
that of Kuudr.
The three kwarzam of pep were said to be used in every dairy of the
Kuudrol, but it did not appear that they were used at Kiudr. The third,
mutchudpep, is not included in the Kuudr prayer, but mutchudkars
appears in its place. Two hills are mentioned in the Kwirg prayer, but
there are none of the references to special events connected with the
village such as exist in the prayer of Kuudr.
THE PRAYER OF THE KANÒDRS DAIRY
When I was staying at Pishkwosht and visited the conical dairy at
Kanòdrs with Neratkutan, he told me that the prayer of this dairy had
forty kwarzam referring to the gods, as well as many of other kinds,
but on going into detail I could only obtain the following:—
Pâr nûr teu the 1600 gods.
pût nûr teu the 1800 gods.
Kwoto Kwoto or Meilitars (see p. 203).
Atioto Atioto (see p. 210).
Kurindei teu Kurindo (see p. 192).
Konteu Konteu or Konto (see p. 211).
Anteu Anto (see p. 188).
Pòrzo Pòrzo }
Kòdrtho Kòdrtho } see p. 211.
Kârzo Karzo }
Teikhunteu Teikhun
mänpóh Kanòdrs village.
mutîrshpóh ditto.
tûnertû the pen.
kânêr the sun ? (see p. 206).
kuteikurs the stone chain used by Kwoto (see p. 207).
aners Kuzhu village.
tûtashki Pishkwosht village.
This prayer is quite unlike those of the other village dairies and was
much more like that of a ti dairy. As we have seen, the poh of Kanòdrs
resembles a ti dairy both in the elaborateness of its ritual and in the
high degree of sanctity of its dairyman, and this resemblance is now
seen to extend to the prayer used in the dairy ritual.
Other dairies of the Tartharol which have an especial degree of
sanctity are the kugvali of Taradr and the conical dairy of Nòdrs. I
made great endeavours to obtain the prayers used in these places, but
without success.
THE TI PRAYER
The prayers offered at the ti dairies are as a general rule longer and
more complex than those of the ordinary village dairy. The latter
portion of the prayer, or the prayer proper, does not seem to differ
from that of the ordinary dairy, the differences being in the kwarzam
recited at the beginning. The different dairies of the same ti may have
different prayers; thus, at the Nòdrs ti there is a special prayer for
the dairy at Anto which is longer and more complicated than that used
at Mòdr, but it is probable that this is exceptional and is owing to
the great antiquity and sanctity of Anto. The other dairies of this ti
probably use much the same prayer as at Mòdr, though there may be
certain slight modifications at each.
THE ANTO PRAYER
This prayer is characterised by a very large number of kwarzam
referring to the dairy, its contents and surroundings. On ordinary days
a shortened form of the prayer is used which consists wholly of kwarzam
of this kind. On special days, such as the occasions of ponup and
irnödrthiti, other kwarzam are said, including those of gods and
buffaloes.
The following kwarzam are those in daily use, each being followed by
the word idith as in the village prayer:—
Kwarzam of
Anto the ti.
eithipôh ditto.
mêdrpôh the ti poh.
pôhtîrzh the wars poh.
ûv the milking place (pepkarmus).
pero the special pen used on the night before the ponup
ceremony.
keirv the pen used on the night before the migration of the
buffaloes.
kâtû the ordinary pen.
Teirz a hill near the dairy on which Anto lives.
tîlkav the back of the dairy (pohpalikef).
îrbâr the way by which the kaltmokh goes to and from the
dairy.
Pîthipôh the cave where the Pithi was born (see p. 184).
nersâvul sacred path to the dairy by which the mani, pep, &c.,
are taken.
karkadr path by which ordinary people approach the dairy.
tadipül ditto.
einpül path by which the palol goes to draw water.
panpül path by which the palol returns from drawing water.
Kiûln a hill near the dairy.
Keini another hill.
titkîn stream at which the palol bathes and washes his
garments.
tîtòr stone by this stream marking the spot by which the palol
bathes, &c.
teirpül spot at which the palol halts and prays for the third
time during the procession to Anto (see p. 135).
teirpôh ditto.
nîrkûli place at which palol and kaltmokh defæcate.
Katthvai hill near Anto (see p. 188).
Kubul ditto.
Ködrs place near Anto (see p. 188).
Tudrs ditto.
teibithikars stone rolled by Anto.
teibithival lower part of the hill Katthvai (see above).
On ordinary days these kwarzam are followed by the prayer tanenma
tarmama, &c. On special occasions the following kwarzam are inserted
between those already given and the prayer proper:—
Kwarzam of
Ekîrzam meidjam Teikirzi, Tirshti.
Kûdreij Kudreiil dairy.
tîdj ditto.
Kûlâdrtho Kuladrtho dairy.
Perithi ti vaners ti dairy at Perithi in the Wainad.
Kòti One of the hills at which fire is lighted by the
palol at the teutütusthchi ceremony (see p. 291).
pagvôh ditto.
Pûthi another hill at which fire is lighted.
ânul ditto.
Kûlinkârs Kulinkars (see p. 188).
Nòtîtrzivan Nòtirzi (see p. 189).
Kuzkârv Korateu (see p. 190).
unir one group of tiir (see p. 112).
unkeu mani of wars dairy.
Persin mani of ti dairy.
kûdrs mani bells of punir.
tadsth axe which came from Amnòdr with the buffaloes.
tâpâr an iron bar.
âter the second group of tiir (see p. 112).
teiter the third group of tiir.
Keirz the buffalo which has the mani called Keu put on
its neck.
pîlti buffaloes (unir).
persv ditto.
Keirv buffalo which drinks pep on day of migration (see
p. 135).
Kîthi buffalo which wears the kudrs mani.
kudûvòrs the path at Mòdr by which ordinary people approach
the dairy.
tadrpòrs place near Mòdr at which the palol and kaltmokh
defæcate.
tarikipül place near Mòdr where the erkumptthpimi ceremony is
performed.
kidkadr calves’ hut (karenpoh) at Mòdr.
ponpôh ti dairy at Mòdr.
kidpôh wars dairy at Mòdr.
Òdrtho ti dairy at Òdrtho.
Kûdreiil wars dairy at Kudreiil.
munârten a ti dairy.
The following is all I was able to obtain of the prayer used at
Mòdr:—“Ekîrzam meidjam idith, Anto eithipôh idith, Kûlinkârs idith,
Nòtîrzivan idith, Kûlâdrvan idith, Teukuteithi idith, Kûdreij tîdj
idith, Kuzkârv idith, Alvoi Kalvoi idith, tanenma tarmama,” &c. Two of
these kwarzam, “Teukuteithi idith” and “Alvoi Kalvoi idith” are not
mentioned in the Anto prayer. I have no doubt that the list of kwarzam
is very incomplete.
THE PRAYER OF MAKARS
The following is the prayer used at Makars, the chief dairy of the Kars
ti. The kwarzam of the dairy are here comparatively few in number, but
the prayer is especially rich in the kwarzam of gods and buffaloes, and
it furnishes a very good example of the relation of the prayer formulæ
to the Toda legends.
The kwarzam of the prayer run as follow:—
Anto The god Anto.
Nòtîrzivan Nòtirzi.
Kûlinkârs Kulinkars or Teikhars.
Kuzkârv Korateu.
Onkonm Onkonm who lives on a hill in the Kundahs.
Ekîrzam meidjam Teikirzi and Tirshti.
Azo } Azo and Mazo.
Mazo }
Katadrvanpoh place near Kûlinkars.
Peigwa god living on hill near Makurti Peak.
Karmunteu Karmunteu.
Kotzgârth the Paikara river (Teipakh).
Kondilteu Kondilteu, a god opposite the hill of Kòti.
Mûndilteu a god on a hill near the last.
Onûlvpoh place near Majòdr.
Kûlâdrazenteu god on a hill near Kuladrtho.
kaban adi arten teu “iron door shut god.”
kaban kûl eiten teu “iron stick held god.”
mòrs ver arten teu “mòrs tree under event god.”
kûghîr kùdr kwaten teu “crooked horned buffalo horn cut god.”
tebkúter at, tan mun “imitation buffalo horns took, his
madrik teu mother’s brother’s lap god.”
mâvel kâritan teu “sambhar from calved god.” (The last six
kwarzam refer to the story of Kuzkarv
(see p. 190).
pülnerkûrz buffaloes of tî called pürsîr.
tetnîrkan ditto.
pirsk muneki potitth îr “sun to facing that came buffalo.”
nerk muneki potitth îr “bell to facing that came buffalo.”
putûḍr mun kekitth îr “tûḍr tree back (face?) rubbed buffalo.”
Kitheri kûtk ethkitth îr “Kitheri stream to jumped buffalo.”
pâtûsh kattith îr “desolate pen from made buffalo.”
Warwark ethkitth îr “Warwar (stream) to jumped buffalo.”
ö khuberam kitj erditth “seven heaps buffalo-dung fire set
êram buffaloes.”
pêrnêr bell (mani) or pürs dairy.
unêr ditto.
persagun mani of pars dairy.
talg ditto.
nârvtüls lamp.
poikar pürs dairy.
pârsvôh pars dairy.
tînnudri pen.
kakûnnudri ditto.
nîrkar dairy spring.
tülinîr ditto.
pünpôh dairy at Enòdr.
kâtû pen at Enòdr.
pünnîr spring at Enòdr.
Enòdr Enòdr ti mad.
mêdrpôh dairy at Pars.
peiltû pen at Pars.
tülinîr spring at Pars.
Pars Pars ti mad.
âtârnudri dairy at Neradr.
nêrieners pen at Neradr.
Neradr Neradr ti mad.
pülvôh dairy at Kòn.
aners ditto.
tedrvâs pen at Kòn.
pûvârsnîr spring at Kòn.
Kòn Kòn ti mad.
Then follow “tanenma tarmama,” &c.
The kwarzam of the prayer given above are arranged in a definite order.
First come the kwarzam of sixteen gods or of hills or places closely
connected with gods, then follow six kwarzam referring to various
incidents in the life of the god Korateu. These are followed by two
kwarzam of buffaloes, and then follow six referring to various features
of the founding of Makars, of which an account has been given on p.
116. Then follows a kwarzam relating to an incident which is probably
recent. The palol of this ti used to make seven heaps of the dung of
the buffaloes. There is a law that the dung should not be sold, which
the palol disobeyed, and soon after a fire broke out suddenly from the
seven heaps, and this event is commemorated in the prayer by means of
the kwarzam meaning “seven heaps of buffalo-dung, fire set buffaloes,”
and is included among the kwarzam relating to buffaloes, probably
because there was a belief that the anger of the buffaloes was the
cause of the fire.
The buffalo kwarzam are followed by eleven referring to the bells of
the ti and to the dairy, pen and spring of Makars, and these are
followed by kwarzam referring to the other places of the ti—viz.,
Enòdr, Pars, Neradr, and Kòn. In each case there are said the kwarzam
of the dairy, pen, spring, and place except in the case of Neradr,
where for some reason the kwarzam of the spring is omitted.
The feature of the Makars prayer which is especially interesting is the
reference to legend in the kwarzam. This reference occurs in the Kuudr
prayer and in those of Kanòdrs and Anto, but the references are far
more elaborate in the Makars prayer. These references were very useful
in providing incidental confirmation of the details of legends
previously obtained, while in other cases they put me on the track of
stories which I might otherwise have failed to obtain. One point of
interest connected with them is that, in the absence of the legends,
they might easily be supposed to be meaningless sentences. We have seen
that there is reason to believe that the Todas are forgetting much of
their mythology, and if the legends referred to in the Makars prayer
should be forgotten, these kwarzam would become meaningless formulæ.
This appears to have happened already in some cases; there were certain
kwarzam of which I could obtain no translation; thus, all the kwarzam
of the clans and villages were of this nature and could not be
explained, though they almost certainly had a definite origin. A good
instance of a kwarzam which is on its way towards a similar fate is
that at the end of the Kuudr prayer. The meaning of only one word was
clear—viz. nâkh—while maj was probably the word for cloud, and the
kwarzam appears to refer to some incident of legend in which a
three-year-old calf and a cloud were concerned, but I could obtain no
record of the incident, nor of the legend of which the incident was a
feature.
I have treated these formulæ of the dairy as prayers, and I think there
can be very little doubt that they are of the nature of supplications,
and are believed to invoke the aid of the gods in protecting the sacred
buffaloes. It must be confessed, however, that there is no actual
evidence in the formulæ of direct invocation of the gods. The name of
no god is mentioned in the vocative form. In some prayers there is
barely mention of a god at all, if the term ‘god’ be limited to the
anthropomorphic beings of the hill-tops.
The exact relation between the formula and the gods largely depends on
the exact meaning of the word idith, which is not quite clear. But,
whatever the meaning of this word, it is evident that it is used in
exactly the same way in the case of a god as in the case of a buffalo,
a place, a dairy vessel, or other even meaner object.
Perhaps the nearest approach to an appeal to gods in the prayer is in
the words at the end, in which the names of certain gods are mentioned,
followed by the words âtham idith emk tânenmâ, “for their sake may it
be well for us.”
There is little doubt that the Todas offer prayers to their gods in
their ordinary daily life, altogether apart from the dairy ritual. I
was told by one man that when anyone leaves an etudmad he should pray
that he may return safely, and in this case my informant said that he
prayed to Teikirzi. Unfortunately I did not ask the exact form of the
prayer, and do not know whether the goddess was invoked by name or
whether kwarzam were uttered of the same form as in the prayer of the
dairy. We may, however, be confident that the idea of supplication to
the gods is not foreign to the Toda mind.
We shall see later that in the formulæ used in Toda sorcery, the names
of gods are mentioned, followed by the same word idith which is used in
the dairy formulæ. In the magical formulæ the evidence of appeal to
deities is somewhat stronger than in the case of the dairy formulæ,
which are certainly of a religious character. It seems most likely that
the word idith was at one time used especially in connexion with the
names of gods, and carried with it some idea of supplication. Gradually
other sacred objects were included in the prayer, the same form being
used for them as for the gods, this inclusion being prompted by the
belief that the mention of any sacred object might help to promote the
efficacy of the prayer. Later, when any mysterious and seemingly
miraculous incident occurred at a village, it seems to have become the
custom to commemorate it in the prayer.
It is quite clear that at the present time the earlier portion of the
prayer, consisting of the kwarzam, is regarded as more important than
the latter portion, which reads like the actual prayer. I suspect even
that in practice the prayer proper is often omitted, or that only the
first two words, tanenma, tarmama, are said. There certainly seemed to
be no very rigorous laws as to the exact number or order of the clauses
of this part of the prayer. The earlier portion, on the other hand, is
very strictly regulated, and the order in which the kwarzam are to be
uttered is definitely prescribed. Certainly there is far more reticence
in connexion with the kwarzam, and this may safely be taken to indicate
that a higher degree of sanctity attaches to them than to the words of
the prayer proper.
It is probable that the alteration in the relative importance attached
to the two parts of the prayer would have to go little further in order
to produce a state of things in which the Toda dairyman would use the
first parts of the formulæ only, and an anthropologist visiting the
Todas at this stage would find them using formulæ which would not be
recognisable as prayer.
If, at the same time, the process of forgetting their mythology should
also have advanced, the Todas would then provide an excellent example
of a people using in their religious ritual meaningless forms of words,
and the Toda kwarzam seem to furnish one way in which people may come
to use such meaningless forms.
CHAPTER XI
THE DAIRY RITUAL
In the preceding chapters I have given an account of an elaborate
ritual wholly connected with the buffalo and with the dairy. This
ritual is certainly of a religious character, and, though there is much
in the nature of the dairy formulæ which is uncertain, there can be
little doubt that they are intercessory and that they bring the dairy
operations into definite relations with the Toda deities.
It seems most probable that the general idea underlying the dairy
ritual is that the dairyman is dealing with a sacred substance, the
milk of the buffaloes. This sacred substance is to be converted into
other substances, butter and buttermilk, which are to be used by the
profane. At the present time much of the butter goes to those who are
not even Todas and are regarded by the Todas as inferior beings.
It seems most probable that the elaborate ritual has grown up as a
means of counteracting the dangers likely to be incurred by this
profanation of the sacred substance, or, in other words, as a means of
removing a taboo which prohibits the general use of the substance.
Similarly the migration ceremonies have the general underlying idea of
counteracting any possible evil influence which may accompany the
passage of the buffaloes through the profane world from one sacred
place to another. During the migration, objects may be seen by the
multitude which under ordinary circumstances are strictly screened from
the general gaze, and objects may be touched, or be in danger of being
touched, by people who ordinarily may not even see them.
Again, the ceremonies connected with entrance upon any dairy office are
intended to purify the candidate and make him fit to see and touch and
use the sacred objects.
The purpose of some of the other ceremonies is less obvious. The
irpalvusthi ceremony seems to be of the nature of a thanksgiving, one
of its most important features being a feast, but in this feast people
may partake of the milk of sacred buffaloes, which is not ordinarily
used by them, and there is a suggestive resemblance to those religious
ceremonies in which communion is held with the divine by eating or
drinking the divine.
The salt-giving ceremonies seem to point to a time when salt was
difficult to procure. According to the Todas the object of these
ceremonies is to ensure a plentiful supply of milk. There is a belief
that salt is beneficial to the buffaloes, and the occasions on which
the salt is given have become religious ceremonies which at the ponup
of the ti have reached a high degree of elaboration with very special
relations to the chief gods of the dairy. The ceremonies of making new
pep are especially mysterious, and I will reserve some speculations as
to the general idea underlying them till later (see p. 242).
COMPARISON OF THE PROCEDURE OF DIFFERENT DAIRIES
One of the most striking features of the ritual in all its branches is
its increasing elaboration and complexity from the lowest to the
highest grade of dairy.
One of the details of the ritual which runs through the whole series of
dairies is the separation between the vessels and objects which come
into contact with the buffaloes or their milk, and those which come
into contact with the outside world, or with the products of the
churning which may go to the outside world.
In the proceedings with the milk of the ordinary buffaloes in the huts
where the people live, there is, so far as I know, no distinction of
this kind.
In the lowest grade of dairy we already meet with the separation. All
the vessels are kept in the same room, but in different parts of the
room, the patatmar and the ertatmar, and this distinction between the
two sets of objects is kept up in the migration ceremonies where they
are carried by different men.
There are no striking differences in this respect between the lower
grades of dairy, whether tarvali, kudrpali, or wursuli; in all, the two
sets of vessels are separated, but no strict measures are taken to
prevent a vessel of the patatmar from coming into contact with a vessel
of the ertatmar during the dairy operations. It is only on reaching the
kugvali of Taradr that we find an intermediate vessel, the kuvun, used
to transfer substances from a vessel of the more sacred to one of the
less sacred kind, and to prevent possible contamination of the former
by the latter.
It is in the ti dairy that these precautions reach their highest degree
of development. Here the two sets of vessels are kept in different
rooms, separated by a screen, and the dairy products are never
transferred directly from a vessel of one kind to a vessel of the
other, but always by means of an intermediate vessel. The butter and
buttermilk produced by the churning operations in the inner room are
transferred to the vessels of the outer room by means of the idrkwoi,
which is kept on the dividing line between the two compartments.
Similarly the vessels into which the butter and buttermilk are received
are never allowed to come into direct contact with objects from the
outside world, but their contents are transferred to vessels used
outside the dairy by means of intermediate vessels, the uppun or the
mòrpun.
In the migrations of the ti buffaloes this strict separation between
the two kinds of vessel is still kept up. The things of the inner room
are carried by the palol himself, while the things of the outer room
are carried by others. The idrkwoi, though carried by the palol on the
same staff as the things of the inner room, is kept apart from the
rest, and is not allowed to touch them.
The fires of the ti dairy furnish another interesting example of the
principle by which sacred objects are prevented from coming directly
into relation with objects which may have been contaminated by contact
with the outside world. The lamp is not lighted directly from the
tòratthwaskal, which is probably sometimes touched by the kaltmokh, but
fire is transferred from this fireplace to the pelkkatitthwaskal, from
which the lamp is lighted. Here, again, the use of an intermediary
object is limited to the ti dairy.
The principle of management by which the palol prevents the
contamination of the sacred by the profane in the dairy is adopted by
him in other ways. Whenever I paid any money to the palol at Mòdr, I
placed it on a stone from which it was taken by the kaltmokh and handed
to the palol. A similar procedure is generally adopted whenever
anything is brought to, or taken from, a ti dairy. The kaltmokh in the
above instance acts as the intermediate link between the palol and the
unclean.
In the ordinary procedure of the village dairy, except at the kugvali
of Taradr, no example occurs of this use of intermediate links, but
there is such an example during the ordination of the wursol. When the
palikartmokh gives the candidate milk from the ertatpun (p. 149), he
does not pour it directly into the leaf-cup from which the candidate
drinks, but first pours it into another leaf-cup and then from that
into the cup used by the candidate.
Other features of the ritual in which there are differences in
different grades of dairy are in the ceremonial touching of dairy
vessels, in the avoidance of turning the back towards the contents of
the dairy, in lamp-lighting, in the ritual connected with the bell, and
in the frequency with which the prayer of the dairy is recited.
At the tarvali and kudrpali, the dairyman touches ceremonially the
majpariv and the patat at the beginning of the afternoon churning,
while at the wursuli this is done both morning and afternoon. At the
ti, however, this ceremonial touching does not occur, or, at any rate,
I failed to obtain any account of its performance.
The method of carrying out the dairy procedure kabkaditi, in which the
back is never turned on the sacred vessels of the dairy, is not
followed in the tarvali, except at the irpalvusthi ceremony. I have no
record of it in the kudrpali, except on the same occasion, and it is
only followed regularly in certain dairies of the wursuli grade, viz.,
Nòdrs, Nasmiòdr, Òdr, and Kozhtudi. The first has a conical dairy, and
Nasmiòdr and Òdr are especially ancient and sacred places. At the
kugvali and the ti dairy, on the other hand, the dairy ceremonial is
always performed kabkaditi. At one ceremony, that of irpalvusthi, the
work of the dairy is performed kabkaditi in every dairy of whatever
grade.
The lamp-lighting is another feature which becomes more frequent and
more ceremonial in the higher grades of dairy. In all the village
dairies, including the kugvali of Taradr, [78] the lamp is only lighted
ceremonially at the afternoon churning, the lighting being made the
occasion of prayer. If the morning is dark, the lamp maybe lighted, but
it is clear that this is not done ceremonially, and the lighting is not
accompanied by prayer. At the ti we have already seen that the lamp is
lighted in a more ceremonial manner and in the morning as well as in
the afternoon.
Some of the details of the ritual are definitely associated with the
mani, and since the presence of a mani implies a higher grade of dairy,
this leads to an increase in the elaboration of the ritual. The mani is
treated in much the same way in all the grades of dairy which possess
this sacred object.
Another feature in which the increasing sanctity of the dairy is shown
is the frequency with which prayer is offered. At all the village
dairies the dairyman only prays at the afternoon ceremonial when
lighting the lamp, and when shutting up the buffaloes in their pen for
the night. As already mentioned, there is a definite association
between prayer and the ceremonial lamp-lighting.
In the ti dairy, prayer is offered both morning and evening; at the
morning ceremonial twice and in the afternoon three times. On both
occasions the first prayer begins when the lamp is being lighted and is
continued while the palol knocks on one of the persin with the
persinkudriki. The second prayer in each case is offered at the
conclusion of the milking, and the third prayer of the afternoon
corresponds to the second prayer of the village dairy, being offered
when shutting up the buffaloes for the night.
The increasing sanctity of the different grades of dairy is shown very
clearly by the increasing stringency in the rules of conduct of the
dairyman. The tarvalikartmokh may sleep in the living hut on any night
in the week, and there are no restrictions on his intercourse with
women. The kudrpalikartmokh may only sleep in the hut on Sundays,
Wednesdays and Saturdays, and is prohibited from intercourse with
Teivali women. The wursol is limited to two nights, Sunday and
Wednesday, and, though himself a Teivali man, is prohibited from
intercourse with Teivali women. The kugvalikartmokh has similar
restrictions, but the pohkartpol of Kanòdrs must avoid women
altogether, and this is almost certainly the case with the palol also.
The tarvalikartmokh takes his buttermilk and food without any ceremony.
The kudrpalikartmokh must hold his food in his hands throughout his
meal and must not put it on the ground.
In the case of the wursol we meet first with the ceremonial drinking of
buttermilk, which must in this case be poured into the leaf-cup from
the vessel called ertatpun. The kugvalikartmokh drinks buttermilk
sitting on the seat outside his dairy and pours from the ertatpun,
drinking three times only and saying “Oñ” each time.
The pohkartpol of Kanòdrs has to take his food with very special
precautions. He sits on the wall of his dairy and his hand must not
touch his mouth nor the leaf-cup his lips. At the ti the drinking of
buttermilk has become a definite ceremony in which the kaltmokh pours
out drink for the palol with prescribed formulæ, but, strangely enough,
the palol does not suffer from the same restrictions against touching
his mouth as the pohkartpol of Kanòdrs, though the latter holds an
office which in most ways is distinctly less sacred than that of the
palol.
The clothing of each grade is also regulated. Perhaps the most
important feature here is the use of the garments called tuni. These
are made of dark grey cloth of a quite different kind from that of the
ordinary clothes worn by the Todas. The garments are procured from the
Badagas, and cloth of the same kind, called än, is used to enwrap the
corpse in the funeral ceremonies. It is mentioned as the ordinary
clothing of a woman in the legend of Kwoten, and is almost certainly
the ancient clothing of the Todas still persisting in ceremonial in
connexion with the dead and in the dairy ritual.
The tuni is only worn by the higher grades of the dairyman-priesthood
and by the palikartmokh of the Teivaliol. The palol wears tuni only,
both his loin-cloth and his mantle being of this material. The kaltmokh
has no need for a tuni, for when he is engaged in his work at the ti he
has to be naked, and when away from the ti and in the sleeping hut he
wears a small piece of tuni, the petuni, in his girdle, the piece of
cloth marking the difference between the full kaltmokh and the
perkursol.
The wursol, the kugvalikartmokh, and the Teivali palikartmokh only wear
the tuni when actually engaged in the dairy work and leave it inside
the dairy at other times. I am doubtful whether the pohkartpol of
Kanòdrs resembles the palol or the lower grades in this respect.
Although the palikartmokh of the tarvali and the kudrpali never wear
the tuni, a small piece of this cloth is put in the girdle during the
ordination ceremonies, and this may be a relic of a time when every
dairyman wore the tuni. [79] In the secret language (see Chap. XXV) the
word petuni is used in one place as the equivalent of ‘uniform,’ and
this seems to indicate that the petuni is regarded as the badge of a
dairyman.
The use of the leaves and bark of the sacred tudr tree is another
feature which distinguishes different dairies. In the tarvali it is, so
far as I know, not used at all. In the kudrpali it is only used in the
pepeirthti ceremony. The wursol uses tudr in his ordination ceremonies,
but not in the ordinary ritual of his dairy, nor is it used in the
daily ritual of the ti dairy, though largely used in the purification
of the dairy and of the dairy vessels, and in the ordination ceremonies
of the palol.
The use of tudr in the ordination ceremonies is only allowed to the
members of the Teivali division and of the Melgars clan of the
Tartharol.
Special kinds of dairy or special dairies may have features peculiar to
themselves; thus the pepeirthti ceremony, in which the dairyman beats
on the patat with a piece of tudr bark, is only performed at the
kudrpali; the prescription of nakedness when milking is confined to the
kudrpalikartmokh; the special method of wearing the putkuli open in
front when going to the buffaloes is only practised by the wursol, and
the method of taking food sitting on the wall of the dairy and throwing
the food into the mouth is peculiar to the pohkartpol of Kanòdrs.
One feature of interest in the dairy organisation is the existence of
different names at different dairies for the dairy products, and for
the various objects used at the dairy or in connexion with the dairy
ceremonies. The chief differences are found on comparing the village
dairy with the ti, nearly every object having a different name in the
two places, though occasionally a peculiarity of nomenclature may be
confined to one dairy, as at Kanòdrs, where milk is called persin, the
name of the churning vessel of the ti. As a general rule it seems that
the name used in the village dairy is the same as that in ordinary use;
thus, the dairy vessels used in the house for the milk of the ordinary
buffaloes are known by the same names as those of the village dairy.
The use of special names in the more sacred dairies is probably
connected with their high degree of sanctity. The names of the dairy
vessels of the village are in common use, and it would doubtless seem
sacrilegious that the names of the vessels of the ti should be thus in
everyone’s mouth. Consequently nearly every object used in the
ceremonial of the ti dairy has a special name, and in the ordinary life
of the Todas these words are probably never uttered.
One striking feature of the dairy ritual is the use of the syllable Oñ.
With one exception (p. 177) this word is always uttered thrice, and it
seems to be especially connected with the act of putting curds or milk
on the bells. It has a suggestive resemblance to the mystical syllable
Om of the Hindus. It is also possible that it may be a form of the name
of the god Ön, or, again, it may be a corruption of the word mani, of
which the initial letter has been dropped, a process of which other
examples have been given.
It is doubtful how much significance is attached to the right and left
sides in the dairy ritual. There is no doubt that in the most sacred
acts of the ritual, such as saluting the buffaloes and the sun, or
feeding the bell, it is the right hand which is used. This preference
of the right hand is emphasised by the action of the palol in washing
out his mouth, when he takes the water into his mouth from the left
hand, because it is his right hand which has most to do with the sacred
objects. In the migration ceremonies the dairy vessels are carried on
the left shoulder, but at the ti the choice of this shoulder by the
palol is obviously due to the fact that either the mani or
churning-stick is carried in the right hand, and in other cases it is
probable that the choice of the left shoulder is due to the necessity
of leaving the right hand free. When the candidate drinks in the
ordination ceremonies he holds the cup in the right hand, and this hand
certainly has the preference throughout the dairy ritual. On the other
hand, the petuni is worn on the left side of the waist-string, both by
the kaltmokh, as a sign of his full rank, and by the palikartmokh
during his ordination ceremonies.
In the ordinary dairy the side which is on the right hand in entering
seems to be the more sacred, and the platform on this side is the
meitün or superior bed. In the ti dairy, on the other hand, there was
some doubt as to the more sacred side. At Mòdr it seemed that the mani
is on the left hand side of the palol as he is performing his duties,
but it is doubtful whether this is so at other places, and it may be
that my account of the Mòdr dairy is wrong in this respect.
THE SANCTITY OF MILK
The different degrees of sanctity attaching to the different dairies
are associated with differences in the rules regulating the use of
milk, and these rules seem to show clearly that the milk of buffaloes
belonging to the more sacred dairies has a higher degree of sanctity
than that churned in the lower grades.
The milk of ordinary buffaloes may be drunk by anyone, man, woman, or
child. The Todas do not ordinarily sell milk, but if they do so, they
may only use the milk of ordinary buffaloes for this purpose. I have a
note that anyone may also drink the milk of buffaloes belonging to the
tarvali, but I suspect that this only applies to men who must drink it
at the dairy.
The milk of the kudrpali may only be drunk by the kudrpalikartmokh
himself. It is believed that any other person or animal who should
drink milk from this dairy would die.
At the wursuli milk may be given to men at the dairy, but it must be
mixed with buttermilk. At the kugvali of Taradr the milk of the
kugvalir themselves is not drunk by anyone, the dairyman having certain
ordinary buffaloes for his own use, and this is also the case at the
ti. I believe that not even the palol would drink the milk of the
persinir, the sacred buffaloes of the ti.
There is one exception to the rule that ordinary people may not use the
milk of the sacred buffaloes of the village dairies (except in the form
of butter and buttermilk). At the irpalvusthi ceremony at all the
village dairies, including the kugvali, food is prepared with the milk
of one of the sacred animals and this food is given to the people of
the clan to which the dairy belongs and also to members of other clans.
In the case of the wursuli, I was especially told that this is the only
occasion on which the milk of wursulir is used by people in general. At
the kugvali, people of other clans are only given this food on the
second day of the proceedings, and the distribution of the food is
preceded by a ceremony in which some of the food is thrown into the
fire. The milk used on this occasion is the milk of the buffalo which
has recently calved, the ceremony being in celebration of this event.
At the wursuli it is noteworthy that the food is cooked by the wursol
himself, the ceremony of irpalvusthi being the only occasion on which a
dairyman of this grade prepares food. Thus, when the milk of the
wursulir is used ceremonially as a food by ordinary people, the food is
prepared by the dairyman-priest. One feature of the irpalvusthi
ceremony is that the work is performed kabkaditi in every dairy, and it
is possible that this sign of increased respect is intended to
counteract the desecration which is about to take place in the use of
the milk by the profane. As I have already pointed out, the irpalvusthi
ceremony has a strong resemblance to a sacrificial feast, in which
people partake of the sacred animal, but in this case it is the milk of
the animal and not the animal itself which is taken.
A further indication of the sanctity of milk is given in the
prohibition against the drinking of milk by a widower or widow during a
period which, as we shall see later, may extend to many months.
The restrictions on the use of the milk of the sacred animals have the
general characters associated with taboos, and the whole daily ritual
of the dairy would seem to be designed to remove the taboo. It is
possible that at one time the milk of the sacred buffaloes was not used
at all, and that these animals only suckled their calves. If then the
Todas had begun to milk the sacred buffaloes, it is natural that the
milking and churning should have been accompanied by ritual designed to
counteract the evils to be expected from the profanation of the sacred
substance and the breaking of the taboo. In certain circumstances even
now the Todas do not milk their sacred buffaloes, but allow them to
suckle their calves only. If a ti dairy, or even one of a lower grade,
has no dairyman, the buffaloes are not milked, though they are still
tended by some unsanctified person and are kept ready to take their
part in the dairy ritual if a dairyman should again be appointed.
SPECIAL DAIRY CUSTOMS
The general method of treating the milk in the dairy procedure seems to
be the same as that generally followed in India and other hot
countries. The milk is allowed to coagulate and the curd is churned.
The butter so obtained differs from that of European countries in
containing the proteid as well as the fat constituents of milk. This
butter is then clarified, but in this respect there is an important
difference between the ordinary Hindu procedure and that of the Todas.
The usual Hindu method is to heat slowly over a fire without the
addition of any other substance. The Todas add grain or rice to the
butter before clarification, and this sinks to the bottom of the vessel
and forms a substance called by the Todas al, which is one of their
chief foods. This deposit of grain or rice will carry down with it
some, possibly all, of the proteid constituents, and the al will,
therefore, be a nourishing food.
The only other detail in which the Toda procedure is peculiar [80] is
in the addition of buttermilk from a previous churning to the
newly-drawn milk, the buttermilk or pep being put into the vessel
before milking. This addition probably hastens the process of
coagulation, but its chief interest is derived from the fact that it
has become the nucleus of some of the most interesting features of the
dairy ceremonial.
This addition of buttermilk seems to be regarded as forming a thread of
continuity in the dairy ritual, and the ceremony of pepkaricha, or
making new pep, is held whenever this continuity is broken. The pep is
connected with a dairy vessel of the kind called mu, which is buried in
the buffalo pen, and if any evil befalls the mu, it is held to be a
cause for making new pep—i.e., the usual course of the dairy procedure
will be interrupted, in some cases for months.
The buried dairy vessel seems to be linked in some mysterious way with
the fortunes of the dairy, and especially with the buttermilk which
forms the element of continuity in the dairy procedure. The buried
dairy vessel, or mu, is not one which is now generally used to hold
buttermilk. There are two kinds of mu in the dairy, one which contains
the butter added during the churning, while the other is used, partly
as a receptacle for the milk which is about to be churned, and partly
to fetch water from the stream. It is highly probable that there was at
one time a third mu in the dairy, which was a receptacle for the
buttermilk added before milking.
At the especially sacred dairy of Kanòdrs, where ancient procedure is
likely to have lingered, the buried mu is still used as a receptacle
for buttermilk. When this dairy is unoccupied, a certain amount of
buttermilk is kept in the buried mu, and when the dairy is again
occupied, this buttermilk is used to add to the milk. In this case the
continuity of the dairy procedure is directly kept up by means of the
buried vessel, and this procedure of the Kanòdrs dairy is strongly in
favour of the view that the buried vessel was formerly a receptacle for
the pep.
There are other indications that the mu is the most sacred of the dairy
vessels. It is this vessel which is touched by the wursol the
kugvalikartmokh of Taradr and the pohkartpol of Kanòdrs, as the final
act which gives them their full status at the ordination ceremonies,
and we shall see later that in the funeral ceremonies at Taradr a
temporary building is made to represent a dairy by placing in its inner
room a mu. In this last case, it would seem that the mu is regarded as
the emblem of the dairy, and that placing a mu in the inner room of the
temporary building makes it a dairy.
The representative of the mu at the ti dairy is the peptòrzum, but it
does not seem that this vessel is specially distinguished from the
rest, and it does not appear to have the sanctity and importance which
attaches to this kind of vessel at the village dairy.
There seem to be two chief possibilities in explaining the existence of
the buried mu. It may be that it was at one time the custom to bury the
pep while the village was unoccupied, and that this custom now only
persists at Kanòdrs, the mu at other places being no longer used for
this purpose, though it has continued to be of ceremonial importance.
The other possibility is that, as the pep acquired increased importance
in the dairy ritual, the sanctity of the buttermilk was transferred to
the vessel which contained it, and the sanctity of the vessel became so
great that it was not thought right to leave it exposed to the dangers
it might incur in the dairy, especially in the various migrations, and
it was therefore buried in the buffalo pen of the chief village of the
clan. It is probable that the custom arose in the way suggested by the
procedure of the Kanòdrs dairy, but that the full development of the
custom has been largely due to the belief in its special sanctity.
The obscure observance of having a ball of food larger than can be
eaten at one sitting occurs twice in the various dairy ceremonials. It
is a feature of the ceremonies which the kaltmokh has to undergo on the
day after the migration of the Nòdrs ti to Anto, and the superabundant
portion of food has also to be eaten by the candidate for the office of
palol in the preliminary ceremony called tesherst. In each case the
food is of the ceremonial kind called ashkkartpimi. I can offer no
suggestions as to the meaning of the observance, nor do I know of any
parallel for it.
PURITY AND IMPURITY
The idea of ceremonial purity is one running through the whole of the
dairy rites. Many of the details of the ritual, the purification of new
vessels and of dairies revisited after a period of disuse, the
ordination ceremonies of the dairyman, the elaborate ceremonies
accompanying the making of new pep, all show a very deeply engrained
idea that men and things have in themselves some degree of impurity,
and that in order to be made fit for the service of the gods, they must
be purified and sanctified by appropriate ceremonies.
As regards man two grades of impurity are recognised: (i.) the impurity
of the ordinary man which is perhaps an absence of ceremonial purity
rather than actual impurity; and (ii.) the special impurity which is
the result of certain events and especially of those accompanying birth
and death.
The impurity of the ordinary man does not prevent him from visiting the
dairies of the lower grade, but it prohibits him from taking any part
whatever in the actual dairy operations. With certain exceptions, he is
rigorously excluded from actual contact either with dairies or dairymen
of the higher grades. He is perhaps regarded as unsanctified rather
than impure. The definite impurity which is the condition of those who
have attended funeral ceremonies or have been in relation with a woman
in the period of seclusion after childbirth is something very
different. Such a man is not merely unsanctified, he is unfit to hold
any sacred office; even the prolonged ceremonies of ordination would
not fit him to hold office in the dairy or to perform any part in the
tendance of the sacred buffaloes, and he is not allowed even to
approach the members of the higher grades of the dairyman-priesthood.
WOMEN AND THE DAIRY
Women take no part in the dairy ritual, nor in the milking and churning
operations which are carried on in the hut. It is said that at one time
the women took charge of the buffaloes at the time of calving, but this
is not the case at the present time.
Women go to the dairy to fetch buttermilk, using an appointed path and
standing at an appointed spot to receive it.
Females enter, dairies under two conditions only. They may enter the
outermost rooms of those dairies which are used as funeral huts while
the bodies of men are lying in them. Here they may sit only on one side
of the room, and only when the dairy operations are not in progress.
Women also enter the temporary funeral huts of men, which are called
pali, or dairies.
The other condition under which a female enters a dairy is at the
migration ceremony of the village, in which a girl, seven or eight
years of age, is given food in the dairy of the village which the
buffaloes are leaving, and sweeps the front of the dairy of the village
to which they are going. This ceremony is one in which a girl seems to
take a definite part in dairy ceremonial, but the girl chosen for this
office must be below the age of puberty.
The relations of women with the different grades of dairymen have
already been considered; a point which may again be mentioned is that
the emblems of womanhood, the pounder, sieve, and broom, may be removed
from the hut while the dairyman is present, though the women themselves
remain.
During certain dairy ceremonials, women must leave the village
altogether, and during the passage of the buffaloes of the Nòdrs ti
near the village of Kiudr, the women leave the village, taking with
them the pounder, sieve, and broom.
Although women are thus excluded from all participation in the dairy
ceremonial, we shall see later (Chapter XIV) that an artificial dairy
plays a part in some of the ceremonies connected with pregnancy and
childbirth.
HISTORY OF THE DAIRY
The Todas can give very little information which throws any light on
the development of this complex organisation of the dairy with its
elaborate ritual. According to tradition, the most sacred dairies, and
especially that of the Nòdrs ti, date back to the time when the gods
were active on earth and were themselves dairymen.
Beyond the belief that buffaloes of different kinds were assigned to
the different clans by Teikirzi, I could obtain no account of beliefs
about the origin or growth of the other grades of dairy. One fact as to
the past which seemed clear was that ti dairies were at one time more
numerous than at present, and several places now possessing village
dairies of the ordinary kind are said to have been at one time the
seats of ti dairies. Thus it is believed that Kiudr was formerly a ti
place, and the old weatherworn stones shown in Figs. 31 and 32, which
are still called neurzülnkars, seem to provide evidence that tradition
is here correct. The village of Teidr is said to have been at one time
a ti, and here again two stones called neurzülnkars are to be seen
about a quarter of a mile from the village.
There is another feature of the Kiudr dairy which suggests that it may
at one time have been a ti dairy. It contains six bells called mani,
which clearly differ in nature from the mani of the other village
dairies, especially in the fact that they are not used at funerals.
They are also distinguished as patatmani and ertatmani, a distinction
not met with in any other village dairy. It seems probable that they
are the representatives of the two kinds of bells of a ti, the mani
proper and the kudrsmani. The ertatmani of Kiudr are ‘fed’ with
buttermilk, a procedure not followed, so far as I know, in any other
dairy, but it may be that this is a feature of the procedure of the ti
dairy which escaped me. Certainly the most likely explanation of the
existence of these bells at Kiudr is that they are survivals of its
former position as a ti dairy.
The villages of Kiudr and Teidr both belong to the Teivaliol, and this
raises the question whether this division of the Todas may not have
possessed ti herds and ti dairies of their own at one time, and may not
always have had to be content with providing dairymen for institutions
belonging to the Tartharol. No information could be given on this
point, but it seems unlikely that dairies and places belonging to a
Tarthar clan should have been handed over to the Teivaliol when they
were no longer used as ti dairies and ti places.
Certain Tarthar villages are also said to have had at one time ti
dairies, especially the sacred places of Nòdrs and Òdr. This probably
means that there is a tradition that the buffaloes of the Nòdrs ti were
at one time kept at these places which, as we have seen, are still
visited by the palol during his ordination ceremonies.
The process of extinction of ti institutions can be seen in progress at
the present time. The Nidrsi ti is not now in working order; there has
been no palol for some years and its dairies are unoccupied. It is said
that a palol would have to be appointed temporarily if it was desired
to perform the second funeral ceremonies of a Nidrsi man, but in the
present condition of the Nidrsiol, it seems to me not at all unlikely,
either that the rule will be disregarded, or that the second funeral
ceremonies will not be performed, and that the Nidrsi ti will become
absolutely extinct, possibly dragging down another institution into
extinction with it.
The Kwòdrdoni ti is now only active for a short time once every year in
order to satisfy a ceremonial requirement of the Kotas, and this
institution may possibly soon become little more than a name. If it
were not for the Kotas, it would undoubtedly be as near extinction as
the ti of Nidrsi. One palol of the Pan ti has recently ceased to be
appointed, and the same difficulty which has led to his disappearance
will probably sooner or later vacate the other office, and Pan will
follow in the footsteps of the other clans. Many of the dairies
belonging even to the more prosperous ti institutions are now disused,
and some have completely vanished. The legend of Kwoto preserves a
tradition of ceremonial accompanying the migration of the buffaloes of
the Kars ti which has now entirely disappeared, and nothing is known of
the special features of ritual which were practised at many ti dairies
which have become extinct.
Of dairies of other grades, the poh of Kanòdrs is now only occupied for
a short time once a year, and its ceremonial may soon also become
extinct. The conical poh of Kars and the seven-roomed kudrpali of Nòdrs
are dairies which have ceased to exist, and with the extinction of the
latter have gone completely all traces of the ritual which was
practised in this kind of dairy, and nothing is known as to the meaning
of the seven rooms.
Some of these changes are recent, and due to the altered conditions
produced by the general invasion of the Nilgiris, but others date back
to a time before Europeans came to the hills, and were due to intrinsic
conditions, chiefly the hardships connected with the ritual practised
in certain of the dairies. The altered surroundings of the Todas are
undoubtedly hastening the process of decay, and institutions which
would probably have lasted for centuries will now almost certainly
disappear in a few decades.
CHAPTER XII
DIVINATION AND MAGIC
This chapter will furnish a very good example of specialisation of
religious and magical functions among the Todas. We shall find that
certain Todas have the power of divination, others are sorcerers, and
others again have the power of curing disease by means of spells and
rites, while all three functions are quite separate from those of the
priest or dairyman. The Todas have advanced some way towards
specialisation of function in this respect, and have as separate
members of the community their prophets, their magicians and their
medicine-men in addition to their priests.
DIVINATION
Certain men among the Todas are reputed to have special powers as
diviners, and are known as teuòdipol, “god-gesticulating men,” or more
commonly as teuol. Samuel, my interpreter, always spoke of their
performances as devil-dancing and evidently regarded the teuol as like
those whom he called the devil-dancers of his own people.
In several cases these men are said to have inherited their powers from
some near relative, often a grandfather, but it seems that anyone who
showed evidence of the necessary powers might become a teuol. All but
one of the present diviners are Teivaliol, but the divining power is
not limited to this division. There is no relation between the various
offices of the dairy and the power of divination, and, in fact, a
diviner necessarily gives up his divining if he becomes a palol. [81]
Each of the teuol is believed to be possessed by a special god when he
falls into the divining frenzy, and when in this state it is said that
the diviner does not, as a rule, speak in his own language, but in some
other, most commonly in Malayalam, or one of its dialects. The
following are those who are at present credited with the power of
divination:—
Midjkudr (63) of Piedr, who is inspired by the gods Kulinkars and
Petkon. He speaks in Malayalam, and he does not appear to have
succeeded anyone else as teuol. He is the most successful of those who
are at present practising the art, and played the chief part in all the
divining which took place during my visit.
Tadrners (60) of Kuudr, inspired by Ethrol and Arivili, succeeded his
mother’s father, Kasorivan (66) of Kusharf. He is said to speak the
language of people whom the Todas call Mondardsetipol living in the
Wainad, a language which appears to be a dialect of Malayalam.
Pangudr (66) of Kusharf, also succeeded Kasorivan, his grandfather, and
is inspired by Petkon and Meilitars. There was some doubt as to the
language used by him.
Ethgudr (52) of Kuudr is inspired by Arivili, and, like Tadrners,
speaks the language of the Mondardsetipol.
Terkudr (63) of Piedr, inspired by Teipakh, the river god, succeeded
his grandfather Keitolv. When inspired, his speech is like the babbling
of a running river, “like the river’s voice,” and cannot be understood.
Kangudr (62) of Piedr, who lives at Kavidi in the Wainad, is inspired
by Meilitars and speaks Malayalam. He succeeded Tarsvan (62), his
father, and Tarsvan had succeeded his father Keithiolv.
Kobuv (61) of Kuudr, is inspired by Meilitars and Kuderol and speaks
Malayalam.
Pöteners (54) of Kuudr, is inspired by Petkon and speaks the language
of the Mondardsetipol.
Karkievan (63), the palol of the Nòdrs ti, was formerly a teuol, but
gave up divining when he became palol.
All the above belong to the Teivaliol, and the only Tarthar diviner at
the present time is Mongudrvan (13) of Kars. He is said to be inspired
by the god of Miuni village, and to speak the Toda language. The
village of Miuni belongs to the Teivaliol, so that the only Tarthar
diviner is inspired by a god connected with the division to which the
majority of the diviners belong.
Two other Tarthar men, Kerveidi (5) and Tevò (3), both of Nòdrs, are
said to have been teuol at one time, but they have ceased to divine.
They succeeded another man of their clan. Kangudr, who is inspired by
Meilitars, has to ‘dance’ or divine before the Kurumbas, and when he
does so he dances as a lame man. This custom is reputed to have come
down from the time of Meilitars (see p. 210), who danced as a lame man
before the Kurumbas, and promised that whenever he came in the future
he would dance to the Kurumbas first and then to the Todas.
It will be noticed that many of the deities by whom the diviners are
inspired are not true Toda gods. Petkon, who inspires Midjkudr,
Pangudr, and Pöteners, is said to be a hunting god. According to some
he was a son of Teikirzi, but is almost certainly not a true Toda
deity.
Arivili inspires Tadrners and Ethgudr, who are both reputed to speak
the language of the Mondardsetipol, and he is probably a god of these
people, a tribe of the Wainad. Ethrol, who also inspires Tadrners, is
probably another deity of the same people. I do not know anything about
Kuderol, by whom Kobuv is believed to be inspired.
It is noteworthy that the only existing Tarthar teuol speaks the Toda
language when divining, and is believed to be inspired by a local Toda
god; while the diviners belonging to the Teivaliol seem to speak
dialects of Malayalam, and many are believed to be inspired by gods who
are almost certainly not true Toda deities.
The teuol are consulted whenever any misfortune befalls a Toda. The
following are various instances in which I have records of resort to
divination: sickness or death of a Toda or of any of his family;
sickness or death of a buffalo; failure of milk in a buffalo and
persistent kicking of its calf; failure to make a buffalo go to the
spot at which it is to be killed during a funeral ceremony; failure of
milk to coagulate; burning down of a dairy; disappearance of the bells
of a dairy; loss of a tukitthkarsor lifting stone. In this last
instance the stone at the village of Nidrsi was carried away some years
ago by a party of English people who came to picnic near the village
while the people were away. They carried the stone for some miles and
then threw it down. The Nidrsi people could not find it, and consulted
Midjkudr and Mongudrvan, who were able to reveal where the stone was to
be found, and it was restored to the village, where it can now be seen.
The diviners usually work in pairs, though occasionally it would seem
that one only may be consulted. If they are asked for an explanation of
some misfortune which has befallen a man, the teuol usually find either
that the sufferer has committed an offence against the dairy or that he
is the subject of spells cast on him by a sorcerer. In the former case,
they prescribe the ceremony which must be performed in order to expiate
the offence. In the latter case, they name the sorcerer so that the
sufferer may know with whom to make his peace.
I have already said that towards the close of my visit a number of
misfortunes befell the Todas; one man fell ill, the wife of another
died, and the dairy of a third was burnt down, and these events kept
the diviners busy, but probably because I was implicated I was not
allowed the chance of observing the diviners at work.
The only occasion on which I saw the process of divining was at a
funeral. The buffalo which was to be killed had been caught at some
distance from the place appointed for its slaughter. The animal was
unusually refractory and at length lay down and all the natural efforts
of the Todas failed to make it move. Midjkudr and Mongudrvan were then
called upon to discover the cause of the obstinacy of the buffalo.
Mongudrvan first began to dance slowly to and fro, away from and
towards the buffalo. He had taken off his cloak and was only wearing
the tadrp. As I already knew the man, I was able to observe that his
general appearance was unaltered and that he did not appear to be in
any abnormal mental condition. He was soon joined by Midjkudr, who
danced up and down much more wildly (Fig. 36). His general appearance
was very different to that usually presented by a Toda man. His hair
seemed to stand out from his head, although it shook with each of his
violent movements; his eyes were abnormally bright and his face gave
every appearance of great mental excitement. I had not previously known
the man, but when he came to see me a few days later I could hardly
believe that the quiet, self-possessed man whom I saw before me was the
same individual whom I had seen dancing at the funeral. It was obvious
that he had been in a distinctly abnormal condition of frenzy during
the divining process. After dancing for a time Midjkudr began to utter
broken sentences in a loud and almost chanting voice, while Mongudrvan
remained silent throughout. After Midjkudr had in these sentences given
the reason for the obstinacy of the buffalo, and had prescribed what
was to be done, he took a red cloth and dancing more violently than
ever waved the cloth before the buffalo and pushed against the body of
the animal. Then after the people had dragged the buffalo a little way,
it rose and went quietly to the place where it was to be killed.
I had much difficulty in finding out exactly what Midjkudr had said.
When he came to see me a few days later he stated that he did not know
at the time what he was saying, and that his only knowledge was derived
from those who had heard him, and I am inclined to believe that he was
speaking the truth. His appearance during the divining was remarkably
different from that of ordinary days, and strongly suggested a
semi-hypnotic state, during which he might well have had no knowledge,
or only a very vague knowledge, of anything he said. [82] In his
ordinary condition he professed to be ignorant of Malayalam, the
language which he was said to use in his frenzied condition.
My ignorance of Malayalam, and the obvious difficulties of the
investigation, make me hesitate before expressing any decided opinion
as to the real nature of Midjkudr’s condition when divining, but I have
a very strong leaning towards the idea that the man was in a genuinely
abnormal condition, allied to the hypnotic state, and I am disposed to
accept the statement of the Todas that he was speaking in a language of
which he had only a very vague knowledge when in a normal condition. It
is, of course, quite possible that the abnormal appearance of Midjkudr
was merely due to the exercise of dancing and to mental excitement, and
that he knew perfectly well what he was doing and saying. I can but
record my impression that there was something more, and I only commit
myself to this extent in regard to the special occasion on which I saw
Midjkudr divining; even if I saw a genuine hypnotic or semi-hypnotic
phenomenon, it does not follow that all Midjkudr’s performances are
wholly, or even partly, of this nature, and still less does it follow
that the performances of all the teuol are of this kind. Nothing struck
me more than the contrast between the frenzied condition of Midjkudr
and the calm, ordinary demeanour of Mongudrvan, his fellow diviner.
In the case I have described the necessity for the intervention of the
diviner arose out of the funeral proceedings, but it appears to be not
uncommon for divination to be practised during funerals. Both Mr.
Walhouse and Mr. Thurston have seen the process of divining going on at
funerals. In Mr. Thurston’s case he notes that the diviners talked in
Malayalam, and offered an explanation of a gigantic figure which had
suddenly appeared and as suddenly disappeared some time previously.
SORCERY
I met with greater difficulties in discovering the methods of sorcery
than in any other branch of my work. It was quite certain that there
were men called piliutpol (sorcery praying people), or pilikòren, who
had the reputation of possessing magical powers, comprised together
under the title piliutvichi or piliutiti. I was able to obtain the
names of these people from several sources, but when I approached any
one of them on the subject he professed total ignorance and usually
suggested that I should apply to some other man, who, he said, was a
real piliutpol. Occasionally someone would give me a fragment of
information, but would impress on me carefully that he had heard it
from somebody else and did not know whether it was true or false.
One or two men, who were certainly not sorcerers, told me that they
hoped that I should succeed in finding out the methods and would tell
them, for they said that the Todas who had no magical powers were
always trying to find out the methods of the sorcerers and were never
successful.
I was told by two men that they believed that a sorcerer, by merely
thinking of the effect he wished to produce, could produce the effect,
and that it was not necessary for him to use any magical formula or
practise any special rites.
It was not until my last week on the Nilgiris that I was told of some
of the magical rites by Teitnir, who had previously denied all
knowledge, though he was said by others to be a sorcerer, and he knew
that I was aware of his reputation. He was not a trustworthy informant,
but his account was consistent in itself and was in agreement with
fragments which I had picked up elsewhere, and I believe it is correct,
though I cannot guarantee its accuracy with the same degree of
confidence which I feel in regard to most of my information.
The following men were said by various people to be pilikòren:—
Kaners, Kudrievan, and Teikudr (63), Ishkievan (60), Keinkursi (54),
Puthion (64), and Teitnir (52), among the Teivaliol; Keitan (6),
Mudrigeidi (1), Kiunervan and Usheidi (14), and Karseidi (8), among the
Tartharol. Pushteidi, the elder brother of Keitan, was a noted sorcerer
who paid for the belief in his magical powers with his life. It will be
noted that magical powers appear to be fairly evenly distributed
between the two divisions and do not greatly predominate in one as in
the case of divination.
The power of sorcery was said to belong to certain families, and I was
told that it was inherited. It seemed probable that a sorcerer only
communicated his methods to his sons, and usually only to one of his
sons, or if he communicated his knowledge to all, it was often one of
them only who obtained the credit for magical powers.
We have already seen that when a man sustains a misfortune of any kind,
he consults the diviners, and they find whether the misfortune is due
to a fault committed by the sufferer or whether it is the result of
sorcery. In the latter case, they say by whose magic the misfortune has
been produced, and the sorcerer is then propitiated and removes the
spell, the nature and details of the process varying according to the
method of sorcery used and the offence which had led the sorcerer to
exert his powers. Thus when Pirsners (9) fell ill, he consulted
Midjkudr, who said that Kudrievan had bewitched him. Pirsners went to
Kudrievan and gave him food, and asked him to remove the spell, and
Pirsners became well soon after.
There are two chief reasons which induce a sorcerer to work his magic
on another. One is when a request by the sorcerer for assistance has
been met by deception. If the sorcerer asks a rich man for a buffalo,
or for money, and the rich man refuses point-blank, it does not appear
that the sorcerer proceeds farther; but if the rich man promises a gift
and does not give it, or if he delays giving a positive answer and puts
off a decision from day to day, it is a clear case for the application
of occult measures. The other chief motive for sorcery is a quarrel
with a sorcerer. The methods are different in the two cases. In the
first case the sorcerer procures some human hair—it may be the hair of
any one, even his own hair. It is not the hair of the man he wishes to
injure because it would be impossible to get it. Five small stones are
taken and tied together by means of the hair, and both hair and stones
are tied up in a piece of cloth. Then, holding the stones and hair in
his hand, the sorcerer utters the following incantation:—
Pithioteu Ön idith, Teikirzim Tirshtim idith; â teu sati
those gods power
udâsnûdr; an nòdr nòdr udâsnûdr; an kar warkhi peu mâ;
if there be; his country country if there be; his calf sleep go may;
an îr têrgi pûti pâr mâ; ath on nîr ud puk âthm
his buffaloes wings grow fly may; he I water drink as he also
nîr un mâ; on nîkh as puk âthm nîkhai mâ; on eirt puk
water drink may; I thirsty am as he also thirsty be may; I hungry as
âthm eirth mâ; en mokhm ödrth puk an mokhm ödr mâ; en
he also hunger may; my children cry as his children cry may; my
tazmokh kûtm pût puk an tazmokhm kûtm pûv mâ.
wife ragged cloth wear as his wife ragged cloth wear may.
This incantation was freely rendered by Teitnir as follows: For the
sake of Pithioteu, Ön, Teikirzi, and Tirshti; by the power of the gods
if there be power; by the gods’ country if there be a country; [83] may
his calves perish; as birds fly away may his buffaloes go when the
calves come to suck; as I drink water, may he have nothing but water to
drink; as I am thirsty, may he also be thirsty; as I am hungry, may he
also be hungry; as my children cry, so may his children cry; as my wife
wears only a ragged cloth, so may his wife wear only a ragged cloth.
When he has uttered the incantation, the sorcerer takes the hair and
stones in their cloth to the village of the man upon whom he wishes
these misfortunes to fall, and hides them secretly in the thatch of the
roof of the man’s hut.
It seemed that this method of sorcery is only justified when the
sorcerer is a poor man, and the references in the incantation to the
poverty of the sorcerer confirm this.
When a man who has prevaricated with the request of a sorcerer suffers
any evil fortune, he consults the diviners, and they may tell him not
only who has produced the misfortune, but why the sorcerer has brought
the misfortune upon him and they may advise the sufferer to become
reconciled with his enemy and to give him what he has asked. The man
goes to the sorcerer, who is usually only too ready to take the credit
of the affair, and it is arranged that he shall come to the village of
the sufferer. Whenever he comes a third person must be present, who is
called the nedrvol, or intermediate man. [84] The nedrvol brings about
the reconciliation, and arranges the terms, and then the sufferer bows
down before the sorcerer and performs the kalmelpudithti salutation.
The sorcerer then utters the following formula while his foot is
resting on the head of the man:—
â teu udâsnûdr, an nòdr udâsnûdr; taned peu mâ; term
Those gods if there be, his country if there be; cold go may; mercy
ai peu mâ; in îr kark elm ultâmâ; en mans elm
become, go may; this buffalo calf to all be well; my mind all
tülsvîshpini, tan mansm tüli mâ.
cleared from guilt have I, his mind also clear may.
Teitnir rendered this freely as follows:—
By those gods if there be gods, and by their country if there be a
country; as water is cold, so goes my anger; as mercy comes, may my
anger go; may his buffaloes and calves be well; I have now nothing evil
in my mind, you must also have no evil in your mind.
Food is then given to the sorcerer, who also obtains the object for
which he had originally asked. Later the sorcerer goes secretly to the
hut of the man and takes out the stones and hair which he had hidden in
the thatch.
In removing the spell the sorcerer does not mention the names of the
four gods, but speaks of them as “those gods.” The object of this is
that the names of the four gods whom the sorcerer invokes shall not
become generally known.
If any one quarrels with a sorcerer, the method adopted by the latter
is different. He obtains a bone of a man, buffalo, or some other
animal, or if unable to obtain a bone, he may use a lime. He sits,
holding the bone or lime in his right hand, and utters the following
incantation:—
Pithioteu Ön idith, Teikirzim Tirshtim idith; a teu sati udâsnûdr,
an nòdr udâsnûdr; ank pudra pîrsk pat mâ; ank ud
to him will destroy disease come may; to him one
ultâkhâth pun pâ mâ; an kal muri ûmâ; an kai mûri ûmâ;
incurable sore come may; his leg broken may be; his hand broken may be;
an kan pudri ûmâ; an ârs ulrsh an kûdûpel ûvòdink sakötam
his eye destroyed may be; his house into his family to all trouble
pâ mâ; âth enk sakötam kasvai agi ankm sakötam
come may; he to me troubles did who accordingly to him also troubles
ö mâ; an nòdr udi ed ariken â teu udi
occur may; his country there is that we shall know those gods there is
ed kanken; i elv nels alaiu ai
that we shall see; this bone into the ground what happens, that
òlkm alâ mâ.
man to also happen may.
The only clause of this incantation of which the meaning is not clear
is the penultimate, and the free rendering of this was said to be “as
there are undoubtedly gods, we shall see all this happen”; it seems
that ariken, which means literally “we shall know,” is often used in
the sense “without doubt.” If he is using a lime, the sorcerer
substitutes îrsimitch for elv in the last clause.
The bone or lime is then buried in a wood near the village of the man
who is to suffer the misfortune.
When the misfortune comes, and the diviners have discovered its cause,
the matter is arranged by a nedrvol as in the other kind of sorcery,
and it is usually settled that the sufferer shall give a one- or a
two-year-old calf to the sorcerer. When the matter is arranged, the
sorcerer visits the village of the bewitched man, who does
kalmelpudithti to the sorcerer, and the spell is removed with the
following words:—
teu udâsnûdr, an nòdr udâsnûdr; taned peu mâ; term ai peu mâ [85]; mokh
son
madrik an kûdûpel elmk; in mel en mans elm
children to his family all to; this after my mind all
tülsvînem in uli agi mâ; nûv put, nudri
cleared from guilt (as I) this well be may; disease leave, troubles
put peu mâ.
leave go may.
The sorcerer is then given food and goes away with his calf, and later
he goes secretly and takes the bone or lime out of the ground.
I have already mentioned that these methods of casting and removing
spells were obtained with great difficulty and only from one man. This
man, Teitnir, was one of the most intelligent of the Todas, but was not
a very trustworthy guide. In this case, however, the account he gave
was so consistent in itself and with the general character of Toda
customs and beliefs that I have no doubt that his methods are those
actually in use. It is more than probable, however, that other
sorcerers may use other methods, and even that Teitnir’s account is not
a wholly accurate description of the methods of any one sorcerer. The
other Todas had told me that Teitnir was himself a sorcerer, but even
after he had given me the above account, he denied that he had himself
magical powers, but said that he had learnt the methods from Ishkievan.
I had been told of one instance in which Teitnir had practised sorcery
on Teikudr (63), but Teitnir gave a different account of this event.
Teitnir and Teikudr had quarrelled and in consequence Teitnir had been
angry with Teikudr, a condition which the Todas call murthvichi.
Teitnir belonged to the chief family of the Kuudrol, which is known as
the mani kudupel; “it is a bad thing for one of so important a family
to have murthvichi” and any one who has been the cause of such a state
of things is liable to suffer misfortunes. When therefore some of
Teikudr’s buffaloes died and Teikudr consulted the teuol, these
diviners gave as the reasons for the misfortunes the murthvichi, not
the piliutvichi, of Teitnir. According to Teitnir, Teikudr was himself
a sorcerer and there were reports that the recent death of Teitnir’s
wife was due to the piliutvichi of Teikudr, and just before I left the
hills, I was told that the teuol had arrived at the conclusion that
Teikudr had had a hand in her death.
The Toda sorcerers are not only feared by their fellow Todas but also
by the Badagas, and it is probably largely owing to fear of Toda
sorcery that the Badagas continue to pay their tribute of grain.
The Badagas may also consult the Toda diviners. In one recent case a
Badaga consulted Mongudrvan, who found that the misfortune from which
the man was seeking relief was due to the sorcery of Kaners. Kaners
was, no doubt, propitiated by the Badagas, and it is probable that the
belief of the Badagas in the magical powers of the Todas is turned to
good account by the latter.
In some cases Todas have been killed by the Badagas owing to this
belief. About ten years ago Pushteidi of Nòdrs (6), the elder brother
of Keitan, was a very notable sorcerer, much dreaded by both Todas and
Badagas. He visited the Badaga village of Nanjanad on the occasion of a
feast, and soon after a Badaga child died and its death was at once
ascribed to the sorcery of Pushteidi. Not long after, Pushteidi’s dead
body was found near his village, and there seemed to be no reason to
doubt that the Badagas had killed him, but owing to the fact that the
Todas held the funeral and burnt the body before they made a report to
the police, the crime could not be thoroughly investigated nor the
murderers brought to account.
One of the events which the Todas ascribe to sorcery is failure of the
milk to coagulate. If there is much trouble in getting the milk to form
adrpars, the teuol are consulted, and they sometimes find that it is
due to sorcery and sometimes that some offence against the dairy has
been committed. I have no information, however, as to the method which
the sorcerer uses to prevent the coagulation of the milk of any one who
has offended him.
The only other indication of Toda methods of sorcery came to me from a
Badaga source. A Badaga maistri said that he had been given an account
by a Toda. According to this account, the sorcerer takes three leaves
of each of the plants which the Badagas call jakalmul, pemmul, and
tupumul (evidently varieties of the muli of the Todas), puts the nine
leaves in a new earthenware pot and buries the pot in a wood after
saying certain formulæ in which he wishes evil to a given man whom he
mentions by name. When the man falls ill and the diviners say by whom
his illness has been produced, a reconciliation is effected and the
sorcerer digs up the pot of leaves when the sufferer again becomes
well. This information came from a Badaga source and I could not obtain
confirmation of it from the Todas but it is possibly an approximation
to the method employed in one form of Toda sorcery.
The Todas dread the sorcery of the Kurumbas more than that of their own
pilikòren. The latter can be remedied, but the sorcery of the Kurumbas,
called kurubudrchiti (Kurub = Kurumba), is much more dangerous and
cannot be remedied. If it is found that a Kurumba has made a man ill,
the only thing to be done is to kill the Kurumba (see p. 641).
When Kutadri became ill while he was with me in the Kundahs, the first
suggestion was that the Kurumbas were responsible. Soon after this I
went to Kotagiri, and Kòdrner, Kutadri’s brother, who was to accompany
me, said that as the Kurumbas were very numerous in that part he did
not like to go alone with me and made a stipulation that while I was on
that side of the hills I was to provide him with a companion. Mr.
Thurston [86] describes a similar experience in which his guide was
afraid to walk from Ootacamund to Kotagiri lest he should come to grief
at the hands of the Kurumbas. In this case it seemed that the man was
using his fears as an excuse, and in my case the fear may have been
used as a lever to provide occupation for a friend, but that there was
a very real fear of Kurumba sorcery I have no doubt.
It is easy to see how this belief in the magical powers of the Kurumbas
may have arisen, or, more probably, how its existence may have been
maintained. The slopes of the hills on which the Kurumbas live are
extremely malarious, and it must often have happened that a visit to a
Kurumba village was followed by an attack of fever of a severe kind. We
probably have here a good example of a vicious circle. Whenever two
tribes of different degrees of culture live near one another, the
members of the lower usually acquire the reputation of being sorcerers.
For this and other reasons they are driven to a less healthy district,
and the unhealthiness of the district helps to maintain and reinforce
their reputation for magical powers.
THE EVIL EYE
Various misfortunes may befall a man if any one says that he is looking
very well or is very well dressed. It is also unlucky that any one
should look at a man when he is eating. Similarly it is unlucky for
anyone to say that a buffalo is giving much milk; she will probably
kick her calf or will suffer in some other way soon after.
This kind of misfortune is usually called kanarvaznudr, which was
translated, “if looking anxiously.” It is also often known now by the
Tamil name konduti or kontushti or evil eye. One of the commonest
effects of kanarvaznudr is indigestion. When anyone is suffering from
evil effects of this kind, he calls in one of certain people called
utkòren, or “praying people,” or, probably more correctly, “saying
incantations people.” Piutolvan (10), Keitazvan (15), and a woman,
Sinpurs (7), are utkòren of repute. Any one of the male utkòren may be
spoken of as an utpol, but I was doubtful whether this name would also
be used for a woman.
The utpol rubs the belly of the sick person, holds one corner of his
cloak in his left hand, and, putting some salt on the cloak, strokes
the salt with a thorn of the plant called pathanmul. [87] The thorn and
some of the salt are then put into the fire, and the utpol utters the
following incantation:—
Pithioteu Ön idith, Teikirzim Tirshtim idith, tan âv kan pudrs kan
his mother eye perish eye
pudri ûmâ; tan in kan pudrs kan pudri ûmâ;
be destroyed may; father
and this formula is repeated, substituting for av or in the names of
the following relatives:—an, akkan, nòdrved, mun, mimi, pian, piav.
[88] Then follows the same formula repeated, in which the names of
various tribes are substituted for those of the relatives, as “mav kan
pudrs kan pudri uma”—“Badaga eye perish, may his eye be destroyed.” The
people mentioned are mav (Badaga), pedr (Tamil), suti (? chetties),
kurub (Kurumbas), erl (Irulas), panin (Panyas). [89] The last clause is
möditi kan pudrs kan pudri uma, extending the imprecation to the women
of all the people already mentioned. When the incantation is finished,
the remainder of the salt is eaten by the sick man.
The Toda utkòren may practise ‘absent treatment.’ If a man wishes to
treat a sufferer from the evil eye, and is unable to visit his patient,
he puts the salt on the ground and strokes it with the thorn of
pathanmul, repeating the above incantation as he strokes. He then sends
the salt to the sick man, by whom it is eaten.
The treatment in any case is repeated till it has been done three
times.
If it is a buffalo which is suffering from the evil effects of
kanarvasnudr, the utkòren use the same method, and the salt is eaten by
the buffalo.
In the special case in which the evil is produced by saying that a man
is looking well or is well dressed, the utkòren have a different
method. They take a piece of the root called kabudri, [90] and a plant
called kwagal, and squeeze the juice of both into a vessel. An
incantation is said, the same as, or similar to, that already given,
while the utkòren strokes the sick man with the corner of his cloak.
After the incantation the sufferer drinks the juice.
VARIOUS MAGICAL REMEDIES
The utkòren also practise various other methods of treatment.
Headache. This is called madersnûdr, “if head aches.” For this the
utpol places his hand on the head of the sufferer, and says the
following incantation in a low voice, so that the patient may not
distinguish what is being said. [91] After the names of the four gods,
as in previous formulæ, it runs:—
nâkherov mad tathi kan tath mâ; ker mad tathi
cobra head broken into pieces not break may; a snake &c.
kan tath mâ;
and the same formula is repeated, substituting first the names of other
kinds of snake and then of other animals. The following are the animals
mentioned: kûrûpatz, a black poisonous snake; putpob, a variegated
snake, which is called the foolish snake, because it will not get out
of the way; taverûni, a green snake; pâlipob, another green snake;
uitch, a kind of lizard reputed to suck blood; anîli, a squirrel;
kapan, a frog; tugûli, a crayfish(?); kadrmad, a water animal of some
kind; mîn, a fish; îgal, an earthworm; nelnpüf, an insect found under
stones; âpipüf, an insect found in buffalo dung. After all these
animals have been mentioned with the same formula, the names of
Pithioteu and Ön are again uttered, followed by the words tathkhma. The
utpol flicks the corner of his cloak first against the ground, and then
against the forehead of the sufferer, and then, if the man is sitting,
he says, “ateuk ir,” “sit there off!” and the man moves a little way
from the place where he had been sitting. If the man is unable to sit,
and is lying down, the words will be “ateuk padr,” “lie there off!” or
“lie a little way off!”
I could not obtain a satisfactory account of the exact meaning of the
incantation; it was said to mean “may the snake’s head be broken in
pieces, and so may your head be broken”—i.e., so may the pain go;
another rendering was “may the pain go to the snake’s head,” the latter
being by far the more probable meaning. Three divisions of the
incantation are recognised: in the first, snakes only are mentioned; in
the second, things which live in the water; and in the third, things
which live in the earth. The treatment is repeated on one or two days,
if necessary, but it is never done more than three times, “because the
ailment is always cured in that time.”
Another condition treated by the utkòren is stomach-ache, which is
called püfkwatnûdr, “if worms bite.” The utpol places his hand on the
belly of the sufferer, and after reciting the names of the four gods,
he continues:—
kêrs pûv kâdkanm kâl mâ;
kêrs tree flower fallen as fall down may;
and this formula is repeated, substituting the names of various trees
and other plants for the name of the kêrs tree. The trees and plants
mentioned pirzkh and kûrêrs, trees having edible fruit; pul, kîl,
kwadriki, kid, trees from which bees get honey; kab, sugarcane; teg,
coco-nut; patm, samai; ners, rice; eri, ragi; kîtj, potato; perigi,
chillies; melkh, pepper; kwatimeli, Coriandum sativum; kadrkh, mustard;
and kîri or kîrsi, red amaranth.
Thus the last clause would run: kîri pûv kâdkanm kâl mâ, and this would
be followed by the names of Pithioteu and Ön. Then the utpol flicks his
cloak three times, first against the ground and then against the belly
of the sufferer, and says, “ateuk ir,” or “ateuk padr,” according as
the man is sitting or lying down, and the sufferer moves a little from
his place.
The names of flowers are used because the Todas believe that worms come
from eating honey, and the honey has come from flowers. The flowers
mentioned belong to four groups; [92] (i) those of trees which bear
edible fruits; (ii) those from which bees get honey; (iii) those of
trees or plants part of which are eaten; (iv) those of trees which give
pungent substances like chillies and pepper.
There were various other complaints for which the utkòren are
consulted, such as:—elptûksnûdr, depression in the chest of a child
when it breathes (elp or elv = bone); tekhpkâdathvüdnûdr, pain in the
side; kankpudithnûdr, if anything gets into the eye; erutûthtinûdr, if
cut or wounded in any way; pobersnûdr, if snake bites.
Each of these has its appropriate treatment, but the only method of
which I obtained an account was the last. Certain men have a special
reputation for the treatment of snake-bite. A cord is made of woman’s
hair and this is bound tightly round the bitten limb in three places.
The doctor takes a piece of pathanmul and strikes the bitten limb while
he utters the appropriate incantation. [93] The ligature is kept on the
limb for two or three days and the incantation is repeated three times
a day during that period. Anyone whom a snake has bitten must not cross
a stream. If it is absolutely necessary that he should cross, he must
be carried over it.
If wild animals attack the buffaloes, a procedure which closely
resembles those already described is carried out by the utkòren. The
procedure is called kâdrkatinamûdr—i.e., “wild beast tie mouth if.” It
is also carried out if a buffalo is lost, and in this case the charm
will keep the animal from injury by wild beasts. The utpol takes three
stones secretly and goes at night to the front either of the dairy or
hut and utters the following incantation:—
Pithioteu Ön idith, Teikirzim Tirshtim idith; pef pîrzi kût terz
big tiger teeth fastened
nil mâ; kâkh kerman mûn terz nil mâ; padr kenai amûn
stand may; black bear face crowd red dog other side
terz nil mâ; pob teuv terz nil mâ; pef per terz nil mâ; pef
snake erect head big hill big
po pâ terz nil mâ; pef pòdi mul [94] terz nil mâ.
river stream big porcupine quills
Then come the names of Pithioteu and Ön, followed by
âth ûvòdin kati vaiumâ.
these all before tie keep may.
The utpol then takes a piece of ragged cloth in which he ties the three
stones and hides them in the thatch of the hut. If a buffalo has been
lost it will come back the next day, and even if it remains in the wood
no tiger would touch it while the stones are in the thatch. When the
buffalo returns the stones are taken out and thrown away.
All the remedies so far described resemble one another in that they are
applied by one of the people called utkòren. The following remedy is
applied by the sufferer himself. If a man is frightened in any way, as
by a sudden noise when he is passing along a road, he will go home and
put the hoe (kudali) and a stone called neilikal into the fire till the
hoe is red hot. He puts the hoe and stones into a brass vessel called
terg and pours on water. He then covers himself entirely with his cloak
and remains covered till the water in the vessel ceases to bubble, when
he opens his cloak, drinks water from the vessel three times, and
throws the rest away.
There was some difference of opinion as to the use of the stone called
neilikal at ordinary times. It was said first to have been used for
making fire before matches were introduced, and there seems to be no
doubt that fire was sometimes made in this way. Others said that the
neilikal was used for sharpening iron tools. The only neilikal I saw
was at Nidrsi and this was a large piece of quartz, and there seemed to
be no doubt that this had at one time been used for making fire.
In one of the methods of sorcery which have been described it will be
remembered that human hair is used. The Todas take the same kind of
precautions about hair and nail-parings which are so widely spread
throughout the world, but the reasons for the precautions differed from
those usually given. I was told that the Todas do not ordinarily cut
their hair, but the heads of children are shaved and adults also shave
their heads on special occasions. The hair removed at these times is
hidden in bushes or hollows in the rocks, and the reason given is that
it may not be taken by crows.
Nail-parings are buried in the ground, and this is done in order that
they may not be eaten by the buffaloes, for “nails are poisonous to
buffaloes,” who will die or become ill if they find them when grazing.
There was some difference of opinion as to what was done with the hair
cut off at the ceremony called tersamptpimi (see p. 333). It was clear,
however, that care was taken that it should not be eaten by crows, for
if crows obtained any of the hair first cut from a child’s head the
child would suffer from shaking of some kind.
Both at the first head-shaving and at the tersamptpimi ceremony special
bangles are put round the wrist of the child, and these are certainly
of the nature of charms, for it is believed that the child would fall
ill if they were not used.
The Todas believe in certain injurious influences which they class
together under the name of pudrtvuti, [95] but I was able to obtain
very little information about them, and I suspect that belief in these
influences is largely of recent growth and due to contact with
Hinduism.
One variety of pudrtvuti is the evil influence of Keirt
(Keirtpudrtvuti) at the ceremonies after childbirth (see p. 326).
Another variety is kòdipudrtvuti (kòdi, demon?). The Todas now adopt as
a preventative of this evil influence a round mark made with ashes
above the nose. If a Toda should suffer from the effects of
kòdipudrtvuti, two remedies are adopted. One is called kavkal wart
atpimi—i.e., “kavkal (a stone) grind, pour we.” I did not obtain an
account of the remedy, but it is possibly the same as that already
described which is used by a man when frightened. The other remedy is
kwagal atpimi. Kwagal (Polygonum rude or P. Chinense) is the same plant
which is used in one of the remedies for the evil eye (see p. 264) and
it is possible again that this remedy is the same as that already
described. Kwagal is also the plant used by the goddess Puzi to quench
the fire of her son, Kurindo.
It will have been noticed that the formulæ recorded in this chapter
have the same general form as the prayers of the dairy ritual. They
consist of sentences ending in mâ, which seem to be of the nature of
supplications that certain things may come to pass, preceded by the
names of certain deities followed by the word idith, occasionally with
other sentences allied in meaning to these. The two parts of the prayer
are represented, but the first part, consisting of the kwarzam, does
not appear to have acquired the same degree of importance as in the
prayer. Thus the magical formulæ of the Todas have precisely the same
general form as those used in their religious ritual. In the case of
the prayer, I have pointed out that the actual words leave one in doubt
as to whether there is anything of the nature of a direct appeal to the
gods. In the magical formulæ, on the other hand, the case for an appeal
to the gods is stronger. In all the formulæ, whether used by sorcerers
to bring evils on their enemies or by medicine-men to remove sufferings
of various kinds, the names of the same four deities are mentioned, and
these four deities, Pithioteu, Ön, Teikirzi, and Tirshti, are
undoubtedly four of the most ancient and sacred of the Toda gods. It is
noteworthy that the sorcerer does not say the names of these gods when
he is removing his spells, but simply refers to them as “those gods,”
and it is clear that he does this because he does not wish his victim
to learn the names of the gods by whose power his misfortunes have been
brought about and are now to be removed. This procedure leaves little
room for doubt that it is through the active intervention of the gods
that the sorcerer is believed to work.
There still remains the question whether the words of the magical
formula imply anything of the nature of supplication, or whether the
sorcerer is not rather using forms of words which will compel the gods
to exert their powers in the way the sorcerer wishes. I have no
definite information as to the belief of the Toda sorcerer on the
point, but the almost contemptuous tone of the two clauses which follow
the names of the four gods might perhaps be held to point to the latter
conclusion, and to indicate that the sorcerer can use the gods as his
instruments of wrath much as seems to have been the case with the
magicians of our mediæval times.
On the other hand, it is not unlikely that the words, “â teu sati
udâsnûdr, an nòdr nòdr udâsnûdr,” may have originally had a meaning
very different from that which the bare translation seems to give to
them. A similar formula occurs in the story of Kwoten (p. 194) in the
curse uttered by Kwoten’s mother, which has the proviso, “on sati
udairnûdr,” which was translated, “if I have reverence to the village.”
This makes it possible that the translation of the words of the magical
incantation should rather be, “if I have proper reverence to the gods
and to the gods’ country.” The interpretation on page 257 is that which
was given to me by Teitnir, but it is not at all improbable that it is
wrong, and that a translation on the lines of that given for the curse
of Kwoten’s mother would be more correct.
The nature of the words used makes it clear that the remedies employed
by the Toda utkòren, or medicine-men, are of a magical kind. The words
are essentially the same as those used by the pilikòren, or sorcerers,
to remove the evils they have brought about by their previous magical
incantations. The same formulæ are used to remove ills supposed to be
due to natural causes as are used to remove those due to the workings
of magic. It seems clear that the Todas have advanced beyond the stage
of human culture in which all misfortunes are produced by magic. They
recognise that some ills are not due to human intervention, but yet
they employ the same kind of means to remove these ills as are employed
to remove those brought about by human agency. The advance of the Todas
is shown most clearly by the differentiation of function between
pilikòren and utkòren, between sorcerers and medicine-men, and we seem
to have here a clear indication of the differentiation between magic
and medicine. The two callings are followed by different men, who are
entirely distinct from one another, but both use the same kind of
formula to bring about the effect they desire to produce. It seems that
the powers of the utkòren are less definitely passed on from father to
son than in the case of the pilikòren. There is no doubt that these
powers depend largely on a knowledge of the words to be used, and
especially on a knowledge of the names of the four gods, but it is
probable that this knowledge is transmitted from one old person to any
other who may be likely to inspire confidence. It will be noted that a
woman can practise the magical remedies of the utkòren, but I do not
know whether this is a recent innovation. It seems clear that a woman
could never become one of the pilikòren or sorcerers.
When discussing the formulæ of the dairy ritual, it was mentioned that
one difficulty in the way of regarding these formulæ as prayers is that
the names of deities are not uttered in the vocative form, and that
this might be held to negative the idea that they involve supplication
to higher powers. In the magical formulæ there seems to be a clearer
case for the presence of a distinct address to deities, though it is
doubtful whether this address is of a supplicative or compelling
character. If there is a distinct address in the case of the magical
formulæ, which every Toda would acknowledge to be used for an evil end,
it is very probable that the words of the dairy formulæ also involve
the idea of an address to deities. These formulæ are always directed to
avert evils from and to call down blessings on the buffaloes, and it
seems almost certain that for this good end the words imply not only an
address to the powers of the gods, but also one of a supplicative
rather than of a compelling character.
One distinction between the formulæ of the dairy and those of the
sorcerer may be pointed out. In the latter the names of the gods are
those used in ordinary conversation, i.e., Teikirzi, Tirshti, and are
not the kwarzam, i.e., Ekirzam meidjam.
One of the most interesting features of this chapter has been the clear
evidence given in the formulæ of the close relation existing between
magic and religion among the Todas. The formulæ of magic and of the
dairy ritual are of the same nature, though the differentiation between
the sorcerer and the priest who use them is even clearer than that
between the sorcerer and the medicine-man. It is probable that the
names of the gods with the characteristic formulæ of the prayer are
later additions to the magical incantation; that at some time the
sorcerer has added the names of the most important of his deities to
the spells and charms which at one time were thought to be sufficient
for his purpose. It is also possible, however, that the similarity of
prayer and spell points to a time when the functions of priest and
sorcerer were combined in one person; that as the restrictions which
hedge round the life of the dairyman-priest increased, it became
impracticable for him to exert his magical functions, and that there
has therefore come about a differentiation of function, though the
means used continue to show a close resemblance.
It may perhaps be said that the clear evidence of the supposed
influence of the gods takes the facts which have been described in this
chapter out of the realm of magic and puts them in that of religion.
The Toda’s methods of procuring ill to his neighbours are clearly in
their essential nature of a magical kind, but their close blend with
religious ideas is the reason why I have considered them in their
present place.
OMENS
The Todas do not pay much attention to omens, but meeting certain
animals is regarded as lucky or unlucky. The most definite instance of
an omen-animal is a black bird called karpüls, which is said to be the
Indian cuckoo. If a Toda is going on an errand and sees this bird on
the left side, he takes it as a bad omen and turns back; if on the
right side, it is a good omen. This bird appears twice in Toda legend.
It warned Püv, the son of Ön, and in the last scene of the life of
Kwoten, it appeared going from left to right. It is noteworthy that
when Erten is interpreting the omen in this legend, he brings in
Naraian (Narayan), who is certainly not a Toda deity, and this suggests
that the whole incident of the omen-bird may be an accretion to the
legends, and that the belief in omens has been borrowed from the
Badagas or other Hindus.
CHAPTER XIII
SACRIFICE AND OFFERINGS
In this chapter various ceremonies will be described which may all be
regarded as examples of propitiation of the higher powers by sacrifices
or offerings. We shall see later that in the funeral ceremonies
buffaloes are killed, but it is clear that there is no idea of
propitiation or atonement connected with this slaughter, the animals
being killed so that they may go to the next world for the service of
the dead.
THE ERKUMPTTHPIMI CEREMONY
In this ceremony a young male calf is killed and eaten. The ordinary
name is erkumptthpimi (“male buffalo we kill”) or erkumptthiti, but at
the ti the ceremony is called ernudrtipimi. I met with great obstacles
in obtaining a satisfactory account, the men who had told me all the
details of the dairy ceremonial denying at first all knowledge of any
ceremony among the Todas in which a calf was killed or eaten. As soon
as they found that I knew positively of the existence of the ceremony,
they acknowledged that they killed a calf, but said they could not tell
me anything about it. I succeeded at last in obtaining a record of the
ceremony from Teitnir, and when I was endeavouring to identify the
various parts into which the sacrificial animal is divided, we met with
such difficulties [96] that Teitnir agreed to allow me to see the
ceremony on the condition that I would provide the cost of the calf.
Owing to the general reluctance to talk about this ceremony, I was not
able to obtain such independent accounts from other people as I should
have liked, but the details of the sacrifice as given me by Teitnir
agreed with those of the ceremony I witnessed, and I have no doubt as
to its essential accuracy. I had hoped to have obtained independent
evidence on some doubtful features at the end of my visit, but these
hopes were entirely frustrated by the death of Teitnir’s wife a few
days after the ceremony which had been performed for my benefit, her
death being generally ascribed to the anger of the gods because the
secrets of erkumptthpimi had been revealed. After I had left the hills,
however, Samuel succeeded in obtaining information on several doubtful
points, and was given an independent account which entirely confirmed
the accuracy of the proceedings which he had witnessed at the same time
as myself.
The ceremony is performed both at the ordinary village and at the ti
dairy. At the ti there is no doubt that it is performed three times a
year, but there was much discrepancy in the accounts of its frequency
at the village. According to some, the sacrifice only takes place once
a year at each village in October, soon after the ceremony of
teutütusthchi, to be described later in this chapter. According to
others, the ceremony is performed whenever the people have a suitable
male calf to sacrifice. During the ten years that my interpreter,
Samuel, had been living among the Todas, he had come to the conclusion
that the ceremony is performed fairly often, his opinion being based on
chance remarks made by the children. I think there is very little doubt
that a calf is now killed in each village more often than once a year,
and the ceremony at which I was present was almost certainly one of the
occasional performances, though the time of year at which it took place
makes it possible that it was the chief annual occasion of that
village.
There was also some doubt whether there is an annual ceremony in every
village for the people living in that village, or whether the annual
ceremony is only performed in the etudmad, or chief village of each
clan, for all the people of the clan. The true state of affairs at the
present time is probably that the ceremony is performed at the Nòdrs ti
in October. Fifteen days later it is performed at the other ti mad and
at the chief village of each clan. In addition to these annual
celebrations the sacrifice is performed on two other occasions at the
ti, while at a village it may be performed whenever the people of the
village have a suitable animal.
The place at which the sacrifice is performed is called the ernkar, and
at Karia, where I witnessed the ceremony, the ernkar is in a wood
nearly half a mile from the village at a spot where it is very unlikely
that the proceedings would be disturbed by chance visitors. It seems
that there is not only a special ernkar for each ti and for each clan,
but that each village has also its appointed place.
The ceremony is performed on appointed days, different for each ti and
clan. In the case of the Kuudrol, these are Sunday, Wednesday, and
Thursday, and the ceremony which I witnessed at Karia, a village of
this clan, took place on a Sunday. The chief officiator at the
sacrifice at an ordinary village is the palikartmokh of the village,
who must, however, for this occasion be of the same clan as those who
are celebrating the sacrifice.
On the day arranged for the ceremony at Karia the palikartmokh was ill,
and as none of the other inhabitants of Karia was able to undertake the
office, an elderly man, Punatvan (53), had to be fetched from another
village. On his arrival he had first to go through the ordination
ceremonies for the office of palikartmokh, a lucky chance which gave me
the only opportunity I had during my visit of observing these
proceedings.
At the ernkar wood for the fire is collected, and over small firewood
the people place several logs about three feet in length, so that the
fire is of an oblong form. The firewood must be of one or both of the
kinds called main and kiül. While some of those present are making the
fire, others will be fashioning sharply pointed stakes of wood on which
the parts of the calf are to be impaled. These sticks are called ko,
and must be made of one of the following four kinds of wood: avelashki,
karkekoi, kwadiki, or pohvet. It was said that exactly fifty of these
ko must be provided.
The first stage of the ceremonial is to make fire by friction, which
should be done by the palikartmokh. The only occasion on which I saw
fire made by friction during an actual ceremony was when I witnessed
the sacrifice at Karia, and on this occasion both Punatvan and his
chief assistant, Pichievan (69) of Keadr, twirled the fire-sticks
alternately, but though they soon produced some smoke, they failed to
light the rag used as tinder. My constant attendant, Kòdrner, was
called in, and with his more powerful manipulations was almost
immediately successful, and the lighted rag was carried by Punatvan to
the heap of firewood, which was soon in a good blaze.
As soon as the fire is alight the calf is brought to the ernkar, and
the palikartmokh goes to cut a log of tudr wood and three small
branches of tudr leaves. The calf should be fifteen days old and must
be without blemish. Its ears must not be split, its tail must not be
cut, and its eyes must be clear.
The log of tudr wood is for the killing of the calf and is about four
feet in length and about three inches in thickness. Such a log is
usually called tudrkud, but on this occasion is named erkumptthkud. The
three branches of tudr must consist of perfect leaves. Such branches
are usually called tudrkwunak, but on the occasion of this ceremony
they receive the name toashtitudr.
The palikartmokh then stands in front of the calf, holding the log and
leaves in his right hand. He raises the log and leaves to his forehead
as a salutation, and then recites the appointed prayer. This prayer is
different for each clan and consists of clauses in each of which the
kwarzam of one of the villages of the clan is followed by “——k per mâ.”
Thus the first clause of the Kuudr prayer is atthkârk per mâ; atthkâr
is the kwarzam of Kuudr, k is the suffix, meaning “to,” and per mâ is
“may increase” or “may there be increase.” All the clauses of the
prayer are of this form except the last two, which are karsêram
parsêram; Nòtîrzk êr usht mâ; the first of which is a kwarzam of
Kulinkars, êram probably meaning buffaloes, while the second means,
“may the buffalo appear to Nòtirzi.” The calf is supposed to appear to
Nòtirzi and then to go from the hill of this goddess to the hill of
Kulinkars. The complete prayers of Kuudr and Kars are given on pp. 288,
289.
The palikartmokh touches the head of the calf with the erkumptthkud
(Fig. 38) as he utters each kwarzam till he comes to the penultimate
clause of the prayer, at which point he begins the following series of
actions. He draws the three branches of tudr leaves along the back of
the calf from head to tail and then drops one of the three toashtitudr
on the ground behind the calf. The two remaining branches are drawn
along the back of the calf from tail to head in the reverse direction
to the first, and on reaching the head one of the two branches is
dropped on the ground at the head of the animal. The remaining branch
is drawn from head to tail and dropped on the ground by the side of the
first (see Fig. 39).
The animal is then killed by striking it on the head with the
erkumptthkud. The palikartmokh then takes up the three toashtitudr,
and, taking them in his right hand with the log, passes them round the
calf three times. In doing this, the body of the calf rests on its
side, while the log and leaves are passed between the two fore-legs,
then between the two hind-legs, round the hind-quarters, and forward
over the back and head, so that they make a complete circuit of the
animal, and this circuit is twice repeated, so that the log and leaves
are passed completely round the calf three times.
The palikartmokh then proceeds to cut up the calf (Fig. 40), beginning
with a complete incision round the neck. The knife used is of the
ordinary kind called turi, but on this occasion it is called ab, or
“arrow.” On the occasion on which I saw the ceremony, the calf seemed
to have only been stunned by the blow on the head and began to kick as
soon as this incision was made. The animal was, in consequence,
vigorously belaboured over the testicles with the log of tudr wood, and
this was repeated till the movements of the animal ceased.
The next incision is down the mid-ventral line; incisions are made
through the skin above each hoof, and the palikartmokh then removes the
skin of the whole animal except the head and feet, beginning at the
right fore-limb.
When the skin (tars) is removed, it is laid on the ground with its
outer surface downwards a few yards from the spot at which the animal
is being cut up, and the palikartmokh proceeds to cut the animal into
the following parts:—
Kwelthkh, hoof and attached skin and bones.
Mogâl, lower segment of fore-limb (metacarpus).
Kemal, or kemalth, upper segment of fore-limb corresponding to
fore-arm.
Kanòdri, shoulder.
Mêdrkwelv, trachea and larynx.
Tòdrthars, lower segment of hind-limb (metatarsus).
Pevutth, upper segment of hind-limb (leg).
Ûrûf, liver.
Putth, gall-bladder.
Pushk, kidneys.
Kwur, small intestine.
Tütkwur, large intestine.
Mulikudri, urinary bladder.
Agelv, pelvis, including thigh bones.
Mudri, sternum and part of ribs attached.
Nüdz, heart.
Püth, lungs.
Kwotinerûf (kwotinûrûf?), spleen.
Pâlvîr, stomach full of milk, called pâlvetâr when emptied of milk.
Mutelf, lower part of backbone with parts of lower ribs attached.
Nòdi, upper half of backbone with parts of upper ribs attached.
Mad, head.
The parts of the calf are removed approximately in the order in which
they are given above. The palikartmokh first cuts off the four feet of
the animal, beginning with that of the right fore-limb and the four
kwelthkh are placed under the skin, one at each corner.
The next part to be removed is the right mogâl, and then the three
other corresponding parts. Up to this point, everything must be done by
the palikartmokh himself, but after the mogâl have been removed any one
may help, and on the occasion when I witnessed the ceremony, several
operations were going on simultaneously after this point of the
proceedings, and it became difficult to ascertain exactly what was
being done and the exact order in which the parts were being removed.
The cutting up of the calf was performed chiefly by Pichievan, while
the palikartmokh, Punatvan, occupied himself with other operations.
After the removal of the mogâl, the remaining parts of the two
fore-limbs are removed and placed on the skin. The larynx and windpipe
are taken out together, and in doing this the large vessels of the neck
are divided. The body of the animal is then taken up and held over the
skin, so that the blood runs out over the parts placed on the skin, and
these parts are then moved about, so that they become smeared with
blood, and are then placed on the stakes (ko), and each ko with its
part of the animal is stuck in the ground on one side of the skin. Some
of the other parts when removed are rubbed in the blood on the skin.
When the different parts have been impaled in this manner, the
palikartmokh cuts from each part a small piece of flesh called mîis and
puts the pieces on a stake. From the ribs and sternum, he cuts a part
called the tütmîis, much larger than the other fragments, and puts this
on a stake. I could not ascertain exactly of what the tütmîis
consisted, but it seemed to be the lower end of the sternum with some
of the diaphragm attached to it. [98]
After cutting off the mîis, the palikartmokh begins to put the parts
round the fire (Fig. 41), beginning with the mogâl, which are placed,
one on each side, about the middle of the fire, but rather nearer that
end at which the head is to be placed later. The mogâl must be put in
this position by the palikartmokh himself, but the other parts may be
arranged in any order. While the palikartmokh is manipulating the parts
first cut off and placing them round the fire, his assistants will be
continuing the division of the animal. When the liver is taken out, the
gall-bladder is cut from it and thrown on one side. The intestines are
removed and put on stakes by transfixing every few inches of their
length.
The small intestine is placed on more than one ko, while, so far as I
could see, the large intestine is put on one stake. The urinary bladder
is thrown on one side. The ribs are cut through nearer the back than
the front, and the sternum and anterior parts of the ribs form one
part, the mudri. It was from this part that the tütmîis was taken. The
spleen is put on one side in order that it may be given to a cat, and
its name is derived from this fact. The stomach when taken out of the
body is filled with milk and in this state is called pâlvîr. Its
contents are poured out and it then receives the name pâlvetâr.
As soon as the cutting up is completed and all the other parts have
been placed round the fire, the head is put on a ko, and this is stuck
in the ground at one end of the fire and about half a yard from it, and
the four kwelthkh are placed on the ground round the head. Some of the
parts placed round the fire may by this time have charred, and they are
turned round so as to expose the opposite side to the flames.
The next step is to take up the head on its ko and place it in the
middle of the fire for about a minute, after which it is replaced. The
object of this is to singe the ears, which the palikartmokh then pulls
off. He also takes certain fragments (mîis) from some of the other
parts and throws them, together with the ears, into the fire, standing
at one end, the opposite end to that at which the head is placed. He
then takes three charred pieces of wood from the fire, and throws them
over the fire and over the head, so that they fall beyond the latter,
saying as he throws each time, “Nòtîrzk per mâ, mañ!” the last
exclamation being the sound which is ordinarily uttered when calling a
calf.
When the flesh is sufficiently roasted the palikartmokh eats the
tütmîis, while the others present may eat any portion. When enough has
been eaten, the remainder of the cooked flesh is carried to the
village. The mogâl, agelv, mad, and kwelthkh are carried to the dairy
by the palikartmokh and kept there. The flesh of these parts is eaten
by the dairyman or by other men, but may on no account be eaten by a
woman. The other parts are taken to the hut and given into the keeping
of the women, and the flesh of these parts can be eaten by any one—man,
woman, or child. Butter is often put on the flesh before it is eaten.
THE SACRIFICE AT THE TI
The sacrifice at the ti is called ernudrtipimi, and is performed at
every ti three times in the year. The first occasion is about fifteen
days after the ceremony of teutütusthchi in October. The second
occasion is about January, when the buffaloes of the ti migrate to the
Kundahs or elsewhere for the dry season. The third occasion is after
the ceremony of giving salt, which is known as kòrup (see p. 175). The
ceremony may take place at any ti mad except Anto.
The appointed days are Sunday and Wednesday. On the day before the
ceremony wood is taken by the palol and kaltmokh to the sacrificial
spot, called ernkar as at the village. At Mòdr the wood in which the
sacrifice takes place is called Turikipül.
The sacrifice may be performed either in the morning or evening, and
takes place, in either case, before kaizhvatiti, the ceremonial pouring
of buttermilk. This means that the sacrifice takes place during and not
after the dairy ceremonial, and thus forms part of the dairy ritual.
Each palol wears the pòdrshtuni, while the kaltmokh is naked throughout
except for the kuvn. The kaltmokh arranges the firewood and the chief
palol (at the Nòdrs ti, the ti palol) lights the wood with fire brought
from his dairy. The calf is then killed and cut up with exactly the
same ritual as in the village ceremony.
After the flesh has been placed round the fire both the palol return to
their dairies, leaving the kaltmokh at the ernkar to look after the
roasting flesh. Each palol prays as usual and takes buttermilk without
the aid of the kaltmokh, and then returns to the ernkar, the chief
palol taking butter with him. At the place of the sacrifice the palol
eats the tütmîis only, first putting it, together with butter, on
leaves of kakud, from which he eats. The kaltmokh eats part of the
liver at the ernkar, and is not allowed to touch any other part of the
animal unless given to him by the palol. The mogâl, agelv, mad, and
kwelthkh are then carried by the palol to the dairy where they are
kept. They are eaten only by the palol and kaltmokh. Some parts are
carried by the kaltmokh to the sleeping-hut, and are eaten by the
kaltmokh and mòrol; other parts are taken to the outskirts of the ti
mad and given to any Todas who may visit the dairy.
In connexion with the erkumptthpimi ceremony, I was told of a device
employed to induce the mother of the sacrificed calf to continue
suckling after her offspring has been killed. Several days before the
sacrifice the calf to be sacrificed and a female calf of about the same
age are shut up together in the kush, or small structure in which young
calves are kept. On the floor of the kush are spread some of the grass
called nark [99] and some leaves of the kiars [100] tree. When these
have been broken up and mixed with earth by the trampling of the
calves, a handful of the mixture, together with milk, is rubbed on the
backs of both calves, and this is repeated for three or four days. The
object is that the mother shall not know which is her own calf, and
shall suckle both, and continue to suckle the female calf when her own
has been taken away. During the days on which the calves are shut up
together the dairyman should keep pon, i.e., he should not sell or give
away any of the produce of the dairy.
If this device is not employed or is unsuccessful the skin of the
sacrificed calf is placed on the back of a female calf, and in this way
the mother may be induced to suckle the latter. When Teitnir performed
the erkumptthpimi ceremony for my benefit, he did not succeed in
getting the mother to suckle another calf and demanded 60 rupees [101]
as compensation for the loss of milk which he would suffer till the
buffalo had another calf. When he found that I had no intention of
paying this sum, he adopted the second device just described, and this
expedient was successful.
The erkumptthpimi ceremony was first mentioned by Harkness (p. 139),
who witnessed the sacrifice. The details of the ceremony which he gives
agree in general with those observed by myself. He calls the sacrifice
“yerr-gompts.” A still more complete account which agrees closely with
my own was given by Muzzy in 1844. Breeks mentions the ceremony, as is
usual with him, under its Badaga name of kona shastra, and his account
contains several features which disagree with those of Harkness, Muzzy,
and myself.
I could obtain no satisfactory account of the origin of the sacrifice.
Teitnir gave me a circumstantial story of the way in which Kwoto or
Meilitars induced the gods to eat the flesh of a male calf. Teitnir
stated that when Kwoto was visiting the gods in the form of a kite, and
before he had tied down the sun (see p. 206), he killed a male calf
with exactly the same ceremonial as that practised since, and taking
some of the flesh threw it into the midst of the gods, saying, “I have
brought the flesh; it is sacred flesh; I have partaken of it, and if
your counsel is to be right, you must partake of it.” At this the gods
were very angry and blamed Kwoto, whereupon he said, “I am not
blameworthy; if you blame a man who should not be blamed, why do you
not eat flesh which should not be eaten?” Kwoto was then given the task
of tying down the sun, and when he succeeded in doing this and had been
acknowledged by the gods as their superior, the gods agreed to eat the
flesh, and since that time the Todas have sacrificed a male calf, just
as Kwoto did, and have eaten the flesh of the calf.
The truth of this account, given by Teitnir, was denied by every other
Toda whom I questioned, and I have not therefore included it in the
story of Kwoto given in Chap. IX, but I think it is possible that
Teitnir was right, and that the denial of the other Todas was due to
their reluctance that I should know the real belief about this
ceremony. Even if not correct, Teitnir’s account is valuable as a
record of an ingenious example of Toda reasoning.
At the ceremony I witnessed there was one feature of some interest.
When it was found that the calf had not been killed by the blow with
the log of tudr wood, the animal was belaboured over the testicles.
This procedure had not been included in the account given to me before
the ceremony, and I could not discover how far it is an established
custom to kill the animal in this way if it is not killed by the blow.
The interest arises from the fact that in the ancient Vedic sacrifices,
the animal was killed by stopping its mouth and beating it severely ten
or twelve times on the testicles till it was suffocated. [102] I have
not been able to discover whether this method of killing an animal is
still practised in India. If so, it has probably been borrowed by the
Todas; but if not, this ancient Indian method may have been preserved
by the Todas. I did not observe that the mouth of the calf was stopped
at the sacrifice which I witnessed, but this was probably done.
THE ERKUMPTTHPIMI PRAYER OF KUUDR
This consists of clauses of the form Atthkark per ma in which the
following kwarzam of villages are mentioned: Atthkâr and Òners (Kuudr),
Kidnârs and Toarsòdri (Ars), Moskar and Manêthi (Òdr), Keikòdr and
Karsülh (Melkòdr), Kwoteiners and Kwelpushol (Kiudr), Tashtakhkush
(Pirsush), Kwotirkwirg (Kwirg), Toarskâria (Karia), Pârners and
Tîindeuk (Miuni). These are followed by the final two clauses, karsêram
parsêram, Nòtîrzk êr usht mâ.
The chief features of this prayer are that the chief villages of the
Kuudrol have each two kwarzam and that two kwarzam of Òdr, a Nòdrs
village, are included (see p. 647).
THE KARS PRAYER
This consists of the kwarzam of the villages of the Karsol followed by
-k per mâ, as in Mutashkitik per mâ, but in this case only one kwarzam
is mentioned for each village. The following are the kwarzam with the
corresponding villages in brackets: Mutashkiti (Kars), Karadrners
(Kuzhu), Kiugners (Keshker), Külnkars (Taradrkirsi), Nersmi (Nasmiòdr),
Eḍstârs (Tashtars), Keiikârs (Kerkars), Kuzhârmûdri (Isharadr),
Pòḍshners (Pòdzkwar), Peleiners (Peletkwur), Tarskidt, Tüli, Sing,
Keitaz. In the last four cases the kwarzam and ordinary name of each
village are the same. These kwarzam are followed by ekîrzam meidjam,
Nòtîrzk êr usht mâ. The place of karsêram parsêram in the Kuudr prayer
is taken by ekîrzam meidjam, the kwarzam of Teikirzi, but I do not know
how far this is a special feature of the Kars prayer. It may be that
the Tartharol have the latter formula. It is remarkable that the Karsol
should omit karsêram parsêram, for it is the kwarzam of their
nòdrodchi, Kulinkars.
Several of the kwarzam of this prayer are those of villages which no
longer exist. The prayer thus preserves a record of Toda institutions
which have entirely disappeared.
These prayers are also interesting as records of a number of village
kwarzam. It will be noticed that in many cases there is a considerable
degree of resemblance between the ordinary name and the kwarzam; in
other cases the words are wholly different.
In villages on the west side of the Paikara River the palikartmokh
says, “Teikhârsk êr usht mâ,” may the buffalo appear to Teikhars,
instead of Nòtîrzk êr usht mâ as the last clause. Teikhars is merely
another name for Kulinkars. The reason for the modification is probably
connected with the fact that the calf would have to cross the sacred
Paikara River in order to go to Nòtirzi (Snowdon) on its way to
Kulinkars.
I was unable, as usual, to obtain any information from the Todas on the
significance of the erkumptthpimi ceremony, but the prayer offered
before the calf is killed seems to make it clear that the idea
underlying the ceremony is that of promoting the general welfare of the
buffaloes. The actual words of the prayer are directed to bring about
an increase to the various villages of the clan, but there is, I think,
no doubt that in this prayer, all have the buffaloes especially in mind
and that the meaning of the prayer is, “may the buffaloes of ...
increase!” The sacrifice of the calf would seem to be of that kind in
which one is killed that the rest may prosper.
There is one feature of the sacrifice which might be held to be out of
harmony with this suggestion—viz., that the sacrificed calf is a young
male, and hence a comparatively worthless animal. The name of the
ceremony means strictly “we kill a male buffalo,” [103] and it is
possible that at one time an adult male was sacrificed, but even then
the sacrifice would be of an animal comparatively little valued by the
Todas. As we shall see, the animals killed at funerals are always
female, but there is an obvious reason for this, as the buffaloes are
to be of use to the dead person in the other world. Formerly large
numbers of buffaloes were killed at funerals, and it is possible that
it was found impracticable to use female buffaloes also for the
erkumptthpimi sacrifice.
There is another possible reason for the use of male buffaloes. The
flesh of the sacrificed animal is eaten, and it is possible that the
Todas may have preferred to use for this purpose the less sacred male
buffaloes, and not to risk any possible evil effects which might follow
the consumption of the flesh of the females. It is probable that
utilitarian motives have played the chief part in the choice of a male,
but other more religious motives may have had some influence.
THE TEUTÜTUSTHCHI CEREMONY
This is an annual ceremony in which a fire is lighted at the foot of a
hill by the palol and kaltmokh. The name teutütusthchi or
teutütusthtiti means “god fire he lights.” It is performed in the month
which the Todas call Tai, beginning with the new moon in October.
The two palol and the kaltmokh of the Nòdrs ti perform the ceremony on
the first or second Sunday after the new moon, and make the fire in
alternate years at the hills called Kòti and Puthi. The two palol of
the Kars and Pan ti set fire together at the hill Kònto on the
following Tuesday. This ceremony is not performed by the palol of
either the Kwòdrdoni or the Nidrsi ti. In 1902 the Nòdrs palol went to
the hill Kòti on the second Sunday after the new moon (October 12th).
The hills of Kòti, Puthi, and Kònto are said to be chosen because they
are very high, and have the highest teu, who are spoken of as elder
brothers.
The palol and kaltmokh set out when they have taken buttermilk after
the morning work, abstaining from other food till the ceremony is over.
They take with them the nirsi or fire-sticks, some leaves of kakud, a
piece of tuni, and some dried grass from the thatch of the dairy. Each
palol wears both the pòdrshtuni and the kubuntuni.
When they reach the foot of the hill they make a heap of firewood. They
then spread the kakud leaves on a stone and powder the thatch of the
dairy on the leaves, and each palol makes fire with the fire-sticks and
lights the powdered thatch. Then the kaltmokh says,
“Teutütusthtkina?”—“Shall I light the god (or sacred) fire?”—and both
palol answer “Teutütustht!” Then the kaltmokh takes the lighted thatch
and applies it to the heap of firewood. As soon as the fire burns well,
each palol takes off his kubuntuni and, standing some little distance
from the fire, the two dairymen pray, using the usual prayer of the ti
with the following additions:
Kòr pûv mâ; tein pûv mâ; pom
Young grass flower may; honey flourish may; fruit
purzh mâ.
ripen may.
After the prayer the dairymen and their attendant return to their
dairies so as to be in time for the afternoon work.
The object of the ceremony is to make the grass and honey plentiful, as
the additions to the prayer indicate. The Todas told me that in ancient
times they lived largely on wild fruits, nuts, and honey, and that then
the ceremony was of great importance. At the present time the Todas in
general seem to take but little interest in the occasion, but its
former importance is still shown by the fact that the Sunday and
Tuesday on which the ceremony is performed are among the chief Toda
feast days, when the people of every village eat the special kind of
food which they call ashkkartpimi.
OFFERINGS
The ceremonies which have been described are sacrifices or offerings
which occur at regulated intervals. Teutütusthchi is certainly an
annual ceremony, and it is probable that erkumptthpimi was also
originally an annual ceremony, though now it may be performed several
times in the year. Even now, however, there seems to be little doubt
that on one occasion in the year this ceremony is regarded as of
special importance.
The ceremonies which remain to be described are of a different nature.
They are mostly occasions on which offerings are made to avert or
remove misfortune. Some are distinctly of the nature of sin offerings,
but are only made when an offence which has been committed has brought
some misfortune on the offender. In these cases the object of the
offering seems to be propitiatory and to bring about the removal of the
misfortune.
In other cases the offering may be made with the object of removing a
misfortune which is not due to any fault on the part of the sufferer.
The simplest kind of offering is usually spoken of as kwadr
kwadrthpimi—i.e., we give kwadr. The word kwadr probably means gift,
but seems now to be often used in the sense of ‘fine.’ The kwadr takes
the form of a buffalo. When a man gives a buffalo in this way it means
that he undertakes not to give or sell the buffalo to anyone and not to
kill it at a funeral. The buffalo is to be allowed to die a natural
death, but so long as it is alive the owner has the full use of the
milk given by the animal. The idea of this offering is that the buffalo
is given to the gods, according to some, or to the Amatol or people of
Amnòdr, according to others. I also heard it spoken of as if the
buffalo were given to the man’s father or grandfather (pia)—i.e., as if
it was not given to the Amatol in general, but only to the spirit of
the giver’s father or grandfather. It is possible that I have confused
together two or more separate things, but so far as I could learn these
cases resembled one another in that the owner was not allowed to kill
or part with the buffalo.
When the man devotes a buffalo in this way he mentions the buffalo by
name, saying that he gives it to the gods or to his fathers, and as a
sign that he has done so he bows down before an elder and performs the
salutation of kalmelpudithti.
This offering was made at the funeral of a child at which I was
present, when the diviners found that a buffalo about to be killed was
of the wrong kind, and said that Kuriolv, the father of the child,
should give a buffalo. In this case the diviners said that a special
buffalo called Perov was to be given. Kuriolv made a vow to give this
buffalo and performed the kalmelpudithti salutation to Perner, the
grandfather of the dead child. Another example of this offering will be
mentioned at the end of this chapter.
IRNÖRTITI TO THE TI
Another kind of offering is to give a buffalo to one of the ti dairies.
This is called irnörtiti, but must be distinguished from another kind
of irnörtiti to be presently described. A man gives a buffalo to a ti
when he has committed any offence against the ti. In one case in which
I have a record of this kind of offering, the cause was the refusal of
a man to become palol after he had promised to undertake the office.
One of the results of my visit to the Todas was a wholesale sentence
from the teuol that the people were to do ti irnörtiti (see p. 310).
The Tartharol may sometimes give buffaloes to the herds of a ti when
they have not committed any offence against the dairy. This is done
when the buffaloes of the ti have become very few in number, and this
offering is also known as irnörtiti, and is given with the same
ceremonial as when an offence has been committed.
The gift of a buffalo to the ti dairy must take place on a Thursday or
Sunday. On the morning of the day the man making the offering, who is
called the irnörtpol, abstains from food and goes to the ti mad with a
female calf between one and two years of age. He may be accompanied by
other men, usually those closely related to him. The men go to the
outskirts of the dairy and wait there till the morning business of the
dairy is concluded, each man carrying a green stick, either a
kwadrikurs or avelashkikurs. When the palol has finished his work he
goes towards the men on the outskirts of the dairy, also carrying a
stick of the same kind, and as he approaches, the other men drive the
calf towards him, and when it reaches the palol, he drives it so that
it joins the buffaloes of his herd. The palol then gives food to the
irnörtpol and his companions, who eat it on the spot, where they remain
till after sunset, when they return home. If the calf given belongs to
the putiir, it becomes one of the punir of the ti, but if it is of one
of the sacred kinds, pasthir, wursulir, &c., it joins one of the sacred
herds of the ti.
IRNÖRTITI, TUNINÖRTITI AND PILINÖRTITI
We now come to three kinds of offering, with their attendant
ceremonial, which are of a much more complex nature. These are
irnörtiti, tuninörtiti and pilinörtiti, in which the offerings are a
buffalo calf, a piece of the cloth called tuni, and a silver ring
respectively. The first two offerings are made only when one of a
certain number of recognised offences has been committed, and in order
to bring about the removal of some misfortune which has befallen the
offender. Pilinörtiti, on the other hand, is usually performed to bring
about the cessation of some ill-fortune which is not due to any fault
on the part of the sufferer, but it may also be done in expiation of an
offence.
One essential feature common to all three offerings is that the primary
divisions of the clan called kudr (see p. 542) here become of
importance.
Nearly every Toda clan is divided into two kudr, and the offerings in
the three ceremonies always pass from one kudr to the other. The
offering which is given by a man of one kudr becomes the property of
the members of the other kudr. At the present time the kudr is of no
importance except in connexion with these ceremonies, and, so far as I
could learn, it never had any other significance. There are a few clans
of recent origin which have no kudr, and members of these clans cannot
make the offerings. In other clans, one kudr has become extinct, and so
long as no occasion for these ceremonies should arise, nothing is done
to supply the deficiency. As a general rule, it is only when some
trouble arises which may require one or other of these ceremonies that
a redistribution of the members of the clan is made, and it is decided
that one or more of the pòlm or smaller sub-divisions of the clan shall
be constituted a new kudr.
The following are the chief offences for which the irnörtiti or
tuninörtiti ceremonies have to be performed:—
(i) Stealing milk, butter, buttermilk, or ghi from the dairy.
(ii) Going to the dairy after having had intercourse with a woman in
the day-time.
(iii) Quarrelling between people of the same clan on a feast day.
(iv) Quarrelling in the dairy.
(v) Going to the dairy after visiting the seclusion-hut for women (see
Chap. XIV).
(vi) Going to the dairy after taking food with a man who has been to
the seclusion-hut.
(vii) Going to the dairy after throwing earth at a funeral (see Chap.
XV).
(viii) Going to the dairy after chewing tobacco.
(ix) Buying or selling buffaloes on the madnol or sacred day of the
village or on the palinol, the sacred day of the dairy (see Chap.
XVII).
(x) Driving buffaloes from one place to another on these days.
Going to the buffaloes or touching the buffaloes is an offence of the
same rank as going to the dairy.
The general name for all these offences is paliwörtvichi; they are all
regarded as offences against the dairy.
For the first three of the offences it is customary that the irnörtiti
ceremony shall be performed. For the last seven tuninörtiti is more
usual. For the fourth offence the punishment varies according to the
status of the offender. If he is a palikartmokh, he usually has to give
the tuni only, but if an ordinary man he may be ordered to give a
buffalo. It is a far smaller punishment to give a piece of cloth worth
about one rupee four annas than to give a buffalo calf, and it would
seem therefore that the first three offences are regarded as more
serious than the last seven. It would seem also that if a dairyman
quarrels in his dairy it is regarded as a less serious offence than in
the case of an ordinary man.
The decision as to which ceremony shall be performed rests with the
teuol or diviner, but although a diviner usually follows the rules I
have given, it seems that he may order otherwise, and if he does so I
was told that his decision would be followed. I have a very strong
impression, however, that if a diviner ordered a man to do irnörtiti
for one of the more trivial offences, the offender would take further
advice and consult another teuol before obeying.
There were several other offences for which it was said by some that a
man might have to perform irnörtiti or tuninörtiti; thus, if a dairyman
gave up his office on any but one of the appropriate days of the week
he might be ordered to do irnörtiti, and the same penalty might be
incurred if a man assumed office on a wrong day. Similarly a dairyman
might have to perform one of these ceremonies if he spoke to a woman in
the day-time, and probably if he broke any other of the laws regulating
his conduct or made any serious mistakes in carrying out the ritual of
his office. One occasion for irnörtiti was said to arise if anyone
crossed the Paikara or Avalanche rivers on a Tuesday, Friday, or
Saturday, but this is certainly a dead letter at the present time (see
p. 418).
There was some difference of opinion about the penalty for buying,
selling, or driving buffaloes on the arpatznol, or day on which the
father of a man had died. According to one account, the proper penalty
for this is that the offender should give a buffalo to his
ancestors—i.e., that he should name a buffalo which he would neither
kill at a funeral nor sell to others.
In one definite case, however, it appeared that driving buffaloes from
one village to another on the arpatznol had been one of the offences
for which a man had been ordered to do irnörtiti. In this case,
however, other faults had been committed, and it is possible that if
driving buffaloes on the arpatznol had been the only offence a slighter
penalty would have been inflicted.
The ceremony of irnörtiti was performed thirty years ago after the
disappearance of the sacred bells of the Kars kudrpali. In this case
the diviners were consulted, and they found that the bells had gone
away and would not return. It was thought, however, that the
palikartmokh, Kakarsiolv, might have committed some offence against the
dairy, or have made some mistake in the performance of his duties, and
it was thought best that he should perform the irnörtiti ceremony,
though, so far as I could learn, it was not directly prescribed by the
diviners.
As we shall see, the irnörtiti and pilinörtiti ceremonies may have to
be performed as expiation for revealing the secret lore of Toda
institutions, but this is an innovation in custom for which I am afraid
I was indirectly responsible.
It does not seem that the penalties with their attendant ceremonies are
inflicted merely because it is known that a man has committed any of
the recognised offences. It is only when some misfortune befalls a man
which obliges him to have recourse to the diviners that the ceremonies
are performed.
The usual course of events is that a man, his wife, children, or his
buffaloes fall ill, or the buffaloes will not give milk or kick their
calves, or the milk in the dairy will not coagulate properly. Whenever
any of these ills happen the man concludes that for some reason the
gods are angry with him and he goes to the diviners to ascertain the
cause of their displeasure.
The diviners may find that the man’s misfortunes are due to the action
of a sorcerer, or that he has committed some offence against the dairy,
possibly some offence which it is well known he is in the habit of
committing. The diviners not only announce the cause or causes of the
misfortune, but also give information as to the course to be pursued to
remove it. If the diviners decide that an offence has been committed
and that one of the ceremonies should be performed, the offender goes
on the following Sunday to the dairy or dairies of his village and
makes a vow that he will perform the ceremony which has been ordered.
The following is probably a typical instance. Ten years ago Kòdrner
fell ill and one of his buffaloes died. He and his brother consulted
the teuol, who said that they had bought things (i.e., given money from
the village) on Mondays and Thursdays, the madnol or sacred days of
Kars and Kuzhu. They had also driven their buffaloes from Kars to
Isharadr on their arpatznol; there had been sickness among the
buffaloes and they had driven them to Isharadr without thinking that it
was the arpatznol. The teuol said they must do irnörtiti, and on the
following Sunday Kòdrner went first to the kudrpali of Kars (Tarziolv)
and then to the wursuli (Karziolv) and made the following vow at each:—
Ir kar ultâmâ, pîrsk ultâkh en,
Buffalo calf may it be well, illness from be well I,
irnörtkin
buffalo will I give,
or “May the buffaloes and calves become well, may I recover from my
illness, I will give a buffalo.” [104]
From this account it seems clear that the ceremony of irnörtiti is not
a mere punishment for offences committed. If a man commits any of the
recognised offences habitually and with the knowledge of the whole
community, it does not appear that anything is done. Only when some
severe misfortune befalls the offender does he appeal to the diviners
to learn how he has offended and how he can atone for his fault. He
gives the buffalo with the definite idea of recovering from the illness
or removing any other ills which his offences have brought upon him.
Giving the buffalo is clearly of the nature of a ‘sin offering,’ but
the offering is only made when the sin has already had evil
consequences and it is made in order to remove these consequences. Its
object is atonement for an offence committed. It seemed that a man only
had resort to the advice of the diviners in the case of exceptionally
severe misfortunes. The act of giving the buffalo is attended by
ceremonial which involves considerable expense to himself and great
inconvenience to all the members of his clan. The expenses and
inconvenience are so great that the ceremonies of irnörtiti and
tuninörtiti are rarely performed, and in some clans it is many years
since they have occurred.
There is one case in which the irnörtiti ceremony may be performed for
a reason quite different from any of those given above. Owing to a
quarrel which took place many generations ago, the people of Pedrkars
(and probably also those of Kulhem) may not hold the office of palol.
They may become eligible, however, if they perform the irnörtiti
ceremony at Kuudr or Kiudr. It would seem as if they can only hold the
office by expiating the offence committed in the remote past by their
ancestors.
THE IRNÖRTITI CEREMONY
This ceremony takes place at certain prescribed villages, usually at
the chief village of the clan, though when a clan has several important
dairies the ceremony may be performed at any of them. Thus, members of
the Kuudrol may give the buffalo at Kuudr, Kiudr or Miuni.
At nearly every village there is an appointed spot, usually marked by a
stone or a group of stones, called irnörtkars, at which the ceremony is
to be performed. At Kars there is a row of stones, shown in Fig. 42. At
Nòdrs the appointed spot is a pool of water (Fig. 43) by the side of a
gap in the long wall of that village.
On the day before the new moon following the vow to give the buffalo,
all the women leave the village at which the ceremony is to take place,
and all the men of the same kudr as the man who is giving the buffalo
must also leave the village if they should be living there. Their place
is taken by men of the kudr which is to receive the buffalo. If men of
both kudr are living at the village, those of the giving kudr go and
those of the receiving kudr remain; thus, when Kòdrner, who lives at
Kars, made his offering, he and his brother left and went to live at
another village of the clan, while Parkurs and his brothers, who belong
to the other kudr, remained behind. If there is a wursuli at the
village, the wursol remains at his post. If the palikartmokh is of the
same kudr as the offender, he leaves and a new dairyman from the other
kudr is appointed. All the men who remain at the village sleep in the
outer room of the dairy—at Kars, in the outer room of the kudrpali. The
palikartmokh does his dairy work in the inner room as usual and sleeps
in the outer room with the rest.
The people live thus at the village for a month, no women, no men of
the offending kudr and no people of other clans being allowed to visit
them.
The actual ceremony takes place at the end of this month, on the Sunday
following the new moon. On the Saturday the man, called the irnörtpol,
who is to make the offering brings a female calf between one and two
years of age to a wood near the village and makes a rough temporary
calf enclosure (kadr), tying the calf to a tree. If the calf is
troublesome, the man and his companions may sleep in the wood by the
side of the calf, but generally they leave it in the wood and go to
sleep in the village where they have been living. The calf must have no
blemish, its eyes must be clear, and no part of its ears or tail may be
cut. [105]
On the following morning a boy between ten and fifteen years of age is
chosen, who is called ponkartvaimokh, the boy who observes the
festival. It is his duty to drive the calf.
All those who are to be present take in their hands green sticks of the
kind called kwadrikurs. All have their right arms outside their cloaks
(kevenarut), and must have bathed in the morning and abstained from
food.
When the time for the ceremony comes, the ponkartvaimokh, who is
followed by the irnörtpol and other men of his division, drives the
calf towards the village. The people in the village then call out
“Irnört! it vos!”—“Give the buffalo! Come here!” and they go to the
appointed place and stand on the dairy side of the irnörtkars, or other
spot appointed for the ceremony, while the calf is driven up towards
the stones or other mark from the side away from the dairy. The
palikartmokh, naked except for the kuvn, and the wursol, with the tuni
round his loins, stand with the people of the receiving kudr. When the
ponkartvaimokh has driven the calf up to the place, he asks three
times, “Irnörtkina?”—“Shall I give the buffalo?”—and the palikartmokh
replies each time, “Irnört!” The boy then drives the calf across the
stones or other mark to the place where the buffaloes of the receiving
kudr are standing. According to one account, the calf is driven direct
into the tu, but it seems almost certain that this is wrong, though it
may be that it is the practice of some clans. The calf then becomes the
property of the kudr whose representatives have been living at the
village. At Nòdrs the calf is driven through the gap in the wall and
across the pool of water in the direction of the conical dairy.
All those present, both the man who has given the calf and his
companions and those who have received the calf, bow down to the
ground, resting their foreheads on the ends of their cloaks (as in Fig.
44), and utter a formula different for each clan. At Kars it runs:—
Swâmi, Teikîrzi, Târziolv, Kârziolv, Kârzû ultâmâ; îr kark ultâmâ;
îrnörtvuspimi, [106] ultâmâ.
Then all present go to the dairy or dairies and bow down at the
threshold. At Kars they go to Tarziolv (the kudrpali), to Karziolv (the
wursuli), and to Karzu (the buffalo pen) and bow down at the threshold
of each, and then all partake of a feast. The food has been prepared by
the dairyman, and includes the special kind called ashkkartpimi, which
is eaten outside the dairy. Only the men of the clan who have taken
part in the ceremony may be present at this feast.
After the feast all the men belonging to the kudr of the irnörtpol must
again leave the village, but the only one of their number who is
subject to any special restrictions is the boy who has acted as
ponkartvaimokh, who must avoid women and must sleep in the dairy of
some village until the end of the whole business. He is spoken of as
being in the condition called pon and derives his name from this.
The wursol and the palikartmokh of the village at which the ceremony
has taken place must stay there for another month, but the men of the
kudr which has received the calf may stay there or not as they please.
No women and no people other than men of the same kudr may visit the
village during this time.
At the end of the month the people who have been occupying the village
rub the dairy or dairies thoroughly with buffalo-dung (palikâratiti,
dairy he purifies). All the people of the village then return and
another feast takes place, in which the food is rice boiled in milk.
Then the usual inhabitants of the village return to their houses, and
if any men of the receiving kudr have come from another village, they
return and life resumes its normal course.
The ceremony of irnörtiti may thus involve the removal of the usual
inhabitants from a village for about two months, and the giving of two
feasts, while the man who has offended also loses a calf. The Todas
probably think little of the inconvenience of removal, though probably
they are more troubled by it now than in former times, especially when
they have to leave a village like Kars, which is, under normal
circumstances, always inhabited at the present time. It seems that the
inconvenience, together with the expense of the feasts, is sufficient
to render the ceremony a very unusual incident in the lives of the
Todas.
TUNINÖRTITI
The smaller importance of this ceremony as compared with irnörtiti is
shown in several ways. The ceremony may be performed at any village at
which there is a dairy, and it is not necessary for the people of the
receiving kudr to stay at the village for a month before the ceremony
is performed.
The prescribed day is Sunday, and on the previous day all the people of
the same kudr as the giver of the tuni leave the village, and the men
of the other division come and sleep in the dairy as before the
irnörtiti ceremony. The man who gives the tuni is called the
tuninörtpol, and he procures the garment from a Badaga, paying for it
about 1 rupee 4 annas.
On the Sunday morning the tuninörtpol comes with some companions, all
having abstained from food. The palikartmokh, who must be of the same
kudr as the other men at the village, goes to the front of the dairy
and one of the men calls out, “Tuninörtpol bon!”—“Cloth giving man,
come!” The tuninörtpol, who is standing at an appointed spot not far
off, goes to the dairy, lays the tuni at its threshold, and bows down,
touching the cloth with his forehead. While he is doing this the
palikartmokh prays in the inner room of the dairy and the men staying
at the village pray in the outer room. Then the tuninörtpol enters the
dairy and is given buttermilk and food by the palikartmokh, after which
he stays in a wood near the dairy all day and returns to the village
where he is living after night-fall. The people of the receiving kudr
stay at the village for a month, at the end of which they have a feast
and then all return to their own villages.
PILINÖRTITI
In this ceremony a man gives a silver ring. The offering is
differentiated from those already described in that it may be given to
bring about the removal of misfortunes which are not due to any offence
committed by the man. In some cases, however, the ceremony may be
undertaken as an atonement for an offence. Kòdrner, my guide, had to
give a ring to the dairy at Kiudr in the general distribution of
penalties which followed my visit.
The custom of pilinörtiti is limited to certain villages or clans.
According to some accounts it is only followed at the villages of Kiudr
and Kanòdrs, noted for the special sanctity of their dairies. According
to others the ceremony is performed by the Karsol at the dairy of
Kuzhu, and at Nidrsi I was shown a small stone, almost completely
buried in the ground, which was called the pilinörtkars, and this
indicates that the ceremony was also at one time performed at this
village. The ceremony is certainly of especial importance at Kiudr, and
the following description is of the procedure at this place.
If a man has no children, or if he becomes ill, or if his buffaloes
give no milk, he may make a vow to do pilinörtiti. If he is a member of
the Kuudrol, the people of the kudr to which he does not belong go to
the dairy. The offerer of the ring sleeps the night before in the dairy
of his village and goes in the morning with one companion to Kiudr,
taking care that no one sees him by the way. Both must go without food.
On reaching Kiudr the two men go to the stream called Keikudr [107]
which flows between the dairy and the dwelling-huts, and after washing
hands and face in the stream they wait there. The people of the other
kudr who are in the dairy light a lamp and place it between the two
rooms, and then one goes to the door of the dairy and calls out three
times “Pilinörtpol bon!” The men at the stream are not within sight,
but they hear the summons and come to the front of the dairy. The men
in the dairy lay the tuni of the dairyman at the threshold and the
pilinörtpol places the ring on the cloth and bows down, touching the
cloth with his forehead, and prays as follows:—
Tânenmâ, târmâmâ; atch kar tâ mâ, atch mokh tâ
May it be well, may it be well; little calf give may, little son give
mâ; kar kulâth, kar kuleiti tâ mâ, kar nesâth,
may; calf not refuse milk, calf take milk give may, calf not kick away,
neseiti tâ mâ; opath ûtm âthi punerd kwar arki madi; nû
stand give may; once meal it is twelve years vow will; may there be
ârk mâ; nudri ârk mâ; kazun ârk mâ; per
no disease; may there be no trouble; may there be no kazun; may there
be
ârk mâ.
no Tamil.
The free rendering of this prayer was said to be as follows:—
“May it be well; may my buffaloes have calves; may I have children; may
my calves have milk, and may they not be kicked away by their mothers;
as surely as I am shortly to take food, do I make my vow for ever and
ever; may I and my buffaloes be free from disease; may no evil befall
me; may there be no kazun (see p. 403) to kill me; may no Tamil or
other outsiders come to disturb me.”
The last clause was said by Samuel to be interpreted: “Let me not get
into trouble with the government,” but it is probably much older than
this interpretation would indicate, and refers to the former dislike of
the Todas to any intercourse with people other than the Badagas and
Kotas. “Twelve years” is a common expression for an indefinitely long
time, and may be translated “for ever.” The practice of combining
positive and negative sentences as in this prayer is one which seems to
be not uncommon in the Toda language. It will be noticed that several
of the clauses are identical with those of the prayer ordinarily used
in the dairy.
When the pilinörtpol has finished his prayer he rises, and the
palikartmokh takes up the tuni and the ring and puts them in the dairy.
Then the pilinörtpol and his companions go into the outer room of the
dairy and take food prepared by the dairyman, after which they go to a
wood near Kiudr and stay there till after nightfall, when they make
their way home, taking care not to be seen by anyone.
If the ring is given by one of the Kuudrol it becomes the property of
the men of the other kudr, but as its value is very small, only from
four annas to two rupees, it is not divided, but is usually taken by
the man of the kudr who takes the chief part in the ceremony.
The ceremony as described above resembles those of irnörtiti and
tuninörtiti, in that the offering is given by a man of one division of
the clan to the members of the other division.
Pilinörtiti may also be undertaken by a man as an atonement for
wrong-doing, and in the only case of the kind of which I know, the
wrong-doer, although he belonged to the Kars clan of the Tartharol, had
to make the offering to Kiudr. In this case there was no question of
the ring passing from one kudr to another, and it probably became the
property of the man connected with Kiudr who took the chief part in
conducting the ceremony.
Various unfortunate events which occurred during my visit to the Todas
illustrate very well the working of the regulations which have been
described in this chapter. One of these misfortunes befell Kutadri, who
went with me to visit the Kundahs, the headquarters of the Pan clan.
Mr. Mackenzie, with whom I was staying, had shot a sambhar, and Kutadri
joined others in making a hearty meal on the flesh of the animal. The
next day he felt far from well, and searching in his mind for the cause
of his sufferings, his suspicions did not fall on the sambhar, but
wavered between sorcery of the Kurumbas and the anger of the gods of
the locality, because he had shown me certain sacred features of the
land. He was unable to continue to act as my guide, rendering my visit
to the Kundahs largely fruitless, and on his return home he frightened
himself into serious illness.
Teitnir, who had told me many things, but, above all, had dared to show
me the erkumptthpimi sacrifice, lost his wife a few days after this
ceremony. She had given birth to a dead child, and in spite of
obviously serious fever, she had gone through a trying ceremony
connected with removal to the seclusion-hut, and had walked a long way
to this hut. Two days later she died.
Kaners, who had been my chief informant on the procedure of the ti
dairy, awoke one morning to find the dairy of his village burnt. No
human agency seemed possible, and no doubt was entertained that it was
another manifestation of the displeasure of the gods.
Numerous councils were held, and the diviners were consulted, on this
occasion Midjkudr and Tadrners. They found that Kutadri’s misfortunes
were due to his having revealed to me secrets about Pan, although, as a
matter of fact, his illness had prevented his telling me anything of
importance. It was decided that he was to give a buffalo to the Pan ti.
The death of Teitnir’s wife was found to have two causes. [108] The
first was that Teitnir had shown me the erkumptthpimi ceremony; the
second was that he had gone with his wife to Lake View, the house of
the Zenana mission, and had stayed there for several months, Teitnir
having done this in order to avoid losing his wife according to the
terersthi custom (see Chap. XXII). For the first offence Teitnir was to
do irnörtiti to his clan, the Kuudrol, and for the second offence he
was to give a buffalo to the Amatol, his pia, or grandfather, being
especially singled out among them. The latter penalty was paid before I
left the hills. Teitnir devoted a sacred buffalo (pasthir) to his
grandfather, and as a sign that he had done so, he did kalmelpudithti
to Ivievan (52), one of the chief men of his family. The giving of the
buffalo was followed by a feast.
The teuol were also consulted on account of the burning of the dairy
belonging to the village of Kaners. They decided that the loss of the
dairy was due to spontaneous combustion, “had burnt of itself,” because
Kaners had revealed to me the secrets of the ti, and, as he had told me
chiefly the procedure of the Nòdrs ti, he was sentenced to do irnörtiti
to this institution.
Kòdrner, who had been my general assistant, was directed to perform
pilinörtiti to Kiudr, and the teuol also said that all the Todas were
to do irnörtiti to the ti dairies because the elders had not intervened
and put an end to the revelations which the people had been making to
me.
Unfortunately these decisions of the teuol were only given out very
shortly before I left the hills. Indeed, the divination appeared to be
still going on when I left, probably in order to obtain further light
on the troubles. I had therefore no opportunity of witnessing the
various ceremonies which were to result from my visit. I hoped that
Samuel might have been able to see some of them, but the only
proceedings of which he was able to give me any account took place on
January 5th, nearly a month after my departure, when all the Todas
assembled at the ti mad of Mòdr, where the buffaloes of the Nòdrs ti
were standing, and prayed to the ti to pardon them for the sins they
had committed in revealing its secrets. After praying, they took food
in the pül of the dairy, and did not return home till the evening. I
was not told of the existence of any such ceremony of atonement by
prayer only, and I strongly suspect it was an innovation adopted in
order to avoid the expense of the general irnörtiti to the ti which the
diviners had prescribed.
Several of the offerings which were thus ordered by the teuol seem
clearly to have been of the nature of punishment. Kòdrner was to do
pilinörtiti because he had helped me, and the Todas in general were to
give buffaloes to the ti dairies. When I was first told about these
offerings, I was inclined to regard them in general as punishments and
to treat them as if they were social regulations. With further
knowledge it seemed clear that they were distinctly of a religious
nature, and were really sin offerings designed to propitiate the gods
and bring about the removal of misfortunes which had come upon the
offenders. I have therefore described these offerings in the same
chapter as the ceremony which is clearly a sacrifice.
The variety of the irnörtiti ceremony in which a buffalo is given to
the ti dairy is that which approaches most nearly to a sacrifice; the
offered animal is not killed, but in going to the sacred herd of the
ti, it may clearly be regarded as devoted to the service of the gods.
The ceremony of pilinörtiti to the sacred dairy of Kiudr is again an
example of an offering to a higher power in those cases in which the
ring is given by a man of another clan so that the mechanism of the
kudr does not come into play.
These clear examples of offerings to gods or sacred places are,
however, very closely related to the other cases in which offerings
simply pass from one division of the clan to another. It seems that we
have in these offerings a good example of something which is midway
between a social regulation of the nature of punishment and a
definitely religious rite of propitiation of higher powers.
There are two chief possibilities. The idea of offering to a higher
power may be primary, and the ceremonies of irnörtiti, &c., in which
the property merely passes from one division of the clan to the other
may be secondary modifications to keep property within the clan. On the
other hand, the mechanism of the kudr may be primary, and irnörtiti to
the ti dairy and pilinörtiti to Kiudr may be religious developments of
what was originally a social regulation.
I have no information which enables me to say that one of the two
possibilities is more probable than the other. The solution probably
depends on the much larger question, whether the Todas are people whose
religious system has developed out of the state of many primitive
people where social regulations exist without anything which can
clearly be called a religious sanction, or whether they are a people
whose religious system has degenerated from one higher than that they
now possess.
If the former supposition is correct, it is probable that the religious
sanction has been added to the system of social punishment, which seems
to be all which clearly exists in the offerings when these are kept
within the clan. If the latter supposition is correct, it seems more
likely that the whole mechanism of the kudris a device by which
offerings which should be made to a higher power may remain the
property of the clan.
The fact that the giving of the buffalo or other offering is
accompanied by prayer and the various restrictions of a more or less
religious nature which accompany the ceremonial show that at the
present time the ceremony has in all cases a very definitely religious
character, but it is quite possible to regard these features in two
ways, either as accretions to a system of social punishment or as
vestiges of what was once a purely religious sacrifice in which the
offerings were given to the gods.
CHAPTER XIV
BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD CEREMONIES
The ceremonies connected with childbirth begin before the birth of the
child. These ceremonies are only performed for the first child or when
the woman obtains a new husband, so that they may, from one point of
view, be regarded as marriage ceremonies. Nevertheless, I prefer to
consider them here, and to leave the ceremonies more strictly connected
with marriage till a later chapter. These latter ceremonies are far
less elaborate than those to be described in this chapter, and may be
more fitly considered in connexion with the social regulation of
marriage.
At or about the fifth month of pregnancy, a ceremony is performed which
is called ûr patitth kaitütitthpimi, “village left, hand we burnt,” or
more shortly, ürvatpimi, “village we leave,” or kaitütitthpimi. The
ceremony is named from its two essential features; the woman leaves the
village and lives secluded in a hut and her wrists are burnt.
When it is known that the ceremony is to take place, a special hut,
called puzhars (Fig. 45), is built in a prescribed place at some little
distance from the village, or if this building already exists, it is
put into good order. The word puzhars means “mud-house” or
“earth-house,” which would seem to point to a time when a temporary hut
of mud was used, but at the present time it is built of wood, though it
is of much simpler and rougher construction than the ordinary house.
The distance of the puzhars from the huts in which the people live
depends on the degree of sacredness of the village. According to
Breeks, the distance is greatest in those villages which have a dairy
of the conical kind, but it seems that there is no real difference
between these villages and any other etudmad. In some cases when the
dairy has a high degree of sanctity, the puzhars may be at an adjacent
village; thus, a pregnant woman of Kiudr goes into seclusion at
Molkush, about a quarter of a mile away, and at this village the
seclusion-hut (Fig. 45) is about a hundred yards from the house in
which the people live.
I may mention here that the objection to the presence of a pregnant
woman in one of the more sacred villages may extend to a time when she
is not in the seclusion-hut. When I visited Kiudr for the purpose of
testing the people of the village for colour-blindness, Sintagars, who
was pregnant and was living at Molkush, was not allowed to come to the
hut to be tested like the rest, but sat on the mound shown in the
foreground of Fig. 7, about thirty yards away.
The features of the hand-burning ceremony as performed by the Tartharol
differ considerably from those for a Teivali woman, and I will begin
with a description of the former.
On the day of the new moon, the woman goes to the puzhars. The husband
(or in his absence his brother or other near male relative) cuts six
sticks of the kind called kwadrikurs and sets them up so as to
represent a dairy with two rooms, which is called pülpali. He then cuts
four bamboo-reeds called wadr, about eighteen inches long, which
represent dairy vessels; two of them are called patatpun, and the other
two ertatpun. He fills these with water taken neither from the pali
nipa nor from the ars nipa, for if he touched the water of either of
the streams, they would be defiled and their water could not be used.
He therefore fetches the water from a stream at some distance from the
village.
The husband brings the reeds half filled with water and places those
called patatpun in the inner room of the pülpali. He takes the other
two—the ertatpun—to a two-year-old female calf (pòl), and pours out the
water from one reed on the left side of the middle of the back (ûv) of
the calf, and catches the water in the other. He then gives two leaves
(kakuders) to the woman, who makes a leaf vessel, into which he pours
three times from the ertatpun the water which has flowed from the back
of the calf. The woman raises the leaf vessel to her forehead and then
drinks, and the man puts the two ertatpun into the outer room of the
pülpali. [109] The woman then bows down with her forehead to the
threshold of the pülpali, and the man takes up the sticks forming the
imitation dairy and the four reeds and throws all away.
The woman has brought with her a new earthenware pot called mâtkûdrik,
into which she puts food (rice or grain) and water, and places it on a
small oven made on the spot with stones. When the food is cooked, the
woman takes two leaves called pelkkodsthmuliers, i.e., leaves used in
the ordination of the palikartmokh, and portions out the food on the
leaves. She then brings two pieces of wood called parskuti (Eleagnus
latifolia), puts them in the ground and covers them with a blanket. The
two leaf-plates with the food are now placed on the two pieces of wood,
one on each, and the woman asks Pîrn podia, Piri podia? (podia = have
you come?) My informants could tell me nothing about Pirn or Piri,
except that the former was supposed to be male and the latter female.
The woman throws the parskuti into the bushes, this procedure being
called tapi kûrs vutpimi, “bushes stick throw we,” and then makes a
little roll of threads which is called pashti, puts it in the fire and
burns herself with the roll in four places, two on each hand, once on
the prominence formed by the carpo-metacarpal joint of the thumb, and
once on the prominence formed by the styloid process of the radius. The
burning is sometimes done for her by the woman who is to stay in the
puzhars with her [110] during her period of seclusion. When the
ceremony is over, the woman goes into the hut with her companion and
stays there for nearly a month, till three or four days before the next
new moon. While in the seclusion-hut, the woman is visited by relatives
and friends, who do not, however, come near the hut, but stand some way
off and say kaitütudpatia? (“Have you had hand-burning?”) They leave a
present of rice for the woman and go to the people of the village, by
whom they are entertained.
When the woman comes out of the puzhars at the end of the month, there
is a ceremony called marthk maj atpimi, “To the village buttermilk we
pour.” Early in the morning of the appointed day a man of the Melgars
clan comes to the village and milks one of the ordinary buffaloes
(putiir) into the vessel called kabanachok. The buffalo must not have
been milked by any one else since the time it last calved. The Melgars
man places the milk in front of the hut where the woman usually lives,
and then goes away, and the milk is taken by the people of the village.
In the evening, after the day’s work is over and the buffaloes are shut
up for the night, a woman is chosen who has had no contact with the
secluded woman, and she takes the milk drawn by the Melgars man to the
puzhars, together with the leaves of the kind called parsers. She pours
out the milk three times into these leaves and gives to the pregnant
woman to drink. The latter has previously bathed and put on a new
mantle, and after drinking she returns to the ordinary hut and may
resume her household work.
The milking is done by a Melgars man for all the Tarthar clans except
that of Kwòdrdoni, where the buffalo is milked by a man of that clan. I
do not know why this clan forms an exception to the general rule, but
Kwòdrdoni is one of the most remote Toda villages, and it is possible
[111] that the difficulty of getting a Melgars man to come to them has
led the people to do this part of the ceremony themselves.
For fifteen days after leaving the seclusion-hut, the woman must drink
buttermilk procured from a Melgars dairy, and must take food called
peritòr, [112] viz., grain or rice which has been cooked in Melgars
buttermilk. At the end of the fifteen days she gives up taking the
peritòr, but continues to drink Melgars buttermilk for another fifteen
days.
For a woman of the Teivaliol, the ceremony of urvatpimi is much more
simple. No pülpali is made, and the husband fetches two pieces of reed
only, which are called ertatpun. They are half filled with water, which
is poured from one over the back of a calf into the other as in the
Tarthar ceremony, and the woman drinks in the same way, but this is
immediately followed by the hand-burning, and the rite with the two
sticks and the invocation of Pirn and Piri is entirely omitted.
The Teivali ceremony on coming out of the puzhars takes place in the
early morning. A man (not the husband) fetches water from the ars nipa
in a brass vessel called achok. He takes the vessel to a pregnant
buffalo and tries to milk the buffalo over the vessel of water.
Although no milk comes, the attempt is supposed to convert the water in
the vessel into milk. The woman then leaves the seclusion-hut and is
given two leaves (parsers), of which she makes a leaf cup, and the man
pours the water which is supposed to be milk into the cup three times,
and the woman drinks each time after raising the cup to her forehead.
The woman and her companion then go to another special hut, called
aliars, and stay there for a week, or if there is in the village a
house of the kind called merkalars (see p. 29), the woman may go to the
hinder part of this house instead of to the aliars, but in this case
all the household things have to be removed from the merkalars.
At the end of the week in the aliars or merkalars, there follows the
ceremony called marthk maj atpimi. Early in the morning the
palikartmokh brings penmaj (i.e., butter and buttermilk) in an
earthenware pot and two firebrands (tütkuli) to the front of the hut,
puts the brands on the ground, lays the pot on them for a time, and
then puts the pot on the raised platform in front of the hut. He then
goes away, and a woman brings a brass vessel (terg) and transfers the
butter and buttermilk to the terg, and gives it to the woman, who
drinks and goes to the ordinary hut.
While the woman is in the aliars or merkalars, she is not confined to
the dwelling as when in the puzhars, but may go about. She must not,
however, do any household work, nor go to any other village, nor to the
ordinary huts of her own village. If in the hinder part of the
merkalars, she must not go to the fore part of the house.
Thus the ritual of the Tartharol differs greatly from that of the
Teivaliol in these ceremonies. The rite of making an artificial dairy
is entirely omitted by the Teivaliol, and, as we shall see later, it is
also omitted in a similar ceremony performed after childbirth, though
the pieces of reed used to pour water over the calf are named after
dairy vessels in both cases. I could obtain no explanation of the
difference of procedure, nor of the omission of the invocation of Pirn
and Piri by the Teivali division. It is possible that this latter
ceremony has been borrowed, but if so, there is no obvious reason why
it should have been borrowed by one division, and not by the other.
In the ceremonies accompanying the return to ordinary life, it is
perhaps natural that the Melgars man should only take part in the
proceedings of his own division. The other chief difference in the
procedure of the two divisions is that the return takes place in two
stages among the Teivaliol, while the Tarthar woman goes directly from
the puzhars to the ordinary hut. I was told that the difference was
connected with the fact that the Tarthar women drank milk, whilst the
Teivali women did not, but I could not discover why this should lead to
a difference of procedure.
THE PURSÜTPIMI CEREMONY
About the seventh month of pregnancy a ceremony is performed, which is
called pursütpimi, “bow (and arrow) we touch.” This ceremony begins on
the evening before the day of the new moon. The pregnant woman goes
into a wood about a furlong from the village at which she is living.
She is accompanied by her husband, or if she has several, by the
husband who is to give the bow and arrow. The husband cuts a triangular
niche in a tree, [113] of which the Toda name is kers. The niche is
large enough to contain a lamp, and is made a few feet above the
ground, so that it is about on a level with the eyes of the woman when
she is sitting on the ground. Ghi is then put in an earthenware lamp,
which is lighted and placed in the niche. Some sort of arrangement is
made on the tree to provide a covering under which the woman is later
to sit, but I could not satisfy myself exactly how this is done.
Husband and wife then go to find the wood called puv, [114] and the
grass called nark. [115] A bow (purs) is made from the wood by
stripping off a piece of bark and stretching it across the bent stick
so as to form the string of the bow. [116] The grass is put in the
little artificial bow so as to resemble an arrow.
The husband and wife return to the tree with the bow and arrow, and the
relatives of the pair come to the spot. The father of the woman
promises a young female calf, the offspring of a given buffalo, which
he names, saying after the name pòl todein, or “calf I have given”;
thus, Kemars pòl todein would mean, “I have given a calf, the daughter
of Kemars.” [117] Then husband and wife salute certain people by bowing
before them and raising their feet to the forehead (kalmelpudithti).
The wife salutes in this way all her male relatives and those of her
husband older than herself—i.e., she salutes those whom she would
salute in this way under normal circumstances (see Chap. XXI). The
husband salutes all the male [118] relatives of his wife, irrespective
of their being older or younger than himself.
The wife then sits down beneath the tree in front of the lamp, and the
husband gives her the imitation bow and arrow. In doing so he says the
kwarzam of his village followed by the words “Teikirzi Tirsk,
pursvat!”—i.e., “To Teikirzi and Tirshti, hold the bow and arrow!” The
wife replies, “purs iveru?”—“What is the name of the bow and
arrow?”—and the husband then gives the name of the bow and arrow, which
is different for each clan. The question and answer are each time
repeated so that they are said three times. The formulæ repeated on
this occasion differ for each clan in the kwarzam of the village and in
the name of the bow. For the Kuudrol the latter was pursgârûv, so that
a Kuudr man would first say, “Atthkar Teikirzi Tirsk pursvat,” and in
answer to his wife’s question he would answer, “Pursgârûv”. The only
clan which does not say the kwarzam of the village is that of Nòdrs,
where only the names of the gods are mentioned.
I only obtained the special names of the bow from three clans—those of
Kuudr, Kars and Taradr. That of Kuudr has already been given; the name
of the Kars bow is pulkiûkhm and that of Taradr pursüdsk. When the
husband gives the bow and arrow to his wife, she raises it to her
forehead and then, holding it in her right hand, turns to gaze at lamp
in the tree. She looks for an hour or until the lamp goes out, and then
all present [119] go to the village for food, except the husband and
wife. The man makes a fireplace, lights a fire and cooks jaggery and
rice in a new pot, using only ghi, and not butter, to mix the rice, and
while he is doing this his wife ties up certain kinds of food in a
cloth and puts the bundle under the tree. This food includes rice,
ragi, barley, wheat, the grain (?) called kirsi (see p. 266), some
jaggery and salt. Some pieces of honeycomb are also placed on leaves,
which are then thrown away. When the food cooked by the man is ready
both husband and wife eat together.
Later the relatives return from the village and all pass the night in
the wood, the relatives keeping at some distance from the married pair.
At daybreak on the following day, the day of the new moon, all return
to the village and feast, food being given to all visitors.
Several of those who have described this ceremony have included in the
description an account of “tying the tali.” [120] So far as I could
ascertain nothing of the kind is done. I inquired into the point many
times and all agreed that it formed no part of the Toda ceremony and
that its equivalent was the giving of the bow and arrow. More than one
man spoke of the pursütpimi ceremony as “tying the tali,” but the
latter expression is merely the equivalent of “marriage ceremony,” and
the very man who used this expression denied vehemently that tying the
tali or anything else round the neck of the woman formed any part of
the Toda ceremony.
It seemed, however, that after pursütpimi the woman is allowed to
resume her ornaments, which she has been prohibited from wearing up to
this time, and it is possible that this resumption of her ornaments may
have been mistaken for “tying the tali.” It seemed clear, however, that
the ornaments were not put on by the husband, nor did the resumption of
the ornaments partake in any way of a ceremonial character.
As I hoped to have a chance of witnessing this ceremony during my
visit, I did not thresh out the details of pursütpimi as thoroughly as
those of most other ceremonies and my account is not as complete as I
could wish.
The ceremony of pursütpimi is of the greatest importance from the
social point of view and, as we shall see later, the fatherhood of the
child depends entirely upon it. The man who gives the bow and arrow is
the father of the child for all social purposes, and is regarded as
such even if he has had nothing to do with the woman before the
ceremony.
The ceremony must always be performed during the first pregnancy of a
woman and it takes place in any succeeding pregnancy only when it is
desired for any reason to alter the fatherhood of the children. One of
the most serious scandals in Toda society is the birth of a child when
the mother has not been through this ceremony.
Both the pregnancy ceremonies are performed at the first funeral of an
unmarried or barren woman. In the case of an unmarried girl the bow and
arrow are given at the pursütpimi ceremony by a matchuni of the
deceased—i.e., by a relative whom the deceased girl might herself have
married. The hand-burning of the urvatpimi ceremony is usually
performed by a woman of the same clan as the deceased.
Since the ceremonies are only performed at the first pregnancy, or when
it is desired to change the fatherhood of a child, it seems clear that
they closely resemble marriage ceremonies. They would seem to be either
marriage ceremonies which have been postponed till shortly before the
birth of the first child, [121] or, what is more probable, pregnancy
ceremonies resembling those customary in India, which have acquired
social significance and have come to resemble marriage ceremonies. But
the numerous ceremonies which are performed during pregnancy by the
Hindus take place during every pregnancy and are, therefore, sharply
differentiated from the Toda rites.
CHILDBIRTH
When the woman returns from the seclusion-hut after the urvatpimi
ceremony she lives in her usual home with the rest of the family and
does her usual work, and she is delivered there. It seemed that any one
might be present, and that there was no special ceremony connected with
delivery.
During delivery, the woman kneels with her head resting on the breast
of a man, usually her husband, who clasps his hands behind her neck.
She is tended by a woman, usually by one noted for skill in these
matters. If there is much delay, all men and women present lay their
hands on the head of the woman and say:
“Swâmi maz vûrmâ; swâmi pûdikan termâ.”
If this is not efficacious a man brings water in a vessel and prays,
stirring the water with a piece of grass of the kind called kakar. When
the prayer is finished, the man sprinkles the water over the woman.
The cord (pekû) is cut with a knife, being held down with a stick while
it is being cut.
The afterbirth is called naj or pekûkûdri. If there is delay in its
delivery, a medicine called najmad is given which is procured from the
Badagas. The afterbirth is buried on the day on which the woman goes to
the seclusion-hut, a few days after delivery. If the child is
still-born its body is buried at the same time.
A caul is named kwadri (umbrella), but no importance is attached to it,
nor is it kept.
SECLUSION AFTER CHILDBIRTH
Two or three days after childbirth the mother and child go to the
seclusion-hut, or puzhars, the same structure being used as after the
hand-burning ceremony. Various rites are performed, both when going to
and leaving the seclusion-hut, and these have many points in common
with those which take place before and after the hand-burning. As in
that case, the procedure for the Tartharol differs considerably from
that of the Teivaliol.
The general name for the ceremony of going to the puzhars is pòlk pòtha
nir utpimi—“to the calf back (or hind quarters) water we pour,” from
one of the chief features of the proceedings. The ceremony takes place
either in the early morning or in the evening.
The woman who is to be secluded, whether she be Tarthar or Teivali,
rubs ashes on her head and face (pûthi adipimi, ashes we rub), and
comes out of the ordinary hut in which she has been living since the
delivery. She holds over her head a branch of the ‘Nilgiri holly,’
[122] which has spreading leaves so that it resembles an umbrella; this
leafy umbrella is called tòrikwadr, and the act is called tòrikwadr
patipimi, “we hold the umbrella.” The head is also covered with the
putkuli. From the moment she leaves the hut the woman is very careful
to keep her face turned away from the sun, not on account of its
noxious influence, but in order to avoid the star or other body called
Keirt, which is supposed to be near the sun. The child is carried in
front of the mother by another woman, who also holds a tòrikwadr to
shelter the infant from the evil influence of Keirt. Among the
Tartharol a small artificial dairy is made, exactly as in the urvatpimi
ceremony, and four reeds are cut to represent dairy vessels. As the
woman walks towards the place where the pülpali has been erected,
another woman lays on the ground before her a leaf of kakud on which
she puts some threads taken from a madtuni—i.e., the garment worn by
the wursol. These threads are called tunikar, [123] and they are taken
up by the mother and put in the string round her waist on the right
side. [124] Water is then poured by the husband from the imitation
patatpun over the hind quarters (pòtha) of a calf, so that it falls
into the ertatpun just as in the urvatpimi ceremony. Before the woman
drinks this water, three drops of it are put into the mouth of the
child and a four-anna piece (panm) into its hand. The mother then
drinks three times and bows down at the threshold of the imitation
dairy, after which she goes into the seclusion-hut. During the whole of
the proceedings she is careful not to turn her face towards the sun.
Among the Teivaliol there is no imitation dairy and, as in the
urvatpimi ceremony, only two reeds are used as ertatpun. A fire is made
on an improvised fireplace of three stones, and lighted by means of
thatch brought from the hut, [125] and food is put on a fragment of an
earthenware vessel and placed over the fire.
After the woman has drunk of the water which has been poured over the
back of the calf, she breaks the earthenware fragment over the fire,
saying, Namavku, “to Namav,” this rite being called Namavtur
kwudrtpimi, “to Namav we give.” The woman then goes to the
seclusion-hut, being assisted by her husband, who now acquires the
impurity which is called ichchil, and any one else who touches the
woman after this ceremony also becomes ichchil.
I saw the ceremony of going to the puzhars on two occasions, the woman
each time belonging to the Teivaliol. The most striking feature of each
occasion was the obvious and intense dread of Keirt. In one case, soon
after leaving the hut, the woman, Sintagars, called out for another
umbrella as she feared that the tòrikwadr was not sufficient to shelter
her from Keirt, and during the rest of the proceedings she held over
herself both the leafy umbrella and one of the ordinary kind.
I was told that all the chief incidents of the ceremony—the rubbing on
of ashes, the holding of the leaf umbrella, the pouring of water over
the calf and the giving to Namav—were all designed to avert the evil
influence of Keirt, which they call Keirtpudrivuti (see p. 269).
After the woman has gone to the seclusion-hut she is visited by
relatives and friends, who stand at a distance, just as they did after
the hand-burning ceremony. They bring rice with them as a present and
call out
Marsvut sivn mikh mokh (or kugh) udpatia?
Confined life remaining son (or daughter) had you?
“Have you had a son (or daughter) and are yet alive?” The visitors then
go to the huts of the village and are entertained.
The woman and child stay in the seclusion-hut, accompanied by the
husband and by a woman who is usually the assistant at the birth. If
the child is not the first, the mother remains in seclusion till a few
days before the next new moon, this kind of seclusion being called
nâtersper. If the child is the first-born, the stay in the
seclusion-hut is longer and is called kadrthersper. In this case the
woman stays in the hut till a month has elapsed after the new moon
following the birth. Thus Sintagars went into seclusion on Sunday,
October 19th, and came out on Thursday, November 27th, 1902, exactly
four weeks after the new moon of October 31st.
The proceedings on leaving the seclusion-hut are like those which take
place after the seclusion following the urvatpimi ceremony, but with a
few additional rites.
Among the Tartharol there is only one ceremony, called marthk maj
atpimi, in which a buffalo is milked on the morning of the day by a
Melgars man. Before the woman drinks the milk in the evening, another
woman lays threads of tuni on leaves of kakud, and puts them on the
ground before the mother, who puts them in the right side of her
waist-string as when going to the seclusion-hut. After returning to the
hut the woman drinks Melgars buttermilk and eats food cooked in Melgars
buttermilk in exactly the same way as after the hand-burning ceremony.
Among the Teivaliol the return to ordinary life takes place in two
stages, as after the hand-burning ceremony. The woman first goes to the
aliars, or to the hinder part of the merkalars, after drinking water,
which has been supposed to be turned into milk by pretended milking
from a pregnant buffalo. I saw this ceremony on one occasion (Fig. 47)
when the pretended milking was done by a small boy, Pongudr (52), and
the supposed milk was poured into the leaves and given to the mother by
a woman who had not been present in the seclusion-hut with her. The
person who pretends to milk the pregnant buffalo becomes ichchil by
doing so, and the reason why a young boy was chosen for this office was
that the adult members of the family might escape the disabilities
attendant on this condition. On this occasion especial care was taken
that the mother should sit facing the sun during the ceremony. She at
first sat down with her face turned away from the sun, and she was made
to turn round, so that she directly faced it. This was the exact
opposite of the procedure followed when going to the seclusion-hut.
After being in the aliars or merkalars for a week there follows the
ceremony of marthk maj atpimi, which is the same as that after the
urvatpimi ceremony, with the addition that a representation of a hut is
made with five or six sticks of the kind called kwadrikurs. A boy goes
within the imitation hut with a brass vessel (achok), and coming out
gives this to the woman, who bows down (nersatiti) with her child at
the threshold of the imitation hut. She then takes butter and
buttermilk which have been placed by the palikartmokh on fire-brands
(see p. 318). After taking the mixture the woman goes to the
dwelling-hut and resumes her ordinary duties.
It is the custom for everyone present on this occasion to give the
child a four-anna piece (panm), and near relatives may often give more.
A small loincloth (tadrp) provided with a pocket called terigs is put
round the child, and into this pocket the money is put, this action
receiving the name of terigs katpimi, or “we tie the terigs.” I did not
hear of this pocket in any other ceremonies, and, so far as I know, it
is only made in the tadrp used on this occasion, or if a constant
feature of the tadrp, it has no other ceremonial use. So far as I am
aware, the representation of a house is only used by the Teivaliol,
while the imitation dairy made on going to the seclusion-hut after
hand-burning and childbirth is only made by the Tartharol.
It is tempting to suppose that the water poured in these ceremonies
from an imitation dairy vessel over the back of a calf is regarded as
milk, and if this is so, the drinking of milk, real or fictitious,
would be the essential feature of all these ceremonies. Further, the
conjecture is natural that the drinking is designed to promote the
formation and flow of milk in the woman. It is perhaps in favour of
this that in the ceremony after childbirth, when this motive would be
especially important, the water is poured over the hind-quarters of the
calf and not over the middle of its back, as in the earlier ceremony.
But if the promotion of lactation is the leading motive of the
ceremonies, it is difficult to see why a buffalo in full milk should
not have been chosen instead of a two-year-old calf.
It is possible that there is some reason why an adult buffalo should
not be used on such an occasion, and that a calf is used as a
substitute, and, on the whole, the view that some features of the
ceremonies had their origin in the motive suggested is the most
probable one; but this can only be conjecture, for it is, I think,
quite clear that the ceremonies have now become purely ritual, and are
performed with no other reason than that they are prescribed by custom.
The use of an artificial dairy among the Tartharol, however, has almost
certainly a deeper meaning. It is a striking fact that a pregnant woman
and one soon after childbirth should have relations with a dairy, even
if only artificial, when in ordinary life they have nothing to do with
it or its ceremonial. Still more remarkable is the fact that a Tarthar
woman after childbirth puts round her waist threads from the garment
worn only by dairymen, a garment which has a distinctly sacred
character. If this were done only in the case of a male child, it might
be supposed that the idea is one of initiation into the life connected
with the dairy, but the artificial dairy after the hand-burning
ceremony is made when the sex of the child is unknown, and, so far as
my information goes, the use of the dairy and the threads from the tuni
occurs after the birth of either a boy or girl. It is possible that the
ceremonial observances are relics of a time when women had more to do
with the dairy and its ritual than they have at present; or it may be
that contact with the sacred objects, real or fictitious, is held to
neutralise in some way the dangerous nature of pregnant and parturient
women.
There is some reason to believe that the material of which the tuni is
made is the same as that of the ancient clothing of the Todas, the
cloth called än. As we shall see later, the än is still used in the
funeral ceremonies, and it is possible that the threads of tuni are
used in these ceremonies as relics of the ancient clothing of the
Todas, and that they are obtained from the madtuni because it is the
most convenient way of obtaining the ancient material. If this had been
the motive, however, I think the word än would almost certainly have
been used, as it still is in the funeral ceremonies. Nevertheless, this
remains as a possible alternative explanation of the use of a sacred
dairy garment by a woman after childbirth.
A further mysterious feature of these ceremonies is that the two rites
which seem to bring women into special relation with the dairy are
limited to the Tartharol. If these rites be regarded as relics of a
time when women had more to do with dairy operations than at present,
the possibility follows that this former function of women was limited
to one division of the Todas.
I could obtain no explanation of the meaning of the word pülpali, used
for the imitation dairy made in the Tarthar ceremonies. Püli means
tamarind, and in a ceremony of the Nairs of Malabar called pulikati,
performed in the ninth month of pregnancy, the woman drinks tamarind
juice. [126] It is possible that the two ceremonies have a common
origin, the only indication of which in the Toda ceremony lingers in
the name of ‘tamarind dairy.’ It is, however, possible that the dairy
is so called because it is made on the outskirts of the village, though
I do not know definitely that the word pül would be used for outskirts
in this special sense.
UNCOVERING THE CHILD’S FACE
While in the seclusion-hut with its mother and for some time after, the
child has its face covered, and no one except the mother is allowed to
see it. At the end of the third month [127] the face of the child is
uncovered, and this ceremony is called mokh mûtâr terithti, “child
outside he opens,” or, more shortly, mûtâr terthpimi. If the child is a
boy, he is taken by his father early in the morning to the front of the
dairy, and both father and child bow down at the threshold of the dairy
(pavnersatiti), the child being put down by his father so that his
forehead touches the threshold. The child is then taken to the place
where the buffaloes are standing, and there the face is uncovered, the
child being held so that he looks towards the sun when the covering is
removed.
If the child is a girl, she is taken by her mother to the
majvatvaiidrn, the place where the women go to receive buttermilk from
the dairyman, and there the mother uncovers the child’s face.
I was not told that the covering of the face is designed to protect the
child from the influence of the evil eye, but this is the probable
motive. The object of the ceremony is probably to minimise the danger
incurred when the covering is removed by putting the child, if a boy,
into relation with the three sacred objects, the dairy, the herd of
buffaloes, and the sun. If a girl, the child is taken to the spot
nearest to the dairy where women are allowed to go.
NAMING THE CHILD
The child is named after its face has been uncovered. The ceremony is
called per vasthpimi, “name we give,” and it may take place immediately
after the ceremony of uncovering the face, or a few days later. In the
former case, the child, if a boy, is taken by his father from the place
where the buffaloes are standing to the front of the house, and there
the father shaves the middle part of the head of the child. Then the
boy’s maternal uncle (mun) gives the name, and promises a calf, saying,
pòl ud todein, “calf one I have given,” followed by the name of the
child, [128] and raises each foot to the head of the boy and touches
his forehead, the salutation on this occasion being called kalkartiti.
Three grains of barley are put into the mouth of the boy and three into
his back-hair, and then the grains are thrown away.
There was some doubt as to the relative by whom a girl is named. It
seemed clear that the name is given by a woman, and I was told
definitely by some that it is given by the father’s sister (mumi) of
the child. The wife of the mun would also be the mumi of the child, and
it is possible that this relative may give the name. No calf is given
to a girl, this being only done when boys are named.
After the naming, the parents of the child may give a feast if they are
rich, but this seems to be now exceptional. After receiving its name,
the child is given food for the first time, having been suckled up to
this day, but my notes do not make it clear whether the child is weaned
at this time or continues to be suckled.
When the child is shaved, a bone of a bird called mâtpül and a stone
procured from the bazaar called kansutimani are put round its wrist.
The bone is cut into small pieces and strung alternately with pieces of
the stone so as to form a kind of bangle. It was said that the child
would become ill if this charm were not used, and the name of the stone
(kan = eye) shows that it is intended to avert the evil eye.
THE TERSAMPTPIMI CEREMONY
This is a ceremony closely connected with the naming of a child, but
only performed after the second funeral (marvainolkedr) of a Tarthar
man. It seemed probable that at one time the name was actually given
during the tersamptpimi ceremony, but as the marvainolkedr of Tartharol
now occur only at considerable intervals, it has become the custom to
bestow the name in connexion with the ceremony of uncovering the face.
The ceremony of tersamptpimi is performed on the day after the funeral,
this day being called karvnol, and as in the ceremony of naming, the
chief part is taken by the child’s maternal uncle. The uncle comes to
the village where the child is living, bringing a stake of wood of the
wild rose [129] called kadakmän. He splits the piece of wood into two
pieces, each of which is called ketkark, and putting the hair of the
child between the two ketkark, he cuts off a lock. If the child is of
the Tarthar division, the hair is cut with a piece of sharpened iron
called kanab, [130] while the hair of a Teivali child is cut with an
ordinary knife (turi), but both kanab and turi on this occasion receive
the special name of tersampki. After cutting the lock of hair, the
uncle puts it on one side together with the ketkark and the tersampki,
and if the boy has not already been named, the name is now given by the
uncle and a calf promised.
Before this ceremony, the bangle of bone and stone, put round the wrist
of the child when it was shaved, is taken off and replaced by a piece
of creeper called peival. [131] After the ceremony the peival is
removed.
There was some doubt as to what was done with the lock of hair. Mr.
Natesa Sastri states [132] that the hair is carefully preserved, but my
informants did not confirm this, and it seemed as if they did not even
adopt the precaution of hiding the hair, which is generally practised
(see p. 268).
THE EAR-PIERCING CEREMONY
The ceremony of piercing the ears is called kevi kûtiti, and may be
done at any time from infancy up to even twenty years of age. The
ceremony is often delayed until it can be performed for several members
of a family at the same time in order to avoid the considerable expense
connected with it. The ceremony must be done on a Sunday or Wednesday,
and there must be no kedr in the clan, i.e., it must not be performed
if the funeral ceremonies of a member of the clan are still unfinished.
On the day appointed for the ceremony many guests assemble at the
village, and the boys whose ears are to be pierced are dressed in their
best clothing. The piercing is performed by two men, one for each ear.
One is the mother’s brother (mun) of the boy, while the other is a man
of the division to which the boy does not belong—a Teivali man if the
boy is one of the Tartharol and vice versa.
The piercing is done with a piece of a small ring, so fine that it is
like a needle. The ring used in this way may be of silver or gold, the
latter only being used by the richer members of the community.
Each boy then salutes (kalmelpudithti) all those present older than
himself, both male and female. Each man as he raises his foot to the
head of the boy says:—
Tânenmâ, târmâmâ, pathk mâ, peda mâ,
May it be well, may it be well, may he prosper, may he prosper,
îr anûr òl mâ, âr mokh pai mâ.
buffaloes 100 may he rule, six sons may he have.
Each man also gives four annas to the boy and each chief Toda may give
one rupee.
The salutation of their elders seems to be conditional on this gift of
money. One of the most recent cases in which the ceremony has been
performed was when the ears of six of the sons of Tikievan of Kuudr and
his brothers (56) were pierced. On this occasion Tikievan refused to
take any money from those present, and the boys only saluted those men
who had celebrated the occasion by giving buffaloes to their father.
As the kalmelpudithti salutation was omitted, the words given above as
usually said by each person were on this occasion said collectively by
all present while the six boys bowed down their heads to the ground.
The ears of these boys were pierced by Teikudr (63), the first cousin
of Sulnir, the mother of the boys, but regarded according to the Toda
system as elder brother of the mother.
The representative of the Tartharol who pierced the other ear was
Pidrvan (9), probably chosen because he was one of the oldest and most
influential of the Todas who lived at Pakhalkudr, not far from Peivòrs,
the home of the boys.
After the ceremony all those present receive two balls of the food
called ashkkartpimi, even a young child receiving his two balls of
food. Each person then makes a hole in his food, into which ghi is
poured, and all eat, washing their hands afterwards in water brought
from the ars nipa.
Only the ears of boys are pierced, and a boy may not enter upon the
more sacred offices of the dairy till this ceremony has been performed.
Among the Teivaliol, he cannot become palol, wursol, or kaltmokh, but
he may be palikartmokh. Among the Tartharol, a boy cannot become
palikartmokh at any kind of dairy till the ear-piercing ceremony has
taken place.
In the case of the ceremony for the sons of Tikievan I inquired into
the actual expenses of the day. These were as follows:—
grain 17 rupees
jaggery 10 ,,
rice 7 ,,
10½ kudi of ghi 21 ,,
tobacco and salt 2 ,,
amounting to 57 rupees.
On the other hand, six buffaloes were given to Tikievan; two by the
Badaga Monegar of Tuneri; one each from Perner and Tebner (68), whose
daughter Sinmokh had married Piliagar, one of the boys. The other two
buffaloes were given by Teikudr, the uncle of the boys who had taken
part in the ear-piercing.
Several of these buffaloes were either given in return for buffaloes
which Tikievan had previously given, or Tikievan would be expected to
give buffaloes in return when any suitable occasion arose in the
families of the donors.
CHAPTER XV
FUNERAL CEREMONIES
The funeral ceremonies of a Toda may be prolonged over many months.
Soon after death the body is burnt and the general name for the
ceremony on this occasion is etvainolkedr, the first day funeral
(literally, “first which day funeral”). After an interval which may
vary greatly in length, a second ceremony is performed connected with
certain relics of the deceased which have been preserved from the first
occasion. The rites on this occasion are more elaborate than at the
etvainolkedr. The Toda name for this second funeral ceremony is
marvainolkedr, the second day funeral, or “again which day funeral.”
The final scene, in which the relics are burnt and the ashes buried,
takes place before daybreak on the morning following the marvainolkedr,
and this part of the ceremony is known as azaramkedr, the name being
derived from the azaram, or circle of stones within which the final
cremation takes place.
The funeral ceremonies are open to all and visitors are often invited
by the Todas. In consequence, the funeral rites are better known, and
have been more frequently described than any other features of Toda
ceremonial. Like nearly every institution of the Todas, however, they
have become known to Europeans under their Badaga names. The first
funeral is called by the Badagas hase kedu, the fresh or green funeral,
and the term ‘green funeral’ has not only become the generally
recognised name among the European inhabitants of the Nilgiri Hills,
but has been widely adopted in anthropological literature. The second
funeral is called by the Badagas bara kedu, the ‘dry funeral,’ and this
term also has been generally adopted. I never heard these terms used by
the Todas themselves, who always spoke of the etvainolkedr and the
marvainolkedr, though it seemed that the first funeral might sometimes
be called karchokedr, which probably means fresh or green funeral.
The funeral ceremonies have undergone some modification in recent times
owing to the intervention of the Government. Formerly it was the custom
to slaughter many buffaloes at every funeral. This impoverished the
people and was prohibited by the Government about forty years ago, and
since that time the number of buffaloes killed at each ceremony has
been limited to two for each person. This has had most influence on the
second funeral ceremonies, which, largely owing to this prohibition,
are now much less elaborate and prolonged than in former times.
The funeral ceremonies are held at certain appointed places called
kertnòdr, different for each clan. Sometimes these places are at, or
close to, villages where the people are now living; sometimes they are
at places which were formerly inhabited; while in other cases, again,
there is no evidence that the funeral places have ever been inhabited.
In every case, whether inhabited or not, the place where a funeral is
held is called a mad, the same name as is used for a village.
Each clan has at least two funeral places, one for males and the other
for females, and in several cases a clan has more than one funeral
place for each sex. Some clans have different places for the two
funeral ceremonies, and the Piedrol, who have one outlying branch of
their clan at Kavidi in the Wainad, have special funeral places for the
first funeral of members of this branch, the second funeral, or
marvainolkedr, being held at the chief funeral place of the clan.
Others, again, have a special place for boys who have not passed
through the ear-piercing ceremony.
In general, a funeral hut (see Fig. 48) is specially built for the
reception of the dead body, this hut being usually erected within a
stone circle found at the funeral place. At the funeral of a male, this
hut is called kertnòdrpali or neilpali. It is left standing after the
funeral and may be used on a second occasion if it has not fallen into
too great disorder.
Five clans of the Tartharol possess special dairies, each with three
rooms which are used as funeral huts. These buildings are habitually or
occasionally used as dairies; but when a man of the clan dies his body
is laid in the outermost of the three rooms, either on the day of the
funeral or for two or three days before it. While a dead body is lying
in the dairy, women are allowed to enter the outermost room just as
they may go into any other funeral hut, but they may not pass beyond.
Men are allowed to enter the middle room, but the innermost room is
only entered by the dairyman, who carries on his dairy work as usual.
The five villages at which these three-roomed dairies now exist are
Nòdrs, Taradrkirsi (Kars), Keradr, Tim (Pan), and Akirsikòdri (Nidrsi).
At Taradr a temporary funeral hut with three rooms is constructed
within a circle of stones near the village. In the outermost room of
this hut the corpse is placed, and women may only enter this room,
while men may enter both outer and middle rooms as in the three-roomed
dairies. In the innermost room the palikartmokh of the village places a
vessel of the kind called mu, and he only is allowed to enter this
room.
This temporary building is almost certainly the representative of a
three-roomed dairy which at one time existed at this village; and it is
probable that at other male Tarthar funeral places the funeral hut
should be made with three rooms, though at present this is not done.
In every case the funeral hut which receives the body of a man is
called pali, or dairy, and it is probable that at one time among the
Tartharol it was the universal custom to place the body of a man in a
dairy before the last rites. It is possible that the stone circle
within which the funeral hut is built is the representative of the wall
surrounding a dairy which formerly existed on the spot. Among the
Teivaliol the funeral hut is also called pali, but there is no instance
among them of an actual dairy being used to receive the dead.
At the funeral place of women a hut is specially built for the
reception of the body, but it is always burnt down after each funeral.
This hut is called ars, or house, and has a different name for each
ceremony, being called nersars for the first funeral, and kursars for
the second. Each kind of hut is constructed within a circle of stones,
and the name seems to indicate that at one time the body of a woman was
placed in the house of the village. Here again the stone circle may
possibly be the representative of an actual house which once existed at
the funeral place.
If, for any reason, the funeral of a person is not being held at the
proper place, the funeral hut is not constructed within the circle of
stones; thus at the funeral of a girl, Sinerani (see p. 392), the hut
was placed by the side of the stone circle because her funeral was
being held at the kertnòdr of her father and not at that of her
husband.
At every funeral place there should be a second circle of stones
forming a tu, or buffalo-pen. These pens are now rarely, if ever, used,
and are a relic of the time when the ceremonies of the marvainolkedr
were prolonged over two days, the buffaloes being caught and penned on
the first day, and killed on the second. A third ring of stones is the
azaram, at the opening of which the ashes are buried at the final scene
of the funeral rites.
There are specially appointed days for the funeral ceremonies. These
days differ to some extent for different clans and for the two sexes.
Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday are the most general days for the
funerals of males, only two clans having Saturday as a funeral day for
men. For females Thursday and Saturday are most frequently chosen, two
clans only holding the funerals of women on Tuesdays. In no case could
I find that funerals are performed on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday.
These days are, on the other hand, the most usual days set apart as
madnol or palinol, [133] and villages which have their madnol or
palinol on Sunday or Tuesday do not appear to have their funerals on
these days. The general rule is that a funeral must not take place on a
madnol or palinol. In several cases I was told that if the mani, or
sacred bell, were used, the funeral must be on one day of the week;
thus for the Karsol, it must take place on Sunday; for the Kwòdrdoni
people, on Tuesday. These obligatory days of the funeral ceremonies
often involve the necessity of keeping the corpse for several days.
I did not make special inquiries into ceremonies of the deathbed, but
Marshall states (p. 171) that a man who is not expected to recover is
dressed in the ornaments and jewellery of his house, which he will wear
till he dies or recovers; and Marshall mentions an instance of a man
who had revived from what was thought to be his deathbed who paraded
about, wearing the finery with which he had been bedecked. In this
case, it was said that he would be permitted to carry the ornaments
till his death. Marshall also states that the relatives give the dying
man milk to drink when on the point of death.
After death the body should be wrapped in a dark cloth called än, which
is of the same material as the tuni worn by the palol and other
dairymen, and, like the tuni, is procured from the Badagas of Jakaneri.
It is doubtful, however, whether this custom of enwrapping the body in
the än is now kept up with any regularity. Outside the än should be an
ornamented mantle (pukuruputkuli) and then a mantle of the ordinary
kind.
The body of a woman is kept in the hut in which she has died till the
day of the funeral, and, with special exceptions, this is also done
with the bodies of men.
When a man dies at the village of Nòdrs, his body is taken into the
three roomed tarvali and placed on the right-hand bed (meitün) of the
outermost room. While the body is lying here, the building is still
used as a dairy, but women are allowed to enter the outermost room
except when the palikartmokh is actually engaged in the business of the
dairy. It is only when it is being used as a funeral hut that women are
ever allowed to enter a dairy, and then they may only sit on the
left-hand bed—the kitün.
On the day appointed for the elvainolkedr, the body is carried to the
funeral place. In some cases certain ceremonies are performed at the
village at which the death has taken place; thus, at Kars, the body of
a man is first laid in front of the kudrpali and then on one of the two
eminences called imudrikars (see Fig. 21), which stand near the dairy,
and from this it is taken to the other imudrikars, and after lying here
for a while it is borne to the special funeral village of Taradrkirsi.
At Kuzhu, another village of the Karsol, the body is taken from the hut
and laid by the side of the stone called menkars; then it is taken to a
stone called imudrikars in front of the kudrpali, and laid with the
head at the stone and the feet towards the dairy. A buffalo of the
ordinary kind (putiir) is then milked; the milk is put into a vessel
and from this poured into a leaf cup of kakud leaves, and from this cup
milk is poured three times into the mouth of the dead man.
In other villages at which there is no imudrikars, the body is laid in
front of the dairy and fed with milk in the same way.
The body is borne from the village to the funeral place on a wooden
bier, called mänpedrkudr (wood bier). It is taken by a specially
appointed route, and in some cases certain ceremonies are performed by
the way. Thus, when the body of a man is taken from Kars to
Taradrkirsi, earth is thrown at two places. We shall see shortly that
one of the most important features of the funeral of a man is that
earth is dug at the entrance of a buffalo pen at the funeral place and
thrown on the corpse and into the pen. On the way to Taradrkirsi this
is also done at two places, which are probably the situations of the
old buffalo pens of villages which have now disappeared. I did not hear
of any similar practices for any other clan, but Kars is probably not
exceptional in this respect.
Before the body arrives at the funeral place the people will have begun
to assemble, and when the funeral procession reaches its destination
all those present go one by one to the corpse, bow down by the side of
the bier, and touch the body with their foreheads. Those older than the
deceased and those related in certain ways (see Chap. XXI) bow down at
the head of the corpse. Those younger and those related in certain
other ways bow down at the foot. When all those present have saluted,
the body is placed in the funeral hut, or in the dairy if the funeral
is being held at one of the places where funeral dairies still exist,
and late-comers enter the hut or dairy to perform their salutations. As
soon as the body is placed in the hut or dairy, the female relatives
and friends of the dead person collect round the hut and lament
together in the characteristic Toda manner, arranging themselves in
pairs and pressing their foreheads together while they wail and weep
(Fig. 48).
While this is going on the men are busied in making preparations for
the cremation. A place is cleared in a wood near the funeral place—the
methkudi—and here a pyre is built of wood, some of which has been
brought by the funeral party, while the rest is found near the burning
ground. The wood used on this occasion must be of the kind called kers
[134] and the pyre is built of an oblong shape, rising about three feet
above the ground.
The first of the funeral ceremonies is different for the two sexes. At
the funeral of a male the ceremony of puzhutpimi, “earth we throw,” or
kedrpuzhutpimi, “funeral earth we throw,” is performed, while the
corresponding ceremony for a woman is to place certain leaves in the
armlet on the right arm of the corpse.
THE PUZHUTPIMI CEREMONY
In the puzhutpimi ceremony a man digs up a little earth in front of the
entrance to the buffalo pen. The digger must belong to the Tartharol,
if the dead man is one of the Teivaliol, and vice versâ; thus, at the
funeral of Pursevan (53) [135] of Kuudr, the earth was dug by Kedjeri
(6) of Nòdrs. In this case the Tartharol were told to send someone to
dig, and they selected Kedjeri.
At the funeral of a Tarthar man the earth is first thrown by the
wursol, who must be, on this occasion, one of the Teivaliol. A Melgars
wursol may not perform this office. After the wursol has thrown earth,
it is thrown by certain relatives of the deceased who are present. At a
Teivali funeral only the relatives perform this ceremony, no one
corresponding to the wursol taking part.
Before the people begin to throw earth, one of the dead man’s division
asks “Puzhutkina?”—“Shall I throw earth?” and a man of the other
division replies, “Puzhut!”—“Throw earth!” At the funeral of Pursevan a
Teivali man asked the Tartharol in this way, and the Tartharol
responded. At this funeral earth was thrown by the following: Punatvan
(53), a younger brother of the dead man; Kuriolv and Piliar (52),
Pöteners (54); Targners, Pungusivan and Tevò, the sons of the dead man,
and Pòl, the son of Punatvan. In this case all who threw earth were not
only Kuudrol—i.e., of the same clan as the dead man—but were also of
the same family, so that their relation to one another can be traced in
the genealogies. Kuriolv, Piliar and Pöteners would all have called
Pursevan “aia,” or father, and were first cousins once removed
according to our system of kinship. I do not know whether the
earth-throwing is usually limited to the nearer relatives in the same
clan. The family to which Pursevan belonged was unusually numerous, and
it is probable that in most cases other families of the clan are called
upon to take a part.
At a funeral seen by Mr. Walhouse [136] the earth was thrown into a
circle made of rough stones laid upon the grass with an opening on one
side, and Mr. Thurston [137] records a similar case in which the earth
was thrown into a circle of stones about a yard and a half in diameter,
which had been constructed for the occasion. This is probably done when
the funeral is held at a place where there is no tu, and it is possible
that these funerals were not being held at regular funeral places of
the clan, and that the circles of stones were intended to represent
buffalo pens. At the funeral seen by Mr. Walhouse the ‘priest’ handed a
bag to the nearest relatives, who tied it to the stick with which they
turned up the earth.
Each man, as he throws, kneels down, facing the opening of the pen, and
then bows down so that he touches the earth with his forehead, many
saying “Swami” as they do this. Three handfuls of earth are thrown into
the pen, and then three handfuls are thrown backwards on the corpse,
the man standing up as soon as he has done this. Each man covers his
head with his cloak before he throws, as shown in Figs. 49 and 50.
[138] Fig. 50 shows the special action employed in throwing backwards,
the hand being turned inward.
The earth-throwing ceremony is one of several funeral rites, in which
men of one division take part in funerals belonging to the other
division. Thus, at a Tarthar funeral the earth is dug by one of the
Teivaliol; the Tartharol then ask for permission to throw the earth,
and the permission (or order) is given by the Teivaliol—i.e., those who
have dug the earth have to give the word that the earth may be thrown.
THE TIVERI TÛR CEREMONY
At the funeral of a woman no earth is thrown, but a ceremony is
performed which is said to correspond to it. A woman goes in search of
the leaves of the tiveri plant, [139] the leaves being called tiveri
tûr. The woman who plucks the leaves must be the motvilth
(daughter-in-law) of the dead woman, but if it is a child who is dead
the leaves are plucked by the mother-in-law or potential mother-in-law.
If a dead woman has no daughter-in-law, it was said that her daughter
might pluck the leaves, but at the funeral of Kiuneimi (3), a childless
woman, the leaves were sought and plucked by Naburveli, the wife of
Mushkers (28), who would have called the husband of Kiuneimi “brother,”
being of the same family and generation, although only his second
cousin according to our system of kinship. In this case, therefore, the
leaves were plucked by a sister-in-law, or, more strictly, by the wife
of the ‘brother’ of the dead woman’s husband. In this case both
Kiuneimi and Naburveli were daughters of Nòdrs men, but this was
probably only a coincidence.
At the funeral of Kiuneimi, Naburveli was accompanied by a man and by
another woman, but it was quite clear that they would on no account be
allowed to touch the leaves, which must be plucked by the
daughter-in-law or other relative who is performing the ceremony. When
found, the tiveri leaves are put by the woman in the armlet on the
right arm of the dead woman. Then the men present say to the woman:—
“Parthûl ütchka, tiveri tûr parch pudthka?”
In the armlet is it put, tiveri leaves plucking have you come?
and the woman replies:—
“Tiveri tûr parch pudthpimi, parthûl ûtchpimi,
Tiveri leaves plucking we have come, in the armlet we have put,
îr patz!”
the buffalo catch!
The woman thus announces that this ceremony has been completed, and
that they may proceed to the next event of the funeral rites, that of
catching the buffalo.
The tiveri tûr ceremony of a woman’s funeral was said to correspond to
the earth-throwing ceremony of a man’s funeral, but this correspondence
may only mean that each is the first of the actual funeral ceremonies.
Since, however, a woman belongs to the clan of her husband, the leaves
are always put into the armlet by a woman of the same clan as the
deceased. In this respect the ceremony resembles that of
earth-throwing, but my informants laid stress on the fact that the
ceremony should be performed by a motvilth or other relative-in-law,
and no reference was made to the fact that they would be of the same
clan. This makes it probable that there is no real correspondence
between the two ceremonies.
THE SLAUGHTER OF THE BUFFALOES.
The next stage in the proceedings is the catching and killing of the
buffalo or buffaloes. At the present time the Todas are only permitted
by the Government to kill two of these animals, and if the family of
the dead person is poor only one may be killed. At the funeral of a man
it is customary that one of the animals killed shall be an ordinary
buffalo (putiir) and the other a sacred buffalo; one of the pasthir in
the case of the Teivaliol, and usually one of the wursulir in the case
of the Tartharol. At least one sacred buffalo must be killed at one or
other funeral ceremony for every man, but this may be done either at
the etvainol- or the marvainolkedr. Sacred buffaloes are only killed at
the funerals of men, never at those of women.
When it was the custom to slaughter more than two buffaloes, there was
often a rule that these should be of certain kinds; thus, at Nòdrs, it
was once the custom to kill seven buffaloes at a man’s funeral—viz.,
two wursulir, two putiir, and one each of the following kinds:
nashperthir, pineipir, and persasir.
If the family possess no sacred buffalo, they must procure one by
exchange, and it is customary to give two ordinary buffaloes for one of
the sacred kind.
There is a definite spot appointed for the slaughter of each kind of
buffalo. The ordinary buffalo is usually killed near the funeral hut,
and sometimes there is a stone marking the spot at which the animal is
to die. The wursulir are killed at a place usually marked by a stone
called teiks. In cases where there is no stone the spot is marked by a
wooden post (see Fig. 51), which has the same name, and I was told that
it should be made of teak. [140]
In some cases there are other appointed stones or unmarked spots where
buffaloes of other kinds are slaughtered; thus, at Nòdrs there are
seven stones, at each of which a buffalo used to be killed, and the
people of Pan have two stones called teiks, one for each division of
the clan.
The catching of the buffalo is one of the most exciting incidents of a
Toda funeral. When only one or two buffaloes are to be killed it is
usual to take about four buffaloes from the village of the dead person
to the neighbourhood of the funeral place. When the preliminary
ceremonies are over, all those who are attending the funeral move
towards the place at which the buffaloes are standing, while several of
their number are chosen to catch the appointed animal or animals. At
the same time, the buffaloes, which are usually standing in some hollow
so that they cannot be seen from the funeral place, are driven towards
the people. As soon as they appear the appointed men drop their cloaks
and race to meet the buffaloes. The buffaloes are driven on from behind
in a more vigorous manner than that to which they are accustomed, are
more or less infuriated, and often rush wildly about in their efforts
to avoid the racing Todas, one of whom succeeds in catching the
appointed animal, seizing it by the horns, and then hangs round its
neck with one hand and seizes the cartilage of the nose with the other.
Another of the men seizes a horn and also hangs round the neck of the
animal, and both men put their whole weight on the neck of the buffalo
and bear it to the ground. Often they are carried many yards before
they succeed in getting the infuriated animal under control, and when
catching the horns they are sometimes severely gored, though this
rarely happens now, and I could hear of no case in which there had been
fatal consequences.
The men who are appointed to catch the buffalo belong to the Tartharol
at a Teivali funeral and to the Teivaliol at a Tarthar funeral. They
are usually chosen from among the younger and more agile of the
community, but at an important funeral the older and more experienced
men may undertake the duty. The catching of the buffalo is critically
watched, and some men have acquired great reputations for the
adroitness with which they perform the feat.
I have some reason to think that it is the custom to catch the
buffaloes at different places at the funerals of males and females (see
p. 393), but my information on this point is not satisfactory.
The captured buffalo has next to be led to the spot appointed for its
slaughter. The people of both divisions drive the animal, beating it
with sticks, while the course taken by the animal is directed by the
two men hanging on its horns and round its neck. The buffalo is beaten
much more vigorously than ever happens on ordinary occasions, and it
has seemed to many who have watched a Toda funeral that this vigorous
beating must have some significance, and the idea of vicarious
punishment is naturally suggested. I could obtain no information from
the people on this point, and I am doubtful whether the beating means
more than that, under the exceptional conditions, the animal requires
much more vigorous driving than usual. Ordinarily the buffalo follows
out its daily routine with little interference; it goes to its usual
pasture, and, as I have seen myself, it may return to the dairy of its
own accord at the proper time.
At one funeral at which I was present the buffalo was so alarmed or so
infuriated by the proceedings that it lay down and absolutely refused
to move, and the efforts of all present were insufficient to drag the
animal to the slaughtering place. This incident will be described more
fully later, but I mention it here to show that it may often be
difficult to drive the buffalo, and that the unaccustomed vigour with
which the animal is beaten may have a natural and not a ceremonial
reason.
Before the buffalo is killed two things have still to be done. A bell
or its substitute has to be hung on the neck of the buffalo, and butter
rubbed on its back, head and horns.
If one of the wursulir is to be killed there is hung on its neck the
sacred bell called mani, while the ordinary buffalo or putiir is given
only the kwungg or household bell. A mani may also be used for the
varieties of sacred buffalo called nashperthir, persasir, &c. Probably
at one time there was a mani for each kind, but some of the sacred
bells have been lost, and it is only in some clans that a bell can now
be used. Those clans which have no mani do not use an ordinary bell,
but they tie the sacred buffalo to the teiks by means of a piece of the
creeper called kakhudri, about two yards in length. This is the case
with all the Teivaliol except the people of Piedr and with the
Melgarsol among the Tartharol. The kakhudri is said to be used in place
of the mani.
The details as to the use of the mani differ somewhat in different
clans. The Nòdrs people have two mani, called Kòdj and Kagur, which are
now kept at Òdr. When a Nòdrs man dies these bells are fetched from Òdr
by the wursol and one is hung on the neck of one of the mersgursir and
the other on the neck of one of the nashperthir. [141] After the
etvainolkedr these bells are kept outside the conical dairy at Nòdrs in
a special hole in a stone called karsalb. The people of Kars similarly
take their mani to Taradrkirsi for the first funeral and keep it there
till the funeral ceremonies are completed.
Among the Teivaliol the Piedrol are the only clan to possess a mani,
which is called Kerâni. It is kept in a wood or shola near the funeral
place and lies in an earthenware pot buried in the ground. At the
funeral of a Piedr man the bell is hung on the neck of a buffalo
belonging to the kudeipir (the special name for the pasthir of this
clan). It is dug up by the Teivali palikartpol and given by him to a
Nòdrs man, who ties it on the neck of the buffalo. The Nòdrs man chosen
for this office must bathe on the morning of this day and must go
without food till after the funeral.
Just before the buffalo is killed butter is smeared on the back of the
animal, on the horns and on the part of the head between the horns.
This should be done by a man of the same clan as the dead person.
The killing of the buffalo is called îrkîpti. It is done by striking
the animal on the head with the back of an axe (masth). The animal is
usually killed by one blow, though in some cases more are necessary.
The wursulir are killed by the wursol and the ordinary buffaloes by men
of the same division as the deceased, but of a different clan. Certain
clans appear to have a prescriptive right to kill the buffalo; thus,
among the Teivaliol, a Kuudr man kills at the funerals of members of
all other clans, while at the funeral of a Kuudr man a member of one of
the other clans performs this function. Among the Tartharol, the
members of the Nòdrs and Kars clans appear to occupy the most
privileged position, but the relations are more complicated than among
the Teivaliol. At a Kars funeral the ordinary buffalo is killed by a
man of Nòdrs, Taradr or Pan. At a funeral of a member of any of these
three clans, a Kars man kills. At funerals in other clans, the buffalo
is usually killed by men either of Kars or Nòdrs, but in the case of a
Kwòdrdoni funeral, it seemed that the killing might also be done by a
man of Päm or Nidrsi. Each buffalo is killed at the appointed stone or
post, and the teiks at which the wursulir are killed is at some
distance from the funeral hut, and a woman is not allowed to approach
the spot lest she should see the sacred bell.
Though there is no definite landmark for the killing of the putiir,
each buffalo is killed at an appointed spot; thus, at the funeral of
Sinerani (see p. 392), the buffalo at the etvainolkedr was killed on
the left-hand side of the funeral hut.
As soon as the buffalo is felled, the corpse is brought up and placed
by the head of the dying animal (Fig. 53). At the funeral of a man, the
covering of the body is unfolded and the right hand of the dead man is
made to clasp one of the horns. At the funeral of a woman, the body is
laid with its feet by the mouth of the buffalo. [142] At the funeral of
a Pan man, Kwoten’s ring is placed on the finger of the deceased before
his hand is made to clasp the horn. Then the men present come to the
buffalo and salute it by bowing down and placing their foreheads on the
horns and on the head between the horns.
The people then group themselves round the buffalo and corpse and cry
together by placing forehead to forehead so that their tears and cries
mingle. In the case of the sacred buffalo, wearing the mani, this
circle is composed of men only. The lament [143] usually consists in
calling first the name of the buffalo and then speaking of the dead
person, not by his name, but by the term expressing the bond of kinship
between the lamenter and the dead. Thus at a funeral at which the
buffalo killed was called Pundrs, one man would cry:
“Pundrsia, en potch aia ivanersia, en potch aia”
O Pundrs, O my father.
I could not ascertain the meaning of ivanersia, except that its latter
part is the word for buffalo with the vocative termination ‘ia.’
For a son, a man would cry after the name of the buffalo, “en mokh
ûpa”; for an elder brother, “en potch anna”; and similarly for other
relatives. For a wife a man would cry “iza kughia”, and for a husband a
woman cries “iza mókhia” (iza is merely exclamatory).
It might appear from the form of lamentation that the buffalo itself
was regarded as the father, son, &c., of the lamenter, and I could not
satisfy myself as to what the people really had in their minds when
they were lamenting in this way. It has been supposed that the
lamentation is for the slaughtered buffalo, and I am unable positively
to say that this is not the case. It is probable that the people grieve
for the departure of one of their much-loved buffaloes, but I do not
think that there is any decisive evidence that they are lamenting for
the buffalo rather than for the dead person.
Within the group of mourners there is much going hither and thither.
After two people have mourned together for a while they separate, and
each seeks a new partner with whom to lament. When separating, the
salutation of kalmelpudithti often takes place, and, as in general, it
is the younger of each pair who bows down his head and raises each foot
of the other so that it touches his forehead. It seemed to be the duty
of everyone to salute certain of the older men in this way; and round
these men there would be a continual coming and going, each person
saluting by placing his head beneath the feet of the elder. At times
the band of mourners would form a confused mass of struggling people,
some crying forehead to forehead, others saluting head to foot, while
others would be struggling through the mass to seek partners with whom
to mourn (Fig. 55).
THE CLOTH-GIVING CEREMONY
During or after the lamentation a ceremony is performed which is known
as kachütthti [144] (kach, cloth, ütthti or ütiti, he puts). The
essential feature of this ceremony is that a cloth is given by a near
relative of the dead person to those who have married into his family,
and the cloth is placed on the dead body by the wives of those to whom
it is given. This ceremony takes place at the funerals of both sexes
and for members of all clans. It is an inconspicuous ceremony, and with
one exception [145] has escaped the observation of all those who have
previously witnessed and recorded the procedure of Toda funerals. It
takes place in the middle of a crowd, who gather round the corpse
possibly while the lamentation is still going on or while other
ceremonies are in progress. In the first funeral I witnessed the
ceremony took place while dancing was going on, and I missed it
entirely, though I was told afterwards that it had taken place as
usual, and was able to obtain the names of the chief actors.
In the ceremony of kachütthti, a man belonging to the clan of the
deceased gives a cloth to one of his paiol, or brothers-in-law. The
latter gives the cloth to his wife or wife’s sister, or to some woman
whom he would be allowed to marry, and the woman places the cloth on
the corpse. The man who originally gave the cloth then takes it from
the body and gives it to another paiol, and the ceremony is repeated
till the cloth has been given to all the paiol present.
The man who gives the cloth should belong to the same clan as the dead
person. At the funeral of a male, the proper person is the father of
the deceased, if he is alive, or some other elder of the clan. At the
funeral of a woman, a man of the clan of the woman’s husband is chosen.
Thus, at the funeral of Kiuneimi (3 and 28), a widow of Kanòdrs, the
cloth was given by Neratkutan (28), who was of the same family as the
husbands of the dead woman and the eldest representative of their
generation. At the funeral of Sinerani (52), the cloth was given by
Tebkudr (68), who was the younger brother of the father of Keinba, the
husband of the dead child.
The men called paiol, to whom the cloth is given, seem to include all
those who have married women of the same clan as the giver of the
cloth. Thus, at the funeral of Kiuneimi the cloth was given to Pepob
(44) of Melgars, and to Nelkush and Tevò (3) of Nòdrs, who had all
married women of Kanòdrs.
At the funeral of Sinerani, the cloth was given to Kuriolv (52), who
was the father of the dead child, not, however, for this reason, but
because he was the husband of Sintharap, Tebkudr’s sister. At this
funeral the only other man to whom the cloth was given was Piliag (52),
who received it in the place of his brother, Piliar (52), who was not
present. The latter, like Kuriolv, was the brother-in-law of Tebkudr
(68). If there is no paiol present the cloth may be given to a
matchuni, [146] and this may also happen even when paiol are present.
Thus at one funeral at which I was present, the marvainolkedr of
Pursevan (53), the cloth was given by Piliar (52) to Teikudr (63), his
matchuni. Piliar was the son of Mutevan and Teikudr was the son of
Kavani, the sister of Mutevan.
If neither paiol nor matchuni be present, it was said that the cloth
might be given to a brother, i.e., a man of the same clan, but this
probably never happens and the statement is possibly an error.
The man who receives the cloth hands it to his wife, if she is present;
if she is not present, he may put it on the corpse himself, and I saw
this done more than once. On one occasion a man gave it to a woman who
was not his wife, but in this case he was acting as a substitute for
the husband of the woman.
This ceremony is one in which a man of the same clan as the deceased
person gives a cloth to a man who has married into his family. The
latter hands on the cloth to his wife, who was, before her marriage, of
the same clan as the giver of the cloth, and it is this woman who
places the cloth on the dead body.
The father of each woman who places the cloth on the body receives a
fee of one rupee called kachkars, or cloth-rupee, but the sum is not
paid till the woman has attended twenty funerals. An account is kept
and twenty rupees are paid when the number is completed. The money is
paid by the husband of the woman.
In the ceremony of kachütthti, the men who have married into the family
of the dead person have to perform this ceremony and have to pay a fee
to the family of the dead person. As we shall see later, the chief
mourner at a funeral should receive a buffalo from each of his
sons-in-law, and we see here that this tribute is supplemented by an
addition to the account kept of the times the cloth is given. The
cloth-giving ceremony involves a payment to the family of the dead man
of certain fees from those members of other clans who have married into
the family.
The cloth used is a red loincloth of a kind which is never worn by the
Todas, but, so far as I could ascertain, it is only an ordinary cloth
procured in the bazaar.
THE CREMATION
After the kachütthti ceremony the body is replaced on the wooden bier
and borne to the methkudi, where the funeral pyre has been erected
within the wood, usually at no great distance from the funeral hut.
The bier is laid by the side of the pyre, and the dead person is then
supplied with the various necessaries for the other world. Many of the
things are placed in the large pocket, or kudsh, between the two folds
of the cloak in which the body is enclosed.
The things supplied are chiefly food, ornaments, and money. The food
includes grain, rice, jaggery, limes, and honey. Some of the food is
put directly into the kudsh, while some of the grain, rice, and honey
are mixed together and put in a metal bowl. Tobacco, coconuts, ghi, or
articles of food from the bazaar may be added.
A number of square boxes made of rattan and called pettei [147] are
also placed on the bier. They are procured from Mitur in the Wainad,
and are often called miturpettei or mitudpettei. Jaggery and other
things are put into each of the boxes, and they are covered with cloth,
tied with thread, and adorned with cowries.
The ornaments placed on the corpse included rings for the fingers,
armlets, necklaces, and earrings.
The money is collected from all present and put in rolls into long
purses, called tinkani. Most of the money used for this occasion is old
with Arabic inscriptions and is known by the Todas as irajkars, the
more recent coinage being called englishkars. In one collection of
coins which I was allowed to inspect many bore the date 1780, and among
the more recent coins were included two Japanese yen. The rolls of
coins are placed within the cloak, often near the feet of the dead
person.
Meanwhile the pyre has been lighted. At the funeral of a man this must
be done by means of fire made by friction. I have not recorded whether
the fire is made by any special relative of the deceased or other
special person. At the funeral of a woman, the fire is started by means
of a lighted rag which has been soaked in ghi. The rag is lighted by a
man, who at present uses matches for the purpose. Though lighted by a
man the fire is applied to the funeral pyre by a woman, usually of the
same clan as the dead person. The pyre is lighted on the top, where
small pieces of wood have been placed, and butter is poured on the fire
which gradually spreads downwards. The progress of the fire is very
slow, and at every funeral at which I was present the fire was far from
strong when the body was placed upon it.
At the funeral of a male, imitation buffalo horns of wood (tebkuter or
petkuter, see Fig. 35) are placed on the fire and burnt. This was also
done at the funeral of the girl Sinerani, but it seemed clear that this
was unorthodox and was done by Kuriolv, the father of the dead girl, on
account of his great sorrow at her death.
The body on the bier is now taken up and swung three times over the
fire, while a small wooden framework resembling a miniature bier is
held under the larger bier. As the body is swung over the fire in this
way the bearers say:—
“Kedr tütth tâzâr mud tirk tûkitth tâthi.”
Funeral fire over three times lifted must.
These words seem to be connected with the small wooden framework held
under the body, for this is called tütth tâzâr tûkitth kûrs, or “fire
over lifted (or lifting) stick.”
The bier is then replaced on the ground and nearly all the objects of
value are removed from the bier or from the pocket of the cloak. In one
case I observed that the bangles were taken from the arms, all the
rings except one were taken from the fingers, and the coins were
removed and redistributed to those who had given them. The people told
me that when the body was swung over the fire, the dead person went to
Amnòdr with all the ornaments and objects then on the bier, and that
the removal of the things afterwards would not deprive the dead person
of their use in the next world.
It would seem as if this ceremony of swinging the body over the fire
was directly connected with the removal of the objects of value. The
swinging over the fire would be symbolic of its destruction by fire,
and this symbolic burning has the great advantage that the objects of
value are not consumed and are available for use another time.
This is probably the real explanation of the ceremony, but it is not
the explanation given by the Todas themselves. They say that long ago,
about 400 years, a man supposed to be dead was put on the funeral pyre,
and, revived by the heat, he was found to be alive and was able to walk
away from the funeral place. In consequence of this the rule was made
that the body shall always be swung three times over the fire before it
is finally placed thereon. I could not discover the significance of the
small wooden framework held under the body. Its appearance suggests
that it is a miniature bier.
The objects of value having been removed, the body is now burnt.
Formerly it was put on the pyre face downwards, and in the accounts of
funerals given by Marshall [148] and Walhouse [149] thirty years ago,
this was done, but it is no longer the custom, and in recent funerals
attended by Mr. Thurston and myself the body was put on the fire with
the face upwards. I was told that Teikirzi ordained that the body
should be consumed face downwards, and it was believed that if this
were not done, the dead person would have to make the journey to Amnòdr
backwards. This seems to imply that the world of Amnòdr is below this
world and that the dead person should be burnt in such a way that his
face is set towards his future abode.
At some time during the day, Kotas will have arrived, some to act as
musicians (Fig. 56), others to take the flesh of the slaughtered
buffaloes. The musicians play on their instruments, which may include a
clarionet, a drum, tambourine, and brass horn, though usually I saw
only the clarionet and drum. The musicians become especially active
while the body is consuming. The other Kotas, who carry sharp sticks on
which to carry away the flesh, begin to cut up the buffaloes as soon as
the people have left the neighbourhood of the funeral hut. On more than
one occasion I noticed Tamil women sitting not far from the funeral
scene, and was told that they had come to buy some of the flesh from
the Kotas, and I believe that it is not unknown for the flesh to find
its way to the bazaar at Ootacamund.
Before the body is finally placed on the fire, a lock of hair is cut
from the head to serve as one of the relics for the second funeral. It
is cut by a near relative of the dead person; in the case of Sinerani,
it was cut off by her boy-husband. According to Breeks, [150] one of
the nails should also be removed, but I could not hear of this being
done at the present time, and similarly I heard nothing of the practice
of keeping the knee-cap bone, which is said by Hough [151] to have been
preserved. When the burning is over, a piece of the skull is sought
from among the ashes, and this, together with the hair, is put within
two pieces of bark and wrapped in a cloak to be kept for the
marvainolkedr.
The remainder of the ashes are left on the burning-ground till they are
dispersed by wind and rain.
SOME SPECIAL FUNERAL CEREMONIES
In the previous account certain ceremonies which may be performed by
special individuals have been omitted. In general, at the funeral of a
man, the part of chief mourner and director of the ceremonies is taken
by a brother or son of the deceased. At the funeral of a woman the
husband takes the chief place.
While the mourning is going on, a ceremony will have been performed if
the dead person should be a man or woman whose spouse is still alive.
The husband of a dead woman goes to one of his paiol, most commonly to
his father-in-law, if he is living, and the paiol draws up the cloak of
the widower so that it covers his head. The man who has his head
covered in this way is called mad âr mitch nidvai, “head on covered who
stands” (see Fig. 61). The widower keeps his head covered in this way
as a sign of mourning and does not take off the cloak till the end of
the second funeral. When the paiol has arranged the cloak of the
mourner, the two men cry together with forehead to forehead.
Similarly the wife of a dead man has her cloak drawn over her head as a
sign of mourning, and this is done for her by her own father or someone
of his clan who takes his place. This ceremony is performed by a
relative of the woman, whether it is husband or wife who is dead.
It is the duty of the widower or widow to mix the grain and honey which
is put into a bowl on the bier.
Other special ceremonies fall to the lot of the mokhthodvaiol or
sedvaitazmokh of the dead person if there should be such. The
mokhthodvaiol of a woman is the recognised lover whom she may have in
addition to her husband or husbands. The sedvaitazmokh is the name of
the woman in this Toda institution. The mokhthodvaiol of a dead woman
goes to the funeral wearing his ring on the ring finger of the left
hand. Before the buffalo is caught he pays the kalmelpudithti
salutation to the father of the woman; bows down before him and raises
each foot to his head. He then puts into the pocket of the cloak of the
woman some limes, three handfuls (mudteir) of patcherski and one large
piece of jaggery. He also puts a piece of the dark cloth called än into
the pocket of the cloak, this act being called än kudshk it pudithti.
The mokhthodvaiol asks the husband of the woman three times “än kudsh
idukina?” (“Shall I put än into the kudsh?”) and the husband answers
each time “idu!” In putting the various things into the pocket, the
mokhthodvaiol has to use his left hand throughout.
When a man dies his sedvaitazmokh, if there be one, goes to the funeral
ceremony wearing a ring on the ring finger of her left hand, and
similarly puts limes, grain, jaggery, and a piece of än into the pocket
of the dead man’s mantle. Before doing this the brothers of the dead
man do kalmelpudithti to the father of the woman, and this was said to
be done in order to obtain permission from him for his daughter to put
things into the cloak.
At the funeral of a girl, or of a childless woman, there are performed
the ceremonies of urvatpimi and pursütpimi which are usually performed
during pregnancy. In life the urvatpimi, or hand-burning ceremony, is
performed before that of pursütpimi, but after death the order may be
reversed. These ceremonies are most frequently performed at the
funerals of children, and a full description may be reserved till a
later section (see p. 391).
In the case of an adult the ceremony is only performed if it has not
been performed in life. If a woman dies in the later months of
pregnancy after these ceremonies have taken place, they would not be
performed at the funeral.
If an unmarried boy dies, a girl who should be the matchuni of the dead
boy, is chosen to act as his wife. It seemed that the girl might be of
any age, but she must be unmarried, and therefore must nearly always be
young. One of the elder brothers of the dead boy performs the
salutation of kalmelpudithti to the girl’s father, or if there are no
brothers this will be done by the boy’s father. The head of the girl is
then covered with her mantle by her father and the girl puts food into
the pocket of the mantle of the dead boy. Thus, there is no pursütpimi
ceremony in the case of an unmarried boy, but a girl is chosen to act
as his widow would have done if he had been married.
At the funeral of a Teivali or Melgars male who has not held any dairy
office, a piece of tudr bark is placed in the right hand of the
deceased by a man of the Tartharol. Every male of the Teivaliol or
Melgarsol who has been a dairyman of any grade will have been purified
with tudr bark during the ordination ceremonies, and the piece of bark
is only given after death to those who have not been so purified.
THE INTERVAL BETWEEN THE TWO FUNERALS
As soon as the body is consumed at the etvainolkedr, the people go
home, the near relatives taking with them the relics of the deceased.
These relics are enclosed in two pieces of bark called pitûdri, taken
from the tree called mûtmän. I was once told that tudr bark was used,
but this is unlikely. The relics and bark are covered with plain cloth,
and the whole is enclosed in a mantle of the kind ordinarily worn.
The relics, which are known as the kedr, are not taken to the chief
village (etudmad) of the clan, but to other villages, usually to a
definitely appointed village for each clan. If the clan should only
have one village, or if the appointed village should be inconveniently
distant, a small hut may be especially built in which to keep the
relics till the second funeral. The near relatives of the dead person
may not go to the chief village in the interval between the first and
second funerals. If they are living at the chief village at the time of
the death, they must leave it and live elsewhere till the second
funeral is over.
The term kedr is not only applied to the relics of the dead person, but
also to the period between the two funerals, or rather the people say,
“There is kedr in his family,” or “So and so, or such and such a clan,
has kedr,” so that the same word is used for the funeral, for the body
of a dead person, for the relics, and for the condition of persons or
clans while funeral ceremonies are uncompleted.
All those who go near the corpse at a Teivali funeral become
ichchiloivichi, usually abbreviated to ichchil, and the same is true of
anyone who goes to a Teivali village where the relics are being kept.
The whole family in which the death has occurred is spoken of as being
ichchil. If anyone wishes to attend a funeral and yet avoid becoming
ichchil, he must sit at some distance and take no part in the funeral
proceedings. At several funerals I have seen people sitting apart from
the rest in order that they might not incur the disabilities associated
with the condition of ichchil, the chief of which is that it is
forbidden to approach or salute a palol.
A person who has incurred ichchil remains so till the next new moon.
Those in the family of the dead person remain ichchil till the new moon
after the marvainolkedr, owing to the fact that between the two
funerals they probably either live at or visit the village where the
relics are kept.
The condition of ichchil arising from attendance at a funeral is
regarded as of the same nature as that incurred by a visit to the
seclusion-hut after childbirth.
Both Teivaliol and Tartharol may become ichchil at a funeral of one of
the Teivaliol, but there is no ichchil due to attendance at a Tarthar
funeral. All those who throw earth at a Tarthar funeral, however, are
called puzhut, and incur the same disability as those who are
ichchil—i.e., they may not approach or salute a palol.
Melgars people incur the same disabilities as other Tartharol, and it
is probably for them that the restrictions are of most importance, for
they lose their special privileges as mòrol while they are in the
condition of ichchil or puzhut.
During the condition called ‘kedr,’ all the men of the clan in which
the death has occurred must tie their hair in a knot in front, as is
shown in the case of the second man in Fig. 61. This method of wearing
the hair is called mad tutvai, or “head (or hair) who rolls.” When the
people of a clan are in this condition they must not hold any of the
feasts in which the food called ashkkarthpimi is used, but they may
attend as guests at feasts held in the villages of other clans.
A person who is keeping the funeral ceremonies should not traverse the
path by which the ti buffaloes go from one grazing ground to another.
The ostensible reason why the buffaloes of the Nòdrs ti did not journey
to Anto at their usual time in 1902 (see p. 131) was that Teitnir,
whose wife had died, had passed over the road. The ti buffaloes, also,
may not pass a place where the relics of a dead person are being kept
between the two funerals. In 1902 the relics of the dead wife of
Teitnir were removed from the village of Karia in order that they
should not be in the way of the buffaloes. On this occasion the relics
were followed by a procession of people and Teitnir gave a feast. This
was said to be very unorthodox, and on cross-examination it was found
that the procession and the feast were not connected with one another,
the latter being part of another ceremony which was being performed on
the same day. [152]
There are special regulations for widowers and widows—i.e., for those
who have their heads covered at the etvainolkedr. While they wear the
mantle over the head they must never put out their hand or arm from
above the mantle, but always from below. When they salute by raising
the hand to the forehead (kaimukhti), they must do so by putting out
their hand below the cloak, and in eating and all other acts they must
do the same. When the mantle is over the head, it is probably most
convenient to put the hand out of the mantle from below rather than
from above, but it was quite clear that it was now regarded as wrong to
do the latter.
When a man crosses the Paikara or Avalanche rivers he must usually do
so kevenarut, with his right arm outside his mantle, but if he has the
mantle over his head as a sign of mourning he merely protrudes his
right hand, so that it can be seen below the mantle. Similarly, the
throwing of water done by matchuni (see p. 501), when they cross these
rivers on certain days, is not done by people of a family in which
there has been a death—i.e., not between the two funerals—but they only
chew the grass, which is the preliminary act of the ceremony.
The mourner who has his head covered has certain restrictions in regard
to his food. A widower is not allowed to eat rice nor drink milk, and
on every return of the day of the week on which his wife died he takes
no food in the morning and only has his evening meal. The same holds
good for a widow. This fasting on each weekly return of the day of
death suggests that some rite is, or used to be, performed on this day,
but I did not obtain an account of any such ceremony. The day of the
week on which a man dies is always observed by his children, and is
called arpatznol.
The wursol who attends to kill the sacred buffalo loses his office by
so doing, and becomes perol. Similarly, if a palol, wursol, or kaltmokh
wish to attend the funeral of a relative, he can only do so by giving
up his office, and this is a common cause of change in the various
dairies. The dairyman who has thus given up his office often resumes it
when the funeral ceremonies are completed, and if he expresses his
intention of returning, the temporary occupant is often said to be
doing the work for the other.
Between the two funerals it is the duty of every Toda who was not
present at the etvainolkedr to salute the remains. When anyone visits
the village where the remains are kept for this purpose the cloth
containing the relics is brought out and the visitor bows down and
touches the cloth with his forehead, just as is done with the body at
the funeral. When I visited the village at which the kedr of Olidzeimi
was being kept my Toda guide took the opportunity of performing his
duty to the remains, and I was able to witness the reverent way in
which the duty is performed. While I was on the hills, Tersveli, the
wife of Teitnir, died while Sintagars was in the seclusion-hut after
the birth of her first child, and on the morning on which Sintagars
went from the puzhars to the aliars (see p. 327), she visited Karia to
salute the kedr of Tersveli. Her first act after her period of
seclusion was to show her respect to the remains of her dead relative.
If anyone is too ill or feeble to visit the village the remains may be
taken to them for salutation.
CHAPTER XVI
FUNERAL CEREMONIES—continued
THE MARVAINOLKEDR
The second funeral may be held little more than a month after the
etvainolkedr, or there may be an interval of a year or more, and in the
case of a child both funeral ceremonies may be performed on one day. In
the old days the marvainolkedr was a great occasion. The proceedings
lasted for two whole days, and were prolonged till daybreak of the
third. Many buffaloes were slaughtered; they were caught on the first
day, when they were shut up in the circular pen and bells put on their
necks. On the second day they were taken from the pen to the
slaughtering place, and various ceremonies took place in connexion with
and after their deaths. This kind of funeral was called tuütthkedr,
meaning “the putting in buffalo-pen funeral.” In the old days this
putting into the pen was sometimes omitted, especially in the case of
poor or unimportant people, and the catching and killing of the
buffaloes were both carried out on one day, and this kind of funeral
was known as marppitkedr. At the present time the Todas only have the
marppitkedr, owing to the restrictions on the number of buffaloes
killed. The Todas seem now to believe that the Government have actually
prohibited them from putting the buffaloes into the pen at the
funerals, but I could not find that this was the case.
It is now the custom, and seems long to have been so, to hold the
marvainolkedr of several people at the same time. The Government allows
two buffaloes to be killed for each person, and if two or more funerals
are held simultaneously it gives an appearance of the olden times. So
far as I could ascertain, however, the funerals of two or more people
only take place together when they belong to the same clan.
In some cases, however, the funeral places of two or more clans are
very near one another. In such a case there might be a certain amount
of combination of the different ceremonies, but some of the rites would
be carried out at different spots for each clan. Something of this kind
appears to have happened at the funeral ceremonies recorded by Mr.
Thurston (Bull. i., p. 176). Similarly the marvainolkedr of a man or
woman of the same clan may be held simultaneously owing to the fact
that the funeral places for the two sexes are usually close to one
another. The buffaloes would, however, be killed at different places,
and the remains would not be burnt and buried at the same azaram.
Owing to the custom of having the marvainolkedr of several people
simultaneously, it has often been supposed that the Todas have a kind
of anniversary ceremony for all those who have died during the year,
but there is no doubt that this is wrong. There was a large
marvainolkedr soon after I left the hills (in January, 1903), but it
was a ceremony for two women only, Narskuti (63 and 56), and Tersveli
(63 and 52), both belonging to the Kuudrol, and it was held at
Kurkalmut, the proper funeral place for the women of Kuudr. It is quite
possible that owing to the restrictions on the slaughter of buffaloes
it may become more and more the custom to hold several marvainolkedr
simultaneously, and that this custom may develop into an anniversary
ceremony. This could only come about, however, by throwing over the
custom that the funerals of each clan should be held at a definitely
appointed place, and there is no doubt that this has not yet happened.
At the second funeral ceremony the relics are placed in a special hut,
and at a man’s funeral the hut has the same name as at the
etvainolkedr, and apparently it may sometimes happen that the same hut
is used at both ceremonies. The second funeral is not always held,
however, at the same place as the first, and the interval between the
two ceremonies may be so great that it may have become necessary to
rebuild the hut. At the only marvainolkedr at which I was present a new
hut had been built for the occasion.
The hut at the second funeral of a woman differs in name from that of
the first funeral, being called kursars instead of nersars. After the
second funeral the kursars is burnt down, but my notes do not make it
clear whether the nersars is always burnt down after the first funeral,
or whether it may not sometimes be kept for the second ceremony. The
difference of name, however, makes this improbable.
If the marvainolkedr of two or more people are held simultaneously, a
hut is built for the remains of each; thus, at the ceremony in January,
1903, there were two huts, one for Narskuti and the other for Tersveli.
The relics, now called the narskedr, are brought to the funeral place
on a bier made of bamboo, and called kailpedrkudr instead of
mänpedrkudr (wood bier) as at the first funeral. The narskedr is
wrapped in an embroidered mantle (pukuruputkuli) and placed in the hut,
and then all the women of the dead person’s division who are present
cry together, forehead to forehead, in the usual manner. The chief
things to be burnt with the remains are also placed within the hut.
At a funeral witnessed by Mr. Thurston the relics were taken from a
hole cut at the base of a tree, and the hair was unwrapped from off the
skull, burnt in an iron ladle, and anointed with clarified butter
before being placed in its cloth. This was probably a ceremony which
should have been performed on the following morning at the azaramkedr
(see p. 379).
As on the former occasion, a man’s funeral begins with the ceremony of
earth-throwing, which is carried out in the same way as at the
elvainolkedr. The narskedr is laid at the entrance of the buffalo pen,
and earth is thrown into the pen and on the remains in the manner
already described. There is nothing corresponding to the tiveri tur
ceremony of the woman’s first funeral.
At the present time the driving, catching, and killing of the buffaloes
are carried out in very much the same way as at the etvainolkedr. At
the funerals of Teivaliol the buffaloes are caught by Tartharol and
killed by Teivaliol of a clan different to that of the deceased. At the
funerals of the Tartharol the buffaloes are caught by Teivaliol, and
killed by the wursol or by a Tarthar man of a different clan, according
as they are of the sacred or ordinary kind.
As the buffalo dies, the narskedr is brought up and laid by the head of
the animal, and the lamenting and saluting take place around the
buffalo and the remains, exactly as at the first funeral.
Sometimes a ceremony occurs immediately before the buffalo is caught. A
man takes a ring of the creeper called kakhudri and throws it at one of
the driven buffaloes. It should fall on the horns or neck of one of the
buffaloes, but it does not matter whether on a buffalo which is to be
killed or on another.
This throwing of the creeper, which is called kakhudri erspimi, or
kudri erspimi, [153] “we throw the creeper,” is done by the wursol at a
Tarthar funeral, while at the funeral of the Teivaliol it is done by a
palikartmokh of the same clan as the deceased. This ceremony used not
to be performed at those funerals which lasted two days, when the
buffaloes were shut into a pen on one day and killed on the next, but
it should always be performed when the funeral ceremonies are limited
to one day. It seems possible that the circular ring of creeper may be
intended to represent the act of putting the animals in the circular
pen, but the Todas could give me no information on this point. It
seemed clear that it is only done at those funerals in which the
buffaloes are not put into the pen.
THE KOÒTITI CEREMONY
Among the Tartharol, with the exception of the people of Melgars, a
ceremony is performed at the funeral of a male which is called koòtiti.
In this ceremony blood is used which in the present day is drawn from
one of the slaughtered buffaloes, but formerly a special buffalo was
killed for this purpose.
According to the old custom the buffaloes were killed about four
o’clock in the afternoon. About an hour later another buffalo of the
ordinary kind was brought to the funeral place and killed by striking
it on the head with a stone, and not with the back of an axe, as in the
case of the other buffaloes. It might be killed by any Tarthar man, and
then the wursol made a cut in the right side of the animal at the part
called kegampkwûdr (over the ribs near the forelegs). The blood which
ran from the wound was received into a cup made of tudr leaves, and
powdered tudr bark was mixed with the blood in the cup. It is to this
part of the ceremony that the name koòtiti (“blood he takes”) is
properly applied. At the present time the blood is drawn from one of
the buffaloes killed in the ordinary course of the ceremony. However
the blood may be obtained, the next step is to bring a female buffalo
calf less than one year old. The mantle with which the remains have
been covered is taken off, and is worn by a Teivali man who has adorned
himself with many ornaments, including those ordinarily worn by women,
such as the chain (tagars), necklace (keiveli), earrings (kevthveli),
and bracelet (pulthi). He also holds a long pole called tadri. The
remains, which are now covered with a loincloth (tadrp) only, are
carried by two women to the place where the calf is standing.
The wursol and Teivali man then walk to the calf, the former throwing
before and behind him as he walks the mixed blood and tudr bark from
the cup. When the wursol comes to the calf he throws down the leaf cup,
and the Teivali man then hangs on the neck of the calf a bell of the
kind called tukulir mani, and, taking a bow and arrow in his hand, he
says three times to the Tartharol, “purs adikina?”—“Shall I touch with
the bow?” Each time the Tartharol reply, “Purs ad!” The Teivali man
then touches the remains with the bow and arrow. He puts down the tadri
on the ground, and the calf is driven away from the spot on which it
had been standing. As soon as it begins to move all present, Tartharol
and Teivaliol, cry out, “ua! ua!” and fall down and touch the earth
with their foreheads. The bell is then removed from the calf, which is
not killed, but is allowed to go free. The bell (tukulir mani) is kept
by the Kotas or Badagas till it is required by the Todas for another
funeral.
The assumption of the cloak covering the remains by the Teivali man is
called ârtûrverutiti, and the throwing of the mixed blood and bark by
the wursol is called kedrkarchiti—i.e., funeral (or remains) purifying.
Either at this stage or later the blood and tudr bark are rubbed on the
piece of skull and hair which form the narskedr.
One of the most important features of this koòtiti ceremony is that the
sacred tudr bark is used. The ceremony is not performed at the funerals
of the Teivaliol or of the Melgarsol, because they may use tudr in the
ordination ceremonies for the offices of palol, wursol, or kaltmokh.
The object of the ceremony appears to be that members of those clans
who have no chance of being purified with tudr during life shall be
purified with this substance before they go finally to Amnòdr. A
Teivali or Melgars man, however, has only used tudr if he has been
ordained to one of the three offices above mentioned. If the dead man
has not been through an ordination ceremony, however, the purification
does not take place at his second funeral, but a Tarthar man puts a
piece of tudr bark into his right hand at the first funeral (see p.
367).
In the account which Breeks gives of this ceremony he states that
certain formulæ are said, including “Karma odi pona,” “May the sin run
away.” I could not confirm this, and I do not believe that karma is a
Toda word. It is probable that the use of these or other formulæ is an
innovation.
The Badagas of the Nilgiris let loose a calf at a funeral to bear the
sins of the deceased. [154] It is possible that the calf in this Toda
ceremony may have the same significance. If so, the practice has not
improbably been borrowed, and the fact that the bell which is hung on
the neck of the calf is kept by Kotas or Badagas suggests that the
whole incident may have been borrowed by the Todas from one or other of
these races.
After the buffalo is killed dancing takes place at the funeral of a
male. The men only dance and they may begin soon after the killing of
the buffalo, while other ceremonies are still in progress. In the
dancing the same tall pole (tadri or tadrsi) is used as is carried by
the Teivali man who wears the cloak of the narskedr. It is a tall pole
which, it was said, might sometimes be as much as 39 feet in length. I
only saw a tadri at one funeral, when it was much smaller. It is
decorated with rings of cowries, which are called nîrpul, the ornaments
in general being called tadri asteram (see Fig. 67).
The pole is procured from Malabar through the Kurumbas. It is used at
the funeral of males only of both the Teivaliol and Tartharol, and is
burnt at the end of the azaramkedr.
In the only dance which I had the opportunity of seeing, the men danced
within the circular wall surrounding the funeral hut. In this case the
floor of the enclosure was below the general level of the ground. The
men formed a circle and danced round in slow step; one man said the
name of the slaughtered buffalo—in this case, Purkirsi—and another
repeated this name; then the first man said “hau! hau!” which was
repeated by the second man.
After a time one of the men took the tadri and they danced round in a
similar way, taking the pole with them as they danced (i.e., they did
not dance round the pole).
After the dancing is over, food is distributed to all the people
present and most return to their homes, while the remainder wait at the
funeral place till the following morning, when are held the final
ceremonies, which are known as the azaramkedr.
THE AZARAMKEDR
This is the name applied to the ceremonies connected with the final
burning of the remains and burial of the ashes. After food has been
distributed at the marvainolkedr, many of those attending the funeral
return home. The remainder stay at the spot during the evening, those
nearly related to the deceased lamenting in the usual fashion almost
continuously. At a funeral attended by Samuel, the people took the
setting of Kadsht and the appearance of Keirt [155] as the indications
that the final ceremonies were to begin, and this was about two o’clock
on the following morning.
At every funeral place used for the marvainolkedr, there is a circle of
stones, smaller than that in which the hut is built, with an opening
which in some cases faces the east. This circle of stones is the
azaram, and before the ceremonies begin, a man digs a hole by the
opening in its side. The various objects to be burnt with the remains
are now brought from the hut in which they had been placed on the
previous day, and are laid outside the azaram and the narskedr is laid
by their side. As the remains are removed from the hut, the wailing
becomes louder and the people cry bitterly. Outside the stone circle a
fire is made of the wood called kidmän, [156] upon which clarified
butter is poured. This fire, which is known as the puntüt, is lighted
by a man of the same clan as the deceased. At the funeral of a male,
there is burnt on this fire the dairy vessel called ertatpun which had
belonged to the dead man, and the imitation buffalo horns called
petkuter, about ten in number for a man and five for a boy. At the
funeral of a woman, I think that a majpatitthpun is burnt, viz., a
vessel used for fetching buttermilk from the dairy, but I am not
certain of this.
There now follows the ceremony called narsatipimi, i.e. “the nars we
rub,” in which the leading part is taken by a person of the same sex as
the deceased. I only have a full record of this ceremony at a woman’s
funeral, and in this case a woman took the relics out of their
covering, and threw away the pieces of bark in which they had been
enclosed. She rubbed butter on the pieces of skull and the hair, put
the hair between two pieces of skull, tied them together with thread,
and replaced them in the ornamented cloak (pukuruputkuli). She then
bowed down and touched the remains with her forehead, and then this
salutation was performed by all those present.
At a funeral seen by Mr. Thurston, [157] this ceremony was performed on
the previous day at the marvainolkedr, and in this case the hair was
burnt in an iron ladle before the clarified butter was applied.
This ceremony of narsatipimi is performed by the daughter-in-law of a
woman, or by the mother-in-law of a girl or woman who has no
daughter-in-law. At the funeral of Narskuti (56 and 63) it was
performed by Piliurs, the wife of Tüliners (56), the son of the dead
woman. At the funeral of Tersveli (52 and 63), a much younger woman,
who had no daughter-in-law, the relics were anointed by Muteimi (52 and
69), the mother of Teitnir, Tersveli’s husband. I have no record of the
person who performs this ceremony at the funeral of a man.
The next step in the proceedings is to light a fire within the circle
of stones, this fire being called the azaramtüt. Firewood is put within
the azaram and the narskedr in its covering is placed on the wood. If
the azaramkedr is being held for two or more people simultaneously, the
remains of all are put on the wood together. [158] In the pockets of
the mantles forming the coverings are placed grain, jaggery, and coins.
The azaramtüt is then lighted by taking three firebrands in succession
from the puntüt. The firebrands are placed on the firewood and on the
remains by the daughter-in-law or mother-in-law of a female as in the
last ceremony. [159] Then all the people take up the burning wood from
the puntüt and place it within the azaram over the remains. The various
objects previously brought from the funeral hut are now placed on the
fire and burnt, and the special food known as ashkkarthpimi may be
thrown into the fire. Then all the people cry together, forehead to
forehead.
The following are the objects burnt with the remains on the azaramtüt,
at the funeral of a male:—
(a) In the pocket of the cloak, jaggery, the husked grain called
patcherski, husked barley (kodjerski), and rupees in two bags, one
called tinkani, made by the Todas themselves, and the other called
katshiram, procured from Hindus.
(b) Sticks of the following kinds of wood: pars, karneizi tavat, kali,
toarsmitch, kar.
(c) A nanmakud, a club or stick cut from the pars tree (Fig. 67).
(d) A tadri, or long pole used in the dance and in the koòtiti ceremony
of the previous day.
(e) Several wak, bamboo vessels filled with grain, butter, ghi, honey,
&c., usually ten in number for adults and five for children.
(f) A tek, a basket made by the Kotas in which barley or poppy heads
are put.
(g) A bow (purs) and three arrows (ab) (Fig. 67).
(h) A kafkati, or knife, called on ordinary occasions kudrval.
(i) A masth, the axe used to kill the buffaloes on the previous day,
called on this occasion îrkîpmasth.
(j) A miturkwadr, the palm-leaf umbrella, so called because procured
from Mitur in the Wainad.
(k) A kudshmurn, a special kind of sieve made by the Kotas and not used
in ordinary life.
At the funeral of a woman boxes called pettei or miturpettei are burnt
instead of the wak. These are small boxes made of rattan, covered with
cloth and adorned with cowries. There are also burnt the three objects
especially connected with women, the pounder (wask), sieve (murn), and
broom (kip), but the pounder is only burnt after the following ceremony
has taken place.
As soon as the things have been placed on the fire, there follows the
ceremony [160] called îrsankâti. At the funeral of a male, the
matchuni, or cousin, of the dead man puts on the woman’s ornaments
known as tagars, keiveli, and pulthi, and stands at the opening in the
circle of stones with his right arm outside his cloak (kevenarut). He
is joined there by the man who has lighted the fire, and they cry
together, both standing at the entrance of the azaram, where they
remain till the fire is extinguished. Owing to the fact that the fire
is lighted by a man of the same clan as the deceased, the two men who
cry together will also be matchuni—thus, at the funeral of Karspisti
(12), the fire was lighted by his half-brother Karzo. Pakhwar (16), who
performed the irsankati ceremony, was the matchuni of both Karzo and
Karspisti, being the son of the brother of Tedjveli, the mother of
Karzo and stepmother of Karspisti.
At the funeral of a female, the woman who stands at the entrance should
also be a matchuni of the deceased. She is decorated with ornaments, in
this case proper to her own sex, and she stands at the entrance of the
azaram holding the pounder. She is joined by a woman closely related to
the deceased and the two women cry together. After crying together for
a while, they go round the circle and then put the pounder on the fire,
after which they take off their ornaments.
At the funeral of Narskuti (56 and 63), Mutkadrk (56 and 72) stood in
front of the circle holding the pounder, and was joined by Munat, the
daughter of the dead woman.
At the funeral of Tersveli (52 and 63), Edjog (56) stood at the
entrance; she was the matchuni of the dead woman, being the daughter of
Tüliners, the brother of Tersveli’s mother. She was joined by Teimidz
(52), the sister of the dead woman’s husbands.
The fire is now extinguished by pouring on water (kêdr tüt ârs
kudrchi). Some of the food put into the pocket of the putkuli and in
the various vessels may now be taken out [161] and given to the Kotas,
who up to this time have been playing the special funeral tunes called
sagerthkwelv.
The ashes are now swept into the hole which had been dug at the opening
in the stone circle. They are covered with earth dug from elsewhere and
the spot is covered with a stone.
At the funeral of a male, a man of the same clan as the deceased then
brings a bell (kwungg) and goes round the burial-place three times
ringing the bell, while another man goes with him holding him by the
waist. The man who rings the bell then takes a new pot, ordinarily used
for carrying water, and, raising it over his head, brings it down and
breaks it on the stone covering the ashes. He bows down and touches the
stone with his forehead, gets up, and goes away to the funeral hut
without looking back toward the azaram. All the others present bow down
to the stone in the same way and go away from the spot without looking
back. The ceremony of bell-ringing and stone-saluting is called kwungg
tûki kârs nersatiti, “bell lift, stone he salutes.”
At the funeral of a woman, the bell is rung and the pot broken by her
husband or by one of his brothers if he be dead. If it is the husband,
he will have been wearing the cloak over his head [162] up to this
time, and he takes it off just before he bows down to salute the stone.
At the funeral of her husband, a widow will similarly remove the cloak
from her head before she salutes the stone.
After saluting at the azaram, all go to the funeral hut, where they
take food, having fasted during the night. Each person cuts a lock of
hair from the head as a sign of mourning and then all return home.
At the funeral of a woman, the funeral hut is burnt before the people
leave, this being called ars pon atipimi, “house up we send.” It is the
duty of the woman who first lighted the azaramtüt to set fire to the
hut.
The foregoing account of the second funeral ceremonies is that of the
proceedings at the present time. When the marvainolkedr was prolonged
over two days, the proceedings of the first day opened with the capture
of the buffaloes, which were put in the pen, and then followed a scene
in which the Todas entered the pen, flourishing heavy clubs. The
animals were belaboured and driven round and round the pen, and at
intervals several men would catch and hold down a buffalo. According to
some accounts the bells were hung round the necks of the buffaloes
during this performance, but at a funeral witnessed by Mr. Walhouse
[163] this was not done, and he believed that the object of the fray
was that the men might exhibit their agility and skill. There is little
doubt, however, that the bells were put on the buffaloes at some time
on this day. The remainder of the first day was occupied with dancing,
singing, and feasting. On the second day, the proceedings began again
in the middle of the day with more dances and with a repetition of the
driving and catching within the pen. In the afternoon, after the
earth-throwing ceremony, the buffaloes, now wearied and subdued, were
dragged from the pen and killed, and then followed the ceremonies which
have already been described.
At the funeral witnessed by Mr. Walhouse, part of the second day was
occupied by the proceedings of a diviner, and divination seems to be a
frequent feature of funerals, having been also seen both by Mr.
Thurston and myself. In the latter case, the occasion of the divination
arose directly out of the proceedings, but it is probable that the
gatherings are used as opportunities of consulting the gods on other
matters. A funeral may also be used as an occasion for settling
disputes, especially those which concern the people especially
connected with the funeral.
FUNERAL LAMENTS
At some stage in both funeral ceremonies laments for the dead may be
sung or said which consist of sentences praising the virtues of the
deceased and recounting incidents of his or her life. To these
sentences the same term kwarzam is applied which is used for the words
and clauses of the prayers. I am not certain at what stage of the
proceedings the recital of these laments takes place, but it is
certainly after the killing of the buffaloes, probably in many cases
during the general wailing round the buffalo and the remains. At the
second funeral of a male, however, I believe that the lament is recited
during the dancing.
I did not succeed in obtaining any examples during my visit, but soon
after my departure Samuel sent me two laments, one composed by Teitnir
(52) and uttered by him at the second funeral ceremony for his wife
Tersveli. The other was also composed by Teitnir for the first funeral
ceremony of Pidrvan (9) of Kars.
The Toda name for these laments is kunedstkin or kunedsti, and certain
men have great reputations as composers both for funerals and on other
occasions, and Teitnir was one of these. The following is the lament
for Tersveli:—
Iza kûgh ia, [164] iza kutei, atâth atia, pervoth
O woman oh! O woman, not born before you were born, renowned
perpia, pûv îrsimitch ia pûv elet ia,
you were born, flower lime oh! flower (a bush) oh!
kavath kud katethik, patath kud patiathenk,
proper husband (?) found you married, proper wife found I married,
tevukhk nurs îr notei kadrthenk,
(kwarzam of Piedr) to beautiful buffalo looked I gave,
âtthkark nurs mokh notei patiathenk, kuteia mun
(kwarzam of Kuudr) to beautiful woman looked I married, built house
kutenathuk, kokiji [165] kis narsiathûk kûter
we built, imitation bracelets made we played, imitation buffalo horns
kis narsiathûk, âr mokh puchiathûk, âr îr tû
made we played, six children we would produce, six buffalo pen
odethûk, orppasan (?) oithîk pudrkwadr ners oithîk,
we would enjoy, liberal you were, umbrella tree shade you were,
irom ed ithotkûk, pukkom ed peithûk, kalav
we will live that we thought, we will go together that we went, strong
îr kadathûk, pûa tadri pusiathûk tudm athi ed kadrtethûk, udi
buffalo we bought, ? pole we beat, fine it is that we gave, have
athi ed kadrtethûk, kutei ath kotei peithûk, keirtith
it is that we gave, built bungalow we went, running waters
keir peithûk, ö katcheri peithûk, ö kapel peithûk
reservoir we went, seven courts (law) we went, seven ships we went,
pedrk muri ituthûk, pash it pudth kisthûk pudth
Tamil to complaints we spoke, words spoke prize we won (made), prize
it pudth kisthûk, ûkudrem ed thûk, kan
spoke prize we won, we will not be shaken that we said, eye
udjem ed thûk, mûn ânem ed thûk, en it
we will not fear that we said, face ? that we said, me here
puchvînia, en it pîshvînia, purs kan nîr pîrevînen, purs
keep you went, me here leave you went, right eye water I shed, right
metûvi kurseivînen, patnenk kanânen, pesoduthenk
nostril I smart, I bewailed I could not find, I called out
kanânen, enk ud swâmi aivînen. [166]
I could not find, to me one god I have.
The free translation of this is as follows:—
“O woman of wonderful birth, renowned were you born, O flower, lime, O
flower, tree. Having found a proper husband you married; having found a
proper wife I married. I gave my best buffalo to Piedr for you. I took
you as a beauty to Kuudr. A house we built, bracelets and buffalo horns
we made in sport. I thought we should have had many children and many
buffaloes should we have enjoyed. Liberal you were and refreshing like
the shade of the umbrella tree. We thought that we should live long. We
went together as we willed. We bought strong buffaloes and we prevailed
over injustice. Peacefully we paid our fine. We lent to those that had
not. We went to see the bungalows and the reservoir. Many courts we
visited and ships also. We laid complaints before the native
magistrate; we made bets and we won. We said that we would not be
shaken and would fear the eye of no one. We thought to live together,
but you have left me alone, you have forsaken me. My right eye sheds
tears, my right nostril smarts with sorrow. I bewailed but could not
find you. I called out for you and could not find you. There is one God
for me.”
This translation is based partly on the literal meanings of the
kwarzam, partly on explanations and renderings given to Samuel by
Teitnir. The dead wife was a Piedr woman and the husband a Kuudr man.
The mention of injustice refers to trouble which arose when other men
wished to take his wife from Teitnir. The visits to bungalows, &c.,
probably refers to a time when Teitnir and his wife lived in Ootacamund
under the protection of the Zenana Mission. The ships must be purely
imaginary on Teitnir’s part, unless he is referring to boats on the
lake at Ootacamund. The numbers six and seven are those generally used
for ‘many’ under ordinary conditions, and there is a clause towards the
end which probably refers to the evil eye. Teitnir was under, or
pretended to be under, missionary influence, and his reference to “one
God” at the end is certainly due to this.
The following is the lament composed by Teitnir for Pidrvan:—
Epukers ia! elipukers ia! Pedth tedshk îr ia! Pekh
Kwarzam of maiir oh! kwarzam of maiir oh! rattan ring buffalo oh! ?
kudeik kinim ia! peivalei muk ia! keiveli mêdr ia! kapasth kal ia!
? plate oh! ? ? oh! necklace neck oh! trousers leg oh!
kûdukatith kûdr ia! âna metu ia! arshan mudr ia! etamâv ia!
car horn oh! elephant foot oh! European walk oh! sambhar oh!
nurs îrk kan âkithenk, kalochikum ed thînk,
beautiful buffalo to eye I kept, old woman to (?) that they said,
kalòlkum ed thînk inâtvidshti inâtvan, iza kâra ö
old man to (?) that they said, kwarzam of Kars clan, O chief seven
vûr kada, pûrvunkâra! pudrvantol [167] ia! kavatkâra!
village chief, conqueror oh! peace-loving man oh! strong man oh!
Kavanadi pali put oia! tû vut tüli ia! atâth ud
Kavanadi dairy carried oh! pen carried posts oh! not born before one
atithîk, pervoth ud pertithîk, pûa kûtm paneithîk
you were born, renowned one you were born, ? council you held,
saver òkithîk, ter ud òlk edstethîk mokh ud
money fine you imposed, buffalo fine one man to you told, girl one
òlk kisethîk, maiîr kodtk peithîk, pîrer
to man you made, barren buffaloes in the midst you went, buffalo
nòdik peithîk pudr òdichi peithîk, pan
to the neck you went, chosen number beat you went, chosen number
ertevîthîk, kal òt òdithîk peiveli pileidik ninth ud
you ran before, leg dance you danced ? ? your one
kalvi kisethîk, ninth ud kek kisethîk, id kan mûn
new things you made, your one invention you made, to-day eye face
âvini, Kars kazun podstha? parsners podstha?
I saw, Kars kazun has it come? kwarzam of kazun has it come?
methkûdis mai kooisivini âzâratrs kargh patevini. [168]
burning-place at ashes heaped, azaram at grass grew up.
The first part of this lament begins with the kwarzam of the maiir, or
barren buffalo, slaughtered at the funeral. It is not quite clear which
of the clauses at the beginning refer to the buffalo and which to the
man. I do not know the meaning of the second clause. The free rendering
of the third and fourth was said to be, “Your horns crept so well; your
horns crept well to the front.” The general sense of the other clauses
was said to be as follows: “O, your leg like trousers, your horns like
a car, your foot is like that of an elephant, you walk with a step like
a European soldier, your appearance is like that of a sambhar. I saw
you were the most beautiful buffalo of all.” It seems probable that the
lament so far refers altogether to the buffalo. Then follows, “They
said that you would be the parent of the dead, but now you are dead
yourself”; or, “When old people are yet alive, why are young ones
taken?” Then follows the kwarzam of the Kars clan, and the rest
obviously refers to Pidrvan himself: “O chief of many villages,
conqueror, peace-loving and yet strong man. You were like Kavanadi, who
carried the posts of the buffalo-pen. [169] O man of wonderful birth,
renowned you were born; you held councils; you fined some by money and
some by buffaloes; you settled who should marry the women. In the midst
of barren buffaloes you went; you caught the throats of the buffaloes;
you ran first and caught the buffaloes before the chosen men; well you
danced and shouted finely; you invented new things. To-day for the last
time I saw your face. Has the angel of death come to you? I see nothing
but ashes in your burning-place. In your azaram place I see nothing but
grass growing.”
PURIFICATION CEREMONIES
Certain further ceremonies are performed about the time of the first
new moon after the marvainolkedr.
At one or both of the funerals of a Tarthar man a sacred buffalo will
have been killed by the wursol and the sacred bell (mani) will have
been used. By his acts at the funeral the wursol loses his office, and
by its use on the same occasion the mani is defiled. On the day before
the new moon following the funeral all the things in the dairy of the
wursol are thrown away. Either a new dairyman is appointed and goes
through the usual rites, or the old wursol is re-appointed and has to
repeat his ordination ceremonies. This is done on the Sunday after the
new moon, which is the proper day for the ordination of a wursol,
exactly the same ceremonies being performed as those described in
Chapter VII. The old wursol puts the mani in the dairy stream (pali
nipa), and if he is not re-appointed, his duties then cease. The new
wursol, or the old wursol who has undergone new ordination ceremonies,
takes the mani from the stream and purifies it by rubbing it all over
with pounded tudr bark and water. He then takes the bell to the dairy,
which is now empty, finds a new stick on which to hang it, and puts
both stick and bell in their proper place on the patatmar. Then the new
dairy vessels are purified and put in their places in the usual manner.
This purification of the dairy is not done by the Teivaliol, and seems
to be only necessary when the mani and the dairyman who looks after it
have been defiled by the funeral ceremonies. In the case of the
Nòdrsol, the mani between the two funeral ceremonies is kept at Nòdrs,
and is taken back to Òdr on the Sunday after the new moon following the
second funeral, and it is at Òdr that the purification takes place.
Similarly the Kars mani is returned from Taradrkirsi to Kars on this
day. I was told that the pepkaricha ceremony of making new pep is
performed after the funeral of a man among the Tartharol, and it seems
as if this new appointment of a dairyman and this use and purification
of new dairy vessels are regarded as a form of the pepkaricha ceremony.
Another ceremony which takes place after the marvainolkedr is designed
to purify the places used during the funeral rites and especially the
azaram. This ceremony is called kertnòdrkarchpimi “funeral place we
purify,” or mutnolnòdrvusthpimi, “new moon day place (or ceremony) we
keep.” On the day of the new moon following the second funeral two men
of the same clan as the deceased take a buffalo in the early morning
from the pen to a spot about half a mile from the village. They wait
there till about eleven o’clock, and then kill the buffalo by striking
it on the head with a stone. They draw blood from one side of the
animal and mix the blood with earth in a basket. The Teivaliol and
Melgarsol add tudr bark to the earth and blood. The mixture is then
taken to the funeral places and scattered over the spots where the
buffalo was caught and killed, where the dead body or the narskedr had
lain at the two funerals, at the methkudi and the azaram. If the places
for the etvainol- and marvainol-kedr are different and far distant from
one another, the spots used at the former may be omitted, but the most
important place which must always be purified in this way is the
azaram. In any case this place is the last to be purified, and the men
then throw away the basket and go straight back to their village, where
they bathe and take food, having fasted till this time.
This ceremony is only performed after the funerals of males. The
buffalo killed is called the nòdrvusthpir. The Teivaliol and Melgarsol
use a male buffalo calf for the purpose; the Tartharol, other than the
Melgarsol, use an adult female buffalo.
No use is made of the flesh of the animal; the body is left where it
falls and is not given to the Kotas.
After a funeral, the members of the Tarthar clans, except the
Melgarsol, shave their heads, but this is not done either by the
Melgarsol or Teivaliol. I did not inquire fully into this matter, and
do not know what regulations there are in connexion with the practice,
or whether it is regarded as purificatory.
THE FUNERALS OF CHILDREN
The body of a still-born child is buried at the same time as, and
together with, the afterbirth, without any ceremonial. In one case
which occurred during my visit, this was done by the woman who assisted
at the delivery. The body was buried in the early morning on the day on
which the mother underwent the ceremonies attending removal to the
seclusion-hut.
If a child less than two years of age dies, both funerals are held on
one day. The etvainolkedr takes place in the morning, the marvainolkedr
in the afternoon; a buffalo is killed at each, and the azaramkedr is
held on the following morning as usual. If the child is very young,
less than a month old, a male buffalo only may be killed, but if the
father chooses, two buffaloes may be killed as at the funeral of an
adult.
Thus, the child of Piliag and Sintagars (52) died while the mother was
in the seclusion-hut, and two ordinary buffaloes were killed. On this
occasion, the two funerals were held on the same day as that on which
the child died, owing to the death having taken place on one of the
appointed days for a funeral of the clan. When the youngest child of
Podners (47) died, only one male buffalo was killed for both
ceremonies.
When a male child dies who has not cut his teeth nor been through the
ear-piercing ceremony, the funeral is not held at the usual funeral
place for males, but at another. Thus the Karsol do not take the body
of such a child to Taradrkirsi but to a place called Punpali.
When I attended the funeral of a girl named Sinerani (52), the daughter
of Kuriolv of Kuudr, both ceremonies were performed on the same day,
and a number of incidents occurred which were very interesting as
illustrations of many of the practices which have been described
throughout this chapter. The child was about two years old and had not
yet been betrothed, but as soon as she was dead it was arranged that
she should marry her matchuni, Keinba (68), a little boy about four
years of age, the son of her mother’s brother, and this boy occupied a
prominent position among those taking part in the funeral rites. Owing
to the marriage of the dead child to this boy, the dead child would
come to be one of his clan, the Keadrol, and there seemed to be no
doubt that, according to strict custom, the funeral should have been
held at the funeral place of this clan. Kuriolv, however, arranged that
the funeral should take place at Kurkalmut, the funeral place for women
of the Kuudrol, but as the girl did not properly belong to this clan
the funeral hut was not erected within the circle of stones at this
place, but outside it.
The beginning of the funeral ceremonies was delayed for some time
because the little boy, Keinba (Fig. 57), had to be taken by his
father, Perpakh, in search of the wood and grass out of which to make
the bow and arrow to be used in the pursütpimi ceremony, and they had
to go far to find the proper plants for the manufacture of the mimic
weapon.
After this delay the ceremonial took its natural course till the
buffalo which had been caught by the Taradr men was being taken to the
place appointed for its slaughter by the side of the funeral hut. The
people had great difficulty in making the buffalo move, and at last it
lay down on a boggy piece of ground, and the efforts of all failed to
make it go further. The diviners, Midjkudr and Mongudrvan, were then
called upon to ascertain the cause of the obstinacy of the buffalo, and
then followed the performance which I have already described (see p.
252).
The reasons given by Midjkudr were not very clear, and there seemed to
be a good deal of doubt as to what he had really said, but the
following appeared to be the chief reasons given:—
The buffalo, Kursi, which had delayed the proceedings, was the property
of Kuriolv and was descended from a buffalo which had belonged to
Teitchi, Kuriolv’s grandfather. Since this buffalo was thus family
property, it should go to the sons, and ought not to be killed for a
daughter, and especially for one who now belonged to another clan.
Kuriolv ought to have used a buffalo which he had acquired in his own
lifetime. Midjkudr went on to say that Kuriolv, having done wrong, must
pay compensation to the dead, and told him to give the buffalo named
Perov. As a sign that he would do so, Kuriolv performed the
kalmelpudithti salutation to Perner, the grandfather of Keinba and also
through Sintharap, of the dead girl.
Another reason given was that the buffalo had been caught at the wrong
place—viz., at the place where it ought to be caught at the funeral of
a male. I only heard of this reason a few days later, and I do not know
whether it was one of the reasons given by Midjkudr or whether it was a
later surmise. A third reason was that Perner and Tebner, his brother,
had been on bad terms; and to put this right Tebner, the younger,
performed the kalmelpudithti salutation to Perner.
The next special feature of the ceremony took place after the buffalo
had been killed and before the kachütthti ceremony. Keinba knelt down
before Kuriolv and Piliag and the two men touched the head of the boy
with their feet, thus accepting him as the husband of Sinerani. Then
followed the pursütpimi ceremony. The mantle covering the dead child
was opened, her right hand unclenched, and Keinba placed the little bow
and arrow in the hand, and the fingers of the dead child were closed
over the bow so that they held it as they would have done in life. Then
the bow was taken out of the hand, placed on the breast of the child,
and the mantle was again folded over her. Teitnir, the half-brother of
Kuriolv, who had now become the paiol of Keinba, came up and covered
the head of the boy with his putkuli as a sign that he was a widower,
and then Teitnir and Keinba put their foreheads together and cried.
After crying together for a while, Teitnir touched Keinba’s head with
his foot. Then Sintharap, the mother of Sinerani, gave grain and
jaggery and limes to Keinba, who put them in the pocket of the mantle
of the dead child. Sintharap and Keinba then cried together, and
Sintharap touched Keinba’s head with her foot.
After the cloth-giving ceremony, the body was taken to the burning
place, and Keinba mixed honey and grain in a metal bowl; when Keinba
began to stir the grain and honey he put his right arm out from above
his cloak as usual, but was speedily corrected and made to put out his
hand from below the cloak in the manner proper for a widower.
The wrists of the girl were burnt as in the urvatpimi ceremony, the
burning being done by Silkidz (53), the wife of a younger brother of
Perpakh, Keinba’s father, and, before her marriage, like Sinerani, one
of the Kuudrol. Silkidz also lighted the pyre.
In spite of the results of his previous infringement of funeral law,
Kuriolv made a further departure from orthodox custom in burning on the
pyre imitation buffalo horns, which should only be burnt at the
funerals of males. Then after being swung over the flames as usual, the
body was placed on the pyre.
Less than half an hour later, and long before the body could have been
consumed, the marvainolkedr began, and passed off without any special
incident. Another buffalo was caught and killed and laid by the side of
a mantle containing hair which had been cut from the head of the dead
child by Keinba. The mantle should also have contained a piece of
skull, but the body had not been sufficiently consumed to procure this,
and so the hair alone was held to be sufficient.
Later a distribution of grain took place, and those who were to take no
part in the azaramkedr on the following morning went to their homes.
At another funeral of an unmarried girl, Olidzeimi (21), the ceremony
of pursütpimi was performed by the boy Pulgudr (38), who had been
married in infancy to the girl. He was her matchuni, being the son of
Teijer, the sister of Parkeidi, Olidzeimi’s father. On this occasion
Pulgudr said to his father-in-law, Parkeidi, three times,
“pursadikina?”—“Shall I touch (with the) bow?” and Parkeidi replied
each time, “Pursad!”—“Touch with the bow!” Then Pulgudr put the bow and
arrow into the hand of the dead girl, and Parkeidi covered Pulgudr’s
head with the cloak, and the boy put grain, jaggery, and limes into the
pocket of the cloak of Olidzeimi. At the funeral of Sinerani, Keinba
did not say the proper formula, probably because he was too young.
FUNERAL CONTRIBUTIONS
In the old days, when a large number of buffaloes were slaughtered at
the funerals, and especially at the marvainolkedr, it was the rule that
every manmokh, or sister’s son, should supply a buffalo, while in the
case of a child it seemed that buffaloes were sometimes given by the
mun or mother’s brother.
Buffaloes were also given by the husbands of the daughters of a man,
whether they were the manmokh of the man or not. They might be given by
other relatives, but it seemed that the gift was especially a duty of
the manmokh and paiol. The mokhthodvaiol of a woman should also
contribute a buffalo for her second funeral.
At the present time the limitation of the number of buffaloes which may
be slaughtered has removed the necessity for these gifts, but it still
remains the custom for one of the buffaloes to be supplied by the
manmokh or some corresponding relative, or, at any rate, it seems to be
usual for one buffalo to be supplied by relatives of a man on the male
side, and the other by relatives on the female side; thus, at the
funeral of Sinerani (52) one buffalo was given by Kuriolv, the father
of the dead child, and the other by Perner (68), the father of the
child’s mother, and also the grandfather of her husband.
Contributions in money may be made by any relative, and all those who
have married into the family of the deceased, even if only boys, should
contribute eight annas or a rupee towards the general expenses, this
custom being called tinkanik panm ûtpimi. The mokhthodvaiol of a woman
should contribute at least five rupees to the expenses of the second
funeral.
The ceremony of kachütthti (see p. 358) also involves a payment from
his sons-in-law to a man of the same clan as the dead man. The money is
not paid, however, till the woman who places the cloths on the body has
attended twenty funerals and is, therefore, probably not paid at all in
many cases, but it may be regarded as tribute from those who have
married into a family at each death in the family.
The contributions of buffaloes and money from a man to the relatives of
his wife are called pòdri.
Contributions of food are received from various relatives, who also
contribute certain of the objects used for the adornment of the body.
Each relative gives a waist-string called pennar, made of black and
white thread, which is put round the body of the corpse. That given by
a manmokh is exceptionally honoured in that it is tied round the body
inside the mantle together with that given by the son of the deceased,
those given by other relatives being put outside the mantle.
Many of the necessaries for the funerals are provided by the Kotas. The
part they take as the musicians has been already mentioned. In addition
they provide for the first funeral the cloak (putkuli) in which the
body is wrapped, and grain (patm or samai) to the amount of five to ten
kwa. They give one or two rupees towards the expenses, and if they
should have no grain their contribution of money is increased.
At the marvainolkedr their contributions are more extensive. They
provide the putkuli, together with a sum of eight annas for the
decoration of the cloak by the Toda women. They give two to five rupees
towards the general expenses and provide the bow and arrow, basket
(tek), knife (kafkati), and the sieve called kudshmurn. The Kotas
receive at each funeral the bodies of the slaughtered buffaloes, and
are also usually given food. The method by which these contributions
from the Kotas to the Todas are regulated will be considered in Chapter
XXVII.
AMNÒDR
Amnòdr [170] is the other world of the Todas to which the dead go. It
lies to the west and is lighted by the same sun as this world. The sun
goes there when it sinks to the west so that when it is dark on the
Nilgiris it is light in Amnòdr, and when it is dark in Amnòdr it is
light on the Nilgiris. When Kwoto tied down the sun it was dark in both
worlds and the people of Amnòdr complained (see p. 206) and joined with
those of this world in the request that the sun should be restored to
its proper place. Amnòdr is considered to be below this world, and this
was given as the reason why the dead used to be burnt face downwards.
It will be remembered also that Ön was looking downwards when he saw
his son Püv in Amnòdr (see p. 185).
Amnòdr is presided over by the god Ön, who went there after the death
of his son Püv, and it is often called Önnòdr after him, while this
world, presided over by the goddess Teikirzi, is known as Inanòdr or
Eikirzinòdr. [171] The people of Amnòdr or Önnòdr are known as the
Amatol. Formerly the Todas used to go freely to and fro between Amnòdr
and Eikirzinòdr, but this was stopped owing to the behaviour of Kwoto,
and since his time only the dead go to Amnòdr and they do not return.
The Amatol live in much the same way as the inhabitants of this world.
They have their buffaloes and their dairies, and the daily life of the
people appears to be much like that of the living Todas. As the people
walk about, however, they wear down their legs. They have to walk every
day, and when a man has worn down his legs as far as the knees Ön sends
him back to this world as another man.
Ön will not allow any pigs or rats to enter Amnòdr, as they would root
up and spoil the country.
Dead people travel to Amnòdr by well-defined routes, which are
different for Tartharol and Teivaliol, while the Taradrol have a
separate Amnòdr for their clan.
The dead do not set out for Amnòdr till after the second funeral,
taking with them the things burnt at the azaramkedr. Both Tartharol and
Teivaliol journey westwards towards the Kundahs and cross the Pakhwar
or Avalanche river at the same spot.
The paths for the two divisions then diverge. The Tartharol go by a
place called Katchâr, while the Teivaliol go by Kusheigûdr, situated by
the bridle path now leading from Avalanche Bungalow to Avalanche Top.
Whenever a Teivali man passes this spot for the first time he throws
three stones called oviônikârs. Similarly, a Tarthar man passing
Katchâr for the first time throws three stones in the same way. At the
top of the hill there is a spot at which every Toda salutes (kaimukhti)
in all directions.
The two paths meet again at a stone called Nidzmûtkârs (hot knock
stone). When the dead Todas reach this stone they knock on it, and in
so doing lose all their love of this world. They proceed and reach the
stone called Panîpikârs, on which also they knock, and by so doing lose
all their diseases and become strong again, so that they are sound and
vigorous when they reach Amnòdr.
After knocking on Panîpikârs, the dead pass a wood called Katiârnpül,
in which there is a tree called main, and as they go they make a cut on
this tree with the kafkati or knife burnt with them, and Todas who pass
by Katiârnpül on the day after a funeral have often seen the newly made
cut on the main tree. For women there is another place in the wood
called Patkadipem, and here the woman pounds with the wask burnt at her
azaramkedr.
On proceeding the dead Todas come to a ravine and river called
Püvûrkin, near Sisapara. Across this river there is a thread bridge,
and those who have been bad Todas during life fall into the river and
are bitten by leeches (püv or püf). The people who cross the thread
bridge successfully go straight to Amnòdr, but those who fall are
helped out of the river by the people of Padrmukhteir (crowd plain
swamp), who belong to all tribes and live on the further bank of
Püvûrkin. The people of Padrmukhteir may keep the offending Todas in
their country for some time. The greater their offences, the longer are
they kept, but all, however bad, reach Amnòdr sooner or later.
The following are the people who fall into Püvûrkin:—(a) the karainol,
selfish people; (b) the kashtvainol, jealous and grudging people; (c)
the kaspivainol, those who have committed any offences against the
dairy, whether pali or poh.
The danger of falling into Püvûrkin does not seem to have much
influence on the people. It has been spoken of as the Toda Hell, but it
is rather a mild variety of Purgatory, and only involves some
discomfort and delay on the journey to the next world. The people of
Kavidi in the Wainad may travel direct to Amnòdr without going over
Püvûrkin at all, and they run no danger from this source, however bad
they may have been.
The people of Taradr are said to have a separate Amnòdr near Külvari or
Perithi, and they do not travel by Nidzmûtkârs or by Panîpikârs, nor do
they cross Püvûrkin. They have no dangers by the way, and however
wicked they may have been they go to their Amnòdr in security. Men,
women and buffaloes all follow the same path.
ORIGIN OF FUNERAL CUSTOMS
The various funeral customs are said to have been partly ordained by
Teikirzi. The following story is given as the account of their origin:—
At first no Toda died. After a time a Piedr man died at the village of
Erparskòdr. He died in his hut and the Todas took his body to the
funeral place, but on the way they laid it by a heap of stones between
Erparskòdr and Umgas. The stones are still to be seen, and are called
Möditikars. [172] While the body lay by these stones, some of the
people were weeping bitterly; others were dancing and singing, and
others were going to drive buffaloes. Teikirzi, who saw the people
weeping, took pity and came to bring the dead man back to life. When
she came to the place she found that though some of the people were
crying, others seemed quite happy. She liked what she saw, and decided
not to raise the dead man, so she went away and ordained that in the
future some should cry at funerals and others should be happy, and her
laws as to the conduct of the funeral ceremonies have been followed
ever since.
Then the people took up the dead body and went on to Kûrûvòrs, near
Umgas, where they performed the funeral ceremonies.
In the various complicated ceremonies described in this chapter there
are certain features which may be briefly discussed.
There is no doubt that the buffaloes killed at the funeral are supposed
to go to Amnòdr with the dead person. Sacred buffaloes are only killed
at the funerals of men, for they would be useless to women, who, in the
next world as in this, have nothing to do with dairies at which the
sacred buffaloes must be tended. There is no evidence that the
slaughter of buffaloes is in any way a propitiatory sacrifice, and
there seems to be a very marked absence of anything resembling prayer
or other forms of appeal to higher powers in the funeral ceremonies.
[173]
Dairymen take part in the funeral ceremonies, but chiefly in connexion
with the sacred buffaloes. The highest kind of dairyman, the palol, has
no duties whatever, and loses his office if he takes part merely as a
visitor. At Tarthar funerals the wursol has important duties, chiefly
connected with the sacred buffaloes and with the mani, which is hung
round their necks. He also takes the chief part in the koòtiti and
accompanying ceremonies of the second funeral, probably because the
sacred tudr bark is used. In one rite there is no obvious reason why
the wursol should play a part—viz., in that of throwing earth. As this
ceremony, however, is of especial importance, it suggests that formerly
dairymen may have had more to do with funeral ceremonies than is the
case at present.
Among the Teivaliol, the palikartmokh has less important functions. He
probably kills the sacred buffaloes, though on this point I am not
certain. Only one Teivali clan possesses a mani which is used at a
funeral, and it is noteworthy that, though the bell is removed from its
hiding place (see p. 354) by the palikartmokh, it is taken to the
funeral and hung on the neck of the buffalo by a Tarthar man belonging
to the Nòdrs clan.
The facts that the wursol takes part in the funerals of men; that
sacred buffaloes are killed; that dairies are used in these funerals,
and that the funeral hut of a man is always called pali or dairy, even
when built for the occasion, all bring the funeral ceremonies of men
into connexion with the religious dairy ceremonial of the Todas. On the
other hand, even in those cases in which a dairy is used as a funeral
hut, the dairyman of that dairy has nothing to do with the funeral
ceremonies; thus, at Nòdrs the dairy in which the body of a dead man is
laid is the tarvali, but the tarvalikartmokh has no duties in connexion
with the funeral, and does his dairy work as usual, while it is the
dairyman of the conical poh, the wursol who takes an active part in the
funeral rites.
The earth-throwing ceremony is of especial interest, because it would
seem to be a relic of burial. Earth is thrown three times on the corpse
before it is burnt. In connexion with the idea that the ceremony is a
relic of a previous stage, in which the Todas buried their dead, it may
be mentioned that a ceremony with some points of similarity is
performed at the funerals of the Hill Arrians of the Western Ghats,
[174] who bury their dead. A man of the same clan as the deceased takes
a new cloth and tears from it a narrow strip which he fastens upon
himself. He then goes backwards to the place fixed for the grave and
digs with a hoe, removing three hoes full of earth. In this ceremony he
is said to be calling on the earth to give up six feet for the dead.
There is a suggestive resemblance between the ceremonies performed by
these two hill tribes of South-west India, which lends some support to
the view that the earth-throwing ceremony of the Todas is a relic of
inhumation.
It perhaps may be regarded as a fact inconsistent with this view that
the earth-throwing ceremony is performed at both funerals, and again
the throwing of earth into a buffalo pen is so essential a feature that
it is possible the whole ceremony may have some other meaning.
It is tempting to extend the conjecture by supposing that the dead were
at one time buried in the tu or buffalo pen, but there is, as far as I
know, no evidence that this was ever done by the Todas or by any other
Indian tribe. Unless, indeed, the azaram is the representative of a tu,
in which case the burial of the ashes at the entrance of the azaram may
be a survival of a time when the body was buried at the entrance of a
pen.
The custom of burning the hut at a woman’s funeral is probably a
survival of the common custom of burning the house of a dead person,
but it is possible that in the case of the Todas this may have been
associated with the belief that the hut would be useful in the next
world. The funeral hut of a man is not burnt, and this is almost
certainly because it is, or represents, a dairy. The motive for the
burning of the house of a dead person is probably to remove a place
which the ghost may haunt, and the sanctity of the dairy was probably
such as to render this precaution unnecessary after the death of a man.
The Toda custom of cremating their dead is accompanied by a belief that
the dead go to a distant spirit-world. It seems quite certain that the
Todas believe that the dead do not set out on their journey to the next
world till after the second funeral ceremonies, but I am not at all
clear what is supposed to become of the spirits of the dead in the
interval between the two ceremonies. The spirit of a Melgars man during
the interval is said to be a kazun or malignant spirit, but I was
unable to obtain a full account of the Toda belief about the kazun, nor
was I able to find out whether there is any belief in the malignity of
the spirits of the dead of other clans. [175] That such spirits are
impure is, I think, shown conclusively by the impurity of the relics of
the dead and of all those who have been in contact with them. The
intense objection to the sacred ti buffaloes or their guardians coming
into relation, however indirectly, with the relics is evidence of the
belief in the impurity, if not in the malignity, of the spirits of the
dead between the two funeral ceremonies.
There is one rite which seems to point to the influence of the spirits
of the dead on the living, and this is the obscure ceremony of
tersamptpimi, which is performed on the day after the marvainolkedr of
a Tarthar man (see p. 333). The ceremony consists in cutting a lock of
hair from a young child. One obvious explanation would be furnished if
we supposed that the spirits of the dead are malignant and that the
ceremony was postponed till after the spirit had set out on his journey
to Amnòdr, but there are two objections to this explanation. If the
Todas had had this in their minds, they would have said that the
ceremony might not be performed while there was kedr among the
Tartharol, i.e., while the funeral ceremonies of a Tarthar man were
still incomplete. For the tersamptpimi ceremony, however, it seems that
a child has to wait till after a marvainolkedr even if there has been
no recent death among the Tartharol. Further, if the proposed
explanation had been correct, there is no reason why the karvnol, or
day immediately after the funeral, should have been appointed for the
ceremony. The fact that this day is prescribed points rather to some
beneficial influence which it is hoped may emanate from the dead.
CHAPTER XVII
SACRED DAYS AND NUMBERS
We have seen that nearly every Toda ceremony has its appointed day or
days, and that the choice of these is often dependent on another Toda
institution, the sacred day, either of the village or of the dairy.
Every clan has certain days of the week on which people are restricted
from following many of their ordinary occupations, although they are
not the occasions of any special ceremonies. These sacred days are the
madnol or village day, and the palinol or dairy day. Another occasion
to which the same kinds of restriction apply is the arpatznol, the day
of the week corresponding to that on which the father of a man has
died.
THE MADNOL AND PALINOL
The madnol is literally the village day. Each village has its madnol,
and in some cases it would seem that different villages of a clan might
have different madnol, but in general the madnol is the same for the
whole clan.
Certain things may not be done on the madnol:—
(i) ponkisthògadi, a feast may not be given (lit. feast may not divide,
i.e., food must not be shared out).
(ii) kêdrvîtògadi, funeral ceremonies may not be performed.
(iii) kwadrtògadi, nothing may be given (from the village). Since
buying implies the departure of money from the village, a secondary
consequence is that nothing may be bought on the madnol, but if
anything is given to an inhabitant of the village, he may bring it into
the village on this day.
(iv) Women may not leave the village, nor may women from other places
come to the village.
(v) The people may not bathe nor cut their nails on the madnol, and the
men may not shave. Clothes may not be washed, nor may the usual
cleansing of the house with buffalo-dung be done. The ordinary meals
may be prepared, but the people must not cook rice with milk.
(vi) The stone called tukitthkars may not be touched.
(vii) The dairyman may not leave the village, and the ordination
ceremonies of a dairyman may not take place on this day.
(viii) The people may not migrate from one village to another, nor may
the buffaloes be taken from one place to another.
Among the Teivaliol the madnol is the only sacred day of the week, but
among the Tartharol there is also a dairy day or palinol, and if there
is more than one dairy there may be one such holy day for each kind of
dairy, each named after the dairy, the wursulinol, the kudrpalinol, or
the tarvalinol. Similarly, Taradr has a kugvalinol and Kanòdrs a
pohnol.
On these days milk and ghi may not be given out from the dairy, nor may
they be sold. Butter and buttermilk may be distributed, but only to the
people of the village. Buffaloes may not be driven on these days. Women
may not leave the village, though women of other villages are allowed
to come. Cleansing with buffalo-dung must not be done. There was some
difference of opinion as to whether money might leave the village on
these days. Some said not, but it seemed clear that at Kars money might
be taken from the village on the palinol. The rules were said to be the
same for the holy days of all kinds of dairy.
There are various recognised methods of evading the rules for the holy
days, and of avoiding the inconvenience which the regulations might
entail on a village.
Money may be taken out of the village on the day before the madnol and
buried or left in some spot where it can be found on the following day,
so that if there is an urgent reason why a purchase should be completed
on the holy day this can be done.
Similarly, women who wish to leave the village on a holy day do so
before daybreak. They wait outside the village till the sun is up, then
return to the village, have their meals and do any necessary work, and
may then leave. Having left the village before daybreak, a woman is
apparently regarded as ceremonially absent during her return to the
village, and by making this false start she is held to be keeping the
law.
If there is an urgent reason why a woman from another village should
come on a madnol, she must arrive after sunset.
If any of these rules are broken, the culprit may have to perform the
ceremony of irnörtiti or one of the other allied rites. It seemed quite
clear, however, that this only happened if some misfortune should
befall the offender, his family, or his buffaloes. It would seem that a
man might habitually and notoriously desecrate the madnol, but no steps
would be taken by himself or the community so long as things went well
with the man. If he should become ill or if his buffaloes should suffer
in any way, he would consult the diviners and they would then certainly
find that his misfortunes were due to his infringement of the laws
connected with the sacred days.
As a matter of fact, it does not happen, so far as I could find, that
anyone habitually infringes the laws, and breaking the madnol or
palinol rarely forms an occasion for the irnörtiti ceremony.
THE ARPATZNOL.
Another sacred day is the arpatznol or arpasnol. This is the day of the
week on which the father of a man has died. The father of Kutadri and
Kòdrner died on a Friday, and every Friday is the arpatznol of these
men. I could not learn definitely what are the restrictions for this
day, but they seem to be of the same kind as those for the madnol,
though I am doubtful whether they are very strictly kept. Kutadri and
Kòdrner once drove their buffaloes from Kars to Isharadr on a Friday;
the buffaloes were sick, and they moved them without thinking that it
was their arpatznol. Soon after Kòdrner fell ill and one of the
buffaloes died, and the teuol found that the desecration of the
arpatznol was one of the causes, though they had also bought things on
a Monday, the madnol of Kars.
There is much variety in the days appointed as the madnol or palinol of
different villages and clans. My records are very incomplete, but they
show the most frequent days to be Wednesday and Friday, which are
sacred in six clans. Sunday is sacred in five clans, Monday and Tuesday
in three, and Thursday in two, while in no clan, so far as my records
go, is Saturday a holy day.
It will have been noticed that funeral ceremonies may not be held on a
madnol, and it seems to be exceptional that funeral ceremonies should
take place on one of the dairy days. There is very little doubt that it
is the prohibition of funerals on village and dairy days which chiefly
determines the choice of funeral days. Thus, at Nidrsi, Wednesday is
the madnol, Monday is the wursulinol, Friday is the tarvalinol, while
the funeral of a male is held on Saturday or Sunday and that of a
female on Tuesday or Thursday. Similarly, the village and dairy days of
Melgars are Monday and Friday, while the funeral days for males are
Sunday and Tuesday, for females Thursday and Saturday. At Kwòdrdoni,
the village and dairy days are Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, the
funeral days Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
In a few cases, it would seem that funerals may be held on dairy days;
thus, at Kars Monday is the madnol, Tuesday the wursulinol, and
Thursday the kudrpalinol, while the funeral days for males are Sundays
and Tuesdays, for females Thursdays and Saturdays. If a mani is used,
however, a male funeral must be held on Sunday, and I suspect that the
holding of a male funeral on Tuesday is an innovation, and probably the
same holds good for the choice of Thursday as a funeral day for
females.
The funeral rites are not the only ceremonies which have their
appointed days. Nearly every ceremonial occasion among the Todas has
its prescribed day, and of these ceremonial days Sunday seems to occupy
an especially favoured position. As many ceremonies are appointed for
this day as for nearly all the other days of the week put together. It
is also the most frequent day for the funerals of males, and it seemed
to me that whenever it was possible this day was chosen.
Several clans, however, have Sunday as the madnol, and if the laws of
this day are observed ceremonies of which feasts form a part could not
be performed on this day in these clans; thus, though I have no
definite information on the point, I have no doubt that the irpalvusthi
ceremony could not be performed.
It so happens that the clans which have Sunday as their madnol or
palinol are Pan, Kanòdrs, Päm, Kwòdrdoni, and Pedrkars, all clans
seated in outlying parts of the hills about which my information is
less complete than in other cases. None of the larger and more
important central clans about whose customs I obtained the fullest
information had either madnol or palinol on a Sunday, and I have very
little doubt that in those clans which have Sunday as a madnol,
ceremonies, at any rate of a festive nature, would not be performed on
this day. There is little doubt that the great prominence of Sunday as
a feast day would have come out less strongly if my information about
the outlying clans had been more complete.
I must leave this point uncertain, but I have little doubt that with
fuller information about the customs of different clans we should find
that the choice of days for ceremonies is chiefly, if not entirely,
determined by the necessity of holding these on some day other than the
madnol or palinol.
At the same time, there can be no doubt that Sunday is one of the days
appointed for a festival or ceremony very frequently, and this is
especially the case at the ti, the procedure of which is to a large
extent uninfluenced by considerations concerned with the madnol and
palinol. Even here, however, these days are not altogether without
influence, for certain ceremonial days at the ti are feast days for the
clan to which the ti belongs, and this would make it necessary that the
ceremonies should not be held on the madnol of the clan. Certain days
were said to be feast-days throughout the whole Toda community, but I
have no knowledge as to how these days would be kept by those clans on
whose madnol they might fall.
Several previous writers, when recording the choice of certain days for
the funeral ceremonies, have ascribed to the Todas a belief in lucky
and unlucky days, in days of good or evil omen. One man, when telling
me that Sunday, Wednesday, and Saturday were days on which the
irpalvusthi ceremony might be performed at the tarvali, referred to
them as lucky days.
I think it is extremely doubtful whether the Toda in general has any
such belief, and if he has, it is probable that the idea is a recent
importation borrowed from the Hindus, among whom the belief in lucky or
unlucky days is of course very prevalent. The distinction among the
Todas is rather into feast and fast days, using the latter term in a
wide sense.
It is possible that the institutions of madnol and palinol have grown
out of the belief in unlucky days; that certain things were not done on
these days because they were unlucky days, and that so there came into
existence a code of rules prescribing what might and what might not be
done.
The chief difficulty in the way of this view is the fact that the
different clans of the Todas have different sacred days. One would
expect lucky and unlucky days to be the same for the whole community.
The sacred days place very definite restrictions on the intercourse
between different clans, and this inconvenience must be increased by
the fact that the different clans have different madnol, and there is
no obvious reason why this difference in the choice of sacred days
should have come about.
The distinction between madnol and palinol is, again, one which can
hardly have grown out of the belief in unlucky days, though perhaps,
given a village day, it is not an unnatural step for the Todas to have
decided that they would have a dairy day also.
Whatever the origin of the laws regulating Toda custom in this respect,
I think there is little doubt that when at the present time a given act
is done or not done on a given day, the action is not based on a belief
in lucky or unlucky days, but, as nearly always among the Todas, on
custom prescribing that the act shall or shall not be done on that day.
There are, however, other restrictions or relaxations connected with
certain days of the week which have probably arisen out of a belief in
lucky and unlucky days.
There is a regulation (now almost a dead letter) that the Todas must
not cross the Paikara and Avalanche rivers on Tuesdays, Fridays, or
Saturdays. Sundays and Wednesdays, on the other hand, are the days on
which the wursol is allowed to sleep in the hut with ordinary people,
and Mondays and Thursdays are the days on which the palol is visited by
Todas other than the mòrol. Such facts suggest that the three days on
which the rivers should not be crossed are unlucky days, but, on the
other hand, the days which I was once told were lucky days included
Saturday. The evidence at our command is conflicting, and does no more
than suggest that the restrictions or relaxations common to the whole
community may be connected with the belief in lucky and unlucky days.
Attention may here be called to the fact that the Todas evidently
regard the first half of the month as most auspicious for their
ceremonies, and it would seem that in most cases the first appropriate
day of the week after the new moon is the proper day for nearly every
Toda ceremonial. I met with no case in which any ceremony was appointed
for the period of the full moon or for the second half of the moon’s
period. At the present, it seems that such ceremonies as those
connected with the migrations of the buffaloes may take place in the
second half of the month, but I have no doubt that this is only a
result of modern laxity.
The definite values assigned to different days of the week is a very
special feature of Toda custom, and in the madnol we have an
institution very closely resembling that of the Sabbath. In a busier
community than that of the Todas, the existence of different madnol for
different clans of the community would soon become a serious obstacle
to carrying on the business of life, and such a community would
probably agree that all clans should have the same holy day. At present
the madnol is undoubtedly more sacred than the other sacred days, and
if the latter were then to be neglected, we should have a community in
which various activities were prohibited on one day of the week, and
the institution so arising would differ very little from the Hebrew
Sabbath. It is possible that the Todas show in an early stage the
institution of a Sabbath in which the whole community has not yet
settled on a single and joint holy day.
SACRED NUMBERS
Certain numbers recur with great frequency in the dairy ceremonial, and
may be regarded as having a special sanctity on this account. There
seems to be a general preference for uneven numbers, and this
preference comes out very strongly in the tesherst ceremony, in which
an uneven number of men must take part on any one occasion. The number
of men performing this ceremony together must be three, five, seven,
nine, &c.
In the dairy ritual the numbers which occur chiefly are three, seven
and nine, but other numbers have also been singled out in other
branches of Toda lore. The numbers which occur in ceremonial may now be
considered in detail.
Three.—A large proportion of the ritual acts of the dairy are performed
three times, usually with the accompaniment of the sacred syllable Oñ
uttered thrice, once with each performance of the act. This three-fold
performance is especially marked in the ceremony of putting milk or
curds on the sacred bells and in the ceremonial drinking of buttermilk.
In the ordination ceremonies, the number occurs less frequently. The
purificatory drinking is always done seven times or some multiple of
seven, but after drinking, the candidate rubs himself three times with
the shoots or bark, and, at the ordination of a palol, the candidate
drinks three times seven on several occasions. Other acts during the
ordination of the palol are also performed thrice, and the same number
occurs in the ordination of the kaltmokh.
Acts are performed thrice with special frequency in the ceremonial of
the ti, and, at the ordinary dairy, this number is especially connected
with the ‘feeding’ of the sacred bell, and there is no doubt that it is
a number regarded as especially sacred. Whenever the sacred syllable Oñ
is used, it is nearly always uttered thrice, and there seems to be a
special association between the number three and this word.
In the erkumptthpimi ceremony three branches of tudr leaves are used,
and they and the log with which the calf is killed are passed round the
body of the animal thrice. Later in the ceremony three pieces of wood
are thrown over the fire.
In the ceremonies connected with childbirth, the woman drinks thrice on
various occasions, in the pursütpimi ceremony the name of the bow is
asked and the answer given three times, and in the ceremony of
name-giving three grains of barley are put into the mouth of the child
and three into his hair.
At the funeral ceremonies, earth is thrown three times on the corpse
and three times into the pen, the body is swung on the fire three
times, and at the final scene of the azaramkedr the man who rings the
bell goes round the burial place of the ashes thrice. Three oviônikârs
are thrown by the man who crosses the pathway of the dead. The number
three is not limited to the dairy ritual, but is of frequent occurrence
in the whole of Toda ceremonial.
The number three also appears in connexion with magical or semi-magical
practices. The various methods of treatment used by the utkòren are
carried out three times and never more frequently than this, and the
sufferer who drinks hot water to allay the effects of fright also does
this thrice. A remedy is probably held to be more potent if repeated
the same number of times as in the case of so many sacred acts.
Five.—This number does not occur in the dairy ceremonial except in
certain ceremonies at the Nòdrs ti which are repeated five times
because there are five groups of buffaloes belonging to this dairy. The
number in this case has, however, no ceremonial significance, and is
merely a consequence of the fact that one palol at this ti has three
groups and the other two groups of buffaloes. The only other occurrence
of the number is at the Kars ti, where the ancient lamp probably had
five cavities, but even this is doubtful.
The number five comes in one place into Toda magic. The sorcerer, who
wishes to injure one who has not granted his request, hides five stones
tied together with hair in the thatch of his enemy’s hut.
Six.—This number does not occur in the dairy ceremonial, but it seems
to be regarded as an auspicious number in some ways. In Teitnir’s
lament for his wife, reference is made to the hope that they might have
had six children and six buffaloes, and in the prayer on the occasion
of the ear-piercing ceremony, one clause runs “may he have six sons.”
Six sticks are used to make the artificial dairy of the hand-burning
ceremony, but this is an obvious result of the fact that the dairy has
to have two rooms.
Seven.—This number is especially prominent in the ordination
ceremonies. The purificatory drinking out of leaf-cups is always done
seven times or some multiple of seven, the palikartmokh drinking seven
times only, the wursol seven times seven, and the palol three times
seven, seven times seven and nine times seven at different periods of
his prolonged ordination ceremonies. At the dairies of Taradr and
Kanòdrs, the number occurs in a different form, seven different kinds
of leaf being used in the purificatory ceremonies.
The number occurs again in connexion with the lamp. At the Nòdrs ti and
at the Pan ti, and possibly at other dairies, there used to be lamps,
each of which had seven cavities and seven wicks. Some of these lamps
have been lost, but two remain at the dairies mentioned. I have already
referred to the fact that some of the ancient lamps were said to have
had five wicks, but it seems clear that in the only two examples which
survive there are seven wicks, and it is possible that this was the
number in all.
Another occurrence of the number seven is in the old dairies of the
Nòdrs clan which had seven rooms. The funeral dairies, which are
undoubtedly very ancient institutions, have three rooms, and the Nòdrs
dairies, also undoubtedly ancient, had seven, but I heard of no case in
which a dairy had four, five, or six rooms.
Outside the dairy ceremonial, the only occurrence of this number is in
the lament of Teitnir for his wife, in which he speaks of their
visiting seven courts and seven ships.
It is perhaps significant that the number seven should be a sacred
number to a people who have so highly developed the cult of different
days of the week. It is possible that the purificatory drinkings of the
ordination ceremonies were at one time performed seven times with the
idea that the candidate was sanctifying himself for each day of the
week, but at the present time it is clear that the act is performed
seven times because this number is prescribed by custom. It would be
interesting to ascertain whether the sanctity of the number seven
occurs predominantly in the religious cults of peoples who have a
seven-day week.
Nine.—This number only occurs in the dairy ceremonial during the
ordination of the palol when the seven-fold purification with tudr is
performed nine times.
Twelve.—I only met with this number once, in the prayer at the
pilinörtiti ceremony, when the expression “12 years” is used as if it
were equivalent to “for ever.”
Sixteen and Eighteen.—The chief interest of these numbers is that they
are used in connexion with the gods. There are said to be 1600, 1800
gods, and these numbers are mentioned in the prayer of the Kanòdrs
dairy and in the legends. The numbers are probably used in the way in
which we should use the word ‘infinite,’ but there must be some reason
why they should have been chosen.
The number 18 occurs in another connexion in the rule that the palol
should perform a certain ceremony after eighteen years of continuous
office.
I have one possible clue to the choice of the number eighteen. The
Todas say that a species of Strobilanth growing on the Nilgiris as a
shrub only flowers once in eighteen years. They call this shrub püvkat,
and it was in flower during the year of my visit. Albert, my
interpreter, had only seen it in flower once or twice, but had not paid
special attention to the duration of the flowering period. The number
of times that several Todas had seen the flowers agreed approximately
with their probable ages. Thus, Kutadri saw the flowers in 1902 for the
third time, having seen them for the first time when he was twelve
years old. This would make his age forty-eight, which seemed from other
sources of information to be approximately correct. The Todas use the
flower as a record of age, and some Todas are reputed to have seen the
flowers seven times, which, taking five years as the age when they were
first seen, would make them over 110 years.
There is another Strobilanth called tirparikat which is said to flower
every twelve years, and another every six. I do not know of any
confirmation of the flowering periods of these plants except the last,
which probably refers to Strobilanthes sexennis.
Whether the Toda belief in the eighteen-year period of the plant they
call püvkat is correct or not, it seems probable that it may have
furnished the suggestion for the special position taken by the number
eighteen in Toda lore.
CHAPTER XVIII
SACRED PLACES AND OBJECTS
The Todas show undoubted signs of reverence to various material
objects. Many of the objects so reverenced have been mentioned
incidentally in the account of the dairy ritual and in other places,
and in this chapter I propose to consider how far these objects are
regarded as sacred, and to give an account of some sacred objects not
hitherto noticed.
Of the various objects of reverence the following are the most
important: hills and rivers; villages, dairies, their thresholds and
contents; bells; the buffalo and its milk; trees and plants; the sun,
fire and light; and stones.
HILLS AND OTHER PLACES.
Any place connected with the gods is reverenced by the Todas, and this
is especially the case with the hills where they dwell. Only some
hills, however, are shown reverence by means of the kaimukhti
salutation. One of these is the hill of Nòtirzi (Snowdon), and every
Toda visiting this hill salutes with hand to forehead in all
directions. Another place where a similar salutation is performed is a
spot at Avalanche Top. When I visited this place with Kutadri he
saluted in all directions with both hands to his face, and told me that
a man who once omitted to do this was killed soon after by a tiger. In
this case I could not learn that Kutadri was saluting any particular
hill or other spot. He seemed to be saluting the region of the Kundahs
on which he was about to enter.
There are doubtlessly other places where the same sign of reverence is
used.
The sanctity of the hills will be further considered in the next
chapter, when discussing in what sense at the present time the gods are
believed to dwell on their summits.
RIVERS
There are two sacred rivers, the Teipakh (Paikara) and the Pakhwar
(Avalanche), both identified with or inhabited by gods. They are the
two largest streams on the Nilgiris, and there are numerous indications
of their sanctity. Every Toda crossing either of these streams must put
his right arm outside his cloak (kevenarut) while he is doing so. The
only exception to this rule is in the case of a widower who is wearing
his cloak over his head, and he shows his respect by putting out his
right hand below the cloak. On cold days the Todas wrap their cloaks
closely around them, and I have often seen them put out their right
arms just before they stepped on the bridge near the Paikara bungalow,
and put them in again with obvious relief the moment they had reached
the other side.
At one time these rivers might only be crossed on certain days of the
week. The Toda believed that if they crossed on a Tuesday, Friday, or
Saturday, consequences might ensue which could only be set right by the
irnörtiti ceremony. This prohibition is no longer in force, but its
influence is still shown in another way.
When two matchuni cross either of these rivers in company they usually
perform a ceremony to be described on p. 501, but this ceremony is
omitted on the three days above mentioned, probably because the people
should not properly be there at all.
The palol may not cross either of the rivers except at certain spots
which are not the places used by ordinary people. In the old days there
were certain fords, and the palol had his own ford. At the present
time, when the Todas habitually cross the Paikara by means of a bridge,
the restriction is put in the form that “the palol may not cross the
river by the bridge.” The kaltmokh also may not cross the river by the
bridge except when he is degraded to the rank of perkursol.
There is a small stream near Nòdrs which may not be crossed at a given
spot, this being the place where Teikirzi is reputed to have shared out
the buffaloes among the Todas.
The only other restriction on crossing water was of a different kind.
One who had been bitten by a snake might not cross a stream, and this
applied to any stream and not only to the two sacred rivers of Teipakh
and Pakhwar.
VILLAGES
It is difficult to distinguish how far the sanctity of a village is due
to its dairy. No village without a dairy is regarded as sacred, but
there is no doubt that the village itself may have some sanctity, and
it is probable that the chief village of a clan which no longer had a
dairy might nevertheless continue to be treated with some degree of
reverence.
Reverence is shown to every village which is called an etudmad, but
this word is used in two senses. The chief village of the clan from
which the people of the clan take their name is the etudmad of the clan
or madol, but the same name is also given to any village to which any
special idea of sanctity attaches, and this is especially marked if its
dairy should possess a mani. The sign of reverence paid to an etudmad
is the salutation called kaimukhti or kaburlti. Whenever a man comes
within sight of one of these villages he purifies his mouth by chewing
some grass, and then salutes the village by placing his hand in front
of his face in the way shown in Fig. 10. The salutation is performed
with the right hand outside the cloak (kevenarut), and if a man is
wearing a turban he will take it off, as is shown in the figure.
When a man salutes in this way he may be two or three miles from the
village, the salutation being made, according to some accounts,
directly the man sees the village, and according to others, not until
he sees the dairy. When my guide Kòdrner was saluting the sacred
village of Kiudr, I could see neither the hut nor the dairy of this
village, though I could see the grove in which I knew them to be. When
going from Ootacamund to Paikara by the bridle path the village of
Taradr is saluted at a spot about two miles from the village in a
straight line.
When a man leaves an etudmad he turns towards the village when it is
about to pass out of view, chews some grass, and salutes in the same
way as on first viewing it. On all the chief routes over the hills the
Todas know the exact spots at which different villages become visible,
and I have noticed that the salutation to a given village has been made
by different Todas and on different occasions from exactly the same
spot.
In a few cases there was some doubt as to whether a given village
should receive the kaimukhti salutation or not. It seemed that there
were certain etudmad more sacred than the rest, and they would be
saluted by every Toda, irrespective of the division or clan to which he
belonged, while in other cases the salutation was only obligatory on
the members of the clan to which the village belonged, though these
villages were often saluted by others who were scrupulous in following
the observances of their people. The villages which must be saluted by
every one are the seventeen chief villages of the clans (excluding
Kidmad and Karsh), and two others, Kiudr and Miuni, the former because
it is a satimad (see p. 421) and the latter because formerly the Toda
gods used to hold their naim or council there. I made a list of the
villages of each clan to which the salutation is paid by the members of
the clan, and found that they were villages with dairies of sanctity,
and in every case, so far as I could tell, villages of great antiquity.
Many of the villages so honoured are mentioned in legend, and I believe
this salutation to be a useful indication that a village is ancient. I
shall have to discuss later whether Kavidi, near Gudalur, in the
Wainad, is an ancient village or one of modern growth, and I attach
importance to the fact that it does not receive the kaimukhti
salutation even from the members of the clan to which it belongs.
Certain villages are called kalolmad, or “old man villages,” where only
buffaloes and men may live. They are usually villages where there is
plenty of grass for the buffaloes, and are in general visited for short
periods. The only explanation which could be given was that owing to
the short time they are occupied it is not worth while to transfer the
whole family to the place. It seemed, however, certain that women were
definitely forbidden to live at these villages—a village where a woman
may live being distinguished as ishnidvaimad—and this suggests that the
institution is based on something more than mere convenience, and that
the villages have some kind of sanctity which makes it undesirable that
women should live in them.
The following are the only existing villages of this kind:—Taradrkirsi,
the male funeral village of Kars; Kudrmas and Telgudr, belonging to
Taradr; Perg, belonging to the Panol; and Pirsush, belonging to Kuudr.
Three of these, Taradrkirsi, Kudrmas, and Pirsush, receive the
kaimukhti salutation, and are certainly ancient and sacred villages,
while there was some doubt as to whether Telgudr should not also be
saluted. The only kalolmad I visited was Taradrkirsi, where there is
now only a dairy, so that there is a clear reason why women cannot live
there, but this did not appear to be the reason at other places.
Again, I could not ascertain why they should be called “old man
villages,” and their existence must, I am afraid, remain a mystery,
though I think we may be confident that there is, or has been in the
past, some ceremonial reason to explain their existence.
Two Todas villages are known as satimad. If a dispute arises between
two men they are taken to the front of the dairy of the satimad, and
are made to state what has happened, and anything a man says under
these conditions will be believed. It is thought that if a man does not
speak the truth, he will fall sick and his buffaloes will die.
According to some accounts there is only one true satimad, the village
of Kiudr, which we have already seen has several signs of especial
sanctity, such as the mention of its house in the prayer, the severe
restrictions on its women during pregnancy, and the homage rendered to
it by Todas of every clan.
According to other accounts the village of Kanòdrs [176] is also a
satimad, and Todas of all clans may be brought there to make
statements. It seems most probable that both places are satimad, but
that the custom of using Kanòdrs as a touchstone of truth is now no
longer followed, Kiudr only being used for this purpose. It will be
remembered that both Kiudr and Kanòdrs have features of dairy ritual
peculiar to themselves, and that in some respects there is a close
resemblance between the ritual of the two places.
In his book written in 1832, [177] Captain Harkness says that the Todas
have a temple dedicated to Truth, but identifies this with a ti dairy
(teriri). It is probable, however, that his statement was based on what
he was told of the satimad, either of Kiudr or Kanòdrs.
THE DAIRY
As we have already seen, there is some doubt whether the reverence paid
to a village is paid to the village as a whole or to the dairy. There
is no doubt, however, that the dairy draws to itself most of the
veneration which a village excites.
Whenever a devout Toda visits a strange village, he goes to the dairy,
and prostrating himself at its threshold, utters a prayer. My ordinary
guide, Kòdrner, was not devout and did not pay this reverence, but his
brother, Kutadri, was very scrupulous in performing these duties,
especially when he went with me to the Kundahs. I could not obtain from
him the prayer that he employed on these occasions.
The contents of the dairy are regarded as sacred, and, as we have seen,
definite means are taken to prevent these objects from contamination by
the gaze or touch of ordinary mortals. Of the objects kept in the dairy
the bells are undoubtedly the most sacred. The most sacred of the
vessels is the mu, which is not kept in the dairy but is buried in the
buffalo-pen, and is only used on certain ceremonial occasions.
This mu is closely associated with the general sanctity of the dairy.
The prosperity of the dairy is dependent on its condition, and it would
seem to have very much the same ideas attached to it as we meet in the
life-token. It may also be regarded as the emblem of a dairy, and in
the case of the funeral hut of Taradr, we have seen that a building
becomes a dairy when a mu is placed in its inner room.
In his account of the Todas, Breeks identifies the special name of the
dairy with that of the presiding god of the dairy or village. If he is
right, it would seem to follow that the Todas personify the dairy in
some degree. The use of the name of dairies in such a formula as that
used at the end of the irnörtiti ceremony (see p. 303) might be
regarded as evidence of this personification of the dairy. I do not
believe, however, in this personification, and if the dairy has
attained in some measure to the dignity of a god, there is no doubt
that this god belongs to a category very different from that of the
true Toda gods of the hill-tops.
THE THRESHOLD
As we have just seen, a man in paying reverence to the dairy bows down
and touches the threshold with his forehead, and the threshold also
frequently plays a part in the dairy ceremonial. The dairyman bows down
and touches the threshold of his dairy before entering upon his work,
and this is also one of the acts performed on his entrance into office
on ordination.
The Teivaliol at an ordination also sweep the threshold with the grass
called kakar, and the same grass is used to sweep the threshold of the
dairy by the young girl who performs this office on reaching the new
village during the migration ceremony (see p. 128). In the tuninörtiti
and pilinörtiti ceremonies the offering is laid on the threshold of the
dairy, and in the ceremony of uncovering for the first time the face of
a boy, the child is put down by his father so that his forehead touches
the threshold.
BELLS
These are the most sacred of the sacred objects of the Todas. It is
necessary, however, to distinguish three kinds of bells, the mani, the
tukulir mani, and the kwungg, and it is only the first of these which
has any great sanctity.
The tukulir mani is only used in the koòtiti ceremony of the second
funeral (p. 376), and between these occasions is kept by the Badagas or
Kotas. I am doubtful whether it is a true Toda object, and suspect that
it is a Badaga or Kota bell which is used in a ceremony borrowed by the
Todas from one or other of these peoples.
The kwungg is the household bell and is kept in the hut. It is used in
the funeral ceremonies on two occasions, being hung on the neck of one
of the ordinary buffaloes before the animal is killed, and it is also
the bell which is rung in the final scene of the azaramkedr. The bell
may be touched or carried by women, and I have seen a kwungg removed
from the neck of a slaughtered buffalo by a Kota who handed it to a
woman. Though the bell is used in ceremonial, the fact that it may be
touched by both Kotas and women shows clearly that it is not regarded
as possessing any sanctity whatever. In general appearance, however,
the kwungg probably differs little from the mani, being a large bell of
the same oblong shape which is characteristic of cattle-bells.
The mani is a bell which, so far as I could ascertain, never has a
tongue, though this loss may be nothing more than a sign of its
antiquity.
There are several kinds of mani. At the ti dairy there are two distinct
varieties: the mani proper which is kept in the inner room and is hung
on the neck of a chosen calf of the persinir on the occasion of the
migration ceremonies, and the kudrsmani which is kept outside the door
of the dairy. The latter appear to have little sanctity, but the former
are probably the most sacred of Toda objects of veneration. They are
said to be extremely ancient; some are reputed to have come from
Amnòdr, and others are believed to have had miraculous origins, one
having been born in a vessel of milk while the buffaloes were on their
way from Amnòdr, while another came from the sea. The Todas believe
that some of these bells are of gold, and one was reputed to be made of
three metals—gold, silver, and iron. The bell born in milk is said to
be of iron.
It seems probable that each of the more sacred herds at the village had
at one time its own mani, and that a clan which possessed both wursuli
and kudrpali would have had two bells of this kind or two sets of such
bells.
At the present time, many of the clans have lost their sacred bells,
and those which possess mani have only one or two of them. My most
definite account for the Tartharol comes from Kars, where it is clear
that the wursuli has two bells, the same as those reputed to have been
hung on the neck of Enmon in the legend of Kwoto. [178] The kudrpali
also had two bells which have now been lost, but the place where they
used to hang still shares in the dairy ritual and is fed with milk just
as the bells would have been if they had been there.
Since it is the wursol who takes the prominent part in the funeral
ceremonies of a male, it seems also clear that the bells which are hung
on the necks of the slaughtered buffaloes are those of the wursuli, but
I did not definitely ascertain whether the bells of a kudrpali might
not be used for this purpose, and indeed I am not altogether certain
that any rigorous distinction is made between wursuli mani and kudrpali
mani.
One striking distinction between the dairies of the Teivaliol and
Tartharol was said to be the absence of mani among the former, except
in the Piedr clan, and here there was something exceptional, for when
this bell is used at a funeral it is hung on the neck of the buffalo by
a Tarthar man belonging to Nòdrs. I was often told that, with this
exception, the Teivaliol had no mani, and it was only towards the end
of my visit that I became aware of the existence in the dairy of Kiudr
of six bells called mani, two distinguished as patatmani and four as
ertatmani.
Among the Tartharol there was no distinction of this kind, and it
seemed that these bells were looked on by the Todas in a different
light to other bells, and were not thought of when they told me that
the Teivaliol had no mani. It was quite clear that they were not used
at funerals. The suggestion which I have made in the chapter on the
dairy ritual would provide an explanation of this apparently
exceptional position of the Kiudr mani. If Kiudr is the relic of an old
ti dairy and the bells are the old mani of the ti, it becomes clear why
the bells have their exceptional character, and why they are not used
at a funeral, for the bells of a ti would never be allowed to suffer
the defilement to which this ceremonial use subjects them.
Most of the mani have milk, curds, or buttermilk offered to them during
the dairy ceremonial. The only exceptions of which I heard were some of
the bells of the ti dairy, the bell called Keu at the Nòdrs ti, and
that called Pongg at the Pan ti, which are not ‘fed,’ to use the common
Toda expression.
At the village dairy the ‘feeding’ is a regular part of the dairy
ritual, curds being put on the bells in the earlier, and some of the
milk from that first brought into the dairy, in the later part of the
proceedings. I only heard of one instance in which bells were given
buttermilk. This was done with the ertatmani of the Kiudr dairy, and if
the supposition given above is correct, this should, therefore, also be
the procedure with the kudrs mani of the ti dairy. It is quite possible
that this is one of the details of the dairy ritual which escaped me,
or it may be that it was a special custom of the ti dairy from which I
suppose the Kiudr dairy to have been derived.
Some writers on the Todas have regarded the bells as the Toda gods, and
there certainly is some evidence which would justify one in regarding
them as idols. The ‘feeding’ is a definite indication that the bells
are, to a certain extent, regarded by the Todas as living beings, and
in the legendary accounts of the origin of certain bells, belief in
their activity is obvious. One bell is born and another comes from the
sea and sits on the side of a milking vessel. It is quite clear,
however, that the bell belongs to a different category in the religion
of the Todas from that occupied by the gods. Possibly the Todas may
have some clear ideas about the connexion between their bells, gods,
and dairies, but I could not discover them, and am inclined to believe
that the people are now very hazy about the exact place of the bell and
the god in their theology.
It was quite clear that they believed an offence against the dairy was
punished by the gods, and I cannot say definitely that in this case the
bell may not have been personified as a god, but I do not think that
this was so.
It seems to me probable that the present sanctity of the bell has come
about by a process of transference [179] from the buffalo to the object
worn by it. Probably at one time the buffaloes were more directly
venerated than they appear to be at present. There is evidence that
even in recent times the bell-cow or buffalo which carried the bell was
an object of especial veneration. In such books as those of Harkness
and Marshall, the bell-cow seems to occupy a more prominent position
than, so far as I could tell, it occupies at present.
In the present day the mani of the ti is only hung on the neck of a
buffalo at the migration from one ti mad to another and at the Nòdrs
ti, only for a few minutes even then. At the village dairy, the mani is
never, so far as I could tell, put on the neck of a buffalo except at
the funeral ceremonies. The idea in the latter case seems to be that a
sacred buffalo should wear its bell, and in order that the buffalo
slaughtered at a funeral should go to Amnòdr with its bell, the mani is
hung on its neck while it is being killed. The legend of Kwoto and
Punatvan shows that the bells are believed to travel to Amnòdr with the
buffaloes.
The following may be suggested as a sketch of the probable evolution of
the sanctity of the bell. At one time the buffaloes were the chief
sacred objects of the Todas. Then this sanctity was concentrated in the
persons of the bell-buffaloes, and later became partially attached to
the bells, and the Todas then probably reached a stage in which it was
doubtful how far the sanctity of the bell-buffalo was due to its
position as chief of the herd, and how far to the bell it carried. It
is possible that this was the stage of evolution of the idea in which
the earliest visitors to the Nilgiris found the Todas. We may suppose
that gradually the sanctity became more and more attached to the bell,
less and less to its possessor, until now the Todas seem to have
reached a position in which the bell-buffalo has little or no sanctity
above its fellows, and the sanctity resides almost wholly in the bell.
The original use of the bell now only survives in the ritual
accompanying the migration of the ti buffaloes and in the funeral
ceremonies.
There is one small fact which may perhaps be taken to indicate that the
word mani is now applied to any object of a sacred or magical nature.
The armlet put on the wrist of a child at the naming ceremony is called
kansutimani. If the last part of this word is the same as the name of
the bell, it would seem to indicate that the word may be used for an
object the significance of which is magical rather than religious, and
in connexion with a practice which has probably been borrowed.
RELICS
The Todas have a few relics of heroes which are regarded as objects of
veneration, and are kept in the dairies. One of these, which is
believed to be the armlet of the Kars man who went with the ti
buffaloes in the story of Kwoto, is kept at Kuzhu, and has milk put on
it during the dairy ritual in the same way as if it were a bell.
Another object is the ring of Kwoten which was found on the sambhar
skin after the disappearance of this god. I saw this ring, which is of
silver and far more massive than the rings worn by the Todas at the
present time. Breeks states that in his time the Todas also claimed to
have had in their possession the spear of Kwoten.
THE BUFFALO AND ITS MILK
In discussing the sanctity of the bells of the Toda dairies we have
seen that there is some reason to think that these objects have
attained their sacred character, at any rate in part, by a process of
transference of sanctity from the buffaloes by which they were borne.
It is in favour of this view that the buffaloes seem at one time to
have been more sacred, or to have received more definite signs of
reverence than at the present time. The evidence of the legends points
to a time when buffaloes were regarded as having anthropomorphic
characters, and they probably indicate a belief in the sacred nature of
these animals. When the buffaloes of the Nòdrs ti first came from
Amnòdr, they talked like men, and the buffalo who founded the ti mad at
Makars was a very human animal.
In his book, Captain Harkness (p. 16) states that as the buffaloes of
the village are about to be penned for the night, the whole family,
male and female, salute them by bringing the hand to the face. So far
as I could ascertain, this is no longer done, and the only definite
sign of reverence paid to the buffaloes, so far as I could learn, is
the salutation made, partly to them and partly to the sun, by the palol
when he leaves his dairy. Whenever in my journeys about the hills we
came across herds of sacred buffaloes, even those of the ti, no
salutation or sign of respect was made by the Todas who were with me,
though a dairy, especially if it contained a mani, would receive
obvious signs of veneration. Except in connexion with ceremonial there
was nothing in the behaviour of the Todas towards their buffaloes to
indicate that they were sacred animals, and it seems probable that the
sanctity of the buffaloes has been to a great extent transferred,
partly to the mani and partly to the milk given by the animals.
The milk is undoubtedly regarded as a sacred substance. There are
distinct restrictions on its use which become more onerous as one
ascends in the scale of dairies, and we have seen that there is reason
to believe that the whole complicated daily ritual of the dairy may be
designed to neutralise the dangers attendant on the conversion of the
milk into substances which may be used by the outside world.
Throughout this book I have spoken of sacred buffaloes to distinguish
them from those which take no part in the dairy ritual, but it is a
question whether the sanctity does not attach much more closely to the
objects connected with the buffaloes than to the buffaloes themselves.
I think it is clear that at the present time none of the Toda buffaloes
are so sacred that their milk in the form of ghi may not be used. Some
writers have supposed that no profit is made from the sacred buffaloes
of the ti, but at present this is certainly not so, and the ghi made
from the milk of the sacred buffaloes is sold with the rest and may be
used by all.
In earlier days, when the Todas led simpler lives than at present, when
the bazaars of Ootacamund and Coonoor were not in existence to act as
incentives to the acquirement of gain, it is possible that the Todas
did not sell the ghi made from the milk of their more sacred buffaloes,
and, as I have already suggested, it is even possible that at one time
they were content to allow these animals to suckle their calves and
made no use of their milk. Even at the present time a sacred buffalo
will not be milked unless it is provided with the appropriate dairy and
dairyman. The buffaloes of a ti which has no palol, or of a wursuli
which has no wursol, are not allowed to be milked though they may be
looked after by other men. With this exception, however, I believe
that, at the present time, every buffalo, even of the most sacred
herds, is a source of profit by the sale of the ghi which is made from
its milk.
The various offerings of buffaloes made in connexion with ceremonial
are also not allowed to interfere with the economic value of the
animals. In the irnörtiti ceremony of the village, the offered buffalo
simply passes from one division of a clan to another, and when a
buffalo is said to be devoted to the gods, it does not mean that the
owner profits a whit the less on account of the oblation, but only that
he may not kill it at a funeral, and must allow it to die a natural
death.
Even the slaughter of animals at the funeral ceremonies appears to be
managed so as to interfere as little as possible with the profits
obtained from the sale of the milk. I think there is little doubt that
it is an established custom to kill old and barren buffaloes on these
occasions. An animal is not sent to the next world till its owner has
got the utmost out of it in this.
Only on one point is it clear that the Todas make no direct gain from
their buffaloes. When once a buffalo is dead, the Todas seek no further
profit, and the carcases become the property of the Kotas. But even
here there is an indirect gain, for the bodies of the buffaloes form a
large part of the equivalent received by the Kotas for the many
services they render to the Todas.
OTHER ANIMALS
The Todas have so highly developed the cult of one animal that they
show few traces of belief in the sanctity of others. I will put
together here the whole of the scanty evidence which I possess
concerning their relations with animals in general.
The Tiger.—The Todas have a legend that at one time the tiger used to
watch over the buffaloes for them during the day and hand over his
charge in the evening. One day the tiger was very hungry and its hunger
made it angry. When it brought the buffaloes back to the village it saw
a cat catching a rat. Then the tiger asked the cat for some of the
flesh, but the cat said, “There is no fool like you; why don’t you eat
some of the buffaloes you look after?” At that time the tiger usually
slept at the village, but on this evening it went into the wood and at
midnight came slowly back and took one of the buffaloes out of the pen,
and since then it has always done this.
According to another legend (see p. 185), buffaloes have been killed by
tigers ever since the arsaiir of the Kwòdrdoni ti failed to come to the
general gathering which assembled to bid farewell to Ön when he went to
rule over Amnòdr.
Jervis [180] states that the natives of the hills salaam to the tiger.
He does not say definitely that it is the Todas who do this, but it is
probable that he is referring to them. He also states that the women of
the village throw themselves on their knees before a tiger which has
been killed, and touch his bristles with their foreheads. I do not know
whether these practices are still followed.
As we have seen (p. 417), there is a belief that a man who fails in the
performance of certain sacred duties may be killed by a tiger, but the
Todas do not appear to fear this animal except on behalf of their
buffaloes, and I could only learn of one case in which a Toda had been
killed, and as his name was not known it must have occurred very long
ago, or may have been altogether mythical.
The Jackal.—I was told by my interpreter that he had seen the Todas
saluting a jackal, but I did not hear of any beliefs associated with
the practice.
The Sambhar.—The most interesting point in connexion with this animal
is the fact that the Todas are undoubtedly permitted to eat its flesh.
Kutadri, who was most scrupulous in his obedience to the customs of his
people, had no reluctance in eating sambhar flesh, and when he had
fallen ill soon after, he never thought of ascribing his illness to
what was probably its real cause, which shows clearly that there could
have been no idea that he had done anything forbidden or unorthodox.
The fact that the Todas may eat the flesh of the sambhar while taking
that of no other animal, except ceremonially, might well be looked upon
as an indication that there may at one time have been totemic
restrictions on food. In their earlier homes, before they reached the
Nilgiri Hills, it is probable that the sambhar was an unknown animal,
and could not therefore have been a totem. Consequently, when they came
to the Nilgiris, they would have found there an animal on the eating of
the flesh of which there were no restrictions, and the absence of
restriction would, on this hypothesis, have continued to the present
day. The eating of sambhar flesh would be the proverbial exception that
proves the rule.
It seems to me possible, however, that there is a different reason for
the absence of any prohibition. The Todas have no weapons with which
they could kill a sambhar, and if this animal is ever killed by Kotas
or Kurumbas, the mere fact that it had been killed by these people
would probably be a sufficient reason why the Todas should not eat its
flesh.
It is possible that it is only since the advent of Europeans to the
Nilgiris, and the extensive slaughter of sambhar which followed it,
that the Todas have thought of eating the flesh of this animal, and as
no prohibition against the eating of its flesh has been handed down to
them, they have no reluctance in satisfying in this way the liking for
animal food which the erkumptthpimi ceremony keeps in existence, if it
does not actually stimulate it.
The Cat.—This animal, which is called koti or kwoti, is domesticated by
the Todas. The cat is mentioned in the legend of the tiger recorded in
this section, and the earliest writers on the Todas speak of them as
keeping these animals. I have seen them on the walls of the dairies,
and believe that they are allowed to go wherever they please. The only
occasion on which they come into ceremonial is at the erkumptthpimi
sacrifice, where the spleen is specially put aside to be given to the
cat, and is on this account called kwotinerûf.
The dog occurs in the story of Kwoten and several other animals are
mentioned in the prayers and incantations, chiefly as sources of danger
to the buffaloes. In the incantation for the relief of headache given
on p. 265, the names of many animals are uttered, probably with the
intention that their heads may acquire the pain which is being charmed
away from the head of the sufferer.
TREES AND PLANTS
The most sacred tree of the Todas is undoubtedly the tudr (Fig. 58).
This name is given by the Todas to two species, Meliosma pungens and M.
wightii, the two trees resembling one another closely.
The bark is largely used in the dairy ceremonial, and especially in the
ordination ceremonies of the palol and other dairymen drawn from the
Teivaliol and Melgarsol. Its use is especially connected with the
people of these sections of the Toda community, but the rest of the
Tartharol undergo a ceremony at the second funeral in which tudr is
used, and this was said to have the purpose that every Toda should be
purified with tudr before he enters on the future life.
A log and leaves of tudr are also used in the ceremony of
erkumptthpimi, and here it is used by both Teivaliol and Tartharol
alike.
The leaves of tudr used in any of these ceremonies must be perfect, and
the bark must be knocked off the tree by means of a stone, this being
one of the Toda practices which show the persistence of stone
implements in ceremonial. The identity of this sacred tree is
important, for it may furnish a clue to the home of the Todas. So
sacred a tree would almost certainly have been already known to the
Todas when they reached the Nilgiris, though it is, of course, possible
that it might have been chosen on account of its resemblance to some
tree sacred in their past history. The tree has, however, a wide
distribution in India.
Pope has suggested that tudr is connected with tulasi, Ocymum sanctum
or holy basil. This is a small flowering plant, and it is improbable
that there is any connexion between the two plants except a resemblance
in name.
Another tree which appears to be especially sacred is the kiaz tree
(Litsœa Wightiana). Whenever a tree is used to mark the spot where the
mani is laid during purificatory and other ceremonies, the tree must be
of this kind. The wood of this tree is used when making fire for most
sacred purposes.
The leaves of trees and shrubs are used in various branches of the
dairy ritual. Those in most frequent use are various kinds called
generically by the Todas muli, three of which belong to the genus
Rubus. The young shoots of the same plants are used in the ordination
ceremonies.
Grasses are also used in Toda ceremonial, and one of these, a slender
grass called kakar (Eragrostica nigra) is used on several occasions,
those of especial importance being the ordination of the Teivali
palikartmokh and the sweeping of the threshold of the dairy by a girl
at the migration ceremony. The same grass is also used in one of the
methods adopted to promote speedy delivery in childbirth.
Of the various kinds of grain used by the Todas, that called patm or
samai (Panicum miliare) seems to be in most frequent use in connexion
with ceremonial, but it cannot be said to be sacred in any way. Barley
(kodj) seems to have a peculiar place in Toda belief. The tòratthadi or
cooking-vessel of the dairy may not be used for this grain, although
any other kind may be boiled in it. On the other hand, three grains of
barley are put into the mouth and three into the hair of a boy at the
naming ceremony. In explanation I can only offer the surmise that
barley is not cooked in the dairy vessel because its use by the Todas
is an innovation, and that similarly the use of barley in the naming
ceremony is also an innovation borrowed from the Badagas or some other
tribe.
THE SUN, LIGHT, AND FIRE
There is no doubt that the sun is an object of reverence to the Todas.
It is the duty of every man when first he leaves his hut in the morning
to salute the sun by raising his hand to his face in the kaimukhti
salutation. The sun is also saluted by the palol as he comes out of his
dairy to milk the buffaloes. All my informants were unanimous in saying
that the salutation of the palol was both to the buffaloes and to the
sun. The doors of the great majority of the dairies faced more or less
in an easterly direction, so that the dairyman, on coming out of his
dairy in the morning, would see the sun, and when the dairy had a
different orientation, as at Mòdr, the palol had to turn so that he
would perform the salutation looking eastward. At the afternoon
ceremonial the salutation was performed in the same direction as in the
morning, so that, so far as the salutation is performed to the sun, it
would appear that it is to the place of the sun-rise rather than to the
sun itself.
The sun plays a part in the ceremony which takes place when a woman
goes to the seclusion-hut after childbirth, but there was some reason
to think that this was due to the belief in the noxious influence of
the mysterious body, Keirt, which is near the sun, and not to the
influence of the sun itself. When performing the ceremony on leaving
the seclusion-hut the woman faces the sun, and this may be an act of
reverence, since now Keirt is no longer feared. It seemed quite clear
that the moon is not saluted in the same way as the sun with the
kaimukhti salutation. No salutation is paid at all to the new moon when
it is first seen, but after a day or two, usually on the third day, it
is the custom to bow down the head, so that the forehead rests on the
corner of the putkuli lying on the ground. The salutation is that
called nersatiti shown in Fig. 44. I only heard of one custom
indicating reverence to the full moon. When the Todas throw away water
on the day of the full moon, they do not throw it towards the moon, but
away from it. Thus, if the moon is opposite the door of the hut, the
people will go round to the back in order to throw the water there.
Light is undoubtedly an object of reverence to the Todas. Captain
Harkness states that when the household lamp is lighted in the evening,
obeisance is paid to it by bringing the right hand to the face, and
this sign of reverence is still shown. In the dairy ceremonial the lamp
and the light it gives are also undoubtedly reverenced, and lighting
the lamp is, as we have seen, an act of a ceremonial character.
In some cases the lamps used in the dairies are certainly very ancient
and are believed to have come from Amnòdr, but it is clear that they
are not reverenced merely on this account, for a lamp of modern origin
would, when once consecrated, be treated with as much reverence as
those which had come down from antiquity.
I did not learn that any sign of reverence is paid to fire, but the
fire of the dairy may undoubtedly be said to have a sacred character.
Whenever a new dairy is visited or an old dairy is reconsecrated in
connexion with the pepkaricha ceremony, fire is made afresh by
friction. Once made, it was, so far as I could learn, kept continuously
alight; if on any occasion the fire should go out, it would have to be
made again by friction. In the ti dairy there are two fireplaces, one
in which fire burns continuously, while the other is lighted by brands
transferred to it from the other, and the lamp is lighted by a brand
taken from this sacred fire. Here it would almost appear as if the
former fire had a profane character, so that it would be regarded as
desecration to light the sacred lamp directly from it.
The fire of the tòratthwaskal is used to cook food which has come from
outside, and the use of an intermediate fire to light the lamp is in
keeping with the general law of the procedure of the ti dairy,
according to which the sacred objects are prevented from all possible
contamination from the outer world by employing vessels or other
objects as intermediaries.
Fire has also to be made by friction in other ceremonies, and
especially at those called teutütusthchi and erkumptthpimi and at the
funerals of males. At the first ceremony the fire is made by the palol,
and at the second by the dairyman conducting the ceremony. At the
azaramkedr of a man the fire is made by a man of the same clan as the
deceased, and this is probably also the case at the first funeral
ceremony. I did not definitely ask whether fire by friction is ever
made by a woman, but I am fairly confident that this would never
happen.
I only heard of one case in which men were prohibited from making fire.
The Kidmadol and Karshol, who suffer under several disabilities, are
not allowed to make fire by friction, and this is due to a quarrel with
their parent-clan many years ago.
Whenever fire is made for a sacred purpose [181] the fire-sticks must
be of the wood which the Todas call kiaz or keadj, except in the
tesherst ceremony, in which the wood of muli is used.
There are also definite regulations as to the kind of wood which is to
be burnt in the fires of all ceremonial occasions. In various
ceremonies I have recorded the Toda names of the woods prescribed, and
if more were known about their identity, it is possible that some light
might be thrown on the original home of the Todas, in the same way as
has been suggested in the case of the sacred tudr tree.
STONES
The Todas have many stones which may be held to have some degree of
sanctity; certainly many have their place in the religious ceremonial.
All these stones have names, either general or individual, but two
stones with the same name need not necessarily have the same function.
At the ti there are stones marking the spots where the dairy vessels
are taken up and put down during the migration ceremonies, but the most
interesting stones at these dairies are those called neurzülnkars. At
several dairies these stones are anointed, and their appearance
indicates that they have undergone the process for very long periods of
time; at other places they are so weathered and worn away that they
must obviously be of great antiquity. At some dairies of the Nòdrs ti
these stones take the place of the head of the kaltmokh in the
ceremonies accompanying migration, but at other places they are said to
have different uses.
At an ordinary village the stones usually belong to one of the
following classes:—
(a) Stones to mark off boundaries or places, such as the majvatvaikars,
marking the path or spot used by the women in fetching buttermilk from
the dairy.
(b) Stones used in the ceremonies in which offerings are made, the
irnörtkars and the pilinörtkars.
(c) Funeral stones, at which the buffaloes are killed. These are, of
course, only found at funeral villages, but there are certain other
stones, such as the imudrikars, which may be found in any village. Such
a stone may mark the spot where the body is laid, or may even, as in
the case of the imudrikars of Kars, form a mound on which the body is
laid.
(d) Stones in or near the tu or buffalo pen, such as the mutchudkars
and pudothkars. I do not know the origin or use of these, but in some
villages there are stones in the pen marking the places where the mu or
dairy vessels are buried, and it is possible that the above stones are
in some way connected with the buried dairy-vessels.
(e) The lifting stone or tukitthkars. This is usually a large round
stone which sometimes resembles in appearance stones of a ceremonial
character. [182]
(f) Commemorative stones. The teidrtolkars of Nòdrs (see Fig. 13), and
certain stones with the same name lying between Nòdrs and Teidr, had
their origin in events connected with the death of a man belonging to
the village of Teidr who was once wursol at Nòdrs. When he was told to
milk one of the buffaloes, he replied, “If I milk it, the milk will not
fill this place,” pointing to a small depression on his thumb. Still
the people told him to milk, and when he did so the milking-vessel was
completely filled. Then the palikartmokh was very angry, and, taking
the wand which the wursol was carrying, he struck him so that he flew
in the air and fell down midway between Nòdrs and Teidr. When the
people came to the place they found that the man was dead, and they
tried to take up his body and carry it to the funeral place. But the
body would not move and so they held the funeral on the spot and made a
tu. At the entrance of the tu they placed two women carrying pounders
[183] in place of the posts or tüli, and these women were changed into
stones and their pounders became the tasth of the entrance of the pen.
The stones which are now found on the spot are the remains of the pen
and the teidrtolkars of Nòdrs marks the spot where the wursol milked
the buffalo.
In the village of Tovalkan there is a mound shown in Fig. 59 which is
much like the imudrikars of Kars, but it is of modern origin, having
been made to mark the spot where Keirevan (26) fell out of a tree and
was killed.
(g) Stones connected with special features of the dairy ceremonial. I
only know of one stone of this kind at a village, the pârsatthkars of
Nidrsi, on which the palikartmokh puts milk every morning and evening.
Stones are often used for more than one purpose; thus, the irnörtkars
of Umgas (see Fig. 72) is also a boundary stone, and the menkars of
Nòdrs (see Fig. 12) used for the game called narthpimi, and the
teidrtolkars at the same village are also funeral stones at which
buffaloes are killed.
I have given a brief list of the chief stones which may be called
sacred owing to their coming in one way or another into Toda
ceremonial, but I should like to make it clear that no great idea of
sanctity attaches to these stones, and in no case are they shown any
definite signs of veneration or worship. They, and many of the other
objects described in this chapter, are not sacred in the same sense in
which the etudmad or the mani are sacred.
CHAPTER XIX
THE TODA RELIGION
The last seventeen chapters have been almost entirely devoted to the
religious institutions and ceremonies of the Todas. In the earlier
chapters I have described the ritual of the dairy and have discussed
some of the problems of general interest which this ritual suggests. In
later chapters I have described the ceremonies which are associated
with the chief incidents of life: birth, growth, and death. In these
and in the chapter dealing with sacrifice I have described many details
of Toda ceremonial which clearly establish its religious character, and
Chapter X is especially devoted to the formulæ which bring the
ceremonial into definite relation with the Toda gods. In Chapter XI I
have described practices and beliefs all of which stand in some
relation to religion, though most of them must be regarded as belonging
to a different category. In the last two chapters I have collected a
number of special features of the Toda religion, the existence of
sacred days and the part played by numbers, places and material objects
in the various religious observances, and I have discussed how far the
attitude of the Todas towards these objects can be described as one of
worship.
There remains the general nexus which binds all these beliefs and
practices into a whole so that they constitute the Toda religion. I
have given in Chapter IX the stories of the Toda gods, giving them in
this place because they were necessary for the proper understanding of
the dairy formulæ, and I can now discuss more fully than was then
possible the essential nature of these deities.
THE GODS
The Toda gods are definitely anthropomorphic beings, who are believed
to have lived in this world before man existed. Both man and buffalo
were created by the gods, and the Todas seem to picture a time when
gods, men, and buffaloes lived together on the Nilgiri Hills, and the
gods ruled the men. At this time the gods seem to have lived much the
same kind of life as the Todas themselves. Ön was palol to the
buffaloes of the Nòdrs ti, his son Püv was palikartmokh at Kuudr, and
other gods are believed to have filled dairy offices. From the earliest
times, however, the gods were connected with the hills—i.e., they were
believed to dwell on the summits of the hills of the Nilgiri plateau.
At first they seem to have mixed at times in human society and at other
times to have retired to their hill-tops. The earliest of the gods was
Pithi, who was born in a cave, and the Todas and many of their
buffaloes were created by his son Ön and his wife. Later death came to
the gods in the person of Püv, the son of Ön and Ön followed Püv to the
world of the dead, called Amnòdr, of which he has since been the ruler.
He left behind him as predominant among the deities Teikirzi, a
goddess, who ruled over the Todas. It is to her that the origin of most
of the Toda institutions is ascribed, and there is some reason to think
that she was predominant among the gods even before Ön went to Amnòdr.
The Todas seem to believe that Teikirzi was at one time a person living
among them, giving laws and regulating the affairs of the people. At
the present time she is believed to be all-pervading; and, though she
has her special hill, she does not dwell there only, as in the case of
all but one of the other Toda deities.
There seem to have been many other gods contemporaneous with Ön and
Teikirzi, and certain of these are believed to have been related to
these deities and especially to Teikirzi. The gods are believed to be
very numerous: the Todas speak of the 1,600 gods, the 1,800 gods, but
it would seem that these expressions are used in the sense of “an
infinite number.” The gods are believed to have held their councils,
meeting on some special hill, to which each god came from his own
hill-top. The hill of Pòlkab, near Kanòdrs, and the village of Miuni
are both renowned as meeting places of the gods.
There is a very definite association between the Toda gods and the
hills of the Nilgiri plateau. Nearly every one of the gods has his hill
where he dwells, and often when speaking of the gods the Todas seem to
identify the god with the hill. There are two river gods, Teipakh and
Pakhwar, associated with the two chief streams of the district, but
there is some reason to believe that even these gods have their hills
where they sometimes live, while at other times they inhabit or are
identified with their streams. In the case of Teipakh, the god and the
natural object seem to be very closely identified, and Kuzkarv, growing
up in the river Teipakh, is said to be sitting in the lap of his
maternal uncle. Again, one god is associated with a bubbling pool, but
he also has his hill-top and is believed only to visit the pool on
certain occasions. There can be little doubt that most of the Toda gods
are hill-deities and that the association of the gods with hills is so
strong that even the gods of streams and pools may be assigned their
hills in general belief.
There is one important feature which is said to be common to all the
hills inhabited by deities. They all have on their summits the stone
circles which the Todas call pun. My informants were very definite
about this and fully understood that these stone circles corresponded
to the cairns and barrows opened by Breeks and others.
I was not able to examine into the question for myself and ascertain
whether the circles called pun were actually present on the
god-inhabited hills, but I have no reason to doubt that this was
usually the case. Most writers on the Todas have been inclined to
suppose that the cairns and barrows, with their contents, were in no
way connected with the Todas, and they have based this opinion largely
on the indifference of the Todas to these monuments. The people who are
so jealous of their dairies that they will not allow anyone to enter or
even view their contents, will allow any stranger to open the cairns
and take their contents, and will even assist in the demolition. When I
asked the Todas what they thought of the rifling of the pun they showed
just the same indifference. They did not seem to think the matter any
concern of theirs, and yet they believe in a definite association
between the presence of a pun and the abode of a deity.
There seem to be three chief possibilities. One, that the cairns are
Toda remains and that the association of the stone circles above them
with the presence of a god is the last surviving relic of the fact. The
second is that when the Todas came to the Nilgiri hills they found
mysterious stone circles on certain hills, which marked out these hills
as possessing features out of the common, and that this gave them a
sanctity which led to the idea that they were inhabited by gods. A
third possibility is that the same peculiarities which led the original
builders of the circles to choose certain hills also led the Todas to
choose them as the abodes of their deities, and that it was only later
that they came to recognise the association between the circle and the
presence of a god.
Whichever possibility may give the true explanation, one would have
thought that the Todas would have objected to the disturbance and
excavation of the cairns. There is little doubt that they were ignorant
of the fact that objects were buried beneath the stone circles, but
they are quite intelligent enough to know that there is a connexion
between the stones and the objects beneath them when once these have
been found.
I have very little doubt that the true explanation of the indifference
of the Todas towards these monuments is that they have no definite
traditional injunction against interfering with the circles. The Todas
are the slaves of their traditions and of the laws and regulations
which have been handed down to them by their ancestors. Till the
Europeans came to the hills, it had never occurred to anyone to meddle
with these stones or explore the soil beneath and around them. In
consequence there was no reason why injunctions against interference
should be handed down, and when the European arrived with his spade and
pickaxe the Todas found nothing in their traditional laws telling them
that it was wrong to interfere with these places, and they exhibited
the indifference which led the explorers to suppose that there was no
connexion of any kind between the Todas and the monuments. [184]
Although the Toda deities seem to be in general a development of
hill-spirits, there can be little doubt that some of the gods are
deified men. In the case of Kwoten, the account of his life is so
circumstantial as to leave little doubt that he was a real man who was
deified after a mysterious disappearance, believed to have been due to
intercourse with a female deity, and around whose life there have
clustered certain miraculous incidents. Similarly, his servant Erten,
and his relatives Teikuteidi and Elnâkhum are probably deified men.
Another possible instance of a deified man is Kwoto or Meilitars. The
account of his life is again so circumstantial that it seems most
likely that he was an exceptional man who was deified while various
incidents in his life acquired a miraculous setting. It is perhaps in
favour of the comparatively recent origin of these gods that objects
belonging to them, or which come into their lives in some way, are
still preserved, and perhaps a still more cogent argument in favour of
the recent deification of Kwoten is the fact that the prohibition
against marriage between the clans of Pan and Kanòdrs, believed to be
due to the murder of Parden by Kwoten, still persists.
Of these deified mortals one became associated with a definite hill
while the other was not assigned any special hill, but it was believed
that all places should form his province.
There is little doubt that these mortals were deified as heroes and not
as ancestors, and there is little to indicate that ancestor-worship has
played any part in the evolution of the Toda religion. When a person
dedicated a buffalo on account of some fault committed, it seemed that
the action might be spoken of indifferently as dedication to the gods
or to the ancestors of the dedicator. Thus, when Teitnir gave a buffalo
after the death of his wife, some said it was given to the gods, while
others said it was given to Teitnir’s grandfathers, and when I tried to
inquire more definitely into this point the two things were said to be
the same. The ideas of the Todas seemed to me, however, to be so
indefinite and vague on this point that I am inclined to attach little
importance to this one piece of evidence.
Against the identification of gods with ancestors is the fact that the
dead go to another world, and are believed to return to this world
after a long interval as ordinary mortals, while most of the gods
belong to this world and are believed to have belonged to this world
before death came to either gods or men.
There is little to support the idea that the gods are personifications
of the forces of nature. There is no evidence whatever that any of the
gods are personifications of the sun, of other heavenly bodies, of
thunder, lightning, or other elemental forces.
We have already seen that there is evidence that light is reverenced,
and that this reverence extends to the sun, and it is probable that
definite worship of the sun may at one time have formed a prominent
part of the religion of the Todas. But there is not the slightest
evidence which would lead to the identification of any one of the Toda
deities with the sun.
There is no evidence of phallic worship among the Todas. One of the ti
villages in the Kundahs is known to the European inhabitants of the
Nilgiris as “Ling mand,” but the supposed Ling stone at this place is
evidently a neurzülnkars. [185]
In the last chapter we have seen that it has been supposed that
divinity attaches to some of the sacred objects of the Todas, and
especially to the dairy and the mani or bell. I cannot say definitely
that the dairy and the bell are not regarded as gods, but I do not
believe that they are so, and, as I have endeavoured to show in the
last chapter, I think it probable that the sanctity of the bell has
arisen by a gradual process of transference of sanctity from the
buffalo to the object worn by it, and I think it not unlikely that this
transference may have reached its full development in comparatively
recent times.
If my view be accepted, it would still leave open the religious status
of the buffalo, and especially of the bell-buffalo, and here, scanty as
the evidence is, it seems to me probable that the buffalo was never
regarded as a god in the same sense in which this word is used for the
anthropomorphic beings of the hill-tops. In the oldest legends, in
which the buffaloes spoke like men, it is clear that they were in
subjection to the gods, and were in no way regarded as themselves
divine.
Some writers on the Todas have supposed that the palol is regarded as a
god, but at the present time it is certain that he is in no way divine.
He is treated with respect, but nothing of the nature of worship or
adoration is paid to him. His position among the Todas is exactly that
of a priest upon whom it is incumbent to maintain a very high degree of
ceremonial purity. That his isolation is not a sign of divinity is, I
think, shown by the results of infringement of his isolation. If the
palol is touched by an ordinary man he loses his office and at once
ceases to be a sacred personage, but the person who touches incurs no
penalty. The sacrilege, according to Toda ideas, would attach not to
him, but to the palol who, in spite of being touched, should persist in
performing the duties of his office.
Whether the palol may ever have been more sacred in the past I cannot
say. An indication that he may at one time have been regarded as divine
is to be found in the special clauses of the Kiudr prayer which are
uttered on the occasion of the migration of the buffaloes of the Nòdrs
ti. Here the kwarzam of the palol is eupalol, which stands for
teupalol, or “god palol,” but in the next kwarzam the same prefix is
given to his garment, the tuni, and I have little doubt that these
kwarzam simply refer to the sanctity which attaches to the palol and
his garment as part of the sacred institution of the ti. There is no
doubt, however, that, according to tradition, the gods held the office
of palol and that the palol of the Nòdrs ti is the direct successor of
the god Ön, but to whatever extent Ön may have passed on his divine
character to his immediate successors, there is little doubt that at
present the palol has lost any divinity which may at one time have been
ascribed to him.
It is very difficult to ascertain how far at the present time,
according to Toda belief, the gods intervene in human affairs. Each
clan is believed to have its nòdrodchi, or ruling deity, but I could
not learn what he is supposed to do. In general the nòdrodchi of a clan
is a god dwelling on a hill near the chief village of the clan, and two
clans living near one another may have the same ruler. Thus Teipakh is
connected with both Piedr and Kusharf, Atioto with both Kwòdrdoni and
Pedrkars, while Etepi, who is the nòdrodchi of Keradr, and Kuzkarv, the
nòdrodchi of Keadr, are almost certainly one and the same deity. In the
two latter cases a Tarthar clan has the same god as a clan of the
Teivaliol.
Little can be said about the nature of these connexions between gods
and clans, but it is possible that when a clan or a member of a clan is
said to incur the anger of the gods it is the nòdrodchi who is chiefly
offended and inflicts punishment in the form of death or disease to man
or buffalo. The Todas certainly believe that misfortunes are due to the
anger of the gods. It is clear that the various offerings described in
Chapter XIII are piacular and propitiatory. They are designed to atone
for wrong done and to avert any future evil consequences of the offence
which has been committed.
The power of the gods is believed to show itself in various ways. In
several cases dairies have been disused because the dairymen have died
in office, and this was said to have happened because the gods of those
places were severe. It was apparently believed that they had visited
infringements of the laws regulating dairy ritual with death.
The various misfortunes which befell different members of the community
as the result of my visit were all ascribed to the anger of the gods.
Again, the untoward incidents of the funeral of Sinerani (see p. 391)
were ascribed to the anger of the gods because there had been an
infringement of funeral custom. These and other cases show clearly that
the gods are held to be the source of punishment for sins committed by
the Todas, and that they may be appeased by offerings.
Each of the ti dairies has connected with it many deities whose names
are especially mentioned in the prayers, and it is probable that for
infringements of their ritual these gods are the avenging deities.
The attitude towards the gods shown by the formulæ used in the dairy
ceremonial has already been considered. Though there is no direct
evidence in these formulæ that there is actual supplication to the
deities, it is almost certain that this supplication is implied. The
formulæ used in other Toda ceremonies have the same general form as
those used in the dairy ritual; and here, again, though there is no
direct appeal to deities in the words of the formula, such appeal is
almost certainly implied. The formulæ of the various ceremonies of the
Todas are almost certainly of the nature of prayers in which the gods
are asked to give blessings and avert evils. Apart from the formulæ of
the definite ritual, there seems to be no doubt that the Todas offer
supplications to their gods for help and protection.
In the formulæ used in Toda sorcery appeal to the gods is even more
definite than in the prayers of the dairy ritual. In them the names of
four most important gods are mentioned, and it seems quite clear that
the sorcerer believes that he is effecting his purpose through the
power of the gods.
Another definite way in which the gods of the Todas are believed to
intervene in human affairs is in divination. During the frenzy into
which the teuol or diviners fall they are believed to be inspired by
the gods. The diviners are chiefly consulted in the case of misfortune,
and they are believed to reveal the reasons for the divine displeasure
which has been the cause of the misfortune, and to communicate the ways
in which the gods may be appeased. The diviners are believed to be
directly inspired by the gods, and their name, teuol, or “god men,”
shows how definitely this belief is present in the Toda mind. In this
case each diviner is believed to be inspired by a special deity, though
sometimes more than one deity may reveal himself by the same man.
In the process of divination men are possessed by gods; and another
example of possession by the gods may be mentioned here, as I have not
found a suitable place for it elsewhere. If any of the gods should sit
on the back of a buffalo, the animal will go to the hill called
Kûrâtvan, near Neduvattam, and this is said to have happened to two
buffaloes in recent times. A buffalo which goes to this hill is allowed
to find its own way back, and, provided the buffalo goes only to
etudmad, its course will not be interfered with. One of the two
buffaloes above-mentioned travelled back by way of Taradr, a place
called Panmtu, Nòdrs, Miuni, and then went to its own village.
In the chapter on divination I have pointed out that many of the
deities who inspire the diviners are not true Toda gods, and this
suggests that the practice of divination may have been borrowed from
surrounding peoples, in which case caution would be needed in drawing
conclusions from the beliefs associated with the practice. I believe,
however, that the information given to me on this point is based on
recent utterances of the teuol themselves when in a state of frenzy.
Each teuol was asked by whom he was inspired, and I think it not
unlikely that the answers were influenced by the recent associations of
the Todas.
At the present time none of the gods are ever seen by mortals. As we
have already found, the hills where they are supposed to dwell are, in
some cases, regarded with reverence; but I obtained no evidence that
the Todas avoid the summits even of those hills where the most
important deities are supposed to be, though unfortunately I omitted to
put this to the test by asking any of the more scrupulous Todas to
accompany me to these places. The god-inhabited hills, however, are, in
most cases, the sites of cairns and barrows, and the whole experience
of those who have excavated these sites seems to show that the Todas
exhibit no special reluctance to visit these dwelling-places of the
gods.
I think that there can be little doubt that most of the individual gods
of the Todas are becoming very unreal beings to those who talk of them.
The stories of the earlier gods are now being forgotten, and the ideas
of the Todas about them are very vague. On the other hand, certain gods
of obviously more recent origin seem to be replacing, to some extent,
the older gods. The lives of Kwoten and Meilitars can be related by
many in great detail, but though they seem to inspire more interest
among the Todas I cannot say that I observed anything to show that they
receive any special worship or reverence. Meilitars is especially
mentioned in the Kanòdrs prayer, but this would only put him on a level
with many objects of no great amount of sanctity. The attitude of the
Todas towards these two beings seemed to me to be rather that of people
towards heroes than towards gods, though the mythology has raised them
to the level of the gods.
Nevertheless, the idea of “god” is highly developed among the Todas and
I am inclined to believe that the most satisfactory explanation of the
Toda deities is that the people came to the Nilgiri Hills with a body
of highly developed gods; that round these gods have clustered various
legends connected with the Toda institutions; that these old gods have
gradually through long ages lost their reality; that certain heroes
have been raised to the ranks of the gods and that the lives of these
heroes, founded to some extent on actual fact, have more interest to
the Todas and are remembered and passed on while the legends of the
older gods are gradually becoming vaguer in the progress towards
complete obliviscence; that the gods as a whole, however, are still
regarded as the authors of punishment and that there is a tendency to
make an abstraction of the power of the gods.
The Todas, then, show us a stage of religious belief in which gods once
believed to be real, living among men and intervening actively in their
affairs, have become shadowy beings, apparently less real, invisible
and intervening in the affairs of men in a mysterious manner and
chiefly in the case of infraction of the laws which they are still
believed to have given.
The present state of the Toda religion seems to be one in which ritual
has persisted while the beliefs at the bottom of the ritual have
largely disappeared. The Todas are an example of a people whose lives
are altogether dominated by custom and tradition, and on the religious
side this domination has taken a form in which ritual has become
all-important, while the religious ideas which underlie the ritual have
become blurred and unreal or have disappeared altogether. It seems to
me that the Todas have had a religion of a comparatively high order for
people living in such simple circumstances. During a long period of
isolation there has come about an over-development of the ritual aspect
of this religion. Year after year, and century after century, the
priests have handed on the details of the ceremonial from one to
another. The performance of the prescribed rites in their due order has
become the all-essential of the religion and the ideas connected with
it have suffered. This is shown most clearly in the prayers, in which
we have seen that the prayer proper has gradually come to take a
relatively subordinate position, and is even in danger of disappearing
altogether, while the importance of the kwarzam by which the sacred
objects of the dairy are mentioned has been magnified. The dairy
utterances, which were probably at one time definite prayers calling on
the gods for help and protection, are now on their way to become barren
and meaningless formulæ.
Just as the prayer of the Todas seems to have almost degenerated into
the utterance of barren formulæ, so is there reason to believe that the
attitude of worship which is undoubtedly present in the Toda mind is
becoming transferred from the gods themselves to the material objects
used in the service of the gods. I acknowledge that I am here on less
sure ground than in the case of the dairy formulæ, but the general
impression left on my mind by the study of the beliefs and sacred
institutions of the Todas is that the religious attitude of worship is
being transferred from the gods themselves to the objects round which
centres the ritual of the dairy. If I am right in these surmises, we
find the Todas to possess a religion in process of degeneration. I do
not suppose that this degeneration has been in progress only during the
short time that the Todas have been exposed to the injurious contact of
the outer world. The study of the Toda religion makes it seem to me
most probable that the Todas came to the Nilgiri Hills with a religion
of a higher order than they possess at present, with a developed system
of gods who were believed to direct and govern the affairs of men, and
that by a long and slow process these gods have become unreal, the
supplications of the people for their guidance and assistance have
become mechanical, and worship has been transferred from gods, not to
stocks and stones, but to bells and dairy vessels.
At the present time it would seem that even the ritual of the Toda
religion is often carried out less carefully than of old. Among the
former occupants of dairy offices of whom I made inquiries, I found
some who gave accounts so full of inaccuracies and omissions that it
seemed unlikely that they could have performed the duties of their
offices in a satisfactory manner, and when I had the opportunity of
observing parts of the dairy ritual it seemed to me that the ceremonial
acts were performed by some of the dairymen in a very perfunctory and
slovenly fashion. We have already seen that some of the features of
Toda ritual have entirely disappeared, and it seems not unlikely that
the same fate may overtake the whole at no great distance of time.
In the case of both custom and ritual, the Todas are now often content
if they keep the letter of the law, and several examples of the evasion
of ceremonial laws have been recorded. We have seen that several of the
laws concerning the madnol are certainly not kept in the spirit, and
only by a stretch of imagination, in the letter. A woman evades the law
that she may not leave the village on the madnol by leaving it before
daybreak and returning after daybreak till her work is done. A man
takes money out on the day before the madnol and, burying it elsewhere,
is able to carry out business which the spirit of the law forbids. In
ceremonies, ritual duties which involve discomfort or restraint are
assigned to young boys, to whom the restraint is no restraint. A man
goes near the palol whom properly he should not approach, but since he
does not speak nor is spoken to, he is regarded as ceremonially absent.
Objects of value which should be burnt for the use of the dead are sent
to the next world ceremonially by swinging them over the fire, and are
then removed. The emblems of womanhood are taken out of the hut when
the wursol goes there to sleep, but the women themselves remain.
Probably the behaviour of the kaltmokh in the sleeping hut during the
ceremony after migration (p. 142) is a sign that he should not be
there, and is evading an uncomfortable and perhaps dangerous custom.
The Todas seem to show us how the over-development of the ritual aspect
of religion may lead to atrophy of those ideas and beliefs through
which the religion has been built up and then how, in its turn, the
ritual may suffer and acts which are performed mechanically, with no
living ideas behind them, may come to be performed carelessly and
incompletely, while religious observances which involve trouble or
discomfort may be evaded or completely neglected. The Todas, in fact,
show us, in little, the general traits characteristic of the
degeneration of religion.
To people living in the simple surroundings and with the simple life of
the Todas we might well look for material to help us to understand the
evolution of religion, but, if I am right, we must look for this in
vain. If the religion of the Todas is a product of degeneration, it is
hopeless to seek among the customs of this people for evidence of the
mode of growth of religious ideas and practices. Thus, it is natural
that we find among the Todas no clear trace of totemism, or of those
ideas connected with animals which are probably allied to totemism.
There are several reasons why the Todas should not furnish any clear
evidence of this frequent starting-point of religion. In the first
place, they are people to whom one animal has become so predominantly
sacred that it might be expected that any other relations with animals
of a sacred character would have disappeared; the cult of animals in
general would have been swamped in the cult of the buffalo. Secondly,
if I am right in the supposition I have advanced in this chapter, it is
probable that the Todas came to the Nilgiri Hills with the cult of the
buffalo or other milk-giving animal already to some extent developed,
and if at this time they had customs and beliefs connected with other
animals, these would naturally soon disappear if these animals were
absent in the new country. At the same time, it is perhaps not without
significance that the Todas are allowed to eat the flesh of the
sambhar. In their former home, in the low country, it is almost certain
that this animal would not have been a totem, and therefore it would be
natural that on their reaching the Nilgiris they might be permitted to
eat it. [186]
It is doubtful how far the Todas have an idea of a supreme god. At the
present time they speak of and constantly appeal to Swami, and they
will say that Swami is above all the gods, but I have very little doubt
that this is a recent idea. Swami was chiefly spoken of and reverenced
by the younger men, and it is quite clear that the name should not
properly occur in the formulæ of any Toda ritual. Nevertheless, the
possibility cannot be excluded that the idea is old. It is probable
that at one time there existed direct appeal to gods in the Toda
prayer, and this direct appeal may have been to some supreme being who
was addressed as Swami.
Apart from this question of the meaning of Swami, two deities stand out
from the remainder of the Toda gods. One of these is Meilitars, whose
cunning was able to deceive the gods, and who was able to perform
miracles which were regarded as beyond the powers of the other gods.
His story seems to show one way in which a god might rise above his
fellows, and might become a supreme god, but this has certainly not
happened in his case. There is not the slightest evidence to show that
Meilitars is in any way worshipped as a supreme god. There is a much
stronger case for the supremacy of the goddess Teikirzi. Teikirzi is
said to be the foundress of many of the Toda institutions; the final
explanation of all things in the Toda mind is that “it is the will of
Teikirzi.” She is said to be all-pervading, and is regarded as the
ruler of this world; she is mentioned in many of the sacred formulæ,
and of the occasional kwarzam uttered by the Todas on various occasions
by far the most frequent are those of Teikirzi Tirshti.
Teikirzi is undoubtedly the most important Toda deity, and yet she is
not so pre-eminent that she can be said to be in any way a supreme god.
Though she is the ruler of this world, it is Ön who rules the world of
the dead.
INFLUENCE OF OTHER RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS
The Todas show undoubted signs of the influence of Hinduism on their
religion. It would be quite easy for a visitor to the Todas to talk to
some of the younger and more sophisticated men and to go away believing
that the Todas differed little from the surrounding tribes in their
religious beliefs. In my first conversation with the Todas on religious
matters I was told that they worshipped the following six
gods:—Nanjandisparan, whose temple is at Nanjankudi in Mysore; Petkon
or Betakarasami, whose temple is at Gudalur; Punilibagewan, whose
temple is called Punilikudi and is near Cheirambadi; Mari, a female
deity, with a temple called Marikudi near Pokapparam; Magòli, another
female deity, with a temple near Kodanad on the Nilgiris, and
Karmudrangan, [187] whose temple is near Mettapollayam.
Four or five of these gods are probably Hindu deities, while Magòli may
be a deity of the Kurumbas or Irulas. At the present time there is no
doubt that their temples are visited by the Todas and offerings made to
them. The most frequent motive for these offerings appears to be the
desire for children. The Todas now pray to these gods, most commonly
for this purpose to Nanjandisparan, Magòli or Karmudrangan, and if a
child is born it is taken when one year old to the temple, its head is
shaved, and an offering, usually in the form of an image of the child,
given to the priest. Rice is also given, sufficient, it is said, to
feed 101 men, and the proceedings are said to cost the Todas from 40 to
100 rupees. They have a rule that, however much money they take away
with them from their villages, all must be spent and none brought back.
If the Todas wish to obtain more buffaloes they offer silver images of
these animals to the temples.
I do not know how long these Hindu gods have been worshipped by the
Todas, but my informants were emphatic that Nanjandisparan and Petkon
had been worshipped by the Todas for very long, and that annual
offerings of small sums were made to them by every Toda family.
This worship and appeal to Hindu deities appears to me to have gone on
side by side with the proper religion of the Todas, but to have
influenced it little. It shows how people of low culture make use of
the gods of other races as well as of their own, and in the same way I
believe that the Todas reverence the gods of Badagas, Kurumbas, or any
other of the tribes with which they have dealings, and if asked
point-blank if the gods of these people are their gods they will
assent.
It is probable that Hinduism is now having more influence on the Todas
than ever before, and, as I have already pointed out, I believe that
the reverence to Swami and the frequent utterance of his name is a sign
of the increasing influence of Hinduism, perhaps combined with that of
Christianity.
Christianity has so far had no appreciable influence. The Church
Missionary Zenana Society has for some years employed two catechists to
work among the Todas, and one of them, Samuel, who by the kindness of
the Society was allowed to act as my interpreter for a large part of my
stay, ought to have been successful if earnestness and honesty are of
any avail, but his efforts, carried on for ten years, had borne very
little fruit.
In the whole of the mythology and ceremonial there are few features
which suggest the probability of Christian influence, and the chief of
these is the incident in the legend of the origin of mankind where
woman is created from a rib taken from the right side of a man. It is
very unlikely that this is a recent accretion to the legend, and, if it
is due to Christian influence, I think it must have arisen long ago. We
know that, three centuries ago, priests visited the Todas and preached
to them, and it is stated (see p. 720) that one chose the Hebrew story
of the creation for his lesson, and it may be that the incident,
striking the fancy of the people, was incorporated into their own
tradition of the origin of man. The resemblance between the Toda madnol
and the Sabbath may also excite the suspicion that the former
institution is founded on ideas borrowed from Christians or Jews. I
think we may be confident that, if this has been the case, the
borrowing took place very long ago. I hope to show in the last chapter
that it is probable the Todas came from Malabar, and it is possible
that their migration to the hills took place after the settlement of
Christians or Jews in that district. If Christianity has affected the
religious beliefs or practices of the general body of the Todas, I
think it is certain that this influence has not been recent.
MAGIC AND RELIGION
A word may be added, at the end of this chapter, on the relation
between the magic and the religion of the Todas. I have already pointed
out reasons for believing that the Toda religion is one in process of
degeneration, and we must not therefore expect to find among this
people material for the study of the evolution of religion from magic
or for the method of divergence of the two from some original stem
which was neither magic nor religion.
The chief interest of the Todas from this point of view is that they
show how side by side with a relatively high form of religion there may
exist a body of beliefs crystallised in magical formulæ which bear a
very close resemblance to the formulæ of the religious ritual. Their
aim and their general nature leave no doubt that the formulæ given in
the later part of Chap. XII are magical in nature, and yet they show
more distinct evidence of appeal to deities than is to be found in the
definitely religious formulæ of the dairy. These magical formulæ of the
Todas seem to show us a stage of magic in which religion has been
called to its aid. The sorcerer does not endeavour to effect his
purpose merely by the belief in the efficiency of like producing like,
or other ideas which dominate the lower forms of magic, but has called
to his aid the power of the gods and uses a form of words almost
identical with that used in the religious ritual. Magic and religion
are here closely allied, but it is possible that this alliance is but
one of the products of the degeneration to which I believe the Toda
religion is subject. It is possible that we have here evidence that
during the process of degeneration of religion, religion and magic may
approach one another—an approach which recalls their common origin from
those low beliefs and ideas of the savage to which the name of neither
magic nor religion should perhaps be properly applied.
CHAPTER XX
GENEALOGIES AND POPULATION
The preceding chapters have dealt with the ceremonies and religious
aspect of the life of the Todas. This and succeeding chapters will deal
with the social organisation and the more secular side of the life of
the people.
The social organisation has been studied largely by means of the
genealogical record which is given in Appendix V. Before going to India
I had worked out the details of the system of kinship, of the
regulation of marriage, and of the social organisation generally of two
Papuan communities on the basis of the pedigrees preserved by those
communities.
It is a familiar fact that, both in ancient writings and in the
memories of peoples to whom writing is unknown, long lists of ancestors
may be preserved, going back in some cases to mythical times. Among
existing peoples good examples of such genealogies are found in
Polynesia and Uganda, but such a genealogical record is of little value
for the investigation of social organisation.
The records which I obtained in Torres Straits were of a different
kind; they only extended back for three or four generations, but
included all collateral lines, so that a man was able to tell me all
the descendants of his great-grandfather or great-great-grandfather,
and knew the descent of his mother, his father’s mother, his mother’s
mother, and his wife as fully as that of his father. By this means I
was able to collect [188] a record of the great majority of marriages
which had taken place in the community for the last three or four
generations, was able to work out the laws which had regulated these
marriages and to study in detail the system of kinship.
On going to the Todas, one of my first objects was to discover if their
pedigrees were preserved with the same completeness and fidelity as
among the Papuans of Torres Straits.
It seemed at first as if I was to be disappointed. Those to whom I
first broached the subject professed not to know the names of their own
fathers and mothers. Some said they had forgotten them, but their
demeanour excited the suspicion that reticence, and not ignorance, was
the cause of the failure, and it soon became clear that this suspicion
was correct.
There was a taboo on the names of the dead, and especially on those of
dead ancestors. No Toda liked to speak of the dead by name, but to
utter the name of a dead elder relative was strictly forbidden, and to
the end of my visit I never heard the name of a dead man from one of
his descendants. Thus the last piece of genealogical information which
I collected was that of the names of the father and mother of Kòdrner,
my constant attendant. The fact that he was always with me had
prevented my inquiries into his parentage.
Having discovered the cause of failure it soon became evident that the
Todas preserved their pedigrees almost, if not quite, as fully as the
natives of Torres Straits. As in the islands, certain men had especial
reputations as repositories of genealogical lore, and I began my
investigations with the aid of one of the most famous of these, Parkurs
(8), an old man almost blind as the result of cataract and so feeble
that he had to be carried when he came to see me. With his aid and that
of many others I compiled the records given in Appendix V.
Throughout my visit, the collection of this genealogical material was
regarded as something which should not be done. I never carried on this
branch of my work during what I may call my public hours when I was
visited by anyone who chose to come. At these times I sometimes
obtained from a man the names of his wife and children, but always left
any further inquiries till the time reserved for my investigations into
more esoteric matters, when only one man was alone with me and was not
subject to the restraints imposed by auditors who might disapprove of
the utterance of the names of the dead.
One result of the taboo on the names of dead ancestors was that the
record of a man’s family was never obtained from one of that family;
but this was no disadvantage, for the genealogical knowledge of those
from whom I obtained my data was so wide that it covered the families
of the whole or nearly the whole of the Toda community. I have no doubt
that I could have obtained the whole of the material given in the
tables from two men, one of whom would have given me the genealogies of
the Tartharol, and the other those of the Teivaliol, and if I had
chosen my informants wisely, I believe that their information would
have been as full and accurate as that obtained from my many sources of
information. Further, I found that the Teivaliol had a wide knowledge
of Tarthar genealogies, and vice versâ, though a man of one division
usually refused to guarantee the accuracy of anything he told me about
the other division, and would often disclaim knowledge which some
chance observation later showed that he possessed, at any rate in some
measure.
Although certain Todas had special reputations for their knowledge of
pedigrees and were undoubtedly more proficient in this respect than the
general mass of the community, I believe that the knowledge was very
widely spread throughout the people. My guide Kòdrner never professed
to any special knowledge of genealogies, and yet chance observations
would often show that his acquaintance with the pedigrees of the
community was far more extensive and accurate than his professions
would have led one to expect.
The results of the inquiry are given in Tables 1–72. This large
accumulation of genealogical material was obtained from people who
professed at first not to know the names of their own fathers and
mothers. It would have been quite easy for me to have come away from
the Todas and reported them as a people who did not preserve their
genealogies.
The pedigrees are recorded in exactly the same manner as those which I
have published in the Reports of the Torres Straits Expedition, with
the modifications rendered necessary by the presence of polyandry and
infant marriage among the Todas. In any one table the descendants in
the male line only are given, descendants in the female line being
recorded in the genealogies of the husbands. Thus, if one wishes to
ascertain the descendants of Pilivurch in Table 1, it is necessary to
turn to Table 20 recording the genealogy of Teithi, the husband of this
woman. The names of males are in capital letters, those of females in
ordinary type, and the name of a wife always follows the name of her
husband or husbands. Under the name of each individual is placed, in
italics, the name of the clan to which the individual belongs, or, in
the case of a married woman, of the clan to which she had belonged
before marriage. The names of those now living are given in Clarendon
type, of which Mudrigeidi and Savdur in Table 1 are examples. The
abbreviation i.m. stands for “infant marriage.” The abbreviations d.y.
and d.n.n. stand for “died young” and “died before being named”
respectively. The latter implies that the child died within a few weeks
of birth.
When the names of men are enclosed in square brackets, polyandry, and
when the names of women are so enclosed, polygyny, is indicated.
In the Torres Straits Reports I have shown that there are definite
reasons why the people should have preserved their pedigrees so fully.
The pedigrees are not preserved for amusement nor out of idle interest
in the doings of ancestors or neighbours. In Torres Straits the complex
and far-reaching nature of the marriage regulations form the chief
motive for the preservation of the pedigrees, while the transmission of
property is perhaps of almost equal importance.
Among the Todas we shall see that the marriage regulations are far
simpler than among the Papuans of Torres Straits, and in their case the
chief motive is probably connected with the inheritance of buffaloes,
the only form of property in which the Toda takes much interest. In the
succeeding chapters we shall find several examples of social
transactions in which the knowledge derived from the genealogical
record has determined the issue.
THE VALUE OF THE GENEALOGICAL RECORD
In the succeeding chapters I shall show the value of the genealogies in
working out the nature of the system of kinship and in providing
statistical material for the study of the marriage regulations. The
greater part of my work on the social aspect of the life of the Todas
is based on material derived from the genealogies; or perhaps I should
rather say that most of the information I give has been checked, if not
entirely obtained, by means of the genealogies.
I wish, however, to draw attention here to a far wider use of the
genealogies in anthropological investigation. They bring a concrete
element into anthropological work which greatly facilitates inquiry.
The lower one goes in the social or intellectual scale in mankind, the
greater difficulty is there in dealing with abstractions. The savage
mind is almost wholly occupied with the concrete. Discuss his laws of
inheritance with him, and you probably soon become hopelessly entangled
in misunderstanding. Take a number of concrete cases, and his memory
will enable him to heap instance upon instance showing how property was
inherited in given cases. Similarly, in ceremonies, ask the savage to
give an account of a given ceremony, and he probably omits many
essential points, not because he forgets them, but because they are so
familiar to him that he thinks you, like himself, take them for
granted. Ask him to tell you exactly what A and B did when they
performed a given ceremony, and he forms a mental picture of A and B
going through the ceremony, and tells you exactly what they did and how
they did it. When another individual comes into the ceremony, he too
comes in as a concrete personage, and his sayings and doings are
faithfully recorded.
The Todas are so intelligent that the genealogies were not so essential
an instrument of investigation as was the case in Torres Straits, but
they were nevertheless of enormous value in giving concreteness to the
accounts of the Toda ceremonies. The Todas certainly gave fuller and
more faithful accounts of their ceremonies when they described actual
events, but such descriptions would have been of little value to me if
I had not had my pedigrees as a guide. An account of a Toda funeral,
for instance, with its many dramatis personæ would probably have
baffled my powers of comprehension if I had not had my book of
genealogies for reference.
I always worked with this book by my side whenever I was investigating
any ceremonial in which the social side of life was concerned. I asked
for a description of some ceremony recently performed of which the
memories were fresh. The chief actors in the ceremony were always
mentioned by name; and whenever a name occurred, I looked up the clan
and family of the person in question and noticed his relationship to
other persons who had taken part in the ceremony. The actors in the
ceremony were thus real people to me as well as to my informants, and
the account of the ceremony proceeded with the maximum of interest and
the minimum of fatigue both to myself and to my informants.
The method had the further advantage that it afforded me the means of
checking the accounts which I was given. An informant inclined to be
careless soon found that I had the means of checking his narrative on
many points; and some of the people, not knowing the source of my
information, credited me with more knowledge than I really possessed,
and were in consequence extremely careful not to wander from the truth,
or perhaps I should rather say, not to tell me anything of which they
were not absolutely certain. I have already stated my belief that the
Todas are very truthful and that they err far more often from
carelessness than intention, but the fact that I had a fund of
knowledge of which the source was somewhat mysterious probably saved me
from having much of my time wasted by careless or inaccurate
information.
I think that my familiarity with the names and circumstances of the
people helped me to acquire their confidence. Among the more simple
people of Torres Straits, I used sometimes to let a man know, much to
his astonishment, that I was acquainted with some of the affairs of his
family. Among the more reticent Todas, it seemed to me unwise to do
this, but, on meeting for the first time a man with whom I was already
acquainted through the genealogies, I often referred to something I
knew he had done, perhaps to the skilful way he had caught the buffalo
at such and such a funeral, and the fact that I knew something of him
and his doings often helped to put us at once on friendly terms, and at
the same time put him on his mettle to give me the best of the
knowledge at his command.
THE TRUSTWORTHINESS OF THE GENEALOGIES
Before using the genealogical record as a means of studying the details
of the social organisation, it may be well to consider what guarantee
we have that the genealogies form a truthful record of the past. In
Torres Straits, where I gained my first experience in these matters, I
was so incredulous of the accuracy of the record that I obtained almost
every particle of information from two or three different and
independent sources, and it was only when I had finished that I found
the whole mass of material to furnish a record so consistent in itself
that it could hardly have been other than veracious.
Further, on investigating kinship and the regulation of marriage, both
on the basis of the genealogical record, it was found that the results
of one investigation closely corroborated the results of the other, and
that the combined investigations gave so consistent and coherent a
result that it was incredible that the genealogies on which the
investigations were based should have been other than faithful and
accurate records.
The Toda community is considerably larger than either of those with
which I worked in the islands of Torres Straits, and when I found that
the memories of the people extended back as far or nearly as far as in
those islands, it became obvious that I was confronted with a task of
considerable magnitude, and the question arose whether it was necessary
to obtain separate accounts of every family from independent witnesses,
as I had done previously, or whether I might not rely on the account of
a family given by one witness and only seek corroboration occasionally.
I began by following the same procedure as in Torres Straits, but soon
found that the accounts obtained independently showed a close
agreement, and I therefore contented myself in my later work with one
account, though every now and again I went over a piece of a pedigree
with a second witness. When I had finished, the consistency of all the
parts of the record with one another seemed to afford conclusive
evidence that I had obtained what is, on the whole, a veracious record.
Of course, in so large a mass of material there are mistakes. [189] In
one family no doubt a child has been omitted, especially when it died
young and had no posterity to make its name important; in another case
perhaps a child has been added to a family who was really the offspring
of another mother. That there are such mistakes is certain, but they
are probably few in number, and I have no doubt that, with one
exception to be presently considered, such mistakes as have crept in do
not appreciably impair the value of the genealogies as a record of the
working of social regulations.
There is one deficiency of the record, however, of the existence of
which I have little doubt—a deficiency entirely due to my own
carelessness. To me the chief interest of the genealogies is that they
are a record of the past—a record of the working of social regulations
which at the present time may be already affected by the new influences
coming into the lives of primitive people all over the world. In my
absorption in the records of the past, I have often neglected the
present and have omitted to ascertain carefully the children of
families at present in process of growth. In several cases I have
failed to obtain the names of children of people now living, and I have
very little doubt that I have in several or many cases omitted the
names of other children of growing families. I had one excuse for this
in the fact already mentioned, that I had to obtain my information
about a given family from people of some other family. A man would
often know all about the members of the given family in the past, but,
living perhaps at some distance from the family in question, he was
often hazy as to the exact number and names of the children recently
born, and it is the record of children under five years of age which I
know to be deficient.
If the number of the Todas now living and recorded in the genealogies
be counted, it will be found that there are 736 individuals, 419 males
and 317 females. In the census of 1901 the total population is given as
805,451 males and 354 females. My record falls short of that of the
census by 69 individuals, 32 males and 37 females.
Further, when I arrange the people now living according to age, it is
found that there is a distinct deficiency in children under five years
of age. Thus, my records of age come out as follows:—
Males. Females.
Above 65 years. 9 3
61–65 ,, 4 7
56–60 ,, 19 9
51–55 ,, 20 17
46–50 ,, 26 21
41–45 ,, 26 18
36–40 ,, 26 27
31–35 ,, 40 25
26–30 ,, 40 33
21–25 ,, 38 28
16–20 ,, 32 31
11–15 ,, 41 20
6–10 ,, 54 33
5 and under 44 45
--- ---
Total 419 317
The ages upon which this table is based could only be obtained very
roughly, and the figures must be taken merely as rough approximations
to the truth. The irregularities of the table may be due partly to this
defect, but it is very improbable that there are about the same number
of children of five and under as of children between six and ten, and
we may be fairly confident that but for omissions the numbers of the
youngest group, especially of boys, would have been larger.
I have reason to believe, further, that I have not omitted any
appreciable number of adults or children over five years of age. I
tested 320 males and 183 females for colour-blindness, and as I was
anxious to test every member of the community who was old enough, I
obtained towards the end of my visit the names of all those who had not
been tested. I only attempted to test children when over five years of
age, and I have therefore an independent record of the living Todas
above this age, so that it is fairly certain that the greater part of
the deficiency in the genealogical record is of children about or below
the age of five, though it is possible that I may also have missed a
certain number of women.
This deficiency does not in the slightest degree affect the value of
the pedigrees as a record of marriages or of the working of social
regulations, but it does impair the value of the statistics concerning
the average size of a family and other matters of biological interest,
though only for the last generation.
On looking through my genealogical tables, it will be seen that
different clans and families differ very greatly in the fulness of
their record. In some cases I have pedigrees going back to the
great-grandfathers of men now in middle life; in other cases I have
only the names of the fathers of such men. The briefness of the record
is especially marked in the case of the outlying clans, such as
Kwòdrdoni, Pedrkars, and Päm, which I only visited for short periods.
During these visits there was so much to be done that something had to
suffer and the genealogies were usually the victims. If I had had more
time, I have little doubt that I could have obtained much fuller
records in many cases.
BUFFALO PEDIGREES
Marshall has stated that the Todas preserve the pedigrees of their
buffaloes in the female line, and when I had found how carefully the
Todas preserved their own pedigrees my next step was to endeavour to
ascertain if the pedigrees of their buffaloes were preserved with the
same amount of care and completeness. I returned to this subject again
and again, but with very imperfect success. The Todas always treated my
inquiries on this subject as if they were trifling and ridiculous. It
is possible that this was one of the points on which they were
reticent, but I am inclined to think that I was told all there was to
tell.
To a certain extent it is correct to say that the pedigrees of the
buffaloes are preserved, and in the female line only. If any given
buffalo were taken as the starting-point, the owner could usually tell
me the names of the mother of the buffalo and of the mother’s mother,
and occasionally I obtained the names of the immediate ancestors in the
female line for four generations. Thus, Nertiners of Taradr (24) had a
buffalo named Kârstum who was the daughter of Idrsh. Idrsh was the
daughter of Persud, who was the daughter of Nerûv, who was the daughter
of Kiûd. Another of his buffaloes, Keien, was descended from Koisi,
Nerûv, and Kâsimi in the order named.
I could not ascertain that the Todas kept any record of the collateral
lines of descent, nor was there, so far as I could find, any idea of
kinship between buffaloes descended from the same recent ancestor. Two
buffaloes born of the same mother would be known, of course, to be
sisters, but no importance seemed to be attached to the relationship.
An obvious reason for the limitation of the pedigrees of the buffaloes
to the female line is the fact that only female buffaloes are named, so
that there are no means of recording male parentage. We shall see later
that among themselves the Todas attach little importance to paternity,
and the same indifference is found in their attitude towards their
buffaloes. The essential reason for the nature of the record of
buffalo-descent is the complete absence of desire to maintain the
purity of the breed, even of the most sacred herds, and the complete
lack of attention to ties of consanguinity between buffaloes mated
together.
THE TODA POPULATION
The chapters on kinship and marriage will furnish object-lessons on the
method of application of the knowledge derived from the genealogies to
the study of social regulations. In the remainder of this chapter I
propose to consider various problems connected with population, of
biological as well as of sociological interest. The data derived from
the genealogies are here of distinct service, though, for reasons
already considered, their value is not so great as in the investigation
of social regulations.
Records of the numbers of the Todas have been taken at various times,
beginning with what must have been a very rough estimate made by Keys
[190] in 1812, in which the number of the Todas or Thothavurs was
placed at 179. In 1821, Ward [191] estimated the numbers of men and
women at 140 and 82 respectively, of whom the great majority lived in
the Todanad district of the hills.
Hough [192] in 1825 found the population to consist of 145 men, 100
women, 45 boys, and 36 girls, altogether 326.
In 1838, Birch [193] gives the population as consisting of 294 men and
184 women, amounting to 478, but elsewhere in his paper he says that
the number of the Todas was computed at about 800.
In 1847, Ouchterlony [194] found the number of the Todas to be 337,
made up of 86 adult males, 87 male children, 70 adult females, and 94
female children. The proportion of males to females is only 173 to 164,
showing a very much smaller preponderance of males than in any other
estimate before or since.
In 1856, Grigg [195] gives 185 males and 131 females, altogether 316.
In 1866, Grigg gives the population as 704. If the estimates of this
year and that of 1856 were correct, it would show that the population
had more than doubled in ten years. It is evident that the census of
1866 is the first which gives anything approaching an accurate record
of the Toda population. Even in this year there is one obvious source
of error, for it would seem that those living at the foot of the hills,
near Gudalur were not included, and probably twenty or thirty, if not
more, would have to be added on this account.
For the census of 1871 the records are conflicting. On p. 29 of the
Manual, Grigg gives the numbers as 693, 405 males and 288 females. On
p. 187 he gives instead of these numbers 376 males and 263 females,
making a total of 639. Breeks gives the latter numbers and also a
revised result which brings out the total population as 683. This
figure, or the earlier of Grigg’s figures, evidently approximates to
the correct population, which shows a slight falling off as compared
with five years earlier.
In the census of 1881, the numbers would appear to have continued to
diminish, the population being put at only 675; 382 males and 293
females.
In 1891, the number had risen to 736; 424 males and 312 females.
In the census of 1901, which was taken with especial care to record all
the Todas, there were found to be 451 males and 354 females, making
together 805.
The population as recorded in my genealogical tables compiled in 1902
was only 736; 419 males and 317 females. My numbers fall far short of
those of the census taken a year previously. As I have already pointed
out, my genealogies are untrustworthy as a record of the young children
of the community now living, and it is possible also that I have
omitted a certain number of women. The excess of men over women is
distinctly greater in my figures than in the census of 1901, and this
may be due to the fact that I failed to hear of a certain number of
widows or unmarried women or girls. If so, it is probable that these
defects are in the genealogies of the Teivaliol, and it is in them that
the excess of men is greatest.
The earlier records of the population are certainly far below the mark.
Captain Harkness, writing in 1832, estimates the attendance at a
funeral at 300 men, nearly half that number of women, and about as many
boys and girls. Those seen by Harkness may not have been all Todas,
since Badagas and Kotas undoubtedly attend Toda funerals, but we may
safely call this a total attendance of 500, which would show that the
records of Hough in 1825 and of Birch in 1838 are far below the mark,
and that Birch’s rough estimate of 800 is probably far more nearly
correct, and may even have been too small.
The records have probably been fairly complete since 1866, and if so,
they show a falling off in population from this date till the 1881
census. It is, however, possible that the gradual increase in numbers
during recent censuses has been due to the greater care taken at each
succeeding census. Unsatisfactory as the records are, they seem to
point to a diminution of population about the middle of the last
century, which ceased between 1880 and 1890, since which time the
population has probably increased.
Mr. R. C. Punnett [196] has analysed the data furnished by my
genealogical records to ascertain the average size of the Toda family.
He divided the families recorded in the genealogies into four groups:
(A) those where the eldest child would in 1903 be over 90 years of age;
(B) those where he would be between 60 and 90; (C) and (D) those where
he would be between 30 and 60 and between 0 and 30 respectively. He has
recorded the results for Tartharol and Teivaliol separately in the
following table.
Group. Tartharol. Teivaliol.
No. of Average size ♂s per No. of Average size ♂s per
families. of family. 100 ♀s. families. of family. 100 ♀s.
A 9 3·0 [4·2] 237·5 4 4·5 [6·0] 200
B 49 4·1 [5·0] 159·7 21 3·8 [5·4] 259
C 87 3·3 [3·7] 131·4 40 3·8 [5·0] 202
D 104 2·5 [2·8] 129·2 45 2·3 [2·9] 171
The figures in square brackets give the average size of the family for
each generation, making allowance for cases of female infanticide,
which we shall see presently to be a Toda custom which is almost
certainly diminishing in frequency.
The conclusion Mr. Punnett draws from this table is that there has been
a marked decrease in fertility during the period covered by the
genealogies.
The defects in my record as regards young children make any conclusions
about the last generation very inconclusive, but since the record for
very young children is certainly defective, and since many families now
existing will certainly increase in size, it is probable that any
progressive decrease in the size of a family has now been arrested, and
the details of the genealogical record would therefore agree with the
Census Reports in showing the presence of a distinct tendency of the
Toda population to increase.
None of the previous records have given any indication of the numbers
of the two chief divisions of the Toda people. According to my
genealogical records, there were living, in 1902, 528 Tartharol and 208
Teivaliol. The defects in my record are probably somewhat greater for
the Teivaliol than for the Tartharol, but any difference there may be
is certainly not great, and I think we may conclude that, though these
figures are not accurate, they represent approximately the true
proportion of the numbers of the two divisions. It is quite certain
that the Tartharol are more than twice as numerous as the Teivaliol.
Mr. Punnett’s table does not show any great difference between the two
divisions in the average size of the family, so that the proportion
between the numbers of the two divisions has probably not altered
during the period covered by the genealogical record. It is probable
that the Teivaliol have always or for a very long time been the smaller
division.
The Census Reports and the genealogical record then agree in pointing
to a diminution of the Toda population about the middle of last century
which has now ceased, the probability being that the Todas are
increasing slightly in numbers.
There can be little doubt that any decrease in the Toda population
about the middle of last century was the direct result of the changes
brought about by the advent of Europeans to the Nilgiri Hills. The
adverse influences which came into the lives of the Todas probably owe
their origin to the large immigration of native servants and to the
development of the bazaar. Though Europeans first began to come to the
Nilgiri Hills about 1820, it was not till twenty or thirty years later
that they arrived in any considerable numbers, so that it was probably
the middle of the century before the injurious influences made their
effects felt to any great effect.
The especial influences injurious to fertility have probably been
syphilis and sexual immorality, for the Todas do not appear to have
fallen to any very great extent under the influence of alcohol or
opium. They certainly take both, and especially after the market day at
the Ootacamund bazaar, I have seen Todas obviously under the influence
of drink; but I believe this to have been only an influence of minor
importance on the health of the people. Syphilis, on the other hand,
has undoubtedly affected them to a considerable extent. At the present
time its ravages are not very obvious, though, without looking for it
especially, I saw several examples of its effects. There can be little
doubt, however, that it has been a potent factor in the past. In a note
in a book by A. C. Burnell, [197] it is mentioned that in 1871
thirty-one Todas were treated at Ootacamund for venereal disease, and
of these thirty were syphilitic. This means that in one year over 4 per
cent. of the total Toda population were treated for syphilis at one
place, and we may be fairly confident that all those suffering from the
disease did not apply for treatment.
Another factor working towards the diminution of the population has
probably been sexual immorality. I shall have to return to this subject
again later, and must be content here to point out that the Toda women
have a very bad reputation, though perhaps their laxity is not as great
as is usually supposed. Still, there can be little doubt that the women
of some villages are extremely immoral, and it is probable that this
has distinctly tended to produce sterility.
If the diminution in the size of the Toda family is due to these
adverse influences, it should be found to be greatest in those sections
of the Toda community which have been most subject to these influences.
The best way of throwing light on this question is to compare the
fertility of the different clans of the Tartharol. Some of these, such
as Nòdrs, Pan, Taradr, and Kanòdrs, either live in outlying parts of
the hills or are sufficiently remote from the chief centres of the
European population not to have been influenced very greatly.
The chief village of the Kars clan is situated close to Ootacamund and
has suffered greatly from its neighbours, but many of the villages of
the clan are more remote, so that the clan may be put down as one
partly influenced. The people of Päm and Nidrsi, on the other hand, are
more influenced than any other of the Toda clans, as is shown by the
alterations in their villages and the neglect of the ritual of their
religion. The villages of the Pämol are, or were, near to Wellington
Barracks, and it is certainly the most degenerated of all the Toda
clans. The following table, taken from Mr. Punnett’s paper, shows the
average size of the family in each case, and though the figures are
somewhat irregular, they bear out the view that sterility is greater
the more the people have come into contact with Europeans and their
followers.
Name of clan. No. of No. of Average size Average size
families. offspring. of family. of family
for group.
Nòdrs } 14 54 3·84 } 3·59
Pan } (uninfluenced) 8 21 2·37 }
Taradr } 9 43 4·77 }
Kanòdrs } 11 33 3·00 }
Kars (partly influenced) 25 76 3·04 3·04
Päm } (much influenced) 10 22 2·20 } 2·60
Nidrsi } 10 30 3·00 }
PROPORTION OF THE SEXES
The records of the Toda population in the past all show an excess of
men over women, and with the exception of the record of Ouchterlony,
which is certainly untrustworthy, the excess is considerable. In view
of their untrustworthiness no importance can be attached to the records
taken earlier than that of 1866, and in the report for that year I have
been unable to ascertain the proportions of the sexes. In 1871 there
were 140·6 men for every 100 women; in 1881, 130·4 for every 100; in
1891, 135·9, and in the census of 1901, 127·4 men for every 100 women.
My figures, derived from the genealogical record, give for 1902, 132·2
men for every 100 women, a proportion distinctly greater than that of
the census, which suggests that it is in the female portion of the
community that my records are most defective.
In the table on p. 474 taken from Mr. Punnett’s paper, it is seen that
the data derived from the genealogical record agree with those of the
Census Reports in showing on the whole a progressive decrease in the
excess of men over women. The number of families in the first group is
too small to give them much importance, but for the three succeeding
generations of the Tartharol, the numbers of males for every 100
females are 159·7, 131·4, and 129·2, while for the Teivaliol the
figures are 259, 202, and 171 respectively.
The Census Reports and the genealogical record thus agree in showing a
progressive diminution in the excess of men over women.
There can be little doubt as to the cause of this. All accounts of the
Todas agree in attributing to them the practice of female infanticide,
though, at the present time, the Todas are very chary of acknowledging
the existence of the practice. They deny it absolutely for the present,
and they are reluctant to speak about it for the past.
I do not think that there is the slightest doubt that it was at one
time very prevalent, and that it has greatly diminished in frequency,
but that it is still practised to some extent. The chance remarks of
children to my interpreter, Samuel, had shown him that the practice is
still followed occasionally, and I think it far from unlikely that it
is even now not a very rare occurrence.
In Mr. Punnett’s table, it will be seen that the genealogical data show
that the excess of men is far greater in the Teivaliol than in the
Tartharol, and the excess in the former is so great as to leave little
doubt that the practice is still followed in this division not
infrequently. If this is so, it is probably due to the fact that the
Teivaliol chiefly inhabit the more outlying parts of the hills, so
that, on the whole, they have been less affected than the Tartharol by
the various influences which have come into the lives of the Todas. An
accessory factor may have been the priestly functions of the Teivalioi,
which have probably tended to make them more conservative.
Previous writers on the Todas have differed considerably in their
accounts of the method of infanticide, and I regret very much that I
cannot contribute any facts towards the settlement of the question. The
subject was one about which the Todas talked so unwillingly that I made
no great endeavours to arrive at the truth. A method which has been
commonly attributed to the Todas is that of placing the infant at the
gate of the buffalo-pen before this is opened in the morning, the herd
rushing out and trampling on the child. Another less likely method has
been said to be that the infant is drowned in buffalo milk.
The most probable account is that given to Marshall [198] by an aged
Toda, who stated that the child is suffocated by an old woman, who
receives a fee of four annas, and that the child is then buried, which,
as we have seen, is the method of disposing of the bodies of still-born
children.
There is little reason to connect the practice of female infanticide
among the Todas with any deficiency in the necessaries for existence.
It seems clear that at one time the Todas supplemented their food of
milk with berries, roots, &c., but it is improbable that they were ever
in such straits for food that they would have resorted to infanticide
on this account. Marshall’s informant ascribed infanticide to the
poverty of his people, but this was probably said in order to excuse
the practice.
In an earlier part of this chapter we saw that there is evidence of a
former diminution of the Toda population. At the same time we see that
there is evidence of a diminution of the practice of female
infanticide, which would, of course, tend to increase the population.
It would thus seem that there have existed among the Todas, during the
last fifty years, certain factors tending to diminish the population
and one factor tending to increase it. We may conclude that, but for
the diminution of infanticide, the falling off in numbers would have
been greater, and that the tendency to increase which seems at present
to exist may be due, wholly or in part, to the diminution of
infanticide.
There is one indication that female infanticide has almost entirely
ceased during the last five years, and even that there may now be an
excess of female births. In the table of ages given on page 469, it
will be seen that the pedigrees record more girls than boys of five
years and under. There is no reason why my record of such young
children should have been more defective for one sex than for the
other, and the proportion here may be approximately correct.
TWINS
Twins are called ömumokh and it is the custom to kill one of them, even
when both are boys. If they should be girls, it is probable that both
would be killed, or, at any rate, would have been killed in the past.
There is one case of twins in the genealogies. Iraveli, the wife of
Kwötuli and Nudriki (8), gave birth to twins about twelve years ago.
Both were boys, and I was first told that one had died shortly after
birth, but later inquiries made it almost certain that the boy had been
killed. Some time after the birth of the twins, one of the buffaloes of
Kwötuli and Nudriki is said to have had a calf with one body, two
heads, and four legs. The buffalo died before the calf was born, and
the monstrosity was found by the Kotas, to whom the body was given. It
was generally expected that something would happen to Kwötuli or
Nudriki, but they have since been very prosperous.
THE DETERMINATION OF AGE
This is a suitable place to say a word about the method I adopted to
ascertain the ages of the Todas. Like all people at a low stage of
culture, the Todas are very uncertain about their ages, though their
knowledge is more accurate than that of many peoples. Every Toda knows,
however, whether he is older or younger than another, this fact
determining the names and salutations they give to one another, as we
shall see in the next chapter. A few of the younger men seemed to have
accurate knowledge of their ages, and building up on this basis, and
with a knowledge of the relative ages of the different members of the
community, it became possible to arrive at estimates which probably do
not deviate very widely from the correct ages; even in the case of the
older people, I do not believe that my estimated ages are likely to be
more than five years out in any case. As already mentioned (see p.
416), the Todas make use, in the estimation of age, of their belief in
the eighteen-year period of a flower, and the ages so estimated in a
few cases agreed fairly with those arrived at in other ways.
Among those now alive, it seemed that the usual time which separates
the birth of two children of the same mother is about three years, and
I have taken this time as the rule in estimating the ages of all those
whose names are included in the genealogies. Similarly, so far as I
could tell, women begin to bear children when about eighteen to twenty
years of age.
The ages of the four groups given in the table on p. 474 were
calculated on the assumptions that a woman had her first child when
twenty years old, and that the interval between the births of two
children was three years.
The oldest Toda now living is Kiugi (57). He looks an extremely old
man, and is said by the Todas to be nearly a hundred years of age.
There is evidence which makes it probable that he is at least eighty or
ninety. Kòrs, the father of Kiugi, performed the pursütpimi ceremony
before the birth of Teitchi (52) (see p. 564). Teitchi’s grandson,
Kuriolv, is now about fifty-four years of age. When Kòrs gave the bow
and arrow he may have been only a young boy, and if we assume that he
was fifteen years old, that Teitchi and Pareivan had their first
children when twenty years old, and that the interval between the birth
of Pilzink and that of Pareivan was six years, it would make the age of
Kòrs, if he were still alive, 115. If Kiugi was born when his father
was twenty years old, it would make his age ninety-five. If, on the
other hand, we assume that Kòrs gave the bow and arrow when only ten
years of age, and that he did not have his first child till he was
thirty, it would make Kiugi’s age eighty. Kiugi’s eldest child, if
alive, would now probably be about sixty, and this supports the view
that the lowest possible estimate of Kiugi’s age is eighty, and he is
not improbably a good deal older.
CHAPTER XXI
KINSHIP
The system of kinship was studied chiefly by means of the genealogies.
The Todas are sufficiently intelligent to be able to give satisfactory
definitions of their terms expressing different kinds of relationship,
but the genealogies were very useful in checking these definitions and
in working out several points in detail.
The Toda system of kinship is of the kind known as classificatory with
several interesting special features. Perhaps the most important of
these is the use of the same terms for mother’s brother and
father-in-law on the one hand, and for father’s sister and
mother-in-law on the other hand. This is a natural consequence of the
regulation which ordains that the proper marriage for a man is one with
the daughter either of his mother’s brother or father’s sister.
Another important feature of the Toda system is the existence of two
well-marked groups of terms expressing bonds of kinship; one used when
speaking of relatives, and the other when speaking to relatives and in
exclamations. The latter, which may be regarded as vocative cases of
the former, are fewer in number and used in a much more general sense;
and if the two are not distinguished, it is easy to understand that one
may find only “inextricable confusion in Toda ideas as to
relationship.” [199] I will first give a list of kinship terms,
together with the forms used in direct address, and the approximate
definitions, and these will be followed by a discussion of the exact
meaning of each term. The vocative forms are enclosed in brackets.
Pevian, great-grandfather.
Peviav, great-grandmother.
Pian (pia), grandfather.
Piav (piava), grandmother.
In (aia), father.
Av (ava), mother.
Mokh (ena), son.
Kugh (ena), daughter.
Mokh pedvai mokh (ena), grandson.
Mokh pedvai kugh (ena), granddaughter.
An (anna), elder brother.
Egal (egala), brother of same age.
Nòdrved (enda), younger brother.
Akkan (akka), elder sister.
Nòdrvedkugh (enda), younger sister.
Mun (mama), mother’s brother and wife’s father.
Mumi (mimia), father’s sister and wife’s mother.
Manmokh (ena), sister’s son.
Mankugh (ena), sister’s daughter.
Matchuni, child of a mother’s brother or father’s sister.
Òl (òl or òlia), husband.
Kotvai or tazmokh (tazmokh or tazmokhia), wife.
Paiol, general name for male relatives of wife.
Motvilth (ena), son’s wife.
A general name for those of the same clan is annatam, but I am not sure
that this is not properly a borrowed word.
In giving a more detailed account of these terms of kinship, it will
perhaps be convenient to begin with the relationship of in, or father.
In. A person speaks of his father as “en in,” “my father,” while “his
father” would be “tan in.” An in is addressed as aia. These names are
applied not only to the father, but also to the father’s brothers,
whether they are husbands of the mother or not.
The names in or aia are also given to all the males of the clan (madol)
who are of the same generation as the father; also to the husbands of
the sisters of the mother, sisters here including both own sisters and
clan-sisters, i.e., to the husbands of all those who are of the same
clan and generation as the mother. Elder brothers of the father (either
own brothers or clan-brothers) are often addressed as perudaia, while
younger brothers are called karudaia, and in speaking of such men the
expressions “en in perud” and “en in karud” would be used. When a man
speaks of one of his more remote fathers, and it may be doubtful of
whom he is speaking, he may add the name of the man; thus Siriar (20)
would speak of Paniolv (26), the husband of his mother’s sister, as
“Pani in.”
Av. A mother is spoken of as en av or tan av, and addressed as ava.
These names are also applied to the wife of a father other than the
actual mother, to the sisters of the mother, to the wives of the
father’s brothers, and to the sisters of the wife’s father. Every woman
of the same clan and generation as the mother is an av. In general the
wife of an in is an av. As in the case of the in, a distinction is made
between the elder and younger sisters of the mother, the former being
addressed as perudava and the latter karudava. Similarly the wife of an
elder brother of the father is perudava and of a younger karudava. Such
relatives may be spoken of as “en av perud” and “en av karud.”
Mokh and Kugh. Every one whom a man calls in or av calls the man mokh,
and every one to whom a woman gives these names calls the woman kugh.
In direct address, both mokh and kugh are called ena (? enna).
In speaking of his brother’s children, a man may make clear whether he
is speaking of the child of an elder or younger brother; thus he may
say “en nòdrvedvain mokh,” “my younger brother’s son.” Mokh is often
used as a general term for “child” and may be applied to persons of
either sex.
Pian. This name is given to both paternal and maternal grandfathers and
to their brothers, certainly in the narrow sense and probably in the
wider. Every male of the speaker’s clan of the same generation as the
father’s father would certainly be called “en pian.” The brother of the
father’s mother is also called pian, but I am doubtful whether the term
is used for all the clan-brothers of the father’s mother Similarly I am
uncertain how far the clan-brothers of the mother’s father and mother’s
mother receive this name. A pian is addressed as pia.
Piav. This is the name of both paternal and maternal grandmothers, and
in general the wife of a pian is a piav. A piav is addressed as piava.
All those addressed as pian or piav will address the speaker as ena.
When speaking of his grandson, a man will say “en mokh pedvai” or “en
mokh pedvai mokh,” literally “my born to my son” or “my son born to my
son,” and there were no less elaborate terms.
The son of a daughter is called en kugh pedvai mokh, “my daughter who
born to son,” taking the words in order, or “my son born to my
daughter.” A daughter of a son is called en mokh pedvai kugh, and the
daughter of a daughter, en kugh pedvai kugh. Since, however, mokh is
often used as a general name for “child,” I believe that this word
usually takes the place of kugh, and that in consequence a grandchild
of either sex is called en mokh pedvai mokh.
Pevian and peviav. These words for great-grandfather and
great-grandmother have a similar wide connotation. The word pef is an
ancient term for “great” which is used in some of the magical
incantations (see p. 267).
An. This is the name for elder brother and for all members of the clan
of a man or woman who are of the same generation as, and older than,
the man or woman. An an is addressed as anna.
Nòdrved. This is the name for younger brother and for all members of
the clan of the same generation as, and younger than, the speaker. En
nòdrved or nòdrped means literally “my born with.” A nòdrved is
addressed as enda.
Egal. A corresponding relative who is of the same age is called en egal
and is addressed as egala.
These terms are used both by men and women of and to men.
Akkan. This term is applied by both men and women to an elder sister,
and is also given to all female members of the same clan who are of the
same generation as, and older than, the speaker. An akkan is addressed
as akka.
Nòdrvedkugh. A younger sister is spoken of by this name, which is also
given to all the female members of the same clan and generation, but
younger than the speaker. Such a relative is addressed by the same term
as is applied to a younger brother, viz., enda. Two sisters of the same
age are egal and egala to one another.
These terms for “brother” and “sister” are also applied to one another
by the children of two sisters. Thus a man would call the son of his
mother’s sister an, and address him as anna if the latter were older
than himself, and would be spoken of by the latter as en nòdrved and
addressed as enda. If of the same age they would be egal or egala to
one another. Similarly a man addresses the daughter of his mother’s
sister as akka or enda according to age. I am doubtful how widely the
terms for brotherhood and sisterhood are applied in this case. I do not
know whether the children of two women of the same generation in a
large clan like that of Kars would call one another brother and sister.
Thus the children of two brothers are brothers and sisters, and the
children of two sisters are also brothers and sisters, while, as we
shall see shortly, the children of brother and sister receive another
name. The children of two sisters belong to different clans except in
those cases in which the sisters have married men of the same clan.
Thus a man may have brothers and sisters in several different clans.
Mun. This is the name of the mother’s brother, of the father’s sister’s
husband, and of the wife’s father. The last is also spoken of as paiol
together with other relatives of the wife. In the case of the orthodox
Toda marriage, in which a man marries the daughter of his mother’s
brother, or of his father’s sister, the mun is at the same time both
wife’s father and either mother’s brother or father’s sister’s husband,
but the wife’s father is still called mun even when a man marries a
woman to whom he is unrelated.
The term mun is not only applied by a man to the own brothers of his
mother, but also to her clan-brothers. When a man has many mun, he may
show to which he is referring by mentioning his name; thus Siriar (20)
would say “Karsüln mun” if he referred to this relative, the husband of
his father’s sister, and he might speak in the same way of a
clan-brother of his mother.
A distinction is often made between older and younger mun; thus, if a
man’s mother had two brothers, the elder would be called en mun perud
and the younger en mun karud. A mun is addressed as mama.
Mumi. This is the name of the father’s sister, of the wife of a
mother’s brother, and of the wife’s mother, the terms brother and
sister being again used in a wide sense. In general, the wife of a mun
is a mumi. A mumi is addressed as mimia.
Manmokh. A person would apply the term manmokh to his sister’s son and
his wife’s brother’s son. It is a term reciprocal to mun in so far as
this term is one for mother’s brother and father’s sister’s husband. I
am not quite certain whether it would be used for a son-in-law who was
not also a sister’s son, but I am almost certain that this would be
done.
The term is also applied to the sons of clan-sisters, and when used in
this more distant way a distinction is sometimes made. En manmokh would
mean “my (own) sister’s son,” Em manmokh, literally “our sister’s son,”
would be used for children of a more distant sister.
Mankugh is used in exactly the same way as manmokh for sister’s
daughter, &c.
Matchuni. This is the term applied to one another by the children, both
male and female, of brother and sister. While the children of two
brothers are brothers or sisters (an, egal, akka or nòdrved) and the
children of two sisters are also brothers and sisters, the children of
a brother and sister are matchuni. In other words, the children of an
individual’s mother’s brother or of his father’s sister are the
matchuni of the individual.
When a man addresses his male matchuni he calls him anna, egala or
enda, according to their relative ages. Similarly when a woman
addresses her female matchuni, she calls her akka, egala or enda,
according to age.
When a man addresses his female matchuni, he calls her either tazmokhia
or kughia (see below). He gives her the former name because he is
allowed to marry her; she is a woman who might normally be his wife and
he therefore addresses her as wife.
Similarly a woman addresses her male matchuni as òlia; she calls him
husband because he may become her husband.
As in the case of other relationships, a man may define more exactly of
whom he is speaking when he refers to a matchuni, and may say instead
en munkugh, the daughter of my mun. Two kinship terms are thus used
which resemble one another closely, but have very different
meanings:—en munkugh, my uncle’s daughter, and en mankugh, my sister’s
daughter.
Òl, husband. A woman speaks of her husband as en òl and addresses him
as òlia.
Kotvai and tazmokh, wife. A man speaks of his wife as en kotvai, and
addresses her as tazmokhia.
Paiol. This is a general term for the male relatives of the wife. It is
applied especially to the wife’s father, the wife’s brothers, and the
brothers of the wife’s father.
It seemed that this term should only properly be applied to the near
relatives of the wife. Those whom the wife would address as aia, anna,
or enda, because members of her clan, need not be called paiol by the
husband.
Paiol is a reciprocal term, and it is therefore applied by a man to the
daughter’s husband, the sister’s husband, and to the husband of the
brother’s daughter.
A paiol is addressed as anna, egala, or enda, according to age.
Motvilth. This term is the equivalent of daughter-in-law and is applied
by a man to his son’s wife. A woman is also the motvilth of the
brothers of her husband’s father. A motvilth is addressed as ena.
There did not seem to be any brief term for the sister of a wife, and a
man would speak of her as en kotvai akkan if older, or as en kotvai
nòdrved if younger than the wife.
Sometimes the Todas add to some of the kinship names the word potch,
which is said to have the meanings “begetting” or “begotten.” I met
with this especially in the lamentations used at funerals. A man would
say, “en potch aia”—“O my father which begot me”; “en potch anna”—“O my
elder brother begotten with me.” For a younger brother, however, this
word would not be used; a man would not say, “en potch nòdrved ia,”
because ved has the same significance as potch, nòdrved meaning also
“born with” or “begotten with.”
Every male of a man’s own clan is either his pian; his in; his an,
egal, or nòdrved; his mokh, or his mokh pedvai mokh. In most cases a
clan consists of several families, and these families may be unrelated
to one another so far as the evidence from the genealogical record
goes. Nevertheless, every Toda knows exactly the proper kinship terms
to apply to all the members of his clan. I inquired in detail into the
basis of this knowledge in the case of the Taradrol, consisting of six
pòlm or divisions. All the members of each pòlm trace their descent
from a man whose name is known, and the pedigrees of the six pòlm are
given in the genealogical tables 20 to 25.
It was known that three of these pòlm were closely related to one
another, and that the other three were also closely related. The
following table expresses the relationship in the first case:—
|
| | |
♂ ♂ TEITHI
| | |
NASIDZ PERATUTHI (See 20)
| |
(See 22) (See 21)
It was not perfectly certain whether Teithi and the two men whose names
were not remembered were own brothers, but it was known that they were
closely related and of the same generation. They were certainly
clan-brothers and possibly own brothers. The kinship names applied by
members of the three pòlm to one another were all in accordance with
this scheme; thus, there was no one living in these three pòlm whom
Siriar (20) called aia; he would have given this name to Nasidz or
Peratuthi if they had been alive. He calls Arthothi and Parkeidi anna;
they are the sons of Peratuthi, who was of the same generation as
Siriar’s father. The following are called mokh or ena:—Püldenir,
Keinodz, Idrshkwòdr (21), Polgar, Pundu, Keinmuv, and Pushtikudr (22),
although at least one of these men is older than Siriar, and several
others are approximately of the same age. Similarly, Muners (21) is the
mokh pedvai mokh, or grandson of Siriar.
The other three pòlm of the Taradr clan are known to be related in a
similar way: Kiusthvan (23), Pachievan (24), and Pungut (25) being
either own brothers or men closely related and of the same generation.
I was thus able to ascertain definitely how each member of the first
three pòlm knew the appropriate name to be given to members of these
families, and similarly how members of the other three pòlm knew the
exact terms of kinship to apply to one another.
Each member of the first three pòlm also knew, however, the proper
kinship terms to apply to members of the other three pòlm, although I
could not obtain, and there seemed to be no record of, the way in which
the two groups of families were connected. Thus Siriar addresses as aia
Paners and his brothers (23) and Irkiolv (24). He addresses as anna:
Teitukhen, Idjkudr and Kandu (23), Tòleidi, Nertiners, Mogai, Teimad
and Orguln (24), and Kudeners and his brother (25). The children of
these men are the mokh of Siriar, and are addressed by him as ena.
The explanation seems to be that the mode of relationship is handed
down from generation to generation; thus Teithi, the grandfather of
Siriar, called Kiusthvan (23) brother, and in consequence Ircheidi and
Paners, their sons, also call one another brother, and so Siriar, the
son of Ircheidi, knows that he has to call Paners father. In this way a
man would know the correct term to apply to every member of his clan,
though the links by which their pedigrees are connected may have been
completely forgotten.
I also worked out the relationship of the different divisions of the
Kuudr clan in the same way, and may perhaps give the record briefly.
Teitnir (52) calls the following Kuudr men aia:—Mutevan (52), Punatvan
(53), Keitas (55), Tüliners (56), Kiugi (57), Tütners, Etamudri, Madsu,
and Koboners (58), Ishkievan (60).
He calls the following anna:—Kuriolv and Ivievan (52), Targners (53),
Keinkursi (54), and Mudriners (57). The following are his nòdrved, and
are called by him enda:—Kwelthipush and his brothers, Piliar and Piliag
(52), Pungusivan, Tevò, Karov and Pòl (53), Pöteners (54), Sinar and
Katsog (55), Erai, Kil, Kanokh (56), Onadj and Kwòdrthotz (57), Kishkar
and Tormungudr (59). All the sons of these brothers are the mokh of
Teitnir.
In the above list Teitnir omitted Tikievan and Tushtkudr (56), who
according to the genealogies are his pia or grandfathers, while their
sons, though much younger than Teitnir, are his fathers, and are
addressed by him as aia.
The other kinship terms are used in the same wide way. If a man’s
mother belonged to Kuudr all those Kuudr men would be his mun who were
the an, egal, or nòdrved of his mother; and all the children of those
men would be his matchuni.
The terms used for the relatives of a wife are also used for the
corresponding relatives of a sedvaitazmokh. This is the name of the
woman in the Toda institution according to which a woman consorts with
one or more men in addition to her husband or husbands (see p. 526).
The man, or mokhthodvaiol, calls the fathers and brothers of the woman
paiol, and calls her father mun and her mother mumi.
Relatives are often spoken of by the Todas in a way that defines their
relation to the speaker more exactly than is usual in the
classificatory system. Thus, a man may call his brother’s son “en
nodrvedvain mokh”—“my younger brother’s son”; or he may speak of his
wife’s elder sister as “en kotvai akka,” an abbreviation of en kotvai
tan akka—“my wife her elder sister.” Similarly, a wife’s younger sister
may be called “en kotvai nòdrved.”
It seemed to me that the Todas afford an interesting example of a
people who are beginning to modify the classificatory system of kinship
in a direction which distinctly approaches the descriptive system. The
essential features of the system of kinship are those known as
classificatory, but the Todas have various means of distinguishing
between the near and distant relatives to whom the same kinship term is
applied. Two examples of this have already been given; the son of an
own sister may be called “my sister’s son,” while the son of a clan
sister is called “our sister’s son,” and the own brother of a mother is
simply called mun, while in the case of a clan brother of the mother,
the name of the man is added. Further, a term which is definitely
descriptive may be used in the examples quoted above.
The Todas have reached a stage of mental development in which it seems
that they are no longer satisfied with the nomenclature of a purely
classificatory system, and have begun to make distinctions in their
terminology for near and distant relatives.
Another point of interest about the Toda system is that the two sets of
kinship terms—those used in direct address and those used when speaking
of a relative—do not correspond closely with one another.
The terms used in direct address are few in number compared with the
kinship terms used when speaking of a relative. Brothers of all kinds,
matchuni and some paiol (brothers-in-law) are all addressed as anna,
egala or enda, according to age. Children, grandchildren, sisters’ sons
and sons-in-law are all addressed as ena. If exclusive attention were
paid to the kinship terms used in address we should seem to have a
kinship system which is almost wholly based on relative ages and
generations, all other distinctions being ignored.
The Toda system distinguishes widely between elder and younger members
of the family and clan. This feature, which is of very general
occurrence in connexion with the classificatory system, has been highly
developed by the Todas, and their system differs from any other with
which I am acquainted in having a special term for relatives of the
same age.
When two members of a clan or two men related in other ways address one
another as brother, the terms employed depend altogether on their
relative ages, and are not influenced by the relative seniority of the
branches of the family or clan to which they belong.
The Toda system appears to be closely related to that of the Dravidians
of Southern India. In several cases the names for certain kin are
identical with or closely resemble those of other South Indian
languages.
The three most characteristic features of the Toda system are (i.) the
use of the same term for mother’s brother and father-in-law, &c.; (ii.)
the marked development of vocative forms of the kinship terms; (iii.)
the marked development of distinctions according to age. These three
features are also found in Tamil, and as far as my information goes in
Telugu and Canarese. The Toda system appears to be a simplified form of
the Tamil system with many points of identity. The resemblance between
the Toda and the Tamil names seems certainly to be closer than that
between the Toda names and those of the Telugus and Canarese.
I do not wish here to consider these resemblances and differences in
any detail, but in the Table on the opposite page I have given a list
of those kinship terms in which the Todas resemble other inhabitants of
Southern India. The Tamil terms I owe to Mr. K. Rangachari of Madras;
the others I have taken from Morgan’s System of Consanguinity and
Affinity of the Human Race.
KINSHIP TABOOS
A man never mentions the name of his mun. If he wishes to make clear of
whom he is speaking he will give the name of the place at which his mun
lives, as “Tedshteiri ithvai en mun podchi,” “My uncle who lives at
Tedshteiri.” This restriction only applies to the own brothers of his
mother. Other more distant mun may be spoken of by name, and as we have
already seen, if a man wishes to make it clear of whom he is speaking,
he mentions the name in addition to the kinship term.
A man is also prohibited from uttering the name of the man from whom he
has received his wife—i.e., to whom he has done kalmelpudithti (see p.
502). This man, who is called the mokhudrtvaiol, is usually the father
of the wife and would normally be also a mun, but sometimes the place
of the mokhudrtvaiol is usurped by somebody else and in such a case
there might be no restriction on the name of the wife’s real father. In
the only case of this kind of which I have a record, the marriage of
Siriar (20) and Pupidz, the place of mokhudrtvaiol was taken by
Kuriolv, who was living with Pilimurg (7), the girl’s mother, and
though he was no real relative of the wife, Siriar might not mention
his name. In spite of the fact, however, that Kuriolv had become his
mokhudrtvaiol Siriar went privately to Patirsh (35), the real father of
his wife, and did kalmelpudithi and would also refrain from saying the
name of this man.
TODA. TAMIL. TELEGU. CANARESE.
Son mokh maghan
Elder brother an (anna) aṇṇan (aṇṇa) anna anna
Elder sister akkan (akka) akkal (akka) akka akka
Mother’s brother mun (mâmâ) amman or maman mena mava
(mama) mama
Father-in-law mun (mama) mamaner (mama) mama mava
Father’s sister mumi (mimia) attai
Wife of mother’s
brother mumi (mimia) ammami
Wife’s mother mumi (mimia) mamiyar
(ammami)
Sister’s son manmokh maruman or
marumakan
Mother’s matchuni maittunan (?)
brother’s son
Father’s matchuni attan or
sister’s son maittunan
Wife’s brother matchuni or machchinan or
paiol maittunan
A man is prohibited from saying the name of his wife’s mother (mumi),
but my notes do not make clear whether he is also prohibited from
saying the names of other mumi—i.e., father’s sisters, but probably
this is so. In any case this restriction only applies to near
relatives.
A man may not utter the name of his pian or piav.
There seemed to be some reluctance to say the name of a wife, but there
did not appear to be any definite prohibition against it. It was
probably part of a reluctance to utter personal names in general of
which the Todas show some traces, though it is less marked among them
than in the case of many uncultured people.
The taboo on names was far wider in the case of dead relatives. No one
was allowed to utter the name of a dead relative, and this rule
appeared to be especially stringent in the case of relatives who had
been older than the speaker. As I have already mentioned, this taboo
was for some time a great obstacle in my way when trying to obtain the
pedigrees of the people. If a man had to refer to a dead relative, he
did so by mentioning the name of the village at which he had died;
thus, if the father of a Taradr man had died at Taradr, the man would
say, “en in Taradr pon,” while, if he had died away from home, say at
Kuudr, he would refer to his father as “en in Kuudr odthavai,” “my
father who died at Kuudr.”
In the funeral lamentations, each mourner mentions the deceased by the
name indicating the bond of kinship between himself and the dead, and
does not utter the personal name.
KINSHIP SALUTATIONS
There are certain well-defined salutations which are regulated by
kinship.
The characteristic Toda salutation is called kalmelpudithti, in which
salutation one person kneels or bows down before another, while the
latter raises each foot and touches the forehead of the other. In
general this salutation is only paid by women to their elder male
relatives; a woman places her head beneath the foot of her pian, in,
an, or mun, using these terms in their widest sense. The salutation
seems to be very largely one connected with kinship. In everyday life
the salutation is only paid by women to men, but under special
circumstances, men may bow down before men, and women before women, and
men even may bow down before women (see p. 502).
Since, owing to the mokhthodvaiol connexion, a Tarthar woman may have a
Teivali mun and vice versa, the kalmelpudithti salutation takes place
between people of the two divisions, and I have often seen a woman of
one division placing her head beneath the foot of a man of the other
division.
When a person meets one of his kin, he uses a form of greeting which
depends on the nature of the relationship. Most of these greetings
consist of some form of the word iti or itvi, which was said to mean
“blessing” or “bless,” together with the kinship term.
A man would greet an elder brother or anyone whom he would call anna by
the word “tioñ,” cut very short so as to sound like a single syllable.
This is a corruption of iti anna. A person greets a younger brother or
one whom he would call enda by uttering his name followed by the word
ers, as in “Sakari ers,” “Pakhwar ers.” A father is greeted as itiai, a
mother as itiava. An elder sister as itiakka; a younger sister as
itvena, and this latter form is used for any female relative younger
than the speaker. It is the duty of younger female relatives to perform
the kalmelpudithti salutation, and as soon as a man says itvena, the
woman at once bows down and places her head beneath the raised foot of
the man, helping him to raise it at the same time.
A mother’s brother or father-in law (mun) is greeted by itimoñ and a
mumi is greeted by itimimia, but so slurred as to be hardly
recognisable. The grandfather and grandmother are greeted in the words
itin pia and itin piava.
Whenever a new Toda came to join people who were with me, there would
be a chorus of greetings, and the newcomer would look round carefully
to see who was present, giving to each his proper salutation and
obviously taking the greatest care that no one was overlooked. Since
the relationship of brother is the most frequent, the greetings heard
most often on these occasions were “tioñ” and “... ers.”
The regulation of salutation by kinship applies also to the salutation
of the dead. When the body first reaches the funeral place it is
saluted by all present, and in the case of kin, the mode of salutation
varies with the bond of kinship. Those related to the deceased as in,
av, pian, piav, mun, mumi, an, or akkan, bow down at the head of the
corpse and touch the body with their foreheads, while all those whom
the deceased would have called enda or ena bow down at the feet. The
place saluted by those who are not kin is determined by age, but in the
case of kin, the bond of kinship is more important than the age, so
that the former condition determines the mode of salutation. Thus at
the funeral of Kiuneimi (3), Kòdrner (7) saluted at the head of the
dead woman. He was the younger, but was her mun owing to the fact that
Kiuneimi’s step-mother Kureimi, was a Kars woman whom Kòdrner called
sister.
THE DUTIES OF KIN
The funeral ceremonies provide the greatest number of examples of
kinship duties, the parts taken by many of the mourners being
determined largely by their bonds of kinship to the deceased. The place
of chief mourner is taken by the brother or son of a dead man, by the
husband of a dead woman, and by the father of a dead child, though, at
the funeral of a girl, the husband plays the most important rôle.
Various duties fall to relatives of the same clan or of the same family
of the clan. The earth-throwing at the funeral of a male, the smearing
of butter on the buffalo, lighting the pyre at the first funeral and
the two fires at the azaramkedr, and ringing the bell at the final
scene, are all performed by near relatives of the same clan and family
as the deceased.
Cutting off a lock of hair and mixing food are acts performed by the
chief mourner, who is of the same clan as the deceased, whether
brother, son, husband, or father.
The manmokh, or sister’s son (who may be also son-in-law), has certain
definite duties. Formerly, when many buffaloes were killed, one was
always given by the sister’s son, and he still gives a thread cord,
called pennar. Many other relatives give these cords, but that given by
the manmokh is especially honoured in that it is put round the body of
the dead man inside his cloak, and not merely laid on the covering of
the body as are the others.
The mun does not appear to have any duties at a funeral, though in old
days he contributed a buffalo, and, at the present time, one of the two
buffaloes slaughtered may be given by the mun or other representative
of the mother’s family.
The matchuni (child of a maternal uncle or of a paternal aunt) has
several duties, of which the most important are those at the irsankati
ceremony of the azaramkedr. The other duties are the secondary result
of the marriage regulation which makes the matchuni the natural
bridegroom or bride, and, in consequence, it is the matchuni who
performs the pursütpimi ceremony at the funeral of an unmarried girl.
Similarly, the matchuni may take the place of a paiol at the
cloth-giving ceremony.
The duties which have, however, the greatest social interest are those
performed by the relatives by marriage. At the funeral of a woman
certain ceremonies, such as that in which leaves of the tiveri plant
are put in the dead woman’s armlet, the urvatpimi ceremony for an
unmarried girl, rubbing the relics, lighting the fire at the
azaramkedr, and burning the funeral hut, should be performed by the
daughter-in-law of a woman or the mother-in-law of a girl. These
relatives are, however, of the same clan as the deceased, owing to the
fact that a woman becomes a member of the same clan as her husband; and
I am therefore doubtful how far these relatives perform the duties in
question as members of the same clan, and how far as relatives by
marriage. Some of the duties, such as lighting the funeral fires, are
done by men of the same clan at the funeral of men; and I am therefore
inclined to believe that they are performed by a woman for this reason
and not because she is mother-in-law or daughter-in-law, but this point
is one which must remain indefinite with our present information.
Similarly the duty of covering the head is a little difficult to
understand. The head of a widower is covered (see p. 365) by one of his
paiol—his father-in-law or his brother-in-law—and in this case it is
clearly a duty which falls to a relative by marriage, but the head of a
widow is covered by her own father or by someone of his clan who takes
his place. The plausible explanation appears to be that the covering is
performed by the father of the woman, not as father of the widow, but
as father-in-law of the dead man.
Those who have married into the family of the deceased, the paiol, have
to make certain contributions towards the outlay for the funeral, and
it is in connexion with one of these contributions that the interesting
ceremony of cloth-giving occurs.
The essential feature of the ceremony seems to be that a cloth passes
between a relative or representative of the dead person and those who
have married into the family of the dead person, and the ceremony
involves a money payment to the family of the dead person from those
who have married into the family. The ceremony is one which links the
funeral ceremonies to those of marriage.
In other ceremonies of the Todas the parts played by different kin are
far less conspicuous. The mun or mother’s brother has, however, several
important functions. To him falls the duty of naming a child, on which
occasion he has also to give a calf. He takes the chief part in the
tersamptpimi ceremony, in which he cuts the hair of the child with a
special ritual. In the ear-piercing ceremony the maternal uncle pierces
one ear, and in the special case of which I have a record, he gave two
buffaloes towards the expenses attendant on the ceremony.
It is probable that a girl is named by her mumi, or father’s sister,
but this is a point on which I am not quite sure.
Under certain conditions matchuni, when associated together, have to
perform certain ceremonial acts. When two male matchuni eat rice and
milk together, they must first ask each other, “pa tòr tinkina?” “Milk
food shall I eat?” and if they eat honey together, they must say “tein
tinkina?” Two female matchuni eating together must also use these
formulæ, but they are not said when a man is eating in company with his
female matchuni, though possibly the two would never actually eat at
the same time.
Male matchuni have also to go through a ceremony when they pass in
company over either of the two sacred rivers of the Todas, the Paikara
(Teipakh) and the Avalanche (Pakhwar). As the two men approach the
river, they pluck and chew some grass, and each man says to the other
“pò tûdrikina, pò kudrikina?”—“Shall I throw the river (water), shall I
cross the river?” or, instead of the second sentence, they may say “pò
pûkhkina?”—“Shall I enter the river?” They then go to the side of the
river and each man dips his hand in the water and throws a handful away
from him three times and then they cross the river, each with the right
arm outside the cloak as is usual when crossing these sacred streams.
If the matchuni cross on a Tuesday, Friday or Saturday [200] they do
not throw water, but are content with chewing the grass, and if the
funeral ceremonies of a person belonging to the clan of either are not
complete the water will not be thrown.
This ceremony performed by matchuni when crossing a sacred river was
said to be connected with the legend given on p. 592, in which two
matchuni are concerned.
CHAPTER XXII
MARRIAGE
The custom of infant marriage is well established among the Todas, and
a child is often married when only two or three years of age. When a
man wishes to arrange a marriage for his son, he chooses a suitable
girl, who should be, and very often is, the matchuni of the boy, the
daughter of his mother’s brother or of his father’s sister. The father
visits the parents of the girl, and if the marriage is satisfactorily
arranged he returns home after staying for the night at the village. A
few days later the father takes the boy to the home of his intended
wife. They take with them the loin-cloth called tadrp as a wedding gift
and the boy performs the kalmelpudithti salutation to the father and
mother of the girl, and also to her brothers, both older and younger
than himself, and then gives the tadrp to the girl. Father and son stay
for one night at the girl’s village and return home on the following
morning. Sometimes the girl returns with them to the village of her
future husband, but, much more commonly, she remains at her own home
till she is fifteen or sixteen years of age.
If a man has not been married in childhood he may undertake the
arrangement of his marriage himself, and visit the parents of the girl
unaccompanied by his father; and in this case the girl may at once join
her husband if she is old enough.
From the time of the child-marriage the boy has to give a tadrp twice a
year until the girl is ten years old, when its place is taken by a
putkuli. The tadrp which is given at first is very small, worth perhaps
only four annas, but as the girl becomes older it is expected that the
garment shall become larger and more valuable.
If any member of the girl’s family should die it is expected that the
boy’s family shall on each occasion give a sum of eight annas or a
rupee. This gift is called tinkanik panm ûtpimi, or “we give a piece of
money to the purse.”
Formerly the boy’s family had also to contribute one of the buffaloes
killed at the funeral, but this custom is now obsolete. The
contribution of buffaloes and money from the boy to his parents-in-law
is called pödri. The boy has to take part in a ceremony at the funeral
in which a cloth is laid on the dead body, and with this ceremony there
is associated a further gift of one rupee, paid to the relatives of the
dead person by the family of the boy who has married into the family of
the deceased (see p. 358).
Certain ceremonies are performed shortly before the girl reaches the
age of puberty. One is called putkuli tâzâr utiti, or “mantle over he
puts,” in which a man belonging to the Tartharol if the girl is
Teivali, and to the Teivaliol if she is Tarthar, comes in the day-time
to the village of the girl and lying down beside her puts his mantle
over her so that it covers both and remains there for a few minutes.
Fourteen or fifteen days later a man of strong physique, who may belong
to either division and to any clan, except that of the girl, comes and
stays in the village for one night and has intercourse with the girl.
This must take place before puberty, and it seemed that there were few
things regarded as more disgraceful than that this ceremony should be
delayed till after this period. It might be a subject of reproach and
abuse for the remainder of the woman’s life, and it was even said that
men might refuse to marry her if this ceremony had not been performed
at the proper time.
It is usually some years later, when the girl is about fifteen or
sixteen, that she joins her husband and goes to live with him at his
village. The parents of the husband announce that they will fetch the
girl on a certain day, which must be one of two or three days of the
week, [201] different for each clan. The husband, accompanied by his
father and a male relative of the same clan, goes to the village of the
girl, and the three are feasted with rice and jaggery. The husband puts
five rupees into the pocket of the girl’s mantle and then takes her
home. There is no ceremony of any kind, not even the salutation such as
was performed at the original ceremony.
If the youth does not wish to live with the girl when the time arrives,
he may annul the marriage by giving one buffalo as a fine (kwadr) to
the girl’s parents; but, on the other hand, the parents of the girl
have to return as many buffaloes as he may have given as pödri at
funeral ceremonies.
If the girl refuses to join her husband the fine is heavier, and at the
present time usually amounts to five or ten buffaloes, the number being
settled by a council according to the circumstances of the people. The
girl’s family must also return any buffaloes given as pödri. According
to Harkness the fines were in his day much heavier; three buffaloes
when the man annulled the marriage, and as many as fifty when this was
done by the woman (see p. 538), and the Todas acknowledge that the fine
for refusing to fulfil the marriage contract is now lighter than it
used to be.
When a girl goes to join her husband she may be given clothing or
ornaments by her parents or brothers, and their gifts are known as
adrparn or dowry, but I could not learn that there were any definite
regulations prescribing what should be given. It seemed also that
occasionally buffaloes might be given as adrparn.
THE REGULATION OF MARRIAGE
The Todas have very definite restrictions on the freedom of individuals
to marry. One of the most important of these is that which prevents
intermarriage between the Tartharol and the Teivaliol. These groups are
endogamous divisions of the Toda people. Although a Teivali man is
strictly prohibited from marrying a Tarthar woman, he may take a woman
of this division to live with him at his village, the man being known
as the mokhthodvaiol of the woman. This connexion, which will be more
fully considered at the end of this chapter, may be regarded as a
recognised form of marriage, but it differs from the orthodox form in
that the children of the union belong to the division of the mother.
They do not, however, belong to her clan, but to that of her legal
husband. Similarly, the same kind of connexion may be formed between a
Tarthar man and a Teivali woman, but in this case the woman is not
allowed to live at the village of the mokhthodvaiol, who may either
visit her occasionally or go to live at her village.
It has already been mentioned that each of the two divisions of the
Toda community is divided into a number of septs or clans, and these
are definite exogamous groups. No man or woman may marry a member of
his or her own clan, but must marry into another clan. This restriction
applies even to the members of clans which are known to have separated
from one another in recent times. Thus, among the Tartharol certain
members of the Melgarsol separated from the main group, and their
descendants have formed a separate group or groups known as the
Kidmadol and Karshol (see p. 664), but although the separation took
place many years ago there still remains a definite prohibition against
a marriage of members of these clans with the Melgars people. The clans
of Pedrkars and Kulhem among the Teivaliol are offshoots of the
Kuudrol, but here the separation seems to have occurred so long ago
that the common origin is not regarded as a bar to marriage.
In the whole of the genealogical record given in the tables at the end
of the volume there is not a single case in which marriage has occurred
between two members of the same clan.
Among many races at or below the stage of culture of the Todas
prohibition of marriage within the clan is usually accompanied by
prohibition of sexual intercourse, and such intercourse is regarded as
incest and often as the greatest of crimes. It is doubtful whether
there is any such strict prohibition among the Todas. In the qualifying
ceremony for the office of palol known as tesherst, it is ordained that
the woman who takes part in the ceremony shall be one who has never had
intercourse with one of her own clan, and I was told that it was far
from easy to find such a woman. The fact, however, that this
restriction should exist in connexion with a ceremony suggests that
even to the Todas there is something reprehensible in intercourse
between man and woman of the same clan (see also p. 530).
There are certain special prohibitions against marriage between members
of certain clans. Among the Tartharol the Panol are not allowed to
marry the Kanòdrsol, a prohibition said to be due to the murder of
Parden by Kwoten, and it is said that since that day no marriage has
ever taken place between the clans of the two men. In the genealogical
record there is no case in which these two clans have intermarried.
I was also told that the people of Melgars and Kwòdrdoni might not
intermarry, but there are three examples of such marriages in the
genealogies. I could not obtain any reason for the restriction, and the
information is probably incorrect. The restrictions on marriage between
the people of Melgars and those of Kidmad and Karsh have already been
considered.
Among the Teivaliol there are also prohibitions against intermarriage
between certain clans. The people of Piedr may not marry those of
Kusharf. Judging from the genealogical record, the prohibition is not
strictly followed, for three such marriages have taken place in recent
times. In one of these cases, however, in which a Piedr man married a
Kusharf woman, the woman soon became seriously ill, and the marriage
was annulled. I could obtain no reason for the prohibition of marriage
between these two clans. Marriage was also prohibited between the
Piedrol and the Pedrkarsol, this being due to a comparatively recent
quarrel between members of the two clans, of which an account is given
in Chapter XXVIII.
I have analysed the genealogical records with the view of ascertaining
whether certain clans intermarry with any special frequency. Among the
Tartharol, I find that the people of Nòdrs marry most frequently those
of Kars and Taradr. The Karsol, the largest of the Tarthar clans,
distribute their marriages widely over the whole Tarthar division. The
Panol chiefly marry with Kars and Melgars. The Taradrol have married
most often with Nòdrs, Kars and Melgars. Keradr, a very small clan,
shows no special predilection. The people of Kanòdrs have intermarried
most often with Kwòdrdoni, Päm, Kars and Melgars. The people of
Kwòdrdoni marry most often people of Kanòdrs, Kars and Nidrsi. The
Pämol have married chiefly with Kanòdrs, Kars and Melgars. Most of the
Nidrsi marriages have been with Kars. The Melgarsol have married in
fairly equal proportions people of Nòdrs, Kars, Taradr and Päm.
These facts are interesting in that they show that there is a tendency
for the three clans of Nòdrs, Kars and Taradr to intermarry. These are
not only the most important Tarthar clans, but they occupy the same
district of the hills, in the centre and towards the north and
north-west. Similarly, the clans of Kanòdrs, Kwòdrdoni and Päm,
situated towards the north-east and east, show a distinct tendency to
intermarry. Further, the Melgarsol, who form a special group standing
somewhat apart from the rest, distribute their marriages fairly
equally, but have often married with Päm, a clan seated near them
geographically.
The analysis of the genealogies shows that the geographical
distribution of the Tartharol on the hills has had a definite influence
on the intermarriage of the different clans.
Among the Teivaliol, intermarriage has been greatly influenced by the
enormous size of the Kuudrol as compared with the other clans of the
division. In order to marry outside their own clan, the people of Kuudr
have married nearly all the available members of the other clans of the
Teivaliol, leaving very few to intermarry with one another. Thus the
genealogies record 161 marriages between Kuudrol and members of the
other five Teivali clans, leaving only sixteen marriages between the
members of those five clans. Owing to the enormous development of one
clan, the Teivali division has almost come to be in the position of a
community with a dual marrying organisation in which every member of
one group must marry a member of the other group, but there is no
reason whatever to think that this is due to any other reason than the
excessive development of one clan in numbers.
On studying the marriages in detail, it is found that the Kuudrol have
married members of the Piedr clan most frequently, but this is chiefly
because the Piedrol stand second to the Kuudrol in point of numbers,
although it is also furthered by the restriction in marriage between
Piedr and Kusharf. The marriages of the Kuudrol with other clans seem
to be determined more by the numbers available than by any predilection
for special clans.
Both Pedrkars and Kulhem are said to be offshoots of the Kuudrol, but
apparently the separation is so remote that the common origin is not
regarded as a bar to marriage. It is possible that the necessity of
providing spouses for the Kuudrol has tended to break down a
restriction which probably once existed.
The Todas have never married people outside their own community, and a
strong prejudice against such marriages still exists. This may be
illustrated by two recent cases.
A woman, married in the usual way, was divorced by her husband because
she became ill. She returned to her own home, where she was visited by
a Tamil blacksmith. The latter was very anxious to marry the woman and
on one occasion took her away to the plains, but she was followed by
her relatives and brought back to her home. Later she married two Toda
brothers and was taken by them to their village, but she was followed
by the blacksmith, who brought her back to the village of her parents.
The Todas seem to have no strong objection to her relations with the
stranger so long as she remains among themselves.
In the other case a woman about twelve years ago was visited by a rich
Mohammedan who gave money to her husbands, and it was said also that he
bribed the chief Toda people, i.e., the members of the council. The
Mohammedan wished very much to marry the woman and for a sum of money
the Todas consented. After the woman had lived for a few days in the
bazaar with her new husband, her relatives came and took her away, and
I was told that the Mohammedan took the loss so much to heart that he
died of grief, but my informants were doubtful whether his grief was
due to the loss of his wife or whether it was because he had
impoverished himself by the bribes which he had given. Here again the
people appear to have had no objection to the relations of the woman
with the Mohammedan so long as she remained in the community.
KINSHIP AND MARRIAGE
The members of his own clan are not the only kin whom a man is not
allowed to marry. The Todas have a general term, püliol, for those
relatives whose intermarriage is prohibited. The term is applied by a
man not only to the women whom he may not marry, but also to the
families in general into which he may not marry; thus a man may speak
of other men as his püliol, meaning by this that he may not marry their
sisters. This, however, is only a loose way of using the word, and,
putting on one side this sense in which the word may be used, the
following are the püliol of a man:—
(i.) The daughters of his father’s brothers, whom he would call akka or
enda, according to age.
(ii.) The daughters of his mother’s sisters, also akka or enda.
(iii.) The sisters of his father and conversely the daughters of his
sisters, i.e., his mumi and his mankugh.
(iv.) The daughters of the sisters of his father’s father, i.e., of the
sisters of his pian.
The relatives under the first head will be members of the same clan as
the man, and the prohibition of marriage between püliol under this head
may be regarded as a restriction dependent on either clanship or
kinship.
There seemed to be no doubt, however, that in connexion with marriage,
a man always thought of these relatives as püliol, a term which denotes
certain kin, to whatever clan they may belong. So far as I could
ascertain, if a man thought of a given woman, he thought of her as one,
or not one, of his püliol, and it seemed to me in several cases as if
it came almost as a new idea to some of the Todas that his püliol
included all the people of his own clan.
If I am right in this, it means that it is the bond of blood-kinship
which a Toda has chiefly in his mind when he considers whether he may
or may not marry a given woman. He has not two kinds of prohibited
affinity, one depending on clan relations, and another on relations of
blood-kinship, but he has only one kind of prohibited affinity, to
which he gives the general term püliol, including certain kin through
the father and certain kin through the mother, and there is no evidence
that he considers the bond of kinship in one case as different from the
other as regards restriction on marriage.
The fact that the Toda includes all those kin whom he may not marry
under one general term, and that the kin in question include members
both of his own and other clans, goes to show that the Todas recognise
the blood-kinship as the restrictive agency rather than the bond
produced by membership of the same clan.
The analysis of the genealogical record has shown that these
restrictions on marriage are enforced. I have already stated that the
genealogies show no single case in which marriage has occurred between
members of the same clan, i.e., between püliol who come under the first
head in the list given above.
I have also failed to find a single case in which marriage has taken
place between the children of two own sisters, or of marriage between
the children of two women who would call each other “sister” whose
names occur in the same genealogical table. Thus I have found no case
in which a marriage has taken place between the children of two women
so closely related to one another as Punzueleimi and Nasturs, of Table
3, these women being first cousins according to our system of kinship.
It would be a prolonged task to ascertain whether marriage ever takes
place among the Tartharol between the children of two clan-sisters in
the widest sense, and I do not know whether such marriage may not
sometimes occur.
Among the Teivaliol marriages between clan-sisters even in the widest
sense must be very rare owing to the fact that nearly all marriages
take place between people of Kuudr on the one hand and members of the
five other Teivali clans on the other. Since in most cases two women of
any one of these five clans marry men of Kuudr, marriage between their
children would be restricted under the first prohibition, and similarly
the children of two Kuudr women could only intermarry in those cases in
which members of the other five clans have married one another. Among
the Teivaliol, I do not believe that marriages take place between the
children of sisters in the widest sense, and I have little doubt that
they are very exceptional among the Tartharol.
There is no case in the genealogies in which the third restriction has
been broken, in which a man has married his father’s sister or his
sister’s daughter, his mumi or his maukugh.
There is at least one case in the genealogies in which there has been
an infringement of the fourth restriction given on page 509. The
marriage of Nargudr (62) with Tolveli (58) is an example of the
marriage of a man with the daughter of his grandfather’s sister. I
believe that this restriction is part of a wider regulation. Using Toda
terms of kinship the law would run: a person must not marry the child
of his matchuni. The marriage of a man with the daughter of his
grandfather’s sister, such as that of Nargudr with Tolveli, would be an
infringement of this law. I have only found one other case in the
genealogies in which this law would have been broken, i.e., in the
marriage of Teitnir (52) and Tersveli (63). Tersveli’s father, Teikudr,
is the son of Kavani, the sister of Pareivan, Teitnir’s father. Teikudr
is therefore the matchuni of Teitnir, who has married his daughter.
I was told that though a man might not marry the daughter of his
sister, he might marry the children of this woman. I do not know of any
such marriage and it is improbable that it would often come about,
since it would involve the marriage of a woman with the brother of her
grandfather. There is, however, at the present time an example of the
marriage of a woman with her father’s mother’s brother, whom she would
therefore call pia, or grandfather. This is the marriage of Kaners and
his brother Kudrievan (63) with Edjog (56), the daughter of Tüliners,
the son of the sister of the two men. I was told, however, that this
marriage met with a good deal of disapproval among the Todas, but I
could not learn that there was any definite prohibition against it.
THE MARRIAGE OF MATCHUNI
While marriage with the daughter of a father’s brother and a mother’s
sister is prohibited, the daughter of a father’s sister or a mother’s
brother is the natural wife of a man. The orthodox marriage is marriage
between matchuni, the children of brother and sister. Thus it is
obviously not nearness of blood-kinship in itself which acts as a
restriction on marriage, but nearness of blood-kinship of a certain
kind.
I have analysed the genealogies to ascertain the frequency with which
marriages between matchuni occur. The genealogical tables record about
550 marriages, of which 373 are Tarthar and 177 Teivali. Only a small
proportion of these are marriages between children of own brother and
sister. Among the Tartharol there are 40 and among the Teivaliol 25
such marriages, making together 65 or 11·8 per cent.
Since, however, the matchuni of a man include a much wider circle of
relatives than the children of his mother’s own brother and father’s
own sister, the number of marriages between matchuni is very much
larger than this.
Nearly all the Teivali marriages are marriages between matchuni in this
wider sense, while among the Tartharol there are also many other
marriages of this kind.
One of the reasons why the orthodox marriage custom is not still more
commonly followed is the existence of the practice called terersthi, to
be considered later in this chapter. According to this practice wives
are transferred from one man to another, and in this transference no
attention appears to be paid to the kinship tie. The woman, or rather
girl, originally married to a man may have been his matchuni, but the
woman who finally becomes his wife by the working of the terersthi
custom may not be and probably in most cases is not his matchuni. In
many cases in the genealogies, the original infant marriage may have
been forgotten, and the marriage recorded may be the result of the
terersthi custom. If I had a complete record of all infant marriages, I
have no doubt that the proportion of marriages between matchuni would
have been larger.
In some families marriages between matchuni in the near sense occur
much more frequently than in others. Thus out of the forty matchuni
marriages among the Tartharol, the husband or wife belonged to the
Taradrol in fifteen cases, and in one large Taradr family, that of
Parkeidi (21), six out of eight children married their matchuni in the
near sense. It is perhaps significant in this connexion that the
Taradrol have been comparatively little affected by outside influences.
They are a clan which might be expected to keep up the orthodox Toda
custom.
Another example of a family in which the orthodox marriage custom has
been frequently followed is that of Table 52, where there may be found
eight cases of the marriage of matchuni in the near sense, and several
others where the matchuni relationship is more distant.
In some cases marriages have taken place between the children of
matchuni. Thus the marriage of Uvolthli (15) with Sinmundeivi (20)
among the Tartharol, and of Pangudr (66) with Nelbur (54) and Kanokh
(56) with Sanmidz (63) among the Teivaliol, are all cases in which
marriages have taken place between the children of two men who called
one another matchuni. There may be other cases, but these examples are
perhaps sufficient to show that these marriages may be held to take the
place of the orthodox matchuni union.
While marriages between matchuni are the rule and marriages between the
children of matchuni certainly not unlawful, we have seen that marriage
with the child of a matchuni is prohibited. From our point of view,
this means that while marriage with a first cousin is orthodox,
marriage with a first cousin once removed is unlawful, while again it
seems that marriage with a first cousin twice removed may be lawful.
The more distant tie of kinship from our point of view is unlawful,
while the nearer is commanded.
Marriage with a matchuni may often involve considerable disproportion
of age. In one case at the present time a boy of about two years of age
is married to a woman of about twenty. The woman, Nulnir (10), was
still unmarried when she reached this age, so she was married to her
matchuni, Kagerikutan (25), the son of her mother’s brother. In this
case the orthodox marriage was resorted to when the woman had failed to
obtain a husband in any other way, although it involved marriage with a
baby.
In another case, the marriage of Keitkarg (38) and Pötoveli (49), in
which the woman is considerably older than her husband, the husband and
wife are matchuni.
There is one ceremonial marriage in which the husband always stands in
the relation of matchuni to the wife. This is in the performance of the
pursütpimi ceremony at the funeral of a girl unmarried at the time of
her death. The boy who is chosen to give the bow and arrow and to act
as the husband is always, so far as I could discover, the matchuni of
the dead girl.
Similarly, if an unmarried boy dies, the girl who is chosen to act as
his widow should be his matchuni. In one case of which I have a record,
the son of Tütners (58) died and Sotidz (66) was chosen to act as
widow. None of the brothers of Puvizveli (65), the mother of the dead
boy, had at that time a son, so the duty was undertaken by the daughter
of Pangudr, of the same clan as Puvizveli, but belonging to a different
family. In this case the matchuni was the daughter of a clan-brother
because there was no nearer matchuni available.
Keinba, who acted as husband at the funeral of Sinerani (see p. 394),
was the matchuni of the dead girl in two ways, as the son of her
mother’s brother and as the son of her father’s half-sister.
A matchuni may be either the child of a mother’s brother or of a
father’s sister, and I have examined the genealogies to see if a man
marries the daughter of his mother’s brother or of his father’s sister
the more frequently, and find that there is no great difference, though
the former marriage is somewhat the more frequent. There are among the
Tartharol twenty cases in which a man has married the daughter of his
mother’s brother, two of marriage with the daughter of a stepmother’s
brother, and one with the daughter of a stepmother’s half-brother,
making twenty-three cases in all. On the other hand, a man married the
daughter of his father’s sister in fourteen cases, twice he married the
daughter of his father’s half-sister, and once the stepdaughter of his
father’s sister, making seventeen cases in all.
Among the Teivaliol marriages with the daughter of a father’s sister
are the more frequent, there being fifteen of these as compared with
ten cases of marriage with the daughter of a mother’s brother. There is
evidently no special preference for either kind of marriage.
POLYANDRY
The Todas have a completely organised and definite system of polyandry.
When a woman marries a man, it is understood that she becomes the wife
of his brothers at the same time. When a boy is married to a girl, not
only are his brothers usually regarded as also the husbands of the
girl, but any brother born later will similarly be regarded as sharing
his older brothers’ rights.
In the vast majority of polyandrous marriages at the present time, the
husbands are own brothers. A glance through the genealogies will show
the great frequency of polyandry, [202] and that in nearly every case
the husbands are own brothers. In a few cases in which the husbands are
not own brothers, they are clan-brothers, i.e., they belong to the same
clan and are of the same generation. Instances of such marriages are
those of Toridz (65) with Kulpakh (52) and Kiladrvan (60), and of
Sintharap (68) with Kuriolv (52) and Ònadj (57).
There is only one instance recorded in the genealogies in which a woman
had at the same time husbands belonging to different clans, viz., the
marriage of Kwelvtars (60) with Nidshtevan of Piedr (64) and Tütners of
Kusharf (67), and in this case the men were half-brothers by the same
mother, the fathers being of different clans. While I was on the hills,
there was a project on foot that three unmarried youths belonging to
three different clans should have a wife in common, but the project was
frustrated and the marriage did not take place.
It is possible that at one time the polyandry of the Todas was not so
strictly ‘fraternal’ as it is at present, and it is perhaps in favour
of this possibility that in the instance of polyandry given by Harkness
[203] the husbands were obviously not own brothers. It must be
remembered, however, that this case came to the notice of Captain
Harkness because the polyandry had led to disputes, and, as we shall
see shortly, it is in those cases of polyandry in which the husbands
are not own brothers that disputes arise.
The arrangement of family life in the case of a polyandrous marriage
differs according as the husbands are, or are not, own brothers.
In the former case it seemed that there is never any difficulty, and
that disputes never arise. The brothers live together, and my
informants seemed to regard it as a ridiculous idea that there should
ever be disputes or jealousies of the kind that might be expected in
such a household. When the wife becomes pregnant, the eldest brother
performs the ceremony of giving the bow and arrow, but the brothers are
all equally regarded as the fathers of the child. If one of the
brothers leaves the rest and sets up an establishment of his own, it
appeared, however, that he might lose his right to be regarded as the
father of the children.
If a man is asked the name of his father, he usually gives the name of
one man only, even when he is the offspring of a polyandrous marriage.
I endeavoured to ascertain why the name of one father only should so
often be given, and it seemed to me that there is no one reason for the
preference. Often one of the fathers is more prominent and influential
than the others, and it is natural in such cases that the son should
speak of himself as the son of the more important member of the
community. Again, if only one of the fathers of a man is alive, the man
will always speak of the living person as his father; thus Siriar (20)
always spoke of Ircheidi as his father, and even after Ircheidi is
dead, it seems probable that he will so have fallen into the custom of
speaking of the latter as his father that he will continue to do so,
and it will only be when his attention is especially directed to the
point that he will say that Madbeithi was also his father.
In most of the genealogies, the descent is traced from some one man,
but there can be no doubt whatever that this man was usually only one
of several brothers, and the probable reason why one name only is
remembered is that this name was that of an important member of the
community, or of the last surviving of the brother-husbands.
When the husbands are not own brothers, the arrangements become more
complicated. When the husbands live together as if they were own
brothers there is rarely any difficulty. If, on the other hand, the
husbands live at different villages, the usual rule is that the wife
shall live with each husband in turn, usually for a month at a time,
but there is very considerable elasticity in the arrangement.
It is in respect of the ‘fatherhood’ [204] of the children in these
cases of non-fraternal polyandry that we meet with the most interesting
feature of Toda social regulations. When the wife of two or more
husbands (not own brothers) becomes pregnant, it is arranged that one
of the husbands shall perform the ceremony of giving the bow and arrow.
The husband who carries out this ceremony is the father of the child
for all social purposes; the child belongs to the clan of this husband
if the clans of the husbands differ and to the family of this husband
if the families only differ. When the wife again becomes pregnant,
another husband may perform the pursütpimi ceremony, and if so, this
husband becomes the father of the child; but more commonly the
pursütpimi ceremony is not performed at all during the second
pregnancy, and in this case the second child belongs to the first
husband, i.e., to the husband who has already given the bow and arrow.
Usually it is arranged that the first two or three children shall
belong to the first husband, and that at a succeeding pregnancy (third
or fourth), another husband shall give the bow and arrow, and, in
consequence, become the father not only of that child, but of all
succeeding children till some one else gives the bow and arrow.
The fatherhood of a child depends entirely on the pursütpimi ceremony,
so much so that a dead man is regarded as the father of a child if no
other man has performed the essential ceremony. [205]
In the only case in the genealogies in which the husbands of a woman
were of different clans, it happened there were only two children, and
that one father gave the bow and arrow for the first child and the
other for the second.
If the husbands separate, each husband takes with him those children
who are his by virtue of the pursütpimi ceremony.
There is no doubt whatever as to the close association of the polyandry
of the Todas with female infanticide. As we have seen, the Todas now
profess to have completely given up the practice of killing their
female children, but it is highly probable that the practice is still
in vogue to some extent. It has certainly, however, diminished in
frequency, and the consequent increase in the proportion of women is
leading to some modification in the associated polyandry.
It has been stated by most of those who have written about the Todas
that the custom of polyandry is dying out, but a glance at the
genealogies will show that the institution is in full working order
even in the case of the infant marriages which are being contracted at
the present time. There is, however, some reason to believe that it is
now less frequent for all the brothers of a family to have one wife
only in common. A study of the genealogies shows that often each
brother has his own wife, or that several brothers have more than one
wife between them. It seemed to me, however, almost certain that in
these cases the brothers have the wives in common. In compiling the
genealogies, one informant would give me the names of two or more
brothers each with one wife, while another would give me the name of
one brother with two or three wives, and would say that the other
brothers had the same wives. When I pointed out the discrepancy and
asked which was the true account, they usually said it made no
difference and were almost contemptuous because I seemed to think that
there was any disagreement between the two versions. I think it
probable that it has become less frequent for several brothers to have
only one wife in common, but I am very doubtful whether this indicates
any real decrease in the prevalence of polyandry.
It seems to me that the correct way of describing the present condition
of Toda society is to say that polyandry is as prevalent as ever, but
that owing to the greater number of women, it is becoming associated
with polygyny. When there are two brothers it does not seem that each
takes a wife for himself, but rather that they take two wives in
common.
It is probable that this will lead in time to a state of society in
which each brother will come to regard one wife as his own; and in a
few cases it seemed to me that there was already a tendency in this
direction. If this forecast should be fulfilled, the custom of monogamy
among the Todas will have been developed out of polyandry through a
stage of combined polyandry and polygyny.
One case happened during my visit which seemed to indicate that though
several brothers might be regarded as husbands of a woman, the part of
husband for ceremonial purposes might be taken only by one or two of
them. In this case I was told that four brothers had one wife, but when
the wife died only two of the brothers acted as widowers and performed
the ceremonies associated with that condition. When I asked for an
explanation of this, I was then told that the other two brothers were
not husbands, but I strongly suspected that this was a mere device to
enable two of the brothers to avoid the disabilities attendant on the
condition of widowerhood. I have very little doubt that while the woman
was alive, all the four brothers were her husbands, but after her death
it became convenient to assume that only two had been husbands, leaving
the others free from the restrictions of widowerhood.
Many writers have believed that the widely spread custom of the
Levirate is a relic of polyandry. If it were true that the custom of
polyandry is dying out among the Todas, this people might have provided
material for the study of the relations of polyandry and the Levirate.
It will be obvious, however, from the account already given, that
polyandry is still strongly established among the Todas. Still, there
are a few cases in the genealogies which seem to show that when two
brothers had different wives, and one brother died, the widow might be
taken by the surviving brother. Thus, in Table 34, two brothers,
Matovan and Kemners, had one wife, Sargveli, while Atcharap had his own
wife, Puners. When Matovan died, Sargveli was regarded as the wife of
both Atcharap and Kemners. [206] Again, after the deaths of Mulpolivan
and Peigvan (3), the widow of Nersveli was married by Perol, the
clan-brother (first cousin) of the husband.
In other cases, the widow of one brother has not become the wife of her
husband’s brothers, but has married elsewhere; and though the evidence
is necessarily very unsatisfactory, it seems on the whole probable that
the Todas show no special relation between polyandry and the Levirate
custom.
If the widow marries a man who is not one of the brothers of her dead
husband, the new husband has to pay a certain number of buffaloes. He
does not, however, give these buffaloes to the brothers of the dead
man, but to his children; thus, when Karnisi of Päm (37) died, his
widow, Nersaveli, married Mutthuvan (34) of Kanòdrs, who paid fourteen
buffaloes to Pungievan, the son of Karnisi. This payment of buffaloes
is known as terkudrichti, “compensation he gives,” and it is the custom
for the number of buffaloes in this case to be twice the number given
by the dead man for his wife; in this case Karnisi had taken Nersaveli
from another man for seven buffaloes.
In relation to the Levirate, the important point here is that the
buffaloes are paid to the sons of the dead husbands, not to his
brothers.
I do not think that the Todas provide any definite evidence towards the
solution of the vexed question of the relation between polyandry and
infanticide. It is possible that at their first arrival in the Nilgiri
Hills, the Todas had few sources of food, and had a severe struggle for
existence; that they therefore adopted the practice of female
infanticide, and that polyandry followed as a consequence. At the
present and during recent times there has certainly been no economical
motive for infanticide, and I am very doubtful whether it has ever
existed. I think it far more probable that the Todas brought the
practice of polyandry with them when they came to the Nilgiris; but if
this view should be adopted, there is still no evidence to show whether
they also brought infanticide with them, or whether this custom
developed owing to the fact that polyandry diminished the need for
female children.
POLYGYNY
In the last section we have seen that there is a tendency for the
polyandry of the Todas to become combined with polygyny. Two brothers,
who in former times would have had one wife between them, may now take
two wives, but as a general rule the two men have the two wives in
common. In addition, polygyny of the more ordinary kind exists among
the Todas, and is probably now increasing in frequency, as one of the
results of the diminished female infanticide.
One example of polygyny is the marriage of Kuriolv (56) with two wives,
one of about the same age as himself, the other a young wife whom he
shares with Onadj (57). In another case Odrkurs (1), has two wives, the
second wife being a young girl recently married in the hope of
obtaining a son (see p. 550).
There is one example of polygyny in the genealogies in which a young
boy, Mokudr of Nidrsi (42), has two wives, both young girls. He has
been doubly married in order that he may get rid of one of his wives by
the terersthi custom and so become rich. He has been married to two
wives in order that he may sell one.
When a man or a group of men have more than one wife, the two wives
usually live together at the same village, but sometimes they live at
different villages, the husband or husbands moving about from one
village to the other.
EXCHANGE OF BROTHER AND SISTER
Although I was not told that it was the custom for a brother and sister
of one clan to marry a sister and brother of another, examination of
the genealogies makes it clear that this frequently happens. A good
example which may be cited is the marriage of Kuriolv (52) with
Punaveli (65), while Sinkòrs, the sister of Kuriolv, married the three
brothers of Punaveli. Two other similar instances may be found in Table
52, and they are of general occurrence throughout the genealogies.
In some communities this custom of exchange is definitely connected
with the bride-price, which may be so large as almost to compel a man
to give his sister in exchange for the wife he takes from another clan.
In the case of the Todas the bride-price is so inconsiderable that it
is unlikely that it would form a motive for exchange, and I think it
improbable that in such marriages as those cited above, the idea of
exchange is even definitely formulated, but that the combination of
marriages comes about for such obvious reasons as may occur in any
community. The marriage of matchuni, if widely practised, would
obviously lead to an appearance of exchange, and it may be that among
the Todas this is the chief cause of its occurrence.
Similarly, instances will be found in the genealogies of two brothers
(or two groups of brothers) marrying sisters. An example may be given
from Table 53, where Orzevan marries one woman and his two brothers
marry her sister. Another instance may be found in Table 58.
In several cases in which a man or group of men have had two wives, the
wives have been related. Thus, Kutthurs (12) and his brothers first
married Tedjveli (16). After her death, Kutthurs, the only surviving
brother, married Sabnir (34), the daughter of Arsner, Tedjveli’s
sister. Again, Paners (23) and his brothers first married Pergveli, and
when she died they married her brother’s daughter. Pungusivan (53)
married his matchuni, Sinodz (68), and when she was taken from him by
the terersthi custom, he married Sintharap, her sister.
There is often very great disproportion of age in Toda marriages. I
have already given two cases in which the woman is the older, in each
of which the disproportion of age is due to the custom of marrying a
matchuni. More commonly the man is much the older, and there are at the
present time many cases in which elderly men are married to young
girls. This is partly due to the practice of infant marriage. Unless a
widower can take advantage of the terersthi custom, which is always
expensive, he may have to marry a child and wait till she has reached a
marriageable age. Thus, Kòdrner, my guide, lost his wife some years
ago, and then married a girl whose present [207] age is only thirteen,
Kòdrner being forty-two. The girl is still living with her parents, and
will probably not go to her husband for another three or four years.
THE CUSTOM OF ‘TERERSTHI’
The marriage tie among the Todas at the present time has become very
loose. Wives are constantly transferred from one husband, or group of
husbands, to another, the new husband or husbands paying a certain
number of buffaloes to the old. The amount of the compensation or ter
is settled by a council, and from this the transaction has received its
name of terersthi, or “compensation he tells (decides).” [208]
There is much reason to believe that this custom has altered its
character in recent times. I was told that formerly the custom only
applied to cases in which a man had lost his wife by death. If he
wished to marry a woman who was already the wife of another or others,
he went to the father of the woman and asked for his consent. The
father would consult with two other elders, and if they were in favour
of the proposed transaction the three elders would go to the woman, and
if they obtained her consent they then went to her husband for his. If
husband or wife were unwilling to be parted nothing was done, but if
both consented, the new and the old husband, the father of the woman,
and the two elders met and decided on the number of buffaloes to be
given as ter or compensation. This meeting was called terersthi. The
ter had to be paid within a month, and all the buffaloes given had to
be females. The man who was giving up the woman went to the village of
the new husband and received his buffaloes, of which he was allowed to
choose a certain number. If he had been awarded more than four
buffaloes, he might choose three, if four or less, he might only choose
two. Among the Tartharol, a man would usually choose wursulir, and
among the Teivaliol, pasthir.
At the present time the number of buffaloes given as ter varies very
greatly; the most frequent number is three, but often more are given,
and in one case, about ten years ago, a man had to give twenty-five.
The number seems to depend largely on the size of the herd possessed by
the man taking a new wife. The more buffaloes he has, the more he has
to pay.
When the buffaloes are given, the new husband has to give a feast,
after which the old husband drives away his buffaloes. In a recent case
Teigudr of Nòdrs (4) had taken Uwer from Nertolvan and Palpa of Pan
(16) for nine buffaloes. These two men went to the village of
Tedshteiri, where Teigudr was living, and were feasted, the food being
cooked on nine ovens, corresponding to the number of the buffaloes.
This correspondence between the number of the ovens and of the
buffaloes given as ter, suggests that there may have been some definite
ceremonial in connexion with this feast of which I failed to obtain an
account.
The custom of terersthi has some reason on its side. Wherever infant
marriage exists in a small community, it must often happen that a
widower finds all the women of his community married, and without some
machinery by which he is allowed to take the wife of another, he must
remain unmarried or be content with marriage to a mere child. Even at
the present time, we have seen that an adult man who has lost his wife
may marry a girl only a few years of age. [209]
At the present time the custom of terersthi has a far wider range. It
is obvious that when a widower takes the wife of another he is simply
transferring his difficulty, and the man whose wife he has taken will
have to seek a new partner. It often happens that a man takes the wife
of a boy married, perhaps, to a girl of about the same age as himself,
and when this boy reaches manhood he will have to seek a wife and will
naturally try to obtain the wife of another rather than be content with
a child perhaps only three or four years of age. It would be impossible
that such a custom as that of terersthi should remain limited in scope,
but there is no doubt that at the present day it has become the custom
for any man who takes a fancy for the wife of another to endeavour to
obtain her for himself, and I was told that he would give large bribes
to the elders of the Todas to attain his object. It seems quite clear
that, at the present time, it is not considered necessary to obtain the
consent either of the wife or of the husband, and in some cases the
wife has been taken from her husband by force. [210]
In some recent cases the aggrieved parties in such disputes have
appealed to the Government, and during my visit a petition was being
drawn up for presentation to the Governor of Madras, asking that the
abuses of the terersthi custom should be remedied.
DIVORCE
Divorce exists among the Todas quite apart from the transference of
wives just considered.
I was told that a man divorces his wife for two reasons, and for two
only, the first reason being that the wife is a fool and the second
that she will not work. Barrenness is not generally regarded as a
reason for divorce, though I was told of one case in which a man had
sent away his wife on this account. It seemed more usual in such a case
to take a second wife. In some cases the illness of the husband has
been regarded as a ground for divorce. Intercourse between a wife and
another man is not regarded as a reason for divorce but rather as a
perfectly natural occurrence.
When a man divorces his wife, the woman’s people usually complain to
the naim or council, but if it is decided that the man shall take his
wife back, there appears to be no way of compelling him to do so. In
any case the husband pays a fine (kwadr) of one buffalo to the wife’s
people, just as he would have done if he had refused to take her when
she reached the marriageable age, but he receives back any buffaloes he
may have given as pòdri. Even if the council decides that the man ought
to take his wife back and he refuses, a fine greater than one buffalo
cannot be inflicted.
If the divorced woman re-marries, the previous husband does not receive
anything, and any buffaloes given become the property of the woman’s
family.
THE MOKHTHODITI INSTITUTION
In addition to the regular marriage, there is another recognised mode
of union between men and women, which is called mokhthoditi. The man
who becomes the consort of a woman in this way is called her
mokhthodvaiol—viz., “man who keeps mokh,” [211] and the woman is called
sedvaitazmokh—viz., “woman who joins.” The mokhthoditi union differs
from the regular marriage in one important respect. It may be, and
usually is, formed between Tarthar men and Teivali women, or between
Teivali men and Tarthar women. The great majority of instances of which
I heard were of this kind. One woman might have more than one
mokhthodvaiol, the largest number of which I heard being three.
Similarly, a man might have more than one sedvaitazmokh, but as the
custom entailed considerable expenses on the man, this was not common,
and I did not hear of any instance in which a man had more than two.
The mokhthodvaiol has no rights over any children who might be supposed
to be his; they are regarded as the children of the regular marriage.
This would be the case even if the husband were dead or separated from
his wife. If a Teivali man took a Tarthar widow as sedvaitazmokh, and a
child were born, the child would belong to the Tartharol, and would be
regarded as the son of the dead husband of the woman, and would belong
to his clan. The child might live with the mokhthodvaiol, and be spoken
of ordinarily as the child of this man, but yet for all social and
legal purposes, the child would be a member of its mother’s husband’s
clan. The dead husband is regarded as the father because it was he who
last performed the pursütpimi ceremony.
There are two forms of the mokhthoditi union. In one the woman lives
with the man just as if she were his real wife, almost the only
difference being that any children would be legally the children of the
legal husband of the woman or of some man of her division called upon
to perform the pursütpimi ceremony. In the other and more usual form
the man visits the woman at the house of her husband.
Owing to the restriction on the visits of Teivali women to Tarthar
villages, there is a difference in the nature of the mokhthoditi union
in the two divisions. A Teivali mokhthodvaiol may take his wife to live
with him at one of the Teivali villages, but in those cases in which
Tarthar men live permanently with Teivali women, the mokhthodvaiol must
live at the woman’s village. There are two examples of this practice at
the present time in which Tarthar men live altogether at Teivali
villages.
When a man wishes to have a given woman as his sedvaitazmokh he goes to
the husband or husbands of the woman and asks for his or their consent.
As a sample of the kind of negotiations which ensue, I will give a
definite instance. A Tarthar man wished to become mokhthodvaiol to the
wife of two Teivali brothers. He went to them and asked for their
consent, which they gave, but said they should like to have the
agreement confirmed by a third party (nedrvol), and they settled on a
nedrvol to whom all went. The nedrvol asked each if he consented to the
arrangement, and it was decided that the Tarthar man should give a
putkuli worth three rupees annually to the woman’s husbands, and the
former became mokhthodvaiol to the woman on that day.
A few days later the two husbands and the mokhthodvaiol went to the
woman’s father and brothers (called collectively paiol), and the
mokhthodvaiol promised that he would give the woman either a keivali
(necklace) or a sin (gold earrings), each worth about thirty rupees. [A
poorer man might only give a pulthi (bracelet), worth about twelve
rupees]. He also promised that he would give a three-year-old buffalo
to the son of the woman, this being called mokh ir kwadrti, i.e., “son
buffalo he gives.” After making these promises, the mokhthodvaiol
performed the salutation of kalmelpudithti to all the paiol, i.e., he
bowed down before each, and placed his head beneath their feet.
As we have seen earlier, not only are the relatives of the
sedvaitazmokh called paiol, the term in use for the relatives of a real
wife, but the father of the woman is called mun and her mother mumi,
names which are also terms of blood-relationship.
When a man or woman dies, the mokhthodvaiol of the woman and the
sedvaitazmokh of the man have definitely assigned duties at the funeral
ceremonies. Each wears a ring on the ring finger of the left hand and
has to put various things with the left hand into the pocket of the
putkuli of the dead person. [212]
The mokhthoditi institution was first described by Ward in 1821, [213]
the man being called by Ward the coombhal (the kumbliol, cloak or
blanket man). This is the Badaga name, and it has usually been adopted
by those who have since referred to the institution.
The custom is said to have originated with the god Kulinkars, who was
the mokhthodvaiol of the goddess Nòtirzi, but I could obtain no details
of the way in which the custom is supposed to have arisen.
The ceremonial connected with the process of becoming a mokhthodvaiol
is very much like that of the real marriage. A garment is given or
promised and the salutation of kalmelpudithti is paid to the woman’s
relatives. The chief difference is that the gifts are more numerous and
expensive for the mokhthodvaiol than for the husband. Further, in some
cases the sedvaitazmokh of a Teivali man may live with him exactly in
the same way as a wife. Except for the prohibition against Teivali
women living at Tarthar villages, and the important difference in the
mode of descent of the children there seems to be little essential
difference in some cases between the mokhthoditi union and marriage. In
describing the institution, one of my informants laid great stress on
the disability of a man of one division to perform the pursütpimi
ceremony for a woman of the other division and treated this as the
essential point of difference. He seemed to regard this ceremonial
disability as primary and the other differences as the secondary
results, but I do not know how far this is the general Toda view.
SEXUAL MORALITY
From the foregoing account it appears that a woman may have one or more
recognised lovers as well as several husbands. From the account given
of the dairy ritual, it appears that she may also have sexual relations
with dairymen of various grades—that, for instance, the wursol, on the
nights when he sleeps in the hut, may be the lover of any Tarthar girl.
Further, there seems to be no doubt that there is little restriction of
any kind on sexual intercourse. I was assured by several Todas not only
that adultery was no motive for divorce, but that it was in no way
regarded as wrong. It seemed clear that there is no word for adultery
in the Toda language. My interpreter, Samuel, had translated the
Commandments shortly before my visit, and only discovered while working
with me that the expression he had used in translating the seventh
Commandment really bore a very different meaning.
When a word for a concept is absent in any language it by no means
follows that the concept has not been developed, but in this case I
have little doubt that there is no definite idea in the mind of the
Toda corresponding to that denoted by our word ‘adultery.’ Instead of
adultery being regarded as immoral, I rather suspected, [214] though I
could not satisfy myself on the point, that, according to the Toda
idea, immorality attaches rather to the man who grudges his wife to
another. One group of those who experience difficulty in getting to the
next world after death are the kashtvainol, or grudging people, and I
believe this term includes those who would in a more civilised
community be plaintiffs in the divorce court.
In nearly every known community, whether savage, barbarous or
civilised, there is found to exist a deeply rooted antipathy to sexual
intercourse between brother and sister. In savage communities where
kinship is of the classificatory kind, this antipathy extends not only
to the children of one mother, but to all those who are regarded as
brothers and sisters because they are members of the same clan or other
social unit. In some communities, such as those of Torres Straits, this
antipathy may extend to relatives as remote as those we call second and
third cousins, so long as descent through the male line from a common
ancestor and membership of the same clan lead people to regard one
another as brother and sister.
It is very doubtful whether this widespread, almost universal
abhorrence is shared by the Todas. I was told that members of the same
clan might have intercourse with one another, and in the preliminary
ceremony for the office of palol, a special part was taken by a woman
who possessed the qualification that she had never had intercourse with
a man of her own clan, and it was said it was far from easy to find
such a woman. When I collected this information, it seemed clear that
this meant that a woman who, before marriage had belonged to a given
clan, had never had intercourse with a man of that clan. But since a
woman joins the clan of her husband, and since, marriage taking place
at an early age, the woman belongs to her husband’s clan from this
early age, it has since occurred to me that an alternative explanation
of the restriction is possible, though it does not seem to me to be
likely. It is possible that what is meant is that the woman should
never have had intercourse with any of her husband’s clan except those
who are properly her husbands. If this explanation were the correct
one, the prohibition would seem to be directed against practices
resembling communal marriage, and would be interesting evidence in
favour of the existence of this type of marriage, since there are no
prohibitions against what does not exist nor has ever existed. As I
have said, however, I think it very unlikely that the prohibition is to
be interpreted in this way, but I regret very greatly that it did not
occur to me to inquire carefully into this point on the spot.
So far as I could tell, the laxity in sexual matters is equally great
before and after marriage. If a girl who has been married in infancy,
but has not yet joined her husband, should become pregnant, the husband
would be called upon to give the bow and arrow at the pursütpimi
ceremony and would be the father of the child, even if he were still a
young boy, or if it were known that he was not the father of the child.
I only heard of one case in recent times in which an unmarried girl had
become pregnant. In this case a man who was a matchuni of the woman was
called in to give the bow and arrow, but he did not regard himself as
married to the woman and did not live with her. That some stigma was
attached to the occurrence may possibly be shown by the fact that this
woman remained unmarried for some years, and then only married a man
who was certainly below the general standard of the Todas in
intelligence. The child, a daughter, of the woman died soon after
birth, so that I had no chance of ascertaining whether the irregularity
of her birth would have had any influence on her position in Toda
society. If, however, a child is born without the pursütpimi ceremony
having been performed, it is called padmokh and an indelible disgrace
attaches to it throughout life.
From any point of view, and certainly from the point of view of the
savage, the sexual morality of the Todas among themselves is very low.
It is an interesting subject of speculation how far this laxity is the
result of the practice of polyandry, for since low sexual morality
brings in its train various factors which tend to sterility, we may
have here, as Mr. Punnett has suggested elsewhere, [215] a reason why
polyandry is so rare a form of marriage. The practice of polyandry must
almost inevitably weaken the sentiment of possession on the part of the
man which does so much to maintain the more ordinary forms of marriage.
The low sexual morality of the Todas is not, however, limited in its
scope to the relations within the Toda community. Conflicting views are
held by those who know the Nilgiri Hills as to the relations of the
Todas with the other inhabitants, and especially with the train of
natives which the European immigration to the hills has brought in its
wake. The general opinion on the hills is that in this respect the
morality of the Todas is as low as it well could be, but it is a
question whether this opinion is not too much based on the behaviour of
the inhabitants of one or two villages near the European settlements,
and I think it is probable that the larger part of the Todas remain
more uncontaminated than is generally supposed.
That the Todas are perhaps not so black as they are painted is
suggested by two considerations. There is little evidence of the
existence of many half-breeds. I examined in one way or another over
500 Todas and must have seen nearly the whole of the 800 people who
form the Toda population. I saw few who suggested Tamil or Badaga
intermixture and only one boy whose appearance suggested European
parentage. A more careful examination than I gave might, however, have
revealed other suspicious cases, and perhaps in a race which practices
infanticide the absence or paucity of half-breeds may not carry much
weight.
The other consideration is of a different kind and tends to show not
only that the Todas are not so black as they are painted, but that they
are not so black as they paint themselves.
By means of the genealogical record I was able to work out the
relationship to one another of forty-three individuals suffering from
colour-blindness. Since this condition runs mainly in the female line,
it does not afford very cogent evidence of paternity; but a full
examination of my records seems to show that colour-blind men, or
rather males of colour-blind families, had colour-blind descendants
more often than perhaps might have been expected if the Todas are in
practice quite as promiscuous as their social regulations allow them to
be. The record of the affinity of the colour-blind suggests that in
spite of the theoretical promiscuity, the husbands are, in practice,
very often the fathers of their children.
A few histories of individuals may be given as examples of the various
marriage customs which have been described in this chapter. One of the
most married of Toda women is Puvizveli of Kusharf (65). She was
married in infancy to Singudr (55), of the same clan as Sinkòrs, the
mother of Puvizveli, and the two were probably the matchuni of one
another, though only in a distant way. Puvizveli was taken from Singudr
by Madsu and Koboners (58), who gave for her three buffaloes. From them
she was transferred to Kangudr of Piedr (62), it being arranged that he
should pay eleven buffaloes. Soon after joining Kangudr, Puvizveli
became ill, and since there is a prohibition of marriages between the
clans of Piedr and Kusharf, it was agreed that the pair should
separate, and the woman was taken by Tütners and Etamudri (58). The
eleven buffaloes had never been paid by Kangudr, so Tütners and his
brother gave their buffaloes directly to Madsu and Koboners, but only
four instead of eleven. All these transactions took place while
Puvizveli was still young, but by her new husbands she had a son who
died soon after birth. During her second pregnancy, she was taken by
Perpakh and Tebkudr (68), who gave six buffaloes. The transference took
place before the pursütpimi ceremony had been performed. Perpakh gave
the bow and arrow, and the daughter since born is regarded as the child
of Perpakh and Tebkudr. Puvizveli has also a Tarthar mokhthodvaiol.
Edjog of Kuudr (56) was married in infancy to Nargudr (62), the son of
her mother’s brothers, and therefore her matchuni in the nearest sense.
From him Kiudners (70) and his two brothers took her for five
buffaloes, Kiudners died before the buffaloes had been paid, and Edjog
was taken by Mavòdriners (65), who arranged to pay the five buffaloes
to Nargudr. He did not do so, but after having a son by Edjog, he sent
her back to the father, paying a kwadr of one buffalo. So far, Nargudr
had not received his five buffaloes, but he now obtained them from
Kaners and Kudrievan (63), who took the woman although she was the
granddaughter of their sister Narskuti. The marriage met with
disapproval among the Todas on this account, though there does not
appear to be any definite regulation against such a marriage; and at
the time of my visit Edjog, a young woman of about twenty-seven, was
still the wife of the two old men, aged about seventy and sixty-seven
respectively.
Kuriolv of Kuudr (52) first married Punaveli (65), by whom he had two
children. He then took to live with him Pilimurg (7), a Tarthar woman,
giving to Pepners (44), the husband of the woman, fifteen buffaloes.
Though Pilimurg is only legally his sedvaitazmokh, Kuriolv treats her
as a wife. She lives at one of the Kuudr villages, while Punaveli lives
at another. Pilimurg has had one son, Meilitars, since she has been
living with Kuriolv, and Kuriolv always speaks of the boy as his son,
though legally he is the son of Pepners, and his name will be found in
the genealogies among the children of this man.
Recently Kuriolv has also married Sintharap (68), sharing her with
Ònadj (57), of the same clan as Kuriolv, but belonging to a different
family. Sintharap has had three children, for the first of whom Kuriolv
performed the pursütpimi ceremony, and since no one has performed this
ceremony for the succeeding children, they are also regarded as the
children of Kuriolv. One of these children was Sinerani, whose funeral
ceremonies have been described.
Kuriolv’s son, Kulpakh (52), married Toridz (65), sharing her with
Kiladrvan (60), of the same clan as Kulpakh, but of a different family.
At the first pregnancy Kulpakh gave the bow and arrow, and was regarded
as the father of that child and of two succeeding children who were
born while Kulpakh was alive. After the birth of the third child
Kulpakh died, and Toridz has since continued to live with Kiladrvan and
has had two more children. Kuriolv, the father of the dead man,
succeeded in preventing Kiladrvan from performing the pursütpimi
ceremony before the birth of either of these children, and consequently
they are regarded as the children of the dead Kulpakh and belong to
Kuriolv’s division (pòlm) of the clan and not to that of Kiladrvan.
Here, by virtue of the pursütpimi ceremony, a dead man is the legal
father of two children who are known to be really the sons of his
fellow-husband.
In the preceding cases the people belong to the Teivaliol. Among the
Tartharol there are similar histories.
Pupidz of Kwòdrdoni (35) was married in infancy to two brothers,
Kalgeners and Kinagudr, belonging to the same clan as the mother of
Pupidz, so that she would probably have called them matchuni, though
they were not nearly related. From these boys Pupidz was taken by
Patser (26), who gave for her three buffaloes. From Patser she was
taken by Siriar (20) for five buffaloes. Some time later Pepob (44)
wished to marry Pupidz, but both she and Siriar were unwilling to be
separated. Pepob, however, persuaded the council to arrange that he
should have the woman for three buffaloes, and soon after five or six
men carried off the woman by force, entering Siriar’s hut at night. Two
of the men held Siriar while the others carried off his wife, who
became pregnant by Pepob, but Siriar, who had been trying to get back
his wife, succeeded when she was about at the sixth month. The
hand-burning ceremony had already been performed, but Siriar gave the
bow and arrow, and is therefore the legal father of the boy born
afterwards, although Pepob is known to have been the real father.
Siriar had to give Pepob eleven buffaloes, though he had only received
three, and had given five to the previous husband.
Nanbarvan of Kars (7) first married Pothenir (47), by whom he had one
son. Nanbarvan went to England with a party of Todas, and Pothenir then
married Kutadri, Nanbarvan’s first cousin. On his return from England,
Nanbarvan married Sindod (38), by whom he had a second son. Then he
fell ill, and in consequence sent Sindod away, and since that time he
has had no wife, though he claims that Iraveli, his brother’s wife, is
also his. There seems to be no doubt, however, that he does not live
with his brother in the same way as in most cases of polyandry, and is
a wanderer with no regular home of his own, but I could not discover
the cause of this.
A dispute about a marriage was in progress while I was on the Hills,
which I did not understand completely, but it appeared that Oselig
(24), who had been first married to Teigudr (4), was then taken by
Punog (14). Punog was said to have treated his wife badly, and to have
failed to perform his duties when there was a funeral in the family of
Nertiners, the brother of Oselig. He had not given the proper pödri,
nor had he taken part in the cloth-giving ceremony, so Oselig ran away
from him and took refuge with her brother. After a month Punog demanded
back his wife and also twelve buffaloes which he had left with
Nertiners for grazing purposes. Nertiners refused to send back his
wife, and returned only eight of the buffaloes. He also proceeded to
arrange that Oselig should marry Udrchovan (36), and Punog accused
Nertiners of having got up the whole quarrel in order that Oselig
should make this marriage. The matter was referred to the council, and
it was decided that Oselig should become the wife of Udrchovan, but I
did not hear for how many buffaloes, nor how the other disputes about
buffaloes and pödri were settled.
At this time Udrchovan had another wife, Pandut (45). She had been the
wife of Udrchovan and his brother Popners from infancy, and after
having three children, who died young, she had been sent away and
Udrchovan married Kavener (3), while his brother married Silkot (10).
Later Kavener was taken from Udrchovan by Kudrvas (11), and Udrchovan
remarried Pandut, who in the meantime had had two other husbands.
To the foregoing accounts, which I give as exceptional and not as
typical examples of the uncertainty of Toda married life, I add one
taken from the book published by Captain Harkness in 1832, p. 121. The
notes are added by myself.
THE HISTORY OF PINPURZ KUTAN
“I was not seven years old, when my father, taking a child’s garment,
in value about a quarter of a rupee, and selecting one of the best of
our herd, desired me to accompany him to the morrt [216] of Kinōri.
This Kinōri had, a month or two before, a daughter born to him. Soon
after we had arrived at the morrt, it being understood that Kinōri
gladly consented to the propositions which had been made by my father,
I was directed to bow myself down, and in the presence of the whole
family to ask his foot. This I did; and touching it with my forehead,
the buffalo and the garment were presented him, and I was considered to
be affianced to his daughter. We remained there for some days, during
which period it was agreed upon, what number of kine I was to receive
in dower, on my intended spouse coming of age, and we again set out to
return to our own morrt. I had no brothers, or they also would have
been affianced to my intended, as this was part of the agreement, in
case of my father having any more sons born to him. In this case
Kinōri’s daughter would have been wife to us in succession as we
arrived at manhood, and we should have formed one united family—the
supreme authority, however, still resting with me. The next year, my
father presented to my intended bride a garment, double in value to the
first which he had presented, and in each succeeding year, one
proportionately increasing in value. We also sacrificed a buffalo, and
presented a kutch [217] on every occasion of a death among any of the
relations of my intended’s family, and one also at their obsequies. In
case of any accident of the kind in our family, we expected the same to
be observed towards us, except the presenting of the kutch, from which
my bride’s father was exempted on account of the dower he had to give
with her, which would greatly exceed in amount any expense which I
could be to my father. My father died, and when I had attained man’s
estate, I was not pleased with my betrothed; and presenting her father
with three kine, the contract was by mutual consent dissolved. Had the
reverse been the case, and the bride or her father had declined to
allow of consummation, I could have claimed of the latter a fine equal
to fifty kine, and till this fine was paid the former could not marry
any other. Freed from my contract with my first bride, I sought to
affiance myself in a manner more to my own inclinations, and wishing to
be connected with the family of my present wife, Pilluvāni, who was
then only six years of age, I spoke to her father, and, obtaining his
consent, presented her with a garment in value, according to her age,
of about a rupee and a half, and a milch buffalo. I continued to
present her with a garment every succeeding year; and on the occurrence
of a death among any of the relations of her family, and at the
obsequies, I always sacrificed a buffalo, and presented the kutch.
Pilluvāni was afterwards betrothed to two others, Khakhood and Tūmbŭt.
When she had arrived at a certain age, and had for eight days been
living with one of her female friends in a dwelling separate from those
of the family, [218] intimation was sent to me, and I went to her
father’s morrt, that is, Kerjwan’s, her second father, the first one
being dead. I was feasted and bedded; and after a few days, Kerjwan,
laying on his hands, gave us his blessing, and I returned with my wife
to my own morrt, receiving with her in dower four buffalo kine; her
father also presented to her on this occasion a pair of ear-rings, a
pair of armlets, a necklace, a brazen salver, and five rupees.
“Now, according to our customs, Pilluvāni was to pass the first month
with me, the second with Khakhood, and the third with Tūmbŭt; and the
two latter, waiting in succession on the father-in-law, were to ask his
blessing and claim their privilege in right. I was to give her raiment
the first year, Khakhood the second, and Tūmbŭt the third. I had the
option of claiming the first three children, Khakhood the second three,
and Tūmbŭt the third three; when the option again revolved to me. It
was my place to go to her father two or three months prior to the birth
of a child, and, delivering to him a small piece of wood, which we call
a billu, [219] to claim the forthcoming infant, whether male or female,
and acknowledge before him and his relations that I would protect and
nourish it; and that, whatever might happen, I allowed this to be in
satisfaction of one of my claims. On this occasion, also, I was to
present him either five or ten rupees, and in return he was to allow me
to select, if I presented him five rupees, three; if ten rupees, six of
the best kine of his herd. If the child proved a boy he would have to
present me with a heifer, and another one also on the birth of each
son, but not on the birth of a daughter, as it is supposed that she
will soon be betrothed, and that a fortune will accrue to her in that
way.
“After the third birth the same observance and privilege would have
fallen to Khakhood and Tūmbŭt successively, or if I chose to give up
any of my rights the two latter would successively have had choice of
adoption, &c., &c. We all three should have been equally bound to
protect the whole of the children, to marry, and to give them in
marriage; but the superior authority would always have rested with me.
“The case of Pilluvāni and myself, however, was at variance with this
custom. We were very fond of one another and determined not to
separate. I offered to pay the usual fines, but the other party would
not accept of them. I had been unfortunate. A murrain had attacked my
herd; the greater part of Korrorr, [220] and which belonged to my
fathers, had been forsaken by the Marvs and Cūvs, [221] from the
oppression of some of their rulers, and from being a leading man among
my own people I was now reduced, but principally by the oppressions of
my wife’s relations, to comparative poverty.”
CHAPTER XXIII
SOCIAL ORGANISATION
In this chapter I propose to bring together a number of matters
connected with the social organisation; to consider the various
sections into which the clan is divided for social or ceremonial
purposes, the method of government, the laws concerning property and
inheritance, and the position of women.
We have already seen that the primary fact in the social organisation
of the Todas is the existence of two divisions, the Tartharol and the
Teivaliol, [222] and the last chapter has shown that these divisions
form endogamous groups, each of which is divided into a number of
exogamous septs or clans. In some respects the clan is a definite unit
in the social organisation with a certain amount of power in regulating
its own affairs, owning property and having in many cases social or
religious usages peculiar to itself.
THE CLAN
The clan system is territorial, and I could discover no trace of its
ever having been totemic. The clan owns a number of villages and takes
its name from the chief of these, the etudmad. The connexion of the
clan with the village is so generally recognised that in some cases in
which the etudmad of the clan has disappeared, or is rarely visited,
there is a tendency to name the clan after the chief village still in
use. Thus the people of Pirspurs have now become the Pämol and the
Kusharfol are often named after Umgas, a village in more frequent use
than Kusharf. In general the villages belonging to a clan are situated
in the same part of the hills, but a clan often possesses outlying
villages at a considerable distance from the chief group. Sometimes
these outlying villages are of comparatively recent origin, and in
other cases they have been established on account of grazing
necessities; thus several clans which have their chief seats near
Ootacamund have villages in the Kundahs or in the district near Makurti
Peak, which are visited in the dry season.
The members of a clan have many common rights and privileges which bind
them together, so that the clan-tie has a very real meaning. Property,
however, as we shall see shortly, is largely centred in the family or
the individual, and the Todas are in a state of social evolution in
which the common bond constituted by membership of the clan has been
largely replaced by the bond constituted by the family. They are in an
intermediate condition between the state of society in which the clan
is the social unit and that in which the family has taken this
position.
Nearly all who have previously written about the Todas have described
them as divided into five clans—viz., the Peiki, Pekkan, Kenna, Todi,
or Tothi, and Kuttan. These are the five divisions recognised by the
Badagas, and a Badaga knows each Toda as belonging to one of them. The
Todas are also perfectly acquainted with these divisions, and they
could always say, if asked, to which of them a given village or a given
man belonged. If a Toda is asked by a European to which clan or
division he belongs, he will probably give one of these names, but I do
not believe that they are in use among themselves, being reserved for
their intercourse with Badagas and other Indian castes and with
Europeans.
The Peiki of the Badaga classification are the Teivaliol; the Pekkan
correspond to the Melgarsol, the people of Kidmad and Karsh being also
usually included in this group. Kenna is the Badaga name of the Karsol;
the Todi or Tothi include two clans, the Nòdrsol and the Panol, while
the Kuttan comprise the remainder of the Tarthar clans—viz., those of
Taradr, Keradr, Kanòdrs, Kwòdrdoni, Päm and Nidrsi. I could obtain no
direct information from the Todas which would explain why the Badaga
classification should differ from their own. It is possible that it is
an old classification of the Todas, but this is unlikely, since it is
probable that the intercourse with the Badagas is not very ancient. It
seems to me possible that it may have arisen out of the constitution of
the naim or council. This has four Toda representatives belonging to
Kuudr (representing the Teivaliol), Kars, Nòdrs and Taradr. This would
correspond to four of the Badaga divisions, and the fifth, the
Melgarsol or Pekkan, would certainly be well known to the Badagas
through their privileges as mòrol. It is possible that the Nòdrs
representative used also to represent Pan, and that the Taradr member
represented the remaining clans, and, if so, it would point to there
having been some old five-fold division of the kind believed in by the
Badagas. It is quite clear that the five-fold division has no influence
on the marriage regulations and Peiki, Todi and Kuttan all marry freely
within their divisions. Except in connexion with the naim, I could
learn of nothing which would show that the five-fold division has any
social significance, and I know of no other way in which the Panol are
associated with the Nòdrsol nor of any other way in which the six clans
included in the Kuttan are associated together. It is possible that the
five-fold division is connected with some customs regulating the
payment of the Badaga tribute to the Todas, but I could learn nothing
of such customs.
Each clan has divisions of two kinds called kudr and pòlm. The kudr is
a division of ceremonial, the pòlm of practical, importance.
THE KUDR
Normally each clan has two kudr and two only, and, as we have seen in
Chapter XIII, these divisions become of the greatest importance in
connexion with the irnörtiti ceremony, the whole regulation of which is
dominated by the division into kudr. So far as I could ascertain, the
kudr has now no other significance, and I do not know whether the
division is one which formerly possessed a social significance which it
has now lost, so that the kudr only persists in ceremony, or whether it
is a mode of division of the clan which has arisen purely in connexion
with the irnörtiti and other allied ceremonies.
In one or two cases there was some doubt as to whether a certain
division of the people was a clan or a kudr. This was especially the
case with the Kwaradrol, now extinct, who were said by some of my
informants to have been a clan, but it seemed clear that they only
formed a kudr of the Keadrol, and were not properly a distinct clan.
This is one case in which a kudr has a distinctive name, and another
example occurs in the Panol where the kudr have separate names, one the
Panol or Pandar, the other the Kuirsiol or Peshteidimokh. In general,
each kudr is named after its leading man, thus the two kudr of the
Nòdrsol are spoken of as the kudr of Mudrigeidi (1) and Kerkadr (2).
The man who gives his name to the kudr is probably responsible for the
general management of the ceremonies in which the kudr is concerned.
In a few cases a clan was said to have more than two kudr, but on
cross-examination it turned out in each case that the statement was due
to the fact that the clan contained a section which had no part, or
only a subordinate part, in the irnörtiti ceremony and that this
section might sometimes be spoken of as a kudr. Thus, in the Kuudr clan
there are three sections, two which have reciprocal relations in the
irnörtiti ceremony, and a third consisting of the family of Tövoniners
(61) which lost certain privileges owing to a dispute many generations
ago (see p. 675). This family could perform the irnörtiti ceremony, but
in such a case the buffalo would go to the members of the two other
divisions and Tövoniners would receive nothing if either of the other
divisions performed the ceremony. Another example of a clan said to
have three kudr is that of Piedr, where the family of Nongarsivan (62)
stands in the same relation to the other divisions as is the case with
the family of Tövoniners in the Kuudrol. In this case Nongarsivan’s
exceptional position is probably due to the fact that his family lives
at Kavidi in the Wainad.
When a kudr becomes extinct a new division of the remaining kudr may
take place, but, as a rule, this is not done till an occasion for the
irnörtiti ceremony arises. There are several cases in which one kudr of
a clan has now been extinct for several years, but though the
re-division is often a subject for discussion, it is not probable that
a new kudr will be instituted till the necessity arises. Occasionally,
however, it would seem that a new kudr may be decided on apart from an
occasion for the irnörtiti ceremony, for about the time of my visit the
people of Keadr, who had lost one kudr by the dying out of the
Kwaradrol, decided that the family of Karem (69), of which the sole
living representatives are three boys, should form a new kudr. I could
not learn what had been the motives for the decision. Some unimportant
clans which have arisen by fusion from other clans, such as those of
Kidmad and Kulhem, have no kudr, and do not appear ever to have
possessed these divisions.
THE PÒLM
The word pòlm means ‘portion,’ and is the name of the section of the
clan by means of which is regulated the sharing of any expenses which
fall on the clan as a whole. Any expenses which the clan may incur as a
whole are not equally divided among the individual members of the clan,
but are equally divided among the pòlm. The chief occasion on which
such expenses arise is in the repair or rebuilding of a dairy.
When a clan owns a ti and a dairy of the ti needs to be rebuilt or
repaired, the expense also falls on the clan, and is equally divided
among the pòlm, as in the case of the village dairy.
The outlay is equally divided among the pòlm, however much they may
vary in size. Thus in the Kars clan one pòlm has sixteen adult male
members, while another has only one, but this one man would contribute
exactly the same amount as the other sixteen.
Occasionally a pòlm is so poor that it cannot pay its share, and in one
such case at the present time the pòlm, in this case consisting of two
boys only, has been incorporated into another.
The number of pòlm in a clan varies greatly, from ten in the case of
Kars to one only in the Pedrkars clan. There is no definite relation
between the kudr and the pòlm as regards numbers; thus, one kudr of a
clan may consist of one pòlm only, when the other kudr is divided into
many pòlm. When there is a great degree of inequality in the sizes of
different pòlm, a redistribution may take place, and this is probably
the more likely to happen the more influential are the members of the
smaller pòlm.
I believe that redistribution in the case of both pòlm and kudr is
usually decided by the members of the clan itself, but in cases of
doubt it is probable that the general council may have a voice in the
matter.
Each pòlm has a headman and is spoken of as the pòlm of this man. He is
responsible for collecting the amount due from it, but as the pòlm
often consists of a number of brothers, who hold much of their property
in common, the collection is not usually a matter of difficulty, and I
never heard of any disputes arising from this source.
The Todas recognise the existence of the family (kudupel or kudubel)
within the clan, meaning by this a group of people bound together by
near blood kinship. As a general rule, the family corresponds with the
pòlm, but sometimes there may be more than one pòlm in the same family.
It seemed to me that the term kudupel had not the same clear meaning as
the pòlm. The family has no important function in the social
organisation except in so far as it corresponds with the pòlm, but it
is taken into account when the pòlm and kudr are readjusted.
The term was chiefly used when the Todas were speaking of certain
families as being noted in certain ways or as having certain
privileges. Thus, some families are noted for their powers as
sorcerers, and these are called pilikudupel; others are known as
manikudupel, or chief families, whose members are important in
government and can hold the office of monegar and serve on the naim.
Other families important in government whose members can serve on the
naim or council are called tinkaniputitth kudupel or tinkani kudupel
and palutth kudupel. The members of certain other families have certain
duties of a lower order in connexion with the naim. They take messages
and act generally as servants at the meetings, and the families with
these functions are called kavòdiputipol kudupel, or servant families.
They are also sometimes called armanol or palace people, because at one
time the Rajah of Nelambur in the Wainad put his buffaloes into their
charge.
LAWS OF DESCENT
Descent among the Todas is always reckoned in the male line. A man is
always of the same clan as his father, if by his “father” we understand
the man who has given the bow and arrow to his mother at the pursütpimi
ceremony. In the case of the offspring of a mokhthoditi union, there is
at first sight an appearance of female descent. The child of a Teivali
mother and a Tarthar father belongs to the Teivaliol and vice versâ,
but on further inquiry it is found that the child does not belong to
his mother’s clan, but to that of her legal husband. The child of a
Teivali mother in such a case is not Teivali because his mother is of
this division, but because a Teivali man only is allowed to perform the
pursütpimi ceremony with a Teivali woman and become the legal father of
her child. If, in such a case, the pursütpimi ceremony had not been
performed, the child would belong to the division and clan of neither
father nor mother, but would be a padmokh, of no division and of no
clan. [223] I did not definitely inquire into the point, but from my
general knowledge of the position of such an individual, I have little
doubt that he would not be allowed to perform the pursütpimi ceremony,
and could therefore never become the legal father of a child.
In this as in all cases the clan to which a child belongs is determined
entirely by the pursütpimi ceremony. If in a polyandrous marriage the
husbands belong to different clans, a child belongs to the clan of the
husband who has last performed this ceremony, and, as we have already
seen, in the case of the death of one of the husbands, the dead man may
become the legal father of several children, if the surviving husband
does not perform the ceremony of giving a bow and arrow to the wife.
Again, in the case of a woman becoming pregnant while still unmarried,
the father of the child is the man who is called in to give the bow and
arrow, although he may have had nothing to do with the woman before the
ceremony. Further, if for any reason the husband of a woman should be
prevented from performing the pursütpimi ceremony, some other man is
called upon to give the bow and arrow and he becomes the father of the
child. Lastly, in the numerous cases of transference of wives from one
man to another by the terersthi custom, one man may be the real father
of a child, but another will become the legal father if the
transference should take place in time for him to perform the essential
ceremony.
The Todas show few traces of mother-right. In some communities there is
little reason to doubt that such acts as are performed by a Toda
towards his sister’s son are survivals of a condition of society in
which the mother’s brother was responsible, largely or altogether, for
the welfare of the child. Among the Todas, however, the mun stands in
two relations to a child. He is the mother’s brother, and he is also
the prospective or actual father-in-law, and we have no means of
telling in which of these two rôles he performs his duties. If the
duties of a man towards his sister’s son among the Todas be a relic of
mother-right, there can be little doubt that this condition must have
been very remote.
The Todas have a special name for the village of a man’s mother—viz.,
karuvnòdr, or “honoured place,” and when a manmokh gives a buffalo or
other contribution on the occasion of a funeral, he speaks of it as a
gift to his karuvnòdr. When a man visits his karuvnòdr, he goes to the
door of the dairy and bows down with his head to the ground at its
threshold, and then goes to the huts, where he is greeted with the
appropriate greeting, but this differs in no way from the procedure of
a visitor to any etudmad.
Marshall in his book [224] on the Todas has suggested that the
existence of female succession among the buffaloes of the Todas may be
a relic of female descent among the people themselves. He suggests that
at one time the scheme of descent and kinship was the same for the
Todas and for their buffaloes, and that with the introduction of
polyandry there came in inheritance through males among themselves,
while they continued to reckon the descent of the buffaloes in the
female line.
We have seen (see p. 471) that the method of reckoning descent among
the buffaloes is due superficially to the absence of names for male
buffaloes and more deeply to the lack of interest in paternity.
Nevertheless, Marshall’s suggestion, wild as it may seem, should not be
utterly scouted. The Todas regard their buffaloes so much as fellow
creatures that any of their ideas concerning the relations of their
buffaloes to one another should not be without interest to the student
of social regulations.
If one may speak of social organisation among buffaloes—and in the case
of the Toda herds we are justified in doing so—we have a state of
society in some ways analogous to that which many sociologists suppose
to have existed at one time in the early stages of human society. We
have various groups of buffaloes, and each buffalo—certainly each
female buffalo—belongs to the same group as its mother. There is
complete promiscuity, and the buffalo belongs to its mother’s group
because paternity is unknown or disregarded.
It is true that this condition is artificial, but it is this very
artificiality which gives it its interest, for it shows that people
like the Todas, whose whole lives are devoted to the buffalo, to whom
the breeding of the buffalo should have the deepest interest, have
allowed this state of things to come about. If they had attached
importance to paternity nothing would have been easier than to regulate
breeding, to record paternity, and even to have developed a system of
male descent among their buffaloes such as exists among themselves.
The nature of what may be called the social regulations of the
buffaloes shows that the Todas take little interest in the part played
by the male in the process of mating, and, as we have seen, this lack
of interest is almost as great among themselves. Side by side with the
strictest regulation of marriage as a social institution, such great
laxity prevails in regard to sexual relations that the Todas may almost
be said to live in a condition of promiscuity, though, as I have
endeavoured to show, the degree of promiscuity is in practice perhaps
hardly as great as their statements would lead one to expect.
ADOPTION
It is clear that the custom of adoption of children is not practised by
the Todas. They denied its existence emphatically, and I met with no
instance which led me to suspect its presence in compiling the
genealogies.
If a child is left an orphan, it is looked after by the people of its
clan, but it is always clearly recognised that the child retains the
father’s property, and belongs to the madol and pòlm of the father.
There is, so far as I could ascertain, no religious custom which makes
it necessary that a man should have children. The duties of a child at
the funeral ceremonies can quite well be performed by some other member
of the clan.
There is a social reason which makes it inconvenient in some cases that
a man should die without male issue. If a man is the only
representative of his kudr, and has no children, the kudr will become
extinct, and the clan will be put to the trouble of rearranging the
families of which it is constituted. If such a man is childless he may
take another wife in the hope of having a son to carry on the kudr, but
the adoption of a child for the purpose is never thought of. A good
case is that of the two brothers Mudrigeidi and Odrkurs in Table I.
They are the last two representatives of one kudr of the Nòdrsol. They
have had two wives, one of whom has had a daughter and a boy who died,
and in the hope of having a son, one of the brothers had recently
married a young girl, Obalidz, as his third wife, the others being
still alive, though one had been taken by another man.
GOVERNMENT
The most important feature of Toda government is the naim, or noim,
[225] a council having a definite constitution. The naim proper has to
do with the affairs of the Todas in general, and, in addition, more
informal councils, [226] consisting of the chief members of a clan, may
be held to settle matters arising within the clan. It seems, however,
that the supreme naim may sometimes be called upon to settle the
internal affairs of a clan.
The naim of the general body of Todas should have five members, or, if
more than five members, they should be drawn from five sources. Four of
these sources are the Tarthar clans of Kars, Nòdrs, and Taradr, and the
Teivali clan of Kuudr. The fifth source is the Badaga village of
Tuneri, from which a Badaga man may be sent to take part in the naim.
He is only called upon to sit, however, on special occasions; and in
the many councils which I saw during my visit a Badaga was rarely
present. He probably only sits, as a rule, when questions arise which
involve the relations between the Todas and Badagas.
The Toda representatives should be drawn from certain families of their
respective clans. The Kuudr representative should belong to the family
known as the manikudupel, and the representatives of Kars, Nòdrs, and
Taradr to the families known as tinkanikudupel. A few years ago the
Toda representatives were Kuriolv of Kuudr (52), Parkurs (8) and
Piutolvan (10) of Kars, Kudòdrsvan (3) of Nòdrs, and Ircheidi (20) of
Taradr, though there was some question whether Ircheidi was on the
naim, or whether his place had not been taken by Piutolvan, the second
Kars representative. All these men are at present living, but, with the
exception of Kuriolv, they are too old or infirm to serve. Kuriolv is
still on the naim, and his influence is entirely predominant, and it
appears that he has been instrumental in altering the constitution of
the council very largely. The number of representatives has been
increased, and the following were the members in 1902:—Kuriolv and
Ivievan (52) of Kuudr, Perner and Tebner (68), of Keadr, Parkeidi (21),
Paners (23) and Siriar (20) of Taradr and Pidrvan (9) of Kars. Thus
several members of the Kuudrol and Taradrol are serving, while there
appears to be no representative of the Nòdrsol; and I was told by
several Todas that Perner and Tebner are on the council because they
are friends of Kuriolv, though, as members of the Keadr clan, they have
no right whatever to the position.
On the slopes below the hill called Mirson, near Paikara, there are the
remains of ruined walls marking a place where the naim used to meet.
This place is called Idrgûdipem, and seems to have been at one time the
chief meeting-place.
At the present time the naim meets anywhere. I have seen the council
sitting in the compound of the bungalow at Paikara and on one occasion,
when I was working in a bungalow at the Ooty Club, the naim sat in the
grounds of the club. In general, they now meet at the places which
happen to be most convenient for the chief members.
The members usually sit in a semicircular row. If they are considering
a dispute between two parties, representatives of the parties take part
in the sitting, and in these cases the members of the naim sit in the
middle of the row while the representatives sit on either wing.
During my visit the council was chiefly occupied with the various
complicated transactions which are always arising out of the custom of
transferring wives from one man to another. This custom is the chief
source of disputes among the Todas, and at times the naim may sit for
several days before one case is settled.
I am doubtful whether the naim should have a definite head, but at the
present time it certainly has such in the person of Kuriolv of Kuudr.
He is the senior representative of the manikudupel of Kuudr, and is
therefore the natural representative of this clan on the naim. He is
highly intelligent, and gave me the impression that he might have risen
to a high place in any community. He has the reputation among the Todas
of being very eloquent and of having great persuasive powers. When
persuasion fails, there is very little doubt that he resorts to
intimidation of some kind, though I could not discover what his means
of intimidation are.
On one occasion the naim spent a whole day discussing a marriage case
in the compound at Paikara. On the following day they met in a distant
part of the hills to continue the discussion of the case, and I was
told that this was arranged by Kuriolv because he hoped to enforce his
wishes in some secluded spot more effectively than in the publicity of
Paikara where the evidences of the ‘government’ probably lent moral
support to his opponents.
However Kuriolv effects his purpose, there is no doubt that he almost
entirely dominated the Toda people at the time of my visit. We have
already seen that he has succeeded in altering the constitution of the
naim, and several examples are given in this book of his interference
in the normal course of Toda affairs; interference usually in favour of
his own family or friends. In at least one case (see Chap. XVI) during
my visit he considered himself superior to ceremonial laws.
He seemed to me to afford an excellent example of the process by which
one man may bring about considerable changes in the laws and
regulations of a community; though I was told in several instances that
the Todas would revert to their old customs as soon as Kuriolv died.
I did not obtain a full account of the duties of the naim and of the
affairs which come under its jurisdiction. There is no doubt, however,
that it is largely concerned with the settlement of civil disputes
arising between individuals, families, and clans. As I have already
mentioned, it seemed to me that it was almost exclusively engaged
during my visit in the regulation of the disputes arising out of the
terersthi custom. In one such case the question of funeral
contributions was involved, and I have no doubt that the settlement of
any dispute arising from this source would come within the province of
the naim, and probably any doubtful point in the working of the social
regulations would be submitted to it.
In addition to its functions in disputes between individuals, the naim
has wide functions in connexion with Toda ceremonial. It decides when
many ceremonies take place, and has the chief word in regulating the
affairs of the ti dairies. Thus it appeared that the various
arrangements and alterations of arrangements in connexion with the
migration of the buffaloes of the Nòdrs ti which were made during my
visit were the work of the naim, or, at any rate, of its chief members.
CRIME
I have no knowledge about the power of the naim in criminal as opposed
to civil matters. I never heard of inquiry by the naim into any
criminal offence committed by one man against another or against the
community. It is, however, doubtful whether crime can be said to exist
among the Todas.
Acts such as infanticide are committed which would be regarded as
crimes by others, but since these are the outcome of custom they are
not crimes from the Toda point of view. Again, we have seen that the
Todas have a code of offences against the dairy, but these must be
regarded as sins rather than as crimes, for they are neither
investigated nor punished by the civil authority, the naim, but are
punished directly by the gods, and the various ceremonies described in
Chapter XIII are expiatory and not punitive.
The list of offences given on p. 295 includes quarrelling between
people of the same clan at a festival and quarrelling in the dairy. In
both cases the quarrelling is an offence against the dairy, and I have
no information to show whether quarrels ever lead to acts of violence
which might in other places become the subject of criminal
investigation. So far as I could learn, any investigation by the naim
would only deal with the causes which had led to the quarrel; it would
deal only with the civil and not with the criminal aspect of the case.
Again, the custom of terersthi, or transference of wives, which is the
chief subject of the deliberations of the naim, sometimes leads to acts
of violence. A woman who has been transferred by the naim from one man
to another may be carried off by force from the home of the former,
but, however such an act may be regarded from our standpoint, it is not
a crime from the Toda point of view, but merely the carrying out of the
decision of the judicial authority. So many Todas are, however,
discovering that such an act is regarded as a crime by Europeans that
there will probably soon come about a state of public opinion which
will regard such abduction as a crime, and possibly the same idea may
become attached to the whole custom of transference of a woman from one
man to another unwillingly. It seemed not unlikely at the time of my
visit that this conversion of a custom into a crime might be assisted
by the action of the Government.
In the legend of Kwoten, this hero kills Parden, but so far as I know
this is the only example of murder, either legendary or historical,
among the Todas. The Todas may take part in the murder of a Kurumba who
has been working magic, but this is of course no crime from the Toda
point of view, but an obvious method of self-defence, for it is
believed that the only way of stopping Kurumba sorcery is to kill the
sorcerer.
With the exception of the occurrences accompanying the transference of
wives, which I have already considered, I heard of no case of assault
by one Toda on another.
Similarly, I heard of no offence against property except in connexion
with the dairy. So far as I know, ornaments or clothing are never
stolen. In the list of offences against the dairy, stealing ghi is
included, but it was clear that this is regarded as sacrilege, as an
offence against the dairy and not as an offence committed against the
individual.
SUICIDE
In the legend of Kwoten there is a record of suicide by strangling, and
since the suicide of Erten and his confederates this is said to have
been a recognised custom among the Todas. Several instances have
occurred in recent times; thus, about four generations ago, at a
village called Podzkwar, near Taradrkirsi, a woman and her husband had
a dispute and the woman strangled herself. About three generations ago
a man strangled himself in the dairy at Melgars, and when a Toda is
very angry he will threaten to commit suicide, saying “on mêdr kati
kêdraividikin”—“my neck tying, I will die.”
Another way of committing suicide, said to have been borrowed from the
Badagas, is that of taking opium. There has been a recent case of
suicide, by this means, and when angry, a Toda sometimes says, “mud tid
kêdraividikin”—“Opium eating, I will die.”
THE MONEGAR
The Todas have a monegar, or headman, who is responsible for the
assessment which the Todas pay to Government for their grazing rights,
&c. (see below).
The earliest monegar whom the Todas remember is Teitchi or Teiti (52).
He was succeeded by his fourth son, Mutevan, who is still alive. The
two eldest sons had died before their father, and Persevan, the third
son, was said to be weak-minded, and Mutevan was therefore chosen to
succeed.
Mutevan is now a very old man, probably about eighty years of age, and
his office was taken over some years ago by his eldest son, Ivievan.
Though Ivievan is the monegar he is not the chief representative of his
family on the naim, this position belonging to Kuriolv, the son of
Pareivan and Persevan. Ivievan is helped in collecting the assessment
by an assistant monegar, and till lately this place belonged to Parkurs
of Kars.
It does not appear that the monegarship is a real Toda office, but that
the earliest monegar was appointed by Mr. Sullivan, the first British
official of the Nilgiris. The family, however, to which the monegar
belongs is called the manikudupel, which may mean the monegar family,
but I could not discover definitely whether this title is older than
the institution of the monegarship. It is possible that Teitchi was one
of the chief men of the naim when the Europeans first came to the hills
and that he was therefore appointed as monegar.
It is quite clear that at the present time the monegar, Ivievan, is not
the most important man among the Todas, but that the predominant
position belongs to his cousin, Kuriolv, the representative of the
family on the naim.
HEADMEN
Though it is very doubtful whether the institution of monegar is not an
innovation, and whether the Todas as a whole have properly any true
chief, it is fairly clear that the clan and its divisions have definite
leaders.
Each clan has a headman or etudol; usually, it seemed to me, one who
had come to the top by virtue of his character and ability. I did not
learn how far his position was generally recognised nor by what means
he was chosen. It was quite clear, however, that the leading man of a
clan might lose his position in old age or as the result of illness,
and at the time of my visit there were several men who had been the
heads of their clans but no longer occupied those positions.
Similarly, as we have seen, both kudr and pòlm have their leading men,
who give their names to the divisions and are probably responsible for
the conduct of their business.
PROPERTY
Among the Todas, property may be held by the clan, the family or the
individual. I am not clear whether there is any case in which property
is held to belong to the Todas as a whole, or to either of the two
divisions. There were two villages, Padegar and Ki Perththo, said to be
common property, so that any one might live at them. At the time of my
visit both were occupied by Melgars people, and I could not satisfy
myself as to what was meant by saying that they were common property.
In general, land, the dairies of the chief villages, and some buffaloes
may be said to be the property of the clan. The house, and probably
also some villages, are the property of a family, and most buffaloes,
household goods and ornaments are the property of the individual.
Land.—The relation of the Todas to the land has been a much discussed
theme, and for many years after the first settlement of the hills by
Europeans it was a subject of controversy. The fact that the Badagas
paid what seemed to be a tribute of grain to the Todas was held to show
that the latter were regarded as the “lords of the soil,” and the view
was strongly upheld that they should be so regarded by the Indian
Government. The other view taken of the matter was that permanent
rights in the soil throughout India belong to the State. The
controversy [227] was not settled till 1843, when it was decided that
the Todas should have the privilege of pasturing their herds on the
State lands on payment of a small tax. At the present time the Todas
receive an annual sum from the Government as compensation for land
taken from them in Ootacamund and elsewhere.
Although the Todas have thus had much difficulty with the Government in
relation to the ownership of land, it does not seem that they have
trouble in this matter among themselves, and I heard of no disputes
between members of different clans or different villages about grazing
rights.
In the account of the marriage dispute between Punog and Nertiners (see
p. 536) the former had evidently put many of his buffaloes in the
charge of his brother-in-law for grazing purposes, but it was quite
clear that no question of grazing rights came into this dispute. The
buffaloes only came into the quarrel because Nertiners happened to have
them in his charge when the marriage dispute arose.
I did not ascertain definitely how grazing rights between two clans or
families are regulated, but I think it is quite clear that there is no
individual ownership in land.
Certain dairies, and probably all the chief villages (etudmad), are
regarded more or less as the property of the whole clan. There probably
never arises any real question of ownership, but as regards the
dairies, it was clear that any expenses incurred in the repair or
rebuilding of a dairy fall on the whole clan, each pòlm of the clan
contributing an equal share. [228]
The buffalo herds of the ti are also regarded as the property of the
whole clan, but the rights of ownership are in these cases very
shadowy. It does not appear that the owning clan derives any pecuniary
benefit from its possession of the herd, while, on the other hand, the
possession involves considerable expense, chiefly owing to certain
feasts which have to be provided, and these expenses are given as the
reason why certain of the sacred dairies are unoccupied. The people of
the owning clan have, it is true, the right of choosing the palol, but
as the choice is limited, and there is, in most cases, little
competition for the office, this is a very empty honour.
Houses. Each house belongs to a certain family. The normal Toda family
consists of a number of brothers with one wife, and each house belongs
to a family of this kind, and is handed on to the children of the
brothers.
If the brothers quarrel, the affair is settled by the naim, and it is
usually decided that one brother or more than one of the brothers shall
occupy the house for a certain period, usually a year, and that at the
end of this period he (or they) shall move to another village, when
another brother or brothers will occupy the house.
Such disputes do not seem to be frequent, but one was in existence
during my visit. The two younger of three brothers had taken a wife
without the knowledge of the eldest. The latter did not approve of the
choice, and wished his brothers to send the wife away, which they
refused to do. As the dispute had not yet been settled, the eldest
brother at the time of my visit was living in the house, while the
other brothers were living at the village of their newly chosen wife.
If a family dies out, it seems that the house is not, as a rule, taken
on by another family. It falls into disuse, and in time disappears. As
a village may sometimes consist of one house only, villages may
disappear in this way, and the ruins of some villages were pointed out
to me which had fallen into disuse owing to the dying out of the
families which formerly occupied them. A really important village,
i.e., one with an important dairy, would of course never disappear in
this way, but it is possible that the reason why some villages, such as
Nasmiòdr and Kanòdrs, now consist of a dairy only, is that the families
which possessed the houses at these villages became extinct. I do not,
however, know positively that a house at such an important village may
not, in some cases, be taken over by another family.
Breeks has stated that the Toda custom is that the house shall pass to
the youngest son. It seems quite clear that this is wrong, and that
this custom is absolutely unknown among the Todas. It is, however, a
Badaga custom, and among them I was told that it is due to the fact
that as the sons of a family grow up and marry, they leave the house of
the parents and build houses elsewhere. It is the duty of the youngest
son to dwell with his parents and support them as long as they live,
and when they die he continues to live in the parental home, of which
he becomes the owner.
Buffaloes. These are to a very large extent individual property. In
practice, owing to the fact that brothers usually live together, a herd
of buffaloes is treated as the property of a family of brothers, but
whenever the occasion arises there are definite rules for the division
of the buffaloes among them.
I have already referred to the fact that certain herds of buffaloes,
such as the ti herds and the kugvalir of Taradr, are the common
property of a clan, but the great majority of both sacred and ordinary
buffaloes belong to families or individuals. [229] When a man who owns
a certain number of buffaloes dies, the buffaloes are not necessarily
divided among his sons. If the sons are all living together, the
buffaloes may be treated as if they were common property. The milk of
the ordinary buffaloes is churned in the dwelling-hut, and that of the
sacred buffaloes in the dairy, and the produce in each case is regarded
as the property of the whole family. It is only when dissensions arise,
or when some reason makes it desirable that the brothers should
separate and live in different villages, that the laws regulating the
partition of buffaloes come into force.
When such an occasion arises the buffaloes are equally divided among
the brothers, with the exception that the eldest son and the youngest
son each receive one buffalo in excess of the rest. This custom is
known as îrvâkhtnûdr meilkûdr, or “if divide buffaloes, superior
portion.”
If there are only two sons, each will get meilkudr, and the buffaloes
are equally divided; but if there should be an unequal number of
buffaloes, the odd buffalo is taken by the elder son.
If there are more than two sons, the buffaloes are equally divided with
meilkudr to the eldest and youngest, and any odd buffaloes are in this
case sold and the proceeds equally divided, or, more commonly, one of
the brothers takes the odd buffaloes and gives the right proportion of
their value to the other brothers.
Thus, if sixteen buffaloes are to be divided among four brothers, the
eldest and youngest would each take four, the second and third brothers
would each take three, and the remaining two buffaloes would either be
sold and the purchase money equally divided, or taken by one of the
brothers, who would divide three-quarters of the value of the buffaloes
between the other three men. If there should be only fourteen
buffaloes, the eldest and youngest sons would each take four buffaloes
and the others three.
The meilkudr is also operative if a man divides his buffaloes among his
sons in his lifetime. In this case a man usually keeps some buffaloes
for himself; thus I was told that a man who had sixteen buffaloes and
three sons might give four buffaloes to the eldest, three to the next,
and four to the youngest son, keeping five for himself.
The Todas told me of one apparent exception to the law of meilkudr. If,
in a family of four brothers, the two elder brothers marry one wife and
the two younger marry another and the two groups separate, the
buffaloes would be equally divided, but this is because each would
receive a meilkudr. If, on the other hand, the eldest and youngest son
married one wife, and the other two sons married another woman, the
first group would receive two buffaloes in excess of the second. The
former example is, of course, an obvious consequence of the law of
meilkudr. I only mention it because the Todas told me of it especially,
and seemed to regard it as a case which might be thought to be a
departure from custom.
I gave the Todas a number of hypothetical problems of buffalo division,
and all were solved in accordance with the law of meilkudr. I have not
been able to learn of any exact parallel in other parts of the world,
and it seems possible that it is an independent invention of the Todas.
The division is called kudr, or horn, and it seems to me quite possible
that at some time it occurred to an ingenious Toda that the two
extremities of the family should be regarded as the two horns of the
family, and that this fact should be recognised in the division of
property, or, it may be, that the custom of endowing the eldest of the
family above his fellows existed among the Todas as among so many other
races, till it was pointed out that this was like a buffalo with one
horn, and the youngest son was therefore similarly endowed to restore
the symmetry of the family. The buffalo influences the Toda mind so
much that I do not think this is a far-fetched explanation of a custom
which appears to be the unique possession of this people.
The word kudr is also the name of one of the divisions of the clan, and
it seemed clear in this case that the proper number of kudr in each
clan is two.
There is much transference of buffaloes from one man to another, or
from one family to another. Many ceremonies involve gifts of buffaloes,
and these are usually presented by a member of one clan to a member of
another. Marriage is one of the chief occasions of such gifts. Refusal
to fulfil the marriage contract and divorce involve the payment of
buffaloes, and the terersthi custom is a great source of the passing of
buffaloes from one clan to another. Similarly, buffaloes are given at
the ceremonies of naming, ear-piercing, &c., and as I have already
pointed out, these transferences have led to great confusion in the
classification of the different kinds of sacred buffaloes, as a man may
have in his possession animals belonging to several named groups.
In the case of ordinary buffaloes, or putiir, it seemed that a
distinction is made between buffaloes which have been acquired by a man
and those descended from animals which had been in the possession of
his father and grandfather. My attention was drawn to this point by the
occurrence at the funeral of Sinerani. The recalcitrant buffalo on this
occasion was one of the latter kind, and I was told that it should not
have been killed at the funeral of a girl because, being descended from
a buffalo which belonged to Kuriolv’s grandfather, Kuriolv’s heirs had
a right to it of which they were deprived by its slaughter for a girl.
If the dead child had been a boy the slaughter of this buffalo would
have been proper, for the dead child in this case would have been one
of the heirs.
Transferences of buffaloes also take place between Todas and Badagas,
as we have seen in connexion with the ear-piercing ceremony described
in Chapter XIV. In this case the gift appeared to be nothing more than
a friendly compliment, but it is possible that transferences of
buffaloes may in some cases be connected with the other complicated
relations between the two tribes.
Household Goods. These are equally divided among the sons, though, as
in the case of the buffaloes, they are used in common so long as the
sons live together. If household goods have to be divided among the
members of a family they are shared as equally as possible, and this is
also the case with any ornaments. If the man had only one ring, it was
said that this ring would either be broken up and shared equally, or
its value would be divided. Money is shared equally among the sons.
If one of several brothers who has his own wife should die and leave
children, the sons would take their father’s share at any division of
property. Thus, at the time of my visit, Piutolvan and Püljeidi (10),
two very old men, were thinking of dividing their buffaloes among their
descendants. In this case Menkars would receive the number which his
father Tagners would have received if he had been alive. If Tagners had
left two sons, the portion which their father would have received would
be divided between the two boys or devoted to their common use.
Daughters inherit nothing. They only receive from their parents what
they are given as dowry (adrparn).
Any property given to a woman as dowry goes with her if she changes
husbands, but any ornaments or other property given to a wife by her
husband are kept by the husband if the wife is transferred to another
man or group of men.
Harkness records a case in which a dispute about property arose. In
this case a woman bore two children to three husbands. One of the
husbands died and the other two husbands married other wives. The two
children claimed one-third of the property of the mother and her first
husband, and Harkness was told that this was generally recognised to be
a just claim. I did not inquire into this special case but according to
the laws of inheritance of property which I have given, it would seem
that the children were entitled to one-third of the whole of the
property of the three brothers. If the property had been divided among
the three brothers, the man who died would have received one-third, and
the children should have received his share.
In all cases of distribution of property, inheritance depends on
descent as determined by the pursütpimi ceremony, and not on the real
descent, even if this should be well known. Thus the boy Meilitars
(44), who is really the son of Kuriolv, but is legally the son of
Pepners, should not inherit any of Kuriolv’s buffaloes, but will
receive those of his legal father, Pepners, of whom at present he is
the only son.
If the whole of a family, such as is given in one of the genealogical
tables, should die out, the inheritance of the buffaloes and other
property is determined by the nearest links of descent, of which a
tradition may be preserved, even if the actual relationship cannot be
definitely traced.
Several interesting features of Toda law are illustrated by a case out
of which a lawsuit may one day arise. If the family of Kiugi (57)
should become extinct, there would arise a dispute about the succession
to the property, which would turn largely on a case in which the
pursütpimi ceremony was performed several generations ago. When the
eldest child of Tudrvan (52) was about to be born, Tudrvan was away
from home, and had not performed the pursütpimi ceremony. There was a
danger that the delivery might take place before the ceremony could be
performed, and Kòrs (57) was therefore called in to give the bow and
arrow, and Teitchi, who was born soon afterwards, was, according to
Toda custom, the child of Kòrs. When Teitchi grew up, however, he
decided to regard himself as the son of his real father, Tudrvan, and
being a powerful and influential person like his grandson Kuriolv, he
appears to have had his way, and his descendants have been regarded as
the descendants of Tudrvan. Tudrvan himself gave the bow and arrow in
the succeeding pregnancy, and there is therefore no doubt about the
legitimacy of Pusheiri and his younger brothers and sisters.
Owing, however, to the part played by Kòrs before the birth of his
grandfather, Kuriolv has lately directed that Kiugi, the son of Kòrs,
should belong to the same pòlm as himself in order that he or his
family may succeed to the buffaloes of Kiugi’s pòlm if this should die
out. It is known, however, that Kiugi’s pòlm is closely related to that
of Tüliners (56), so that should the pòlm of Kiugi become extinct,
there would arise a lawsuit between Kuriolv and Tüliners or their
representatives for the possession of Kiugi’s buffaloes.
The essential point of the situation is that Kuriolv is trying to make
use of his double position as the descendant of Tudrvan by real
paternity and of Kòrs by virtue of the pursütpimi ceremony. According
to the latter he is of the same pòlm as Kiugi, but if equity prevails
in the decision of the naim which may have to settle the dispute,
Kuriolv or his representative will have to decide whether he is
descended from Tudrvan or Kòrs, and will not be allowed to take
advantage of both lines of descent.
As a matter of fact, I was assured by several Todas that though they
have apparently fallen in with Kuriolv’s wishes, they still regard
Kiugi’s pòlm as most closely allied to that of Tüliners, and if Kuriolv
should die before the extinction of Kiugi’s family, I have little doubt
that the naim would decide that the buffaloes of Kiugi should go to the
family of Tüliners.
This potential lawsuit is important as showing the rôle played by the
genealogies in the social regulations of the Toda community. We see
that an eventuality which may never arise and probably will not arise
for many years to come is already the subject of consideration and
discussion, that the crucial point upon which the lawsuit will turn is
an event which occurred probably about 120 years ago, and that the ties
of kinship which will be involved in the dispute are carefully
preserved in the memories of the people.
The history is also very interesting in showing that a century ago a
man of force was able to set aside a fundamental regulation of Toda
society, and that his grandson, who has apparently inherited the
powerful character of his ancestor, is following in his footsteps, and,
as we have seen frequently during this volume, is able to put on one
side Toda customs or laws when they conflict with his interests or
desires.
DEBT AND SERVITUDE
It seems to be not uncommon for a Toda to die in debt, and it is the
duty of the sons to pay off the debts of their father. If there are no
children, the payment of the debt is regarded as the duty of the
brothers of the dead man.
When children have to pay the debts of their father, they may give
their services to others, receiving in return money and other
recompense. The usual pay is six rupees a year, two cloaks, and food.
To this is often added the loan of a milking buffalo.
This custom of working for another is called kûlvatkerthchi or
kûlvatkerthiti. Several of the eight sons of Pushteidi and Keitan (6)
are now working to pay their father’s debts. Two of the sons are
married to one woman and live at one of their own villages, where they
look after the buffaloes of the family. Another brother is unmarried,
but lives with a Teivali woman. The other five sons are unmarried and
work for various people. One is employed on a tea estate, and the
others are working for different Todas, who reward them in the manner
already described. The milking buffaloes lent to them are handed over
to the charge of the brothers who are married.
It is very exceptional to find a family in which so many of the men are
unmarried, and this was said to be due to the necessity of paying off
their father’s debt. In this case the two eldest brothers have remained
unmarried, but this was said to have been due to their own choice. It
seems that it is left to the family to decide which of them shall marry
and which shall undertake the duty of paying the debt. As soon as the
debt is paid off, all the sons are allowed to marry.
THE POSITION OF WOMEN
There is no doubt that women have a subordinate position in the Toda
community. The ceremonial of the dairy has a predominant place in the
lives and thoughts of the people, and the exclusion of women from any
share in this ceremonial must have influenced the attitude of the
community towards the sex. The laws regulating the relations of the
dairymen with women also can hardly have contributed to raise the
esteem in which they are held. The special ceremonies in which women
are concerned involve various disabilities due to the ideas of impurity
connected with these ceremonies. The seclusion-hut of a woman has
attached to it the same ideas of impurity which attach to a corpse or
its relics.
Not only are women excluded from any share in the work of the dairies
connected with the sacred buffaloes, but they are also prohibited from
any part in the milking of the ordinary buffaloes or in the churning of
their milk, which is performed solely by males in a part of the hut
with which women have nothing to do. It seems that at one time women
had the one function of tending the buffaloes at the time of calving,
but even this is no longer allowed them.
In other household matters, the duties of women are very limited in
scope. Their chief work is the pounding and sifting of grain, the
cleaning of the hut, and the decoration of clothing. I am doubtful
whether they are allowed to cook, at any rate to cook food in which
milk forms one of the ingredients. With such occupations as divining
and sorcery they have nothing to do, but one woman has the reputation
of possessing the powers of healing which belong to the utkòren.
I could not learn of any matters of social importance in which women
are consulted. When collecting genealogies in Torres Straits, I found
that women were often repositories of this important branch of
knowledge, but I received no indication that this was the case with the
Toda women, though I cannot say definitely that they may not have
possessed some knowledge of this and cognate subjects.
Though thus unimportant in ceremonial and of little influence in the
regulation of social affairs, women have nevertheless much freedom. In
general social intercourse the two sexes always seemed to be on the
best of terms, and I never saw or heard anything to indicate that women
are treated harshly or contemptuously.
In my psychological tests it certainly seemed to me the general
intelligence of the women was very much lower than that of the men.
Some of the younger women were as acute and intelligent as the men, but
the older women seemed to me hopelessly stupid. They did not try to
give their minds to the tasks I set them with anything approaching the
keenness and interest shown by the men, and again and again I failed to
obtain results of any value in tests which men understood readily.
It seems probable that the intelligence of the two sexes is not
appreciably different in youth, but that the social life of the women
does nothing to develop this intelligence and everything to force its
exercise into the narrowest channels.
It might, I think, be expected that polyandry would be associated with
a subordinate position of woman, and there can be no doubt that the
Todas show the association of the two conditions.
When a woman marries she becomes of the same clan as her husband, and
this is a matter of some importance in connexion with religious and
social ceremonial. Thus, in the funeral ceremonies of a woman, the
choice of appropriate day and place, of the people who are to take part
in the funeral rites and other features of the ceremonial are
determined, not by the clan of the woman’s father, but by that of her
husband, and this even when the marriage itself forms part of the
funeral ceremonies.
While I was on the hills, the widow, Kiuneimi (3), who had been living
with her father at Nòdrs, died. Her husbands had belonged to Kanòdrs,
and as a member of this clan she should have been taken to its
burning-ground. This was, however, so far from Nòdrs that it was
decided not to go there, but to hold the funeral ceremonies near the
place where she had died. The proper funeral place for Nòdrs women
could not, however, be used, for she belonged to another clan, and the
body was therefore taken to a village which was not a true funeral
place, and so no laws were infringed.
The funeral of Sinerani (p. 391) is an excellent example which shows
how all the details of a funeral ceremony are dependent on the
transference of a young girl to the clan of a boy who acts as husband
to the corpse. By her marriage to Keinba, the dead girl became a member
of the Keadrol, and her funeral should have been held at the
burning-ground of this clan. Many of the features of the ceremonies
were in accordance with this change of clan, and since all were not so,
the various mishaps which occurred at the funeral were ascribed by the
Todas to the departure from prescribed custom.
CHAPTER XXIV
ARTS AND AMUSEMENTS
The arts of life among the Todas are extremely simple. The fact that
their agriculture is done for them by the Badagas and that all the
objects they use in their daily life are made for them by the Kotas
leaves them free to devote their whole attention to the care of the
buffalo and the dairy. This employment has acquired so ceremonial a
character that, having dealt with the ceremonies of the Todas, we find
little left to consider in connexion with the regulation of the affairs
of daily life.
The artistic side of life among the Todas is but little developed.
Their interest is so much absorbed in ceremony that little is left for
the development of art, even of a primitive kind. The decorative arts
are of the simplest and are directed only to the adornment of the
clothing or the person, and even here we shall find that the methods of
wearing the clothes or the hair are quite as much influenced by
ceremonial as by æsthetic considerations. In their amusements again we
shall find that the influence of ceremonial is so great, that many of
the games are merely imitations of ceremonial occupations.
I have included in this chapter an account of the ideas which are held
about the heavenly bodies, the primitive astronomy of the people. To
the Todas, though in a less degree than to many people of low culture,
it is the sun, moon, and stars which are the chief objects of those
observations and speculations which are the beginnings of science.
CLOTHING
The clothing of the men consists of a large cloak called the putkuli, a
loincloth called tadrp, and a small perineal cloth called kuvn, kept in
its place by a string round the waist called pennar.
The putkuli is made of a large piece of double cloth, which is usually
worn by placing one side over the left shoulder and then throwing the
whole garment round the back and over the right shoulder and across to
the left shoulder, so that it completely envelops the body. This method
of wearing the cloak, which is shown by the third man of Fig. 61, is
called kai ulk üt nidvai, “hand into laid who stands,” or “who stands
with hand placed within the cloak.”
The double layer of cloth of which the cloak is made is sewn together
at the edges except at the upper part of one side, leaving the opening
of a large pocket which is bounded by lines where the two layers of the
cloak are again sewn together. This pocket is called kudsh and is very
capacious, so that a Toda may produce a surprising number of articles
from it. As we have seen, many of the articles given to the dead are
placed in this pocket.
There are two methods of wearing the cloak adopted on special
occasions. One of these is that called kevenarut (adopted by the second
man in Fig. 61), with which we have already often met. The right arm is
put out of the cloak, so that the arm and shoulder are bare whenever a
Toda approaches certain sacred personages or objects. The cloak is worn
kevenarut whenever the wearer is engaged in prayer or employed in any
way at the dairy. It is also worn in this way when approaching a palol,
when performing the kaimukhti salutation, and when crossing either of
the sacred streams.
The other method is that shown by the fourth man in Fig. 61 and is
called mad âr mitch nidvai, “head on covered who stands.” The cloak is
worn in this fashion by a widower between the middle of the first
funeral ceremony and the final scene of the azaramkedr. It is also worn
in this way by those who throw earth in the puzhutpimi ceremony of each
funeral.
The tadrp is a loincloth worn in the ordinary way, as shown by the
first man in Fig. 61. The tadrp of a young child has a pocket called
terigs, but I do not know whether this pocket also exists in the tadrp
of an adult.
Both putkuli and tadrp are manufactured by Hindus, probably in the
Coimbatore district. Thirty years ago, according to Breeks, the cloth
was procured from weavers who came from Serumuge in Coimbatore, but at
the present time the garments are bought by the Todas at the bazaar.
When obtained by the Todas they have certain red and blue lines, and
sometimes the Todas supplement this decoration by embroidery called
pukuru, which is the work of the women, and a cloak so decorated is
called pukuruputkuli. The decoration is shown in Figs. 1 and 9. Some
women are especially expert at this work, and one woman who has
recently had to change her name is now called Pukuruveli on account of
her special skill.
The chief point of interest in connexion with the kuvn is the string by
which it is supported. This string is called pennar, or “butter
string,” and forms a special contribution made by relatives, and
especially the sister’s son, at a funeral. Further, the string is of
especial significance in the dairy ceremonial, where it is sometimes
called kerk.
Both putkuli and tadrp are also worn by women. The garments are of the
same kind as those of the men and are worn in the same ways.
The higher grades of dairymen wear garments called tuni, made of a
different material, a grey cloth, which has been said to be
manufactured by the Badagas of Jakaneri, but is probably only procured
by their help. A cloak of similar material called än is, or should be,
used to enwrap the bodies of the dead; and, as we have already seen,
there is some reason to believe that garments of this material may have
been the original clothing of the Todas, for in the legend of Kwoten,
the wife of this hero wore a cloak of this kind.
The Todas themselves manufacture a special kind of material called
twadrinar from the bark of a plant, and this is largely used in the
ordination ceremonies. In the ordination of a Teivali palikartmokh, it
may take the place of the petuni; at that of a wursol, twadrinar may be
used as a girdle; and on the fourth day of the ordination ceremonies of
the palol, the candidate manufactures and wears a rough kuvn made of
this material. Its use in ceremony appears to be limited to the
Teivaliol, and it is possible that it also is a survival in ceremony of
clothing once in general use by this or both divisions of the Toda
people.
Many of the older and more important Todas now wear the turban called
madpâri, but there is no doubt that this is an innovation. The Todas
themselves sometimes speak of the Badagas as “they who wear the
turban,” and it seemed clear that the custom has been adopted in
imitation of these people. Harkness and other of the earliest writers
state that the Todas never wear any covering to the head, and there is
little doubt that the practice has been adopted during the last
century.
At the present time a man always removes his turban when performing any
act of reverence (see Fig. 10) and when crossing one of the sacred
rivers.
Mr. Thurston mentions that on his first visit, the man whom he chose as
his guide adopted the turban in honour of his appointment, and my
guide, Kòdrner, although much younger than most of those who wore
turbans, also adopted this custom when he was with me.
METHODS OF WEARING THE HAIR
There are various methods of wearing the hair, each of which has its
special significance. The ordinary method for men is to allow it to
grow to a certain length, so that it forms a compact mass, as shown by
the first man of Fig. 61, or as in Fig. 15.
When a member of a clan dies, all the men of the clan tie their hair in
knots in front till the funeral ceremonies are completed. This is
called mad tutvai, “head (or hair) who rolls,” and the second man in
Fig. 61 is wearing his hair in this fashion, a girl of his clan having
died not long before, whose second funeral ceremonies had not yet taken
place.
Another method of wearing the hair is shown by the third man in Fig.
61. This method is called mad nadrk vai, “head (or hair) long to who.”
It is adopted by anyone who has made a vow. In Fig. 62 another man is
shown in the same condition, but his head has a different appearance
owing to the fact that he has tied two locks behind in order to keep
the long hair away from his face. This tying back has no other
significance.
Women wear their hair as shown in Figs. 3 and 11, in long ringlets, and
there do not appear to be any differences in the method of wearing the
hair under different conditions corresponding to those of males.
After a funeral the Tarthar division of the Todas except the Melgarsol
shave their heads, and this may also happen in connexion with vows made
at the Hindu temple at Nanjankudi or elsewhere.
The hair of a child is shaved about the third month of life (see p.
332), so that the head has the appearance shown in Figs. 63 and 64. The
head is shaved on the top and sides, and in a strip from the top to the
forehead, so that three locks are left, two in front, called the mîkuti
(? meikuti), and one behind, called the kut.
In the case of a girl, there is some difference in the method of
shaving according to the position of the child in the family. If a girl
is the eldest of the family, she wears three locks like a boy, but
younger girls and the eldest girl, if she should have an elder brother,
wear only the two front locks, the mîkuti.
SKIN-MARKS
The only kind of skin-mark made on males takes the form of a cicatrix
on the right shoulder and, less commonly, on the elbow. It is produced
by means of a stick made hot by the drill method of producing fire,
exactly as in the production of fire for ceremonial purposes. The
operation is not, however, accompanied by any ceremonial and may be
performed by anyone. The marks are made when a boy is about twelve
years old, at which age he begins to milk the buffaloes. The object of
the marking is to cure the pain arising from the fatigue of milking. If
the operation has not the desired result and the boy still feels the
fatiguing effect of milking, a second mark is made, and occasionally a
third or fourth may be necessary. In one case, in which a man had three
marks one on the shoulder and two on the elbow, the third mark was not
made till he was fifteen or sixteen years of age, three or four years
after the first mark had been produced. This was done because, even
after this lapse of time, he still suffered from aching in his arm
after milking the buffaloes. Another man had four scars on the
shoulder, this being the largest number I observed.
Occasionally I observed a man without any of these scars, and, in more
than one of these cases, the reason given was that the man had been one
of a large family and had not had to do much milking. The cicatrices
are usually raised well above the surrounding skin and are often
distinct lumps of scar tissue (keloid). This appears to be the result
of special treatment of the burn. A leaf called kudiers is put on the
wound with butter, and this keeps it open for a considerable time. If
the wound remains open too long, another leaf, called pöturers, is used
to hasten the healing.
Similar, but less raised, marks are occasionally seen on the wrist or
elsewhere. In men these are always the result of treatment for pain or
illness and are made in the same way by means of a hot stick. Sometimes
a metal instrument called sunurkudi is now used for this purpose.
The ceremonial burns made on the wrists of women during the first
pregnancy have already been fully considered.
Tattooing is only practised by women. The patterns consist of rings and
dots arranged in straight lines, and they are most commonly to be seen
on the chest, shoulders, and upper parts of the arms. [230]
I believe that there is some kind of ceremonial connected with
tattooing, but unfortunately I failed to obtain satisfactory
information about it. When I began the subject one day, I received an
intimation that it was not a matter to be discussed in public, and
later the subject slipped my attention and was never properly
investigated.
The tattooing is performed by certain women, but it seemed that any
woman who had learned how to tattoo might undertake the business. The
following are at present recognised as experts: Achaveli (43), Sinpurs
and Edjog (20), Sinpurs being probably the same woman who acts as one
of the utkòren. The woman who tattoos is given eight or twelve annas
and she also receives food.
The tattooing must not take place before puberty, but it may be done
either before or after childbirth.
Little use is made by the Todas of pigments. The juice of a fruit
called îlpom, which has a red colour, is sometimes used to adorn the
forehead, and another reddish juice from a fruit called puthimulpom
[231] is used for the same purpose. The yellowish juice of the
pelkurthpom is rubbed on the face, but this was said to be done in
frosty weather only, as a protection against the cold. Ashes are now
occasionally rubbed on the face and head, especially by women at the
ceremony of going to the seclusion-hut after childbirth. The last is
certainly a recently borrowed custom, and I suspect the other
adornments just mentioned to be modern imitations of the forehead marks
of the Hindus.
ORNAMENTS
The men usually wear silver rings on the fourth digit of one or other
hand. Often earrings are worn by the men and these are not uncommonly
of gold. Harkness says that men sometimes wore chains of silver round
the neck, but it is doubtful whether these are ever worn now. Formerly
it seems that men used to wear far more solid rings, and one such ring
is preserved which is said to have belonged to the hero or god Kwoten.
The ornaments of the women are more numerous and take the form of
bracelets or bangles; armlets, often adorned with bunches of cowries;
necklaces, sometimes made of silver coins; earrings; and a brass
circlet worn round the waist. These ornaments are usually of brass or
silver. At one time they seem to have been very massive, Breeks
recording that a pair of brass armlets worn on one arm weighed six
pounds. Formerly gold ornaments seem to have been commonly worn, and,
so far as one can judge from older accounts and illustrations, it seems
that Toda jewellery has greatly degenerated and is of a very paltry
kind compared with that worn in the past.
FOOD
The chief foods are milk, buttermilk, ghi, grain, rice, and sugar. The
chief drink is buttermilk, and milk is used chiefly when boiled with
rice or grain.
In clarifying their butter the Todas add some grain or rice, and this
forms a sediment on the bottom of the cooking vessel which is called
al, which is the chief food of the dairymen, and it is probably also
used largely as a food in ordinary life.
A list of various herbs, fruits, &c., eaten by the Todas is given by
Mr. Thurston. [232] There is very little doubt that at one time these
were used much more largely than at present, when the grain provided by
the Badagas is supplemented by rice and grain bought in the bazaar. The
Todas have a tradition of a time when they lived chiefly on roots,
herbs, fruits and honey, and the importance of honey comes out in
several of their legends.
A much prized substance called patcherski is made from samai grain
(Panicum miliare), which is roasted and pounded so as to get rid of the
husk. It is used in the preparation of a food which is eaten on all the
chief ceremonial occasions. When they prepare it the Todas say
“ashkkartpimi,” and this verbal form is used as the name of the food.
In making ashkkartpimi, patcherski is put into a basket (tòdri) which
has been carefully cleansed by rubbing it all over with dried
buffalo-dung. Buttermilk and jaggery are added and the whole mixed
together and rolled into balls, each about as large as a cricket ball.
When eating, a hole is made in the ball into which ghi and butter,
sometimes honey, are poured, and then the hole is covered with rice.
[233] A man will usually eat two of these balls at a feast, but a
greedy man may manage three or four.
The Todas do not like others to see them eating, and if this happens,
the same consequences may ensue as are produced by the evil eye. Their
natural politeness also makes the Todas uncomfortable when they see
others eating, and in the early part of my visit I sometimes dispersed
a group surrounding me by taking sandwiches out of my pocket and
beginning to eat.
I did not ascertain definitely who cooks among the Todas. I had some
reason to suppose that all the cooking is done by the men and that the
women have nothing to do with this part of domestic economy, but I am
not clear about this. It is possible that it is only food containing
milk which must be cooked by the men.
The Todas are an example of a people who have no native intoxicant, but
they have now taken to alcoholic drinks, though I do not believe that
they indulge in these habitually. The only occasions on which I saw
Todas under the influence of alcohol were when they were returning from
the bazaar on market days. I was only once asked by a Toda for alcohol
and then by a woman. Tobacco is now largely used and opium is certainly
also used, though I do not believe that it is taken in excess. It may
be employed, however, as a means of committing suicide.
FIRE-MAKING
We have already seen that the fire used for several sacred purposes
must be made by friction with the fire-sticks. The method employed is a
variety of the drill method shown in Figs. 65 and 37. In the former the
wursol of Taradr is making fire in order to enable me to procure a
photograph; the latter is the result of a snapshot taken when the fire
was being produced during a ceremony. In the horizontal stick, which is
held firmly by the foot, a hole is made for the insertion of the
vertical stick, and in this a little charcoal is placed. A small groove
is cut on one side to assist the falling of the spark on the tinder
beneath. The vertical stick is inserted into the hole and twirled
between the two hands. In the only case in which I saw fire produced by
friction in a ceremony (Fig. 37), the continued efforts of the two old
men were unavailing, and a third younger man was called upon, and with
a few powerful manipulations he was rapidly successful.
Several kinds of wood are used for the fire-sticks, the Toda names of
these being kiaz or keadj, mòrs, parskuti, and main. Only the first of
these, however, may be used if fire is being made for sacred purposes,
and I was told that it was much easier to make fire with this than with
any other.
In some Toda villages a stone is kept called tütmûkal, which was used
at one time for making fire by striking it with a piece of iron.
Probably this method was employed for non-sacred purposes in the period
between giving up the fire-sticks for ordinary purposes and the
introduction of matches.
The Todas have two kinds of fireplace, the waskal, consisting of three
stones, and the kudrvars, with four stones. The former is found in the
dwelling-hut, in the wursuli, and in the ti dairy, and the latter in
the tarvali and kudrpali; but I did not discover why the more sacred
dairies should have the same kind of fireplace as the house. According
to one account waskal is the name used by the Teivaliol and kudrvars by
the Tartharol, and it may be that this is the explanation of the
apparent anomaly.
THE HOUSE
Various parts of the house have definite names, and may only be used
for certain purposes. As we have already seen, there are raised seats
both outside and inside the house, the latter being used as beds. These
are made of earth, the upper surface of which is made level, and the
whole is usually well coated with a layer of dried buffalo-dung,
sometimes nearly half an inch thick. The general name for these raised
parts is tün, the seats outside the building on either side of the door
being called kwottün, while the bed on the right side of the interior
is the meitün, and that on the left side the kitün. The part of the hut
where the bed or beds stand is called the idrtul.
The floor is called kuter, and this is divided into two parts by the
hole in which the women pound the grain. The part near the door is
called kikuter, and it is in this part only that dairy operations may
be carried on. The part behind the pounding hole is especially assigned
to the women and is called meilkuter. [234]
The end wall, on which various objects, such as sticks, are kept is
called tashten, and the fireplace, usually on one side, is called
waskal. The part above the fireplace where firewood is kept is called
waskalkûbi, and the place of the cooking vessels is called adikudi. The
western side of the hut is sometimes called the meilmakol, and the
eastern side the kimakol, but I do not know if this implies any rule as
to the orientation of the houses.
The method of building is illustrated by Fig. 66, which shows a hut
only partially built. Certain Todas have special reputations as
architects, and the most famous of these at the present time is
Kijievan (50), who superintended the building of the hut at Kiudr shown
in Fig. 7, the most spacious and artistic of the strictly Toda
dwellings which I saw on the hills. Especial care is often taken with
the arrangement of the rattan on the front of the hut, which is shown
in Fig. 20. This is a picture of a dairy, but it shows the arrangement
which is also found in the best of the houses.
The hut used for the seclusion of women before and after childbirth is
a rough structure of wood and thatch, but its name, puzhars, means “mud
house,” which suggests that huts made of earth may at one time have
been used by the Todas.
IMPLEMENTS AND UTENSILS
The most important objects in the economic life of the Todas are their
dairy vessels, which have been already amply considered. Cooking
vessels and implements used for cutting wood or for any other purpose
are, like the vessels of the village dairy, procured chiefly from the
Kotas, though at the present time the source of supply is probably
supplemented by purchases in the bazaar.
As the Todas practise few arts, their need of implements is very small.
At one time they used thorns as needles, but now steel needles have
taken their place. Thorns are also used for tattooing. Leaves are used
as plates and cups, and the fingers take the place of forks. The only
definite implements used are knives and axes, the latter being
especially needed for procuring firewood.
In some of their ceremonies, the Todas have preserved practices which
may possibly be survivals of the use of stone implements. In the
funeral ceremonies the buffaloes destined for the next world are killed
with the back of an axe, but the buffaloes killed at the koòtiti
ceremony and at the ceremony of purifying the funeral places must be
killed with a stone. Further, the bark of the tudr tree used in so many
ceremonies must always be knocked off the tree by means of a stone. The
latter of these practices must certainly be very ancient, and may well
be a relic of an age in which implements were made of stone.
THE POUNDER, SIEVE, AND BROOM
The interest of these articles lies in the fact that they are evidently
regarded as the emblems of woman. When the wursol sleeps in the village
hut, these articles are removed from the hut, and when the ti buffaloes
pass the village of Kiudr, the women who leave this village take with
them the pounder, sieve, and broom.
In the case of the wursol, this sacred personage may associate with the
women themselves if the three objects which seem to be emblematic of
womanhood are removed.
The pounder, sieve, and broom are burnt at the funerals of women, who
use the pounder on their journey to the other world. A special kind of
sieve called kudshmurn is also burnt at the azaramkedr, but I believe
that this is burnt at all funerals, both of males and females.
The pounder, sieve, and broom are widely endowed with magical
properties, and this is especially the case in India, [235] but I do
not know of any other instance in which they are especially regarded as
the emblems of woman.
WEAPONS
At the present time it cannot be said that the Todas use any weapons,
but they retain in their ceremonies weapons which were, no doubt,
formerly in use. These are the club and the bow and arrow.
The club only remains in the funeral ceremonies, in which it is called
nanmakud (see Fig. 67), and is burnt at the azaramkedr, and several
other special sticks are also burnt, which may have been of the nature
of clubs.
The bow and arrow have left more traces of their former importance.
They are burnt at the azaramkedr of a man, and the weapons for this
purpose are provided by the Kotas. The bow and arrow are also used in
the koòtiti ceremony of a Tarthar funeral. In the pursütpimi ceremony
the husband gives an imitation bow and arrow to his wife. The bow gives
its name to the ceremony and its gift forms the essential incident of
the ceremony. Further, the bow has a special name different for each
clan. The use of an arrow lingers in name in other ceremonies. In the
erkumptthpimi ceremony, the knife used for cutting up the sacrificed
calf is called ab, or arrow. In the ceremony of tersamptpimi a lock of
hair is cut from a young child with a piece of sharpened iron called
kanab, or “eye arrow,” but this name is only in use among the
Tartharol. The use of these words seems to point to a time when
iron-tipped arrows were used as cutting instruments, and it is even
possible that this is a survival of a time when the Todas were so much
isolated that their only iron was that of the tips of their arrows.
The bow and arrow are also mentioned in the legend of Kwoten.
Teikuteidi was killed by an arrow shot by a lame man who lay down when
he shot. It is possible that this legend points to an ancient custom of
shooting the bow and arrow by means of the legs.
MEASURES AND NUMERALS
The Toda measure of length is the mogai or mogoi, which corresponds to
the cubit, being the length from the elbow to the tips of the fingers.
The word is probably related to mogal, the term for fore-arm.
The usual measure of capacity for liquids is the kudi, said to be equal
to about four pints. Another measure is the kòni, two of which make one
kudi. The kòni probably corresponds to the milking vessel, or pun.
For measuring out grain, the Todas use a special table of measures
consisting of âk and kwâ, eleven âk making one kwâ. When measuring out
grain, modifications of the ordinary numerals are used.
In the following lines I give these on the right-hand side of the page,
those on the left being the ordinary numerals. Urâk is the equivalent
of ud âk, or one measure.
ud one ûrâk
erd two îrâk
mûd three mâk
nonk four oponi
udz five oiâk
âr six ârâk
ö or eu seven öâk or euâk
öt eight ötâk
unpoth nine unpâk
poth ten pothâk
ponud eleven ukwâ
ponerd twelve ponerdâk
ponmûd thirteen ponmûdâk
ponnonk or pânk fourteen ponnonkâk
ponudz or podz fifteen ponudzâk
pâr sixteen pârâk
pö or pör seventeen pöâk
pût eighteen pûtâk
ponpoth nineteen ponpothâk
evoth twenty evothâk
evoth ud twenty-one evothudâk (doubtful)
evoth erd twenty-two ikwâ
evoth mûd twenty-three ikwâ ûrâk
: : :
: : :
mopoth thirty ikwâ ötâk
: : :
: : :
mopoth mûd thirty-three mûkhwâ
: : :
: : :
nâpoth forty mûkhwâ öâk
: : :
: : :
nâpoth nonk forty-four nâkhwâ
: : :
: : :
epoth fifty nâkhwâ ârâk
: : :
: : :
epoth udz fifty-five aiiwâ
: : :
: : :
âroth sixty aiiwâ oiâk
: : :
: : :
âroth âr sixty-six ârwâ
: : :
: : :
övoth seventy ârwâ oponi
: : :
: : :
övoth ö seventy-seven ökwâ
: : :
: : :
ötvoth eighty ökwâ mâk
: : :
: : :
ötvoth öt eighty-eight ötkwâ
: : :
: : :
unvoth ninety ötkwâ ârâk
: : :
: : :
unvoth unpoth ninety-nine unpawâ
: : :
: : :
anûr hundred unpawâ ud
Above a hundred the numbers of kwâ are continued to potkwâ, ponudkwâ,
&c., up to twenty kwâ, which make one siligh, and then the people begin
again at the beginning.
This occurrence of the number eleven is probably a consequence of the
transactions between Todas and Badagas. There was some reason to
believe that the true Toda measure is the âk (probably a contraction of
achok) and that the Badagas brought their grain to the Todas in vessels
called kwâ. The kwâ contained eleven of the Toda âk, and hence came
about the very unusual proportion between two measures.
In giving ages or any other period of time, the word for year, kwòdr,
is often abbreviated to wâ; thus nâpoth kwòdr, forty years, becomes
nâpothwâ.
In counting the Todas use their fingers largely and have a special
method of indicating the numbers. To signify one, the thumb is placed
against the tip of the little finger; for two, against the tip of the
ring finger; for three, against the middle finger; for four, against
the forefinger; for five, the tip of the index finger is placed over
the nail of the thumb; the same position is used for six, while that
for seven is the same as for four, and so on, so that when ten is
reached the thumb is resting again on the tip of the little finger.
MONEY
The Todas use the ordinary Indian currency. In their legends and
ceremonies there is frequent reference to the panm, or four-anna piece.
Among the coins used by the Todas at the funeral ceremonies there are
many of considerable age with Arabic inscriptions, and the earlier
visitors to the hills describe the Todas as possessing old Venetian
gold pieces. In the legend telling how the kaltmokh of the Nòdrs ti
dispersed the invading Coorgs (p. 114), the boy made use of a small
gold coin called pirpanm, which he had in his possession.
THE CALENDAR
The Todas have twelve months, each of which begins with the new moon.
The first month of the Toda year is Tai, which begins with the new moon
in October, so that this month usually includes part of October and
part of November. Some of the chief Toda ceremonies, such as that of
teutütusthchi and the more important ceremonies of erkumptthpimi, take
place soon after the new moon marking the commencement of this month,
and these ceremonies were sometimes said to signalise the beginning of
a new year. The following are the names of the Toda months, with the
periods of our year to which they approximately correspond:—
Tai October—November
Emioti November—December
Kûdrl December—January
Alâni January—February
Nalâni February—March
Âni March—April
Âtheri April—May
Âdi May—June
Ovâni June—July
Peritâthi July—August
Tudeivi August—September
Kirdivi September—October.
Each month has thirty days. A record is kept of the number of days from
one new moon to the full moon, and from that to the next new moon. The
full moon is counted as being on the fifteenth day after the new moon,
and the new moon as being on the sixteenth day after the full moon.
THE WEEK
The names for the days of the week are as follows:—
Âsvom Sunday
Tûvom Monday
Òm Tuesday
Pûthvom Wednesday
Tâm Thursday
Pîlivom Friday
Thanivom or Tanivom Saturday.
According to Schmid, who wrote in 1837, Òm is regarded as the first day
of the week. Schmid also notes that the names for Wednesday, Friday,
and Saturday agree in etymology with Tamil, Wednesday being Buddha’s
day and Friday the day of Venus. He gives Etnat as an alternative name
for Saturday.
ASTRONOMICAL IDEAS
We have already seen that the Todas reverence the sun, and that the
period of the moon is of the greatest importance in the regulation of
the times for their ceremonies. In this chapter we have to deal with
their views as to the nature of these bodies and of the stars.
THE SUN
The Todas believe that when the sun goes down in the west, it goes to
Amnòdr. The same sun illuminates both worlds, and this is shown very
well in the story of Kwoto; when this demi-god tied down the sun, there
was darkness both in this world and in the other, and the people of
Amnòdr joined with those of this world in imploring that the sun should
be restored to its proper place.
When the Todas know that there is going to be an eclipse of the sun,
they abstain from food, but they do not shout out during the eclipse as
we shall see they do in the case of the moon. When the eclipse is over,
they have a feast with ashkkartpimi.
THE MOON
The new moon is called mut and the full moon nêrv. We have already seen
the enormous influence of the period of the moon in Toda ceremonial and
I have given above the method of counting between the periods of new
and full moon so as to know the correct day of the new moon if for any
reason it should not be visible.
The Todas see a figure in the moon which they call mürs, the hare.
[236] The following story not only shows how the hare comes to be
there, but also furnishes the explanation of eclipses of the moon and
the origin of the Paikara river. [237]
Two men who were matchuni (see p. 501) went out one day to fetch honey.
After a time they separated, and one found honey, while the other found
none. The man who found the honey put it into a dairy vessel called
pun, which he hid in a tree, and when he met the other did not tell him
of his good fortune. After a time the pun containing honey which had
been put in the tree suddenly broke, and the vessel became a snake,
while the honey became the Paikara river. The snake ran after the man
who had hidden the honey, and when the man saw the snake coming after
him, he ran away. As he was being pursued, a hare came between the man
and the snake. Then the man threw his cloak over the hare and hid
himself, and the snake ran after the hare. The hare ran to the sky
followed by the snake, and they came near the sun, which said, “Don’t
come near me because I am very hot. Go to the moon!” So the hare went
to the moon, and the moon said, “Do not be afraid; I will protect you
till the end of the world.” The snake still goes sometimes to catch the
hare in the moon, and when he goes the moon becomes dark and some
people fire guns and send up rockets and the Todas shout. When it is
known that there is going to be an eclipse the Todas abstain from food,
and when they see the moon being eclipsed they shout out.
I was told that there was another incident of the story connected with
shooting stars, but I was unable to obtain an account of it.
PLANETS
The Todas know Venus, which they call Pili, and they also speak of the
“morning star.”
CONSTELLATIONS AND STARS
The Todas have names for several stars or constellations. The Pleiades
are called Kadsht and the constellation is believed to be composed of
six stars.
Another heavenly body which I could not identify is called Keirt. Keirt
has already been mentioned in Chap. XIV., and it is the evil influence
of this body which is chiefly feared after childbirth. It is said to be
a star which is never present in the same part of the sky as Kadsht.
The reason for this is that once Keirt and Kadsht fought together.
Kadsht had six men and Keirt only one. Keirt broke the leg of one of
the six men, so that now there are five stars close together in the
Pleiades and one lags behind. On account of this quarrel Swami ruled
that Kadsht and Keirt must never be together, but that when Kadsht is
on one side of the sky, Keirt must always be on the other.
When talking about Keirt in connexion with the ceremony of going to the
seclusion-hut, it was said that Keirt was near the sun and that the sun
was dangerous because Keirt was near it. It seemed that Keirt was
always near the sun, which led me to suspect at first that it was
Venus. It was quite clear, however, that this was not so. No one could
show me Keirt, nor was anyone clear as to the part of the sky in which
it was to be seen at any time in the night, and I think it most
probable that this mysterious inhabitant of the sky is not a star at
all, but a being allied to the Hindu Ketu. On the other hand, at a
funeral attended by Samuel, the setting of Kadsht and the appearance of
Keirt was taken as the sign that the proceedings of the azaramkedr
might begin, which looks as if Keirt was a real heavenly body. I think
it is most probable that the whole idea of the injurious influence of
Keirt is borrowed from the Badagas, and, if this is the case, the Toda
word is probably merely an altered form of Ketu. I was told that Keirt
was a Badaga word and that the Badagas feared its influence on women
after childbirth.
A group of stars called Pòdimin, or porcupine star, corresponds to the
stars in the sword of Orion. They are regarded as a porcupine from
which the three stars of the belt are trying to escape.
A constellation of seven stars is called Katikâlmin. From the
description it appeared to be the Great Bear. This constellation was
not visible, but when I made a drawing of its seven chief stars, it was
at once recognised as Katikâlmin.
A single star called Ishtkati is almost certainly Sirius. This star was
not visible in the evenings during my visit, and at first Jupiter was
pointed out to me as Ishtkati, but this was certainly wrong. Ishtkati
appeared to correspond to the Badaga etukaḍichi, which means “bull
deceiving.” The origin of the name is that one night a Badaga went out
from his house and saw a very bright star, so bright that he thought it
was the morning star. So he let his bulls out from the enclosure in
which he had put them for the night. When a long time passed and it did
not become day, the man said, “Let the star be called etukaḍichi.”
A pair of stars to which the Todas give the names of Tûdrvalmokh and
Tidiishti are near Aldebaran, forming part of the Hyades (probably γ
and ε Tauri). The following story tells how these stars come to be in
the sky.
Once on the hills there was a bird with young. The mother went away to
get food and a snake came to eat the young ones. When the young birds
saw the snake climbing up the tree, they called out to Kudursami, who
is above. He heard their cry and took them to the sky. The name of the
bird was tûdrval, and so one star is called tûdrvalmokh. The tûdrval
still sings “Kudursami trrrrrr.”
According to another version, the bird tûdrval had offended Swami, and
as a punishment Swami took its young and they became the two stars.
This story appears to be a well-known Indian folk-tale, and it has
certainly been a recent acquisition of the Todas.
It will be seen that there is much reason to believe that the greater
part, if not all of the ideas of the Todas about the stars have been
borrowed. In their own folk-lore there seems to be very little
concerning the heavenly bodies except in the story of the man and the
honey, and I even suspect this to be a borrowed legend which has been
somewhat modified by Toda ideas.
It is interesting, and I think important, that references to Swami
occur in these stars-myths. In an earlier chapter I have given it as my
opinion that the idea of Swami has only recently been acquired by the
Todas, and I attach importance to the occurrence of the name in legends
which have certainly been borrowed from another race.
GAMES
It is not altogether easy to draw the line between Toda games and Toda
ceremonies. The sport which is practised with the greatest zest is
undoubtedly the catching of the buffaloes at the funeral ceremonies,
and in the old days when the marvainolkedr lasted two days, the first
day, devoted to catching the buffaloes and putting them in the pen,
must have been largely of a sportive character. Even now it is evident
that the catching of the buffaloes is a spectacle which is much enjoyed
by all in spite of the sad event which has led to its taking place.
The Todas have, however, pure games, though it is doubtful whether some
of them have not acquired in a certain degree a ceremonial character.
In one of these games called narthpimi, a boy squeezes through a narrow
tunnel formed by a flat slab of stone over two upright slabs. Two boys
start from different distances, and the object of the nearer boy is to
squeeze through the tunnel before the other can touch his feet. I did
not have an opportunity of seeing this game, and I only saw the stones
with which it is played at one village. This was at Nòdrs, where the
three stones are called menkars and mark the spot at which one of the
ordinary buffaloes is killed at the funeral ceremonies. The menkars is
shown in Fig. 12 in front of and a little to the right of the entrance
to the dairy.
Another game resembling tip-cat is called eln, and at some villages
there is a special stone where the game is played. A piece of wood
pointed at both ends is propped against the stone and struck with a
stick, and should be caught by someone at a distance. The name for this
game is probably Badaga, [238] and this suggests that the game has been
borrowed from this people.
According to Breeks another game called kâriâlapimi, resembling ‘puss
in the corner’ is played by the Todas. The name suggests a true Toda
game and I regret that I know nothing about it.
One day I observed a stone near the village of Pakhalkudr, and, asking
whether it was for tip-cat, was told of a different game. If a man
jumped high enough at the stone, he could see the top of a certain
hill. On jumping at the stone I could not see the hill, but by going a
little way back, I found that it became visible, and as far as I could
judge, the jump necessary at the stone would be a possible though a
good performance.
At many villages there is a large globular stone called tukitthkars
(lifted stone) and in another of the Toda games this stone is lifted. A
man should be able to lift it to the shoulder, but this can now rarely,
if ever, be done, and some of the stones can only be lifted a little
way from the ground. Mr. Thurston saw the stone at Nòdrs lifted as high
as the pit of the stomach. These stones seem to afford clear evidence
of the degeneration of the Todas in physical strength. There is little
doubt that they could be lifted much better by the Todas of a
generation or two ago. Thus there is a stone at Nidrsi which was
brought by the grandfather of Kudrmaskutan (43) in the pocket of his
putkuli from a place called Attibadi at a considerable distance from
Nidrsi. At the present time no Toda can do more than lift the stone a
little way from the ground. The tukitthkars may not be lifted either on
the madnol or the palinol. Feasts are prohibited on these days, and it
is probable that the stone was often lifted on festive occasions. There
is evidence that, in some places at any rate, the stone has acquired in
some degree a sacred character. Thus, at the village of Kiudr, one of
the most sacred of Toda dairies, the tukitthkars lies on a raised wall
surrounding the dairy and in this situation would most certainly
acquire some of the sanctity of its surroundings.
The Todas are very interested in athletic feats performed by any of
their number and sometimes put up memorials of such feats. Thus, at
Pishkwosht there are two stones marking the distance once jumped by a
Toda. Such an athletic feat may be made the subject of a bet. Thus,
four generations ago, one of the ancestors of Kudrmaskutan (43) jumped
a stream called Kavageir, winning eighteen nakh (three-year-old
buffaloes) from a Badaga by doing so. Bets of this kind are probably
only made with Badagas, and betting is almost certainly not properly a
Toda custom.
In addition to developed games, the Todas, and especially the children,
often play with mimic representations of objects from practical life.
Near the villages I have seen small artificial buffalo-pens and
fireplaces made by the children in sport. On the hill of Mirson, where
the chief council used to be held, I found a small pen, well built and
with a gate, and was assured that it was made in sport by the children
only a few years ago. This hill is one on which there are many cairns
and such mimic representations may possibly mystify some future
archæologist.
The commonest toys with which the children play are little imitation
buffalo horns made of wood (see Fig. 35). In the legend, the boy
Kuzkarv played with such horns, and even little children in arms may be
seen fondling these play-things. The horns are burnt with the body at
the funeral ceremonies, but only at those of males, though this rule
was infringed at the funeral of Sinerani. In the funeral lament for his
wife Teitnir speaks of their playing with imitation horns and imitation
bracelets, so that adults evidently amuse themselves in this way as
well as children.
Another imitation sport I have often seen is that of boys or youths
hanging on the horns and round the necks of buffaloes exactly as is
done when catching the animals at the funeral ceremonies. The skill
shown at these ceremonies is probably the result of long practice in
play of this kind.
Nearly all these games are connected in some way with the buffalo or
the dairy, in some cases only remotely, as when the menkars of Nòdrs is
used for the narthpimi game, while the tukitthkars may be kept by the
dairy. Only one of the games so far described is wholly unconnected
with the dairy, and this, the eln game, has a name which suggests that
it has been borrowed.
Though the Todas have, as we see, a fair number of games, they are not
much given to playing them. I never saw one of the more developed games
in progress, and this formed a great contrast to my previous
ethnological experience in Torres Straits, where hardly a day would
pass without seeing games being played.
The chief interest in the case of the Todas is the clear evidence they
give of games arising owing to the sportive imitation by children of
the more serious occupations of their elders. In some of these cases
the games so arising are useful in providing the younger members of the
community with practice in feats which they will in later life be
called upon to perform.
RIDDLES
The Todas are very fond of riddles, which they call werat. The
following are examples:—
Mers illâth karthti, poi illâth ûdti? Mâ, neln.
Udder without milks, mouth without drinks? Rain, earth.
I.e., What is it that gives milk without an udder, what is it that
drinks without a mouth? Rain, earth.
Urk mers illâth, kâdak kal illâth, athinu?
In (or to) village udder without, in forest leg without, what is it?
Kûdi, pob.
Hen, snake.
Kerûd mokh perûd aiu, perûd mokh kerûd aiu? Kûdr, kevi.
Little son big becomes, big son little becomes? Horn, ear.
This riddle depends on a comparison of the horn and ear of the buffalo.
The horn of the calf is very small, the ear is relatively large.
Pûv pûvadi, kaim kaimadi? Tâf.
Flower does not blossom, berry does not ripen? Fern.
Wûrâdr nolm, mokh pachtam, pîr ârchtam, ithithanithi ank?
Whole year days, son begetting, pregnant, this is custom to it?
Pishkimän.
Pishkimän is a tree which bears flowers or is giving fruit the whole
year round.
Puzhárḍnûdr adetpoloḍthi? Kûdi kûgili.
Calls out if why that says no? Cock crows.
What is it that calls out and no one replies? The cock.
Neln tiri kai, pon tiri pûv? Eln.
Earth goes round fruit, sky goes round flower? The tip-cat game.
Mudâl pîr vatvai, pin marsvati; pin pîr
First pregnant who becomes, later is delivered; later pregnant
vatvai, mudâl marsvati? Tâmi, kodj.
who becomes, first is delivered? A grain, barley.
Tami or samai (patm) is the grain from which patcherski, one of the
chief Toda foods, is made. It shows above the ground later than barley,
but is reaped earlier.
I did not hear of any mechanical puzzles or tricks used by the Todas,
and it was quite clear that they had no knowledge of cat’s-cradle.
POETRY AND MUSIC
I have given two samples of Toda poetry in the chapter on funeral
ceremonies. These are the chief occasions on which songs are composed,
but they are also made when a new dairy is being built, and may be
composed and sung on any festive occasion. The general name for
compositions of this kind is kunedsti, and certain men have special
reputations as composers. The most noted of recent times was a man
named Mervoin belonging to the family of Kiugi.
Of those now living, Teitnir, whose two funeral songs I have given, is
a noted composer, and I was told of six other men who were especially
gifted in this way.
Though I have called these compositions songs, they should, perhaps,
rather be called recitations. They are certainly not songs with any
musical accompaniment. I understood, though I am not clear about this,
that the clauses, or kwarzam, of the funeral poems are said in a low
voice “in the throat,” so that they are not understood by the people
who hear them. If this is correct, the funeral kwarzam resemble in this
respect those of which the prayers consist.
The Toda poets also compose songs on any festive occasion, and Mr.
Thurston [239] has recorded examples of several such compositions.
Dancing takes place at the funeral ceremonies, and exhibitions of these
or other dances are sometimes given by the Todas. The only dancing I
saw was at a funeral and it was of the simplest possible description,
the men who took part forming a circle and moving slowly round and
round.
The only musical instrument of the Todas is a simple flute, called the
buguri. It is shown in Fig. 68, where it is being played by the man on
the right. The instrument is not much used by the Todas and is not, so
far as I know, played on any ceremonial occasion. The music at the
funeral ceremonies is always performed by Kotas.
CHAPTER XXV
LANGUAGE
My chief purpose in writing this chapter is to give information which,
I hope, may increase the value of the linguistic material which is
scattered throughout this book, and especially to describe some of the
doubts and difficulties which I encountered in my attempts to reduce
the Toda language to writing.
At the end of the chapter I give some new facts relating to the sacred
and secret languages of the Todas, and I will begin with a brief sketch
of the views commonly held on the linguistic position of the Toda
language.
The Nilgiri Hills are situated at the point of junction of three of the
chief linguistic districts of Southern India. In the country on the
South and East, Tamil is spoken; on the West, the language is
Malayalam, and the people of Mysore to the North speak chiefly
Canarese. The Todas live at this meeting-place of three languages, but
owing to their isolated position their language is not a blend of
these, but has very definite and distinctive characters of its own, as
might, indeed, be expected from the character of the people. The
Badagas with whom the Todas have much intercourse speak a corrupt form
of Canarese, and the Todas have undoubtedly borrowed many words from
their language.
Previous writers have differed in their views on the special affinities
of the Toda language. No one has now, I think, any doubt that the
language is Dravidian. Bernhard Schmid, [240] who wrote in 1837,
appears to me to have known more of the true Toda language than anyone
who has written since, and he ascribed two-thirds of the Toda
vocabulary to Tamil and was unable to trace the remaining third to any
other language. Caldwell [241] believed the language of the Todas to be
most closely allied to Tamil. According to Pope [242] the language was
originally old Canarese with the addition of a few Tamil forms, but he
has included in his vocabulary words which have probably been borrowed
from the Badagas.
The linguistic material which I have collected is far more extensive
than that which was available at the time Pope wrote his sketch, and
though the material is in one way less satisfactory since it has been
collected after thirty more years of Toda intercourse with the outside
world, it is in another way more satisfactory than any previous
material in that by far the larger part of it is derived from the
formulæ used in the religious ceremonies and in magic. It is, of
course, well known that an ancient language may linger on in religious
and magical formulæ long after it has disappeared from ordinary speech,
and when I discovered how many of these formulæ were preserved by the
Todas, I made a point of collecting as many as possible in the hope
that they might preserve relics of the ancient speech of the Todas.
In collecting this material I suffered under grave disadvantages;
firstly in not being a phonologist, and secondly, in my ignorance of
any Dravidian language. I had had, however, a fairly large experience
in taking down unwritten languages phonetically, and, whatever the
errors into which I have fallen, I hope that they are consistent
throughout my record. As a matter of fact, I find my spelling to be
fairly constant, words taken down from different individuals and on
different occasions being written in the same way.
From one point of view my ignorance of Dravidian languages is not an
unmixed evil. When anyone hears a language which is allied to one he
knows, it is almost impossible to avoid being influenced by this
knowledge. This influence has not been escaped by some of those who
have previously recorded words from the Toda language. Thus in his
Comparative Dictionary of non-Aryan Languages of India and Higher Asia,
[243] Hunter gives two vocabularies from different sources which he
calls Toḍuva and Toḍa, and from the differences between these he
thought they might be different dialects. According to Breeks these
differences are due to the fact that the compiler of one vocabulary
paid exclusive attention to the sounds he heard, while the compiler of
the other was influenced by his knowledge of the derivation of the
words. I have very little doubt that many of those who have recorded
Toda words have not written them down exactly as the Todas said them,
but as they ought to have said them according to the usual rules of
Dravidian pronunciation.
We find, in consequence, very great diversity in the spelling of Toda
words, and when there is agreement, it is of very little value, for
many of those who have written on the Todas have evidently adopted the
spellings of previous writers, even when they quite misrepresent the
real sounds.
Another difficulty which besets the investigation of the Toda language
is the presence of dialectical differences even in the small community
of only eight hundred people. Metz [244] noted such differences, and I
found undoubted variations in the vocabularies of the two divisions of
the Todas (see p. 687) and suspected variations in pronunciation.
Still another difficulty is the large use of sounds, chiefly sh, ch,
and th, [245] euphonically inserted in words. Pope notes this as quite
a Toda peculiarity, and it adds greatly to the formidable character of
this language, though a word of the most appalling complexity may
become quite simple when these euphonic (!) sounds are eliminated.
Another of the sources of discrepancies in Toda vocabularies is the
influence of the Badagas to which I have already referred. The Todas
are a bilingual people speaking Badaga in their intercourse with other
races and keeping Toda for themselves. I have already pointed out that
the great majority of the names of Toda places and institutions which
have been recorded by previous writers are the Badaga names and not the
Toda names, and, as might have been expected, many Badaga words have
found their way into previously published Toda vocabularies.
In my own work my procedure was to take down a sentence first through
the interpreter, then to go through the words of the sentence one by
one asking the Toda to say each word carefully, and often he had to
repeat it many times before I could satisfy myself about the nature of
the sounds. Often I would get a second or third Toda to say the word,
and I have frequently spent many minutes over one word, and have
perhaps then been baffled in my attempts to write the word
satisfactorily.
I noticed continually that the Toda words as pronounced by my
interpreters were quite different in sound from those which came from
the mouths of the Todas themselves. This was especially the case with
the vowels, and in the addition of the initial y, so well known in the
Tamil pronunciation of English. So far as I could detect, there was no
trace of this initial y in Toda, although it occurs occasionally in
some of the previously recorded Toda vocabularies.
These differences between the pronunciation of my interpreter and that
of the Todas may often be the source of inconsistencies in my record,
for on some occasions, owing to lack of time, I was unable to listen
carefully to the Todas themselves, and had to content myself with the
words given to me by the interpreter.
PHONETICS
In order to indicate the sounds of the Toda language, I have kept as
closely as possible to the generally recognised system in use in India,
but have been obliged to adopt many more signs than those usually
employed.
The vowel sounds which I distinguished were very numerous. The
following vowels and diphthongs certainly occurred: â, a, ä, ê, e, î,
i, ô, o, ö, ò, û, u, ü, ai, au, ei, eu, oi. [246] I am doubtful,
however, whether in some cases a distinction between two sounds was not
due to individual differences of pronunciation or to dialectical
differences. This is almost certainly the case with the distinction
between ai and oi. Some other cases which are more complex may be
considered in detail.
Â, ò and o. The first two sounds are often interchanged with one
another. There is no doubt that the usual â of some Dravidian languages
becomes ò in Toda, as in the change from nâḍ to nòḍr, and most previous
writers have regarded this change as constant, and have used the sign â
for the sound which the Todas undoubtedly pronounce like the aw of the
English word ‘law.’ I should much have liked to follow their example,
and by so doing could have avoided the introduction of a new sign for
the Toda sound, a sound for which there appears to be no generally
recognised symbol in the phonetic systems used by anthropologists. I
could not do so, however, because the Todas sometimes use the true â
sound. There are certain words which are always pronounced with exactly
the same sound as in the English word ‘father,’ and I never heard these
words pronounced otherwise. In some cases there is a definite reason
why this should be so. Thus the Toda word for ‘again’ is mâr, and I
never heard this word uttered otherwise than as I have written it. If
it had undergone the common transformation it would have become mòr,
the ti word for buttermilk, and in one case at least there would have
been occasion for misunderstanding, for one of the salt-giving
ceremonies is called mârup or ‘again salt,’ while another is called
mòrup or ‘buttermilk salt.’ The syllable also occurs in the words
pâtatmâr and ertatmâr, and is never pronounced in these words otherwise
than as I have written it. On the other hand, there are certain words
in which the sound is always that of ò, and in other cases the two
sounds are undoubtedly interchanged, and in the latter case I have
usually adopted the spelling in â. A good example of this is pârs or
pòrs, milk, for which I have throughout adopted the former spelling,
though it is quite as often called pòrs.
The ò is often shortened into o, and this is especially the case with
the word for ‘man.’ The general Dravidian form of this word is âḷ, but
in Toda it becomes òḷ or oḷ (which I write as ol), and in compound
words, such as palol and wursol, it is always, or nearly always,
pronounced so as to be indistinguishable from the o of the English word
‘olive.’ The long ô is not a very frequent sound in Toda.
A and ä. The sign a is used, in accordance with the general Indian
practice, for the sound of the English word ‘hut,’ one of the commonest
of Toda sounds. It is undoubtedly interchanged sometimes with the sound
of the English word ‘hat’ for which I use the sign ä. In such cases of
interchange, I use the sign a in preference, but when I always heard
the ä sound, I have used it. It seemed to me that this sound was
especially frequent in proper names, as in that of the village Päm and
in such words as Kän.
Û and u. These are used for the sounds of the words ‘moon’ and ‘full’
and both are of frequent occurrence. The short form seems occasionally
to be changed into a; thus, the word mun means ‘maternal uncle,’ but
the word for ‘sister’s son’ is manmokh. This is a good instance of the
value of vowel sounds in Toda; the mankugh is the sister’s daughter,
but the munkugh is the name of the daughter of a maternal uncle. The
two words which resemble one another so closely have two very different
meanings, those of niece and cousin.
Ê and ei. I use ê for the sound of the ei in the English word ‘their.’
Ei is the sign which I use for the long ä of the English word ‘date.’ A
sound for which I often use this sign is one which gave me a great deal
of trouble. In it the vowel sound is prolonged so as to form almost a
dissyllable, and in my earlier records I wrote it êe, the first ê
having the sound of the ei in ‘their.’ I decided later to use ei,
though I acknowledge it is not at all a satisfactory representation of
the sound I heard.
Î. The only point on which I have to remark about this sound is that it
is sometimes prolonged so as to become a dissyllable as in the example
already mentioned. In one case, the word mîis, used in the
erkumptthpimi ceremony, this prolongation of the sound is so marked and
so constant that I have preserved a record of it in the spelling, but
in most cases I have been content to indicate it by î only.
Eu and ö. I use the former sign for a sound which seemed to me very
much like the French eu. It often resembled very closely the German ö,
and in some cases, as in that of the word for the numeral 7, I was
doubtful which was the right sign. The sound for which I use eu is,
however, more prolonged, and approaches a dissyllable. It occurs in the
most definite form in the word for god, teu. This is undoubtedly
derived from the Sanscrit ‘deva’ in general use in Southern India, and
it is therefore very interesting that this word, which has become
‘Dieu’ in French, should have become the very similar teu in the Toda
language.
U, ü, and i. The ü sound, almost exactly like that of the German
language, was common, though in many cases I was doubtful whether to
write u, ü, or i. Thus it was difficult to say whether the word for bow
was purs, pürs, or pirs; the last named would bring it in line with
general Dravidian orthography, but the first seemed to me the most
frequent, and I have therefore adopted it.
Ai and oi. The sound ai is not very frequent in Toda, and when it
occurs is often on the way to oi. Thus the naim or council was often
noim, and mogai and mogoi were said indifferently.
I had very much difficulty in writing the consonants, being especially
troubled by my lack of familiarity with linguals. The following were
those which I heard:—b, ch, d, ḍ, f, g, gg, gh, h, j, k, kh, l and ḷ,
m, n, ñ, p, r, s, sh, t, th, v, w, z, zh.
In the text of the book I have not attempted to distinguish the lingual
consonants, and I have also omitted the very common euphonic
insertions, especially of ch, sh, and th.
B, p, v, w, and f. The sound expressed by b was heard very rarely, and
I am doubtful whether it really occurs in true Toda. It is a common
letter in Badaga, but when a Badaga word is pronounced by the Todas,
the letter usually becomes p. In a few words I had much difficulty in
making up my mind whether a given sound was b or p, and this was
especially the case with the word kudupel or kudubel, which is probably
a Badaga word.
One of the most frequent consonants in Toda is p, which often changes
into v, especially when p is the initial letter of the latter part of a
compound word; thus the word pet or wand in pôhpet became pôhvet,
kugpali became kugvali, and nedrpol, nedrvol. Occasionally p would
become a distinct w, as in the name of the flower kargwûv for kargpûv.
The letter f undoubtedly occurs in Toda, though not very frequently. It
is sometimes changed into v, but in some cases, as in the name of the
ancient village Kusharf, I never heard any sound other than a distinct
f. I did not hear f and p interchanged.
As already mentioned, the letter w may occasionally occur as a variant
of p or v, but it also occurs in words where it is never interchanged
with either of these letters. The most frequent example of the
occurrence of the letter is in the word wursol, and here the sound was
so elusive that for a long time I hesitated whether to write the word
as wursol or ursol. Breeks wrote this word varzhol, and we may take it
that he distinctly recognised the initial letter as allied to v and p.
D, ḍ, t, th. I have used the sign d for two sounds in the text. One I
could not distinguish from the English sound expressed by this letter.
It is sometimes the representative of nd of Badaga, mand or village
becoming mad in Toda, [247] while the Badaga form of Pidati is Benduti.
The d of other Dravidian languages often becomes t in Toda; thus
pandava becomes pateva, and the Teivaliol almost certainly derive their
name from some form of the word deva.
More frequently, however, d is used for the lingual consonant ḍ, which
is one of the commonest sounds in Toda. Very often this letter is
immediately followed by the letter r, and the combination ḍr (which in
the text of the book I have written dr) is an extremely frequent sound.
Often to my ear it was quite indistinguishable from the simple r, and
usually I had to refer to my interpreter to know whether a given sound
was ḍr or r. Neither of my interpreters seemed ever to be in any doubt,
and they were so consistent on this point that wherever this spelling
occurs it is probably correct. So far as I can tell the ḍr is the
representative of ḍ in other Dravidian languages; thus, nâd of Canarese
becomes nòḍr, and the kêdu of Badaga becomes kêḍr. On reference to the
list of Badaga and Toda names of villages given in Appendix III. it
will be seen that the ḍr of the Todas is usually the equivalent of the
Badaga ḍ, Telkodu becoming Telkudr, and Kudimal becoming Kudrmas.
The sound which I express by dr has been very variously spelt by
previous writers; thus, the Toda future world has been written Humanorr
or Omnorr by Harkness, Amunàd by Breeks, Amnôr by Marshall and Pope,
and Amnor by Thurston, and the sacred plant tudr has been written tûd,
tûde, tiurr, tûre and tûr.
When the sound ḍ occurs before letters other than r, I am afraid I may
have often omitted it. Thus till nearly the end of my visit I wrote the
word teḍshk as teshk, and the name of the village Teḍshteiri as
Teshteiri, and I have little doubt that this letter, the presence of
which I had so much difficulty in recognising, may have been omitted in
other cases.
There seems to be no doubt that ḍr and t might sometimes be
interchangeable. Thus the termination of personal names, kûtan seemed
to be the same word as kûḍr. A horn is kûḍr and imitation-horns are
kûter. An assembly is kût, and the corresponding verb is kûḍriti (3rd
person singular). Sometimes ḍr becomes rt; thus the word kêḍr becomes
kêrt in the compound word kêrtnòdr, and the names of the clans Kuuḍr
and Pieḍr often become Kuurt and Piert in the words Kuurtol and
Piertol.
I failed to distinguish between t and ṭ, and it is probable that my t
includes both letters. My interpreters used the sign th for ṭ, as is
common in the transliteration of missionaries and others in India, and
I am afraid that in a few cases my th should stand for the lingual ṭ.
It is very unfortunate that th should be used for ṭ, for the true th
not only occurs among the Todas but is a very frequent consonant. It is
frequently inserted euphonically in words which are at other times
pronounced without it, and this is especially the case in connexion
with the letter l. The consonant th also occurs frequently apart from
any other consonant, in such words as pûthi, pathanmul, &c.
I think it probable that under the sign th I have included two sounds,
that of the English word ‘though’ and that of ‘throw,’ but I could not
make up my mind whether the two sounds were definitely distinguished.
The softer sound is undoubtedly the more common, and often it seemed to
me to be even softer than this sound is ever heard in English.
K, kw, g, kh, gh, h. Perhaps the commonest Toda consonant is k, which
often becomes kw, and it seemed to me that the two were sometimes
interchanged, kûḍr becoming kwûḍr, &c.
The consonant g is less frequently heard, but kûḍr, especially as the
termination of the names of men and places, is often pronounced gûḍr,
and it seemed to me that this pronunciation is somewhat more common
among the Teivaliol than among the Tartharol. The sound g occurs very
definitely, sometimes at the ends of words as in the names of villages,
as in Kwirg and Perg, and in the word kug, and in these cases there is
no doubt that it is a true Toda consonant.
The sounds which I have expressed by kh and gh are fairly common,
though I do not feel quite confident that the two sounds are definitely
distinguished from one another. I heard them very frequently in the
words mokh and kûgh, and it certainly seemed to me that the final sound
of the latter was always softer than that of the word mokh. When one or
other of these sounds occurs at the end of a word, it is probable that
I have in some cases omitted to notice it. A man named Perpakh was
called by me Perpa till nearly the end of my visit, and it is probable
that I made similar errors which were not detected. Similarly kh in the
middle of a word may easily escape attention, and this has probably
happened in some cases.
I also had much trouble about a sound occurring at the end of a word
for which I have used the sign h. Its chief occurrence is in the word
pôh, and the same or a closely similar sound sometimes occurs in the
middle of the word pali. The word pôh has usually been written boath,
following Marshall, or boa (Breeks). The word certainly often sounded
like a dissyllable, but I was doubtful whether this was anything more
than the prolongation of vowels to which I have already referred in the
case of ei and i. There is some kind of consonantal sound at the end of
the word, but it is certainly not the ordinary th nor is it kh, and I
have adopted h as the nearest equivalent though I recognise that it is
not the right sign.
R, l. I have already considered the letter r in connexion with ḍ, but
it also occurs frequently by itself. At the end of a word it is
sometimes distinctly rolled. When used after a short vowel, as in such
a word as persin, it was sometimes not easy for me to detect its
presence, and occasionally it is possible that I have omitted it from
words in which it should occur.
The letter l is of fairly frequent occurrence, but has certainly often
been lost in Toda in words which contain it in other Dravidian
languages; thus the word kîl, lower, inferior, becomes kî in Toda,
though the l has been retained in meil or mel, meaning upper or
superior.
There are almost certainly two different l sounds in Toda which I
failed to distinguish definitely. I have written the word for dairy
pali but the second consonant of the word is certainly a different
sound from that of the l in meil, and is probably the representative of
the l of Tamil. It is in connexion with this letter that the euphonic
th is so often inserted, and I believe that the proper name for a Toda
dairy is paḷthḷi. When this l occurs at the end of a word, it is
sometimes hardly audible, and to my ear bears a very close resemblance
to the French l. The end of the word Kudreiil seemed to me to be
pronounced almost exactly like the end of Auteuil.
It appears that r and l may sometimes pass into one another; thus, the
name of the bow and arrow ceremony is pursütpimi, but the buffalo given
on this occasion is called pulkwadr.
M and n. The letters m and n, indistinguishable to my ear from the
corresponding English letters, are of frequent occurrence. They are,
however, often omitted in the Toda forms of Tamil or Canarese words;
thus, as we have already seen, the word mand, village, becomes the Toda
mad; the Tamil ambu, arrow, becomes ab; and the Toda form of Kurumba is
Kûrub.
The n may also disappear from the Toda names of villages when it exists
in their Badaga names; thus Tarnard becomes Taradr and Korangu, Kwirg.
The omission of the letter n and other changes which words undergo in
Toda are very well shown in the word padjpateva, which is the Toda form
of the Panchpandavas. Although my ear failed to separate the n of the
Todas from the English n, it is probably different and represents the ṇ
of Tamil.
In addition to the ordinary n the Todas have another consonant which is
extremely like the final French n for which I have used the sign ñ. The
sound only occurs in certain exclamations or greetings; the Oñ which
occurs so frequently in the dairy ritual is pronounced in this way, and
so is bañ, which is uttered by the palol as a greeting to the
Tartharol. The sound also occurs in the various kinship greetings. The
commonest of these, tioñ, offered to an elder brother, is a corruption
of itian, but I never heard the nasal pronunciation when the word an or
anna was uttered in the ordinary way. In this case the sound I have
expressed by n is undoubtedly the letter ṇ of Tamil, this word being
aṇṇa in that language.
S, sh, z, zh, dz, j. The sound for which I have used the letter s is a
somewhat harsh sound, harsher, I think, than is heard in English, but
much like the sound which I have heard in English words pronounced by
Scottish Highlanders. Breeks wrote zh for this sound, but I have used
this sign for a different sound which was exactly like the si in the
English word ‘occasion.’ It occurs not uncommonly in Toda in such words
as puzh, earth, and in the verbal form kaizhvat.
The sound z occurs frequently. I was often doubtful whether to write dz
or z, especially at the ends of personal names, and in other cases what
was obviously the same termination was pronounced more like dj; thus I
was often doubtful whether to write the name Piliodz in this way or as
Pilioz or Piliodj; (the three English equivalents would be the sounds
of Dods, Boz and Dodge).
The sounds s and sh are often inserted euphonically; thus, the name
Kuriolv is as often as not pronounced Kursiolv, and, more rarely,
Kurshiolv.
SACRED LANGUAGE
There are three varieties of sacred language in use among the Todas.
There is the kwarzam the word or clause used in prayer and other sacred
formulæ; secondly, there are certain words and phrases peculiar to the
ti dairy; and thirdly, there are certain words called by the Todas, teu
language, which are only used in the legends of the gods.
The kwarzam is used especially for the names of gods, persons or
objects used in the first portions of the prayers. It is also used in
the magical formulæ and in the funeral laments, but it may be that the
last use is only due to an extension of the strict meaning of the term.
When I began to collect the prayers, I hoped that the kwarzam might
turn out to belong to some ancient and otherwise forgotten language,
but their general nature is evidently the same as that of other Toda
words. The kwarzam arises either by a slight modification of a name in
ordinary use or as a phrase recording some historical or mythical
incident.
I give here a short list of kwarzam which, with a few exceptions, have
not occurred elsewhere. The following are the kwarzam of the Tarthar
clans:—
The Nòdrsol, Nòdrstharkûtthars; the Karsol, Kârstharkunnadrpêdr; the
Panol, Pandârpeshdthvaimokh; the Taradrol, Pülkudutharpeithar; the
Keradrol, Kerâdrtharkerâdrkûtan; the Kanòdrsol, Munantharpinnantho; the
Kwòdrdoniol, Adutharathiars; the Pämol, Pämûtharkathar; the Melgarsol,
Narzthar. The kwarzam of the Kuudrol is Ivikanmokhkûtmeilteu (see p.
101), but the other Teivali clans have no such special names.
The only one of the above, of which the meaning is quite clear, is that
of Pan, in which case the kwarzam gives the names of the two kudr of
the clan (see p. 652). The latter part of the kwarzam of the Keradrol
means a horn or son of Keradr, and is also the name of a man, and with
further knowledge there is little doubt that the other kwarzam would be
found to have some meaning.
The following are the kwarzam of the buffaloes of the different clans:—
Nòdrs, karûdchîrkünâkh; Kars, inâtvidshti inâtvan; [248] Pan and
Taradr, Mutchôthvanmodethokvan; Keradr, miniapîr mâvelkar; Kanòdrs,
Tîrztashkkarzikunp; Kwòdrdoni and Nidrsi, Keitankeikar; Päm,
Arzomolkutchi; Melgars, Narzulnnatülnnâkh; Kuudr and Pedrkars,
Kishvettarskvan; Piedr, Kûzherikwelvpurserthunm; Kusharf,
Nulkarsîrnazhuv; Keradr, Nelppârsîrkudeipar; Kulhem, Pelthrîrkan.
The kwarzam of the Keradr buffaloes refers to the tradition of their
creation (see p. 192), and here again with further knowledge there is
little doubt that most of the kwarzam would be found to have a definite
meaning, probably derived from legends concerning the buffaloes or the
villages to which they belong.
The second kind of sacred language, in use at the ti dairies, has been
already considered. Every kind of dairy vessel or other object used in
the dairy ceremonial has a name at the ti different from that used in
the house or village dairy. These different names have been given in
describing the dairy ceremonial, but I have not hitherto referred to
certain other differences of language, especially in verbal forms.
Different words are used in the two kinds of dairy for the verb ‘to
drink’; thus, when a village dairyman orders another to drink
buttermilk, he says “Maj ûn!” while at the ti the palol says
“Kaizhvat!” This latter formula is interesting in that kaizh is not the
usual ti word for buttermilk (mòr) and only occurs, as far as I can
ascertain, in conjunction with the verb vat. A village dairyman uses
the verb part, pray, while at the ti, the verb pôhvetnört is used. Thus
the question “have you prayed?” would be “partikudricha?” at the
village and “pôhvetnörtikudricha?” at the ti. Similarly different forms
of the verb ‘to milk’ are used. “We have milked” at the village would
be “îrkartkudrvispimi” often shortened into îrkartspimi, while at the
ti “karvukkudrivispimi” would be said; “we have not milked” would be
“îrkarami” at the village and “îrkarpûkhami” at the ti.
There are certain verbs used at the ti dairy which may only be
pronounced by ordinary people in the third person. A good example is
the verb nört, and it will be noticed that the names of ceremonies in
which this verb is used have always been given in the third person,
irnörtiti, and never in the first person plural as in the case of most
other ceremonies.
About the third kind of sacred language, I know very little. It will
have been noticed that the words and sentences which are used in the
legends of Chapter IX are unlike those which occur elsewhere, and I was
especially told that certain words only occurred in the stories of the
gods. A special instance given was that of the words “tar
tûrzhoḍthrska” (see p. 201), where tar [249] was said to be the teu
word for ‘man.’ The words kwudrpedrshai and kaipedrshai in the same
legend were given as other examples of teu language.
SECRET LANGUAGE
The Todas have a large number of expressions which they use in the
presence of Badagas, Tamils and others when they wish to be understood
only by themselves. Many of the Badagas and Tamils with whom the Todas
associate no doubt pick up some knowledge of their language, and even
if this were not the case, the Toda language is sufficiently like Tamil
to enable a stranger to understand part of what is said. In consequence
the Todas have adopted a secret code for use among themselves which
they call kalikatpimi, literally “stolen we tie,” while in distinction
the ordinary language is called itherkelv or “front fact.”
The following are the chief instances of which I was told.
ORDINARY LANGUAGE. SECRET LANGUAGE.
Pârshk nîr at kwadr! Nonk nâr pudvaink
Milk to water mix give. Four sides which came from
i.e., give milk mixed with water! kagîr pârs at kwadr!
old buffalo milk mix give!
i.e., give milk mixed with what
comes from the four teats of an
old buffalo.
Pârs âdr Nonk nâr pud mûdn tarsk
milk cook Four sides come three on up
i.e., cook food in milk! idsht!
put
i.e., Put what comes from the four
teats upon the three (stones of the
oven).
Tòr tidshia? Kâtô nòrth kershia?
Have you taken food? Teeth between did you throw?
At vokh! At erd af!
There (or away) go! There (or away) two (legs) get!
Iren akaik ud! kûdr valvpoi tòrs ûlâr kî!
The buffalo in the wood hide! Horn crooked wood into go!
Kan odthi? Kûdren pom odthinû?
Is he not blind? Black fruit has he not?
When a man is thought to be dying, the Todas may ask “Is this man going
from one place to another?”
Whenever a Toda first sees a man, he looks at his feet, and,
correspondingly, when a Toda asks another his opinion of a man, he says
“Kal pel ilûdinû,” “What sort of leg and nail has he?” In secret
language the leg may be called metipol, “walk thing,” also used for
footprints or pûmi ûlâr pî pol, “thing that goes into the earth.”
Many other things and persons have secret names; thus, a rupee, or
money generally, is called atchertvai, that which is stamped; butter is
called pelthpol or white thing; clarified butter (nei) is called
kârtpol or melted thing; sugar and honey are called tichedpol or sweet
thing; rice is called peitpudvai, that which comes from Peit, a place
near Kavidi in the Wainad from which rice used to be procured; arrack
(saraim) is called îrthpol or püshetpol, each meaning “drink thing.”
The sun is called etûdol, “great man.”
The various tribes on the hills have secret names; thus, both Badagas
and Tamils are called tutâr katvai, he who wears or ties the turban; a
Kota is called kîmas ithvai, he who is beneath; a Kurumba is called âr
kârthpol, the man who watches the way; a European is called pelthpol,
or white man. A forest guard is called petuni ütvai, petuni being here
used as a term for uniform, so that if a forest guard has come, they
will say, petuni ütvai podvuchi.
Several of the words used in the secret language do not appear to have
any other meaning and are not ordinarily used. Thus the ordinary word
for tooth is pars, but in secret language kâtô or kâtû is used. This
word is the name of the wall of a buffalo-pen and it is possible that
it may mean stones, but I could not ascertain whether this was the
derivation, and could only learn that it was another word for tooth.
Similarly the ear, of which the ordinary name is kevi, is called
pertars, and the question “Did you wear gold earrings?” becomes
pertarsk ütshia? “to ear did you wear?”
CHAPTER XXVI
PERSONAL NAMES
The ceremonies of name-giving have already been considered, the chief
point of interest being that the name of a boy is given to him by his
maternal uncle, while that of a girl is probably given by her paternal
aunt. In this chapter I wish to consider the general nature of the
personal names of the Todas and some special customs connected with
them.
The genealogies provide a large store of material, for it is
exceptional for two Todas to have the same name, and no Toda should
bear a name which has been borne by another for four generations, and
certainly not one which has been borne by one of his own family.
The great majority of Toda names have distinctive terminations which
are different for men and women.
The common terminations for males are -van, -kûdr, -kût or -kûtan,
-olv, -eidi, and -ners. The first was said to be the same word as pan
or pun, the Toda name for the stone circles found on the summits of the
hills. The names of deities often receive the same termination; thus
Nòtirzi is also called Nòtirzivan, and, in several cases, men received
the names of gods or hills followed by the syllable -van. The same
termination is also given to names which have other derivations.
The terminations, -kûdr or -gûdr, -kût or -kûtan, are different forms
of the word kûdr, which means primarily ‘horn,’ and when it occurs in a
name seems to mean ‘child.’ The termination in -kûdr or -gûdr seems to
be much more frequently used by the Teivaliol than by the Tartharol,
and in both divisions it is rare in older generations.
I do not know the meaning of the terminations in -olv and -eidi: it is
noteworthy, however, that -olv is also a frequent ending of the names
of dairies.
The termination -ner or -ners sometimes becomes -nîr, and it may be the
word for water, possibly with the idea of ‘spring.’
The usual terminations of female names are -veli, -veni or -vani,
-eimi, and -idj or -idz. Of these, the first is by far the most
frequent, being usually pronounced with a th sound, as in -velthli or
-vilthli. It is possibly the same word as a frequent Indian name of
Venus, which is also the Toda name for this planet. The word also means
silver and in the form pelthiti is used for ‘white.’
The termination -veni or -vani is probably derived from pani, which is
said to be an ancient name for a Toda woman. Occasionally the latter
form occurred, as in the name of Sinadapani (67), and one of the wives
of Kwoten was named Kwaterpani. I know nothing of the derivation of the
terminations -eimi and -idz.
The names of Todas are often derived from villages, dairies or dairy
vessels, hills and their deities, and objects of various kinds. There
seems to be no objection to use the names of deities or of such sacred
objects as the mani as personal names, but only as those of men.
Recently the Todas have begun to use words of Hindu or even English
origin for the names of their children.
It is the names of men which are chiefly derived from villages, and at
least twenty examples occur in the genealogies. In some cases the name
of the village is used without any suffix, as in Ushadr (48) and Madsu
(58); in other cases one or other of the customary terminations is
used, as in Keradrkutan [250] (26), Nongarsivan (62), Kuirsiners (18),
and Karseidi (8). The special point of interest here is that the names
of villages which have now disappeared may be preserved as personal
names; thus Harkness mentions the village of Kattaul as being near
Ootacamund, and, though the village has now disappeared, its memory is
preserved in the name Katolvan (44), borne by one of the Melgarsol, to
whom the village belonged. Again, the village of Kepurs, an extinct
village mentioned in the legend of Kwoten, is preserved in the name of
Kepursvan (18), borne by one of Kwoten’s clan, the Panol.
In general, when a man receives a name derived from a village or other
place, the village or place is one belonging to his own clan. Names may
be derived from ti places as well as from ordinary villages, of which
Makars (10) and Pursas (42) are examples.
The special feature of interest about these sources of nomenclature is
that personal names may thus preserve records of the past, and a full
investigation of the genealogies from this point of view might bring to
light the names of many other villages now extinct.
Names are also derived from dairies, buffalo-pens, stones, and other
objects of the village; thus Tarziolv, the special name of the kudrpali
of Kars, is borne by a member of the Karsol (15), and Tilipa (12) is
probably a corruption of Tilipoh. A boy of Nidrsi is named Punatu (43)
after the buffalo-pen of his village, and the men called Agar (7),
Pepners (44), and Persinkudr (16), have received names connected with
the operations of the dairy.
The names of stones occur in the examples Menkars (10) and Mutchud
(45). Several men are named after the sacred bells, or mani, of which
examples are Nalani (35), Kerani (35), Pongg (47), while Mudriners (57)
is named after Mudrani, one of the patatmani of Kiudr. The name of
Eshkiaguln of Kars (8) is very much like that of one of the bells of
Nidrsi, Eshkiakudr, and in one case a man is called Maniners (62).
The kwarzam of the prayers form a frequent source of personal names.
Thus the name of Puthion (64) occurs in the last clause of the Kuudr
prayer, and no less than six men take their names, either directly or
with some modifications, from the Kiudr prayer; these are Kil, Erai,
Etamudri, Kwelthipush from Kwelpushol, Kishkar from Arsvishkars, and
Keikudr, who was also called Parvakudr, derived from another kwarzam of
this prayer. In one of these cases the name is taken from the kwarzam
with so much modification that I should not have guessed its derivation
if I had not been told; and if this extensive modification is frequent,
there may be many more names derived from kwarzam than appears to be
the case at first sight.
The names of deities are not uncommonly adopted as personal names; the
chief examples being Nòtirzi (47), Meilitars (44), Teipakh (20), Etepi
(26), Karzo (12), Pòrzo (4), and Pakhwar (16). Two people are also
called Tevò (3 and 53), which is a corruption of Teipakh, and a boy is
called Kòdrthokutan (43). In many cases men are named after hills, of
which Drugevan (40), Kòdrner (7), and Mopuvan [251] (16) are examples,
and it is not improbable that these hills are also provided with
deities. Two of the instances given above are the names of river-gods,
and there is also a man, Palpa (16), named after the stream by which
Kwoten met the goddess Terkosh. Punatvan (53) is named after one of the
personages in the story of Kwoto. Among these names it is noteworthy
that Nòtirzi, the name of a female deity, is borne by a man, and that
there is no instance in which a man is named after one of the three
ancient and important deities, Pithi, Ön, and Teikirzi.
This use of the names of deities as personal names seems to point to
the absence of any high degree of reverence for the divine beings. The
Todas are by no means free from the ideas of danger and disrespect
connected with the utterance of names; and if their gods still received
any great degree of veneration, I think it is improbable that their
names would be allowed to be in everyone’s mouth, as must be the case
when used as personal names. It is possible that this use of the names
of deities is recent; it is certainly more frequent at the present time
than in the older generations recorded in the genealogies, and I
strongly suspect that the practice adds another indication to those
already given of the decay of the religious sentiment of the Todas.
It seems to be extremely rare for persons to have the same names as
buffaloes. There is only one doubtful example in the genealogies,
Kerani (35). This is also the name of a bell, and I am doubtful whether
it is really a buffalo-name. It is probable that the absence of the
names of buffaloes is merely utilitarian and has no deeper
significance. Buffaloes are generally referred to by name, and it would
obviously be inconvenient that they should have the same names as
people.
Many other names are derived from objects or from the language of
everyday life. Examples of such are Nipa, stream; Perol, unsanctified
man; Irsimitch, lime; Sakari, sweet; Kakar, a grass; Mogai, cubit;
Kapur, camphor; and Pòl, a two-year-old calf. Sometimes such words
become names by the addition of the terminations -kûdr or -veli, as in
Panmkudr, the horn of a four-anna piece, and Nirveli and Kadakveli,
derived from the words for water and for the wild rose. Probably with a
wider knowledge of the Toda vocabulary, it would be found that a very
large number of the names are formed in this way.
In one case a girl was called Mudukugh (72). She was the third girl in
the family, and the name was no doubt given to commemorate the fact.
Often two or more children of a family are given names with a
considerable degree of similarity to one another. In one case two
brothers are called Mongeidrvan and Tergeidrvan (53); in another,
Piliar and Piliag (52); and in a third, Singudr and Sinar (55); three
sisters are called Teinesveli, Ternersveli, and Kenerveli (51), and in
such cases it seems probable that new names are invented.
At the present time children are in many cases receiving Hindu names.
Three young boys are called Arjun, Parvishki, and Sandisparan, and a
young girl is called Natcham, which was said to represent Latchmi.
Other Hindu names are Katcheri (Cutcherry), Sirkar, Kedjeri, and
probably there are many others.
In a few cases names of English origin have probably been given, as in
the case of Pensil, and the name Birkidj was said to be derived from
Breeks.
The genealogical record shows clearly that this use of names derived
from external sources is quite recent. There is a very striking
difference in general character between the names of the present and
those of older generations, and a foreign origin is especially frequent
in the names of children less than ten or fifteen years of age. The
evidence from names would seem to point to a rapid spread of outside
influence during the last ten years.
Shortened forms of names are often used. The termination of a word may
be dropped; thus Nurmaners is often called Nurman, Ultzkudr becomes
Ultz, and Paniolv, Pani. Sometimes the contraction is of a different
kind; thus the girls Astrap and Pumundeivi are usually called Asp and
Pumidz, and the name of the boy Kulpakh often becomes Kulen.
In addition to his proper name nearly every Toda has a nickname,
usually given to him by the Badagas. These names often refer to some
personal peculiarity, and this is probably the reason why nicknames
were usually given to me with great reluctance, there being a distinct
reversal of the condition found in communities of lower culture, where
the proper names are usually kept secret, while only nicknames are
uttered. Arpurs (46) was nicknamed Suri (knife) on account of his sharp
nose, and Nertolvan (16) is called Teinkan or ‘Bee eye,’ on account of
the smallness of his eyes, like those of the honey bee. In other cases
I do not know the origin of the Badaga names, but they have usually
different forms from those of true Toda names, often terminating in
-oin or -üln. Sometimes the Badaga name is merely a modification of the
Toda name, as when Tudrvan becomes Utudiki. In a few cases I heard the
Badaga name of a man more often than his Toda name; thus Tövoniners is
usually called Aravoin, and a noted Toda of the last generation is
always spoken of by his Badaga name, Mervoin. In a few cases, men long
dead are remembered by their Badaga names, while their Toda names are
forgotten.
As I have already indicated, nicknames are often used by people of low
culture as a means of evading taboos, and though, as we shall see
shortly, such taboos exist among the Todas, I met with no instance in
which a Toda, who was unable to utter a name, gave a nickname in its
stead.
From the foregoing account it is evident that in the names of the Todas
we have a storehouse of words the investigation of which might lead to
many discoveries in connexion with their half-forgotten folklore and
past history. We have seen that the names of villages which have now
entirely disappeared may still be preserved in the names of persons,
and I have little doubt that a complete investigation of the names
included in the genealogies would furnish a record of many more extinct
villages and possibly provide clues to institutions which have now
wholly disappeared.
CHANGE OF NAME
There are three chief conditions which lead Todas to change their
names. If two men have the same name, and one of the two should die,
the other man would change his name, since the taboo on the name of the
dead would prevent people from uttering the name of the living. The
most recent example of this occurred about six years ago. There were
two men named Matovan, one of Pan (19) and the other of Kwòdrdoni (34).
The Kwòdrdoni man died and Matovan of Pan changed his name to Imokhvan,
and it is this name which will be found in his pedigree.
This change of name may also be effected even when there is only a
similarity between two names. Thus when Punbuthuvi, the wife of Parkurs
(8), died, Sinbuthuvi of Kusharf (65) changed her name to Pukuruveli.
Similarly when Òners of Kuudr (56) died, Einers of Piedr [252] (64)
changed his name to Tokulvan.
A person may also change his name merely because it is the same as, or
very similar to, that of another, this being done simply to avoid
inconvenience and misunderstanding. It sometimes happens that a child
is given the same name as some other child, and then one or other is
renamed. Thus a boy was named Oblodj, but it was found later that there
was a girl at Kars called Obalidz (12), and so the name of the boy was
changed to Meilitars (44). A boy of Päm was called Kudeners, but it was
found that there was another Kudeners at Taradr (25), so the name of
the former was changed to Arparners, often shortened to Arpar (38).
When Kainir (3) married, his wife’s name was Kanir, but she changed it
since it was so like that of her husband. It was said to have been
changed to Singub, but she was always known as Udz at the time of my
visit.
Change of name of this kind is not obligatory, and there are several
cases in which two people now living have the same name. When a change
is made because two people have the same name or similar names, it is
the younger of the two who changes. In most of the cases in which two
people bear the same name it will be found that one belongs to the
Tartharol and the other to the Teivaliol, and I am doubtful whether in
this case names are changed except as the result of death.
A third reason for changing names is illness or other misfortune. When
a man is ill, change of name is sometimes recommended by a diviner, but
this is not often done. One of my guides, Kutadri (7), had changed his
name twice. His original name had been Okeithi or Okvan, but as there
was another Okvan of Keadr (68), he became Tagarsvan. Later he fell
ill, and, on the recommendation of a diviner, Tagarsvan changed his
name to Kutadri, and I never heard him spoken of or addressed by any
but this name during my visit.
TABOOS ON NAMES
The only definite restrictions on the utterance of the names of living
people are those connected with kinship which have already been
considered in Chapter XXI. A man may not utter the names of his
mother’s brother, his grandfather and grandmother, his wife’s mother,
and of the man from whom he has received his wife, who is usually the
wife’s father. The names of the above are tabooed in life, while after
death the restrictions are still wider, and it is forbidden to utter
the name of any dead elder relative, while the names of the dead are in
any case only said reluctantly.
It may seem strange that this reluctance should exist among a people
who possess so full a genealogical record. The reluctance probably only
extends to the public utterances of ordinary life and disappears when
the people discuss affairs in which genealogical lore plays a part, or
when they are transmitting this lore to others.
In addition to the definite taboos, there is often much reluctance in
uttering personal names. The Todas dislike uttering their own names,
and a Toda, when asked for his name, would often request another man to
give it. Sometimes my guide was obviously reluctant to give me the
names of the people who came to see me, and it seemed to me that this
was especially so when the people were related to him by marriage,
i.e., men who had married into his clan; but I could not satisfy myself
definitely that it made him more uncomfortable to utter the names of
such relatives than those of other people.
In some parts of the world the taboo on the names of the dead involves
also a taboo on the names of the objects which correspond to the names
of the dead or to parts of these names. If such restrictions existed
among the Todas, they would have on the death of Nirveli and Panmkudr
to find other names for water and for a four-anna piece. It was quite
clear, however, that there were no such restrictions, and that this
frequent cause of change of vocabulary has not been at work in the case
of the Toda language.
CHAPTER XXVII
RELATIONS WITH OTHER TRIBES
In this chapter I propose to put together the chief facts with which I
am acquainted which throw light on the very difficult problem of the
relations between the Todas and the other tribes of the Nilgiri Hills.
The chapter could only be written with any degree of completeness by
one who had studied the question from the point of view of each of the
Nilgiri tribes separately. I have only been able to do so, and that
incompletely, from the Toda point of view. My information is derived
almost wholly from the Todas themselves, and gives their way of
regarding the relations between themselves and the other tribes.
The five tribes inhabiting the Nilgiri Hills are shown in Fig. 68
(taken from Breeks), the Todas in the centre with the Badagas on their
right and the Kotas on their left. Next to the Badagas are the Irulas,
and next to the Kotas are the Kurumbas.
The tribes with which the Todas come into contact habitually are the
Badagas and Kotas, while their points of contact with Kurumbas and
Irulas are much less important. The Badagas are not only the
agriculturists of the Todas, but are the constant intermediaries
between the Todas and the extra-Nilgiri world. The two tribes regard
each other more or less as social equals. The Kotas, on the other hand,
who are the artisans of the Todas, are regarded by them as social
inferiors. The relations with the former may be considered first.
TODAS AND BADAGAS
The Todas call a Badaga Mav, [253] which seems to be a form of the
Canarese word for father-in-law or maternal uncle. The origin of this
term is said to have been that when the Todas first met a Badaga, they
asked his name and he answered “Mav.” A Badaga who performs certain
services for the palol is called tikelfmav. Certain elders of the
Badagas are also called madtin.
Whenever a Toda meets a Badaga monegar (headman) or an old Badaga with
whom he is acquainted, a salutation passes between the two which is
represented in Fig. 69. The Toda stands before the Badaga, inclines his
head slightly, and says “Madtin pudia!” (“Madtin, you have come.”) The
Badaga replies “Buthuk! buthuk!” (“Blessing, blessing”) and rests his
hand on top of the Toda’s head. This greeting only takes place between
Todas and the more important of the Badaga community. It would seem
that every Badaga headman may be greeted in this way, but a Toda will
only greet other Badaga elders if he is already acquainted with them.
The salutation is made to members of all the various castes of the
Badagas except the Torayas. It has been held to imply that the Todas
regard the Badagas as their superiors, but it is doubtful how far this
is the case. The Todas themselves say they follow the custom because
the Badagas help to support them. It seems to be a mark of respect paid
by the Todas to the elders of a tribe with which they have very close
relations, and it is perhaps significant that no similar sign of
respect is shown to Toda elders by the Badagas.
The Badagas perform definite services for the Todas and give what may
be regarded as a tribute of grain at the harvest. The tribute is called
gudu. I did not myself investigate the nature of the gudu, and there is
some difference of opinion among previous writers [254] as to whether a
definite amount of grain or a given proportion of the crop is given. I
have no information as to the way in which the giving of the tribute is
regulated, and it is eminently one of those points on which evidence
must be sought from both Todas and Badagas. In the case of the Kotas,
we shall see that there is a definitely organised system regulating the
relations of certain Kota villages to certain Toda clans, and some such
system probably exists to regulate the supply of Badaga grain to
different clans, but I have no information on the point. [255]
The contribution of grain from the Badagas has usually been regarded as
given in return for the use of the land, the Todas being supposed to be
the original owners of the soil. That this is not the whole explanation
is shown by the fact that the Badagas also give a tribute of grain to
two other Nilgiri tribes, the Kotas and Kurumbas. Harkness [256] was
told by the Badagas that the portion given to the ti was in return for
the prayers of the palol, and that they did not believe that “their
crops or their cattle, themselves or their children, would prosper
without his blessing.” The Badagas also stated that they generally
desisted from cultivating their fields when the ti was left without a
palol. They looked on the tribute of grain to the Todas as given of
their own good will, while a similar tribute to the Kurumbas was
dictated by fear of the consequences of sorcery which might be employed
if the duty were neglected.
It has been supposed that the fear of Toda sorcery is one reason for
the maintenance of the tribute, and, since the Badagas undoubtedly fear
the power of the Toda sorcerers, it is probable that this factor plays
a part, though one less important than in the case of the Kurumbas.
Another view which has been taken is that the Todas maintain rights
over old dairies in the middle of the Badaga fields, and that any
recalcitrance on the part of the Badagas might be followed by the
taking up of these old rights. It is possible that the Todas have at
some time threatened to resume their rights over disused dairies, but,
in the case of the more sacred dairies, the fear of defilement of the
sacred buffaloes by approaching a Badaga village would prevent the
Todas from putting such a threat into practice.
The grain is probably given, partly because it is an immemorial custom,
partly because the Badagas believe that they receive benefits and avoid
evils in consequence of the custom.
At the present time, the amount of grain supplied by the Badagas is not
sufficient for the needs of the Todas, and both grain and rice are
bought by the Todas in the bazaar. All the grain used by the palol
must, however, be that supplied by the Badagas; but if more grain is
required than the Badagas supply, it is possible that other grain may
be used, though it is always in this case procured through the Badagas.
The rice used at a ti dairy must also be procured through the Badagas.
The supply of grain is far from being the only duty of the Badagas to
the ti dairies. Each ti has one or more special Badagas, each called
tikelfmav, or “ti help Badaga,” who acts as intermediary between the
palol and the Hindus. The earthenware vessels used in the inner room,
the various garments of the palol, and other objects are made by
Hindus, from whom they are procured by the tikelfmav. I did not learn
of any material recompense given to the Badagas for these services, and
the motive is probably some such belief as that described by Harkness.
One of the most important parts played by the Badagas in the Toda
community is in connexion with the naim, or council, of which one
member is a Badaga belonging to the village of Tuneri. He is only
called upon to sit, however, in cases of difficulty, and probably one
of his functions is to assist in the settlement of any dispute which
may arise in connexion with the tribute of grain, or other transactions
between members of the two communities.
There is little evidence that the Badagas have had much influence on
the more important customs and ceremonies of the Todas. Few traces of
their influence are to be found in the dairy ceremonial, but it is
possible that some of the rites accompanying birth and death may have
been borrowed from this people. The practice of making cicatrices on
the arm (p. 576) is common to both Badagas and Todas, and may have been
borrowed by the latter from the former, but the practice is not in any
way of a ceremonial character. The only part played by a Badaga at a
Toda funeral is that the bell called tukulir mani may be kept by a
Badaga or a Kota, and, as I have suggested on p. 377, the whole
ceremony with the calf in which this bell is used may have been
borrowed from the Badagas. The idea of a thread bridge between this
world and the next is said to be common to Todas and Badagas, but I
have no evidence to show which has borrowed from the other.
In the ordinary life of the people there is more evidence of influence.
At many Toda villages there may now be seen huts like those of the
Badagas which usually result from the practice of allowing Badagas to
occupy a Toda village when the proper occupants have gone elsewhere.
The visitors build a hut of their own kind in which to live, and
sometimes the Todas on their return inhabit this hut, though in general
they only use it as an appanage to the hut of the proper kind.
The fact that the Badagas will thus come to live at a Toda village
seems to show that when the Todas move from one place to another the
pasturage is not necessarily exhausted, for the Badagas would not bring
their buffaloes in this case. It seems that the grazing-grounds for the
Badaga buffaloes are not very extensive, and that the Badagas are
always glad to use the more extensive pasturage of the Todas, even when
the grass has been partly eaten off.
Transactions in buffaloes between Todas and Badagas seem now to be
fairly frequent. I often heard of a buffalo as having been received
from the Badagas, but I have no very definite information as to the
reasons for the transference. On the occasion of the ceremony of the
ear-piercing of Tikievan’s sons (p. 336), Tikievan received a present
of two buffaloes from the Badaga monegar of Tuneri, and this present
was said to be in return for things which Tikievan had previously given
to the monegar, but I did not learn the exact nature of this gift.
In two departments there is very clear evidence of Badaga influence.
The astronomical ideas of the Todas are almost certainly borrowed from
their neighbours (see Chap. XXIV), and in the closely allied practical
question of the calendar I think Badaga influence may be suspected.
The other department is medicine. There is no special reason to suppose
that the magical remedies of the utkòren (Chap. XII) have been borrowed
from the Badagas, but the more strictly medical remedies used by the
Todas are largely borrowed, the actual leaves or other substances
employed being obtained from the Badagas. The practice of suicide by
opium, said to be very prevalent among the Badagas, has, in at least
one recent case, been adopted by a Toda, and the threat of suicide by
this means is said to be fairly common.
There is no doubt that the Badagas believe in the powers of the Toda
sorcerers. I was told of several definite instances in which
misfortunes were believed to have been brought upon the Badagas in this
way, and there is little doubt that, in one case, the supposed author
of the death of a child was murdered by the Badagas.
If a Badaga suspects magical influence of this kind he may consult one
of the Toda diviners, showing that the Badagas believe in Toda
divination as well as in Toda sorcery.
It is probable that the relations between the Todas and Badagas have
existed for very long. It is generally held that the Badagas are
comparatively recent immigrants to the Nilgiri Hills. Breeks [257]
states that the Badagas are said to have come to the hills about three
centuries ago in consequence of the troubles that followed the fall of
Vijayanagar, but it is certain that they have been on the hills much
longer than this, for the account of Finicio in 1602 (see App. I) shows
that the relations between Todas and Badagas were much the same then as
they are now. The close connexion of Badagas with the ti dairies, their
intermediation between the palol and the Hindu, and the fact that the
palol must eat Badaga grain, are all indications of very ancient
relations between the two tribes.
There is one fact which may be held to show that the relation between
Todas and Badagas is recent as compared with that between the Todas and
other Nilgiri tribes. This is the fact that the Badagas are not
mentioned in one of the legends of the Toda gods, while Kotas,
Kurumbas, and Irulas each play a part in one or more of these stories.
TODAS AND KOTAS
The Toda name for a Kota is Kuv. The relation between the two people is
very different from that between Toda and Badaga. While a Toda regards
a Badaga as his equal, or perhaps even as his superior, he looks down
on the Kota as inferior, as hardly to be classed as a man with himself.
In their secret language, a Toda speaks of a Kota as kimas ithvai, “he
that is beneath,” and in the remedies for the evil eye (see p. 264) the
Kotas are the only hill tribe which is not thought worthy of
mention—they are not thought to be of sufficient importance to be able
to cast the evil eye. When a Kota meets a Toda, he raises both hands to
his face and salutes from a distance. The two people do not touch one
another in general, though I do not know that contact is definitely
prohibited. A Toda will not sleep or take food at a Kota village in
general, but makes an exception in the case of Kulgadi in the Wainad
(see p. 200). It is usually supposed that the contempt of the Toda for
the Kota is due to the flesh-eating, or even carrion-eating, habits of
the latter, and this is certainly one of the elements which influence
the relations between the two peoples.
The Kotas supply the Todas with the larger part of their pottery and
ironware. [258] All the earthenware vessels of the dairies, except
those of the inner rooms of the ti dairies, are supplied by the Kotas,
and the various knives and other metal objects of the Todas are chiefly
obtained from these people. The Kotas supply most of the things burnt
at Toda funerals and they supply the music on these occasions.
Just as the Badagas do not supply grain to the Todas only, so the Kotas
do artisan work for Badagas, Kurumbas, and Irulas. The Kotas are the
artisans, not of the Todas only, but of the whole hill district.
The relations between the Todas and Kotas are strictly regulated, each
Kota village supplying certain Toda clans. There are seven Kota
villages on the hills, of which the following are the Toda and Badaga
names:—
In the Todanad district:—
Tizgudr, Tizgadr, or Tizgwadr (Badaga, Tirichigadi), between Ootacamund
and Kanòdrs, near the Toda village of Ushadr.
Kurguli (B. Padagula or Kuruvoje), near the Badaga village of Sholur.
In the Mekanad district:—
Kalmal (B. Kolamala or Kollimalai), not far from Kateri.
In the Peranganad district:—
Meilkukal (B. Melkotagiri or Perangada) in Kotagiri, one of the three
chief European stations on the hills. Kikukal (B. Kilkotagiri or
Kinnada), north-east of Kotagiri.
In the Kundanad district:—
Medrkukal (B. Menada).
The seventh is Kulgadi (B. Kalagasa) at Gudalur in the Wainad.
The village of Tizgudr is connected with the Toda clans of Kars,
Melgars, Kanòdrs, and sometimes with the people of Kulhem. Kurguli
supplies the clans of Nòdrs, Taradr, Kuudr, Piedr, and Kusharf, and
occasionally Kulhem. Kalmal supplies Keradr, Nidrsi, Päm, Kidmad, and
Keadr. Meilkukal and Kikukal are both connected with Kwòdrdoni and
Pedrkars, and Medrkukal is the Kota village of the Panol. Kulgadi is
connected only with the village of Kavidi, near Gudalur, which belongs
to the Piedrol. When there were several Toda villages in the Wainad, it
probably served them all.
The connexion between clans and villages seems to depend almost wholly
on geographical distribution. The clans are supplied by the Kota
villages which are nearest to their headquarters. An outlying village
such as Kavidi has not the same Kota village as the rest of its clan.
The Kidmadol, who are a branch of the Melgarsol, have not the same Kota
village as the parent stock; but, on the other hand, the Panol, who now
live chiefly among other Todas near Governor Shola, are still connected
with the Kundah Kotas.
Each Kota village is responsible for the supply of the clan or clans
with which it is connected. Its inhabitants make the various utensils
used in the household and in the less sacred dairy work of the Todas.
At the funeral of any member of a clan with which they are connected,
they provide the music and the following objects:—
At the etvainolkedr, a cloak in which the corpse is wrapped, five to
ten measures (kwa) of the grain called patm (samai), and one or two
rupees. If the Kotas do not possess the grain, they may give another
one or two rupees in its stead.
At the marvainolkedr, they supply a cloak; eight annas to pay for the
embroidery of the cloak, which is done by the Toda women; two to five
rupees towards the funeral expenses; a bow and three arrows; a knife
(kafkati); a sieve (kudshmurn) and a basket (tek).
In return, the Kotas receive the carcases of the buffaloes killed at
the funeral, and on the occasion of a Kota funeral, the Todas supply
one male calf from three to five years of age and one measure (kudi) of
clarified butter. The Kotas also receive the bodies of any Toda
buffaloes which die a natural death.
A Kota visiting a Toda village at any time is given clarified butter to
take away with him. He is also given food consisting of jaggery and
rice, which must be eaten on the outskirts of the village. A Kota is
never given milk, buttermilk, or butter.
Once a year there is a definite ceremony in which the Todas go to the
Kota village with which they are connected, taking an offering of
clarified butter and receiving in return an offering of grain from the
Kotas. I only obtained an account of this ceremony as performed between
the people of Kars and the Kota village of Tizgudr, and I do not know
whether the details would be the same in other cases.
In the Kars ceremony the Todas go on the appointed day to the Kota
village, headed by a man carrying the clarified butter. Outside the
village, they are met by two Kota priests whom the Todas called
teupuli, who bring with them a dairy vessel of the kind the Todas call
mu, which is filled with patm grain. Other Kotas follow with music. All
stand outside the village, and one of the Kotas puts ten measures (kwa)
of patm into the pocket of the cloak of the leading Toda, and the
teupuli give the mu filled with the same grain.
The teupuli then go to their temple and return, each bringing a mu, and
the clarified butter brought by the Todas is divided into two equal
parts, and half is poured into each mu. The leading Toda then takes
some of the butter and rubs it on the heads of the two Kota priests,
who prostrate themselves, one at each foot of the Toda, and the Toda
prays as follows:—
Ultamâ; Kûv erdm tânenmâ; kadr pelumâ;
May it be well; Kotas two may it be well; fields flourish may;
mâ un mâ; îr kar mâ, nûv pedr mâ.
rain may; buffalo milk may, disease go may.
The Toda then gives the two mu containing the clarified butter to the
Kota priests, and he and his companions return home.
This ceremony is obviously one in which the Todas are believed to
promote the prosperity of the Kotas, their crops, and their buffaloes.
[259]
In another ceremonial relation between Todas and Kotas, the Kwòdrdoni
ti is especially concerned. The chief annual ceremony of the Kotas is
held about January in honour of the Kota god Kambataraya. This ceremony
lasts about a fortnight, and, during part of the time, the proceedings
are attended by Todas and other of the hill tribes. In order that this
ceremony may take place, it is essential that there should be a palol
at the Kwòdrdoni ti, and at the present time this ti is only occupied
every year shortly before and during the ceremony. The palol gives
clarified butter to the Kotas, which should be made from the milk of
the arsaiir, the buffaloes of the ti. Some Kotas of Kotagiri whom I
interviewed claimed that these buffaloes belonged to them, and that
something was done by the palol at the Kwòdrdoni ti in connexion with
the Kambataraya ceremony, but they could not or would not tell me what
it was.
The relations between Todas and Kotas are probably of very old
standing. The fact that the Kotas supply the bow and arrows burnt at a
Toda funeral suggests that the connexion goes back to the time when the
Todas used these weapons, while the special sieve supplied by the Kotas
for a funeral is of a different pattern from that in use at the present
time. The Kotas are mentioned in Toda legend. The people of Tizgudr
play a prominent part in the story of Kwoten (p. 195), and this deity
is said to have been the first Toda who stayed at a Kota village, viz.,
at the village of Kulgadi (or Gudalur). He sat and slept on the Kota
tün and since that time the Todas have stayed at this village, though
they will not stay at any other. The relation between Kwoten and the
Kotas seems to have been especially close. The old woman, Muturach,
from whom the present people of Kanòdrs are descended, according to the
legend, may have been a Kota. The Kotas who give tribute to the Todas
are known as their muṭṭu Kotas, and the first part of the old woman’s
name may have been this word.
Our acquaintance with Kota mythology is too scanty to contribute much
to our knowledge of the relations between the two peoples. Breeks
states that Kurguli (Padagula) is the oldest of the Kota villages, and
that the Badagas believe that the Kotas of this village were made by
the Todas. At Kurguli there is a temple of the same form as the Toda
dairy, and this is said to be the only temple of the kind at any Kota
village.
Breeks gives a legend which records the origin of the different foods
of the Nilgiri tribes. Kambataraya, perspiring profusely, wiped from
his forehead three drops of perspiration, and out of these formed the
Todas, Kurumbas, and Kotas. The Todas were told to live principally
upon milk, the Kurumbas were permitted to eat the flesh of buffalo
calves, and the Kotas were allowed perfect liberty, being informed that
they might eat carrion if they could get nothing better. My
interpreter, Albert, was told a different version of this legend,
according to which Kambataraya gave to each people a pot. In the Toda
pot was calf-flesh, and so the Todas eat the flesh of calves (i.e., at
the erkumptthpimi ceremony); the Kurumba pot contained the flesh of a
male buffalo, so this is eaten by the Kurumbas. The pot of the Kotas
contained the flesh of a cow-buffalo, which may, therefore, be eaten by
this people.
TODAS AND KURUMBAS
The Toda name for a Kurumba is Kurub, which often sounds like Kurb. In
the secret language, a Kurumba is called âr kârthpol, “the man who
watches the way.” Mr. Thurston states that when a Kurumba meets a Toda,
he bends forward and the Toda places his hand on the Kurumba’s head.
The Todas may visit Kurumba villages and take food in them.
Two ceremonial objects are obtained by the Todas from the Kurumbas. One
is the tall pole called tadrsi or tadri, which is used in the dance at
the second funeral ceremonies and afterwards burnt. Poles of the proper
length are said to grow only on the Malabar side of the Nilgiris and
are probably most easily obtained from the Kurumbas. The other is the
teiks, or funeral post at which the buffalo is killed, which is
probably made of teak wood.
The most striking feature of the relations between Todas and Kurumbas
is the belief of the former in the magical powers of the latter, a
belief which is shared by both Kotas and Badagas. The sorcery of the
Toda is dangerous, but can be remedied, while for kurubudrchiti, or
Kurumba sorcery, there is no remedy, and all that can be done is to
kill the Kurumba, apparently to avoid further evil consequences to the
community rather than from motives of revenge.
The Kurumbas play no part in the social life of the Todas. With the one
exception of providing the funeral pole, I could not learn that they
had any functions at Toda ceremonies. It was said that the teuol,
Pangudr, who was believed to be inspired by Kwoto, must dance, i.e.,
divine, to the Kurumbas before he dances to the Todas, and when so
doing, must dance like a lame man, this behaviour owing its origin to
the god Kwoto (see p. 209). It is possible that this shows that the
Kurumbas believe in Toda divination and consult the diviners.
The Kurumbas are mentioned in several Toda legends. According to one
account, it was this people whom Kwoto deceived, making them eat the
flesh of a buffalo calf; according to another, it was the Panins or
Panyas who were deceived by the god.
Kwoten is said to have initiated the practice of allowing Todas to
visit Kurumba villages, and he appears to have been closely connected,
in some way, with the Kurumbas, who still offer plantains to Terkosh
and light lamps in her honour, Terkosh being the goddess who was
connected with his disappearance and deification.
In the story of Kuzkarv, the Kurumbas, together with the Irulas,
collect honey for the Todas from nests in a tree, [260] and this seems
to point to a time when these tribes took an active part in the social
life of the Todas. It seems possible that the Kurumbas and Irulas were
the huntsmen of the Todas, and sought roots and honey for them, just as
the Badagas were the agriculturists and the Kotas the mechanics.
TODAS AND IRULAS
The Irulas live on the lower slopes of the Nilgiri Hills and have few
relations with the Todas. They are called Erl by the Todas, and,
according to Mr. Thurston, they are saluted in the same way as the
Kurumbas. The Irulas are among the people mentioned in the remedial
formula used against the effects of the evil eye, and are evidently
regarded as having some magical power, though they are not feared in
the same measure as the Kurumbas.
The name of the Irulas only occurs once in my collection of Toda
legends, in the story of Kuzkarv, where they are associated with the
Kurumbas. Atioto, who is the special deity of Kwòdrdoni and Pedrkars,
is said to have a temple of which the priest is an Irula. This is
probably an Irula temple to which the Todas make offerings.
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE CLANS OF THE TODAS
In this chapter I propose to give a short account of each of the Toda
clans with any special features which characterise its ceremonial and
social organisation. The chapter will consist largely of detail, much
of which may be thought to have no great interest, but it seems
desirable to put on record as full an account as possible of the
condition of the people at the time of my visit. A certain amount of
folklore will be included, those tales being given which are specially
connected with the history of a clan.
THE TARTHAR CLANS
NÒDRS
The people of Nòdrs owe their special importance to their connexion
with the goddess Teikirzi, who was the nòdrodchi, or first ruler of the
clan, and according to tradition bestowed certain special favours on
her people. Chief among these is the possession of the Nòdrs ti. This
is undoubtedly the most sacred and important of the five ti
institutions, and its herds are much larger than those of any other.
The fact that the Nòdrs people own this ti and have the power of
appointing to the office of palol gives them great distinction in the
eyes of the Todas, and this is emphasised when the palol is undergoing
his ordination ceremonies, for several of these take place in villages
of the Nòdrsol. The preliminary ceremony for those who wish to become
palol, which is called tesherst, is also usually performed at a Nòdrs
village.
Another title to fame is the possession of the poh, or conical dairy
temple at Nòdrs, which is known to the European inhabitants of the
Nilgiri Hills as the “Toda Cathedral.” It is certainly not the most
sacred of Toda dairies, but it is the most accessible of the few
dairies of this kind now remaining.
The Nòdrsol are one of the clans represented in the naim. They now
stand second among the Tarthar clans in point of numbers, having
forty-three males and thirty females. [261] It has two kudr, one of
which, consisting of the family given in the first of the genealogical
tables, has now only two male members; as these have at present no son,
it is possible that it may shortly become extinct. The other kudr has
five pòlm, of which the chief men are Kerkadr (2), Kudòdrsvan (3),
Teigudr (4), Mondothi (5), and Keitan (6). If any of the members of
these five pòlm should perform the irnörtiti ceremony, the buffalo
would go to Mudrigeidi and Odrkurs, while, if either of these men had
to give a buffalo, its value would be divided among the other five
pòlm. Kerkadr is regarded as the head of the second kudr.
The madnol of the Nòdrs people are Tuesday and Friday, and they hold
the funerals of men on Sunday, and of women on Thursday. The special
features of their funeral ceremonies are that the body of a man lies in
the tarvali of Nòdrs for some days before the etvainolkedr and that a
special bell (mani) is used at male funerals which has to be brought
from Òdr. Male funerals are held at Nòdrs, and female funerals at
Külthpuli. The clan used also to have another funeral place close to
the Paikara road, which is not now used.
The Nòdrsol have many villages, of which fourteen are still inhabited,
and I obtained the names of five others now in ruins.
The following are the chief villages.
Nòdrs (Muttanadmand). In addition to the conical poh, this village has
the distinguishing feature of a long wall which passes between this
dairy and the huts where the people live. The wall then passes at the
back of the poh and runs for some distance northward. The tarvali (in
Fig. 12) is situated in an enclosure of the wall near the
dwelling-huts, so that the women can go to it for buttermilk without
crossing the wall and entering the enclosure in which the poh stands.
In the south part of the wall is the gap through which the calf is
driven at the irnörtiti ceremony (see Fig. 43). The wall is reputed to
have been built by Elnâkhum.
Close to the poh, between it and the tarvali, are the ruins of another
dairy, the former kudrpali, which is said to have had seven rooms. It
was disused on account of the difficulty in obtaining the services of a
kudrpalikartmokh. It will be remembered that this grade of dairyman has
to do his work without any covering, and in the bleak exposed position
of Nòdrs, it seems that this was so great a hardship that the office
went begging. The Nòdrs people are said to have ceased to use this
dairy about four generations ago, and the condition of the ruins is
about what might be expected if this statement were correct.
There are a large number of important stones at Nòdrs. Formerly seven
kinds of buffalo were killed at the funeral of a male, and each was
killed at a different stone. Now only two buffaloes may be killed, but
the stones remain to show what was formerly done. Two wursulir were
killed, one at the stone called uteiks and another at the stone
nerovkars, both of which are shown in Fig. 70. One nashperthir was
killed at the nashperthkars. The two sacred mani were hung on the necks
of one of the wursulir and the nashperthir. One pineipir was killed at
the stone called tukervòrskars. One persasir was killed at the
persaskars, and two putiir were killed, one at the teidrtolkars and the
other at the menkars. The teidrtolkars, shown in Fig. 13, also marks
the spot where the unfortunate wursol milked his buffaloes (see p.
439). The menkars, shown in Fig. 12, is the stone used in the game of
narthpimi, in which a boy creeps under a stone. It is on the village
side of the wall, close to the entrance to the tarvali. All the other
stones are on the same side of the wall as the poh.
Òdr (Aganadmand). This is second in importance among the villages of
the Nòdrsol, and it was a question whether the wursuli dairy, though of
the ordinary form, had not even a greater sanctity than the poh of
Nòdrs. More difficulty was made when I wished to go close to it than at
any other place during the whole of my visit (except, of course, at the
ti dairy), but, unfortunately, the affair was complicated by the fact
that on this day my usual attendant, Kòdrner, was not with me, and the
difficulty may have been partly due to this. When I was allowed to
approach the building, only one man came with me and he would not go
within several yards of the dairy, while allowing me to go on. The
special sanctity of this dairy is due to the fact that the two mani of
the Nòdrsol are kept here. Both this dairy and a smaller tarvali are at
a much greater distance from the village than usual, but with that
exception there is nothing to distinguish them from the dairies of
other villages. The wursuli is one of those which has two rooms. It is
at the village of Òdr that the palol passes one night during his
ordination ceremonies, and I was shown the spot under a tree where he
has to sleep, the same spot being also used by the wursol and kaltmokh
when they undergo any part of their ordination ceremonies at Òdr.
Another feature of interest is the connexion of this village with
Kuudr. An Òdr man must be present at the irpalvusthi and salt-giving
ceremonies of Kuudr, and a Kuudr man must attend when these ceremonies
are performed at Òdr. Further, the kwarzam of Òdr are said in the
prayer of the erkumptthpimi ceremony at Kuudr and the Kwarzam of Kuudr
are said at Òdr.
The following legend records the origin of these customs:—
Soon after Teikirzi had given the buffaloes to the different villages,
the buffaloes of Kuudr and Òdr were grazing together, and when evening
came they could not be separated and both herds went together to the
funeral place called Keikars. The wursol of Òdr and the palikartmokh of
Kuudr brought their milking-vessels, each to milk his own buffaloes,
and they also brought their churning-vessels (patat) and
cooking-vessels. After they had milked, the wursol of Òdr went to pour
his milk into his patat, and when doing so some of the milk splashed
into the vessel of the palikartmokh. They then cooked some food with
the milk, and as the food was boiling strongly, some of it went from
one cooking-pot to the other. Then the people of the two villages met
and decided that, as the two kinds of buffalo had been milked in one
place and the two kinds of milk had been mixed with one another, each
of the villages should mention the kwarzam of the other in its prayer,
and people of one village should attend the ceremonies of the other.
Tedshteiri (Talapattaraimand). This is another important Nòdrs village.
It was vacant at the time of my visit, but is still often occupied. It
had at one time a dairy called Okurshapali with seven rooms, which was,
like that of Nòdrs, a kudrpali. It fell into disuse at the same time as
the Nòdrs dairy, and its site is still quite distinct; but though it
seemed larger than usual, I could discover no indication of the number
of rooms it had had. When I visited the village there were nine ovens
standing in a row, which had been used to cook the food when Teigudr
(4) took his wife Uwer from Nertolvan of Pan (16). On this occasion
Nertolvan came to Tedshteiri to receive nine buffaloes from Teigudr,
and the number of ovens corresponded with the number of the buffaloes.
Kudrnakhum (Kudinagamand). The chief point of interest about this
village is that it is the place where the ceremony of tesherst often
takes place. It is an outlying village to the west which I was unable
to visit.
Perththo (Perattitalmand). This is a village which is shared by two
clans. The part occupied by the Nòdrsol is called Meil Perththo, or
Upper Perththo. The other part of the village was said to be general
property, but it is at present occupied by Melgars people.
Kozhtudi or Kozhteidi. The special feature of this village is that it
has a wursuli in which everything has to be carried out kabkaditi,
i.e., the dairyman is not allowed to turn his back to the contents of
the dairy. This certainly points to the village having been at one time
of importance.
KARS
This is at present the largest of the Tarthar clans, having sixty-seven
male and fifty female members. It is represented in the naim, and there
was some reason to think that it occupies a more important position in
this body than the other Tarthar clans. The family of Parkurs (8) is
called tinkanikudupel, ranking next to a manikudupel, and Parkurs was
till lately a second or assistant monegar.
There seems to be no doubt that the Karsol have always been an
important clan, and its members are often mentioned in the stories,
though they do not appear to have had any legendary hero such as those
of Melgars and Pan. Their nòdrodchi (ruler or presiding deity) is
Kulinkars, now believed to live on a hill near Makurti Peak. The Kars
people possess a ti which in importance and wealth is second only to
that of Nòdrs.
Kars resembles Nòdrs in having two kudr differing greatly in size.
Kutadri is the head of one, which comprises all the members of the
family given in Table 7. It has two pòlm, headed by Kutadri and
Peithol. The other kudr has eight pòlm, of which the chief men are
Parkurs (8), Pidrvan (9) [262], Piutolvan (10), Kudrvas (11), Kutthurs
(12), Mongudrvan (13), Kiunervan (14), and Keitazvan (15). Till
recently there appear to have been only five pòlm in the Kars clan,
each of which has lately been divided into two. There is a very marked
disproportion in the number of members of some of these divisions; thus
the pòlm of Parkurs has sixteen males in five more or less distinct
families, while others have only three or four males. Nevertheless each
of the latter would contribute the same amount towards joint expenses
of the clan as the sixteen males of the pòlm of Parkurs.
The chief villages of the Karsol are in or near Ootacamund, and this
clan formerly had several other villages on sites now occupied by
modern buildings.
The following are the chief places:—
Kars (Kandalmand). This village is one of the best known of Toda
villages, being just on the outskirts of Ootacamund. It is a very
typical example of a Toda village; there is a small group of houses,
with a large dairy, the kudrpali (Fig. 21), called Tarziolv, close to
them; just above the houses on the rising ground is a smaller dairy,
the wursuli called Karziolv, shown in the background of Fig. 42 and
partly shown in Figs. 23 and 44. Opposite the kudrpali are two raised
circular mounds with flat tops called the imudrikars (seen in the
foreground in Fig. 21), on which the body of a dead man is laid before
being taken to the funeral hut at Taradrkirsi. Above the kudrpali is
the hut for calves.
In the middle of the enclosure within which the village lies, is a row
of stones (shown in Fig. 42) which are the irnörtkars, and in the
ceremony of irnörtiti the calf is driven across these stones.
Behind the houses there is a small circular enclosure which is now used
as a tu and is called Althftu. The entrance to this enclosure is shown
in Fig. 29 just in front of the boy carrying the dairy vessels.
Formerly there was a dairy of the conical kind within this circle, of
which the name was Ishpoh. About five generations ago, this dairy still
existed and was tended by a wursol; but several dairymen died in
succession, and this so alarmed the Todas that it became impossible to
obtain anyone to fill the office, and when the dairy decayed its
remains were removed and the circular enclosure within which it stood
has since been used as a pen. In size and appearance the enclosure is
quite unlike other pens, and resembles much more nearly the circular
walls round the conical dairies of Nòdrs and Kanòdrs.
Kuzhu (Kunditolmand). This, the second in importance of the villages of
the Karsol, is a very picturesque place south of Ootacamund. There is a
kudrpali called Tudrpoh, in front of which is a stone called
imudrikars. The gold bracelet mentioned in the story of Kwoto is kept
in this dairy. In front of the dwelling-huts is another stone called
menkars (see p. 342). The menkars at Kuzhu and that at Nòdrs are the
only stones of this name, but they do not resemble one another, and the
Kuzhu stone is not adapted for the narthpimi game as is that of Nòdrs.
Keshker (Kakerimand). This is a large village near Ootacamund at which
there is a kudrpali, but little else of interest. It is probably the
Kishkeijar mentioned by Harkness.
Nasmiòdr (Aganadmand). This is a very old village which was probably at
one time much more important than at present. It is situated about a
quarter of a mile from the road leading from Ootacamund to Ebanad, not
far from the Badaga village of Tuneri. There is now only a small dairy
(wursuli) situated in the middle of a wood. When I visited Nasmiòdr,
this dairy was unoccupied, and, as is usual in such cases, my Toda
guide refused to go to the dairy with me, and remained outside the
wood. Soon after I left the hills, it was to be occupied by the wursol
of Kars, who would take his buffaloes there for a month.
This village is mentioned in two Toda legends, in both of which it
seems to have been a village at which people were living. The dairy is
called Tilipoh or Pohtilipoh, and it still contains the two mani,
Karzod and Kòni, which were hung on the neck of Enmon (see p. 208). It
is one of the few wursuli which have two rooms.
Pakhalkudr (Bagalkodumand). This village, not far from Paikara, is one
of the most outlying villages of the Karsol. There is a very small
dairy here resembling the merkalars which serves both as kudrpali and
wursuli, the former being in front, while the latter is behind, with
the door on one side. The wursuli is so small that there can scarcely
be room for a fully grown man to do the churning.
Isharadr and Peletkwur. These are outlying villages of no special
interest. The former was only built in the time of the grandfather of
Parkurs (8), and has a dairy resembling that of Pakhalkudr.
Taradrkirsi (Kavaikkadmand). This is the funeral place for men of the
Kars clan, and is also a kalolmad. There is a kudrpali with three rooms
called Paliven keirsi, and a pen called Tuoks. There are two stones
where the wursulir and nashperthir are killed, and close to them there
is a spot by the side of a wood where earth is thrown at a funeral.
There is a slight break in the edge of the wood here, and this is
probably the position of an old pen which has been completely
overgrown.
There is a long wall at this village passing near the dairy and the
funeral stones, and then extending a long way towards the east. It
resembles the Nòdrs wall, and these seem to be the only two examples of
walls of this kind at Toda villages. The wall at Taradrkirsi is said to
have been built by Kwoten, but it seems unlikely, for this hero had no
special connexion with the Karsol.
Several villages which have now wholly disappeared are still mentioned
in the prayer which the Kars people use at the erkumptthpimi ceremony.
One of these, Tashtars, stood where the Masonic Hall at Ootacamund now
stands. The site of another, Turskidt, is occupied by a private house.
Two, Tüli and Keitaz, were situated on Elk Hill, and two others, Sing
and Kurkars, were near Nasmiòdr.
PAN
The Pan clan have their headquarters in the Kundahs and are often
called the Medrol, or people of Medr, the Toda name for the Kundahs.
The chief villages of this clan are in the Kundahs, but they are only
visited during the dry season, and for the greater part of the year the
Panol live at the comparatively new village of Naters in the most
thickly populated part of the hills. The legendary hero, Kwoten,
belonged to Pan.
The clan is small, having now about twenty-seven male and nine female
members. It is not represented on the naim, and in the Badaga grouping
of the Todas this clan is joined with that of Nòdrs.
The Panol have two kudr, and provide the only example among the
Tartharol in which the kudr have special names. The formation of the
kudr is said to have been due to Kwoten, who divided the people into
Panol and Kuirsiol, named after the two chief villages of the clan. The
two divisions are also called Pandar and Peshteidimokh.
The Pandar or Panol have three pòlm, headed by Timurvan (16), Todars
(16), and Nòrtiners (17). The Peshteidimokh or Kuirsiol have two pòlm,
headed by Timners (18) and Imokhvan (19).
The irnörtiti and tuninörtiti ceremonies are performed in front of the
wursuli at Pan or Kuirsi. The spots on which the ceremonies take place
are not marked by any stones, and the ceremonies are spoken of as
paliknörtiti, i.e., “he gives to the dairy,” though, as a matter of
fact, the calf passes from the men of one kudr to the men of the other
kudr as in other clans.
The madnol of Pan are said to be Sunday and Wednesday, and the funerals
of men take place on Sunday or Tuesday, and those of women on Thursday
or Saturday. It is probable that Tuesday is the proper day for the
funerals of men, but that they are now sometimes held on Sunday.
The following are the chief villages of the Panol:—
Pan (Onnamand) is commonly known to Europeans as “One mand.” It is a
large village in the south-west corner of the Kundahs, with two houses
of the long variety, with a door at each end and a partition in the
middle. There is a wursuli called Keinulv, and a kudrpali called
Nersolv, and outside the pen there is a stone called mutchudkars.
Kuirsi (Kolimand). This village is near Pan. It has a wursuli and
kudrpali, the former being called Marsolv and the latter Keinulv.
Outside the pen, called Tu matu, there is a large stone called
keinkars, and inside it there are two stones called mutchudkars and
pudrthkars. I could learn little of the history or functions of these
stones, but they were said to have been “played with” by Kwoten and
Terkosh.
Perg (Yeragimand) is a small village near Avalanche Bungalow and is an
example of a kalolmad.
Naters (Natanerimand) is a large village near Governor Shola, where
most of the Panol live for the greater part of the year. This village
has a wursuli and tarvali, but nothing else of interest.
Near Avalanche Bungalow there is the site of a village called Pathmars.
Little remains of it, but the fireplace of a hut can still be seen.
Kabudri (Tebbekudumand). This is the male funeral village of the Panol.
Here there are two stones called teiks where the wursulir are killed,
and they are reputed to have been set up by Kwoten; one, called
parsteiks, is for the Panol, and the other, called kirshteiks, for the
Kuirsiol. Another place given as the male funeral place of Pan was Tim,
where there is a three-roomed dairy of the same kind as that at
Taradrkirsi, in the outermost room of which the body is placed. It is
probable that Tim and Kabudri are two names for the same place.
TARADR
All the villages of this clan are situated in the north-west corner of
the hills and the clan appears to have no villages far removed from the
etudmad. The clan is a large one having now at least thirty-seven male
and thirty-nine female members.
The Taradrol appear to have in several ways a special position among
the Tarthar clans. They possess the special institution of the kugvali,
which, though resembling in some respects a ti, is situated by the
other dairies of the village and is tended by dairymen belonging to the
clan. The Taradrol are also unique in having their future world
(Amnòdr) near Perithi.
The Taradrol are divided into two kudr, each of which has three pòlm.
The chief men of the pòlm of one kudr are Ircheidi (20), Parkeidi (21),
and Polgar (22); of the second, Paners (23), Irkiolv (24), and Kudeners
(25). About the time of my visit the place of Ircheidi, who was ill,
was taken by his son, Siriar.
The six pòlm of the clan take it in turn to look after the kugvalir,
each having charge of the dairies and herd for a period of three years.
Shortly before my visit, the charge had been taken over by the pòlm of
Ircheidi and Siriar.
The following are the chief villages:—
Taradr (Tarnardmand). This is one of the most characteristic Toda
villages, situated near the road leading to the Paikara falls. It is
shown in Figs. 5 and 6, and has three dairies, situated at some
distance from the dwelling-huts. The two dairies shown in Fig. 5 are
the tarvali and kugvali, the former on the left-hand side and the
latter on the right. The third dairy of the village is a wursuli,
situated to the right of the kugvali.
Near the kugvali is a stone (shown in Fig. 24) at which the wursulir is
killed at a Taradr funeral. The stone is called püdrshtikars after the
name of the buffaloes (püdrshtipir). At a little distance from the
three dairies are the remains of another pali, which was only used at
the funeral of a male. This pali, like those at other funeral places
had three rooms, and in the ruins at the time of my visit it was easy
to make out the three divisions. When the occasion arises, the dairy is
rebuilt on the day of the funeral, and the tarpalikartmokh takes the mu
into the innermost room after purifying it with tudr bark. The body of
the dead man is then laid in the outermost room and kept there till it
is taken out after the slaughter of the buffaloes. If this temporary
building is the representative of a former dairy with three rooms, it
would seem that the village of Taradr once had four dairies.
Kudrmas (Kudimalmand). This is a kalolmad on the western side of the
Paikara. The kugvalir were here during the greater part of my visit.
Telgudr (Telkodumand). This is another kalolmad.
Pushtar (Pattaraimand). This village is one at which the tesherst
ceremony (see p. 154) is sometimes performed.
Kudimad (Kulimand). This is a large village near Taradr at which many
of the people live, but it is not an important village ceremonially,
having only one dairy, a tarvali.
Near Paikara there can still be seen the remains of a village called
Pevar which was deserted because the family which lived there became
extinct.
KERADR
This is one of the smallest of the Tarthar clans, all its members being
included in Table 26. There are at present sixteen male and nine female
members.
There is at present only one kudr, the other having become extinct
about three generations ago. As there has been no occasion for
irnörtiti, no fresh division has been made. The kudr has two pòlm, one
headed by Paniolv, and the other by Teikner.
The chief village, Keradr (Kannagimand), is situated in the south-west
part of the hills near the Teivali village of Keadr. Keradr is also the
male funeral place of the clan and was not occupied at the time of my
visit. At this time most of the Keradrol were living at Tovalkan, near
Paikara, a recent village at which there is a dairy of the ordinary
kind (tarvali). Near the houses there is a raised mound shown in Fig.
59, erected to mark the spot on which Keirevan (26) was killed by
falling from a tree into which he had climbed to cut wood.
KANÒDRS
This is one of the outlying Toda clans, and its people were said to
have been less influenced by the altered conditions on the hills than
any other clan, but they seem nevertheless to have given up several of
their institutions. The sacred poh is only occasionally occupied, and I
am doubtful whether they can be said to be in a more untouched
condition than several other clans. The people are often called the
Kererol, but I could not find that there was any village of Kerer from
which this name is derived, and it is possibly the name of a district
of the hills. The clan is distinguished by its possession of the
conical poh at Kanòdrs, and by the fact that many of the adventures of
Kwoto or Meilitars took place in the region it inhabits. Although Kwoto
was a Melgars man, he is regarded as having a close connexion with the
Kanòdrs people, and various features of the ritual of the Kanòdrs poh
are said to be derived from him.
The clan is at present a small one, with a distinct majority of
females. In fact, it seems so usual for members of this clan to have no
children or only female children that there is some likelihood that the
Kanòdrsol may become extinct. The present numbers are about thirteen
males and twenty-three females.
There was some doubt as to the number of kudr. I was told that there
are three, headed by Arsolv (27), Kineri (29), and Pòlkab (30)
respectively, but at an irnörtiti ceremony both Arsolv and Kineri would
give to Pòlkab, while the latter would give to both, so that it seems
probable that there are properly only two kudr, as in other clans. One
of these has only one pòlm, that of Pòlkab. The other has three pòlm,
headed by Arsolv, Neratkutan (28), and Kineri.
The following are the chief villages of the Kanòdrsol:—
Kanòdrs (Devarmand). This village now consists of the poh only. There
are still two mani at this village, one of which is called Pünkòghlag,
a name closely resembling the name of the churning-stick at the ti.
There are at present no dwelling-huts at the place, nor any remains of
such huts, though it would appear from the legend of Kwoten that the
village was inhabited at one time.
Pishkwosht (Bikkapatimand). This is a large village where most of the
Kanòdrsol now live. The only dairy is in ruins. Close to the village
there are a number of flat stones almost level with the ground (Fig.
71) which are called Teuâr, “the god way,” and are said to mark the
spot where the gods (teu) used to meet. Just above these is a large
buffalo pen, which is reputed not to have been made by man. Whenever
the gods went this way they used to deposit pieces of dried
buffalo-dung on this spot and these became the stones of the tu.
Near the village is a forest hut, and opposite this are two stones
called pedrkars. The Todas once had a large gathering here, and a man
jumped a long distance which was recorded by means of these stones.
The other villages of the Kanòdrsol, Taknin, Kuzhu or Kushu, &c., are
in the same neighbourhood, but I was unable to visit them, and do not
know whether they have any objects of interest.
KWÒDRDONI
This is the most outlying of Toda clans, but numerous tea estates have
been established in its neighbourhood, and the people appear to have
been a good deal influenced by the altered conditions. I was unable to
visit any of the villages, and I know less about this clan than any
other.
All the villages of the clan are situated in the district of the hills
called by the Todas Purgòdr, and the people of the clan are, therefore,
often called the Purgòdrol.
At present there appear to be seventeen males and fourteen females, but
it is probable that these numbers are not complete. There are two kudr,
headed by Kiurvan (32) and Atcharap (34). The former has three pòlm, of
which the chief men are Puner (31), Kiurvan (32), and Òrudz (33), and
the latter has two pòlm, headed by Atcharap (34) and Kudar (35).
This clan seems now to occupy only two villages. One is Kwòdrdoni
(Kodudonnemand), where there is only a tarvali, though there was
formerly a wursuli, now ruined, in which was kept a mani called
Kirsongg which has disappeared. The other village is Katikar
(Kodanadmand). The male funeral place is Iudi, and the female, Punmud.
PÄM
This is a clan which formerly occupied the site of Coonoor and
Wellington. Its numbers are small, probably only seventeen males and
thirteen females. There are two kudr, headed by Udrchovan (36) and
Pungievan (37). Udrchovan’s kudr has only one pòlm. Pungievan’s kudr
has three pòlm, of which the chief men are Pungievan (37), Arparners
(38) and Seili (39).
The original etudmad of the clan was Pirspurs, the site of which was
used for the Coonoor racecourse. Päm was then adopted as the chief
village, but it has been allowed to fall into ruins, though still
giving its name to the clan. The dairy at Päm was called Palikûdrbedz
and the buffalo-pen, Tûgûdron. Inikitj, where the people now live, is
an uninteresting village at which there are the ruins of a tarvali.
There is a building in which the four or five sacred buffaloes
(nashperthir) are kept, but they are not milked as there is no
palikartmokh.
The male funeral place of this clan was Puvi, and the female, Kwatkash.
These were situated where the Wellington barracks now stand, and the
funerals are now held near Inikitj. Fig. 51 shows the wooden teiks at
which the sacred buffalo would be killed at the funeral of a male.
There are several stories about Karnisi (37), a member of this clan. He
is said to have been an exceptionally strong man, and the Todas tell
how on one occasion two English soldiers came to Päm and insulted the
women and how Karnisi took the two men unaided to the barracks at
Wellington.
Karnisi also spent a fortune which had been stored in the dairy of Päm
for many generations. A vessel (pun) full of rupees had been deposited
in the dairy by an ancestor of Karnisi called Kiuten. It remained there
till Karnisi spent it in buying buffaloes, ornaments for his many wives
and household goods. He gave some of the rupees away and spent others
in travelling to Coimbatore, and in a short time the money had
disappeared.
NIDRSI
The headquarters of the Nidrsi clan are to the south of Coonoor. The
people are closely surrounded by tea estates and have been much
influenced. It is not now a large clan, having about sixteen male and
twenty-five female members.
There are two kudr, headed by Todrigars (41) and Kudrmaskutan (43)
respectively, each kudr having two pòlm. The chief men of the pòlm of
one kudr are Puveners (40) and Todrigars, and of the other kudr,
Kadrkutan (42) and Kudrmaskutan.
This clan affords a very good example of the degeneration which has in
some cases befallen the dairy organisation. The people have only one
wursulir left. The dairy (wursuli) has fallen into ruins, and they have
no wursol and, therefore, the one buffalo is not milked. At a funeral
of a male they will have to procure a wursol from another clan to kill
this buffalo.
There are two mani, called Eshkiakudr and Eikudr, each with an iron
chain, but as they have no wursuli these bells are kept under a stone
at Akirsikòdri, the male funeral village. The other sacred buffaloes,
pineipir, &c., are milked at a tarvali.
There are now only four inhabited villages, and only one of these seems
to be of any importance.
Nidrsi. This is near the Badaga village of Hulikal. It consists chiefly
of huts obviously of recent construction and not of the proper Toda
form. There is a small dairy (tarvali) and the situation of the former
wursuli, almost completely overgrown, can still be seen. There is a
buffalo enclosure called Punatu. The irnörtkars is a stone of ordinary
appearance with other smaller stones round it, and there is also a
pilinörtkars of which only a small piece now shows above the ground.
There is a very large tukitthkars at this village (see pp. 252 and
597).
Another stone here is called imudrikars or parsatthkars. Milk is put on
it every morning and evening by the palikartmokh, but it is not used in
any way in connexion with a funeral. The Todas relate that an
Englishman shot at and splintered this stone some years ago. Soon after
he was bitten by his horse, and he asked the Todas, with whom he was on
very good terms, what ought to be done. He was told that he should
perform the irnörtiti ceremony, and a few days later he brought a
three-year-old calf to the irnörtkars at Nidrsi and gave it to the
people. It was taken by both kudr and the Englishman was soon well
again. The whole affair was regarded as a good joke, and is interesting
as showing that the Todas do not object to making sport of one of their
sacred ceremonies, especially when they gain an addition to their stock
of buffaloes.
Akirsikòdri. This is the male funeral village, at which there is a
dairy with three rooms, in which the body of a dead man is placed on
the day of the etvainolkedr.
MELGARS
The Tarthar clan which takes its name from the village of Melgars
occupies a very special position in the Toda social organisation and in
the dairy ceremonial. Although a Tarthar clan, the Melgarsol in many
respects resemble the Teivaliol much more closely than they resemble
the other clans of their own division.
In former times the Melgarsol are said to have held the office of palol
at the Kars ti and at the Pan ti, and to have lost this privilege owing
to misbehaviour of a palol, of which an account has been already given.
They are still capable of holding the offices of wursol and kaltmokh,
for which otherwise only Teivaliol are eligible, and they have
privileges and duties in connexion with various kinds of Toda
ceremonial which are wholly unshared by other clans.
Though they may still hold the offices of wursol and kaltmokh, they are
not allowed to carry out certain of the duties; thus, a Melgars wursol
may not kill the sacred buffalo at a funeral, nor may he perform any of
the other duties which fall to the part of a wursol on this occasion.
Although a Melgars man may no longer be palol, the Melgars people have
a large number of privileges and duties connected with the ti. An
account of these has already been given, but they may shortly be
recapitulated here with the names given to them by the Todas.
(i.) Mòr vatiti, tòr tititi. “Buttermilk he drinks, food he takes.” The
Melgars men may take buttermilk and food at the dwelling-hut of any ti,
and they alone have this privilege at the dairies of the Nòdrs ti.
(ii.) Teirpülk mad oiiti. “He goes at the head (of the procession) to
(the place called) teirpül.”
(iii.) Ti alugpur putiti. “The alug things of the ti he carries.”
(iv.) Alug putz nitz ithtothi. “Alug come, stand he must.” The Melgars
man must stand by a certain tree with the alug when he comes to the new
place during the migration of the ti buffaloes.
(v.) Erd pünrs ithtothi. “Two pünrs (four days) he must be.” He stays
at Anto from the Sunday on which the buffaloes migrate till the
following Wednesday.
In addition to these privileges, it is also the duty of the Melgarsol
to carry out rebuilding or repairing operations at a ti mad, and he has
also to assist in carrying the body of a dead palol.
The special duties of the Melgarsol are not limited to the ceremonial
of the ti, but in certain other ceremonies it is essential that a
Melgars man shall be present or take part. He must milk a buffalo to
provide milk for Tarthar women coming out of the seclusion-hut both
after the hand-burning ceremony of pregnancy and after childbirth. He
does this for women of his own clan and for those of all other Tarthar
clans except that of Kwòdrdoni. A Melgars man must be present on the
second day of the irpalvusthi ceremony of the kugvalir of Taradr, and
the ceremony of this day, which is called irpataduthti, cannot take
place if a Melgars man is not present.
It was also said that a Melgars man must be present whenever a feast is
given at the end of a period called pon in any clan, but I am very
doubtful as to the necessity of this. I think it is probable that no
feast ever occurs at which a Melgars man fails to put in an appearance,
and that my informants had come to regard his presence as necessary,
but it seemed very doubtful whether his presence was an essential
condition for the occurrence of this, as it certainly was in the case
of certain other ceremonies.
There was some difference of opinion as to the reasons why the
Melgarsol enjoyed these exceptional privileges. The Melgars people
themselves believed that their exceptional position was due to the
connexion of Kwoto with their clan. They said that when Kwoto became
superior to all the gods, and was called Meilitars, these privileges
were given to the clan to which he belonged. According to another
account, the position of a Melgars man at the head of the procession of
the Nòdrs ti was settled by Anto in order to appease the buffalo Enmars
when two of its bells were taken away and given to the Pan ti. Others,
again, said that the privileges of the Melgarsol were given as a
recompense when this clan was deprived of its privilege of becoming
palol. There is little doubt that the real reason for the Melgars
privileges has been lost and that different reasons have been sought in
the Toda legends. The Melgars people have chosen a reason which
gratifies their pride in claiming Kwoto as one of themselves, while
other Todas have reasons which serve to add to the importance of the
sacred institution of the ti, of which they are so proud.
There are other special features in which the Melgars people differ
from the rest of the Tarthar clans. They have no wursulir, though they
can become wursol to other clans, so that, in this respect, they
resemble the Teivaliol in being able to tend buffaloes which they do
not themselves possess. Another difference is that the palikartmokh of
the Melgarsol uses tudr bark in his ordination ceremonies, and this
gives him a higher rank than other tarpalikartmokh. It is on this
account that a Melgars palikartmokh may not visit the tarvali of
another clan (see p. 66).
The Melgarsol again resemble the Teivaliol in not shaving the head
after a funeral, as is done by Tarthar clans other than that of
Melgars.
The Melgarsol resemble the Teivaliol in so many respects that it is
tempting to suppose that this clan must at one time have formed part of
the Teivali division and for some reason was transferred to the
Tartharol. Every Toda whom I questioned on the point was, however,
certain that the Melgars people had always been members of the
Tartharol.
There are two facts which show that there is some special relation
between the people of Melgars and those of Kwòdrdoni. One is that
intermarriage is said to be prohibited between members of these two
clans; the other is that the milking by a Melgars man when a Tarthar
woman is leaving the seclusion-hut does not take place in the case of a
Kwòdrdoni woman. These facts point to some relation between the two
clans of which I was unable to obtain any account.
The Melgarsol form a fairly large clan, having at the present time
about thirty-one male and twenty female representatives. They have at
present only one kudr, the other having become extinct about eight
years ago on the death of Tikon (49). A half-sister of this man is
still living, but the kudr has no male representative. During the last
eight years, the Melgarsol have had no trouble (kaspel) which has made
it necessary to perform the irnörtiti ceremony, but should the occasion
arise, a naim would decide on a re-division of the other kudr. I was
told that the matter was continually the subject of discussion, and it
seemed probable that the nature of the re-division was already more or
less arranged, but would not be definitely settled till the occasion
arose.
The one kudr has four pòlm, of which the chief men are Kiunievan (44),
Artholvan (45), Nòtirzi (46) and Ilgeivan (48). Tergudrvan (47)
belonged to the same pòlm as Artholvan. The families included in Table
49 are all extinct in the male line, and, with the exception of Tikon,
I am doubtful to which kudr or pòlm they belonged.
Melgars, the chief village, is situated behind the gardens of
Government House at Ootacamund. It has few features of interest, and
there is little to be seen at the other villages of the clan. Nüln
(Narigulimand) is situated in the Kundahs.
Two Toda villages, Ki Perththo and Padegar, are said to be the general
property of the Tartharol, but at the time of my visit both were
inhabited by the Melgarsol.
The village of Katol, which is now ruined, is mentioned by Harkness as
one of the villages near Ootacamund.
The chief funeral place is Ushadr, mentioned in the story of Kwoto.
There is another funeral place called Mirzoti common to Melgars and
Kidmad.
KIDMAD AND KARSH
These are two sub-divisions of the Melgarsol which separated from the
main body, probably about seven or eight generations ago. At first I
heard only of Kidmad, and it was only when working over the Nidrsiol
that I found there were people living with this clan who did not belong
to it, but were an offshoot of the Melgars people and were called
Karshol.
According to one account, both Kidmadol and Karshol separated from the
main body at the same time, but, according to another, the people who
first separated belonged to Karsh and then split some generations later
into the two groups.
The separation was due to a quarrel between father and son. The Melgars
people were holding a council and one of the chief men of the clan was
late in coming. When he appeared in the distance, he was recognised by
nobody but his own son, who, when asked who was coming, said “pazuli
padmokh pöti âtham nôtthred? Kûtm it vòrs!”—i.e., “A wanderer and
bastard comes, why do you look at him? Let the council go forward!”
(Pazuli is a name applied to a man who belongs to no clan, and padmokh
is the name of the child of a woman with whom no man has performed the
pursütpimi ceremony.)
The manmokh (sister’s son) of the father was present at the council,
and when his uncle arrived, the manmokh told him what had been said by
his son in the council, and the father said, “I am no pazuli, it is you
who are the pazuli: henceforward you must not live at Melgars; you will
have nothing from me except what I give you to-day.” The father gave
the son a one-horned buffalo (kwadrkutir) and a portion of the Mirzoti
funeral place.
Since that day descendants of the son have been separate from Melgarsol
and they have held their funerals at Mirzoti, but not on the same spot
as the Melgars people.
The Kidmadol and Karshol have lost certain privileges possessed by
other Todas. The loss of these privileges is expressed by the Todas as
follows:—
(i.) Meitün kitht ògadi. “He may not sit on the meitün.” When a man of
Kidmad or Karsh goes to any Tarthar dairy he is not allowed to sit on
the raised bed on the right hand side of the door.
(ii.) Nîrsi nest ògadi. “He may not rub the fire-sticks.” If fire has
to be made at a male funeral, or on any other occasion, it must be done
by a man of another clan.
(iii.) Ertatpun pitth ògadi. “He may not touch the ertatpun,” a dairy
vessel which may be touched by any other Toda man. The result of this
restriction is that a man of these clans can never hold a dairy office.
Marriages are not allowed between Melgars people and those of either
Kidmad or Karsh.
The village of Karsh no longer exists; it was near Akirsikòdri, but in
the time of Kilpan (51) the people were so poor that they went to live
with the Nidrsiol and have remained with them since. Though living at
Nidrsi, they are still regarded as a separate people, and marriages may
take place between the two clans. They have only three or four ordinary
buffaloes. If a male dies they have to kill a persasir, which they
obtain from Melgars. The only males living are one man and his son, the
father having also two sisters.
The Kidmadol are more prosperous, and the men of the clan appear to be
fairly prominent people among the Todas, in spite of their
disadvantages. Kijievan (5) has the reputation of being one of the
ablest people of the whole community. The clan numbers five males and
three females.
THE TEIVALI CLANS
KUUDR
This is the most important of the Teivali clans, at any rate from the
social point of view. It has supplied the monegar since the institution
of this office, and it is the only Teivali clan represented on the Toda
naim or council. From the religious point of view the Kuudrol are less
important and have no exclusive rights to any sacred office, [263]
though they are exceptional in being greeted by the palol with the
kwarzam of their clan, Ivikanmokhkûtmeilteu, followed by idith as in
the prayers. The origin of this custom is said to be that long ago
strangers came to the hills and massacred all the people of the clan
except one boy, who hid himself in the buffalo pen. The present people
of Kuudr are descended from the boy and his escape is commemorated in
the greeting of the palol. The Kuudrol also possess the very sacred
dairy of Kiudr.
The Kuudr clan is the largest of the Teivali clans and stands second in
point of numbers among all the Toda clans. It has at least sixty-three
male and thirty-five female representatives. I omitted to obtain the
children of two families, and these would raise the numbers slightly.
I had much difficulty in obtaining a correct account of the
organisation of the Kuudrol, the difficulty proving to be due to
certain anomalies in this clan. It has three chief divisions, headed by
Kuriolv (52), Ishkievan (60) and Tövoniners (61), and each of these
divisions is sometimes called a kudr. From the point of view, however,
of the irnörtiti ceremony it is clear that the division of Tövoniners
is not a definite kudr, for the men of this division do not receive
buffaloes from any other division, although they may themselves perform
the irnörtiti ceremony, in which case the buffalo goes to the men of
the other two divisions. The family of Tövoniners differs also from
other families of the clan in having no place at the village of Kuudr.
This anomalous position of the family is due to the part played by the
men of the family in the quarrel which led to the separation of the
Pedrkars people from Kuudr (see p. 675). The family of Tövoniners is
probably not a kudr in the strict sense of the term, and if so, the
Kuudr clan falls into line with other clans in being divided into two
kudr only.
There was also some confusion about the pòlm of the Kuudr clan, one
source of confusion being due to the trouble connected with the
parentage of Teitchi (52), which has been already considered (see p.
564).
It was quite clear that the kudr of Ishkievan has two pòlm only, headed
by Ishkievan and Tadrners (60).
Kuriolv’s division was said to have eight pòlm, the head men being
Kuriolv (52), Targners (53), Pöteners (54), Keitas (55), Tüliners and
Tikievan (56), Mudriners (57), and Madsu (58). The men of the first
four pòlm are known to be closely connected with one another, and, as
may be seen in the genealogies, the first three claim common descent
from Tudrvan. Similarly the pòlm of Tüliners, Tikievan and Madsu are
known to be closely connected. About the position of the pòlm of
Mudriners, as we have already seen, there is much doubt, the state of
affairs being that it is really most closely connected with the pòlm of
Tüliners and Tikievan, but that Kuriolv claims it as closely allied to
his own through the relation of Teitchi to Kòrs. Formerly the family of
Arsners (59) formed a separate pòlm, but owing to the fact that it now
has only two young members, and is very poor, it has been joined to the
pòlm of Madsu (58).
Including the families of Tövoniners and Arsners, there would thus be
twelve pòlm. This is not consistent with the information given in
connexion with the pepkaricha ceremony (see p. 169), from which it
appears that there are fifteen heads of families in the Kuudrol. It may
be that the pòlm and family do not correspond with one another, or
there may be some other explanation of the discrepancy.
The following are the chief villages of the Kuudrol:—
Kuudr (Kundakodumand). This is a large village with substantial huts in
the Tamil style which have been built by Kuriolv. There is a large
dairy, the tudrpali, and a smaller dairy, the kidpali, in front of it,
with two buffalo enclosures (tu), one apparently for each dairy. In the
large tu there are three stones called keinkars, tashtikars and
mutchudkars, all of ceremonial importance (see p. 169). Growing in one
side of the tu there is a tree called teikhuwadiki, under which the mu
is buried.
As usual, water is taken from two sources, and at Kuudr that used for
sacred purposes is drawn from a spring, called kiznir. The origin of
this spring has been already given in connexion with the prayer of
Kuudr, in which this and other events in the history of the village are
commemorated. The special relations between Kuudr and Òdr have been
already considered in the account of the latter village.
Kiudr (Kengodumand). This village has a somewhat anomalous position in
that, though not the chief village of its clan from the social point of
view, it is in many ways more sacred than Kuudr.
It is a very picturesque village, shown in Fig. 7, in which there are
two dwelling-huts. That shown in the figure is one of the largest and
best constructed of existing Toda huts, having been rebuilt recently
under the direction of Kijievan (50), who has a special reputation as
an architect. It was at this village that a pregnant woman was not
allowed to come to the hut, but had to remain at some little distance,
and the sacredness of the hut is also shown by the fact that the prayer
of this village provides the only instance in which the kwarzam of a
hut occurs.
The dairy is situated at some little distance from the huts, quite out
of sight of people at the latter. On going from the huts to the dairy a
shallow stream flowing over broad flat stones is crossed. This stream
is called Keikudr, and is of some ceremonial importance (see p. 307).
The dairy which is called Kilpoh is shown in Figs. 20 and 31, and is a
large, well-built structure of the ordinary shape. It is situated
within a high wall, which is much thicker than usual, and in front it
must be several yards across, so that it is possible to walk about on
the top of it. On this wall, on the right hand side, are two old stones
(shown in Fig. 31), called neurzülnkars. Close to the dairy there are
two ancient and weatherworn stones, shown in Fig. 32, to which the same
name is given.
There are six bells in the dairy. Two are kept on the patatmar and are
called patatmani, the individual names of the bells being Mudrani and
Kerani. The other four are called ertatmani, and are kept on the
ertatmar; their individual names are Pongg, Nongg, Pundrths, and Pan.
Kiudr is one of the villages which was said to have been at one time a
ti mad. In favour of this is the fact that its dairy is called poh and
that there are stones called neurzülnkars which are usually found at a
ti mad. The people have also to play a part during the procession of
the buffaloes of the Nòdrs ti, and there seems to be little doubt that
the village is in some way especially connected with the ti
institution, though exactly how is uncertain.
Kiudr is certainly a village especially revered not only by the Kuudrol
but by all Todas. It is a sati mad, and any Toda will be believed if he
speaks in front of its dairy. Another sign of the sanctity of the dairy
is the fact that the ceremony of pilinörtiti may be performed here not
only by members of the Kuudr clan, but also by any other Toda.
Molkush. This is a recently established village, little more than a
quarter of a mile from Kiudr. The scenes shown in Figs. 16 and 17 were
taken at this village. It has no dairy and the milk of the ordinary
buffaloes is churned in the dwelling-hut. This village may be regarded
as an adjunct to the sacred village of Kiudr, at which the ordinary
buffaloes are tended. At the time of my visit the wife of one of the
men who usually lived at Kiudr gave birth to a son and the
seclusion-hut was at Molkush, and both before and after the birth the
woman and those connected with her were living at this village. It
seemed as if the restrictions connected with life at Kiudr are avoided
by building at a little distance what is technically another village,
at which the people live whenever for any reason they are not allowed
to live at Kiudr. Its existence seemed to me to be one of the many
devices by means of which the Todas keep the letter of the law with the
minimum of inconvenience.
Miuni (Marlimand). This is a village of the Kuudrol which is reverenced
by all Todas on account of the belief that it was formerly the
meeting-place of the gods. It is a very picturesque village, situated
near the Marlimand reservoir and has two dairies.
Kwirg is chiefly important as the place at which new pep is made for
the Kuudr clan. Its prayer is given on p. 222.
Ars is an uninteresting village near Kuudr.
Peivòrs. This is a village near Paikara. It contains a double house,
shown in Fig. 8, and has two dairies, one of which is now used as a
calf-house. The second dairy was built when two families were living at
the village, and the one dairy was not large enough for both.
Pirsush. This is a kalolmad.
Karia, a village near the Paikara road, from which a modern long house
in the Tamil style is to be seen. Behind this are the old dwelling-hut
and the dairy. At the time of my visit the new house was unoccupied and
the people were living in the old hut.
PIEDR
The people of Piedr derive their special importance from the fact that
they provide the palol for the sacred ti of Nòdrs. According to
tradition, they had this privilege exclusively at one time; later, they
shared it with the Kuudrol, and now they share with the people of
Kusharf. They form a fairly large clan, having about twenty-eight male
and fourteen female members.
As in the case of the Kuudrol, there was some doubt about the divisions
of the clan. There are said to be three kudr, of which the chief men
are Teikudr (63), Eisòdr (64), and Nongarsivan (62). If a man of
Teikudr’s division has to perform the irnörtiti ceremony, the buffalo
goes to Eisòdr’s division, and vice versa. If a man of Nongarsivan’s
division performs the ceremony, the buffalo would go to both the other
divisions. Thus Nongarsivan’s kudr seems to form an extra division,
like that of Tövoniners among the Kuudrol. I did not obtain any
explanation of this, but it is probably due to the fact that the people
of Nongarsivan’s division live at Kavidi in the Wainad, and are, in
consequence, regarded as being outside the regular affairs of the clan.
I failed to obtain an account of the pòlm.
The chief village of the clan is now rarely visited. It is in the
northern parts of the hills near the Badaga village of Hullatti. I had
hoped to have visited it and the neighbouring village of Kusharf, but
had not time. Some members of the clan visit the village of Piedr once
a year, but I did not learn what was done on the occasion.
Kuudi. This is now one of the chief villages of the clan. It has a
modern house, the largest and most highly ornamented Toda dwelling
which I saw on the hills.
Tavatkudr is a village of one hut and a dairy. It was this dairy which
was burnt during my visit as a consequence of the revelation of ti
secrets to me by Kaners, who lived at this village.
Eparskòdr is an ancient village at which the first Toda died (see p.
400). At present the village consists of a dairy only.
Kavidi is situated in the Wainad, not far from Gudalur. I did not visit
it, but, so far as I could gather, it contained no object of interest
and there was no evidence that it was an ancient settlement.
The clan has several funeral places, partly owing to the fact that the
Kavidi people are at too great a distance from the top of the hills to
hold the etvainolkedr in the ordinary funeral place. The Kavidi people,
therefore, have two special funeral places, called Sudvaili for males
and Mòmanothi for females. The second funeral, or marvainolkedr, was,
however, held at the regular places of Meroln and Pamarkol.
A disused village in the Wainad is called Potvaili. The termination
vaili of this village and of the male funeral place only occurs here,
and is probably borrowed from some other language, possibly from the
Kurumbas.
One abandoned village of this clan, Nongarsi, seems to have been
situated near Ootacamund. Its Badaga name is Kettarimand, and it is
possibly one of the villages mentioned by Harkness.
KUSHARF
The people of this clan are called indifferently Kusharfol or Umgasol.
There seemed to be no doubt that Kusharf is the chief village, but,
like Piedr, it is little used, and Umgas is coming to be regarded as
the etudmad.
The Kusharfol seem to be in some way related to the Piedrol. They share
with the latter the privilege of providing the palol for the Nòdrs ti,
and the two clans are not allowed to intermarry. They have the same
nòdrodchi, Teipakh, and it seems possible that they were originally two
sub-divisions of one clan.
At present the Kusharfol are not numerous, having only about thirteen
male and thirteen female representatives. They have two kudr, headed by
Nòdrners and Ongudr, each of which has two pòlm. The chief men of the
pòlm of one kudr are Ongudr (65) and Pangudr (66); of the other,
Nòdrners and Erkhud (67).
The chief village of Kusharf is near Hullatti, and, like the
neighbouring Piedr, is rarely visited.
Umgas. This is at present the most important village of the clan; it is
shown in Fig. 72. There are two large dwelling-huts shown on the
right-hand side of the figure. The building to the left of them is the
chief dairy, which is called Kwotòdrvoh. It is a poh and not a pali,
though of the ordinary form, and is exceptional in being situated so
near the dwelling-huts. The pali is situated still more to the left,
hidden by trees.
The two tall stones in the foreground are called nadrkkars. They serve
as irnörtkars and also mark out the path by which women must go on
their way to the huts, the women having to keep on the right-hand side
of these stones. By the wall of the huts and close to the poh there are
two stones, the majvatitthkars, at which women stand when they receive
buttermilk (maj) from the dairy. About fifteen yards in front of the
other dairy (pali) there is a stone called imudrikars. On one side of
this there is a narrow well-worn track along which women must go on
their way to the dairy, and nearer the pali there are two
majvatitthkars, where they stand when receiving buttermilk.
Between the poh and the pali there is the tu and at the far end of this
is a large stone, the muütthkars, marking the spot where the mu is
buried.
Teidr is not far from Nòdrs. It has two huts and a dairy. The
teidrtolkars of Nòdrs takes its name from this village, the wursol who
gave the name to the stone being a Teidr man.
Teidr is one of the villages which is said to have been formerly a ti
mad, and in support of the statement I was taken to see two stones
called neurzülnkars at some little distance from the village.
Pòln is close to the tree known in Ootacamund as “the umbrella tree.”
There are two huts and a dairy, which was in ruins at the time of my
visit. Under the “umbrella tree” there are two stones. One of these has
been overgrown by the tree so that it is now firmly imbedded. It is
called Korateu and is said to have been thrown by Korateu from his
hill. The other stone is deeply imbedded and only shows three small
projections above the ground. This is the Nòtirzikars and was thrown to
this spot by the goddess Nòtirzi from her hill.
In a wood near at hand overgrown by trees, there is another stone
called Känkars, marking the spot where the pasthir were killed at the
funeral place which formerly existed here.
KEADR
This clan had at one time the privilege of supplying the palol to the
Pan ti, but its numbers are now small, and the palol of this ti at
present belongs to the Piedrol. There are now only eleven males and ten
females belonging to the clan.
Till recently there was a branch of the clan called Kwaradrol, taking
their name from the village of Kwaradr. According to some, the
Kwaradrol were a separate clan, but there seemed to be little doubt
that they were part of the Keadrol and formed one kudr of the clan. The
division only became extinct in the male line a few years ago, and the
genealogical record of the family is given in Table 70.
The head man of the other kudr is Perner (68), and this division has
three pòlm, two of which are headed by Perner and Pichievan (69), while
the third has only three young boys, Karem (69) and his brothers, as
members. Since the Kwaradrol died out, the clan has only had one kudr,
but during my visit it was decided that a new kudr should be formed,
and the pòlm of Karem was made the new division, so that in future the
Keadrol will have one kudr consisting ofone pòlm, and another of two
pòlm. It was said that the original partition of the clan into Keadrol
and Kwaradrol was due to Kwoten, who established the two divisions in
order that there should be someone to take the place of a palol who
left on account of a funeral in his clan.
Keadr. This, the chief village of the clan, is situated near Keradr. I
was unable to visit it, and have no record of any features of interest
it may possess.
Kwaradr, the village from which one division took its name, is near
Avalanche, and is now falling into ruins owing to the dying out of the
family which occupied it.
Pekhòdr is called by the Badagas Osamand, or “new village,” and has
only been in existence about ten years.
Kapthòri is now in ruins, but is mentioned in the story of Kwoten.
PEDRKARS
This clan is an offshoot of the Kuudrol, from which it has now for a
long time been separated. The division arose out of a quarrel at a
council which was once being held at Kuudr. [264] There were three
parties in the naim, each wishing that a different ceremony should be
performed. One party wished to give salt to the buffaloes, a second
wanted to sacrifice a calf (erkumptthpimi), and a third were in favour
of moving to another village (irskidthtothi). The three parties could
not agree, and it was finally decided that those who wished to do
irskidthtothi should separate from the rest. They did so and went to
live near Kwòdrdoni, and have since been a separate clan, now known as
the Pedrkarsol. The people who wished to do erkumptthpimi were the
ancestors of Tövoniners, and it is in consequence of this quarrel that
this family occupies its anomalous position and has no place at Kuudr.
At the same time the people of Pedrkars lost the privilege of being
palol or wursol, but they may become eligible by performing the
irnörtiti ceremony at Kuudr or Kiudr.
For some time after the separation intermarriage was not allowed
between Kuudr and Pedrkars, but recently such marriages have taken
place, and several are recorded in the genealogies.
There are very few members of the clan, only seven males and five
females. At present there is only one kudr and this has only one pòlm.
Formerly there were two kudr, but one became extinct some time ago.
About three generations ago there was a quarrel between the people of
Pedrkars and those of Piedr. A man of Pedrkars named Kavanadi had
married a woman of Piedr and one day quarrelled with his wife’s father.
At Piedr there were at the entrance of the buffalo-pen two large wooden
posts (tüli). After the quarrel Kavanadi went to Piedr and carried off
both the posts with the wooden bars (tasth) by which the opening of the
pen is closed. When Kavanadi had carried the posts and bars as far as a
place called Kalin, near the Kota village of Tizgudr, a stone on the
top of one of the tüli fell down. It may still be seen and is known as
Kalinkars. Kavanadi went on, but he soon began to spit blood, and when
he had gone some way further, he was obliged to drop the tüli at a
place which is now called Tülipudinpem. He managed to reach his home at
Pedrkars and then died. A council was held and it was decided that
marriage should not be allowed in future between the Piedrol and
Pedrkarsol, and no such marriages are recorded in the genealogies.
The stone called Kalinkars which fell by the way is now said to be able
to move about and may be seen one day at one spot and on another day at
another. The Kotas of Tizgudr have several times taken the stone to
their village, but it has always gone back again. In spite of his
unfortunate end, Kavanadi is regarded, more or less, as a hero by the
Todas and is mentioned in the funeral eulogy of Pidrvan (p. 387).
All the villages of the Pedrkarsol are in the part of the hills near
Kwòdrdoni. Pedrkars itself is said to have been at one time a ti mad.
Some Tamil people once came to the hills and found some of the
buffaloes of the ti standing by a swamp. The Tamils fired at the
buffaloes and one was killed. When the palol saw this, he cursed,
saying “pedr kars ama, kwòdr nòdr ama!” “may the Tamil stone become;
may the ti place an ordinary place become!” Then the people who had
killed the buffalo became stones and the buffaloes were taken by the
palol to the ti mad of Kakwai. The people who had separated from Kuudr
had before this been living at Pongudr, but when the ti mad was
deserted they went to live there, and the place was called Pedrkars in
consequence of the curse of the palol and the clan has since taken its
name from this village.
KULHEM
This clan appears to occupy the same kind of inferior position among
the Teivaliol as that taken by the Kidmadol among the Tarthar clans.
The Kulhemol are not allowed to sit on the meitün (right-hand side) of
a dairy, and they are not allowed to perform the ordination ceremony
with tudr bark, which cuts them off from holding the offices of palol,
kaltmokh, or wursol.
There was some difference of opinion about the cause of the inferior
position of Kulhem. According to one account the people separated from
Kuudr at the same time as the Pedrkarsol and for the same reason.
According to another account, when Teikirzi was dividing the buffaloes,
she left Kulhem till last, intending to give them a good portion. When
she was about to give the people of this clan their buffaloes, the
invaders came who have been mentioned in the story of Teikirzi (p.
187). After the invaders had been turned to stone, Teikirzi returned to
her task of giving buffaloes to Kulhem, but she came to the conclusion
that the clan was in some way responsible for the misfortune which had
happened, and she gave them no sacred buffaloes and only a few putiir,
and she enjoined that they should not be ordained with tudr. It seems,
however, that the Kulhemol resemble the Pedrkarsol in becoming eligible
for the office of palol if they do irnörtiti to Kuudr.
The chief village, Kulhem or Kulthlem, is near Kanòdrs. The only other
village of importance is Konikwòr, near Paikara. At the time of my
visit several of the clan were living at a place called Kultu. This is
not properly a Toda village, the people living in a hut of the Badaga
form near a tea plantation in order to sell the buffalo dung to the
planters.
This clan now numbers only six males and three females, all belonging
to one family (72). They have neither kudr nor pòlm.
CHAPTER XXIX
TEIVALIOL AND TARTHAROL
The existence of these two divisions of the Toda people raises one of
the most interesting problems of their social organisation. The fact
that the Todas are an Indian people at once suggests that we have to do
here with some form of the institution of caste. Each division is
endogamous, as is the caste, and each is divided into a number of
exogamous septs resembling the gotras of a caste. Again, there is some
amount of specialisation of function, the Teivaliol being the division
from which the most sacred of the dairymen are chosen.
The names of the two divisions probably correspond with this
differentiation of function. The Teivaliol evidently derive their name
from the sacred office, deva, of Sanskrit origin, being in common use
in South India for ‘sacred,’ while devalayam means a temple. [265] The
origin of Tartharol [266] is more doubtful, but I believe that the word
carries the idea of ordinary, târ being used sometimes in this sense.
There is little restriction on social intercourse between the two
divisions. So far as I am aware, they can eat together, and a member of
one division can receive food from any member of another.
Though intermarriage is forbidden, the irregular unions in which the
man is the mokhthodvaiol of the woman (see Chap. XXII) are frequent
and, indeed, it seems to be the rule for connexions of this kind to be
formed between members of the two divisions.
The only definite restriction on social intercourse is that a Teivali
woman may not visit a Tarthar village, so that if a Tarthar man becomes
the mokhthodvaiol of a Teivali woman, he has to visit her at her home,
or may go to live at her village altogether or for long periods. There
is no similar restriction on the visits of Tarthar women to Teivali
villages, and at the time of my visit at least one Tarthar woman was
living altogether at the village of her Teivali consort.
The prohibition of the visits of Teivali women to Tarthar villages is
said to have had its origin in the misbehaviour of certain Teivali
women who once visited the village of Nòdrs, but I did not learn in
what their offence consisted.
The most obvious features which mark off the two divisions from one
another occur in connexion with the dairy organisation. The most
important dairy institutions of the Todas belong to the Tartharol, but
their dairymen are Teivaliol. This applies not only to the ti dairies,
but also to the wursuli dairies of the Tarthar villages. The highest
dairy office, that of palol, can only be held by a Teivali man, while
the lower offices of kaltmokh and wursol must be held by them or by one
of the Melgars clan of the Tartharol. According to tradition, the
members of the Melgarsol were also at one time capable of holding the
office of palol, but lost the right owing to the misbehaviour of one of
their number. As I have already suggested, the Melgarsol may have been
formerly a Teivali clan, but on repeated inquiry, it seemed clear that
they had always been Tartharol, so that at one time in Toda history
certain Tartharol were permitted to hold the highest dairy office as
well as the lower grades for which they are still eligible. The
position of the Melgars clan is, however, so much of a mystery in
itself that it can contribute little to the understanding of our
present difficulties.
Although the Teivaliol hold the highest dairy offices, and while
holding them have a very high degree of sanctity, it is quite clear
that, apart from the holding of these offices, they have no sanctity
whatever. A Teivali man who, while holding office as palol, is so
sacred that he may not be touched by nor touch anyone, and may be
visited even by his nearest relatives on two days of the week only,
becomes an ordinary person, with absolutely no restrictions on
intercourse, the moment he ceases to hold office.
Further, the fact that the Teivaliol hold these sacred offices does not
lead to any respect being shown by Tartharol towards Teivaliol; there
is not the slightest trace of the belief that their right to exert the
highest priestly functions gives the Teivaliol any superiority, nor, it
seemed clear to me, did the right inspire the Teivaliol themselves with
any feeling of superiority. Indeed, it was distinctly the other way.
The Tartharol always boasted that they were the superior people and
that the Teivaliol were their servants, and the Teivaliol always seemed
to me to acquiesce, though unwillingly, in this opinion. Whenever I
asked a Tarthar man why he regarded his division as superior, he always
answered, “We have the ti and we appoint the Teivaliol to act as our
servants.” In the case of the Teivali dairyman acting as wursol at the
Tarthar villages, I had definite evidence in more than one instance
that the priest was regarded as a paid servant, to be treated with
scant respect except in the special points prescribed by custom. The
fact that the Teivali dairyman living at a Tarthar village may not
touch any of the Tartharol puts him very much at the mercy of the
latter, and the dairyman has, so far as I know, no redress for any
wrong, real or fancied, which he may receive.
The inferiority of the Teivaliol came out in one very striking point to
which I shall return later. I learnt from the Tartharol that there were
certain differences in language between the two divisions; that the
Teivaliol used certain words as names of objects which were not used by
the Tartharol. I obtained a list of these, and later approached a
Teivali man on the matter. When I opened the subject he was very much
taken aback, and then became very angry because I had been told of the
difference, though its existence was not denied. His whole attitude was
that of a man ashamed of his lowly origin. Far more indignation was
shown by him and by other Teivaliol because I had been told of their
peculiarities of language than was ever shown after the exposure of
deeds distinctly immoral even from the Toda point of view. I shall
return to this subject again shortly; I mention it here because it
seemed to me to afford the clearest evidence that the Teivaliol were
conscious of their own inferiority in the social scale.
In the story of Kwoten we find that the Tarthar hero is accompanied by
Erten of Keadr, a Teivali man, and the latter was said to have been the
servant of the former. This suggests the possibility that at one time
the Teivaliol may have acted as servants to the Tartharol, even more
definitely than at present.
At the present time there are some features of the social organisation
and social life which might be held to weigh strongly against the idea
that the Teivaliol are the inferior division. The monegar of the Todas
is one of the Teivaliol, and the most influential member of the naim,
or council, at the present time is a Teivali man. I believe the
monegarship, however, to be a recent institution, possibly dating only
from the advent of Europeans to the hills. The chief duty of the
monegar is the collection of the assessment made by the Government, and
it is quite consistent with Toda ideas that this troublesome, and from
their point of view menial duty should be handed over to one of the
Teivaliol. The great power of the Teivaliol in the naim is probably
still more recent and due to the influence of one man. The Teivaliol
should have only one representative on the naim, while the Tartharol
should have three, and it is entirely owing to the powerful personality
of Kuriolv that this balance has been disturbed, and that the influence
of the Teivaliol is so predominant. It is possible that Kuriolv will do
much to obliterate the social inequality of the two divisions, though I
suspect from what the Todas told me that it is intended to revert to
the old order as soon as he dies.
There is one custom which shows very clearly that it is only as
dairymen that the Teivaliol have any sanctity. If the sacred buffaloes
(pasthir) of the Teivaliol go to a Tarthar village, they may be milked
either at a wursuli or a tarvali, and the Tarthar people may use the
milk. If Tarthar buffaloes, however, go to a Teivali village, the
Teivaliol may neither milk them nor use their milk or its products.
Thus buffaloes which are normally milked by a Teivali dairyman when at
their own village may not be milked by Teivaliol at a Teivali village,
while there is no restriction on the milking of Teivali buffaloes by
the Tartharol.
Although the Tartharol are in the habit of speaking of the Teivali
dairymen as their servants, they have no means of enforcing service.
The post of dairyman of any kind is one of profit, and, as we have
seen, when the post, even of palol, ceases to bring a sufficient
income, the Tartharol fail to obtain people to occupy it.
In the ceremonial of the dairy, the relation between the two divisions
is entirely one-sided. The Tartharol own the buffaloes and the dairies,
and the Teivaliol do the work. In certain other ceremonies, there is
more reciprocity in the relations of the two divisions to one another.
The Tartharol have certain definite duties at a Teivali funeral and the
Teivaliol at a Tarthar funeral, and in most cases the duties are
thoroughly reciprocal and the two divisions appear to act on equal
terms. Thus, in the earth-throwing ceremony, the earth is dug by a
Teivali man at a Tarthar funeral, and the Tarthar men before they throw
ask the Teivaliol whether they may do so. At a Teivali funeral these
positions are reversed. Similarly, the buffaloes are caught by
Tartharol for Teivaliol and vice versa.
On the other hand, there are some ceremonies in which the Teivaliol
have definite duties to perform at a Tarthar funeral which are not
reciprocated. In the earth-throwing ceremony of the Tartharol, earth is
first thrown by the Teivali wursol, but he does this as dairyman and
not as one of the Teivaliol. The koòtiti ceremony of the second funeral
is, however, only performed at a Tarthar funeral, and in it a Teivali
man plays an important part, wearing the cloak which has been covering
the relics and adorning himself with women’s ornaments. He hangs on the
neck of the calf the bell called tukulir mani and touches the relics
with the bow and arrow after asking the Tartharol if he may do so. It
is said that this ceremony is performed at a Tarthar funeral in order
to purify the Tartharol with tudr before they go to Amnòdr, and the
prominent position of the Teivaliol in this ceremony is evidently due
to the use of this sacred substance.
After a funeral the Tartharol in general shave their heads, and this is
not done by the Teivaliol, but it is also not done by the Melgarsol,
which shows that the difference is connected with the different
relations of the two divisions to the dairy ritual.
One important difference between the funeral ceremonies of the two
divisions is that the mani, or sacred bell, is not used by the
Teivaliol, except by the Piedr clan, and in this case the bell is hung
on the neck of the buffalo about to be slaughtered by a Tarthar man
belonging to the Nòdrs clan. The use of a mani at the funeral appears
to be pre-eminently a Tarthar custom.
A further distinction between the two divisions is a consequence of the
last difference. The Teivaliol do not purify the dairy after the
funeral ceremonies because nothing has been taken from the dairy to be
defiled. Similarly, the fact that the Teivaliol and Melgarsol use a
male buffalo calf for the ceremony of purifying the various funeral
places is connected in some way with the use of tudr by these
divisions, while the general body of the Tartharol who are not purified
with tudr use the blood of an adult female buffalo.
It will thus be seen that there is definite reciprocity between the two
divisions as regards certain funeral duties, while the differences
between the procedures of the two divisions are largely, if not
altogether, connected with the use of the mani among the Tartharol and
of the tudr tree among the Teivaliol, and each of these are points at
which the funeral ceremonies come into relation with the dairy ritual.
The differences in funeral rites would seem to be chiefly due to the
different organisation of the dairy and its ritual in the two
divisions.
There are other ceremonies in which the duties of the two divisions are
reciprocal. In the ceremony of ear-piercing, a Tarthar man pierces one
ear of a Teivali boy and a Teivali man performs the same service for a
Tarthar boy, and in the ceremony called putkuli tâzâr ütiti (see p.
503), a man belonging to one division acts when the girl undergoing the
ceremony belongs to the other.
One of the most obscure of Toda ceremonies is that called tersampipimi
which is performed together with or later than the ceremony of
name-giving when a child is about three months old. The chief feature
of the ceremony is that a lock of the child’s hair is cut by the
maternal uncle of the child, the hair of a Tarthar child being cut with
a piece of sharpened iron called kanab, while the hair of a Teivali
child is cut with an ordinary knife. The special interest, however, for
our present purpose lies in the fact that this ceremony must be
performed on the day after the second funeral of a Tarthar man, and
this whether the child be Tarthar or Teivali.
This ceremony points to the existence of a belief in the influence of
the spirit of the dead man, and I have already (p. 404) given reasons
why it is probable that this influence should be regarded as good
rather than bad. But, whether good or bad, we are left wholly without a
clue why this influence should be exerted by the ghosts of the
Tartharol and not by those of the Teivaliol.
In the ceremonies connected with childbirth the ritual of one division
differs from that of the other more widely than in any other case. The
most striking difference is that the ceremonial of the artificial dairy
is limited to the Tartharol, and here again it is possible that the
difference is a secondary consequence of the difference in dairy
organisation. In the chapter dealing with these ceremonies, I have
thrown out the conjecture that the use of an artificial dairy, and of
threads from the madtuni, or sacred dairy garment, may be a survival of
a time when women had more to do with the dairy ritual than they have
at present; and if there is anything in this conjecture, it would point
to this connexion of women with the dairy having been limited to the
Tartharol, or to its having persisted longer in this division.
The fact that a Tarthar woman drinks milk drawn by a Melgars man, while
a Teivali woman drinks water which is assumed to be the milk of a
pregnant buffalo, again brings the differences into relation with the
dairy ritual, but another difference between the two divisions in the
hand-burning ceremony is entirely foreign to this ritual. This is the
ceremony of invoking Pirn and Piri, and there is no evident reason why
this rite should be practised by the members of one division and not by
those of the other. Similarly, the ceremony of offering to Namav by a
Teivali woman when going to the seclusion-hut after childbirth stands
entirely apart from the dairy ritual.
Both of these ceremonies are unlike the ordinary run of Toda ritual,
and it is, on the whole, most probable that they have been borrowed.
We have thus seen that a large number of the ceremonial differences
between the two divisions may be regarded as secondary consequences of
the differences in the dairy ritual and that the few ceremonies which
stand in no relation to the dairy ritual may have been borrowed.
Taking the differences of ceremonial as a whole, it is tempting to
surmise that some of them may have arisen owing to differences of
environment during some past stage of Toda history. The Todas now form
so small a community, living in so small a space and knowing so much
about each other, that it seems improbable that the differences can
have come altogether into existence while they have been on the Nilgiri
Hills. In so far as they can be explained as secondary consequences of
the dairy organisation, it is possible that they may have arisen since
the Todas have been on the Nilgiris, but when the practices have no
relation to the dairy ritual it seems improbable that one division
would have adopted a custom quite independently of the other.
Such a view would involve the consequence that at some time in their
history the two divisions of the Toda people have had a different
environment, and if the Todas are derived from one tribe or caste, this
could only have come about if the two divisions came to the hills at
different times, the interval having been sufficiently long to enable
differences of ceremonial to have arisen. The differences would perhaps
be still more readily explicable if we suppose the Tartharol and
Teivaliol to have been derived from two different castes or tribes
which reached the hills at different times, and I will now proceed to
give some evidence which points to this having really happened.
Perhaps the strongest evidence in this direction is the existence of
the differences of language to which I have already referred. The chief
differences are as follows:—
Tarthar. Teivali.
Wooden spoon chudi or sudi kîrstegi
Basket tòdri putukêri
Food vessel paterkh tòdriterkh
Round metal vessel kûdikunm kûdichakh
Milking-vessel pun kònipun
A dairy vessel tat kashtat
Iron instrument pòditch pòtch
Comb tîrkòli siekhkòli
Small boy’s cloak kuchâr kupichâr
Roof pòdri idrnpòdri
Western side of hut meilmerkal meilkushkòni
Eastern side of hut kîmerkal kîkushkòni
Mushroom kiûn âlabi
A tree tipöti ketak
A black fruit kalpom akatpom
To-morrow morning pelikhaski pedrkhaski
I was given one sentence as quite different in the two divisions. This
was “Bring a piece of ragged cloth to the dairy!” By the Tartharol this
would be rendered, Palivorsk pari evâ! but by the Teivaliol, Kutanpari
palivorsk panmeiliteivâ! the chief difference here being in the verb.
Though these are all the differences in vocabulary of which I could
obtain a record, I was told by the Tartharol that formerly there were
many more, and that they were diminishing in number because “the
Teivaliol were now learning to speak properly.”
I think it possible that a phonologist might also detect many
differences in pronunciation and accent in the two divisions. I thought
that I detected such differences myself—that the Tartharol used a k
when the Teivaliol used a g, for instance—but I am so uncertain about
this that I do not feel entitled to lay any emphasis on it. In one
case, however, the Todas themselves told me of a difference in
pronunciation. They said that the usual word for dairy was pronounced
as I have written it in this book but that by the Tartharol it was
rather püli.
Scanty as the evidence is, there can be no doubt of the existence of
dialectical differences between the two divisions of the Toda people.
Another indication that the Todas are two tribes or castes which have
coalesced is of a different and more doubtful kind. There is some
reason to believe that people sometimes preserve a relic of their
migrations in the belief concerning the path taken by the dead in their
journey to the next world. We have seen that the Todas believe that the
dead journey to the west, but the special point of interest in the
present connexion is that the dead Teivaliol are believed to travel by
a path different from that traversed by the Tartharol.
I must reserve till the next chapter the full consideration of the path
by which the Todas reached the hills, but I hope to show then that
there is a great probability that the Todas came from Malabar. If this
view be correct, it is not impossible that in the belief as to the
different paths traversed by the dead, we may have a relic of two
independent migrations.
A third indication is one about which I am still more doubtful, because
I have no exact observations to support it. When on the hills I was
struck at times by differences in the general appearance of the people
of the two divisions. Towards the end of my visit I sometimes made a
successful guess that an unknown village I was entering was a Teivali
village, and this guess was founded, so far as I could tell, on a
difference in the appearance of the people. The Teivaliol seemed to me
to be, on the whole, darker, and to have a lower type of face. My
surmises in this direction only took shape towards the end of my visit,
when it was too late to make any exact observations. I know how
dangerous such impressions are, and I do not wish to lay any stress on
them, and I mention them hoping that more exact observations on the
point may be made at some future time.
The idea that the two divisions of the Toda community reached the hills
at different times is perhaps supported by their distribution on the
Nilgiri plateau. In Fig. 73 I give a plan of the district, giving all
the villages from which the Toda clans take their names, the Tarthar
villages being in Roman type and those of the Teivaliol in italics. I
have omitted the chief villages of those clans which I know to have
arisen in recent times by splitting off from other clans, and I have
included two villages of which I can only give the approximate
positions. These are Piedr and Kusharf, which are now rarely occupied,
and are situated off the main plateau, near the Badaga village of
Hullatti. I also give Pirspurs, the old etudmad of the Pämol. In Fig.
74 I give a second plan, showing the positions of all the villages
which I know to be ancient, either because they possess sacred dairies
or because they are mentioned in legend.
It will be seen that the greater part of the hills is occupied by the
Tartharol, while the Teivali villages lie chiefly in the north-west
part of the hills. The chief exception is the village of Keadr, which
is situated some way south of the rest.
If, in coming to the hills, the Todas followed the routes now supposed
to be traversed by the dead, the position of Keadr would suggest that
this clan was assigned a seat soon after the Teivaliol had crossed the
Pakhwar, and that the others journeyed on northwards.
The plans certainly make it clear that there is a difference in the
geographical distribution of the two divisions, and the nature of this
distribution is consistent with the advent of the two divisions at
different times. It will be noticed in both plans that one Tarthar clan
has its seat in the middle of what would otherwise be exclusively a
Teivali district. This clan is that of Taradr, and it is perhaps
significant that the Taradrol have many features which differentiate
them from Tarthar clans in general, especially in their possession of
the kugvalir and in the possession of their own Amnòdr, though, as we
have seen, the latter feature may merely be a later consequence of
their isolated position.
It is known that when two tribes coalesce to form a community, the
inferior people may act as the sorcerers and wizards of the community.
At the present time the majority of the teuol, or diviners, belong to
the Teivaliol, but this branch of sacred function is not limited to
that division. The magical powers of the sorcerer seem to be now almost
equally divided among the two divisions, and there is no evidence that
magical powers in the past have been attributed to one division more
than to the other.
In the preceding pages I have put together the chief evidence which
throws any light on the problem raised by the existence of the two
divisions of the Toda people. It is far from conclusive, but I incline
to the view that the present organisation of the Todas is due to the
coalescence of two tribes or castes which came to the hills at
different times. It seems probable that the Tartharol arrived first and
occupied the hills widely. When later the Teivaliol came, it seems
possible that they were placed by the Tartharol in those priestly
offices which, though honourable, involved many hardships and
restrictions, and were assigned dwelling-places and pastures in a
comparatively limited district of the hills.
The analysis of the genealogical record has brought out some
interesting differences between the two divisions. The data compiled
from the genealogical tables by Mr. Punnett [267] would seem to show
that the preponderance of males was and is still greater among the
Teivaliol than among the Tartharol. The tables provide statistics
roughly for four generations. In the second of these, [268] the number
of males for every hundred females was 159·7 among the Tartharol, 259
among the Teivaliol. For the last generation, these numbers have sunk
to 129·2 and 171 respectively. These figures almost certainly mean that
female infanticide was more in vogue among the Teivaliol and is still
practised by them to a greater extent than by the Tartharol.
This would seem to show that the Teivaliol have clung more closely to
the old custom of infanticide and may be taken as an indication of the
greater conservativeness of the priestly caste, but the Teivaliol
chiefly occupy those parts of the hills furthest removed from the
European settlements, and the greater freedom from external influence
is probably an important reason for the greater frequency of
infanticide among them at present, though it will not explain the
greater prevalence in the earlier generations.
The Teivaliol are now much the smaller of the two divisions, the
numbers at the most liberal estimate being less than half of those of
the Tartharol, and this difference is certainly of long standing. It
may be due to original disproportion of numbers, but if female
infanticide has long been more frequent among the Teivaliol, this might
furnish a cause of their smaller population. It is perhaps significant
in this connexion that the only extinct clan of which I have a record
is a Teivali clan, the Kemenol, which is said to have become extinct
about a hundred years ago, and the causes which led to its extinction
may well have produced a great diminution of numbers in other branches
of the Teivaliol.
CHAPTER XXX
THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE TODAS
I have now given the whole of the material which I have collected on
the institutions of the Todas. In describing these institutions I have
discussed various general problems suggested by their nature, but I
have said little about the points of resemblance or difference between
the customs of the Todas and those of other peoples either in India or
elsewhere. It remains in this last chapter to see how far the evidence
which I have given throws any light on the very difficult questions:
Who are the Todas? How do they come to be living on the Nilgiri Hills?
The evidence which might be available for our inquiry is of three
kinds: records of the Todas in the past, traditions preserved by the
Todas, and, lastly, evidence derived from the comparative study of
physical and psychical characters, language, beliefs, and institutions.
The evidence coming under the first two heads is of the scantiest. Our
earliest record of the Todas is contained in a Portuguese manuscript
now in the British Museum. It records the visit of a Portuguese priest
named Finicio to the Nilgiri Hills in 1602. This manuscript was
partially translated and published by Thomas Whitehouse in a book
dealing with the Syrian church of Malabar, under the title “Lingerings
of Light in a Dark Land.” As the translation given by Whitehouse is
incomplete, I had the manuscript retranslated, and it was then found
that several interesting details had been omitted, and that there were
several errors in the translation. The new translation is given on pp.
721–730.
The account given by Finicio is very superficial, being the result of
only two days’ intercourse, but it is sufficient to show that there has
probably been little change in the Todas and their surroundings in the
three centuries which elapsed between his visit and mine. I have
referred in the general body of the work to several of the points in
which his account either corroborates or differs from my own. Perhaps
the most important feature of his story is that it shows the relation
between the Todas and Badagas three centuries ago to have been very
much what it is at the present day, and shows clearly that this
relation between the two tribes is of longer standing than has usually
been supposed. Finicio’s account is, however, so brief and superficial
that it helps us little in our search for evidence on the evolution of
Toda society. We know from it that the institution of the ti was in
existence, and the scanty evidence goes to show that the life of the
palol was much what it is now, but there is nothing to tell us whether
the ritual had then reached the high pitch of development which it now
shows, nothing to tell us whether since that time there has been
development or degeneration.
From 1602 to 1812 we have, so far as I am aware, no record of the
Todas. In the latter year William Keys, Assistant Revenue Surveyor,
reported the existence of the Todas, or Thothavurs, and other tribes in
a letter to the Collector of Coimbatore. His account gives little
information about the Todas, except that they kept buffaloes and held
it a sacred and inviolable custom to keep their heads uncovered. In
1819 “a Subscriber” wrote an account of the Nilgiri tribes which was
published in the Madras Courier. Beyond a description of their
appearance, the only information given about the Todas or Todevies is
that it is against the custom to wear either turban or sandal, that
they permit hair and beard to grow long, and that the Badagas pay a few
handfuls of grain from each field as acknowledgment that they received
their land from the Todas. In 1820 Lieutenant Macpherson reported the
practices of polyandry and infanticide, and in the following year
Captain B. S. Ward described the marriage customs more fully, and gave
some account of the dairies and priesthood. In 1826 the Rev. James
Hough addressed a number of letters to the Bengal Hurkaru, giving an
account of the Nilgiris and their inhabitants, and these letters were
republished in a book in 1829. A more elaborate and most excellent
account of the Todas was given by Captain Harkness in 1832, in a work
entitled A Description of a Singular Aboriginal Race Inhabiting the
Summit of the Neilgherry Hills, and since that time very many of those
who have visited the Nilgiri Hills have had something to say about the
Todas and their ways. As I have already pointed out, these records from
the earlier part of last century differ but little from my own, and do
not furnish us with any evidence that Toda customs underwent any great
change during that century.
As regards the evidence from Toda tradition, we are in no better case.
Several writers have stated that the Todas believe that they came to
the Nilgiris from elsewhere, but whenever I made any inquiries on this
point I was assured that they had always been on the Nilgiri Hills, the
first Toda having been created on the Kundahs in the manner already
described.
It seems most probable that those who have ascribed such traditions to
the Todas have been misled by the account of the Kamasòdrolam. These
are the people who are believed to have been driven away from Kanòdrs
by Kwoten (see p. 195). The Todas have a very sincere belief in the
existence of these people, and when I showed one man the frontispiece
in Marshall’s book, representing a Toda village and its inhabitants,
something unfamiliar in the arrangement of the scene made the man think
that it must be a picture of the Kamasòdrolam. Any Toda who is asked
whether there are other Todas and where they live will at once think of
the Kamasòdrolam and will tell of these people, and the story might
easily be mistaken for a tradition of their origin.
The Todas are also said to believe in their descent from Ravan, and I
was told by one man that they were descended from the Pandavas, but I
have little doubt that such beliefs are only recent additions to their
mythology.
In studying the origin and history of the Todas we have thus no record
earlier than three centuries ago, and no traditions of any value, and
we are altogether thrown back on the evidence furnished by the manners
and customs of the people, their language, and their physical
characteristics.
Though the manners and customs of the Todas are in many ways unique, or
very exceptional, there is a general resemblance between them and those
comprised under the general title of Hinduism, and especially with such
more popular customs as are described by Mr. Crooke. [269] The great
development of the ritual aspect of religion, the importance of
ceremonies connected with birth and death, the sacredness of the
milk-giving animal, the nature of the system of kinship, the marriage
regulations and many other features bear a general, and in some cases a
close, resemblance to institutions found in India generally, or in
certain parts of India.
On the social side these resemblances are perhaps closer than on the
religious side. The system of kinship is very similar to that of other
parts of Southern India, and, so far as my knowledge goes, to that of
India generally. The marriage regulation that the children of brother
and sister should marry is found throughout Southern India and probably
throughout the Dravidian population of India. The practice of polyandry
probably exists scattered here and there throughout India, and has
undoubtedly existed in recent times in Malabar. The practice of the
mokhthoditi union between man and woman has also close analogies in
Malabar.
On the religious side the high development of the dairy ritual, so far
as I know, stands alone, but the customs connected with birth and death
have many resemblances to practices followed in other parts of India,
though this resemblance is general only and usually breaks down on
going into detail.
Thus in Brahmanic ritual there are several ceremonies prescribed at
different stages of pregnancy, and some Indian tribes or castes have
pregnancy ceremonies peculiar to themselves, but I do not know of any
tribe or caste except that of the Todas in which giving a bow and arrow
forms the essential feature of a pregnancy ceremony, though it is not
uncommon for this weapon to play a part in marriage rites, and in Coorg
a little imitation bow and arrow is put into the hand of a newly born
boy.
Similarly, seclusion after childbirth is common in India, and in the
Brahmanic ceremony of Jatakarma water is poured over the heads of
mother and child by the priest. In some cases from Mysore (see p. 705)
there is a still closer resemblance to Toda custom, but there are some
features of the Toda ceremonial for which I can find no parallel.
In many points, again, there are distinct resemblances between the
practices of the Todas and the more popular customs of India; thus the
pounder, sieve and broom frequently play a part in the popular magic of
India, [270] as of other parts of the world, but I do not know of any
parallel for their being regarded as especially the emblems of women,
as they appear to be in Toda belief.
It is perhaps in the funeral ceremonies that we find the largest number
of resemblances between Toda custom and that of other parts of India.
Thus, among those who cremate their dead, it is usual to have
ceremonies some time after the cremation, and some have regarded the
second funeral ceremony of the Todas, the so-called dry funeral, as the
representative of the Sapindi ceremony of orthodox Hinduism. Among
several tribes fragments of bone are preserved after the cremation,
which become the objects of further ceremonies. Thus, the Hos and
Mundahs [271] preserve large fragments of bone, which are hung up in
the house and are buried in an earthenware pot much later, after being
taken in procession to every friend and relation of the deceased.
Again, among the Saoras of Madras [272] fragments of bone are picked
out from the ashes and covered over with a miniature hut.
Animals are frequently killed at funerals throughout India, and among
the Saoras, just mentioned, [273] the animal is a buffalo, which is
killed close to the stone on which its blood is smeared. Again, among
the Kois [274] a bullock is slain and the tail placed in the hand of
the corpse.
A funeral practice which is very widely spread in India is the breaking
of a pot, and in some cases the pot so broken is one which has
contained the water used to quench the fire. Among the Naickers and the
Reddies of South India [275] the body is bathed with water from an
earthen pot, which is then dashed upon the ground, while in other
places an earthen pot filled with water is carried round the body three
times, after which the fire is lighted and later extinguished by water
which runs from a perforation in the pot. The common Indian practice,
according to Padfield, [276] is for the chief mourner to throw a pot
over his head behind him so that it is dashed in pieces.
That the kindred should retire with averted faces from the place where
the corpse is left is prescribed by Manu, [277] and the custom of
burning or burying face downwards is practised by low caste people, the
motive in this case being to prevent the evil spirit from escaping and
troubling its neighbours. [278]
While there is thus a general resemblance between many of the manners
and customs of the Todas and those existing in various parts of the
Indian peninsula, there is one district which possesses customs and
institutions which seem to stand in a much closer relation to those of
the Todas than is the case elsewhere.
The social and religious customs of the west coast, and especially of
Malabar, not only bear a general resemblance to the customs of the
Todas, but this resemblance in some cases persists when followed into
detail. The similarity would probably become still more obvious if we
knew more of the customs of the less civilised inhabitants of this
district of India.
In going over the resemblances I will begin with those on the social
side. The most characteristic feature, of the social organisation of
the Todas is the institution of fraternal polyandry, The Nairs of
Malabar have given their name to a different type of polyandry, but it
is extremely doubtful whether the relations existing in recent times
between Nair women and their consorts should be regarded as examples of
polyandry. Nevertheless, there is undoubted evidence that true
polyandry has existed in Malabar, and in the most definite examples
known this has been of the fraternal type. From the Report of the
Malabar Marriage Commission, published in 1891, it is clear that,
though polyandry is now extinct in North Malabar, it still persists in
some districts of South Malabar. One witness before the Commission
stated that at one time polyandry was very prevalent in South Malabar,
and that it was still the practice for a woman of the Kammalar or
artisan caste to have five or six brothers as husbands, and the witness
had known personally a woman in Calicut who was the wife of five
brothers, spending a month at a time with each. Another witness stated
that polyandry existed in some parts of Cochin, and in a few places in
South Malabar. Another said that among the Tiyans of North Malabar it
was the custom for one man to marry a girl for all the brothers of the
family. One of the names for marriage in Malabar is uzham porukka,
which probably means “marriage by turns.” The Kanisans or astrologers
of Malabar proudly point out that, like the Pandavas, they used
formerly to have one wife in common to several brothers, and that the
custom is still observed by some. [279]
Polyandry is not the only marriage institution in which there is a
resemblance between the Todas and the people of Malabar. The
mokhthodvaiol of a Toda woman seems to be very much like the consort of
a Nair woman, and when these consorts are, as they usually are,
Nambutiris or Malabar Brahmans—i.e., belong to a different caste—the
resemblance to the mokhthoditi custom becomes very close.
More important is the custom of giving a cloth as the essential
marriage ceremony. The two chief features of a Toda marriage are the
giving of a loincloth to the girl and the salutation of the girl’s
relatives by the husband. Similarly the essential feature of the
irregular union between man and woman is that the mokhthodvaiol gives a
cloak to the woman, and the Badaga name by which the relation has
previously been known is derived from this fact—the man is called the
“blanket man” of the woman. Throughout the greater part of the Malabar
coast the essential feature of the marriage ceremony is that the man
gives a cloth to the woman. The Nairs have two marriage ceremonies,
[280] of which the later, or sambandham, forms the actual alliance
between man and woman. The ceremony of this marriage consists in giving
a cloth, and various names for the ceremony, such as muntukotukkuka,
vastradanam, putavakota and pudamuri, all mean “cloth-giving.” In South
Malabar a marriage is dissolved by tearing up a cloth called kachcha,
[281] and among the Izhavas, [282] the actual wedding ceremony consists
of the gift of a cloth.
The act of giving clothing as part of the marriage ceremony is found
generally throughout India, but it seems to be a much more prominent
and essential feature of marriage in Malabar than elsewhere.
Among the funeral ceremonies of the Todas there is one in which a cloth
is laid on the body of the deceased. The essential feature of this
ceremony is that a cloth is given by a man belonging to the clan of the
deceased to those who have married into the clan, the cloth being then
placed on the corpse by the wives of these men. The whole ceremony
seems to be essentially a transaction between clans which have
intermarried and evidently stands in a close relation to the regulation
of marriage, and it is therefore of great interest not only that a
cloth should play so prominent a part, but also that the word used for
the cloth which gives the name to the ceremony should be kach, the same
word as is used sometimes in Malabar for the cloth so important in the
marriage ceremonies.
The resemblance between the Todas and Nairs in this direction goes,
however, one step further. Among the funeral ceremonies of the Nairs
there is one called potavekkuka, in which new cotton cloths are placed
on the corpse by the senior members of the deceased’s Tarawad
(corresponding to clan), followed by all the other members,
sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, and other relatives. The details of the
ceremony differ in the two communities; among the Nairs the placing of
cloths is the duty of a wide circle of relatives, but the resemblance
between the customs is sufficiently close to make it highly probable
that we have to do with two developments of one custom.
The ceremony just described is not the only point in which the funeral
rites of the Todas resemble those of Malabar. The earthen pot which I
have already mentioned plays a part in the rites of both Nairs and
Nambutiris. By the Nairs [283] the pot is carried three times round the
pyre while the water leaks out through the holes, and on completing the
third round the pot is dashed on the ground close by the spot where the
head of the corpse had lain. The Nambutiris burn their dead and bury
the ashes three days later, and when the body is being burnt an earthen
pot containing water is carried round the fire, and is then punctured
and the water received into another vessel, from which it is thrown on
the fire, and then the pot is smashed and thrown away. [284]
We have seen that according to Toda belief it is necessary that those
who have not been through certain ceremonies in life must do so after
death, and the same belief is entertained by the Nambutiris, who tie
the tali at the funeral of an unmarried girl, [285] just as the Todas
perform the pursütpimi ceremony.
The Nairs collect pieces of unburnt bones from the ashes fourteen days
after the cremation, but they either throw them into the nearest river
or take them to some sacred place, thus following a frequent Indian
practice.
There is one feature of the urvatpimi ceremony of the Todas which also
suggests a possible link with Malabar, and this is the name, pülpali,
given to the artificial dairy used by the Tartharol. The Nairs of
Malabar have a ceremony at the ninth month called pulikuti, in which
the woman drinks tamarind (puli) juice which has been poured over a
knife by her brother. [286] The Toda word for the sour taste is
pülchiti, derived from tamarind, and I have suggested that the name
pülpali may mean ‘tamarind dairy,’ and be a survival of community
between the Toda ceremony and that of Malabar.
I have now enumerated a number of points in which there is a close
resemblance between the customs of the Todas and those of the people of
Malabar. In some cases, as in that of the cloth ceremony of the
funeral, the resemblance is so close that we seem almost bound to seek
its explanation either in identity of origin or in borrowing. We may be
confident that if there has been any borrowing from the inhabitants of
Malabar, it has not been recent, and we may also be fairly confident
that the physical barrier in the past must have prevented any but the
most infrequent intercourse between the inhabitants of the Nilgiri
plateau and those of Malabar. If we attach any significance to the
resemblances I have indicated, the conclusion seems almost inevitable
that the Todas at some time lived in Malabar and migrated to the
Nilgiri Hills, and it remains to inquire whether there are any other
facts in favour of this view.
On one line of evidence I cannot speak with any authority, but I
strongly suspect that there is a very close resemblance between the
Toda language and Malayalam.
I think there is little doubt that the Toda language is much more
nearly allied to Tamil than to Canarese, and I believe that the
contrary opinion of Dr. Pope was due to the inclusion in his material
of many words borrowed by the Todas from their Canarese-speaking
neighbours, the Badagas. Malayalam is closely allied to Tamil,
differing from it chiefly in its disuse of the personal terminations of
the verbs and in the large number of Sanscrit derivatives, [287] and I
should like to make the suggestion, for the consideration of Dravidian
philologists, that there is a close resemblance between the Toda
language and Malayalam, minus its Sanscrit derivatives.
The Todas claim that their diviners, who, when in their frenzy, are
believed to be inspired by the gods, speak the Malayalam language, some
clans speaking a language which the Todas say is that of people they
call Mondardsetipol, living in Malabar. I do not know whether the Toda
claim is justified, but in any case the belief exists that the diviners
speak the languages of Malabar, and that these are the languages of the
gods. It is possible that in their beliefs concerning the language of
the gods the Todas may be preserving a tradition of their
mother-tongue, and if it could be proved that the diviners actually
speak the Malayalam language the link with Malabar would be very
materially strengthened. [288]
The Todas believe that their dead travel towards the West and are able
to describe the paths by which they pass. Here, again, there is some
reason to think that people may preserve in their beliefs about the
passing to the next world a tradition of the route by which their
ancestors travelled from a former home, and this may be so in the case
of the Todas.
Another fact linking the Todas with Malabar is the use of the tall pole
called tadri in the funeral ceremonies. This pole is procured for the
Todas from the Malabar side of the hills by the Kurumbas, and I was
told that suitable poles only grew in Malabar, and the pole is adorned
with cowries which are also probably of Malabar origin. Other objects
burnt at the funeral, such as the boxes called pettei and the umbrella
called miturkwadr, are also procured from Malabar. The use of objects
in funeral ceremonies which are procured from Malabar is suggestive,
though, taken alone, it would have little significance.
A fact which would perhaps be regarded by most as more important is
that there is now a settlement of the Todas at Gudalur in the Wainad,
on one of the routes from Malabar to the Nilgiris. It seems clear that
at one time the settlement was larger than it is at present, and it is
tempting to suppose that we have here evidence of the route of the Toda
migration. There are, however, facts which make it improbable that this
clue is of any value. If the villages about Gudalur had been survivals
of the migration they would almost certainly have been sacred villages,
but it was quite clear that they had no sanctity whatever and were not
even saluted when seen from a distance. Unfortunately I did not visit
Kavidi, the only village which remains, and if I had done so I might
have discovered some evidence of sanctity and antiquity, but from what
I was told it is very unlikely that any such evidence exists. This
absence of sanctity is further in agreement with the traditions of the
Todas, who say that the settlement at Gudalur is recent. There are,
however, other facts which point to an ancient connexion of the Todas
with this district. Some of the buffaloes of the most sacred and
ancient Nòdrs ti are said to have come from Perithi in the Wainad, and
the Taradrol, in many ways an exceptional Toda clan, are said to have
their own future world or Amnòdr at this place.
It will thus be seen that, in addition to the points of similarity in
custom and belief, there are definite facts pointing to connexion with
Malabar, and if we suppose that the Todas migrated from this district
we have next to conjecture the path by which they travelled. If any
importance is attached to the belief in the paths taken by the dead, we
should regard it as the most probable view that the Todas travelled
over the Kundahs, the two divisions of the people travelling by
slightly different routes. The Toda tradition that men were created on
the Kundahs is perhaps in favour of this route, which would seem to
correspond with the road to the Nilgiris known as the Sisipara Ghat.
If, on the other hand, we attach importance to the settlement at
Kavidi, the route followed would be that through Gudalur. At the
present time the latter road is far the easier of the two, and, if the
Todas had travelled during the last few years, it would have been the
natural road by which to come, but it does not appear that there was
any essential difference in the difficulties of the two routes before
the roads were made. The evidence in favour of either route is very
scanty, but if the Todas came from Malabar it is probable that they
came by one or other of these paths.
There are two other districts which have some claim to be considered as
possible places from which the Todas may have migrated—viz., Mysore and
Coorg.
The Todas regard with some reverence a Hindu temple at Nanjankudi in
Mysore, and visit it to pay vows, and there is little doubt that they
have done this for a long time. Further, Nòdrs, one of the oldest and
most sacred of the Toda villages, is close to the present road from
Mysore and may have been near the most convenient route from Mysore in
ancient times. I think, however, that, though not recent, the relations
with the Hindu temple at Nanjankudi are not of very great antiquity,
and I am inclined to ascribe the Toda reverence for it to their
association with the Badagas, who almost certainly came from Mysore. I
have not been able to find many parallels to Toda customs in Mysore. In
one case, however, the resemblance is very close. Among the Gollavalu
of Mysore [289] a woman after delivery is turned out into a leaf or mat
hut, about 200 yards from the village, and on the fourth day a woman of
the village pours water over her. In this case the woman lives in the
hut for three months, her husband also living in a special hut. Again,
among the Kadu (or forest) Gollas of Mysore [290] the mother and child
remain in a small shed outside the village for seven to thirty days.
The other district which has customs especially resembling those of the
Todas is Coorg. Among the people of Coorg cloth-giving appears at one
time to have formed the essential marriage ceremony, and there still
exist what are called ‘cloth-marriages’ in which a man becomes the
husband of a woman merely by giving her a cloth. There is also some
evidence that polyandry has been practised in Coorg, and I have already
referred to the resemblance between the pursütpimi ceremony of the
Todas and the Coorg custom of giving a little bow and arrow to a newly
born boy. The bow is made of a stick of the castor-oil plant and for
the arrow the leaf-stalk of the same plant is used. In Coorg the
imitation bow and arrow is put into the hand of the newly born child,
but this custom is not widely removed from that of the Todas in which
the bow and arrow is put into the hand of the mother shortly before the
child is born.
The Todas know the people of Coorg, which they call Kwûrg, and have a
tradition of an invasion of their hills by these people, but it is very
improbable that there has been any direct borrowing, and it seems more
likely that some of the customs of the Todas and Coorgs have had a
common source.
The resemblance with the customs of Coorg are perhaps more striking
than with those of Mysore, and the former region is much more likely to
have been influenced by Malabar than the latter. The links with Coorg
do not weaken, and perhaps even strengthen, the conclusion that the
Todas owe much to Malabar.
If we accept provisionally the view that the Todas migrated to the
Nilgiris from Malabar, we are next confronted with the problem as to
whether they are directly derived from any of the races now living in
that district. The most diverse views have been held by those who have
considered the racial affinities of the Todas. Leaving on one side the
conjectures of those who have supposed them to be Scythians, Druids,
Romans, or Jews, we find that the Todas have been supposed by several
writers to be of Aryan or Caucasic origin. De Quatrefages [291] grouped
the Todas with the Ainus of Northern Japan and Keane [292] follows him
in putting the two peoples together, and regards both as witnesses to
the widespread diffusion of Caucasic races in Asia. Deniker [293]
suggests that they belong to the Indo-Afghan race, with perhaps an
admixture of the Assyroid race.
Previous writers have found no special reason to link the customs of
the Todas with those of Malabar, and, so far as I am aware, no one has
considered how far the Todas may be of the same race as any of the
inhabitants of this district. [294] In considering this matter, we may
anticipate that even if the Todas and any of the tribes or castes of
Malabar had the same origin, marked differences would have been
produced by the long sojourn of the former on the Nilgiri plateau. How
long the Todas have been on the Nilgiri Hills no one can say, but we
may safely conclude that a very long time must have been necessary to
produce the wide divergence in custom and belief which is found to
separate them even from those other inhabitants of India whom they most
closely resemble. If the Todas came from Malabar, they came from a
country differing enormously in temperature and in general physical and
climatic characters from the Nilgiri plateau. Life on the hills must
almost certainly have altered the physical characters of the people,
and it is perhaps now hopeless to expect that any exact resemblance
would be found with the existing races of Malabar even if the Todas are
an offshoot of one of them. Nevertheless, in comparing the physical
measurements of the Todas, which we owe to Mr. Thurston, with those of
various Malabar races taken by Mr. Fawcett, it would seem that the
differences are not very great, and in the measurements to which
anthropologists attach most importance, those of the head and nose,
they are very slight.
In the table on the following page I give the chief measurements in
centimeters for Todas, Nairs, and Nambutiris.
The average dimensions of the heads and noses of the Todas correspond
very closely with those of the Nairs, and the differences from the
Nambutiris are nowhere great. It must be remembered that the
measurements on the Todas were taken by one observer, and those on the
Nairs and Nambutiris by another, [295] and this may partly account for
the large divergence in the case of the maxillo-zygomatic index, which
is calculated from the bigoniac and bizygomatic measurements, in both
of which there is considerable scope for differences between different
observers. The only other measurements which show any decided
divergence are the stature and the length from the middle finger to the
patella, and the greater stature of the Todas may well be the result of
their more healthy environment. The cubit of the Todas also differs
very decidedly from that of the Nambutiris, though little longer than
this dimension of the Nairs.
Todas. [296] 182 Nairs. 25 Nambutiris.
Stature 169·8 165·6 162·3
Span 175·9 175·1 170·0
Chest 82·0 80·6 83·7
Middle finger to patella 12·0 10·1 10·5
Shoulders 39·3 40·0 40·7
Left cubit 47·0 46·2 44·2
Left hand, length 18·8 18·5 18·0
,, ,, width 8·1 8·3 7·8
Hips 25·7 26·0 26·2
Left foot, length 25·0 25·4 24·5
,, ,, width 9·2 8·8
Cephalic length 19·4 19·2 19·2
,, width 14·2 14·1 14·6
,, index 73·3 73·1 76·3
Bigoniac 9·6 10·4 10·6
Bizygomatic 12·7 13·1 13·2
Maxillo-zygomatic index 75·7 80·1 80·4
Nasal height 4·7 4·8 4·9
,, width 3·6 3·6 3·7
,, index 76·6 76·8 75·5
We do not know the probable errors of these different groups of
measurements, but the agreement between the Todas and the two castes of
Malabar is so close as to suggest strongly a racial affinity between
the three. [297]
The hairiness of the Toda is perhaps the feature in which he differs
most obviously from the races of Malabar, while the robustness of his
physique and general bearing are perhaps almost as striking. The latter
qualities may be entirely due to his environment, to his free life in
the comparatively bracing climate of the Nilgiris, and, so far as we
know, the development of hair may have a similar cause. Of all the
castes or tribes of Malabar, the Nambutiris perhaps shows the greatest
number of resemblances to the customs of the Todas, [298] and it is
therefore interesting to note that Mr. Fawcett describes these people
as the hairiest of all the races of Malabar and especially notes that
one individual he examined was like a Toda.
I am not competent to express a decided opinion on the amount of
importance which is to be attached to the resemblance which is shown by
the figures on p. 708, but it seems to me that the facts before us give
no grounds [299] for separating the Todas racially from the two chief
castes of Malabar.
The identification of the Todas with Nairs or Nambutiris would still
leave their racial affinities somewhat indeterminate. The Nambutiris
are often supposed to be Aryan invaders of Malabar, and, owing to the
cause already mentioned, the Nairs are so largely of Nambutiri blood
that, if the Nambutiris are Aryan, the Nairs must also be strongly
Aryanised even if they were originally of pure Dravidian descent.
If future research should show that the Todas are an offshoot of one of
the races now existing in Malabar, and if any definite conclusion can
be drawn as to the time during which they have been on the Nilgiri
Hills, physical anthropologists will be provided with a most
interesting example of the influence of environment on the physical
characters of a race. Few greater contrasts of environment could be
found in a country than that existing between Malabar and the Nilgiris,
and it is possible that the Todas may furnish a striking example of the
influence of environment on physical characters.
In endeavouring to link the Todas with Malabar I have naturally dwelt
on the points of resemblance rather than on the points of difference.
The differences are, however, very great. The general manner of life of
the two peoples is now wholly different, while on the religious side I
may point to the wide prevalence of snake worship in Malabar,
especially among the Nambutiris.
The hypothesis that the Todas are derived from one or more of the races
of Malabar would not be tenable for a moment except on the assumption
that the migration took place very long ago, and that the culture of
Malabar has undergone great changes since the migration. As to the
length of time during which the Todas have been on the Nilgiris, we can
only offer the vaguest surmises. We know that three centuries ago the
Todas were living on the Nilgiris, apparently in much the same state as
at the present day. The appearance of some of their sacred stones
suggests great antiquity, especially the well-worn polished appearance
of the neurzülnkars, which, if the accounts are right, are only rubbed
a few times in the year.
On the other hand, the history of Malabar is highly conjectural. The
two great positive landmarks in its history are the beginning and end
of the rule of the Perumal princes. The date of the first Perumal is
put at about the time of Christ, or somewhat later, and it is tempting
to surmise that the Todas may have been driven or have retired from
Malabar in consequence of the political changes which took place at
this time. The last Perumal probably reigned about a thousand years
ago, but there does not appear to have been any political upheaval at
the time, the last prince having his period of office prolonged beyond
the usual twelve years, and having then divided his dominions among his
family and retainers.
If we assume that the Todas came from Malabar, the date of their
migration would be of great interest in relation to the possibility of
Christian or Jewish influences on the Toda religion. There are ancient
settlements of both Christians and Jews in Malabar. Tradition assigns
the starting-point of the native Christian settlements in Malabar to
St. Thomas; but, leaving this on one side, there seems to be no doubt
that both Christians and Jews were well established in Malabar more
than a thousand years ago. An ancient document is still preserved by
the Jews of Cochin, which was given to their leader by the Perumal of
the day, and this document can be dated about 750 A.D. A similar
document preserved by the Nestorian Christians can be dated 774 A.D.
If the Todas left Malabar at the beginning of the Perumal rule, Jewish
or Christian influences can be excluded, but if at a later period such
influences may have been present, though it is very improbable that
they were important; for, unless the Todas have changed very much, they
would have been very unlikely to have borrowed from religious settlers
of an alien race. Still, in considering the strange resemblance between
the Hebrew and Toda versions of the Creation, this possible influence
should be borne in mind.
I have so far said nothing of the archæological evidence which may
possibly help in the settlement of the vexed questions which I have
raised in the preceding pages. Our knowledge of the history of the
Todas would be very materially advanced if we knew whether the cairns,
barrows and other ancient remains which are found on the Nilgiri Hills
are Toda monuments. In the cairns and barrows there are found objects
which suggest a Toda origin, such as figures of buffaloes with bells
round their necks (see Fig. 76, 9), but the vast majority of the finds
are utterly unlike anything now possessed by the Todas. They include
pottery of many designs, the lids of the vessels being often adorned
with the figures of animals. Many other animal figures have also been
found, and though that of the buffalo often occurs, figures of the
horse (see Fig. 76, 10), sheep, camel, elephant, leopard (?), pig (?),
and low-country bullock with hump are all found. Such figures can only
have been made by those well acquainted with the low country, and none
of these animals are ever mentioned in Toda legends.
Metal work is also found in the cairns and barrows; bronze vases,
basins and saucers (Fig. 76, 1, 2, 3), iron razors, styles or pins (?),
and daggers (Fig. 76, 8), while iron spear-heads (Fig. 76, 4, 7, 13)
are frequently met with.
In addition to the more elaborate cairns, cromlechs and barrows found
on the Nilgiri Hills, Breeks, to whom we owe most of our knowledge on
this subject, found what he took to be ancient examples of the azaram
or circle of stones within which the Toda buries the ashes of his dead
at the end of the second funeral. In such azaram in the district
between Kotagiri and Kwòdrdoni, Breeks found bronze bracelets and
rings, iron spear-heads, a chisel, a knife and an iron implement in
something of the style found in Malabar and differing from those
usually found in the cairns.
Breeks points out that the characteristic feature of the cairns and
barrows of the Nilgiris is the circle of stones, and that some consist
of an insignificant circle hardly to be distinguished from the Toda
azaram. He often found it difficult to say whether a given monument was
a cairn or an azaram, so that it would appear that there are
intermediate gradations between the more elaborate cairns or barrows
containing the pottery and metal work and the simple Toda azaram. From
the amount of rust on the iron implements, however, Breeks concluded
that there was a long interval of time between the most recent of the
cairns and the oldest azaram, but he points out that if the latter are
really azaram, they show that the Todas used at one time to bury such
objects as iron spears. [300]
As regards the cairns, Breeks points out that though the figures of
many animals occur in addition to that of the buffalo, most of the
animals are so badly imitated that it is difficult to identify them,
while the figures of the buffaloes are singularly characteristic and
often very spirited.
The only implements found by Breeks which might be agricultural were
shears and sickles (Fig. 76, 12, 5), and he recalls the kafkati burnt
by the Todas with their dead, which is a curved knife, different,
however, in shape from the sickles often found in the cairns.
On the other hand, very few of the human figures found in the cairns
resemble the Todas in any way; the women have the low-country top-knot
instead of the Toda curls, and they carry chatties on their heads,
which would never be done by a Toda woman at the present time, whatever
she may have done in the past.
Breeks himself inclined to the view that the cairns are Toda monuments.
One objection which has been made to this view is that the Todas
exhibit little or no interest in the cairns, and offer no objection to
their excavation. I have already given reasons [301] why this cannot be
regarded as a conclusive argument against the Toda origin of the
monuments. The Todas certainly identify the hills which possess stone
circles with the abodes of their gods, and the absence of objections to
the excavation may merely be due to the fact that they have no
traditional injunctions against interference with these circles.
In dealing with the religion of the Todas, I have advanced the view
that the ritual and beliefs of the people furnish us with an example of
a religion in a state of decadence. It seems probable that the Todas
once had a religious cult of a distinctly higher order than that they
now possess, and if I am right in supposing that the Todas came from
Malabar, it might follow that they brought their highly developed
religion with them, and that although certain features of the religion
may have undergone great development, the general result of the long
isolation has been to produce degeneration. The study of the religion
suggests that we have in the Todas an example of a people who show us
the remnants of a higher culture.
If we could accept the view that the cairns, barrows, and cromlechs of
the Nilgiri Hills were the work of the ancestors of the Todas, we
should have at once abundant further evidence that the Todas have
degenerated from a higher culture. We should have an example of a
people who once used, even if they did not make, pottery, showing
artistic aptitudes of a fairly high order which they have now entirely
lost. The Toda now procures his pottery from another race, and, so long
as this is of the kind prescribed by custom, he is wholly indifferent
to its æsthetic aspect. I doubt if there exists anywhere in the world a
people so devoid of æsthetic arts, and if the Nilgiri monuments are the
work of their ancestors, the movement backwards in this department of
life must have been very great.
It is easy to see how the Todas may have lost such arts, supposing that
they once possessed them. The Toda now regards nearly every kind of
manual labour as beneath his dignity, and if a people showing artistic
skill in the adornment of the articles they use in everyday life should
hand over the making of these articles to another race, it is fairly
certain that the artistic side would suffer, and this is especially
likely to happen when the artisans whose services are employed are such
people as the Kotas. [302] Assuming that such a transference took
place, it is easy to understand the complete disappearance of art even
higher than that which the contents of the monuments show.
The use of the bow and arrow and the club in ceremonial furnishes us
with another example of material objects which have wholly disappeared
from the active life of the Todas, and here again it is easy to see why
the disappearance has taken place, for on the Nilgiris the Todas have
had no enemies, either human or feral. This disuse of weapons has
indeed so obvious an explanation that it cannot be treated as an
instance of degeneration; and while the origin of the cairns remains
doubtful, the only evidence of degeneration of culture is shown by the
religion; and though it seems to me that the evidence here, especially
that derived from the nature of the prayers, is conclusive, it may not
be so regarded by all.
In the preceding lines I have put forward for consideration the
tentative hypothesis that the Todas may furnish us with an example of a
people who once have possessed a higher culture of which some features
have undergone degeneration. If we combine this hypothesis with that
advanced earlier, that the Todas came from Malabar, we may suppose that
the Todas brought the higher culture with them from this district, and
if this were so, the original culture of the Todas may have been on
much the same general level as that of the dominant castes of Malabar
at the present day. On this hypothesis, it seems to me most likely that
in their new home the religion of the Todas underwent a very special
development, its ritual coming to centre more and more round the
buffalo, because in their very simple environment this was the most
accessible object of veneration. I think there is little doubt that the
extraordinary development of the ritual of the dairy must have taken
place since the Todas have been on the Nilgiris; and, as I have already
pointed out, it seems to me most probable that the degeneration of the
religion has been largely a consequence of the extreme development of
this ritual aspect of their religion.
If we reject the view that the Todas are representatives of one or more
of the castes of Malabar whose institutions have in some ways
degenerated during a long period of isolation, the most likely
alternative view is that the Todas are one of the hill tribes of the
Western Ghats who have developed a higher culture than the rest in the
very favourable environment provided by the Nilgiri plateau. I have
already referred to the resemblance between certain Toda customs and
those of one such tribe, the Hill Arrians, who live in the hills in
Travancore and on the Travancore-Cochin boundary. These people are
fair, about five feet six inches in height, and frequently have
aquiline noses. They inherit in the male line, and have an early
marriage ceremony, followed by another in which cloths are presented to
the bridegroom. After childbirth the woman lives in a shed for sixteen
days. They bury their dead, the earth being dug with the ceremony to
which I have already alluded, [303] and though we are not told that a
cloth is laid on the corpse at the funeral ceremonies, Fawcett [304]
records the fact that a cloth is placed on the grave. There are thus
several points of resemblance between their customs and those of the
Todas, and this resemblance extends in some measure to the physical
appearance and suggests, not only that they and the Todas have been
influenced by the same culture, but even that they are people of the
same race. We are here, however, plunged almost entirely in the region
of conjecture, and we must wait for further information before we
consider whether such tribes as the Hill Arrians are representatives of
the same race as the Todas, both having been driven from the plains of
Malabar into their mountain fastnesses, or whether the Todas and
Arrians are two hill tribes of similar descent who have each been
influenced by Malabar, of whom the Todas have advanced more in culture,
owing to their exceptionally favourable environment on the Nilgiri
plateau.
The whole of this last chapter is, I am afraid, open to the charge of
being highly conjectural. It has, however, seemed to me desirable to
raise some of the problems suggested by the existence of the Todas. In
the settlement of these problems much further research is necessary,
and I have somewhat reluctantly dealt so largely with the conjectural
topics of the chapter, because they seem to point clearly to two lines
of research in which further work is necessary. One is the archæology
of the Nilgiris, which would, I believe, now well repay further
investigation; the other is a detailed inquiry into the more popular
customs of Malabar and especially of its less known peoples, such as
the Hill Arrians, of whom I have just written. It is in the hope that
further interest may be awakened in these lines of inquiry that I have
devoted so much space to the hypotheses and surmises of this final
chapter.
If further research should show that the Todas are derived from ancient
races of Malabar, it is possible that the existence of this strange
people may help to illuminate the many dark places which exist in our
knowledge of the connexion between the Aryan and Dravidian cultures. It
is even possible that the Todas may give us a glimpse of what the
culture of Malabar may have been before the introduction of Brahmanism,
a culture from which many features would have disappeared, while others
would have undergone special development; and, if this were the case,
the complex dairy ritual of the Todas would be the most striking
instance of the development, a development, however, carrying with it
the germs of that degeneration from which the Toda religion now seems
to be suffering.
APPENDICES
APPENDIX I
I give here a translation of two extracts from Portuguese manuscripts
preserved in the British Museum. The original spelling of the names of
places and persons has been preserved and I have added some notes. I am
indebted for the translation to Miss A. de Alberti.
The Mission of Todramala. [305]—This new mission of Todramala belongs
to the college of Vaipicotta, and it seems necessary to give your Rev.
an account thereof that you may be informed of what has been
discovered, as well as of what still remains to be done. Vague rumours
had reached the Lord Bishop Dom Frco. Ros that in the interior of this
Malabar, among some mountains, there dwelt a race of men descended from
the ancient Christians of S. Thomas; in order to discover and open the
way to them he sent from our seminary a Cassanar [306] and a Chamas,
which means a priest and a deacon, who after travelling for more than
fifty miles reached the summit of the mountain of Todramala. Here they
came upon a race which appeared, in accordance with the rumour, to be
of those who were driven from the territory of S. Thome by the many
wars in former times and scattered through these parts. They did not
call it by that name, however, but pointing in the direction of S.
Thomas, they said that certain men came thence, some of whom settled in
those mountains, and others went further down, of whom they knew
nothing. The Cassamar thereupon took occasion to ingratiate himself
with them, saying that those who settled lower down were his ancestors,
and therefore they were all of one race, and they had come solely to
visit them as their brethren and relations. This moved them to such
love and pity that men, women, and children embraced and welcomed them
with tears. They found no trace of Christianity in them; they had
neither crosses nor books, though they said they had some once, but
they were lost as those who could read had died out. They have no
pagoda worship nor pagan ceremonies. On being questioned concerning
their god they spoke of a bird, a father, and a son, from which it may
be presumed that they had some notion of the Blessed Trinity. They
rejoiced to hear of the creation of the world and other discourses
which the Cassamar and the Chamas held with them; and they were very
eager that they should remain with them a long while, but they could
not do so, as their guide was very pressing that they should return.
They are a somewhat white-skinned race and tall of stature; they grow
long beards and wear their hair after the ancient Portuguese fashion,
bushy on the head and falling on the shoulders behind. They have
necessaries in abundance, namely, rice, some wheat, vegetables, and
meat in great variety, both fowls and wild game; quantities of cattle,
and so much milk that they cannot use it all and give it to the very
cattle to drink. Many other things were related of their customs which
I leave until more is known of them. Upon this information the Father
Vice-Provincial, at the instance of the Bishop, resolved to send
thither a priest well acquainted with the Malabar tongue, and therefore
he commissioned the father who was going to the residence of Calicut to
inquire the easiest road and best season for this mission. He found
that it was much nearer Calicut through the territory of the Samorim,
and that the best time was the month of January, when, by the help of
God, a father will set out with several Cassamars, and of what occurs
your Rev. will be informed next year.
The Mission of Todamalâ. [307]—Last year your Rev. received a brief
account of a new mission destined for Todamalâ to a certain race
dwelling in the interior of this country of Malabar, among rugged
mountains, at a distance of fifty leagues or thereabouts. These were
supposed to be descendants of the Christians of S. Thomas who had
somehow drifted to those parts. Though last year the Bishop of
Angamale, Dom Frco. Ros, sent a priest belonging to the Christians of
S. Thomas, accompanied by a deacon and a good guide, to explore the
land and acquire information concerning this race, they did not bring
back such full and certain intelligence as was desired. Therefore the
Lord Bishop asked our Vice-Provincial to send one of our fathers, and
the choice fell upon Father Yacomo Fenicio, [308] who has known the
people of Malabar for many years and is well acquainted with their
language. The father set out from Calicut, where he resides, and whence
the road is easiest, and with the assistance of good guides reached the
desired destination, though at the cost of great labour and risk.
Having acquired ample information, he returned to Calicut from
Thodomala, and on his arrival wrote a letter to the Vice-Provincial,
dated the 1st of April, 1603, giving him an account of his discoveries,
of which the following is a copy—
Copy of a letter from Father Yacome Finicio to the Vice-Provincial Of
Calicut, 1st of April, 1603
Thanks be to God, I am returned from Todamalâ, though with great labour
and little satisfaction, for I did not find there what we hoped and
were led to expect. And as the prosecution or abandonment of this
mission depends upon it, I think it necessary to give you here a
detailed account of all I discovered and endured. The road by Charti
being impracticable on account of the wars which had broken out among
the people, I was obliged to go by Manarechatem, and this was
providential for us, it being the road taken by the Cacenar whom the
bishop sent last year. It is thirteen leagues from the shore of Tanor.
So far the way was safe and easy, this being the territory of the
Samorim, and in every village we met people who knew our Christian
Errari, [309] the nephew of the Samorim, who accompanied me. I was very
glad of his company, because he offered it himself, and because he
could speak Canara, the language of the Badegas, neighbours of the
Todares. Before we reached Mararachate we had an interview with the
chief ruler of the Samorim, who lives within two leagues. I gave him a
palm-leaf from Carnor, chief ruler of the Samorim, in which he bade him
give me the men and assistance necessary for my journey to Todamalâ,
and to go with me himself if necessary. The ruler welcomed us with many
compliments, but as regards the journey he made many difficulties, and
not only he, but many others of that place said that the way was very
long and full of wild and rugged mountains; that there were elephants
and tigers, that it was very cold up there, and finally that there was
a risk that some of us would die. The ruler wished to send two Naires,
who knew the way, with me, but they would not go for fear of falling
sick, even though I would have paid them well. Finding that they made
so many difficulties I pressed the Errari to return to Calicut with his
people, as it was feared that they would fall sick upon the way, and I
would go to Manaracathe and there provide myself with a guide and
escort. This touched the Errari upon a point of honour, and he bade me
not to speak of such a thing, for he was resolved to go, and his Naires
had all bound themselves by an oath to go likewise. The Errari had with
him a Varser, [310] which is little less than a Brahmin, and he said to
me, “Father, if I die on the road, bury me where you will; it is of no
consequence.” I asked another young Naire if he wished to go, and he
replied, “I will accompany your Reverence while I have breath.” Upon
this we took leave of the ruler and went to Manarecathe, where we found
the very chatim who went with the Cacenar; however, the Errari thought
it best to take another more trustworthy, who had relatives in the
country. Here we were told that it was six Canara leagues to Todamalâ,
which is twelve Malabar leagues, and that it would take two days and a
half to get there. Everyone provided himself with clothes against the
cold of Todamalâ, and with provisions for the journey; also with pots
which the Naires carried on their heads, not for want of coolies, but
because the Naires and Brahmins will not allow those of a different
caste to touch the pots in which they cook their rice. The arms were
left behind that the natives might not suppose that the people of
Malabar had come to fight with them. Thus we set out cheerfully, and
the first day, as we could not reach a village before night, we dined,
and started between eight and nine in the morning, and marched quickly
until evening that we might not be benighted in the thicket, for fear
of the elephants, and yet our guide said we had only travelled two
Canara leagues. That day we crossed a sandy mountain.
The second day we wished to start at dawn, but we met fifteen or
sixteen men of that village coming by the road we were to pursue, all
armed, and they told us that there were three elephants in the way, so
we waited until nine o’clock and in the meantime the elephants sought
their pasture. This second day we supped at the foot of a very high
mountain over which our road lay, and as there was no village and there
were elephants about, after supper we climbed part of the mountain and
slept there. After midnight we climbed nearly all the rest of the
mountain by moonlight, with great labour and fatigue. On reaching the
summit other great mountains appeared, and others beyond them, at which
we were all astounded, for some of them were so steep that we were
obliged to descend in a sitting posture. When the Errari found himself
on these mountains, he said that God was punishing him for his sins,
and that going up and down such mountains would shorten their lives by
ten years. The chatim, our guide, looking down from a mountain, said
that merely looking down dazzled his eyes, and so said the Naires on
other occasions in similar circumstances. But I could not restrain my
laughter, and began singing hymns in Malabar against pagodas, whereupon
the others laughed too, and joined in the hymns. It was now noon, and
we had still another mountain to climb before reaching the village of
the Badagas, neighbours of the Thodares, but we were so tired that we
could go no further. We wished to dine, and there was very good cold
water flowing from a mountain, but we had no fire. The Errari offered
to go up with the Brahmin and to send us down a light. I would not
suffer him to take so much trouble, nor was it necessary, for the
chatim, our guide, struck fire from two twigs, and thereupon everyone
sat down to rest, cooking his rice meanwhile. When we had rested we
climbed the mountain and reached the village of the Badegas. It is a
village of 150 to 200 souls, called Meleuntaõ. [311] The Cacenar is
reported to have visited it. Here we found the chief of the Todeos and
spoke with him. He promised to go and assemble the rest, that we might
speak to them. In this village they have fowls, cows, goats, rice,
lentils, mustard seed, garlick, and honey. They brought me some wheat
in the husk, which was very difficult to remove, and therefore it
seemed to me more like barley or some other grain than wheat. The
Badagos are like the Malabars, and they say there are two other
villages like this in these mountains, four, five, and six leagues
distant from each other. These trade with the Thodares and sell them
rice, buying buffalo butter from them, which they carry to Manaracathe
for sale. The next day I wished to discourse to these Badagas
concerning our law. I showed them the pictures of Our Lady of St. Luke,
telling them that the child was God, who became man to teach us his law
and save us. I showed them a gilt Bible and told them that it was the
book of our law, and as they all surrounded me, I went up into a high
place and the Errari with me. I spoke in Malabar and the Errari
interpreted in Canara, which is their language. A Badaga who understood
Malabar could not contain himself, but came up to where I was and spoke
to me in Topas. [312] Then I taught him that the law given to us by the
God made man was contained in ten commandments, &c., and they all
rejoiced at the ten commandments and their explanation. Only at the
sixth [313] commandment the Topas Badaga represented to me that the
Malabars also had many wives. I told him that this law was not the law
of the Malabars, but of God, and that they did wrong in having many
wives, whereupon he was satisfied. Finally I told him that I had not
come to teach the Thodares only, but them also if they would accept
this law. They replied that the law was very good, but they did not
dare adopt it, neither could I live in these barren mountains, &c. I
make no doubt that if a priest were there they would all be converted.
While I was in this village of Melentaõ the priest of the Thodares came
thither, but he remained outside the village, for he may not touch a
woman. I went to see him and found him seated on the ground with seven
or eight others seated near him. He was a huge man, well proportioned,
with a long beard and hair like a Nazarene falling on his shoulders,
the front hair drawn back over his head, leaving his forehead
uncovered. His dress was a shawl from the waist to the knees, and the
rest of his body was naked; he held a sickle in his hand. When I had
come up to him and sat down, he asked me how I was; I replied that I
was well and all the better for meeting him, for it proved to me that
God was my guide, since I had come from so far to see the Thodares and
immediately met with their chief. He asked the purpose of my coming. I
replied that I had come to see the Thodares, having heard that we were
of the same race and laws, and that last year one of our people visited
them and gave us a very good account of them. I asked him if they knew
from whom they were descended. He said no, and thereupon would have
taken leave of us. Then I said that it was not right to wish to leave
us so soon, since we had come so far solely to visit them, and upon
this he remained. Then I inquired of those around who he was, and what
was his office. They replied that he was called Pallem and was like the
Belicha Paro among the Malabars. Belichaparo is he who takes care of
the pagoda, and sometimes the devil enters into him, and he trembles
and rolls upon the ground, and answers questions put to him in the name
of the pagoda. I asked if the Thodares had pagodas; they replied that
they had a live buffalo cow for a pagoda, and they hung a bell round
its neck, and the Pallem offered it milk every day, and then let it
loose in the fields to graze with the rest. And every month or
thereabouts, the Pallem seizes the buffalo by the horns and trembles,
saying that the buffalo bids them change the pasture, and thereupon
they change their place and pasture. By the milk and butter of this
buffalo and that of its children and grandchildren, which already reach
120, this Pallem is maintained. On this mountain where I was there were
100 Thodares, [314] and they had three pallems between them, each
having his buffalo for a pagoda. When the buffalo dies the Thodares
assemble, choose one of these hundred, tie the bell round its neck, and
it becomes a pagoda. Besides the buffalo they have 300 pagodas to whom
they also make offerings of milk. I asked him why he carried the sickle
in his hand, and he replied that God commanded him to carry no other
arm or stick but only that sickle. He used it to scratch his head,
which was swarming with lice, and they could be seen crawling among his
hair. I asked if he was married; he answered that he and his younger
brother were married to the same woman, but as he might not touch a
woman in the house she always lived with his brother, but he sent for
her into the bush every week or so, when it was a fine day. And when he
liked he sent for any of the wives of the Thodares whom he chose, and
the husbands allowed it so long as he paid them. I asked if they had
books and he said no; none of them can read or write. He also told me
that they had a father whom God took up to heaven, body and soul, and
the buffaloes looked up to heaven after him, and that was why they made
offerings to the buffaloes. At last I gave him one of the
looking-glasses from Calicut, with which he was very pleased and said
he would give it to his wife. Then I took leave of him, after showing
him the pictures and Bible, at which he wondered. Besides this pallem
they have another whom they call Ferral, [315] who is present when they
give the buffaloes salt water, and he trembles, bidding them give them
drink, and they will give much milk, and grow fat, and give butter in
plenty, &c.
The next day we went to visit the villages of the Thodares. We climbed
quite half a league above this village, and on reaching the summit
nothing was visible on every side but mountains and valleys; all was
desert without a single fruit or forest tree, excepting in an
occasional damp place where there were a few forest trees. There are no
palm trees or jacks in all these mountains, nor any fruit trees, as I
have said. As we traversed these mountains and valleys, every now and
then we saw a herd of buffaloes in the distance with a Thodar or two
guarding them. In this way we met four or five Thodares and sent them
to fetch the rest. As no women were visible, I promised one a
looking-glass if he would go and fetch them. He hastened away up a
mountain and brought back four women, who remained at a distance
through timidity and would not join the rest. I sent them word that
they must approach if they wanted looking-glasses, and then they came
up. After this we went on for another half a league or more and came
upon two Thodar huts at the foot of a mountain. They were like a large
barrel half buried in the ground, or like a covered bier. They were
nine spans in length and the same in breadth; and six spans in the
highest part. The hoops of the barrel were of thick reeds like Indian
cane, bent into a hoop with both ends fixed in the ground. Pieces of
wood from the bush were laid across these reeds and covered with grass.
The front was made of stakes set on end, like organ pipes, with no
other filling whatever. The door was a span and four inches wide, and
two spans and an inch high, so that the Errari and myself could
scarcely enter, and inside we had to kneel. There were two beds with
grass mattresses on each side, and a small pit in the middle of the hut
which was the fireplace. There was a little window on one side, a
finger’s length high and a span wide. Beside these houses was a pen for
buffaloes, and close by another little house where they make the
butter. They said the other houses were half a league distant from each
other. Thirty or forty Thodares assembled; they are clothed in a large
sheet with no other covering but a small loincloth four or five fingers
wide. Their arms are long sticks smeared with butter; when new they
look like strips of white paper at a distance, but they cure them and
they turn black. They wear long beards, and rather long hair, but not
so long as the Pallem. It was two months since I had shaved or cut my
hair, so that I looked like one of them, and they did not wonder at me
as they did at the Cacenar, who went there with no hair or beard. They
never shave except when one of them dies. At a death they kill half of
the dead man’s buffaloes, and the other half goes to his heirs. If he
has no buffaloes each person gives one, and half of them are killed and
the rest are left. They burn the dead body, but it must be wrapped in a
veil of pure silk, which they call a toda-pata, worth five or six
fanams; and if this is lacking they must wait for it, though it be for
a year. In the meantime, in order to preserve the body they open it at
the loins, take out the entrails, and cut off the occiput; then they
place it in an arbour and dry it in the smoke. Two brothers marry the
same woman; she lives with the eldest at night, and with the youngest
by day. Others have two or three wives. They do not eat fowls, cow’s
flesh, nor goat, and so they breed none of these. They do not eat
buffalo’s flesh, but only wild boar and venison. They eat no salt. They
have no crops of any kind, and no occupation but the breeding of
buffaloes, on whose milk and butter they live. They have no vassals, as
was reported; on the contrary, they are subject and pay tribute to the
Badega chiefs. When they eat they hold the rice in their left hand,
take a lump of butter in the right, mix it with the rice, and so eat
it; when their meal is finished they rub their hands together and wipe
them on their hair, and so they all smell of butter. In colour they
resemble the Malabars, some whiter and some darker; they are generally
moderately tall. Their ears are pierced or bored, not long like those
of the Malabars, and some wear a silver circle in them like a ring.
They wear black threads round their necks, and some have a large silver
bead like a pater-noster in front. I had a skein of black thread in my
pocket and drew it out; a Thodar seeing it begged it of me earnestly
two or three times. I told him that I must give it to the women, and I
divided it in four and gave it to the four women above mentioned, and I
gave them a looking-glass each, with which they were very delighted.
The women wear nothing but a long sheet like the men; they wrap it
round them, throwing the right end over the left shoulder, and so cover
themselves. Their hair hangs loose, but their faces are uncovered. I
said that the women lower down wore bracelets, chains, and jewels on
their arms and necks, and in their ears, and thereupon one of them
uncovered her arm, on which she wore four large well-made copper
bracelets. The sheet worn by both men and women is so filthy that it
looks as if it would not burn if you put it on the fire, and if water
were thrown on it, it would not penetrate. The men look after the
house, cook the rice, do the milking, make the butter, and mind the
buffaloes. The women do nothing but pound the rice, and sometimes mind
the buffaloes in the absence of their husbands. In speaking with the
Pallem I asked him whether he or his wife cooked the rice; he replied
that it was a great disgrace among them to allow the wife to cook the
rice. The Thodares being thus assembled, I told them that, hearing that
we were of the same race and law, I had come to visit them, and as I
knew they had neither priest, book, nor law, I being a priest had come
to teach them. I asked if they were glad to have me with them, and they
replied that they rejoiced greatly at it. I asked if they would follow
all my instructions, and they said they would. Then I asked if they
would leave off adoring the buffalo and the 300 pagodas. They replied
that they feared the buffaloes and pagodas would do them some harm. I
said I would be answerable for it, and that I had more power than the
pagodas. Then they said that if I would defend them they would
willingly leave off adoring them. I asked if they would give up the
custom of two brothers marrying one woman, and they said they would. I
asked if they thought it right to give their wives to the Pallem; an
old man replied, “If it is the command of God, what can we do?” After
this they asked me of their own accord to show them the pictures and
the book; I did so, and they paid homage to them with great rejoicing.
I also gave them a looking-glass each, and after discoursing and
conversing with them for some time I asked them to give me two children
to take away with me; they excused themselves, saying that they could
not do so just then. I asked from whence they were descended, and one
replied that he had heard that they came from the East, and some
remained there while some settled lower down. They were amazed at
seeing white men, and asked me to uncover my arms for them to look at.
They were delighted with the Errari’s red tunic and gold buttons, and
velvet cap with the gold braid.
At last I took leave of them, promising to return at some time during
the year and remain with them longer. It did not seem to me necessary
to delay any longer, nor to lay any foundation of our faith, as I do
not think that the present is a suitable time for the Company to
undertake such out-of-the-way enterprises, since it cannot attend to
others of greater importance which are close at hand, for want of
workers. The Thodares only number a thousand, and these are scattered
about four mountains, two belonging to the Malabar, where there are
300. I went to one of these which belongs to the Samorim, another
belonging to the Naique, where there are another 300, or a little over;
and another belonging to another king, near Charti, where there are
another 300 or rather more; the whole distance being eight Canara
leagues, which are sixteen in Malabar. And they live scattered
about—every month or thereabouts they move their village. The whole
district is uninhabited desert. The winds and climate are very cold;
the water is excellent, but icy cold; it flows down from the mountains;
it cannot be drunk at a draught because of the cold. One is obliged to
pause, and after drinking one has to wait awhile for the gums and teeth
to get warm. The journey there and back is very laborious and can only
be undertaken in January and February. From Manarcate upwards it is
impossible to travel in a litter. On the return journey I was very
fatigued and asked if it were possible to find men to carry me. I was
told that there were plenty of men, but that it was impossible to be
carried over these mountains, where one person alone could only climb
up and down with great difficulty. Besides this, the Errari and all the
rest were very pressing that I should return before any of us fell ill;
the Errari said he was himself indisposed, as well as some of the
others. They could not tell me anything concerning the Blessed Trinity.
I asked them why they wore their hair loose, and a Badaga replied that
in the time of Charamparimatei they killed the father of the Thodares,
and they asked, “Who killed our father?” and they answered that God
killed him; whereupon they unbound their hair and said, “Never will we
bind up our hair again until we have killed God, in revenge for our
father [and] for the broken pots.” On the return journey the Badegas
showed us a shorter and less difficult road, which took us two days and
a half, but saved going up and down the last steep mountains. However,
there was no lack of mountains to climb, but they were not so
difficult, though the first day we climbed down one which was very high
and steep. We numbered fourteen with the guides. There was a Badega
village at the foot of the mountain, and seeing us they took us for a
hostile band and fled into the bush. Our guides called to them not to
fly, for we were men of peace who had been to visit the Thodares,
whereupon they returned, and coming down we found them armed with their
little lances, but we saw the women and children still hidden in the
bush. A little further on we came upon four or five more houses; these
people also fled into the bush, the women carrying the children on
their backs. The second day we slept in the bush two leagues from
Manarecate. There were tigers and elephants about, but God preserved us
and we all reached Calicut in safety, thanks be to Our Lord. Several
afterwards fell sick, however, among whom was the Variel, who is still
suffering. May God restore him, for he has promised me to become a
Christian, and has already broken his own law as regards food, &c.
APPENDIX II
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1812. Keys, William. A Topographical Description of the Neelaghery
Mountains (a letter printed in Grigg’s Manual of the Nilagiri District,
Appendix, p. xlviii).
1819. “A Subscriber.” Letter to the Madras Courier, Feb. 23, 1819
(reprinted in Grigg’s Manual, Appendix, p. lii).
1820. Macpherson, Evans. A Letter reprinted in Grigg’s Manual,
Appendix, p. lv.
1821. Ward, B. S. Geographical and Statistical Memoir of a Survey of
the Neelgherry Mountains (printed in Grigg’s Manual, Appendix, p. lx).
1829. Hough, James. Letters on the Climate, Inhabitants, Productions,
etc., of the Neilgherries or Blue Mountains of Coimbatore, South India.
London. (Letters previously published in the Bengal Hurkaru, 1826.)
1829. Young, D. S. An Account of the General and Medical Topography of
the Neelgherries. Trans. Medical and Physical Soc. of Calcutta, vol.
iv, p. 36.
1832. Harkness, Henry. A Description of a Singular Aboriginal Race
inhabiting the Summit of the Neilgherry Hills. London.
1834. Jervis, H. Narrative of a Journey to the Falls of the Cavery;
with an historical and descriptive Account of the Neilgherry Hills.
London.
1834. Mignon, Capt. Notes extracted from a Private Journal written
during a Tour through Malabar and among the Neilgherries. Bombay,
American Mission Press (I have not been able to see a copy of this
book).
1837. Schmid, Bernhard. An Essay on the Relationship of Language and
Nations. Madras Journ. Lit. and Sci., vol. v, p. 133: on p. 155 is a
section “On the Dialect of the Todavers, the Aborigines of the
Neelgherries.”
1837. Barron, Richard. Views in India. London. (Coloured plates of Toda
man and woman, and of the village of Kars.)
1838. Birch, de Burgh. Topographical Report on the Neilgherries. Madras
Journ. Lit. and Sci., vol. viii, p. 86.
1838. Schmid, Bernhard. Ueber Sprache- und Völkerverwandschaft, Halle.
On S. 27 is a section on the dialect of the Todas.
1842. Stevenson, Rev. Dr. A Collection of Words from the Language of
the Todas, the Chief Tribe of the Nilgiri Hills. Journ. Bombay Branch
of Roy. Asiatic Soc., vol. i, p. 155.
1844. Muzzy, C. F. Account of the Neilgherry Hill Tribes. Madras
Christian Instructor and Missionary Record, Madras, vol. ii, p. 358.
1844. Anon. Madras Spectator, Aug. 31, 1844, p. 559 (an account of a
Toda funeral).
1844–5. Congreve, H. The Descent of the Thautawars. Madras Spectator,
1844, pp. 361, 655, 694, 768; 1845, pp. 29, 37, 63.
1847. Congreve, H. The Antiquities of the Neilgherry Hills, including
an Inquiry into the Descent of the Thautawars or Todas. Madras Journ.
Lit. and Sci., vol. xiv, p. 77.
1848. Ouchterlony. Geographical and Statistical Memoir of a Survey of
the Neilgherry Mountains. Madras Journ. Lit. and Sci., 1848, vol. xv,
p. 1.
1849. Schmid, B. Remarks on the Origin and Languages of the Aborigines
of the Nilgiris, suggested by the papers of Captain Congreve and the
Rev. W. Taylor on the supposed Celto-Scythic Antiquities in the South
of India. Journ. Bombay Branch Roy. Asiatic Soc., vol. iii, Part I, p.
50.
1851. Ford, Sir Francis. Neilgherry Letters. Bombay, 1851.
1851. Burton, R. F. Goa and the Blue Mountains. London, 1851 (pp.
316–344).
1856. Caldwell, R. A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian Languages.
London; p. 503, “Are the Nilgherry Tudas Dravidians?” (2nd edition,
1875, p. 555).
1857. Metz, J. F. Die Volkstämme der Nilagiri’s. Basel.
1857–8. Metz, F. A Vocabulary of the Dialect spoken by the Todas of the
Nilagiri Mountains. Madras Journ. Lit. and Sci., N.S., vol. i, pp. 103,
131, and vol. ii, p. 1.
1864. Metz, F. The Tribe inhabiting the Neilgherry Hills: their Social
Customs and Religious Rites; from the rough notes of a German
Missionary. Second enlarged edition, Mangalore.
1868. Shortt, J. An Account of the Tribes on the Neilgherries. Madras
(republishes part of Ouchterlony’s Memoir).
1869. Shortt, J. An Account of the Hill Tribes of the Neilgherries.
Trans. Ethnol. Soc., N.S., vol. vii, p. 230.
1870. King, W. Ross. The Aboriginal Tribes of the Nilgiri Hills. London
(republished from Journal of Anthropology).
1873. Marshall, William E. A Phrenologist among the Todas. London
(includes “a Brief Outline of the Grammar of the Tuda Language,” by the
Rev. G. U. Pope).
1873. Breeks, James Wilkinson. An Account of the Primitive Tribes and
Monuments of the Nilagiris. London.
1873. Burnell, A. C. Specimens of South Indian Dialects. Mangalore.
1873–5. de Quatrefages. Étude sur les Todas. Journal des Savants,
Paris, 1873, p. 729; 1874, pp. 5 and 96; 1875, p. 30.
1874. Walhouse, M. J. A Toda Dry Funeral. Indian Antiquary, vol. iii,
p. 93. A Toda “Green Funeral.” Ibid., p. 274.
1874. Kittel. On some Dravidian Words. Indian Antiquary, vol. iii, p.
205.
1877. Walhouse, M. J. Archæological Notes. Indian Antiquary, vol. vi,
p. 41.
1880. Grigg, H. B. A Manual of the Nilagiri District in the Madras
Presidency. Madras.
1894. Natesa Sastri, S. M. A New Study of the Todas. Madras Mail, Aug.
28th, 1894.
1895. Thurston, Edgar. The Todas of the Nilgiris. Bull. Madras
Government Museum, vol. i, p. 141.
1901. Thurston, Edgar. Todas of the Nilgiris. Ibid., vol. iv, p. 1.
? Ling, Catharine F. The Todas. Publication of the Church of England
Zenana Missionary Society: London.
1904. Shams-ul-Ulma Jivanji Jamshedji Modi. A few notes on the Todas.
Journ. Anthrop. Soc., Bombay, vol. vii, p. 68.
APPENDIX III
LIST OF TODA VILLAGES (NOT INCLUDING TI MAD)
Village. Clan. Badaga name. Remarks.
Akîrsikòdri Nidrsi Taranadmand male funeral place.
Ârpâr Päm
Ârs Kuudr Anekkalmand
Artol Taradr Aretalmand
Âtimad Taradr Karadikottumand
Eirgûdr Nòdrs Nerkodumand
Erparskòdr Piedr Yeppakodumand
Îdrtol Kuudr Edattalmand
Inikitj Päm Bettumand
Isharâdr Kars Kadimand
Iûdi Kwòdrdoni male funeral place.
Îvigar Kuudr Kekidamand in ruins.
Kabûdri Pan Tebbekudumand male funeral place.
Kâkhûdri Melgars Kaggodumand
Kalmathi Kars Kalmattimand in ruins ten years.
Kalmad Kars Kulamand in ruins.
Kanòdrs Kanòdrs Devarmand etudmad.
Kapthòri Keadr Kunnapemand in ruins.
Karars Keradr
Karia Kuudr Kariyamand
Kârs Kars Kandalmand etudmad.
Kârsh Karsh
Kashtkòdr Kuudr Kattikadumand unoccupied.
Katerk Nòdrs Kaitarkemand
Katikâr Kwòdrdoni Kodanadmand
Katol Melgars in ruins.
Kâvâther Nidrsi Kabaiteraimand
Kavîdi Piedr in the Wainad.
Keâdr Keadr Karrikadumand etudmad.
Kebâr Nidrsi female funeral place.
Kedâr Nòdrs Kangatarmand in ruins.
Keirod Kuudr Keradamand
Kerâdr Keradr Kannagimand etudmad, also male
funeral place.
Kerkârs Taradr Karrakalmand
Keshkar Kanòdrs
Keshker Kars Kakerimand also called Minikimand.
Kidmad Kidmad
Kîrsâs Melgars
Kiûdr Kuudr Kengodumand satimad.
Kiûsh Piedr Karimulimand
Kòdrers Piedr Hadamand
Koers Keradr Kokimalmand in ruins.
Kozhber Kuudr Kasubiramand disused.
Kozhtûdi Nòdrs
Kûtdimad Taradr Kulimand
Kudòdrs Nòdrs Kombutukkimand
Kûdrâdr Keadr Kudukkadumand
Kûdrmâs Taradr Kudimalmand kalolmad.
Kûdrnâkhum Nòdrs Kudinagamand
Kugwuln Kuudr disused.
Kûirsi Pan Kolimand
Kûlikâl Kwòdrdoni Kolikkalmand in ruins.
Kulkòdri Nòdrs Kolakkadumand in ruins.
Külmud Kars Malaividumand female funeral place.
Külthpuli Nòdrs female funeral place.
Kûrkalmut Kuudr female funeral place.
Kurvâs Nòdrs Kurudamand
Kushârf Kusharf etudmad.
Kûûdi Piedr Anaikundukulimand (? Köûdi).
Kûûdr Kuudr Kundakodumand etudmad.
Kuzhû Kars Kunditolmand
Kuzhû Kanòdrs near Kanòdrs: disused.
Kwarâdr Keadr Kugadodmand
Kwatkash Päm Marunallimand female funeral place.
Kwîrg Kuudr Korangumand
Kwòdrdôni Kwòdrdoni Kodudonnemand etudmad.
Madôni Pedrkars
Madsû Päm Manjathalmand
Madsû Kuudr disused.
Marsners Päm
Melgârs Melgars Manjakkalmand etudmad.
Melkòdr Kuudr Mekkodumand
Melûr Pedrkars Madaliyurmand
Merkwadrvalth Kanòdrs
Meroln Piedr male funeral place.
Mîrzôti Melgars male funeral place.
Miûni Kuudr Marlimand
Molkush Kuudr Malkodmand
Mòmanôthi Piedr female funeral place.
Mulòrs Nòdrs funeral place for boys.
Muthûkòr Kuudr disused.
Nasmiòdr Kars (Aganadmand)
Nâtêrs Pan Natanerimand
Nedrdol Taradr Kilmand in ruins.
Nelkush Nòdrs Neykadimand in ruins.
Nerigudi Nòdrs Nergulimand
Nerngòdr Kuudr disused.
Nersvem Kwòdrdoni Nervenumand in ruins.
Nersvem Nidrsi Nadumand in ruins.
Neshkwòdr Keadr Nedikodumand
Nidrsi Nidrsi Nidimand etudmad.
Nîrkâtji Kuudr Nirkachimand
Nîrsht Piedr
Nirsk Päm female funeral place.
Nòdrmad Taradr Nadumand
Nòdrs Nòdrs Muttanadmand etudmad.
Nongârsi Kars Kettarimand in ruins (? belonged to
Piedr).
Nüln Melgars Nerigulimand
Òdr Nòdrs Aganadmand
Òrs Taradr Alaikudalmand
Padegâr Melgars Kottapolmand also called Kotapol,
see p. 664.
Pâkhalkûdr Kars Bagalkodumand
Paliners Kuudr
Päm Päm in ruins.
Pamârkol Piedr female funeral place.
Pan Pan Onnamand etudmad: often called
“One mand.”
Panmuti Nidrsi Banatimand
Parzkadi Nidrsi in ruins.
Pathâdr Nòdrs Buddankodumand
Pathmârs Pan Bettumand
Pêdrkârs Pedrkars Bedakalmand etudmad.
Pegârsi Keradr Attumand in ruins.
Peivòrs Kuudr
Pekhòdr Keadr Osamand “new mand.”
Peletkwur Kars Attakoraimand
Pêrg Pan Yeragimand kalolmad.
Perththo Nòdrs Perittitalmand see p. 648.
Peshkimad Pedrkars female funeral place.
Pevar Taradr Pevarmand in ruins.
Pidati Nidrsi Bendutimand
Pîedr Pîedr Waragudumand etudmad.
Pîitth Kuudr male funeral place,
near Kuudr.
Pineiwars Nòdrs Pinnapolamand in ruins.
Pirshti Nòdrs Baggulamand
Pîrsûsh Kuudr Billanjikadumand
Pishkwosht Kanòdrs Bikkapatimand
Pòdzkwar Kars Narigulimand or Pûzhkwar.
Poln Kusharf Pagulimand
Pömad Pemand Kars in ruins twenty years:
near Peletkwur.
Pongûdr Pedrkars
Pòsh Melgars Onnekudimand
Pòti Piedr Pattimand
Potvaili Piedr disused.
Pülkwûdr Taradr Olakkodumand
Pulthkûln Keradr Bikkolmand
Punmud Kwòdrdoni Banukudumand female funeral place.
Punumikâtuni Kuudr female funeral place.
Purati Nòdrs Portimand
Puretimokh Melgars female funeral place.
Purskudiâr Pan Porikodiyoramand
Pushtar Taradr Pattaraimand
Putamad Kuudr disused.
Pûtol Nòdrs Puttalmand
Püvars Kars Ammakoraimand
Pûvi Päm Pudiyapalamand male funeral place
Sultar Pedrkars male funeral place.
Sudvaili Piedr male funeral place in
the Wainad.
Tâktut Päm place for small male
funerals.
Taknin Kanòdrs near Kanòdrs.
Tâmâkh Kuudr Tamogamand
Târâdr Taradr Tarnardmand etudmad, and male
funeral place.
Târâdrkîrsi Kars Kavaikkadumand male funeral place,
also kalolmad.
Tarkòdr Kuudr Terkodmand
Tavatkûdr Piedr Tavattakoraimand
Tebmârs Taradr Urutharaimand
Tedshteiri Nòdrs Talapatharaimand
Teidr Kusharf Denadmand
Telgûdr Taradr Telhodumand kalolmad.
Tigòir Piedr Tukkaramand
Tîm Pan male funeral place:
possibly another name
of Kabûdri.
Tòthikeir Nòdrs Jegadevarmand in ruins.
Tôvalkan Keradr Tuvalkandimand
Tûdrkwur Kusharf Todakaraimand
Tülchoven Päm male funeral place.
Umgâs Kusharf Yemmekalmand
Ushâdr Melgars Kavaimand male and female funeral
place.
Wengûdr Taradr Yenakodumand in ruins.
APPENDIX IV
In the following list I give the botanical names of the plants or kinds
of wood used by the Todas in their ordinary life or in their
ceremonial. I owe these names to the kindness of Mr. Thurston and Mr.
K. Rangachari.
Änmul Rubus moluccanus, L.
Âvelashki Hedyotis stylosa, Br.
Kabûdri Euphorbia Rothiana, Sprengl.
Kadak or kadakmul Rosa Leschenaultiana, W and A.
Kâkâr Eragrostica nigra, Nees.
Kâkhûdri Dregea volubilis, Benth.
Kâkkûdri Gardneria ovata, Wall.
Kâkûd Mappia foetida, Miers.
Kârkekoi Rhamnus Wightii, W and A.
Karneizi Acronychia laurifolia, Bl.
Kêrs Eugenia Arnottiana, Wight.
Kîâz Litsaea Wightiana, Benth. and Hk. f.
Kid Probably Olea robusta.
Kîri or Kîrsi Amaranthus (speciosus ?).
Kudi Hydrocotyle asiatica, L.
Kûrêrs Eugenia calophyllifolia, Wight.
Kurskat Strobilanthes, ? species.
Kwadiki or kwadriki Myrsine capitellata, Wall. var. lanceolata.
Kwagal Polygonum rude, Meissn. and P. chinense, L.
Kwatimali Coriandrum sativum, L.
Main Cinnamomum Wightii, Meissn.
Melkûdri Piper sp.
Mòrs Michelia nilagirica, Zenk.
Nârk Andropogon schoenanthus, L.
Pârs (wood) ? Sideroxylon.
Pârs (leaves) Pentapanax Leschenaultii, Seem.
Parskuti Eleagnus latifolia, L.
Pâsòr Dodonaea viscosa, L.
Pathanmul Solanum indicum, L.
Patm Panicum miliare, Lamk.
Pelkkodsthmul Rubus ellipticus, Sm.
Peshteinmul ? Phyllochlamys sp.
Pôhvet Pavetta creniflora, DC.
Pötûr Anaphalis oblonga, DC.
Pûl Ilex Wightiana, Wall.
Purs Rhododendron arboreum, Sm. and Elaeagnus
latifolia.
Pûtkimul Rubus lasiocarpus, Sm.
Pûv or pûf Sophora glauca, Lesch.
Püvkai Strobilanthes, ? species.
Takmul Berberis aristata, DC.
Tavat Rhodomyrtus tomentosus, Wight.
Teinkûdri Senecio corymbosus, Wall.
Tib Leucas zeylanica, Br., and L. aspera, Sprengl.
Tirparikat Strobilanthes, ? species.
Tiveri Atylosa candollei, W and A.
Tôârsmitch Diospyros sp.
Tòri or tòrimul Berberis nepalensis, Sprengl.
Tûdr Meliosma pungens, Wall. and M. Wightii, Planch.
Twadri Girardinia heterophylla DC.
Wâdr Ochlandra sp.
GLOSSARY
Only the more important Toda words used in this book are included in
the glossary. The words are arranged in alphabetical order, neglecting
the quantity or other value of the first vowel. The numbers refer to
the pages on which fuller descriptions of the terms are given.
Âḍrpârs, coagulated milk, curd, p. 64.
agâr, a stand in the dairy, p. 60.
al, the deposit after the clarification of butter used as food, pp. 50,
242.
alug, a vessel of the tî dairy, p. 90.
Amnòḍr, the world of the dead, p. 397.
an (anna), elder brother, p. 486.
än, ancient clothing of the Todas, pp. 196, 342, 572.
Anto, a dairy, p. 112;
also a god, p. 188.
ârpatznol or ârpasnol, a sacred day, p. 407.
ârs, house, p. 583.
ârsaiîr, buffaloes of the Kwòḍrdôni tî, p. 121.
ârsûp, a salt-giving ceremony, p. 175.
ashkkârtpimi, a food used on ceremonial occasions, p. 580.
âtîr, buffaloes of the Nòḍrs tî, p. 112.
âv (âvâ), mother, p. 485.
âzâram, the circle of stones in which the ashes are buried at a
funeral, pp. 337, 379.
âzâramkêḍr, the last part of the second funeral ceremony, pp. 337, 378.
Epotirikhtârs, a double hut, p. 29.
êr, a male buffalo, p. 47.
êrkumptthpimi or êrkumptthiti, the ceremony of sacrificing a calf, p.
274.
êrnkâr, sacrificial place at the êrkumptthpimi ceremony, p. 276.
êrs, leaf.
êrsteiti, the act of making a leaf-cup, pp. 75, 148.
ertatpun, a dairy vessel, p. 60.
ertatmâr, part of the dairy where the less sacred vessels stand, p. 58.
ertatpur, the less sacred objects of the dairy, p. 58.
etûdpali, chief dairy, p. 40.
etûdmad, the chief village of a clan or other important village, pp.
24, 36, 419.
etvainolkêḍr, the first funeral ceremony, p. 337.
ichchil, a condition of impurity due to death or child-birth, pp. 102,
326, 368.
iḍith, “for the sake of,” p. 216.
îḍrkwoi, a vessel used at a tî dairy, p. 90.
îḍrtul, part of a hut containing the sleeping-places, p. 583.
îmûḍrikârs, stones at certain villages, p. 439.
in, father, p. 484.
îr, a female buffalo, p. 47.
îrkarmus or îrkarmüs, the milking-place, p. 53.
îrkârtpun (îrkârithtpun), milking-vessel, p. 58.
îrnörtiti, the offering of a buffalo calf to the tî, p. 293;
or to another division of the clan, p. 294.
îrnòḍrthnol, the day of migration, p. 124.
îrpâlvusthi, ceremony after the birth of a calf, p. 172.
îrsankâti, a funeral ceremony, p. 381.
îrskiḍithbûtnol, the day of migration, p. 124.
Kaban, iron.
kabkaḍiti, procedure in which the back is not turned to the contents of
the dairy, p. 73.
kachütthti, the cloth-giving ceremony at a funeral, p. 358.
kaḍr, the calf-pen, p. 26.
kâfkati, knife burnt at the âzâramkêḍr, p. 381.
kagûrs, the tî name of the kûvn, p. 103.
kaimûkhti, a salutation, p. 31.
kaizhvatiti, the rite of pouring out buttermilk for the palol, p. 97.
kâkûdêrs, leaves of the kâkûd plant, p. 79.
kâkûl, stick used in the ponûp ceremony, p. 178.
kalkani, part of the dairy, p. 58.
kalmelpuḍithti, a salutation, pp. 34, 496.
kalolmad, villages where women may not live, p. 420.
kâltmokh, the attendant on a palol, pp. 42, 105.
kalvol, a path, p. 26.
Kamasòḍrolam, legendary Todas, p. 195.
kanârvaznûḍr, the evil eye, p. 263.
kar, a young calf, p. 47.
karenpôh, the calf-house of a tî, p. 85.
kârpun, a milking-vessel of the tî, p. 90.
kârs, stone.
karûd, younger, p. 485.
karûvnòḍr, the mother’s village, p. 547.
kârvnol or kârivnol, the day after a ceremony, pp. 105, 333.
kâtû, the wall surrounding a house or dairy, p. 24.
kavulpûv, a flower, p. 111.
kêḍr, funeral, relics, etc., p. 368.
keitankursîr, the wûrsulîr of Niḍrsi and Kwòḍrdôni, p. 71.
kepun (kaipun), vessel to hold water, p. 57.
kerk, the name of the waist-string during the ordination ceremony, pp.
148, 572.
kêrtnòḍr, a funeral place, p. 338.
kevenârût, mode of baring the right arm, pp. 31, 571.
kîp, the broom, p. 32.
kîtün, bed on left-hand side of dairy, p. 57.
kô, stake used at the êrkumptthpimi sacrifice, p. 276.
kòghlag, the name of the churning-stick at the tî, p. 89.
kòrûp, one of the salt-giving ceremonies, p. 175.
kubuntuni, the cloak of the palol, p. 103.
kudeipîr, the wûrsulîr of Pan, p. 71;
also the sacred buffaloes of Pieḍr, p. 81.
kudi, a measure used for liquids corresponding to about four pints, p.
588.
kûḍr, horn, a division of a clan, pp. 37, 295, 542.
kûḍrpali, a Tarthar dairy, pp. 40, 66.
kûdrpalikârtmokh, the dairyman of the kûḍrpali, p. 66.
kûḍrs mani, the bells of the punîr of the tî, p. 91.
kûḍrvars, fireplace made of four stones, pp. 57, 583.
kudupel or kudubel, family, p. 545.
kûgh, daughter, p. 485.
kûghîr, a buffalo whose horns bend downwards, p. 47.
kugvali, a sacred dairy of Târâḍr, pp. 41, 76.
kugvalîr, the buffaloes of the kugvali, pp. 41, 77.
kugvalikârtmokh, the dairyman of the kugvali, pp. 41, 76.
kûlâtîr, buffaloes of the Nòḍrs tî, p. 113.
Kûlinkârs, a god, p. 188.
kuneḍsti, funeral laments, etc., pp. 385, 600.
Kûrub, a Kurumba, p. 641.
kûrubûḍrchiti, Kurumba sorcery, p. 262.
kush (? kûḍsh), structure for young calves, p. 26.
kuter, floor, pp. 62, 583.
kûvn, the perineal band, p. 30.
kûvun or kûpun, a vessel used at the kugvali of Târâḍr, p. 79.
kwainûr (kwoinûr), the tî name of the pennâr, p. 103.
kwarkûl, stick used at the ponûp ceremony, p. 178.
kwarzam, name used in prayer, etc., pp. 216, 384, 614.
kwoi, the milking-vessel of the tî dairy, p. 89.
kwoinîr spring supplying water for a tî dairy, p. 85.
kwoinörtpet, a wand used by the palol when milking, p. 90.
kwotârs, the calf-house, p. 26.
Kwoten, a teu or god, p. 193.
Kwoto, a god, p. 203.
kwottün, seat, p. 29.
kwungg, the ordinary bell, p. 424.
Kwûrg, Coorg, p. 114.
Mad, village, pp. 24, 338;
head, p. 282.
madnol, sacred day of village, p. 405.
madol, village people or clan, p. 36.
madth, the churning-stick, p. 60.
maj, buttermilk.
majparîv, a dairy vessel, p. 60.
majvatitthkalvol, path reserved for women, p. 27.
majvatvaiîḍrn, spot on which women receive buttermilk, p. 28.
maiîr, a barren buffalo, p. 47.
mani, the sacred bell, pp. 40, 66, 424.
mankûgh, sister’s daughter, 488.
manmokh, sister’s son, pp. 484, 488.
martîr, the sacred buffaloes of the Kârs clan, p. 68.
mârûp, one of the salt-giving ceremonies, p. 175.
mârvainolkêḍr, the second funeral ceremony, pp. 337, 372.
masth, axe, pp. 57, 585.
matchuni, children of brother and sister, pp. 488, 512.
Mâv, a Badaga, p. 630;
also sambhar.
meilkûḍr, extra share, 560.
meitün, bed on right-hand side of dairy, p. 57.
merkalârs, double hut, pp. 29, 318.
mersgûrsîr, the wûrsulîr of Nòḍrs, p. 71.
methkûdi, place of cremation, p. 343.
miniapîr, the wûrsulîr of Kerâḍr, pp. 71, 192.
mogâl, forearm, also segment of forelimb of calf corresponding to
metacarpus, p. 281.
mogoi, a cubit, p. 588.
mokh, son, child, p. 485.
mokhthoditi (mokhthodvaiol), mode of union between the sexes, p. 526.
mokhûḍrtvaiol, man who gives away a wife, p. 494.
Mondârdsetipol, Toda name of a tribe living in the Wainad.
mòr, the name of buttermilk at the tî, p. 107.
mòrkuḍriki, a ladle of the tî dairy, p. 90.
mòrol, privileged visitors to a tî, p. 107.
mòrpun, a dairy vessel used to hold buttermilk at the tî, p. 90.
mòrûp, the ordinary salt-giving ceremony at the tî, p. 175.
mû, a name given to several kinds of dairy vessels, pp. 58, 422.
muli or mul, a name for various plants, p. 145;
also used for thorns, p. 194;
and for the quills of a porcupine, p. 267.
mulinîròditi, the ordination ceremony of the palikartmokh, p. 148.
mun, mother’s brother and wife’s father, pp. 487, 492.
mûrn, the sieve, p. 32.
mûrthvichi, anger, p. 260.
Naim or noim, the council, pp. 32, 550.
nâkh, a three-year-old calf, p. 47.
nan, a young shoot, p. 145.
nânmakud, a club, pp. 381, 586.
nârthpimi, a game, p. 596.
nâshperthîr, sacred buffaloes originally given to Nòḍrs, p. 69.
nêḍrkursh, middle room of a three-roomed dairy, p. 57.
nêḍrvol, intermediary, pp. 258, 527.
nei, clarified butter or ghi, p. 50.
nersatiti, a salutation, p. 304.
neurzûtpol, name of the kâltmokh at the migration ceremony, p. 139.
neurzülnkârs, stones of ceremonial importance, pp. 129, 140, 438.
nîpâ, stream, p. 26.
nîr, water, spring.
nîròdibudnûḍr, the initial stages of the ordination of the kâltmokh, p.
153.
nîròditi, the ordination ceremony, pp. 144, 157.
nîrsi, the fire-stick, p. 60.
nòḍr, country, place;
sometimes used for ‘ceremony.’
nòḍrkûtchi, ancestors of buffaloes, p. 112.
nòḍrodchi, a ruler, pp. 183, 186.
nòḍrved, younger brother, p. 486.
Nòtîrzi, a goddess, p. 189.
Ol or òl, man, husband, p. 489.
oñ, a sacred syllable uttered in the dairy ceremonial, p. 65.
Ön, a god, p. 184.
Paiol, male relations-in-law, pp. 489, 492.
Pâkhwâr, a river, 418;
also a god.
pali or paḷthli, the dairy, p. 26.
palikârtmokh (? paḷḷikârithtmokh), the dairyman, p. 39.
palinol, sacred day of dairy, p. 405.
pâlmän, staff used in churning, p. 52.
palol, the dairyman of a ti, pp. 42, 98.
paniûp, one of the salt-giving ceremonies, p. 175.
pâpun, a water-vessel at the tî, p. 92.
pârkûl, stick used at the ponûp ceremony, p. 178.
pârsêrs, milk-leaves, p. 317.
parsîr, buffaloes of the Kârs tî, p. 117.
pârskaḍrvenmû, vessel to hold butter, p. 58.
pasthîr, the sacred buffaloes of the Teivaliol, p. 39.
pâtat, vessel to hold milk, p. 58.
pâtatmâr, part of the dairy where the more sacred vessels stand, p. 58.
pâtatpur, the more sacred objects of the dairy, p. 58.
patcherski, the husked grain patm (samai), p. 580.
pâtol, one who has held the office palol, p. 104.
pâtun, screen separating the two rooms of a tî dairy, p. 86.
pâv, threshold.
pâvnersatiti, saluting the threshold, p. 65.
Peḍr, a Tamil.
pelk, the lamp, p. 60.
pelkkoḍichiti, the ordination ceremony, p. 144.
pelkkatitthwaskal, fireplace at a tî dairy used in lighting the lamp,
p. 92.
pem, a plateau or a gradual slope of a hill.
pen, butter, p. 58.
pennâr, the string supporting the kûvn, pp. 30, 572.
pep, buttermilk used ceremonially, pp. 64, 166.
pepeirthti, a rite at the kûḍrpali, p. 67.
pepkarichâ or pepkarichti, the ceremony of making new pep, p. 166.
pepkarmus, the milking-place of a tî, p. 85.
peptòrzum, a dairy vessel of the tî, p. 89.
pepûti, the rite of drinking buttermilk at the ordinary dairy, p. 78;
also the ceremonial drinking of buttermilk by buffaloes, p. 135.
perithîr, buffaloes of the Nòḍrs tî, p. 113.
perkûrsol, the lower stage in the office of kâltmokh, p. 105.
perol, an ordinary person, not ordained to any dairy office, p. 39.
persâsîr, sacred buffaloes originally given to Melgârs, p. 69.
persin, the vessel in which milk is churned at the tî, p. 89.
persinîr, the sacred buffaloes of a tî, p. 84.
perûd, elder, p. 485.
petuni, a piece of tuni, p. 105.
pîan, grandfather, p. 485.
pîâv, grandmother, p. 486.
pîlikòren, sorcerers, p. 255.
pîlinörtiti, offering of a ring, pp. 294, 306.
pîliûtpol, a sorcerer, p. 255.
pîliûtvichi, sorcery, p. 255.
pineipîr, sacred buffaloes originally given to Pan, p. 69.
pöḍri, contributions from relatives by marriage, p. 396.
pòḍrshtuni, the loin-cloth of the palol, p. 103.
pôh, the conical and other sacred dairies, p. 45.
pôhkârtpol, the dairyman at Kanòḍrs, p. 79.
pôhvelkârs, seat on which the palol sits, pp. 87, 96.
pôhvet (pôhpet), a wand used by the palol when praying, pp. 89, 96.
pòl, a calf of one to two years, p. 47.
pòlm, a portion, a division of a clan pp. 37, 544.
pòlmachok, a dairy vessel, p. 60.
pon, festival, pp. 85, 161;
up, p. 383;
see also p. 496.
ponkârtvaimokh, boy who takes a leading part at the îrnörtiti ceremony,
p. 302.
ponnol, festival day.
ponûp, a salt-giving ceremony at the tî, p. 177.
pòrmunkursh, outer room of dairy, p. 56.
püḍrshtipîr, the wûrsulîr of Kârs and Târâḍr, p. 71.
pûkûrûputkûli, the ornamented cloak, p. 572.
pül, surroundings or outskirts, p. 85.
püliol, relatives with whom marriage is prohibited, p. 509.
punetkalvol, path reserved for the dairyman, p. 27.
punîr, the ordinary buffaloes of a tî, p. 84.
punrs, a name for two days, p. 142.
pürsîr, buffaloes of the Kârs tî, p. 117.
pursütpimi, the ceremony of giving a bow and arrow during pregnancy, p.
319.
pût, a stirring-stick, p. 60.
pûthpep, the buttermilk obtained in the pepkarichâ ceremony, p. 169.
putiîr, ordinary buffaloes, p. 39.
putkûli, the cloak, pp. 30, 571.
puzhârs, seclusion-hut, p. 313.
puzhûlpimi, the ceremony of throwing earth at a funeral, p. 344.
Satimad, a village of especial sanctity, p. 421.
sedvaitazmokh, name of the woman in the mokhthoditi union, p. 526.
Taḍri, pole used in funeral ceremonies, p. 376.
taḍrp, the loin-cloth, p. 30.
tâf, fern.
tagârs, a chain.
tarsîr, buffaloes of the Pan tî, p. 119.
Târthârol, one of the two divisions of the Toda people, p. 34.
târûpunkudi, hole used at the salt-giving ceremony at a Tarthar
village, p. 177.
târvali or târpali, the lowest grade of Tarthar dairy, pp. 40, 61.
târvalikârtmokh, the dairyman of the târvali, p. 461.
tasth, the bars in the opening of a pen, p. 153.
tazmokh, woman, wife, p. 489.
teḍshk, a ring used in carrying dairy vessels, p. 60.
Teikîrzi, a goddess, p. 186.
teiks, stone or post at which a buffalo is killed at a funeral, p. 349.
Teipâkh, the Paikara river, p. 418;
also a god, p. 187.
teirtîr, buffaloes of the Nòḍrs ti, p. 112.
Teivaliol, one of the chief divisions of the Toda people, p. 34.
tek (tekh?), basket, p. 57.
têrersthi, custom of transferring wives, p. 523
tersamptpimi, a ceremony of childhood, p. 333.
terzantirikiti, the rite of putting curd or milk on the bell, p. 66.
tesherst, a qualifying ceremony for the office palol, p. 154.
teshnîr, the first stage of the ordination ceremony of the palol, p.
157.
teu, god, p. 182.
teukwoi, clay vessel made at the ponûp ceremony, p. 179.
teuol, diviner, p. 249.
teutütusthchi, ceremony of lighting a fire on a hill, p. 290.
tî, the most sacred dairy institution of the Todas, pp. 42, 83.
tîîr, the buffaloes of the tî, p. 42;
also used of a special group of these buffaloes at the Nòḍrs tî, p.
112.
tîkelfmâv, Badaga associated with a tî, p. 98.
tî mad, a village or place belonging to a tî, p. 83.
tòratthwaskal, fireplace at a tî dairy used to cook food, p. 91.
tòrsum, the tî name of the mû, p. 89.
tû, the buffalo-pen, p. 26.
tûḍr, a sacred tree, pp. 67, 433.
tûkitthkârs, stone lifted as a sport, p. 597.
tûkulîr mani, a bell used in the funeral ceremonies, pp. 376, 424.
tün, a seat or bed, p. 30.
tuni, the grey garment used by many dairymen, pp. 72, 572.
tuninörtiti, offering of a tuni, pp. 294, 305.
tunitusthkâltmokh, the full kâltmokh, pp. 105, 152.
tûrâvali, the cooking-pot of a tî dairy, p. 90.
tûri, knife.
twaḍrinâr, material made by the Todas, p. 574.
Ulârwûrthkûrs, a wand, p. 60.
ulkkursh, inner room of dairy, p. 56.
unîr, buffaloes of the Nòḍrs tî, p. 112.
ûppun, a vessel of the tî dairy, p. 90.
ûpunkudi (? ûppunkudi), hole used at the salt-giving ceremonies, p.
176.
ûrvatpimi, ceremony during pregnancy, p. 313.
ûtkòren, people who apply certain magical or medical remedies, p. 263.
ûtpol, medicine man, p. 263.
Wâk, vessels burnt at the âzâramkêḍr, p. 381.
warsîr, buffaloes of the Nòḍrs tî, p. 112; and of the Pan tî, p. 119.
wask, grain-pounder, p. 32.
waskal, fireplace of three stones, pp. 57, 582.
wûrsol, the dairyman of the wûrsuli, pp. 40, 72, 74.
wûrsuli, a Tarthar dairy, pp. 40, 71.
wûrsulîr, the buffaloes of a wûrsuli, p. 40.
NOTES
[1] One of the most frequent consonantal sounds in the Toda language is
dr which in the text always stands for ḍr; when d comes before sh, it
also represents the lingual sound. In both cases the ḍ was hardly
appreciated by my ear, and the European will perhaps most nearly
imitate the Toda sound if he pronounces dr and dsh as r and sh.
[2] The bibliography of this literature is given in Appendix II.
[3] See British Journal of Psychology, 1905, vol. i., p. 321.
[4] As we shall see later, this is only true of some parts of the hills
and some institutions.
[5] With more exact knowledge of Indian customs and ceremonies which
have lingered on side by side with, though often obscured by
Brahmanism, it is possible that these differences would be found to be
much slighter than the evidence at present available suggests.
[6] Hindu Manners, Customs, and Ceremonies, part ii., chap. v.
[7] See chapter XX and Journ. Anthrop. Inst., 1900, vol. xxx., p. 74.
[8] Those who wish for information on this point should consult the
articles by Mr. Edgar Thurston in the Bulletins of the Madras Museum,
vol. i., pp. 148 and 207, and vol. iv., p. 2.
[9] The word marth is also occasionally used.
[10] Harkness and others have called this pen tuel, but repeated
inquiry on my part failed to elicit this form of the word. Tuelu would
mean “where is the tu?” and it is possible that Harkness heard the word
in this form.
[11] For the purpose of photography, a hole was made outside the hut
exactly like that within the hut. The picture must not be taken to
indicate that pounding is ever normally performed out of doors.
[12] The old man on the right in this picture shows a very
characteristic Toda attitude, in which a person crouches down
completely enveloped in the cloak.
[13] This salutation has been previously known by its Badaga name,
adabuddiken.
[14] In these names and throughout the text the signs to indicate long
vowels are generally omitted. In order to ascertain the exact method of
pronunciation, the map or the list of villages in Appendix III. should
be consulted.
[15] This word should probably be paḷḷi and was usually pronounced
paḷthḷi, but I have adopted the spelling of the text for the sake of
simplicity.
[16] According to some Todas, kart was a shortened form of karitht,
milking or milked.
[17] In previous accounts of the Todas, the place where these sacred
herds are kept has always been called a tirieri. This is not properly a
Toda term, but is that used by the Badagas.
[18] An Account of the Primitive Tribes and Monuments of the Nilagiris,
1873, p. 14.
[19] This word, in the forms boa, boath, &c., has by previous writers
been limited to dairies of the conical shape. There is no doubt that it
has at present a far wider application.
[20] A Phrenologist among the Todas, 1873, p. 132.
[21] This is literally ‘cooked milk.’ It probably receives this name
because the coagulation is often hastened by heating.
[22] About four pints.
[23] I am not sure whether this restriction does not also apply to the
tarvalikartmokh.
[24] See Chapter XXIII.
[25] Probably a corruption of kaipun, hand vessel.
[26] This is done by folding a leaf in such a way that it forms a cup.
[27] The method of wearing the cloak adopted by the wursol is not
unlike that shown in a picture at the Guimet Museum in Paris, which
represents a Brahman engaged in prayer.
[28] The world of the dead.
[29] The proper name for the pen at the ti was mukadr, and for the
calf-pen, tülkkadr, but my informants always used the ordinary words tu
and kadr.
[30] These are the kwarzam, or prayer names (see Chapter X) of Teikirzi
and Tirshti. They were used by Naburs (64) who had been palol at the
Pan ti, but it is doubtful whether their use or the use of any other
kwarzam on these occasions is an established custom.
[31] In the story of Kwoto and the Keradr ti (Chap. IX) the kaltmokh
has to pour away buttermilk at an appointed spot. It is probable that
this buttermilk is that unfinished by the palol, and possibly this
custom is still followed but was not mentioned by my informants.
[32] According to Breeks (p. 14) these garments are made by the Badagas
of Jakaneri. This may be correct, but it is much more probable that
they are procured through the Badagas living in this village.
[33] It is possible that Finicio was told of this custom, and that his
statement about the relations of the palol to women only refer to this
ceremony.
[34] This legendary account probably preserves a tradition of a real
invasion of the Nilgiri Hills by the people of Coorg. The Todas put the
date of the occurrence at about seven or eight generations ago. In 1774
Linga Raja, with 3,000 Coorgs, invaded the Wainad and remained there
for five years. During this time it is highly probable that the Coorgs
would have explored the Nilgiri Hills. (See Mysore and Coorg, by Lewis
Rice, Bangalore, 1878, vol. iii., p. 110.)
[35] In 1902.
[36] The buffaloes may also move from one village to another if
sickness should break out among them, but I do not know whether this
would become the same ceremonial occasion as in the other kinds of
migration.
[37] The vessels used for the purposes of these photographs were not
the real vessels of the dairy, but those of the house. The method of
fastening the earthenware vessels does not correspond to that described
for the ti dairy, and I am doubtful whether the method of fastening for
real dairy vessels would not have corresponded to the procedure of the
ti rather than to that shown in the figures.
[38] This is probably only true of Teivali dairies.
[39] This is a special food used on important ceremonial occasions, the
mode of preparation of which is given in Chapter XXIV.
[40] The vessel derives its name from this ceremony.
[41] Palm juice sugar.
[42] At Anto, and probably at some other dairies, there is a special tu
for use on this occasion.
[43] This word was translated “he prays for the calves.” One verb is
used in naming the ceremony of praying for the calves and another in
the case of praying for the adult buffaloes.
[44] Probably this should be translated “may the river (when in flood)
swallow him.”
[45] This is the ordinary muli used in the ordination of the
palikartmokh.
[46] This is inconsistent with the statement made on p. 73 that the
wursol never prepares food except at the irpalvusthi ceremony. It is
possible that the food is only given to the candidate by the wursol and
is not prepared by him.
[47] This has not the same form as the word uttered by the wursol and
kaltmokh in the corresponding ceremony. In some cases different verbal
forms are used at the ti, and this may be an instance.
[48] It has been stated by Harkness, Marshall and others that when the
palol is entering on his office he has to sleep in the wood completely
naked. This is not strictly correct, though the covering afforded by
the tuni is so meagre that the statement is almost justified.
[49] The ti name of the kuvn.
[50] This is the only occasion on which this cream is used by the
Todas. It is used because there are now neither butter nor ghi at the
dairy. Its use here is an indication that the process of coagulation is
less rapid than usual.
[51] See p. 222.
[52] I am doubtful whether a special wand is also used in other
dairies.
[53] Eleven ak = one kwa (see p. 588).
[54] When there is only one palol for both kinds of buffaloes, as at
the Pan ti, he only digs one hole.
[55] See Chapter XVII.
[56] This hole at an ordinary village is sometimes known as a
tarupunkudi.
[57] This account of the creation of men and buffaloes was obtained
from Arsolv (27) of Kanòdrs, one of the oldest living Todas. It agrees
very closely with the story as related to Mr. Breeks.
[58] According to another account, Püv died from trying to catch the
image of a white calf in the water. At that time, it was the custom to
kill and bury any calf of a white colour, and one had been buried close
to the spring.
[59] Usually called petkuter.
[60] These are quite unlike Toda names, nor is the name of the village,
Mîtâhârzti, like a Toda name.
[61] ? Pòdrâni or pudrâni.
[62] I do not know exactly to which ceremonies tatòtiti and muòtiti
refer. The words mean “he takes the tat” and “he takes the mu,” and
evidently refer to some dairy ceremonial. Ponkastiti probably means
that he kept pon throughout the year—i.e., gave or sold nothing from
his dairy during the year.
[63] A spirit which brings death (see p. 403).
[64] When Keikarskutan shot the bow and arrow he lay down. According to
my informants, Keikarskutan lay down to shoot the bow and arrow because
he was lame, but shot it in the ordinary way and did not use his legs
in doing so. Breeks, who gives a brief version of this legend, was told
that the arrow was shot by means of the legs and refers to this method
as the ancient Indian custom.
[65] I give this as it was told.
[66] To meet this bird going from right to left is a bad omen; if going
from left to right, it is a good omen.
[67] I could not find out the exact meaning of this word, but it
appeared to be a name for the blood-stained froth which may come from
the mouth of a dying man. In a sentence which occurs later the word
appears as pògh (blood), but my informants were certain that pug itself
is not blood.
[68] See p. 616.
[69] This is a creeper used in the funeral ceremonies.
[70] Probably the tree or bush from which the material called twadrinar
is manufactured by the Todas.
[71] My informants could not say whether the boy went away in the air
as a child or as a kite. The boy often assumed the form of a kite
later, and it is tempting to suppose that the assumption of this form
by the child was connected with the death of the kite, i.e., that it
was a case of transmigration. The fact that the child went away in the
air and was found sitting on a tree makes it highly probable that it
flew in the form of a kite, but my informants could not say that this
was definitely part of the legend.
[72] The kwarzam is the name used in prayer (see Chap. X).
[73] This place is close to the spot at which the path from Pishkwosht
(Bikkapatimand) to Kodanad crosses a stream soon after leaving the
former village.
[74] This pool has been converted into the Marlimand reservoir, the
source of the water-supply of Ootacamund.
[75] The Hindu god who sends smallpox is Mari or Mariaman. The Toda
name for buttermilk is mòr.
[76] P. 142.
[77] Erd means two, and this translation is a free rendering of the
Toda words, though it probably conveys the proper meaning.
[78] I am doubtful about this point at the poh of Kanòdrs.
[79] It is in favour of this supposition that in the legend Kwoten wore
the tuni when acting as palikartmokh although he was one of the
Tartharol.
[80] It is an Indian practice to add sour buttermilk to the milk to
promote coagulation, but this is usually done after heating the milk.
It is possible that in some parts of India it may be added to the milk
before or immediately after it is drawn.
[81] From the account of Finicio (Appendix I), it would seem that at
one time the palol and wursol possessed the power of divination.
[82] For an account of what Midjkudr seems to have said and the
consequent proceedings, see p. 392.
[83] I am very doubtful whether the meaning of this and the preceding
clause is correctly given in these words.
[84] The middle room of a three-roomed dairy is the nedrkursh.
[85] For the meaning of this see above.
[86] Bulletin, i. p. 182.
[87] The leaves of this plant, Solanum indicum, are used in the
ordination of the kugvalikartmokh.
[88] For the meaning of these kinship-terms, see Chap. XXI.
[89] It is noteworthy that the Kotas are not included.
[90] This is the plant, Euphorbia Rothiana, used at the purification of
the ti dairy (p. 136).
[91] I think it is probable that all the incantations are said in this
manner, but I only had it specifically mentioned in this case.
[92] This distinction was pointed out to me by my informant.
[93] I did not obtain this formula.
[94] Mul, which means bramble and thorn, is here used for the
porcupine’s quills.
[95] Pûdrt is probably the Toda form of the word bhût.
[96] Our final difficulty, the laughter over which seemed to overcome
Teitnir’s scruples, was in the identification of the spleen, which was
described as “a little tongue.”
[97] This and the succeeding photographs were taken in a badly lighted
wood, and represent the actual ceremony.
[98] The importance of the omentum in Indian animal sacrifices suggests
that the tütmîis might have been the omentum, or have included part of
the omentum. At this stage of the proceedings, so many operations were
going on simultaneously that exact observation became very difficult.
[99] Andropogon Schœnanthus, a strongly-scented grass.
[100] ? Kiaz.
[101] This estimate included the value of the calf four years hence!
[102] Haug’s Aitareya Brahmanam, Bombay, 1863, vol. ii., p. 85, note
II.
[103] I have some reason to think, however, that er may be used as a
term for ‘buffalo’ in general, whether male or female.
[104] From the nature of this formula it might be expected that the
ceremony would only be performed if the man’s wishes are fulfilled,
but, in practice, I think it is clear that the performance is not
conditional on the recovery of himself or his buffaloes.
[105] The special mention of uncut ears and tail in this and the
erkumptthpimi ceremony suggests that the widely spread practice of
cutting the ears of animals may occur among the Todas, but I have no
other notes on the subject.
[106] Or irnörtpuspimi, “buffalo giving have we come.” The whole
formula runs, “Swami, Teikirzi, the kudrpali, the wursuli, the buffalo
pen, may it be well; may it be well with the buffaloes and calves;
buffalo giving have we come, may it be well.”
[107] This is mentioned in the prayer of the Kiudr dairy (see p. 220).
[108] According to a later finding of the teuol, the death of Tersveli
was due to sorcery (see p. 261).
[109] It will be noticed that the patatpun are placed in the inner room
and the ertatpun in the outer room. In the ordinary dairy both would be
placed in the inner room, though in different places. The procedure of
this ceremony seems, therefore, to resemble that of the ti rather than
of the ordinary dairy. It suggests that we have here a relic of a time
when every dairy had at least two rooms, one for the things of the
patatmar and another for the things of the ertatmar.
[110] I was told at first that it might be done by her husband, but
this appeared to be a mistake.
[111] The fact that the people of Melgars and Kwòdrdoni are not allowed
to intermarry suggests, however, that there is some relation between
these clans which is the cause of the exception.
[112] This may possibly be a corruption of perithtòr.
[113] Eugenia Arnottiana.
[114] Sophora glauca.
[115] Andropogon schœnanthus.
[116] See the bow in the hand of the boy in Fig. 57. This bow is the
same as that used in the pursütpimi ceremony.
[117] The buffalo given in this way is called pulkwadr, or bow and
arrow gift.
[118] My notes do not make it absolutely clear as to whether he may not
also salute the female relatives of his wife, but I do not think that
he does so.
[119] According to a recent account given to me by Mr. Thurston, the
people leave the spot about six o’clock in the evening. The time is
determined by the opening of the flowers of Ænothera tetraptera which
is called by the Todas âr mani pûv, or six o’clock flower. This flower
is a garden escape, so that this special practice must be recent, but
it suggests that the general practice of telling the time of day by
means of flowers may be an old Toda custom.
[120] Mr. Natesa Sastri (Madras Mail, August 28th, 1894) states that
the bow and arrow are tied round the neck of the woman, so that they
definitely take the place of the tali.
[121] This seems to have occurred in a similar ceremony practised by
the Badagas, among whom it is said that a woman is not fully considered
a wife till about the seventh month of the first pregnancy, when a cord
is put round her neck by the husband and the legal marriage becomes
complete. (See Thurston, Bull. IV., p. 167.)
[122] Called by the Todas tòri or tòrimul (Berberis nepalensis); its
leaves are used in the ordination of the kugvalikartmokh.
[123] Possibly this means “calf of tuni.”
[124] It will be noticed that the woman puts the fragments of tuni in
her waist-string on the right side, while the various dairymen who wear
petuni put it on the left side.
[125] I am doubtful whether this is essential.
[126] Fawcett, Bull. Madras Museum, vol. iii. p. 242.
[127] According to one account the ceremony takes place on the fortieth
day after birth.
[128] For the nature of the name see Chapter XXVI.
[129] Rosa Leschenaultiana.
[130] Lit. ‘eye arrow.’
[131] Probably here pei = demon (see p. 180).
[132] Loc. cit.
[133] The madnol and the palinol are sacred days on which certain
activities are prohibited (see Chap. XVII).
[134] Eugenia Arnottiana. This is the tree in which the hole is cut at
the pursütpimi ceremony.
[135] This was a marvainolkedr, but the rules for the earth-throwing
are the same at the first funeral.
[136] Ind. Antiq., 1874, vol. iii., p. 274.
[137] Bull., 1901, iv., p. 12.
[138] These photographs were obtained from Messrs. Wiele and Klein, and
I do not know the place or nature of the funeral which they illustrate,
but there is no indication of a pen in the picture; they probably
represent throwing earth at the entrance of a former pen. There is such
a place at Taradrkirsi, the male funeral place of the Kars clan. Here
earth is thrown by the side of a wood where the forest has grown over
the site of an old tu.
[139] Atylosia Candollei.
[140] If the word teiks is the same as that of teak wood it would make
it probable that the buffalo was formerly killed by the side of a
wooden post and that the use of a stone is secondary.
[141] Owing to the fact that the Nòdrs people do not kill both of these
kinds of buffalo at one funeral at the present time, they now only
bring one of the two bells from Òdr.
[142] Some observers have stated that the feet of the corpse are placed
within the mouth of the buffalo, but I could not confirm this.
[143] More elaborate laments are given on pp. 385–8.
[144] This ceremony is also called kachpùtchpimi.
[145] Natesa Sastri, Madras Mail, Aug. 28th, 1894.
[146] The matchuni of a person is the child of his mother’s brother, or
of his father’s sister (see Chapter XXI).
[147] At the azaramkedr (see p. 381) these boxes are only burnt at a
woman’s funeral, their place at a man’s funeral being taken by bamboo
vessels called wak. This is probably also true of the etvainolkedr.
[148] Loc. cit., p. 176.
[149] Ind. Antiq., 1874, iii. 274.
[150] P. 21.
[151] Letters on the Neilgherries, 1829, p. 81.
[152] This experience gave me a very striking object-lesson, showing
how easy it is to make mistakes in anthropological investigation. The
first account given to me seemed to make it absolutely clear that the
removal of the relics was made the occasion of a feast.
[153] Kûdri is the generic word for creeper.
[154] See Thurston, Bull., ii. p. 4.
[155] See Chap. XXV.
[156] Probably Olea robusta.
[157] Bull., i. 176.
[158] As I have already pointed out, this would only happen if the
people were of the same clan and sex.
[159] My notes do not make it absolutely clear who lights the fire at
the funeral of a male. The puntüt is lighted by a man of the same clan,
and this is probably also the case with the azaramtüt. Owing to the
fact that a woman becomes a member of her husband’s clan, the
daughter-in-law who lights the fire at a woman’s funeral will also be
of the same clan as the deceased.
[160] There was some question as to whether the ceremony did not begin
as soon as the fire was lighted.
[161] This would seem to indicate that when the fire is extinguished,
the objects burnt with the relics are far from being consumed by the
fire.
[162] See p. 365.
[163] Ind. Antiq., 1874, vol. iii. p 35.
[164] This is also the usual vocative termination.
[165] Kakoji is the Kota name for a toe-ring worn on the second toe of
the right foot by Kota women (see Breeks, p. 123). A similar word is
used for bracelets of vine made by the Todas as a game.
[166] In some cases Samuel could not give the literal meanings, and has
only given the general sense of the kwarzam.
[167] A play on Pidrvan’s name.
[168] As both these funeral laments were obtained from Samuel, I cannot
guarantee that the method of spelling adopted is the same as that used
elsewhere in the book; this is especially the case with the sign ‘th,’
which, in agreement with the practice customary in South India, was
used by Samuel for the lingual ‘ṭ,’ and sometimes for a sound for which
I have used the letter d.
[169] For the story to which this refers, see Chapter XXVIII.
[170] This may possibly be the world of Yama, the Todas rarely, if
ever, using the letter y. The word was often pronounced Amanòdr.
[171] This is one of several instances in which the initial t of a word
is omitted in compound forms.
[172] Möditi is the name applied to all the women of other tribes. It
is perhaps suggestive that this name should be used for a stone
connected with the goddess Teikirzi.
[173] Several of those who have witnessed Toda funerals have noticed
that barren buffaloes are killed on these occasions, and I believe that
it is a recognised custom to use such animals. Pidrvan’s funeral lament
begins with a reference to barren buffaloes, and the clause, “in the
midst of barren buffaloes you went,” evidently refers to Pidrvan’s
skill in catching buffaloes at the funeral ceremonies.
[174] See Fawcett, Journ. Anthrop. Soc. Bombay, 1890, vol. ii., p. 146.
[175] In Teitnir’s lament for Pidrvan (see p. 387) he speaks of a Kars
kazun, which suggests that each clan has its own kazun.
[176] At this place there is now only a dairy.
[177] Pp. 18 and 67.
[178] According to another account, these bells are kept at the wursuli
of Nasmiòdr, and the wursuli of Kars has three mani in addition to
these.
[179] As we have already seen (p. 243) there is some reason to think
that there has been example of such transference of sanctity to an
object in the case of the mu or buried dairy vessel.
[180] Falls of the Cavery, 1834, p. 49.
[181] For the special method employed see p. 581.
[182] Burton (Goa and the Blue Mountains, p. 316) brands the Todas as
inveterate liars, because, evidently owing to some misunderstanding, he
was told that a “putting stone” was the “grandfather of the gods.”
[183] It will be remembered that at the azaramkedr of a woman, two
women stand at the entrance of the azaram one of whom holds a pounder
in her hands.
[184] I do not intend by this to indicate my belief that these cairns
are ancient Toda monuments. I only wish to point out that one of the
arguments which has been directed against this view is probably not
valid. I shall return to this point in a future chapter.
[185] I had no Toda with me when I visited the place, so cannot speak
with absolute certainty on the point.
[186] I do not wish to lay any stress on this argument, for, as I have
already indicated, it is possible that the eating of sambhar is a
recent innovation, which has arisen since the advent of Europeans to
the Nilgiris. Also I do not wish to indicate by the above that I commit
myself to a belief in the universality of totemism as a stage in
religious development. I only wish to point out that if this has been
so, the Todas furnish a good case in which we might expect all traces
of this descent to have disappeared or to have become so blurred and
scanty as to be of little value.
[187] These were the names given to me by the Todas, and their spelling
may not correspond with that in ordinary use.
[188] See Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres
Straits, vol. v, p. 122.
[189] For a few cases in which an individual is entered as the child of
a man who is known not to be his real father, see p. 534. In such a
case I have assigned the child to the parent who is regarded as the
legal father by the Todas.
[190] Grigg’s Manual of the Nilagiri District, 1880, Appendix No. 17,
p. xlviii.
[191] Ibid. App. No. 20, p. lx.
[192] Letters on the Neilgherries, London, 1829, p. 75.
[193] Madras Journ. of Lit. and Science, 1836, vol. viii, p. 86.
[194] Ibid., 1848, vol. xv, p. 1.
[195] Manual, p. 27.
[196] Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc., 1904, vol. xii, p. 481.
[197] Specimens of South Indian Dialects, Mangalore, 1873.
[198] Pp. 194–5.
[199] See Marshall, p. 213.
[200] Properly the river should not be crossed at all on these days
(see p. 418).
[201] The probable rule is that the day must not be a madnol or
palinol.
[202] In cases of polyandry the names of the husbands are enclosed in
square brackets.
[203] See his account at the end of this chapter.
[204] I use the term ‘fatherhood’ instead of ‘paternity’ because the
latter term seems to imply a meaning which does not belong to the Toda
notion of ‘father.’
[205] For an instance, see p. 535.
[206] It will be noticed that I am using the term ‘Levirate’ in a wider
sense than that in which it is sometimes employed, for Sargveli was not
a childless widow.
[207] In 1902.
[208] Ter is also used in the sense of ‘fine,’ but is only used when
the fine takes the form of a buffalo or buffaloes. A money fine is
called saver.
[209] For an instance in the past see p. 538.
[210] For an instance see p. 535.
[211] Mokh here means ‘child’ in general, not son.
[212] For a full account see p. 366.
[213] Grigg’s Nilgiri Manual, Appendix, p. lxxiv.
[214] The definite appearance of jealousy in the history of Kwoten
must, however, be noted in this connexion.
[215] Loc. cit.
[216] This is evidently the same word as marth, which occurs in Chapter
XIV as a word for village.
[217] This is the kach. Harkness states that it was generally a piece
of dyed or printed cotton as at present.
[218] This is a custom of which I failed to obtain any account.
[219] This is evidently due to misunderstanding of the pursütpimi
ceremony. The Tamil word for ‘bow’ is vil.
[220] Probably Keradr.
[221] Badagas and Kotas.
[222] A full account of the two divisions and of their relation to one
another will be given in Chapter XXIX.
[223] Another name for a man of no clan is pazuli, but I do not know
whether this is merely a synonym of padmokh or whether a man can lose
the right of belonging to a clan for any other reason than that
described above.
[224] P. 132.
[225] A meeting of the council is often spoken of as kûtkûdriti, “the
assembly assembles,” or kûtpuniti, “the assembly makes.”
[226] It seemed clear that the term naim is also applied to these clan
councils.
[227] For a full account of this controversy see the Manual of the
Nilagiri District, by H. B. Grigg, Madras, 1880. See also Thurston,
Bull. i. 182.
[228] I am not clear on whom the expense of rebuilding and repairing a
dairy would fall when the dairy is situated at a village occupied by
one family only, and used exclusively for buffaloes which are the
private property of that family.
[229] On p. 70 I have given an example of the ownership of sacred
buffaloes in the Kars clan.
[230] Some patterns are given by Mr. Thurston, Bulletin, i. 1896, pl.
xii.
[231] This is the fruit of one of the plants (Rubus lasiocarpus) of
which the leaves are used in the ordination ceremonies of the dairymen
of Taradr and Kanòdrs.
[232] Bulletin, vol. iv., p. 16.
[233] Ashk is one of the Toda words for rice, and the name of the food
is therefore derived from this substance.
[234] It might have been expected that the part of the floor near the
door used for the dairy operations would be the meilkuter, but it is
not so. Meil also means ‘west’ and the explanation may be connected
with this.
[235] See Crooke’s Popular Religion and Folk-Lore of Northern India,
1896, vol. ii pp. 187–191.
[236] In India the marks on the moon are frequently supposed to
represent a hare.
[237] For another version of this story obtained by Mr. Thurston, see
Bulletin, iv. p. 1.
[238] The game is described by Breeks and Thurston under the name of
ilata, but this again is certainly not Toda.
[239] Bull. iv. p. 7.
[240] Madras Journ. Lit. and Sci., 1837, vol. v. p. 155.
[241] A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian Languages, 2nd ed.,
London, 1875, p. 557.
[242] Outlines of the Tuḍa Grammar appended to Marshall’s Phrenologist
among the Todas.
[243] London, 1868.
[244] Madras Journ. Lit. and Sci., 1857, N.S., vol. i., p. 104.
[245] These sounds have usually been omitted in the Toda words as
written in this book.
[246] For equivalents of these signs in English words see the Phonetic
System at the beginning of the book.
[247] Mad, or more usually madth, is also the Toda word for churn, and
this word is probably derived indirectly from the Sanscrit mantha.
[248] See story of Kwoto.
[249] The last syllable of the name Meilitars given to Kwoto is
probably this word so that the name means ‘superior man.’
[250] This name also occurs in the story of Kwoten.
[251] Mopuvan is named after the hill Mopuvthut, which is mentioned in
the legend of Puzi (193).
[252] It will be noticed that, in these two cases, the old names are
those which occur in the genealogies. My informant probably remembered
these better than the new names, which had been assumed only late in
life.
[253] Mav is also the Toda word for sambhar.
[254] According to Harkness, “each burgher, hamlet, or village” gives
about two quarts (p. 108), or (p. 135) half a bushel to the ti and half
a bushel to the other Todas. According to Breeks (p. 9), the gudu is
about one-tenth, one-eighth, or one-fifth of the gross produce.
[255] It is possible that the elucidation of this point might also help
towards the explanation of the Badaga account of the Toda clans.
[256] P. 136.
[257] P. 4.
[258] According to Breeks, the Kotas who supply the Todas are known as
muḷḷu Kotas.
[259] The Kotas are agriculturists as well as mechanics, and, according
to Breeks, they are quite as efficient as the Badagas in this
occupation. They also keep buffaloes, though chiefly or entirely for
their own use.
[260] It is perhaps noteworthy that some of the Kurumbas of Malabar are
still noted for their cleverness in collecting honey, and are known as
Tên or honey Kurumbas (Fawcett, Bull. Madras Museum, iii, p. 9).
[261] By this I mean that there are now living thirty females who were
born members of the Nòdrsol, but since a woman becomes a member of her
husband’s clan, most of these are now members of other clans. I give
the numbers of each clan in this form because it brings out several
features of interest in relation to the relative fertility of different
clans, the proportions of the sexes, &c.
[262] Pidrvan died soon after my visit.
[263] For the story how the Kuudr people came to lose the right of
providing the palol for the Nòdrs ti, see p. 114.
[264] This was evidently a council consisting of the members of the
clan only.
[265] There is also a place called Devali in the Wainad which may
possibly be connected in some way with the Teivaliol.
[266] Grigg (Manual, p. 187) derives the word from tasan, a servant. S
or sh is sometimes inserted into the word Tartharol, but it is purely
euphonic, and I do not think that this derivation is at all probable.
[267] Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc., 1904, vol. xii, p. 481.
[268] I neglect the first generation on account of the small number of
families for which there are data.
[269] Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India, London, 1896.
[270] Cf. Crooke, loc. cit., vol. ii. pp. 187–191.
[271] Dalton, Trans. Ethnol. Soc., London, N.S., 1868, vol. vi, p. 37.
[272] Fawcett, Journ. Anthrop. Soc., Bombay, 1888, vol. i. p. 249.
[273] Loc. cit.
[274] Cain, Ind. Antiq., 1876, vol. v, p. 357.
[275] Kearns, Tribes of South India, p. 51.
[276] The Hindu at Home, Madras, p. 234.
[277] IV. 240.
[278] Crooke, loc. cit., vol. i. p. 269.
[279] Logan’s Malabar Manual, vol. i. p. 141.
[280] See Malabar Marriage Commission and Wigram’s Malabar Law and
Custom, 2nd ed., Madras, 1900.
[281] Census of India, 1901, vol. i., Eth. App., p. 136.
[282] Ibid., p. 142.
[283] Madras Gov. Museum Bull., iii. p. 247.
[284] Ibid., p. 70.
[285] Ibid., p. 61. See also Dubois, Hindu Manners, Customs, and
Ceremonies, Oxford, 1899, p. 17.
[286] Madras Museum Bull., iii. p. 242.
[287] Cf. Caldwell, A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or
South-Indian Family of Languages, 2nd ed., London, 1875, p. 23.
[288] It is perhaps worth noting that at present only Teivali diviners
are reputed to speak Malayalam.
[289] Journ. Anthrop. Soc., Bombay, 1889, vol. i. p. 535.
[290] Mysore Census Report, 1901, Pt. i. p. 521.
[291] Histoire générale des Races Humaines, Paris, 1889, Introduction,
p. 469.
[292] Ethnology, Cambridge, 1896, p. 418.
[293] The Races of Man, London, 1900, p. 412.
[294] In a paper which I have only seen since the above was written (C.
R. de la Soc. de Biol., 1905, t. lix, p. 123) M. Louis Lapicque has
called attention to the resemblance between Todas and Nairs. He regards
the Todas as pure or almost pure examples of one of the two races of
which he believes the Dravidian population of India to be composed, the
Nairs being more mixed with the negroid element, which forms the other
component of the population according to M. Lapicque.
[295] It must also be borne in mind that the figures of the Nambutiris
and those of some of the Todas are based on the measurement of
twenty-five individuals only in each case.
[296] Some of these measurements are based on the examination of
eighty-two men, others are derived from twenty-five men only.
[297] The relations existing between Nair women and Nambutiri men must
have brought about an approximation of the two Malabar castes in
physical characters, even if they were originally of different ethnical
origin.
[298] It is worth noting that they practise male descent, while the
Nairs follow the Marumakkattayam system of inheritance.
[299] I should much like to know the ratios between the lengths of
different limb bones, such as those shown by the radio-humeral or
tibio-femoral indices. The observations on the cubit and the distance
from the middle finger to the patella suggest that considerable
differences might be found between the Todas and the Malabar castes in
these ratios, which do not seem to me to have yet received from the
physical anthropologist the attention they deserve.
[300] It will be remembered that the Todas claim to have once possessed
a spear which had belonged to their god, Kwoten.
[301] See p. 445.
[302] The argument will hold equally well if the Todas in their
previous home had been accustomed to procure their pottery from others,
but had when they reached the Nilgiris to rely solely on the Kotas for
help in this direction.
[303] See p. 402.
[304] Loc. cit.
[305] Add. MS. 9853, pp. 464–5, MS. 25–26 vol. [Translation].
[306] Or Cattanar, a native priest of the Syrian Church.
[307] Add. MS. 9853, p. 479, MS. 40 vol. [Translation].
[308] In the translation given by Whitehouse the name of this priest is
given as Ferreira.
[309] A member of the Errari or cowherd caste.
[310] ? Vaishya.
[311] Whitehouse suggests that this is Melur.
[312] I do not know the meaning of this. One caste of the Badagas is
called Torya.
[313] Seventh?
[314] By the context this should be 100 buffalo cows.
[315] Evidently the wursol.
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