the following relatives:—an, akkan, nòdrved, mun, mimi, pian, piav.
[88] Then follows the same formula repeated, in which the names of
various tribes are substituted for those of the relatives, as “mav kan
pudrs kan pudri uma”—“Badaga eye perish, may his eye be destroyed.” The
people mentioned are mav (Badaga), pedr (Tamil), suti (? chetties),
kurub (Kurumbas), erl (Irulas), panin (Panyas). [89] The last clause is
möditi kan pudrs kan pudri uma, extending the imprecation to the women
of all the people already mentioned. When the incantation is finished,
the remainder of the salt is eaten by the sick man.
The Toda utkòren may practise ‘absent treatment.’ If a man wishes to
treat a sufferer from the evil eye, and is unable to visit his patient,
he puts the salt on the ground and strokes it with the thorn of
pathanmul, repeating the above incantation as he strokes. He then sends
the salt to the sick man, by whom it is eaten.
The treatment in any case is repeated till it has been done three
times.
If it is a buffalo which is suffering from the evil effects of
kanarvasnudr, the utkòren use the same method, and the salt is eaten by
the buffalo.
In the special case in which the evil is produced by saying that a man
is looking well or is well dressed, the utkòren have a different
method. They take a piece of the root called kabudri, [90] and a plant
called kwagal, and squeeze the juice of both into a vessel. An
incantation is said, the same as, or similar to, that already given,
while the utkòren strokes the sick man with the corner of his cloak.
After the incantation the sufferer drinks the juice.
VARIOUS MAGICAL REMEDIES
The utkòren also practise various other methods of treatment.
Headache. This is called madersnûdr, “if head aches.” For this the
utpol places his hand on the head of the sufferer, and says the
following incantation in a low voice, so that the patient may not
distinguish what is being said. [91] After the names of the four gods,
as in previous formulæ, it runs:—
nâkherov mad tathi kan tath mâ; ker mad tathi
cobra head broken into pieces not break may; a snake &c.
kan tath mâ;
and the same formula is repeated, substituting first the names of other
kinds of snake and then of other animals. The following are the animals
mentioned: kûrûpatz, a black poisonous snake; putpob, a variegated
snake, which is called the foolish snake, because it will not get out
of the way; taverûni, a green snake; pâlipob, another green snake;
uitch, a kind of lizard reputed to suck blood; anîli, a squirrel;
kapan, a frog; tugûli, a crayfish(?); kadrmad, a water animal of some
kind; mîn, a fish; îgal, an earthworm; nelnpüf, an insect found under
stones; âpipüf, an insect found in buffalo dung. After all these
animals have been mentioned with the same formula, the names of
Pithioteu and Ön are again uttered, followed by the words tathkhma. The
utpol flicks the corner of his cloak first against the ground, and then
against the forehead of the sufferer, and then, if the man is sitting,
he says, “ateuk ir,” “sit there off!” and the man moves a little way
from the place where he had been sitting. If the man is unable to sit,
and is lying down, the words will be “ateuk padr,” “lie there off!” or
“lie a little way off!”
I could not obtain a satisfactory account of the exact meaning of the
incantation; it was said to mean “may the snake’s head be broken in
pieces, and so may your head be broken”—i.e., so may the pain go;
another rendering was “may the pain go to the snake’s head,” the latter
being by far the more probable meaning. Three divisions of the
incantation are recognised: in the first, snakes only are mentioned; in
the second, things which live in the water; and in the third, things
which live in the earth. The treatment is repeated on one or two days,
if necessary, but it is never done more than three times, “because the
ailment is always cured in that time.”
Another condition treated by the utkòren is stomach-ache, which is
called püfkwatnûdr, “if worms bite.” The utpol places his hand on the
belly of the sufferer, and after reciting the names of the four gods,
he continues:—
kêrs pûv kâdkanm kâl mâ;
kêrs tree flower fallen as fall down may;
and this formula is repeated, substituting the names of various trees
and other plants for the name of the kêrs tree. The trees and plants
mentioned pirzkh and kûrêrs, trees having edible fruit; pul, kîl,
kwadriki, kid, trees from which bees get honey; kab, sugarcane; teg,
coco-nut; patm, samai; ners, rice; eri, ragi; kîtj, potato; perigi,
chillies; melkh, pepper; kwatimeli, Coriandum sativum; kadrkh, mustard;
and kîri or kîrsi, red amaranth.
Thus the last clause would run: kîri pûv kâdkanm kâl mâ, and this would
be followed by the names of Pithioteu and Ön. Then the utpol flicks his
cloak three times, first against the ground and then against the belly
of the sufferer, and says, “ateuk ir,” or “ateuk padr,” according as
the man is sitting or lying down, and the sufferer moves a little from
his place.
The names of flowers are used because the Todas believe that worms come
from eating honey, and the honey has come from flowers. The flowers
mentioned belong to four groups; [92] (i) those of trees which bear
edible fruits; (ii) those from which bees get honey; (iii) those of
trees or plants part of which are eaten; (iv) those of trees which give
pungent substances like chillies and pepper.
There were various other complaints for which the utkòren are
consulted, such as:—elptûksnûdr, depression in the chest of a child
when it breathes (elp or elv = bone); tekhpkâdathvüdnûdr, pain in the
side; kankpudithnûdr, if anything gets into the eye; erutûthtinûdr, if
cut or wounded in any way; pobersnûdr, if snake bites.
Each of these has its appropriate treatment, but the only method of
which I obtained an account was the last. Certain men have a special
reputation for the treatment of snake-bite. A cord is made of woman’s
hair and this is bound tightly round the bitten limb in three places.
The doctor takes a piece of pathanmul and strikes the bitten limb while
he utters the appropriate incantation. [93] The ligature is kept on the
limb for two or three days and the incantation is repeated three times
a day during that period. Anyone whom a snake has bitten must not cross
a stream. If it is absolutely necessary that he should cross, he must
be carried over it.
If wild animals attack the buffaloes, a procedure which closely
resembles those already described is carried out by the utkòren. The
procedure is called kâdrkatinamûdr—i.e., “wild beast tie mouth if.” It
is also carried out if a buffalo is lost, and in this case the charm
will keep the animal from injury by wild beasts. The utpol takes three
stones secretly and goes at night to the front either of the dairy or
hut and utters the following incantation:—
Pithioteu Ön idith, Teikirzim Tirshtim idith; pef pîrzi kût terz
big tiger teeth fastened
nil mâ; kâkh kerman mûn terz nil mâ; padr kenai amûn
stand may; black bear face crowd red dog other side
terz nil mâ; pob teuv terz nil mâ; pef per terz nil mâ; pef
snake erect head big hill big
po pâ terz nil mâ; pef pòdi mul [94] terz nil mâ.
river stream big porcupine quills
Then come the names of Pithioteu and Ön, followed by
âth ûvòdin kati vaiumâ.
these all before tie keep may.
The utpol then takes a piece of ragged cloth in which he ties the three
stones and hides them in the thatch of the hut. If a buffalo has been
lost it will come back the next day, and even if it remains in the wood
no tiger would touch it while the stones are in the thatch. When the
buffalo returns the stones are taken out and thrown away.
All the remedies so far described resemble one another in that they are
applied by one of the people called utkòren. The following remedy is
applied by the sufferer himself. If a man is frightened in any way, as
by a sudden noise when he is passing along a road, he will go home and
put the hoe (kudali) and a stone called neilikal into the fire till the
hoe is red hot. He puts the hoe and stones into a brass vessel called
terg and pours on water. He then covers himself entirely with his cloak
and remains covered till the water in the vessel ceases to bubble, when
he opens his cloak, drinks water from the vessel three times, and
throws the rest away.
There was some difference of opinion as to the use of the stone called
neilikal at ordinary times. It was said first to have been used for
making fire before matches were introduced, and there seems to be no
doubt that fire was sometimes made in this way. Others said that the
neilikal was used for sharpening iron tools. The only neilikal I saw
was at Nidrsi and this was a large piece of quartz, and there seemed to
be no doubt that this had at one time been used for making fire.
In one of the methods of sorcery which have been described it will be
remembered that human hair is used. The Todas take the same kind of
precautions about hair and nail-parings which are so widely spread
throughout the world, but the reasons for the precautions differed from
those usually given. I was told that the Todas do not ordinarily cut
their hair, but the heads of children are shaved and adults also shave
their heads on special occasions. The hair removed at these times is
hidden in bushes or hollows in the rocks, and the reason given is that
it may not be taken by crows.
Nail-parings are buried in the ground, and this is done in order that
they may not be eaten by the buffaloes, for “nails are poisonous to
buffaloes,” who will die or become ill if they find them when grazing.
There was some difference of opinion as to what was done with the hair
cut off at the ceremony called tersamptpimi (see p. 333). It was clear,
however, that care was taken that it should not be eaten by crows, for
if crows obtained any of the hair first cut from a child’s head the
child would suffer from shaking of some kind.
Both at the first head-shaving and at the tersamptpimi ceremony special
bangles are put round the wrist of the child, and these are certainly
of the nature of charms, for it is believed that the child would fall
ill if they were not used.
The Todas believe in certain injurious influences which they class
together under the name of pudrtvuti, [95] but I was able to obtain
very little information about them, and I suspect that belief in these
influences is largely of recent growth and due to contact with
Hinduism.
One variety of pudrtvuti is the evil influence of Keirt
(Keirtpudrtvuti) at the ceremonies after childbirth (see p. 326).
Another variety is kòdipudrtvuti (kòdi, demon?). The Todas now adopt as
a preventative of this evil influence a round mark made with ashes
above the nose. If a Toda should suffer from the effects of
kòdipudrtvuti, two remedies are adopted. One is called kavkal wart
atpimi—i.e., “kavkal (a stone) grind, pour we.” I did not obtain an
account of the remedy, but it is possibly the same as that already
described which is used by a man when frightened. The other remedy is
kwagal atpimi. Kwagal (Polygonum rude or P. Chinense) is the same plant
which is used in one of the remedies for the evil eye (see p. 264) and
it is possible again that this remedy is the same as that already
described. Kwagal is also the plant used by the goddess Puzi to quench
the fire of her son, Kurindo.
It will have been noticed that the formulæ recorded in this chapter
have the same general form as the prayers of the dairy ritual. They
consist of sentences ending in mâ, which seem to be of the nature of
supplications that certain things may come to pass, preceded by the
names of certain deities followed by the word idith, occasionally with
other sentences allied in meaning to these. The two parts of the prayer
are represented, but the first part, consisting of the kwarzam, does
not appear to have acquired the same degree of importance as in the
prayer. Thus the magical formulæ of the Todas have precisely the same
general form as those used in their religious ritual. In the case of
the prayer, I have pointed out that the actual words leave one in doubt
as to whether there is anything of the nature of a direct appeal to the
gods. In the magical formulæ, on the other hand, the case for an appeal
to the gods is stronger. In all the formulæ, whether used by sorcerers
to bring evils on their enemies or by medicine-men to remove sufferings
of various kinds, the names of the same four deities are mentioned, and
these four deities, Pithioteu, Ön, Teikirzi, and Tirshti, are
undoubtedly four of the most ancient and sacred of the Toda gods. It is
noteworthy that the sorcerer does not say the names of these gods when
he is removing his spells, but simply refers to them as “those gods,”
and it is clear that he does this because he does not wish his victim
to learn the names of the gods by whose power his misfortunes have been
brought about and are now to be removed. This procedure leaves little
room for doubt that it is through the active intervention of the gods
that the sorcerer is believed to work.
There still remains the question whether the words of the magical
formula imply anything of the nature of supplication, or whether the
sorcerer is not rather using forms of words which will compel the gods
to exert their powers in the way the sorcerer wishes. I have no
definite information as to the belief of the Toda sorcerer on the
point, but the almost contemptuous tone of the two clauses which follow
the names of the four gods might perhaps be held to point to the latter
conclusion, and to indicate that the sorcerer can use the gods as his
instruments of wrath much as seems to have been the case with the
magicians of our mediæval times.
On the other hand, it is not unlikely that the words, “â teu sati
udâsnûdr, an nòdr nòdr udâsnûdr,” may have originally had a meaning
very different from that which the bare translation seems to give to
them. A similar formula occurs in the story of Kwoten (p. 194) in the
curse uttered by Kwoten’s mother, which has the proviso, “on sati
udairnûdr,” which was translated, “if I have reverence to the village.”
This makes it possible that the translation of the words of the magical
incantation should rather be, “if I have proper reverence to the gods
and to the gods’ country.” The interpretation on page 257 is that which
was given to me by Teitnir, but it is not at all improbable that it is
wrong, and that a translation on the lines of that given for the curse
of Kwoten’s mother would be more correct.
The nature of the words used makes it clear that the remedies employed
by the Toda utkòren, or medicine-men, are of a magical kind. The words
are essentially the same as those used by the pilikòren, or sorcerers,
to remove the evils they have brought about by their previous magical
incantations. The same formulæ are used to remove ills supposed to be
due to natural causes as are used to remove those due to the workings
of magic. It seems clear that the Todas have advanced beyond the stage
of human culture in which all misfortunes are produced by magic. They
recognise that some ills are not due to human intervention, but yet
they employ the same kind of means to remove these ills as are employed
to remove those brought about by human agency. The advance of the Todas
is shown most clearly by the differentiation of function between
pilikòren and utkòren, between sorcerers and medicine-men, and we seem
to have here a clear indication of the differentiation between magic
and medicine. The two callings are followed by different men, who are
entirely distinct from one another, but both use the same kind of
formula to bring about the effect they desire to produce. It seems that
the powers of the utkòren are less definitely passed on from father to
son than in the case of the pilikòren. There is no doubt that these
powers depend largely on a knowledge of the words to be used, and
especially on a knowledge of the names of the four gods, but it is
probable that this knowledge is transmitted from one old person to any
other who may be likely to inspire confidence. It will be noted that a
woman can practise the magical remedies of the utkòren, but I do not
know whether this is a recent innovation. It seems clear that a woman
could never become one of the pilikòren or sorcerers.
When discussing the formulæ of the dairy ritual, it was mentioned that
one difficulty in the way of regarding these formulæ as prayers is that
the names of deities are not uttered in the vocative form, and that
this might be held to negative the idea that they involve supplication
to higher powers. In the magical formulæ there seems to be a clearer
case for the presence of a distinct address to deities, though it is
doubtful whether this address is of a supplicative or compelling
character. If there is a distinct address in the case of the magical
formulæ, which every Toda would acknowledge to be used for an evil end,
it is very probable that the words of the dairy formulæ also involve
the idea of an address to deities. These formulæ are always directed to
avert evils from and to call down blessings on the buffaloes, and it
seems almost certain that for this good end the words imply not only an
address to the powers of the gods, but also one of a supplicative
rather than of a compelling character.
One distinction between the formulæ of the dairy and those of the
sorcerer may be pointed out. In the latter the names of the gods are
those used in ordinary conversation, i.e., Teikirzi, Tirshti, and are
not the kwarzam, i.e., Ekirzam meidjam.
One of the most interesting features of this chapter has been the clear
evidence given in the formulæ of the close relation existing between
magic and religion among the Todas. The formulæ of magic and of the
dairy ritual are of the same nature, though the differentiation between
the sorcerer and the priest who use them is even clearer than that
between the sorcerer and the medicine-man. It is probable that the
names of the gods with the characteristic formulæ of the prayer are
later additions to the magical incantation; that at some time the
sorcerer has added the names of the most important of his deities to
the spells and charms which at one time were thought to be sufficient
for his purpose. It is also possible, however, that the similarity of
prayer and spell points to a time when the functions of priest and
sorcerer were combined in one person; that as the restrictions which
hedge round the life of the dairyman-priest increased, it became
impracticable for him to exert his magical functions, and that there
has therefore come about a differentiation of function, though the
means used continue to show a close resemblance.
It may perhaps be said that the clear evidence of the supposed
influence of the gods takes the facts which have been described in this
chapter out of the realm of magic and puts them in that of religion.
The Toda’s methods of procuring ill to his neighbours are clearly in
their essential nature of a magical kind, but their close blend with
religious ideas is the reason why I have considered them in their
present place.
OMENS
The Todas do not pay much attention to omens, but meeting certain
animals is regarded as lucky or unlucky. The most definite instance of
an omen-animal is a black bird called karpüls, which is said to be the
Indian cuckoo. If a Toda is going on an errand and sees this bird on
the left side, he takes it as a bad omen and turns back; if on the
right side, it is a good omen. This bird appears twice in Toda legend.
It warned Püv, the son of Ön, and in the last scene of the life of
Kwoten, it appeared going from left to right. It is noteworthy that
when Erten is interpreting the omen in this legend, he brings in
Naraian (Narayan), who is certainly not a Toda deity, and this suggests
that the whole incident of the omen-bird may be an accretion to the
legends, and that the belief in omens has been borrowed from the
Badagas or other Hindus.
CHAPTER XIII
SACRIFICE AND OFFERINGS
In this chapter various ceremonies will be described which may all be
regarded as examples of propitiation of the higher powers by sacrifices
or offerings. We shall see later that in the funeral ceremonies
buffaloes are killed, but it is clear that there is no idea of
propitiation or atonement connected with this slaughter, the animals
being killed so that they may go to the next world for the service of
the dead.
THE ERKUMPTTHPIMI CEREMONY
In this ceremony a young male calf is killed and eaten. The ordinary
name is erkumptthpimi (“male buffalo we kill”) or erkumptthiti, but at
the ti the ceremony is called ernudrtipimi. I met with great obstacles
in obtaining a satisfactory account, the men who had told me all the
details of the dairy ceremonial denying at first all knowledge of any
ceremony among the Todas in which a calf was killed or eaten. As soon
as they found that I knew positively of the existence of the ceremony,
they acknowledged that they killed a calf, but said they could not tell
me anything about it. I succeeded at last in obtaining a record of the
ceremony from Teitnir, and when I was endeavouring to identify the
various parts into which the sacrificial animal is divided, we met with
such difficulties [96] that Teitnir agreed to allow me to see the
ceremony on the condition that I would provide the cost of the calf.
Owing to the general reluctance to talk about this ceremony, I was not
able to obtain such independent accounts from other people as I should
have liked, but the details of the sacrifice as given me by Teitnir
agreed with those of the ceremony I witnessed, and I have no doubt as
to its essential accuracy. I had hoped to have obtained independent
evidence on some doubtful features at the end of my visit, but these
hopes were entirely frustrated by the death of Teitnir’s wife a few
days after the ceremony which had been performed for my benefit, her
death being generally ascribed to the anger of the gods because the
secrets of erkumptthpimi had been revealed. After I had left the hills,
however, Samuel succeeded in obtaining information on several doubtful
points, and was given an independent account which entirely confirmed
the accuracy of the proceedings which he had witnessed at the same time
as myself.
The ceremony is performed both at the ordinary village and at the ti
dairy. At the ti there is no doubt that it is performed three times a
year, but there was much discrepancy in the accounts of its frequency
at the village. According to some, the sacrifice only takes place once
a year at each village in October, soon after the ceremony of
teutütusthchi, to be described later in this chapter. According to
others, the ceremony is performed whenever the people have a suitable
male calf to sacrifice. During the ten years that my interpreter,
Samuel, had been living among the Todas, he had come to the conclusion
that the ceremony is performed fairly often, his opinion being based on
chance remarks made by the children. I think there is very little doubt
that a calf is now killed in each village more often than once a year,
and the ceremony at which I was present was almost certainly one of the
occasional performances, though the time of year at which it took place
makes it possible that it was the chief annual occasion of that
village.
There was also some doubt whether there is an annual ceremony in every
village for the people living in that village, or whether the annual
ceremony is only performed in the etudmad, or chief village of each
clan, for all the people of the clan. The true state of affairs at the
present time is probably that the ceremony is performed at the Nòdrs ti
in October. Fifteen days later it is performed at the other ti mad and
at the chief village of each clan. In addition to these annual
celebrations the sacrifice is performed on two other occasions at the
ti, while at a village it may be performed whenever the people of the
village have a suitable animal.
The place at which the sacrifice is performed is called the ernkar, and
at Karia, where I witnessed the ceremony, the ernkar is in a wood
nearly half a mile from the village at a spot where it is very unlikely
that the proceedings would be disturbed by chance visitors. It seems
that there is not only a special ernkar for each ti and for each clan,
but that each village has also its appointed place.
The ceremony is performed on appointed days, different for each ti and
clan. In the case of the Kuudrol, these are Sunday, Wednesday, and
Thursday, and the ceremony which I witnessed at Karia, a village of
this clan, took place on a Sunday. The chief officiator at the
sacrifice at an ordinary village is the palikartmokh of the village,
who must, however, for this occasion be of the same clan as those who
are celebrating the sacrifice.
On the day arranged for the ceremony at Karia the palikartmokh was ill,
and as none of the other inhabitants of Karia was able to undertake the
office, an elderly man, Punatvan (53), had to be fetched from another
village. On his arrival he had first to go through the ordination
ceremonies for the office of palikartmokh, a lucky chance which gave me
the only opportunity I had during my visit of observing these
proceedings.
At the ernkar wood for the fire is collected, and over small firewood
the people place several logs about three feet in length, so that the
fire is of an oblong form. The firewood must be of one or both of the
kinds called main and kiül. While some of those present are making the
fire, others will be fashioning sharply pointed stakes of wood on which
the parts of the calf are to be impaled. These sticks are called ko,
and must be made of one of the following four kinds of wood: avelashki,
karkekoi, kwadiki, or pohvet. It was said that exactly fifty of these
ko must be provided.
The first stage of the ceremonial is to make fire by friction, which
should be done by the palikartmokh. The only occasion on which I saw
fire made by friction during an actual ceremony was when I witnessed
the sacrifice at Karia, and on this occasion both Punatvan and his
chief assistant, Pichievan (69) of Keadr, twirled the fire-sticks
alternately, but though they soon produced some smoke, they failed to
light the rag used as tinder. My constant attendant, Kòdrner, was
called in, and with his more powerful manipulations was almost
immediately successful, and the lighted rag was carried by Punatvan to
the heap of firewood, which was soon in a good blaze.
As soon as the fire is alight the calf is brought to the ernkar, and
the palikartmokh goes to cut a log of tudr wood and three small
branches of tudr leaves. The calf should be fifteen days old and must
be without blemish. Its ears must not be split, its tail must not be
cut, and its eyes must be clear.
The log of tudr wood is for the killing of the calf and is about four
feet in length and about three inches in thickness. Such a log is
usually called tudrkud, but on this occasion is named erkumptthkud. The
three branches of tudr must consist of perfect leaves. Such branches
are usually called tudrkwunak, but on the occasion of this ceremony
they receive the name toashtitudr.
The palikartmokh then stands in front of the calf, holding the log and
leaves in his right hand. He raises the log and leaves to his forehead
as a salutation, and then recites the appointed prayer. This prayer is
different for each clan and consists of clauses in each of which the
kwarzam of one of the villages of the clan is followed by “——k per mâ.”
Thus the first clause of the Kuudr prayer is atthkârk per mâ; atthkâr
is the kwarzam of Kuudr, k is the suffix, meaning “to,” and per mâ is
“may increase” or “may there be increase.” All the clauses of the
prayer are of this form except the last two, which are karsêram
parsêram; Nòtîrzk êr usht mâ; the first of which is a kwarzam of
Kulinkars, êram probably meaning buffaloes, while the second means,
“may the buffalo appear to Nòtirzi.” The calf is supposed to appear to
Nòtirzi and then to go from the hill of this goddess to the hill of
Kulinkars. The complete prayers of Kuudr and Kars are given on pp. 288,
289.
The palikartmokh touches the head of the calf with the erkumptthkud
(Fig. 38) as he utters each kwarzam till he comes to the penultimate
clause of the prayer, at which point he begins the following series of
actions. He draws the three branches of tudr leaves along the back of
the calf from head to tail and then drops one of the three toashtitudr
on the ground behind the calf. The two remaining branches are drawn
along the back of the calf from tail to head in the reverse direction
to the first, and on reaching the head one of the two branches is
dropped on the ground at the head of the animal. The remaining branch
is drawn from head to tail and dropped on the ground by the side of the
first (see Fig. 39).
The animal is then killed by striking it on the head with the
erkumptthkud. The palikartmokh then takes up the three toashtitudr,
and, taking them in his right hand with the log, passes them round the
calf three times. In doing this, the body of the calf rests on its
side, while the log and leaves are passed between the two fore-legs,
then between the two hind-legs, round the hind-quarters, and forward
over the back and head, so that they make a complete circuit of the
animal, and this circuit is twice repeated, so that the log and leaves
are passed completely round the calf three times.
The palikartmokh then proceeds to cut up the calf (Fig. 40), beginning
with a complete incision round the neck. The knife used is of the
ordinary kind called turi, but on this occasion it is called ab, or
“arrow.” On the occasion on which I saw the ceremony, the calf seemed
to have only been stunned by the blow on the head and began to kick as
soon as this incision was made. The animal was, in consequence,
vigorously belaboured over the testicles with the log of tudr wood, and
this was repeated till the movements of the animal ceased.
The next incision is down the mid-ventral line; incisions are made
through the skin above each hoof, and the palikartmokh then removes the
skin of the whole animal except the head and feet, beginning at the
right fore-limb.
When the skin (tars) is removed, it is laid on the ground with its
outer surface downwards a few yards from the spot at which the animal
is being cut up, and the palikartmokh proceeds to cut the animal into
the following parts:—
Kwelthkh, hoof and attached skin and bones.
Mogâl, lower segment of fore-limb (metacarpus).
Kemal, or kemalth, upper segment of fore-limb corresponding to
fore-arm.
Kanòdri, shoulder.
Mêdrkwelv, trachea and larynx.
Tòdrthars, lower segment of hind-limb (metatarsus).
Pevutth, upper segment of hind-limb (leg).
Ûrûf, liver.
Putth, gall-bladder.
Pushk, kidneys.
Kwur, small intestine.
Tütkwur, large intestine.
Mulikudri, urinary bladder.
Agelv, pelvis, including thigh bones.
Mudri, sternum and part of ribs attached.
Nüdz, heart.
Püth, lungs.
Kwotinerûf (kwotinûrûf?), spleen.
Pâlvîr, stomach full of milk, called pâlvetâr when emptied of milk.
Mutelf, lower part of backbone with parts of lower ribs attached.
Nòdi, upper half of backbone with parts of upper ribs attached.
Mad, head.
The parts of the calf are removed approximately in the order in which
they are given above. The palikartmokh first cuts off the four feet of
the animal, beginning with that of the right fore-limb and the four
kwelthkh are placed under the skin, one at each corner.
The next part to be removed is the right mogâl, and then the three
other corresponding parts. Up to this point, everything must be done by
the palikartmokh himself, but after the mogâl have been removed any one
may help, and on the occasion when I witnessed the ceremony, several
operations were going on simultaneously after this point of the
proceedings, and it became difficult to ascertain exactly what was
being done and the exact order in which the parts were being removed.
The cutting up of the calf was performed chiefly by Pichievan, while
the palikartmokh, Punatvan, occupied himself with other operations.
After the removal of the mogâl, the remaining parts of the two
fore-limbs are removed and placed on the skin. The larynx and windpipe
are taken out together, and in doing this the large vessels of the neck
are divided. The body of the animal is then taken up and held over the
skin, so that the blood runs out over the parts placed on the skin, and
these parts are then moved about, so that they become smeared with
blood, and are then placed on the stakes (ko), and each ko with its
part of the animal is stuck in the ground on one side of the skin. Some
of the other parts when removed are rubbed in the blood on the skin.
When the different parts have been impaled in this manner, the
palikartmokh cuts from each part a small piece of flesh called mîis and
puts the pieces on a stake. From the ribs and sternum, he cuts a part
called the tütmîis, much larger than the other fragments, and puts this
on a stake. I could not ascertain exactly of what the tütmîis
consisted, but it seemed to be the lower end of the sternum with some
of the diaphragm attached to it. [98]
After cutting off the mîis, the palikartmokh begins to put the parts
round the fire (Fig. 41), beginning with the mogâl, which are placed,
one on each side, about the middle of the fire, but rather nearer that
end at which the head is to be placed later. The mogâl must be put in
this position by the palikartmokh himself, but the other parts may be
arranged in any order. While the palikartmokh is manipulating the parts
first cut off and placing them round the fire, his assistants will be
continuing the division of the animal. When the liver is taken out, the
gall-bladder is cut from it and thrown on one side. The intestines are
removed and put on stakes by transfixing every few inches of their
length.
The small intestine is placed on more than one ko, while, so far as I
could see, the large intestine is put on one stake. The urinary bladder
is thrown on one side. The ribs are cut through nearer the back than
the front, and the sternum and anterior parts of the ribs form one
part, the mudri. It was from this part that the tütmîis was taken. The
spleen is put on one side in order that it may be given to a cat, and
its name is derived from this fact. The stomach when taken out of the
body is filled with milk and in this state is called pâlvîr. Its
contents are poured out and it then receives the name pâlvetâr.
As soon as the cutting up is completed and all the other parts have
been placed round the fire, the head is put on a ko, and this is stuck
in the ground at one end of the fire and about half a yard from it, and
the four kwelthkh are placed on the ground round the head. Some of the
parts placed round the fire may by this time have charred, and they are
turned round so as to expose the opposite side to the flames.
The next step is to take up the head on its ko and place it in the
middle of the fire for about a minute, after which it is replaced. The
object of this is to singe the ears, which the palikartmokh then pulls
off. He also takes certain fragments (mîis) from some of the other
parts and throws them, together with the ears, into the fire, standing
at one end, the opposite end to that at which the head is placed. He
then takes three charred pieces of wood from the fire, and throws them
over the fire and over the head, so that they fall beyond the latter,
saying as he throws each time, “Nòtîrzk per mâ, mañ!” the last
exclamation being the sound which is ordinarily uttered when calling a
calf.
When the flesh is sufficiently roasted the palikartmokh eats the
tütmîis, while the others present may eat any portion. When enough has
been eaten, the remainder of the cooked flesh is carried to the
village. The mogâl, agelv, mad, and kwelthkh are carried to the dairy
by the palikartmokh and kept there. The flesh of these parts is eaten
by the dairyman or by other men, but may on no account be eaten by a
woman. The other parts are taken to the hut and given into the keeping
of the women, and the flesh of these parts can be eaten by any one—man,
woman, or child. Butter is often put on the flesh before it is eaten.
THE SACRIFICE AT THE TI
The sacrifice at the ti is called ernudrtipimi, and is performed at
every ti three times in the year. The first occasion is about fifteen
days after the ceremony of teutütusthchi in October. The second
occasion is about January, when the buffaloes of the ti migrate to the
Kundahs or elsewhere for the dry season. The third occasion is after
the ceremony of giving salt, which is known as kòrup (see p. 175). The
ceremony may take place at any ti mad except Anto.
The appointed days are Sunday and Wednesday. On the day before the
ceremony wood is taken by the palol and kaltmokh to the sacrificial
spot, called ernkar as at the village. At Mòdr the wood in which the
sacrifice takes place is called Turikipül.
The sacrifice may be performed either in the morning or evening, and
takes place, in either case, before kaizhvatiti, the ceremonial pouring
of buttermilk. This means that the sacrifice takes place during and not
after the dairy ceremonial, and thus forms part of the dairy ritual.
Each palol wears the pòdrshtuni, while the kaltmokh is naked throughout
except for the kuvn. The kaltmokh arranges the firewood and the chief
palol (at the Nòdrs ti, the ti palol) lights the wood with fire brought
from his dairy. The calf is then killed and cut up with exactly the
same ritual as in the village ceremony.
After the flesh has been placed round the fire both the palol return to
their dairies, leaving the kaltmokh at the ernkar to look after the
roasting flesh. Each palol prays as usual and takes buttermilk without
the aid of the kaltmokh, and then returns to the ernkar, the chief
palol taking butter with him. At the place of the sacrifice the palol
eats the tütmîis only, first putting it, together with butter, on
leaves of kakud, from which he eats. The kaltmokh eats part of the
liver at the ernkar, and is not allowed to touch any other part of the
animal unless given to him by the palol. The mogâl, agelv, mad, and
kwelthkh are then carried by the palol to the dairy where they are
kept. They are eaten only by the palol and kaltmokh. Some parts are
carried by the kaltmokh to the sleeping-hut, and are eaten by the
kaltmokh and mòrol; other parts are taken to the outskirts of the ti
mad and given to any Todas who may visit the dairy.
In connexion with the erkumptthpimi ceremony, I was told of a device
employed to induce the mother of the sacrificed calf to continue
suckling after her offspring has been killed. Several days before the
sacrifice the calf to be sacrificed and a female calf of about the same
age are shut up together in the kush, or small structure in which young
calves are kept. On the floor of the kush are spread some of the grass
called nark [99] and some leaves of the kiars [100] tree. When these
have been broken up and mixed with earth by the trampling of the
calves, a handful of the mixture, together with milk, is rubbed on the
backs of both calves, and this is repeated for three or four days. The
object is that the mother shall not know which is her own calf, and
shall suckle both, and continue to suckle the female calf when her own
has been taken away. During the days on which the calves are shut up
together the dairyman should keep pon, i.e., he should not sell or give
away any of the produce of the dairy.
If this device is not employed or is unsuccessful the skin of the
sacrificed calf is placed on the back of a female calf, and in this way
the mother may be induced to suckle the latter. When Teitnir performed
the erkumptthpimi ceremony for my benefit, he did not succeed in
getting the mother to suckle another calf and demanded 60 rupees [101]
as compensation for the loss of milk which he would suffer till the
buffalo had another calf. When he found that I had no intention of
paying this sum, he adopted the second device just described, and this
expedient was successful.
The erkumptthpimi ceremony was first mentioned by Harkness (p. 139),
who witnessed the sacrifice. The details of the ceremony which he gives
agree in general with those observed by myself. He calls the sacrifice
“yerr-gompts.” A still more complete account which agrees closely with
my own was given by Muzzy in 1844. Breeks mentions the ceremony, as is
usual with him, under its Badaga name of kona shastra, and his account
contains several features which disagree with those of Harkness, Muzzy,
and myself.
I could obtain no satisfactory account of the origin of the sacrifice.
Teitnir gave me a circumstantial story of the way in which Kwoto or
Meilitars induced the gods to eat the flesh of a male calf. Teitnir
stated that when Kwoto was visiting the gods in the form of a kite, and
before he had tied down the sun (see p. 206), he killed a male calf
with exactly the same ceremonial as that practised since, and taking
some of the flesh threw it into the midst of the gods, saying, “I have
brought the flesh; it is sacred flesh; I have partaken of it, and if
your counsel is to be right, you must partake of it.” At this the gods
were very angry and blamed Kwoto, whereupon he said, “I am not
blameworthy; if you blame a man who should not be blamed, why do you
not eat flesh which should not be eaten?” Kwoto was then given the task
of tying down the sun, and when he succeeded in doing this and had been
acknowledged by the gods as their superior, the gods agreed to eat the
flesh, and since that time the Todas have sacrificed a male calf, just
as Kwoto did, and have eaten the flesh of the calf.
The truth of this account, given by Teitnir, was denied by every other
Toda whom I questioned, and I have not therefore included it in the
story of Kwoto given in Chap. IX, but I think it is possible that
Teitnir was right, and that the denial of the other Todas was due to
their reluctance that I should know the real belief about this
ceremony. Even if not correct, Teitnir’s account is valuable as a
record of an ingenious example of Toda reasoning.
At the ceremony I witnessed there was one feature of some interest.
When it was found that the calf had not been killed by the blow with
the log of tudr wood, the animal was belaboured over the testicles.
This procedure had not been included in the account given to me before
the ceremony, and I could not discover how far it is an established
custom to kill the animal in this way if it is not killed by the blow.
The interest arises from the fact that in the ancient Vedic sacrifices,
the animal was killed by stopping its mouth and beating it severely ten
or twelve times on the testicles till it was suffocated. [102] I have
not been able to discover whether this method of killing an animal is
still practised in India. If so, it has probably been borrowed by the
Todas; but if not, this ancient Indian method may have been preserved
by the Todas. I did not observe that the mouth of the calf was stopped
at the sacrifice which I witnessed, but this was probably done.
THE ERKUMPTTHPIMI PRAYER OF KUUDR
This consists of clauses of the form Atthkark per ma in which the
following kwarzam of villages are mentioned: Atthkâr and Òners (Kuudr),
Kidnârs and Toarsòdri (Ars), Moskar and Manêthi (Òdr), Keikòdr and
Karsülh (Melkòdr), Kwoteiners and Kwelpushol (Kiudr), Tashtakhkush
(Pirsush), Kwotirkwirg (Kwirg), Toarskâria (Karia), Pârners and
Tîindeuk (Miuni). These are followed by the final two clauses, karsêram
parsêram, Nòtîrzk êr usht mâ.
The chief features of this prayer are that the chief villages of the
Kuudrol have each two kwarzam and that two kwarzam of Òdr, a Nòdrs
village, are included (see p. 647).
THE KARS PRAYER
This consists of the kwarzam of the villages of the Karsol followed by
-k per mâ, as in Mutashkitik per mâ, but in this case only one kwarzam
is mentioned for each village. The following are the kwarzam with the
corresponding villages in brackets: Mutashkiti (Kars), Karadrners
(Kuzhu), Kiugners (Keshker), Külnkars (Taradrkirsi), Nersmi (Nasmiòdr),
Eḍstârs (Tashtars), Keiikârs (Kerkars), Kuzhârmûdri (Isharadr),
Pòḍshners (Pòdzkwar), Peleiners (Peletkwur), Tarskidt, Tüli, Sing,
Keitaz. In the last four cases the kwarzam and ordinary name of each
village are the same. These kwarzam are followed by ekîrzam meidjam,
Nòtîrzk êr usht mâ. The place of karsêram parsêram in the Kuudr prayer
is taken by ekîrzam meidjam, the kwarzam of Teikirzi, but I do not know
how far this is a special feature of the Kars prayer. It may be that
the Tartharol have the latter formula. It is remarkable that the Karsol
should omit karsêram parsêram, for it is the kwarzam of their
nòdrodchi, Kulinkars.
Several of the kwarzam of this prayer are those of villages which no
longer exist. The prayer thus preserves a record of Toda institutions
which have entirely disappeared.
These prayers are also interesting as records of a number of village
kwarzam. It will be noticed that in many cases there is a considerable
degree of resemblance between the ordinary name and the kwarzam; in
other cases the words are wholly different.
In villages on the west side of the Paikara River the palikartmokh
says, “Teikhârsk êr usht mâ,” may the buffalo appear to Teikhars,
instead of Nòtîrzk êr usht mâ as the last clause. Teikhars is merely
another name for Kulinkars. The reason for the modification is probably
connected with the fact that the calf would have to cross the sacred
Paikara River in order to go to Nòtirzi (Snowdon) on its way to
Kulinkars.
I was unable, as usual, to obtain any information from the Todas on the
significance of the erkumptthpimi ceremony, but the prayer offered
before the calf is killed seems to make it clear that the idea
underlying the ceremony is that of promoting the general welfare of the
buffaloes. The actual words of the prayer are directed to bring about
an increase to the various villages of the clan, but there is, I think,
no doubt that in this prayer, all have the buffaloes especially in mind
and that the meaning of the prayer is, “may the buffaloes of ...
increase!” The sacrifice of the calf would seem to be of that kind in
which one is killed that the rest may prosper.
There is one feature of the sacrifice which might be held to be out of
harmony with this suggestion—viz., that the sacrificed calf is a young
male, and hence a comparatively worthless animal. The name of the
ceremony means strictly “we kill a male buffalo,” [103] and it is
possible that at one time an adult male was sacrificed, but even then
the sacrifice would be of an animal comparatively little valued by the
Todas. As we shall see, the animals killed at funerals are always
female, but there is an obvious reason for this, as the buffaloes are
to be of use to the dead person in the other world. Formerly large
numbers of buffaloes were killed at funerals, and it is possible that
it was found impracticable to use female buffaloes also for the
erkumptthpimi sacrifice.
There is another possible reason for the use of male buffaloes. The
flesh of the sacrificed animal is eaten, and it is possible that the
Todas may have preferred to use for this purpose the less sacred male
buffaloes, and not to risk any possible evil effects which might follow
the consumption of the flesh of the females. It is probable that
utilitarian motives have played the chief part in the choice of a male,
but other more religious motives may have had some influence.
THE TEUTÜTUSTHCHI CEREMONY
This is an annual ceremony in which a fire is lighted at the foot of a
hill by the palol and kaltmokh. The name teutütusthchi or
teutütusthtiti means “god fire he lights.” It is performed in the month
which the Todas call Tai, beginning with the new moon in October.
The two palol and the kaltmokh of the Nòdrs ti perform the ceremony on
the first or second Sunday after the new moon, and make the fire in
alternate years at the hills called Kòti and Puthi. The two palol of
the Kars and Pan ti set fire together at the hill Kònto on the
following Tuesday. This ceremony is not performed by the palol of
either the Kwòdrdoni or the Nidrsi ti. In 1902 the Nòdrs palol went to
the hill Kòti on the second Sunday after the new moon (October 12th).
The hills of Kòti, Puthi, and Kònto are said to be chosen because they
are very high, and have the highest teu, who are spoken of as elder
brothers.
The palol and kaltmokh set out when they have taken buttermilk after
the morning work, abstaining from other food till the ceremony is over.
They take with them the nirsi or fire-sticks, some leaves of kakud, a
piece of tuni, and some dried grass from the thatch of the dairy. Each
palol wears both the pòdrshtuni and the kubuntuni.
When they reach the foot of the hill they make a heap of firewood. They
then spread the kakud leaves on a stone and powder the thatch of the
dairy on the leaves, and each palol makes fire with the fire-sticks and
lights the powdered thatch. Then the kaltmokh says,
“Teutütusthtkina?”—“Shall I light the god (or sacred) fire?”—and both
palol answer “Teutütustht!” Then the kaltmokh takes the lighted thatch
and applies it to the heap of firewood. As soon as the fire burns well,
each palol takes off his kubuntuni and, standing some little distance
from the fire, the two dairymen pray, using the usual prayer of the ti
with the following additions:
Kòr pûv mâ; tein pûv mâ; pom
Young grass flower may; honey flourish may; fruit
purzh mâ.
ripen may.
After the prayer the dairymen and their attendant return to their
dairies so as to be in time for the afternoon work.
The object of the ceremony is to make the grass and honey plentiful, as
the additions to the prayer indicate. The Todas told me that in ancient
times they lived largely on wild fruits, nuts, and honey, and that then
the ceremony was of great importance. At the present time the Todas in
general seem to take but little interest in the occasion, but its
former importance is still shown by the fact that the Sunday and
Tuesday on which the ceremony is performed are among the chief Toda
feast days, when the people of every village eat the special kind of
food which they call ashkkartpimi.
OFFERINGS
The ceremonies which have been described are sacrifices or offerings
which occur at regulated intervals. Teutütusthchi is certainly an
annual ceremony, and it is probable that erkumptthpimi was also
originally an annual ceremony, though now it may be performed several
times in the year. Even now, however, there seems to be little doubt
that on one occasion in the year this ceremony is regarded as of
special importance.
The ceremonies which remain to be described are of a different nature.
They are mostly occasions on which offerings are made to avert or
remove misfortune. Some are distinctly of the nature of sin offerings,
but are only made when an offence which has been committed has brought
some misfortune on the offender. In these cases the object of the
offering seems to be propitiatory and to bring about the removal of the
misfortune.
In other cases the offering may be made with the object of removing a
misfortune which is not due to any fault on the part of the sufferer.
The simplest kind of offering is usually spoken of as kwadr
kwadrthpimi—i.e., we give kwadr. The word kwadr probably means gift,
but seems now to be often used in the sense of ‘fine.’ The kwadr takes
the form of a buffalo. When a man gives a buffalo in this way it means
that he undertakes not to give or sell the buffalo to anyone and not to
kill it at a funeral. The buffalo is to be allowed to die a natural
death, but so long as it is alive the owner has the full use of the
milk given by the animal. The idea of this offering is that the buffalo
is given to the gods, according to some, or to the Amatol or people of
Amnòdr, according to others. I also heard it spoken of as if the
buffalo were given to the man’s father or grandfather (pia)—i.e., as if
it was not given to the Amatol in general, but only to the spirit of
the giver’s father or grandfather. It is possible that I have confused
together two or more separate things, but so far as I could learn these
cases resembled one another in that the owner was not allowed to kill
or part with the buffalo.
When the man devotes a buffalo in this way he mentions the buffalo by
name, saying that he gives it to the gods or to his fathers, and as a
sign that he has done so he bows down before an elder and performs the
salutation of kalmelpudithti.
This offering was made at the funeral of a child at which I was
present, when the diviners found that a buffalo about to be killed was
of the wrong kind, and said that Kuriolv, the father of the child,
should give a buffalo. In this case the diviners said that a special
buffalo called Perov was to be given. Kuriolv made a vow to give this
buffalo and performed the kalmelpudithti salutation to Perner, the
grandfather of the dead child. Another example of this offering will be
mentioned at the end of this chapter.
IRNÖRTITI TO THE TI
Another kind of offering is to give a buffalo to one of the ti dairies.
This is called irnörtiti, but must be distinguished from another kind
of irnörtiti to be presently described. A man gives a buffalo to a ti
when he has committed any offence against the ti. In one case in which
I have a record of this kind of offering, the cause was the refusal of
a man to become palol after he had promised to undertake the office.
One of the results of my visit to the Todas was a wholesale sentence
from the teuol that the people were to do ti irnörtiti (see p. 310).
The Tartharol may sometimes give buffaloes to the herds of a ti when
they have not committed any offence against the dairy. This is done
when the buffaloes of the ti have become very few in number, and this
offering is also known as irnörtiti, and is given with the same
ceremonial as when an offence has been committed.
The gift of a buffalo to the ti dairy must take place on a Thursday or
Sunday. On the morning of the day the man making the offering, who is
called the irnörtpol, abstains from food and goes to the ti mad with a
female calf between one and two years of age. He may be accompanied by
other men, usually those closely related to him. The men go to the
outskirts of the dairy and wait there till the morning business of the
dairy is concluded, each man carrying a green stick, either a
kwadrikurs or avelashkikurs. When the palol has finished his work he
goes towards the men on the outskirts of the dairy, also carrying a
stick of the same kind, and as he approaches, the other men drive the
calf towards him, and when it reaches the palol, he drives it so that
it joins the buffaloes of his herd. The palol then gives food to the
irnörtpol and his companions, who eat it on the spot, where they remain
till after sunset, when they return home. If the calf given belongs to
the putiir, it becomes one of the punir of the ti, but if it is of one
of the sacred kinds, pasthir, wursulir, &c., it joins one of the sacred
herds of the ti.
IRNÖRTITI, TUNINÖRTITI AND PILINÖRTITI
We now come to three kinds of offering, with their attendant
ceremonial, which are of a much more complex nature. These are
irnörtiti, tuninörtiti and pilinörtiti, in which the offerings are a
buffalo calf, a piece of the cloth called tuni, and a silver ring
respectively. The first two offerings are made only when one of a
certain number of recognised offences has been committed, and in order
to bring about the removal of some misfortune which has befallen the
offender. Pilinörtiti, on the other hand, is usually performed to bring
about the cessation of some ill-fortune which is not due to any fault
on the part of the sufferer, but it may also be done in expiation of an
offence.
One essential feature common to all three offerings is that the primary
divisions of the clan called kudr (see p. 542) here become of
importance.
Nearly every Toda clan is divided into two kudr, and the offerings in
the three ceremonies always pass from one kudr to the other. The
offering which is given by a man of one kudr becomes the property of
the members of the other kudr. At the present time the kudr is of no
importance except in connexion with these ceremonies, and, so far as I
could learn, it never had any other significance. There are a few clans
of recent origin which have no kudr, and members of these clans cannot
make the offerings. In other clans, one kudr has become extinct, and so
long as no occasion for these ceremonies should arise, nothing is done
to supply the deficiency. As a general rule, it is only when some
trouble arises which may require one or other of these ceremonies that
a redistribution of the members of the clan is made, and it is decided
that one or more of the pòlm or smaller sub-divisions of the clan shall
be constituted a new kudr.
The following are the chief offences for which the irnörtiti or
tuninörtiti ceremonies have to be performed:—
(i) Stealing milk, butter, buttermilk, or ghi from the dairy.
(ii) Going to the dairy after having had intercourse with a woman in
the day-time.
(iii) Quarrelling between people of the same clan on a feast day.
(iv) Quarrelling in the dairy.
(v) Going to the dairy after visiting the seclusion-hut for women (see
Chap. XIV).
(vi) Going to the dairy after taking food with a man who has been to
the seclusion-hut.
(vii) Going to the dairy after throwing earth at a funeral (see Chap.
XV).
(viii) Going to the dairy after chewing tobacco.
(ix) Buying or selling buffaloes on the madnol or sacred day of the
village or on the palinol, the sacred day of the dairy (see Chap.
XVII).
(x) Driving buffaloes from one place to another on these days.
Going to the buffaloes or touching the buffaloes is an offence of the
same rank as going to the dairy.
The general name for all these offences is paliwörtvichi; they are all
regarded as offences against the dairy.
For the first three of the offences it is customary that the irnörtiti
ceremony shall be performed. For the last seven tuninörtiti is more
usual. For the fourth offence the punishment varies according to the
status of the offender. If he is a palikartmokh, he usually has to give
the tuni only, but if an ordinary man he may be ordered to give a
buffalo. It is a far smaller punishment to give a piece of cloth worth
about one rupee four annas than to give a buffalo calf, and it would
seem therefore that the first three offences are regarded as more
serious than the last seven. It would seem also that if a dairyman
quarrels in his dairy it is regarded as a less serious offence than in
the case of an ordinary man.
The decision as to which ceremony shall be performed rests with the
teuol or diviner, but although a diviner usually follows the rules I
have given, it seems that he may order otherwise, and if he does so I
was told that his decision would be followed. I have a very strong
impression, however, that if a diviner ordered a man to do irnörtiti
for one of the more trivial offences, the offender would take further
advice and consult another teuol before obeying.
There were several other offences for which it was said by some that a
man might have to perform irnörtiti or tuninörtiti; thus, if a dairyman
gave up his office on any but one of the appropriate days of the week
he might be ordered to do irnörtiti, and the same penalty might be
incurred if a man assumed office on a wrong day. Similarly a dairyman
might have to perform one of these ceremonies if he spoke to a woman in
the day-time, and probably if he broke any other of the laws regulating
his conduct or made any serious mistakes in carrying out the ritual of
his office. One occasion for irnörtiti was said to arise if anyone
crossed the Paikara or Avalanche rivers on a Tuesday, Friday, or
Saturday, but this is certainly a dead letter at the present time (see
p. 418).
There was some difference of opinion about the penalty for buying,
selling, or driving buffaloes on the arpatznol, or day on which the
father of a man had died. According to one account, the proper penalty
for this is that the offender should give a buffalo to his
ancestors—i.e., that he should name a buffalo which he would neither
kill at a funeral nor sell to others.
In one definite case, however, it appeared that driving buffaloes from
one village to another on the arpatznol had been one of the offences
for which a man had been ordered to do irnörtiti. In this case,
however, other faults had been committed, and it is possible that if
driving buffaloes on the arpatznol had been the only offence a slighter
penalty would have been inflicted.
The ceremony of irnörtiti was performed thirty years ago after the
disappearance of the sacred bells of the Kars kudrpali. In this case
the diviners were consulted, and they found that the bells had gone
away and would not return. It was thought, however, that the
palikartmokh, Kakarsiolv, might have committed some offence against the
dairy, or have made some mistake in the performance of his duties, and
it was thought best that he should perform the irnörtiti ceremony,
though, so far as I could learn, it was not directly prescribed by the
diviners.
As we shall see, the irnörtiti and pilinörtiti ceremonies may have to
be performed as expiation for revealing the secret lore of Toda
institutions, but this is an innovation in custom for which I am afraid
I was indirectly responsible.
It does not seem that the penalties with their attendant ceremonies are
inflicted merely because it is known that a man has committed any of
the recognised offences. It is only when some misfortune befalls a man
which obliges him to have recourse to the diviners that the ceremonies
are performed.
The usual course of events is that a man, his wife, children, or his
buffaloes fall ill, or the buffaloes will not give milk or kick their
calves, or the milk in the dairy will not coagulate properly. Whenever
any of these ills happen the man concludes that for some reason the
gods are angry with him and he goes to the diviners to ascertain the
cause of their displeasure.
The diviners may find that the man’s misfortunes are due to the action
of a sorcerer, or that he has committed some offence against the dairy,
possibly some offence which it is well known he is in the habit of
committing. The diviners not only announce the cause or causes of the
misfortune, but also give information as to the course to be pursued to
remove it. If the diviners decide that an offence has been committed
and that one of the ceremonies should be performed, the offender goes
on the following Sunday to the dairy or dairies of his village and
makes a vow that he will perform the ceremony which has been ordered.
The following is probably a typical instance. Ten years ago Kòdrner
fell ill and one of his buffaloes died. He and his brother consulted
the teuol, who said that they had bought things (i.e., given money from
the village) on Mondays and Thursdays, the madnol or sacred days of
Kars and Kuzhu. They had also driven their buffaloes from Kars to
Isharadr on their arpatznol; there had been sickness among the
buffaloes and they had driven them to Isharadr without thinking that it
was the arpatznol. The teuol said they must do irnörtiti, and on the
following Sunday Kòdrner went first to the kudrpali of Kars (Tarziolv)
and then to the wursuli (Karziolv) and made the following vow at each:—
Ir kar ultâmâ, pîrsk ultâkh en,
Buffalo calf may it be well, illness from be well I,
irnörtkin
buffalo will I give,
or “May the buffaloes and calves become well, may I recover from my
illness, I will give a buffalo.” [104]
From this account it seems clear that the ceremony of irnörtiti is not
a mere punishment for offences committed. If a man commits any of the
recognised offences habitually and with the knowledge of the whole
community, it does not appear that anything is done. Only when some
severe misfortune befalls the offender does he appeal to the diviners
to learn how he has offended and how he can atone for his fault. He
gives the buffalo with the definite idea of recovering from the illness
or removing any other ills which his offences have brought upon him.
Giving the buffalo is clearly of the nature of a ‘sin offering,’ but
the offering is only made when the sin has already had evil
consequences and it is made in order to remove these consequences. Its
object is atonement for an offence committed. It seemed that a man only
had resort to the advice of the diviners in the case of exceptionally
severe misfortunes. The act of giving the buffalo is attended by
ceremonial which involves considerable expense to himself and great
inconvenience to all the members of his clan. The expenses and
inconvenience are so great that the ceremonies of irnörtiti and
tuninörtiti are rarely performed, and in some clans it is many years
since they have occurred.
There is one case in which the irnörtiti ceremony may be performed for
a reason quite different from any of those given above. Owing to a
quarrel which took place many generations ago, the people of Pedrkars
(and probably also those of Kulhem) may not hold the office of palol.
They may become eligible, however, if they perform the irnörtiti
ceremony at Kuudr or Kiudr. It would seem as if they can only hold the
office by expiating the offence committed in the remote past by their
ancestors.
THE IRNÖRTITI CEREMONY
This ceremony takes place at certain prescribed villages, usually at
the chief village of the clan, though when a clan has several important
dairies the ceremony may be performed at any of them. Thus, members of
the Kuudrol may give the buffalo at Kuudr, Kiudr or Miuni.
At nearly every village there is an appointed spot, usually marked by a
stone or a group of stones, called irnörtkars, at which the ceremony is
to be performed. At Kars there is a row of stones, shown in Fig. 42. At
Nòdrs the appointed spot is a pool of water (Fig. 43) by the side of a
gap in the long wall of that village.
On the day before the new moon following the vow to give the buffalo,
all the women leave the village at which the ceremony is to take place,
and all the men of the same kudr as the man who is giving the buffalo
must also leave the village if they should be living there. Their place
is taken by men of the kudr which is to receive the buffalo. If men of
both kudr are living at the village, those of the giving kudr go and
those of the receiving kudr remain; thus, when Kòdrner, who lives at
Kars, made his offering, he and his brother left and went to live at
another village of the clan, while Parkurs and his brothers, who belong
to the other kudr, remained behind. If there is a wursuli at the
village, the wursol remains at his post. If the palikartmokh is of the
same kudr as the offender, he leaves and a new dairyman from the other
kudr is appointed. All the men who remain at the village sleep in the
outer room of the dairy—at Kars, in the outer room of the kudrpali. The
palikartmokh does his dairy work in the inner room as usual and sleeps
in the outer room with the rest.
The people live thus at the village for a month, no women, no men of
the offending kudr and no people of other clans being allowed to visit
them.
The actual ceremony takes place at the end of this month, on the Sunday
following the new moon. On the Saturday the man, called the irnörtpol,
who is to make the offering brings a female calf between one and two
years of age to a wood near the village and makes a rough temporary
calf enclosure (kadr), tying the calf to a tree. If the calf is
troublesome, the man and his companions may sleep in the wood by the
side of the calf, but generally they leave it in the wood and go to
sleep in the village where they have been living. The calf must have no
blemish, its eyes must be clear, and no part of its ears or tail may be
cut. [105]
On the following morning a boy between ten and fifteen years of age is
chosen, who is called ponkartvaimokh, the boy who observes the
festival. It is his duty to drive the calf.
All those who are to be present take in their hands green sticks of the
kind called kwadrikurs. All have their right arms outside their cloaks
(kevenarut), and must have bathed in the morning and abstained from
food.
When the time for the ceremony comes, the ponkartvaimokh, who is
followed by the irnörtpol and other men of his division, drives the
calf towards the village. The people in the village then call out
“Irnört! it vos!”—“Give the buffalo! Come here!” and they go to the
appointed place and stand on the dairy side of the irnörtkars, or other
spot appointed for the ceremony, while the calf is driven up towards
the stones or other mark from the side away from the dairy. The
palikartmokh, naked except for the kuvn, and the wursol, with the tuni
round his loins, stand with the people of the receiving kudr. When the
ponkartvaimokh has driven the calf up to the place, he asks three
times, “Irnörtkina?”—“Shall I give the buffalo?”—and the palikartmokh
replies each time, “Irnört!” The boy then drives the calf across the
stones or other mark to the place where the buffaloes of the receiving
kudr are standing. According to one account, the calf is driven direct
into the tu, but it seems almost certain that this is wrong, though it
may be that it is the practice of some clans. The calf then becomes the
property of the kudr whose representatives have been living at the
village. At Nòdrs the calf is driven through the gap in the wall and
across the pool of water in the direction of the conical dairy.
All those present, both the man who has given the calf and his
companions and those who have received the calf, bow down to the
ground, resting their foreheads on the ends of their cloaks (as in Fig.
44), and utter a formula different for each clan. At Kars it runs:—
Swâmi, Teikîrzi, Târziolv, Kârziolv, Kârzû ultâmâ; îr kark ultâmâ;
îrnörtvuspimi, [106] ultâmâ.
Then all present go to the dairy or dairies and bow down at the
threshold. At Kars they go to Tarziolv (the kudrpali), to Karziolv (the
wursuli), and to Karzu (the buffalo pen) and bow down at the threshold
of each, and then all partake of a feast. The food has been prepared by
the dairyman, and includes the special kind called ashkkartpimi, which
is eaten outside the dairy. Only the men of the clan who have taken
part in the ceremony may be present at this feast.
After the feast all the men belonging to the kudr of the irnörtpol must
again leave the village, but the only one of their number who is
subject to any special restrictions is the boy who has acted as
ponkartvaimokh, who must avoid women and must sleep in the dairy of
some village until the end of the whole business. He is spoken of as
being in the condition called pon and derives his name from this.
The wursol and the palikartmokh of the village at which the ceremony
has taken place must stay there for another month, but the men of the
kudr which has received the calf may stay there or not as they please.
No women and no people other than men of the same kudr may visit the
village during this time.
At the end of the month the people who have been occupying the village
rub the dairy or dairies thoroughly with buffalo-dung (palikâratiti,
dairy he purifies). All the people of the village then return and
another feast takes place, in which the food is rice boiled in milk.
Then the usual inhabitants of the village return to their houses, and
if any men of the receiving kudr have come from another village, they
return and life resumes its normal course.
The ceremony of irnörtiti may thus involve the removal of the usual
inhabitants from a village for about two months, and the giving of two
feasts, while the man who has offended also loses a calf. The Todas
probably think little of the inconvenience of removal, though probably
they are more troubled by it now than in former times, especially when
they have to leave a village like Kars, which is, under normal
circumstances, always inhabited at the present time. It seems that the
inconvenience, together with the expense of the feasts, is sufficient
to render the ceremony a very unusual incident in the lives of the
Todas.
TUNINÖRTITI
The smaller importance of this ceremony as compared with irnörtiti is
shown in several ways. The ceremony may be performed at any village at
which there is a dairy, and it is not necessary for the people of the
receiving kudr to stay at the village for a month before the ceremony
is performed.
The prescribed day is Sunday, and on the previous day all the people of
the same kudr as the giver of the tuni leave the village, and the men
of the other division come and sleep in the dairy as before the
irnörtiti ceremony. The man who gives the tuni is called the
tuninörtpol, and he procures the garment from a Badaga, paying for it
about 1 rupee 4 annas.
On the Sunday morning the tuninörtpol comes with some companions, all
having abstained from food. The palikartmokh, who must be of the same
kudr as the other men at the village, goes to the front of the dairy
and one of the men calls out, “Tuninörtpol bon!”—“Cloth giving man,
come!” The tuninörtpol, who is standing at an appointed spot not far
off, goes to the dairy, lays the tuni at its threshold, and bows down,
touching the cloth with his forehead. While he is doing this the
palikartmokh prays in the inner room of the dairy and the men staying
at the village pray in the outer room. Then the tuninörtpol enters the
dairy and is given buttermilk and food by the palikartmokh, after which
he stays in a wood near the dairy all day and returns to the village
where he is living after night-fall. The people of the receiving kudr
stay at the village for a month, at the end of which they have a feast
and then all return to their own villages.
PILINÖRTITI
In this ceremony a man gives a silver ring. The offering is
differentiated from those already described in that it may be given to
bring about the removal of misfortunes which are not due to any offence
committed by the man. In some cases, however, the ceremony may be
undertaken as an atonement for an offence. Kòdrner, my guide, had to
give a ring to the dairy at Kiudr in the general distribution of
penalties which followed my visit.
The custom of pilinörtiti is limited to certain villages or clans.
According to some accounts it is only followed at the villages of Kiudr
and Kanòdrs, noted for the special sanctity of their dairies. According
to others the ceremony is performed by the Karsol at the dairy of
Kuzhu, and at Nidrsi I was shown a small stone, almost completely
buried in the ground, which was called the pilinörtkars, and this
indicates that the ceremony was also at one time performed at this
village. The ceremony is certainly of especial importance at Kiudr, and
the following description is of the procedure at this place.
If a man has no children, or if he becomes ill, or if his buffaloes
give no milk, he may make a vow to do pilinörtiti. If he is a member of
the Kuudrol, the people of the kudr to which he does not belong go to
the dairy. The offerer of the ring sleeps the night before in the dairy
of his village and goes in the morning with one companion to Kiudr,
taking care that no one sees him by the way. Both must go without food.
On reaching Kiudr the two men go to the stream called Keikudr [107]
which flows between the dairy and the dwelling-huts, and after washing
hands and face in the stream they wait there. The people of the other
kudr who are in the dairy light a lamp and place it between the two
rooms, and then one goes to the door of the dairy and calls out three
times “Pilinörtpol bon!” The men at the stream are not within sight,
but they hear the summons and come to the front of the dairy. The men
in the dairy lay the tuni of the dairyman at the threshold and the
pilinörtpol places the ring on the cloth and bows down, touching the
cloth with his forehead, and prays as follows:—
Tânenmâ, târmâmâ; atch kar tâ mâ, atch mokh tâ
May it be well, may it be well; little calf give may, little son give
mâ; kar kulâth, kar kuleiti tâ mâ, kar nesâth,
may; calf not refuse milk, calf take milk give may, calf not kick away,
neseiti tâ mâ; opath ûtm âthi punerd kwar arki madi; nû
stand give may; once meal it is twelve years vow will; may there be
ârk mâ; nudri ârk mâ; kazun ârk mâ; per
no disease; may there be no trouble; may there be no kazun; may there
be
ârk mâ.
no Tamil.
The free rendering of this prayer was said to be as follows:—
“May it be well; may my buffaloes have calves; may I have children; may
my calves have milk, and may they not be kicked away by their mothers;
as surely as I am shortly to take food, do I make my vow for ever and
ever; may I and my buffaloes be free from disease; may no evil befall
me; may there be no kazun (see p. 403) to kill me; may no Tamil or
other outsiders come to disturb me.”
The last clause was said by Samuel to be interpreted: “Let me not get
into trouble with the government,” but it is probably much older than
this interpretation would indicate, and refers to the former dislike of
the Todas to any intercourse with people other than the Badagas and
Kotas. “Twelve years” is a common expression for an indefinitely long
time, and may be translated “for ever.” The practice of combining
positive and negative sentences as in this prayer is one which seems to
be not uncommon in the Toda language. It will be noticed that several
of the clauses are identical with those of the prayer ordinarily used
in the dairy.
When the pilinörtpol has finished his prayer he rises, and the
palikartmokh takes up the tuni and the ring and puts them in the dairy.
Then the pilinörtpol and his companions go into the outer room of the
dairy and take food prepared by the dairyman, after which they go to a
wood near Kiudr and stay there till after nightfall, when they make
their way home, taking care not to be seen by anyone.
If the ring is given by one of the Kuudrol it becomes the property of
the men of the other kudr, but as its value is very small, only from
four annas to two rupees, it is not divided, but is usually taken by
the man of the kudr who takes the chief part in the ceremony.
The ceremony as described above resembles those of irnörtiti and
tuninörtiti, in that the offering is given by a man of one division of
the clan to the members of the other division.
Pilinörtiti may also be undertaken by a man as an atonement for
wrong-doing, and in the only case of the kind of which I know, the
wrong-doer, although he belonged to the Kars clan of the Tartharol, had
to make the offering to Kiudr. In this case there was no question of
the ring passing from one kudr to another, and it probably became the
property of the man connected with Kiudr who took the chief part in
conducting the ceremony.
Various unfortunate events which occurred during my visit to the Todas
illustrate very well the working of the regulations which have been
described in this chapter. One of these misfortunes befell Kutadri, who
went with me to visit the Kundahs, the headquarters of the Pan clan.
Mr. Mackenzie, with whom I was staying, had shot a sambhar, and Kutadri
joined others in making a hearty meal on the flesh of the animal. The
next day he felt far from well, and searching in his mind for the cause
of his sufferings, his suspicions did not fall on the sambhar, but
wavered between sorcery of the Kurumbas and the anger of the gods of
the locality, because he had shown me certain sacred features of the
land. He was unable to continue to act as my guide, rendering my visit
to the Kundahs largely fruitless, and on his return home he frightened
himself into serious illness.
Teitnir, who had told me many things, but, above all, had dared to show
me the erkumptthpimi sacrifice, lost his wife a few days after this
ceremony. She had given birth to a dead child, and in spite of
obviously serious fever, she had gone through a trying ceremony
connected with removal to the seclusion-hut, and had walked a long way
to this hut. Two days later she died.
Kaners, who had been my chief informant on the procedure of the ti
dairy, awoke one morning to find the dairy of his village burnt. No
human agency seemed possible, and no doubt was entertained that it was
another manifestation of the displeasure of the gods.
Numerous councils were held, and the diviners were consulted, on this
occasion Midjkudr and Tadrners. They found that Kutadri’s misfortunes
were due to his having revealed to me secrets about Pan, although, as a
matter of fact, his illness had prevented his telling me anything of
importance. It was decided that he was to give a buffalo to the Pan ti.
The death of Teitnir’s wife was found to have two causes. [108] The
first was that Teitnir had shown me the erkumptthpimi ceremony; the
second was that he had gone with his wife to Lake View, the house of
the Zenana mission, and had stayed there for several months, Teitnir
having done this in order to avoid losing his wife according to the
terersthi custom (see Chap. XXII). For the first offence Teitnir was to
do irnörtiti to his clan, the Kuudrol, and for the second offence he
was to give a buffalo to the Amatol, his pia, or grandfather, being
especially singled out among them. The latter penalty was paid before I
left the hills. Teitnir devoted a sacred buffalo (pasthir) to his
grandfather, and as a sign that he had done so, he did kalmelpudithti
to Ivievan (52), one of the chief men of his family. The giving of the
buffalo was followed by a feast.
The teuol were also consulted on account of the burning of the dairy
belonging to the village of Kaners. They decided that the loss of the
dairy was due to spontaneous combustion, “had burnt of itself,” because
Kaners had revealed to me the secrets of the ti, and, as he had told me
chiefly the procedure of the Nòdrs ti, he was sentenced to do irnörtiti
to this institution.
Kòdrner, who had been my general assistant, was directed to perform
pilinörtiti to Kiudr, and the teuol also said that all the Todas were
to do irnörtiti to the ti dairies because the elders had not intervened
and put an end to the revelations which the people had been making to
me.
Unfortunately these decisions of the teuol were only given out very
shortly before I left the hills. Indeed, the divination appeared to be
still going on when I left, probably in order to obtain further light
on the troubles. I had therefore no opportunity of witnessing the
various ceremonies which were to result from my visit. I hoped that
Samuel might have been able to see some of them, but the only
proceedings of which he was able to give me any account took place on
January 5th, nearly a month after my departure, when all the Todas
assembled at the ti mad of Mòdr, where the buffaloes of the Nòdrs ti
were standing, and prayed to the ti to pardon them for the sins they
had committed in revealing its secrets. After praying, they took food
in the pül of the dairy, and did not return home till the evening. I
was not told of the existence of any such ceremony of atonement by
prayer only, and I strongly suspect it was an innovation adopted in
order to avoid the expense of the general irnörtiti to the ti which the
diviners had prescribed.
Several of the offerings which were thus ordered by the teuol seem
clearly to have been of the nature of punishment. Kòdrner was to do
pilinörtiti because he had helped me, and the Todas in general were to
give buffaloes to the ti dairies. When I was first told about these
offerings, I was inclined to regard them in general as punishments and
to treat them as if they were social regulations. With further
knowledge it seemed clear that they were distinctly of a religious
nature, and were really sin offerings designed to propitiate the gods
and bring about the removal of misfortunes which had come upon the
offenders. I have therefore described these offerings in the same
chapter as the ceremony which is clearly a sacrifice.
The variety of the irnörtiti ceremony in which a buffalo is given to
the ti dairy is that which approaches most nearly to a sacrifice; the
offered animal is not killed, but in going to the sacred herd of the
ti, it may clearly be regarded as devoted to the service of the gods.
The ceremony of pilinörtiti to the sacred dairy of Kiudr is again an
example of an offering to a higher power in those cases in which the
ring is given by a man of another clan so that the mechanism of the
kudr does not come into play.
These clear examples of offerings to gods or sacred places are,
however, very closely related to the other cases in which offerings
simply pass from one division of the clan to another. It seems that we
have in these offerings a good example of something which is midway
between a social regulation of the nature of punishment and a
definitely religious rite of propitiation of higher powers.
There are two chief possibilities. The idea of offering to a higher
power may be primary, and the ceremonies of irnörtiti, &c., in which
the property merely passes from one division of the clan to the other
may be secondary modifications to keep property within the clan. On the
other hand, the mechanism of the kudr may be primary, and irnörtiti to
the ti dairy and pilinörtiti to Kiudr may be religious developments of
what was originally a social regulation.
I have no information which enables me to say that one of the two
possibilities is more probable than the other. The solution probably
depends on the much larger question, whether the Todas are people whose
religious system has developed out of the state of many primitive
people where social regulations exist without anything which can
clearly be called a religious sanction, or whether they are a people
whose religious system has degenerated from one higher than that they
now possess.
If the former supposition is correct, it is probable that the religious
sanction has been added to the system of social punishment, which seems
to be all which clearly exists in the offerings when these are kept
within the clan. If the latter supposition is correct, it seems more
likely that the whole mechanism of the kudris a device by which
offerings which should be made to a higher power may remain the
property of the clan.
The fact that the giving of the buffalo or other offering is
accompanied by prayer and the various restrictions of a more or less
religious nature which accompany the ceremonial show that at the
present time the ceremony has in all cases a very definitely religious
character, but it is quite possible to regard these features in two
ways, either as accretions to a system of social punishment or as
vestiges of what was once a purely religious sacrifice in which the
offerings were given to the gods.
CHAPTER XIV
BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD CEREMONIES
The ceremonies connected with childbirth begin before the birth of the
child. These ceremonies are only performed for the first child or when
the woman obtains a new husband, so that they may, from one point of
view, be regarded as marriage ceremonies. Nevertheless, I prefer to
consider them here, and to leave the ceremonies more strictly connected
with marriage till a later chapter. These latter ceremonies are far
less elaborate than those to be described in this chapter, and may be
more fitly considered in connexion with the social regulation of
marriage.
At or about the fifth month of pregnancy, a ceremony is performed which
is called ûr patitth kaitütitthpimi, “village left, hand we burnt,” or
more shortly, ürvatpimi, “village we leave,” or kaitütitthpimi. The
ceremony is named from its two essential features; the woman leaves the
village and lives secluded in a hut and her wrists are burnt.
When it is known that the ceremony is to take place, a special hut,
called puzhars (Fig. 45), is built in a prescribed place at some little
distance from the village, or if this building already exists, it is
put into good order. The word puzhars means “mud-house” or
“earth-house,” which would seem to point to a time when a temporary hut
of mud was used, but at the present time it is built of wood, though it
is of much simpler and rougher construction than the ordinary house.
The distance of the puzhars from the huts in which the people live
depends on the degree of sacredness of the village. According to
Breeks, the distance is greatest in those villages which have a dairy
of the conical kind, but it seems that there is no real difference
between these villages and any other etudmad. In some cases when the
dairy has a high degree of sanctity, the puzhars may be at an adjacent
village; thus, a pregnant woman of Kiudr goes into seclusion at
Molkush, about a quarter of a mile away, and at this village the
seclusion-hut (Fig. 45) is about a hundred yards from the house in
which the people live.
I may mention here that the objection to the presence of a pregnant
woman in one of the more sacred villages may extend to a time when she
is not in the seclusion-hut. When I visited Kiudr for the purpose of
testing the people of the village for colour-blindness, Sintagars, who
was pregnant and was living at Molkush, was not allowed to come to the
hut to be tested like the rest, but sat on the mound shown in the
foreground of Fig. 7, about thirty yards away.
The features of the hand-burning ceremony as performed by the Tartharol
differ considerably from those for a Teivali woman, and I will begin
with a description of the former.
On the day of the new moon, the woman goes to the puzhars. The husband
(or in his absence his brother or other near male relative) cuts six
sticks of the kind called kwadrikurs and sets them up so as to
represent a dairy with two rooms, which is called pülpali. He then cuts
four bamboo-reeds called wadr, about eighteen inches long, which
represent dairy vessels; two of them are called patatpun, and the other
two ertatpun. He fills these with water taken neither from the pali
nipa nor from the ars nipa, for if he touched the water of either of
the streams, they would be defiled and their water could not be used.
He therefore fetches the water from a stream at some distance from the
village.
The husband brings the reeds half filled with water and places those
called patatpun in the inner room of the pülpali. He takes the other
two—the ertatpun—to a two-year-old female calf (pòl), and pours out the
water from one reed on the left side of the middle of the back (ûv) of
the calf, and catches the water in the other. He then gives two leaves
(kakuders) to the woman, who makes a leaf vessel, into which he pours
three times from the ertatpun the water which has flowed from the back
of the calf. The woman raises the leaf vessel to her forehead and then
drinks, and the man puts the two ertatpun into the outer room of the
pülpali. [109] The woman then bows down with her forehead to the
threshold of the pülpali, and the man takes up the sticks forming the
imitation dairy and the four reeds and throws all away.
The woman has brought with her a new earthenware pot called mâtkûdrik,
into which she puts food (rice or grain) and water, and places it on a
small oven made on the spot with stones. When the food is cooked, the
woman takes two leaves called pelkkodsthmuliers, i.e., leaves used in
the ordination of the palikartmokh, and portions out the food on the
leaves. She then brings two pieces of wood called parskuti (Eleagnus
latifolia), puts them in the ground and covers them with a blanket. The
two leaf-plates with the food are now placed on the two pieces of wood,
one on each, and the woman asks Pîrn podia, Piri podia? (podia = have
you come?) My informants could tell me nothing about Pirn or Piri,
except that the former was supposed to be male and the latter female.
The woman throws the parskuti into the bushes, this procedure being
called tapi kûrs vutpimi, “bushes stick throw we,” and then makes a
little roll of threads which is called pashti, puts it in the fire and
burns herself with the roll in four places, two on each hand, once on
the prominence formed by the carpo-metacarpal joint of the thumb, and
once on the prominence formed by the styloid process of the radius. The
burning is sometimes done for her by the woman who is to stay in the
puzhars with her [110] during her period of seclusion. When the
ceremony is over, the woman goes into the hut with her companion and
stays there for nearly a month, till three or four days before the next
new moon. While in the seclusion-hut, the woman is visited by relatives
and friends, who do not, however, come near the hut, but stand some way
off and say kaitütudpatia? (“Have you had hand-burning?”) They leave a
present of rice for the woman and go to the people of the village, by
whom they are entertained.
When the woman comes out of the puzhars at the end of the month, there
is a ceremony called marthk maj atpimi, “To the village buttermilk we
pour.” Early in the morning of the appointed day a man of the Melgars
clan comes to the village and milks one of the ordinary buffaloes
(putiir) into the vessel called kabanachok. The buffalo must not have
been milked by any one else since the time it last calved. The Melgars
man places the milk in front of the hut where the woman usually lives,
and then goes away, and the milk is taken by the people of the village.
In the evening, after the day’s work is over and the buffaloes are shut
up for the night, a woman is chosen who has had no contact with the
secluded woman, and she takes the milk drawn by the Melgars man to the
puzhars, together with the leaves of the kind called parsers. She pours
out the milk three times into these leaves and gives to the pregnant
woman to drink. The latter has previously bathed and put on a new
mantle, and after drinking she returns to the ordinary hut and may
resume her household work.
The milking is done by a Melgars man for all the Tarthar clans except
that of Kwòdrdoni, where the buffalo is milked by a man of that clan. I
do not know why this clan forms an exception to the general rule, but
Kwòdrdoni is one of the most remote Toda villages, and it is possible
[111] that the difficulty of getting a Melgars man to come to them has
led the people to do this part of the ceremony themselves.
For fifteen days after leaving the seclusion-hut, the woman must drink
buttermilk procured from a Melgars dairy, and must take food called
peritòr, [112] viz., grain or rice which has been cooked in Melgars
buttermilk. At the end of the fifteen days she gives up taking the
peritòr, but continues to drink Melgars buttermilk for another fifteen
days.
For a woman of the Teivaliol, the ceremony of urvatpimi is much more
simple. No pülpali is made, and the husband fetches two pieces of reed
only, which are called ertatpun. They are half filled with water, which
is poured from one over the back of a calf into the other as in the
Tarthar ceremony, and the woman drinks in the same way, but this is
immediately followed by the hand-burning, and the rite with the two
sticks and the invocation of Pirn and Piri is entirely omitted.
The Teivali ceremony on coming out of the puzhars takes place in the
early morning. A man (not the husband) fetches water from the ars nipa
in a brass vessel called achok. He takes the vessel to a pregnant
buffalo and tries to milk the buffalo over the vessel of water.
Although no milk comes, the attempt is supposed to convert the water in
the vessel into milk. The woman then leaves the seclusion-hut and is
given two leaves (parsers), of which she makes a leaf cup, and the man
pours the water which is supposed to be milk into the cup three times,
and the woman drinks each time after raising the cup to her forehead.
The woman and her companion then go to another special hut, called
aliars, and stay there for a week, or if there is in the village a
house of the kind called merkalars (see p. 29), the woman may go to the
hinder part of this house instead of to the aliars, but in this case
all the household things have to be removed from the merkalars.
At the end of the week in the aliars or merkalars, there follows the
ceremony called marthk maj atpimi. Early in the morning the
palikartmokh brings penmaj (i.e., butter and buttermilk) in an
earthenware pot and two firebrands (tütkuli) to the front of the hut,
puts the brands on the ground, lays the pot on them for a time, and
then puts the pot on the raised platform in front of the hut. He then
goes away, and a woman brings a brass vessel (terg) and transfers the
butter and buttermilk to the terg, and gives it to the woman, who
drinks and goes to the ordinary hut.
While the woman is in the aliars or merkalars, she is not confined to
the dwelling as when in the puzhars, but may go about. She must not,
however, do any household work, nor go to any other village, nor to the
ordinary huts of her own village. If in the hinder part of the
merkalars, she must not go to the fore part of the house.
Thus the ritual of the Tartharol differs greatly from that of the
Teivaliol in these ceremonies. The rite of making an artificial dairy
is entirely omitted by the Teivaliol, and, as we shall see later, it is
also omitted in a similar ceremony performed after childbirth, though
the pieces of reed used to pour water over the calf are named after
dairy vessels in both cases. I could obtain no explanation of the
difference of procedure, nor of the omission of the invocation of Pirn
and Piri by the Teivali division. It is possible that this latter
ceremony has been borrowed, but if so, there is no obvious reason why
it should have been borrowed by one division, and not by the other.
In the ceremonies accompanying the return to ordinary life, it is
perhaps natural that the Melgars man should only take part in the
proceedings of his own division. The other chief difference in the
procedure of the two divisions is that the return takes place in two
stages among the Teivaliol, while the Tarthar woman goes directly from
the puzhars to the ordinary hut. I was told that the difference was
connected with the fact that the Tarthar women drank milk, whilst the
Teivali women did not, but I could not discover why this should lead to
a difference of procedure.
THE PURSÜTPIMI CEREMONY
About the seventh month of pregnancy a ceremony is performed, which is
called pursütpimi, “bow (and arrow) we touch.” This ceremony begins on
the evening before the day of the new moon. The pregnant woman goes
into a wood about a furlong from the village at which she is living.
She is accompanied by her husband, or if she has several, by the
husband who is to give the bow and arrow. The husband cuts a triangular
niche in a tree, [113] of which the Toda name is kers. The niche is
large enough to contain a lamp, and is made a few feet above the
ground, so that it is about on a level with the eyes of the woman when
she is sitting on the ground. Ghi is then put in an earthenware lamp,
which is lighted and placed in the niche. Some sort of arrangement is
made on the tree to provide a covering under which the woman is later
to sit, but I could not satisfy myself exactly how this is done.
Husband and wife then go to find the wood called puv, [114] and the
grass called nark. [115] A bow (purs) is made from the wood by
stripping off a piece of bark and stretching it across the bent stick
so as to form the string of the bow. [116] The grass is put in the
little artificial bow so as to resemble an arrow.
The husband and wife return to the tree with the bow and arrow, and the
relatives of the pair come to the spot. The father of the woman
promises a young female calf, the offspring of a given buffalo, which
he names, saying after the name pòl todein, or “calf I have given”;
thus, Kemars pòl todein would mean, “I have given a calf, the daughter
of Kemars.” [117] Then husband and wife salute certain people by bowing
before them and raising their feet to the forehead (kalmelpudithti).
The wife salutes in this way all her male relatives and those of her
husband older than herself—i.e., she salutes those whom she would
salute in this way under normal circumstances (see Chap. XXI). The
husband salutes all the male [118] relatives of his wife, irrespective
of their being older or younger than himself.
The wife then sits down beneath the tree in front of the lamp, and the
husband gives her the imitation bow and arrow. In doing so he says the
kwarzam of his village followed by the words “Teikirzi Tirsk,
pursvat!”—i.e., “To Teikirzi and Tirshti, hold the bow and arrow!” The
wife replies, “purs iveru?”—“What is the name of the bow and
arrow?”—and the husband then gives the name of the bow and arrow, which
is different for each clan. The question and answer are each time
repeated so that they are said three times. The formulæ repeated on
this occasion differ for each clan in the kwarzam of the village and in
the name of the bow. For the Kuudrol the latter was pursgârûv, so that
a Kuudr man would first say, “Atthkar Teikirzi Tirsk pursvat,” and in
answer to his wife’s question he would answer, “Pursgârûv”. The only
clan which does not say the kwarzam of the village is that of Nòdrs,
where only the names of the gods are mentioned.
I only obtained the special names of the bow from three clans—those of
Kuudr, Kars and Taradr. That of Kuudr has already been given; the name
of the Kars bow is pulkiûkhm and that of Taradr pursüdsk. When the
husband gives the bow and arrow to his wife, she raises it to her
forehead and then, holding it in her right hand, turns to gaze at lamp
in the tree. She looks for an hour or until the lamp goes out, and then
all present [119] go to the village for food, except the husband and
wife. The man makes a fireplace, lights a fire and cooks jaggery and
rice in a new pot, using only ghi, and not butter, to mix the rice, and
while he is doing this his wife ties up certain kinds of food in a
cloth and puts the bundle under the tree. This food includes rice,
ragi, barley, wheat, the grain (?) called kirsi (see p. 266), some
jaggery and salt. Some pieces of honeycomb are also placed on leaves,
which are then thrown away. When the food cooked by the man is ready
both husband and wife eat together.
Later the relatives return from the village and all pass the night in
the wood, the relatives keeping at some distance from the married pair.
At daybreak on the following day, the day of the new moon, all return
to the village and feast, food being given to all visitors.
Several of those who have described this ceremony have included in the
description an account of “tying the tali.” [120] So far as I could
ascertain nothing of the kind is done. I inquired into the point many
times and all agreed that it formed no part of the Toda ceremony and
that its equivalent was the giving of the bow and arrow. More than one
man spoke of the pursütpimi ceremony as “tying the tali,” but the
latter expression is merely the equivalent of “marriage ceremony,” and
the very man who used this expression denied vehemently that tying the
tali or anything else round the neck of the woman formed any part of
the Toda ceremony.
It seemed, however, that after pursütpimi the woman is allowed to
resume her ornaments, which she has been prohibited from wearing up to
this time, and it is possible that this resumption of her ornaments may
have been mistaken for “tying the tali.” It seemed clear, however, that
the ornaments were not put on by the husband, nor did the resumption of
the ornaments partake in any way of a ceremonial character.
As I hoped to have a chance of witnessing this ceremony during my
visit, I did not thresh out the details of pursütpimi as thoroughly as
those of most other ceremonies and my account is not as complete as I
could wish.
The ceremony of pursütpimi is of the greatest importance from the
social point of view and, as we shall see later, the fatherhood of the
child depends entirely upon it. The man who gives the bow and arrow is
the father of the child for all social purposes, and is regarded as
such even if he has had nothing to do with the woman before the
ceremony.
The ceremony must always be performed during the first pregnancy of a
woman and it takes place in any succeeding pregnancy only when it is
desired for any reason to alter the fatherhood of the children. One of
the most serious scandals in Toda society is the birth of a child when
the mother has not been through this ceremony.
Both the pregnancy ceremonies are performed at the first funeral of an
unmarried or barren woman. In the case of an unmarried girl the bow and
arrow are given at the pursütpimi ceremony by a matchuni of the
deceased—i.e., by a relative whom the deceased girl might herself have
married. The hand-burning of the urvatpimi ceremony is usually
performed by a woman of the same clan as the deceased.
Since the ceremonies are only performed at the first pregnancy, or when
it is desired to change the fatherhood of a child, it seems clear that
they closely resemble marriage ceremonies. They would seem to be either
marriage ceremonies which have been postponed till shortly before the
birth of the first child, [121] or, what is more probable, pregnancy
ceremonies resembling those customary in India, which have acquired
social significance and have come to resemble marriage ceremonies. But
the numerous ceremonies which are performed during pregnancy by the
Hindus take place during every pregnancy and are, therefore, sharply
differentiated from the Toda rites.
CHILDBIRTH
When the woman returns from the seclusion-hut after the urvatpimi
ceremony she lives in her usual home with the rest of the family and
does her usual work, and she is delivered there. It seemed that any one
might be present, and that there was no special ceremony connected with
delivery.
During delivery, the woman kneels with her head resting on the breast
of a man, usually her husband, who clasps his hands behind her neck.
She is tended by a woman, usually by one noted for skill in these
matters. If there is much delay, all men and women present lay their
hands on the head of the woman and say:
“Swâmi maz vûrmâ; swâmi pûdikan termâ.”
If this is not efficacious a man brings water in a vessel and prays,
stirring the water with a piece of grass of the kind called kakar. When
the prayer is finished, the man sprinkles the water over the woman.
The cord (pekû) is cut with a knife, being held down with a stick while
it is being cut.
The afterbirth is called naj or pekûkûdri. If there is delay in its
delivery, a medicine called najmad is given which is procured from the
Badagas. The afterbirth is buried on the day on which the woman goes to
the seclusion-hut, a few days after delivery. If the child is
still-born its body is buried at the same time.
A caul is named kwadri (umbrella), but no importance is attached to it,
nor is it kept.
SECLUSION AFTER CHILDBIRTH
Two or three days after childbirth the mother and child go to the
seclusion-hut, or puzhars, the same structure being used as after the
hand-burning ceremony. Various rites are performed, both when going to
and leaving the seclusion-hut, and these have many points in common
with those which take place before and after the hand-burning. As in
that case, the procedure for the Tartharol differs considerably from
that of the Teivaliol.
The general name for the ceremony of going to the puzhars is pòlk pòtha
nir utpimi—“to the calf back (or hind quarters) water we pour,” from
one of the chief features of the proceedings. The ceremony takes place
either in the early morning or in the evening.
The woman who is to be secluded, whether she be Tarthar or Teivali,
rubs ashes on her head and face (pûthi adipimi, ashes we rub), and
comes out of the ordinary hut in which she has been living since the
delivery. She holds over her head a branch of the ‘Nilgiri holly,’
[122] which has spreading leaves so that it resembles an umbrella; this
leafy umbrella is called tòrikwadr, and the act is called tòrikwadr
patipimi, “we hold the umbrella.” The head is also covered with the
putkuli. From the moment she leaves the hut the woman is very careful
to keep her face turned away from the sun, not on account of its
noxious influence, but in order to avoid the star or other body called
Keirt, which is supposed to be near the sun. The child is carried in
front of the mother by another woman, who also holds a tòrikwadr to
shelter the infant from the evil influence of Keirt. Among the
Tartharol a small artificial dairy is made, exactly as in the urvatpimi
ceremony, and four reeds are cut to represent dairy vessels. As the
woman walks towards the place where the pülpali has been erected,
another woman lays on the ground before her a leaf of kakud on which
she puts some threads taken from a madtuni—i.e., the garment worn by
the wursol. These threads are called tunikar, [123] and they are taken
up by the mother and put in the string round her waist on the right
side. [124] Water is then poured by the husband from the imitation
patatpun over the hind quarters (pòtha) of a calf, so that it falls
into the ertatpun just as in the urvatpimi ceremony. Before the woman
drinks this water, three drops of it are put into the mouth of the
child and a four-anna piece (panm) into its hand. The mother then
drinks three times and bows down at the threshold of the imitation
dairy, after which she goes into the seclusion-hut. During the whole of
the proceedings she is careful not to turn her face towards the sun.
Among the Teivaliol there is no imitation dairy and, as in the
urvatpimi ceremony, only two reeds are used as ertatpun. A fire is made
on an improvised fireplace of three stones, and lighted by means of
thatch brought from the hut, [125] and food is put on a fragment of an
earthenware vessel and placed over the fire.
After the woman has drunk of the water which has been poured over the
back of the calf, she breaks the earthenware fragment over the fire,
saying, Namavku, “to Namav,” this rite being called Namavtur
kwudrtpimi, “to Namav we give.” The woman then goes to the
seclusion-hut, being assisted by her husband, who now acquires the
impurity which is called ichchil, and any one else who touches the
woman after this ceremony also becomes ichchil.
I saw the ceremony of going to the puzhars on two occasions, the woman
each time belonging to the Teivaliol. The most striking feature of each
occasion was the obvious and intense dread of Keirt. In one case, soon
after leaving the hut, the woman, Sintagars, called out for another
umbrella as she feared that the tòrikwadr was not sufficient to shelter
her from Keirt, and during the rest of the proceedings she held over
herself both the leafy umbrella and one of the ordinary kind.
I was told that all the chief incidents of the ceremony—the rubbing on
of ashes, the holding of the leaf umbrella, the pouring of water over
the calf and the giving to Namav—were all designed to avert the evil
influence of Keirt, which they call Keirtpudrivuti (see p. 269).
After the woman has gone to the seclusion-hut she is visited by
relatives and friends, who stand at a distance, just as they did after
the hand-burning ceremony. They bring rice with them as a present and
call out
Marsvut sivn mikh mokh (or kugh) udpatia?
Confined life remaining son (or daughter) had you?
“Have you had a son (or daughter) and are yet alive?” The visitors then
go to the huts of the village and are entertained.
The woman and child stay in the seclusion-hut, accompanied by the
husband and by a woman who is usually the assistant at the birth. If
the child is not the first, the mother remains in seclusion till a few
days before the next new moon, this kind of seclusion being called
nâtersper. If the child is the first-born, the stay in the
seclusion-hut is longer and is called kadrthersper. In this case the
woman stays in the hut till a month has elapsed after the new moon
following the birth. Thus Sintagars went into seclusion on Sunday,
October 19th, and came out on Thursday, November 27th, 1902, exactly
four weeks after the new moon of October 31st.
The proceedings on leaving the seclusion-hut are like those which take
place after the seclusion following the urvatpimi ceremony, but with a
few additional rites.
Among the Tartharol there is only one ceremony, called marthk maj
atpimi, in which a buffalo is milked on the morning of the day by a
Melgars man. Before the woman drinks the milk in the evening, another
woman lays threads of tuni on leaves of kakud, and puts them on the
ground before the mother, who puts them in the right side of her
waist-string as when going to the seclusion-hut. After returning to the
hut the woman drinks Melgars buttermilk and eats food cooked in Melgars
buttermilk in exactly the same way as after the hand-burning ceremony.
Among the Teivaliol the return to ordinary life takes place in two
stages, as after the hand-burning ceremony. The woman first goes to the
aliars, or to the hinder part of the merkalars, after drinking water,
which has been supposed to be turned into milk by pretended milking
from a pregnant buffalo. I saw this ceremony on one occasion (Fig. 47)
when the pretended milking was done by a small boy, Pongudr (52), and
the supposed milk was poured into the leaves and given to the mother by
a woman who had not been present in the seclusion-hut with her. The
person who pretends to milk the pregnant buffalo becomes ichchil by
doing so, and the reason why a young boy was chosen for this office was
that the adult members of the family might escape the disabilities
attendant on this condition. On this occasion especial care was taken
that the mother should sit facing the sun during the ceremony. She at
first sat down with her face turned away from the sun, and she was made
to turn round, so that she directly faced it. This was the exact
opposite of the procedure followed when going to the seclusion-hut.
After being in the aliars or merkalars for a week there follows the
ceremony of marthk maj atpimi, which is the same as that after the
urvatpimi ceremony, with the addition that a representation of a hut is
made with five or six sticks of the kind called kwadrikurs. A boy goes
within the imitation hut with a brass vessel (achok), and coming out
gives this to the woman, who bows down (nersatiti) with her child at
the threshold of the imitation hut. She then takes butter and
buttermilk which have been placed by the palikartmokh on fire-brands
(see p. 318). After taking the mixture the woman goes to the
dwelling-hut and resumes her ordinary duties.
It is the custom for everyone present on this occasion to give the
child a four-anna piece (panm), and near relatives may often give more.
A small loincloth (tadrp) provided with a pocket called terigs is put
round the child, and into this pocket the money is put, this action
receiving the name of terigs katpimi, or “we tie the terigs.” I did not
hear of this pocket in any other ceremonies, and, so far as I know, it
is only made in the tadrp used on this occasion, or if a constant
feature of the tadrp, it has no other ceremonial use. So far as I am
aware, the representation of a house is only used by the Teivaliol,
while the imitation dairy made on going to the seclusion-hut after
hand-burning and childbirth is only made by the Tartharol.
It is tempting to suppose that the water poured in these ceremonies
from an imitation dairy vessel over the back of a calf is regarded as
milk, and if this is so, the drinking of milk, real or fictitious,
would be the essential feature of all these ceremonies. Further, the
conjecture is natural that the drinking is designed to promote the
formation and flow of milk in the woman. It is perhaps in favour of
this that in the ceremony after childbirth, when this motive would be
especially important, the water is poured over the hind-quarters of the
calf and not over the middle of its back, as in the earlier ceremony.
But if the promotion of lactation is the leading motive of the
ceremonies, it is difficult to see why a buffalo in full milk should
not have been chosen instead of a two-year-old calf.
It is possible that there is some reason why an adult buffalo should
not be used on such an occasion, and that a calf is used as a
substitute, and, on the whole, the view that some features of the
ceremonies had their origin in the motive suggested is the most
probable one; but this can only be conjecture, for it is, I think,
quite clear that the ceremonies have now become purely ritual, and are
performed with no other reason than that they are prescribed by custom.
The use of an artificial dairy among the Tartharol, however, has almost
certainly a deeper meaning. It is a striking fact that a pregnant woman
and one soon after childbirth should have relations with a dairy, even
if only artificial, when in ordinary life they have nothing to do with
it or its ceremonial. Still more remarkable is the fact that a Tarthar
woman after childbirth puts round her waist threads from the garment
worn only by dairymen, a garment which has a distinctly sacred
character. If this were done only in the case of a male child, it might
be supposed that the idea is one of initiation into the life connected
with the dairy, but the artificial dairy after the hand-burning
ceremony is made when the sex of the child is unknown, and, so far as
my information goes, the use of the dairy and the threads from the tuni
occurs after the birth of either a boy or girl. It is possible that the
ceremonial observances are relics of a time when women had more to do
with the dairy and its ritual than they have at present; or it may be
that contact with the sacred objects, real or fictitious, is held to
neutralise in some way the dangerous nature of pregnant and parturient
women.
There is some reason to believe that the material of which the tuni is
made is the same as that of the ancient clothing of the Todas, the
cloth called än. As we shall see later, the än is still used in the
funeral ceremonies, and it is possible that the threads of tuni are
used in these ceremonies as relics of the ancient clothing of the
Todas, and that they are obtained from the madtuni because it is the
most convenient way of obtaining the ancient material. If this had been
the motive, however, I think the word än would almost certainly have
been used, as it still is in the funeral ceremonies. Nevertheless, this
remains as a possible alternative explanation of the use of a sacred
dairy garment by a woman after childbirth.
A further mysterious feature of these ceremonies is that the two rites
which seem to bring women into special relation with the dairy are
limited to the Tartharol. If these rites be regarded as relics of a
time when women had more to do with dairy operations than at present,
the possibility follows that this former function of women was limited
to one division of the Todas.
I could obtain no explanation of the meaning of the word pülpali, used
for the imitation dairy made in the Tarthar ceremonies. Püli means
tamarind, and in a ceremony of the Nairs of Malabar called pulikati,
performed in the ninth month of pregnancy, the woman drinks tamarind
juice. [126] It is possible that the two ceremonies have a common
origin, the only indication of which in the Toda ceremony lingers in
the name of ‘tamarind dairy.’ It is, however, possible that the dairy
is so called because it is made on the outskirts of the village, though
I do not know definitely that the word pül would be used for outskirts
in this special sense.
UNCOVERING THE CHILD’S FACE
While in the seclusion-hut with its mother and for some time after, the
child has its face covered, and no one except the mother is allowed to
see it. At the end of the third month [127] the face of the child is
uncovered, and this ceremony is called mokh mûtâr terithti, “child
outside he opens,” or, more shortly, mûtâr terthpimi. If the child is a
boy, he is taken by his father early in the morning to the front of the
dairy, and both father and child bow down at the threshold of the dairy
(pavnersatiti), the child being put down by his father so that his
forehead touches the threshold. The child is then taken to the place
where the buffaloes are standing, and there the face is uncovered, the
child being held so that he looks towards the sun when the covering is
removed.
If the child is a girl, she is taken by her mother to the
majvatvaiidrn, the place where the women go to receive buttermilk from
the dairyman, and there the mother uncovers the child’s face.
I was not told that the covering of the face is designed to protect the
child from the influence of the evil eye, but this is the probable
motive. The object of the ceremony is probably to minimise the danger
incurred when the covering is removed by putting the child, if a boy,
into relation with the three sacred objects, the dairy, the herd of
buffaloes, and the sun. If a girl, the child is taken to the spot
nearest to the dairy where women are allowed to go.
NAMING THE CHILD
The child is named after its face has been uncovered. The ceremony is
called per vasthpimi, “name we give,” and it may take place immediately
after the ceremony of uncovering the face, or a few days later. In the
former case, the child, if a boy, is taken by his father from the place
where the buffaloes are standing to the front of the house, and there
the father shaves the middle part of the head of the child. Then the
boy’s maternal uncle (mun) gives the name, and promises a calf, saying,
pòl ud todein, “calf one I have given,” followed by the name of the
child, [128] and raises each foot to the head of the boy and touches
his forehead, the salutation on this occasion being called kalkartiti.
Three grains of barley are put into the mouth of the boy and three into
his back-hair, and then the grains are thrown away.
There was some doubt as to the relative by whom a girl is named. It
seemed clear that the name is given by a woman, and I was told
definitely by some that it is given by the father’s sister (mumi) of
the child. The wife of the mun would also be the mumi of the child, and
it is possible that this relative may give the name. No calf is given
to a girl, this being only done when boys are named.
After the naming, the parents of the child may give a feast if they are
rich, but this seems to be now exceptional. After receiving its name,
the child is given food for the first time, having been suckled up to
this day, but my notes do not make it clear whether the child is weaned
at this time or continues to be suckled.
When the child is shaved, a bone of a bird called mâtpül and a stone
procured from the bazaar called kansutimani are put round its wrist.
The bone is cut into small pieces and strung alternately with pieces of
the stone so as to form a kind of bangle. It was said that the child
would become ill if this charm were not used, and the name of the stone
(kan = eye) shows that it is intended to avert the evil eye.
THE TERSAMPTPIMI CEREMONY