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