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.