Another heavenly body which I could not identify is called Keirt. Keirt

has already been mentioned in Chap. XIV., and it is the evil influence

of this body which is chiefly feared after childbirth. It is said to be

a star which is never present in the same part of the sky as Kadsht.

The reason for this is that once Keirt and Kadsht fought together.

Kadsht had six men and Keirt only one. Keirt broke the leg of one of

the six men, so that now there are five stars close together in the

Pleiades and one lags behind. On account of this quarrel Swami ruled

that Kadsht and Keirt must never be together, but that when Kadsht is

on one side of the sky, Keirt must always be on the other.

When talking about Keirt in connexion with the ceremony of going to the

seclusion-hut, it was said that Keirt was near the sun and that the sun

was dangerous because Keirt was near it. It seemed that Keirt was

always near the sun, which led me to suspect at first that it was

Venus. It was quite clear, however, that this was not so. No one could

show me Keirt, nor was anyone clear as to the part of the sky in which

it was to be seen at any time in the night, and I think it most

probable that this mysterious inhabitant of the sky is not a star at

all, but a being allied to the Hindu Ketu. On the other hand, at a

funeral attended by Samuel, the setting of Kadsht and the appearance of

Keirt was taken as the sign that the proceedings of the azaramkedr

might begin, which looks as if Keirt was a real heavenly body. I think

it is most probable that the whole idea of the injurious influence of

Keirt is borrowed from the Badagas, and, if this is the case, the Toda

word is probably merely an altered form of Ketu. I was told that Keirt

was a Badaga word and that the Badagas feared its influence on women

after childbirth.

A group of stars called Pòdimin, or porcupine star, corresponds to the

stars in the sword of Orion. They are regarded as a porcupine from

which the three stars of the belt are trying to escape.

A constellation of seven stars is called Katikâlmin. From the

description it appeared to be the Great Bear. This constellation was

not visible, but when I made a drawing of its seven chief stars, it was

at once recognised as Katikâlmin.

A single star called Ishtkati is almost certainly Sirius. This star was

not visible in the evenings during my visit, and at first Jupiter was

pointed out to me as Ishtkati, but this was certainly wrong. Ishtkati

appeared to correspond to the Badaga etukaḍichi, which means “bull

deceiving.” The origin of the name is that one night a Badaga went out

from his house and saw a very bright star, so bright that he thought it

was the morning star. So he let his bulls out from the enclosure in

which he had put them for the night. When a long time passed and it did

not become day, the man said, “Let the star be called etukaḍichi.”

A pair of stars to which the Todas give the names of Tûdrvalmokh and

Tidiishti are near Aldebaran, forming part of the Hyades (probably γ

and ε Tauri). The following story tells how these stars come to be in

the sky.

Once on the hills there was a bird with young. The mother went away to

get food and a snake came to eat the young ones. When the young birds

saw the snake climbing up the tree, they called out to Kudursami, who

is above. He heard their cry and took them to the sky. The name of the

bird was tûdrval, and so one star is called tûdrvalmokh. The tûdrval

still sings “Kudursami trrrrrr.”

According to another version, the bird tûdrval had offended Swami, and

as a punishment Swami took its young and they became the two stars.

This story appears to be a well-known Indian folk-tale, and it has

certainly been a recent acquisition of the Todas.

It will be seen that there is much reason to believe that the greater

part, if not all of the ideas of the Todas about the stars have been

borrowed. In their own folk-lore there seems to be very little

concerning the heavenly bodies except in the story of the man and the

honey, and I even suspect this to be a borrowed legend which has been

somewhat modified by Toda ideas.

It is interesting, and I think important, that references to Swami

occur in these stars-myths. In an earlier chapter I have given it as my

opinion that the idea of Swami has only recently been acquired by the

Todas, and I attach importance to the occurrence of the name in legends

which have certainly been borrowed from another race.

GAMES

It is not altogether easy to draw the line between Toda games and Toda

ceremonies. The sport which is practised with the greatest zest is

undoubtedly the catching of the buffaloes at the funeral ceremonies,

and in the old days when the marvainolkedr lasted two days, the first

day, devoted to catching the buffaloes and putting them in the pen,

must have been largely of a sportive character. Even now it is evident

that the catching of the buffaloes is a spectacle which is much enjoyed

by all in spite of the sad event which has led to its taking place.

The Todas have, however, pure games, though it is doubtful whether some

of them have not acquired in a certain degree a ceremonial character.

In one of these games called narthpimi, a boy squeezes through a narrow

tunnel formed by a flat slab of stone over two upright slabs. Two boys

start from different distances, and the object of the nearer boy is to

squeeze through the tunnel before the other can touch his feet. I did

not have an opportunity of seeing this game, and I only saw the stones

with which it is played at one village. This was at Nòdrs, where the

three stones are called menkars and mark the spot at which one of the

ordinary buffaloes is killed at the funeral ceremonies. The menkars is

shown in Fig. 12 in front of and a little to the right of the entrance

to the dairy.

Another game resembling tip-cat is called eln, and at some villages

there is a special stone where the game is played. A piece of wood

pointed at both ends is propped against the stone and struck with a

stick, and should be caught by someone at a distance. The name for this

game is probably Badaga, [238] and this suggests that the game has been

borrowed from this people.

According to Breeks another game called kâriâlapimi, resembling ‘puss

in the corner’ is played by the Todas. The name suggests a true Toda

game and I regret that I know nothing about it.

One day I observed a stone near the village of Pakhalkudr, and, asking

whether it was for tip-cat, was told of a different game. If a man

jumped high enough at the stone, he could see the top of a certain

hill. On jumping at the stone I could not see the hill, but by going a

little way back, I found that it became visible, and as far as I could

judge, the jump necessary at the stone would be a possible though a

good performance.

At many villages there is a large globular stone called tukitthkars

(lifted stone) and in another of the Toda games this stone is lifted. A

man should be able to lift it to the shoulder, but this can now rarely,

if ever, be done, and some of the stones can only be lifted a little

way from the ground. Mr. Thurston saw the stone at Nòdrs lifted as high

as the pit of the stomach. These stones seem to afford clear evidence

of the degeneration of the Todas in physical strength. There is little

doubt that they could be lifted much better by the Todas of a

generation or two ago. Thus there is a stone at Nidrsi which was

brought by the grandfather of Kudrmaskutan (43) in the pocket of his

putkuli from a place called Attibadi at a considerable distance from

Nidrsi. At the present time no Toda can do more than lift the stone a

little way from the ground. The tukitthkars may not be lifted either on

the madnol or the palinol. Feasts are prohibited on these days, and it

is probable that the stone was often lifted on festive occasions. There

is evidence that, in some places at any rate, the stone has acquired in

some degree a sacred character. Thus, at the village of Kiudr, one of

the most sacred of Toda dairies, the tukitthkars lies on a raised wall

surrounding the dairy and in this situation would most certainly

acquire some of the sanctity of its surroundings.

The Todas are very interested in athletic feats performed by any of

their number and sometimes put up memorials of such feats. Thus, at

Pishkwosht there are two stones marking the distance once jumped by a

Toda. Such an athletic feat may be made the subject of a bet. Thus,

four generations ago, one of the ancestors of Kudrmaskutan (43) jumped

a stream called Kavageir, winning eighteen nakh (three-year-old

buffaloes) from a Badaga by doing so. Bets of this kind are probably

only made with Badagas, and betting is almost certainly not properly a

Toda custom.

In addition to developed games, the Todas, and especially the children,

often play with mimic representations of objects from practical life.

Near the villages I have seen small artificial buffalo-pens and

fireplaces made by the children in sport. On the hill of Mirson, where

the chief council used to be held, I found a small pen, well built and

with a gate, and was assured that it was made in sport by the children

only a few years ago. This hill is one on which there are many cairns

and such mimic representations may possibly mystify some future

archæologist.

The commonest toys with which the children play are little imitation

buffalo horns made of wood (see Fig. 35). In the legend, the boy

Kuzkarv played with such horns, and even little children in arms may be

seen fondling these play-things. The horns are burnt with the body at

the funeral ceremonies, but only at those of males, though this rule

was infringed at the funeral of Sinerani. In the funeral lament for his

wife Teitnir speaks of their playing with imitation horns and imitation

bracelets, so that adults evidently amuse themselves in this way as

well as children.

Another imitation sport I have often seen is that of boys or youths

hanging on the horns and round the necks of buffaloes exactly as is

done when catching the animals at the funeral ceremonies. The skill

shown at these ceremonies is probably the result of long practice in

play of this kind.

Nearly all these games are connected in some way with the buffalo or

the dairy, in some cases only remotely, as when the menkars of Nòdrs is

used for the narthpimi game, while the tukitthkars may be kept by the

dairy. Only one of the games so far described is wholly unconnected

with the dairy, and this, the eln game, has a name which suggests that

it has been borrowed.

Though the Todas have, as we see, a fair number of games, they are not

much given to playing them. I never saw one of the more developed games

in progress, and this formed a great contrast to my previous

ethnological experience in Torres Straits, where hardly a day would

pass without seeing games being played.

The chief interest in the case of the Todas is the clear evidence they

give of games arising owing to the sportive imitation by children of

the more serious occupations of their elders. In some of these cases

the games so arising are useful in providing the younger members of the

community with practice in feats which they will in later life be

called upon to perform.

RIDDLES

The Todas are very fond of riddles, which they call werat. The

following are examples:—

Mers illâth karthti, poi illâth ûdti? Mâ, neln.

Udder without milks, mouth without drinks? Rain, earth.

I.e., What is it that gives milk without an udder, what is it that

drinks without a mouth? Rain, earth.

Urk mers illâth, kâdak kal illâth, athinu?

In (or to) village udder without, in forest leg without, what is it?

Kûdi, pob.

Hen, snake.

Kerûd mokh perûd aiu, perûd mokh kerûd aiu? Kûdr, kevi.

Little son big becomes, big son little becomes? Horn, ear.

This riddle depends on a comparison of the horn and ear of the buffalo.

The horn of the calf is very small, the ear is relatively large.

Pûv pûvadi, kaim kaimadi? Tâf.

Flower does not blossom, berry does not ripen? Fern.

Wûrâdr nolm, mokh pachtam, pîr ârchtam, ithithanithi ank?

Whole year days, son begetting, pregnant, this is custom to it?

Pishkimän.

Pishkimän is a tree which bears flowers or is giving fruit the whole

year round.

Puzhárḍnûdr adetpoloḍthi? Kûdi kûgili.

Calls out if why that says no? Cock crows.

What is it that calls out and no one replies? The cock.

Neln tiri kai, pon tiri pûv? Eln.

Earth goes round fruit, sky goes round flower? The tip-cat game.

Mudâl pîr vatvai, pin marsvati; pin pîr

First pregnant who becomes, later is delivered; later pregnant

vatvai, mudâl marsvati? Tâmi, kodj.

who becomes, first is delivered? A grain, barley.

Tami or samai (patm) is the grain from which patcherski, one of the

chief Toda foods, is made. It shows above the ground later than barley,

but is reaped earlier.

I did not hear of any mechanical puzzles or tricks used by the Todas,

and it was quite clear that they had no knowledge of cat’s-cradle.

POETRY AND MUSIC

I have given two samples of Toda poetry in the chapter on funeral

ceremonies. These are the chief occasions on which songs are composed,

but they are also made when a new dairy is being built, and may be

composed and sung on any festive occasion. The general name for

compositions of this kind is kunedsti, and certain men have special

reputations as composers. The most noted of recent times was a man

named Mervoin belonging to the family of Kiugi.

Of those now living, Teitnir, whose two funeral songs I have given, is

a noted composer, and I was told of six other men who were especially

gifted in this way.

Though I have called these compositions songs, they should, perhaps,

rather be called recitations. They are certainly not songs with any

musical accompaniment. I understood, though I am not clear about this,

that the clauses, or kwarzam, of the funeral poems are said in a low

voice “in the throat,” so that they are not understood by the people

who hear them. If this is correct, the funeral kwarzam resemble in this

respect those of which the prayers consist.

The Toda poets also compose songs on any festive occasion, and Mr.

Thurston [239] has recorded examples of several such compositions.

Dancing takes place at the funeral ceremonies, and exhibitions of these

or other dances are sometimes given by the Todas. The only dancing I

saw was at a funeral and it was of the simplest possible description,

the men who took part forming a circle and moving slowly round and

round.

The only musical instrument of the Todas is a simple flute, called the

buguri. It is shown in Fig. 68, where it is being played by the man on

the right. The instrument is not much used by the Todas and is not, so

far as I know, played on any ceremonial occasion. The music at the

funeral ceremonies is always performed by Kotas.

CHAPTER XXV

LANGUAGE

My chief purpose in writing this chapter is to give information which,

I hope, may increase the value of the linguistic material which is

scattered throughout this book, and especially to describe some of the

doubts and difficulties which I encountered in my attempts to reduce

the Toda language to writing.

At the end of the chapter I give some new facts relating to the sacred

and secret languages of the Todas, and I will begin with a brief sketch

of the views commonly held on the linguistic position of the Toda

language.

The Nilgiri Hills are situated at the point of junction of three of the

chief linguistic districts of Southern India. In the country on the

South and East, Tamil is spoken; on the West, the language is

Malayalam, and the people of Mysore to the North speak chiefly

Canarese. The Todas live at this meeting-place of three languages, but

owing to their isolated position their language is not a blend of

these, but has very definite and distinctive characters of its own, as

might, indeed, be expected from the character of the people. The

Badagas with whom the Todas have much intercourse speak a corrupt form

of Canarese, and the Todas have undoubtedly borrowed many words from

their language.

Previous writers have differed in their views on the special affinities

of the Toda language. No one has now, I think, any doubt that the

language is Dravidian. Bernhard Schmid, [240] who wrote in 1837,

appears to me to have known more of the true Toda language than anyone

who has written since, and he ascribed two-thirds of the Toda

vocabulary to Tamil and was unable to trace the remaining third to any

other language. Caldwell [241] believed the language of the Todas to be

most closely allied to Tamil. According to Pope [242] the language was

originally old Canarese with the addition of a few Tamil forms, but he

has included in his vocabulary words which have probably been borrowed

from the Badagas.

The linguistic material which I have collected is far more extensive

than that which was available at the time Pope wrote his sketch, and

though the material is in one way less satisfactory since it has been

collected after thirty more years of Toda intercourse with the outside

world, it is in another way more satisfactory than any previous

material in that by far the larger part of it is derived from the

formulæ used in the religious ceremonies and in magic. It is, of

course, well known that an ancient language may linger on in religious

and magical formulæ long after it has disappeared from ordinary speech,

and when I discovered how many of these formulæ were preserved by the

Todas, I made a point of collecting as many as possible in the hope

that they might preserve relics of the ancient speech of the Todas.

In collecting this material I suffered under grave disadvantages;

firstly in not being a phonologist, and secondly, in my ignorance of

any Dravidian language. I had had, however, a fairly large experience

in taking down unwritten languages phonetically, and, whatever the

errors into which I have fallen, I hope that they are consistent

throughout my record. As a matter of fact, I find my spelling to be

fairly constant, words taken down from different individuals and on

different occasions being written in the same way.

From one point of view my ignorance of Dravidian languages is not an

unmixed evil. When anyone hears a language which is allied to one he

knows, it is almost impossible to avoid being influenced by this

knowledge. This influence has not been escaped by some of those who

have previously recorded words from the Toda language. Thus in his

Comparative Dictionary of non-Aryan Languages of India and Higher Asia,

[243] Hunter gives two vocabularies from different sources which he

calls Toḍuva and Toḍa, and from the differences between these he

thought they might be different dialects. According to Breeks these

differences are due to the fact that the compiler of one vocabulary

paid exclusive attention to the sounds he heard, while the compiler of

the other was influenced by his knowledge of the derivation of the

words. I have very little doubt that many of those who have recorded

Toda words have not written them down exactly as the Todas said them,

but as they ought to have said them according to the usual rules of

Dravidian pronunciation.

We find, in consequence, very great diversity in the spelling of Toda

words, and when there is agreement, it is of very little value, for

many of those who have written on the Todas have evidently adopted the

spellings of previous writers, even when they quite misrepresent the

real sounds.

Another difficulty which besets the investigation of the Toda language

is the presence of dialectical differences even in the small community

of only eight hundred people. Metz [244] noted such differences, and I

found undoubted variations in the vocabularies of the two divisions of

the Todas (see p. 687) and suspected variations in pronunciation.

Still another difficulty is the large use of sounds, chiefly sh, ch,

and th, [245] euphonically inserted in words. Pope notes this as quite

a Toda peculiarity, and it adds greatly to the formidable character of

this language, though a word of the most appalling complexity may

become quite simple when these euphonic (!) sounds are eliminated.

Another of the sources of discrepancies in Toda vocabularies is the

influence of the Badagas to which I have already referred. The Todas

are a bilingual people speaking Badaga in their intercourse with other

races and keeping Toda for themselves. I have already pointed out that

the great majority of the names of Toda places and institutions which

have been recorded by previous writers are the Badaga names and not the

Toda names, and, as might have been expected, many Badaga words have

found their way into previously published Toda vocabularies.

In my own work my procedure was to take down a sentence first through

the interpreter, then to go through the words of the sentence one by

one asking the Toda to say each word carefully, and often he had to

repeat it many times before I could satisfy myself about the nature of

the sounds. Often I would get a second or third Toda to say the word,

and I have frequently spent many minutes over one word, and have

perhaps then been baffled in my attempts to write the word

satisfactorily.

I noticed continually that the Toda words as pronounced by my

interpreters were quite different in sound from those which came from

the mouths of the Todas themselves. This was especially the case with

the vowels, and in the addition of the initial y, so well known in the

Tamil pronunciation of English. So far as I could detect, there was no

trace of this initial y in Toda, although it occurs occasionally in

some of the previously recorded Toda vocabularies.

These differences between the pronunciation of my interpreter and that

of the Todas may often be the source of inconsistencies in my record,

for on some occasions, owing to lack of time, I was unable to listen

carefully to the Todas themselves, and had to content myself with the

words given to me by the interpreter.

PHONETICS

In order to indicate the sounds of the Toda language, I have kept as

closely as possible to the generally recognised system in use in India,

but have been obliged to adopt many more signs than those usually

employed.

The vowel sounds which I distinguished were very numerous. The

following vowels and diphthongs certainly occurred: â, a, ä, ê, e, î,

i, ô, o, ö, ò, û, u, ü, ai, au, ei, eu, oi. [246] I am doubtful,

however, whether in some cases a distinction between two sounds was not

due to individual differences of pronunciation or to dialectical

differences. This is almost certainly the case with the distinction

between ai and oi. Some other cases which are more complex may be

considered in detail.

Â, ò and o. The first two sounds are often interchanged with one

another. There is no doubt that the usual â of some Dravidian languages

becomes ò in Toda, as in the change from nâḍ to nòḍr, and most previous

writers have regarded this change as constant, and have used the sign â

for the sound which the Todas undoubtedly pronounce like the aw of the

English word ‘law.’ I should much have liked to follow their example,

and by so doing could have avoided the introduction of a new sign for

the Toda sound, a sound for which there appears to be no generally

recognised symbol in the phonetic systems used by anthropologists. I

could not do so, however, because the Todas sometimes use the true â

sound. There are certain words which are always pronounced with exactly

the same sound as in the English word ‘father,’ and I never heard these

words pronounced otherwise. In some cases there is a definite reason

why this should be so. Thus the Toda word for ‘again’ is mâr, and I

never heard this word uttered otherwise than as I have written it. If

it had undergone the common transformation it would have become mòr,

the ti word for buttermilk, and in one case at least there would have

been occasion for misunderstanding, for one of the salt-giving

ceremonies is called mârup or ‘again salt,’ while another is called

mòrup or ‘buttermilk salt.’ The syllable also occurs in the words

pâtatmâr and ertatmâr, and is never pronounced in these words otherwise

than as I have written it. On the other hand, there are certain words

in which the sound is always that of ò, and in other cases the two

sounds are undoubtedly interchanged, and in the latter case I have

usually adopted the spelling in â. A good example of this is pârs or

pòrs, milk, for which I have throughout adopted the former spelling,

though it is quite as often called pòrs.

The ò is often shortened into o, and this is especially the case with

the word for ‘man.’ The general Dravidian form of this word is âḷ, but

in Toda it becomes òḷ or oḷ (which I write as ol), and in compound

words, such as palol and wursol, it is always, or nearly always,

pronounced so as to be indistinguishable from the o of the English word

‘olive.’ The long ô is not a very frequent sound in Toda.

A and ä. The sign a is used, in accordance with the general Indian

practice, for the sound of the English word ‘hut,’ one of the commonest

of Toda sounds. It is undoubtedly interchanged sometimes with the sound

of the English word ‘hat’ for which I use the sign ä. In such cases of

interchange, I use the sign a in preference, but when I always heard

the ä sound, I have used it. It seemed to me that this sound was

especially frequent in proper names, as in that of the village Päm and

in such words as Kän.

Û and u. These are used for the sounds of the words ‘moon’ and ‘full’

and both are of frequent occurrence. The short form seems occasionally

to be changed into a; thus, the word mun means ‘maternal uncle,’ but

the word for ‘sister’s son’ is manmokh. This is a good instance of the

value of vowel sounds in Toda; the mankugh is the sister’s daughter,

but the munkugh is the name of the daughter of a maternal uncle. The

two words which resemble one another so closely have two very different

meanings, those of niece and cousin.

Ê and ei. I use ê for the sound of the ei in the English word ‘their.’

Ei is the sign which I use for the long ä of the English word ‘date.’ A

sound for which I often use this sign is one which gave me a great deal

of trouble. In it the vowel sound is prolonged so as to form almost a

dissyllable, and in my earlier records I wrote it êe, the first ê

having the sound of the ei in ‘their.’ I decided later to use ei,

though I acknowledge it is not at all a satisfactory representation of

the sound I heard.

Î. The only point on which I have to remark about this sound is that it

is sometimes prolonged so as to become a dissyllable as in the example

already mentioned. In one case, the word mîis, used in the

erkumptthpimi ceremony, this prolongation of the sound is so marked and

so constant that I have preserved a record of it in the spelling, but

in most cases I have been content to indicate it by î only.

Eu and ö. I use the former sign for a sound which seemed to me very

much like the French eu. It often resembled very closely the German ö,

and in some cases, as in that of the word for the numeral 7, I was

doubtful which was the right sign. The sound for which I use eu is,

however, more prolonged, and approaches a dissyllable. It occurs in the

most definite form in the word for god, teu. This is undoubtedly

derived from the Sanscrit ‘deva’ in general use in Southern India, and

it is therefore very interesting that this word, which has become

‘Dieu’ in French, should have become the very similar teu in the Toda

language.

U, ü, and i. The ü sound, almost exactly like that of the German

language, was common, though in many cases I was doubtful whether to

write u, ü, or i. Thus it was difficult to say whether the word for bow

was purs, pürs, or pirs; the last named would bring it in line with

general Dravidian orthography, but the first seemed to me the most

frequent, and I have therefore adopted it.

Ai and oi. The sound ai is not very frequent in Toda, and when it

occurs is often on the way to oi. Thus the naim or council was often

noim, and mogai and mogoi were said indifferently.

I had very much difficulty in writing the consonants, being especially

troubled by my lack of familiarity with linguals. The following were

those which I heard:—b, ch, d, ḍ, f, g, gg, gh, h, j, k, kh, l and ḷ,

m, n, ñ, p, r, s, sh, t, th, v, w, z, zh.

In the text of the book I have not attempted to distinguish the lingual

consonants, and I have also omitted the very common euphonic

insertions, especially of ch, sh, and th.

B, p, v, w, and f. The sound expressed by b was heard very rarely, and

I am doubtful whether it really occurs in true Toda. It is a common

letter in Badaga, but when a Badaga word is pronounced by the Todas,

the letter usually becomes p. In a few words I had much difficulty in

making up my mind whether a given sound was b or p, and this was

especially the case with the word kudupel or kudubel, which is probably

a Badaga word.

One of the most frequent consonants in Toda is p, which often changes

into v, especially when p is the initial letter of the latter part of a

compound word; thus the word pet or wand in pôhpet became pôhvet,

kugpali became kugvali, and nedrpol, nedrvol. Occasionally p would

become a distinct w, as in the name of the flower kargwûv for kargpûv.

The letter f undoubtedly occurs in Toda, though not very frequently. It

is sometimes changed into v, but in some cases, as in the name of the

ancient village Kusharf, I never heard any sound other than a distinct

f. I did not hear f and p interchanged.

As already mentioned, the letter w may occasionally occur as a variant

of p or v, but it also occurs in words where it is never interchanged

with either of these letters. The most frequent example of the

occurrence of the letter is in the word wursol, and here the sound was

so elusive that for a long time I hesitated whether to write the word

as wursol or ursol. Breeks wrote this word varzhol, and we may take it

that he distinctly recognised the initial letter as allied to v and p.

D, ḍ, t, th. I have used the sign d for two sounds in the text. One I

could not distinguish from the English sound expressed by this letter.

It is sometimes the representative of nd of Badaga, mand or village

becoming mad in Toda, [247] while the Badaga form of Pidati is Benduti.

The d of other Dravidian languages often becomes t in Toda; thus

pandava becomes pateva, and the Teivaliol almost certainly derive their

name from some form of the word deva.

More frequently, however, d is used for the lingual consonant ḍ, which

is one of the commonest sounds in Toda. Very often this letter is

immediately followed by the letter r, and the combination ḍr (which in

the text of the book I have written dr) is an extremely frequent sound.

Often to my ear it was quite indistinguishable from the simple r, and

usually I had to refer to my interpreter to know whether a given sound

was ḍr or r. Neither of my interpreters seemed ever to be in any doubt,

and they were so consistent on this point that wherever this spelling

occurs it is probably correct. So far as I can tell the ḍr is the

representative of ḍ in other Dravidian languages; thus, nâd of Canarese

becomes nòḍr, and the kêdu of Badaga becomes kêḍr. On reference to the

list of Badaga and Toda names of villages given in Appendix III. it

will be seen that the ḍr of the Todas is usually the equivalent of the

Badaga ḍ, Telkodu becoming Telkudr, and Kudimal becoming Kudrmas.

The sound which I express by dr has been very variously spelt by

previous writers; thus, the Toda future world has been written Humanorr

or Omnorr by Harkness, Amunàd by Breeks, Amnôr by Marshall and Pope,

and Amnor by Thurston, and the sacred plant tudr has been written tûd,

tûde, tiurr, tûre and tûr.

When the sound ḍ occurs before letters other than r, I am afraid I may

have often omitted it. Thus till nearly the end of my visit I wrote the

word teḍshk as teshk, and the name of the village Teḍshteiri as

Teshteiri, and I have little doubt that this letter, the presence of

which I had so much difficulty in recognising, may have been omitted in

other cases.

There seems to be no doubt that ḍr and t might sometimes be

interchangeable. Thus the termination of personal names, kûtan seemed

to be the same word as kûḍr. A horn is kûḍr and imitation-horns are

kûter. An assembly is kût, and the corresponding verb is kûḍriti (3rd

person singular). Sometimes ḍr becomes rt; thus the word kêḍr becomes

kêrt in the compound word kêrtnòdr, and the names of the clans Kuuḍr

and Pieḍr often become Kuurt and Piert in the words Kuurtol and

Piertol.

I failed to distinguish between t and ṭ, and it is probable that my t

includes both letters. My interpreters used the sign th for ṭ, as is

common in the transliteration of missionaries and others in India, and

I am afraid that in a few cases my th should stand for the lingual ṭ.

It is very unfortunate that th should be used for ṭ, for the true th

not only occurs among the Todas but is a very frequent consonant. It is

frequently inserted euphonically in words which are at other times

pronounced without it, and this is especially the case in connexion

with the letter l. The consonant th also occurs frequently apart from

any other consonant, in such words as pûthi, pathanmul, &c.

I think it probable that under the sign th I have included two sounds,

that of the English word ‘though’ and that of ‘throw,’ but I could not

make up my mind whether the two sounds were definitely distinguished.

The softer sound is undoubtedly the more common, and often it seemed to

me to be even softer than this sound is ever heard in English.

K, kw, g, kh, gh, h. Perhaps the commonest Toda consonant is k, which

often becomes kw, and it seemed to me that the two were sometimes

interchanged, kûḍr becoming kwûḍr, &c.

The consonant g is less frequently heard, but kûḍr, especially as the

termination of the names of men and places, is often pronounced gûḍr,

and it seemed to me that this pronunciation is somewhat more common

among the Teivaliol than among the Tartharol. The sound g occurs very

definitely, sometimes at the ends of words as in the names of villages,

as in Kwirg and Perg, and in the word kug, and in these cases there is

no doubt that it is a true Toda consonant.

The sounds which I have expressed by kh and gh are fairly common,

though I do not feel quite confident that the two sounds are definitely

distinguished from one another. I heard them very frequently in the

words mokh and kûgh, and it certainly seemed to me that the final sound

of the latter was always softer than that of the word mokh. When one or

other of these sounds occurs at the end of a word, it is probable that

I have in some cases omitted to notice it. A man named Perpakh was

called by me Perpa till nearly the end of my visit, and it is probable

that I made similar errors which were not detected. Similarly kh in the

middle of a word may easily escape attention, and this has probably

happened in some cases.

I also had much trouble about a sound occurring at the end of a word

for which I have used the sign h. Its chief occurrence is in the word

pôh, and the same or a closely similar sound sometimes occurs in the

middle of the word pali. The word pôh has usually been written boath,

following Marshall, or boa (Breeks). The word certainly often sounded

like a dissyllable, but I was doubtful whether this was anything more

than the prolongation of vowels to which I have already referred in the

case of ei and i. There is some kind of consonantal sound at the end of

the word, but it is certainly not the ordinary th nor is it kh, and I

have adopted h as the nearest equivalent though I recognise that it is

not the right sign.

R, l. I have already considered the letter r in connexion with ḍ, but

it also occurs frequently by itself. At the end of a word it is

sometimes distinctly rolled. When used after a short vowel, as in such

a word as persin, it was sometimes not easy for me to detect its

presence, and occasionally it is possible that I have omitted it from

words in which it should occur.

The letter l is of fairly frequent occurrence, but has certainly often

been lost in Toda in words which contain it in other Dravidian

languages; thus the word kîl, lower, inferior, becomes kî in Toda,

though the l has been retained in meil or mel, meaning upper or

superior.

There are almost certainly two different l sounds in Toda which I

failed to distinguish definitely. I have written the word for dairy

pali but the second consonant of the word is certainly a different

sound from that of the l in meil, and is probably the representative of

the l of Tamil. It is in connexion with this letter that the euphonic

th is so often inserted, and I believe that the proper name for a Toda

dairy is paḷthḷi. When this l occurs at the end of a word, it is

sometimes hardly audible, and to my ear bears a very close resemblance

to the French l. The end of the word Kudreiil seemed to me to be

pronounced almost exactly like the end of Auteuil.

It appears that r and l may sometimes pass into one another; thus, the

name of the bow and arrow ceremony is pursütpimi, but the buffalo given

on this occasion is called pulkwadr.

M and n. The letters m and n, indistinguishable to my ear from the

corresponding English letters, are of frequent occurrence. They are,

however, often omitted in the Toda forms of Tamil or Canarese words;

thus, as we have already seen, the word mand, village, becomes the Toda

mad; the Tamil ambu, arrow, becomes ab; and the Toda form of Kurumba is

Kûrub.

The n may also disappear from the Toda names of villages when it exists

in their Badaga names; thus Tarnard becomes Taradr and Korangu, Kwirg.

The omission of the letter n and other changes which words undergo in

Toda are very well shown in the word padjpateva, which is the Toda form

of the Panchpandavas. Although my ear failed to separate the n of the

Todas from the English n, it is probably different and represents the ṇ

of Tamil.

In addition to the ordinary n the Todas have another consonant which is

extremely like the final French n for which I have used the sign ñ. The

sound only occurs in certain exclamations or greetings; the Oñ which

occurs so frequently in the dairy ritual is pronounced in this way, and

so is bañ, which is uttered by the palol as a greeting to the

Tartharol. The sound also occurs in the various kinship greetings. The

commonest of these, tioñ, offered to an elder brother, is a corruption

of itian, but I never heard the nasal pronunciation when the word an or

anna was uttered in the ordinary way. In this case the sound I have

expressed by n is undoubtedly the letter ṇ of Tamil, this word being

aṇṇa in that language.

S, sh, z, zh, dz, j. The sound for which I have used the letter s is a

somewhat harsh sound, harsher, I think, than is heard in English, but

much like the sound which I have heard in English words pronounced by

Scottish Highlanders. Breeks wrote zh for this sound, but I have used

this sign for a different sound which was exactly like the si in the

English word ‘occasion.’ It occurs not uncommonly in Toda in such words

as puzh, earth, and in the verbal form kaizhvat.

The sound z occurs frequently. I was often doubtful whether to write dz

or z, especially at the ends of personal names, and in other cases what

was obviously the same termination was pronounced more like dj; thus I

was often doubtful whether to write the name Piliodz in this way or as

Pilioz or Piliodj; (the three English equivalents would be the sounds

of Dods, Boz and Dodge).

The sounds s and sh are often inserted euphonically; thus, the name

Kuriolv is as often as not pronounced Kursiolv, and, more rarely,

Kurshiolv.

SACRED LANGUAGE

There are three varieties of sacred language in use among the Todas.

There is the kwarzam the word or clause used in prayer and other sacred

formulæ; secondly, there are certain words and phrases peculiar to the

ti dairy; and thirdly, there are certain words called by the Todas, teu

language, which are only used in the legends of the gods.

The kwarzam is used especially for the names of gods, persons or

objects used in the first portions of the prayers. It is also used in

the magical formulæ and in the funeral laments, but it may be that the

last use is only due to an extension of the strict meaning of the term.

When I began to collect the prayers, I hoped that the kwarzam might

turn out to belong to some ancient and otherwise forgotten language,

but their general nature is evidently the same as that of other Toda

words. The kwarzam arises either by a slight modification of a name in

ordinary use or as a phrase recording some historical or mythical

incident.

I give here a short list of kwarzam which, with a few exceptions, have

not occurred elsewhere. The following are the kwarzam of the Tarthar

clans:—

The Nòdrsol, Nòdrstharkûtthars; the Karsol, Kârstharkunnadrpêdr; the

Panol, Pandârpeshdthvaimokh; the Taradrol, Pülkudutharpeithar; the

Keradrol, Kerâdrtharkerâdrkûtan; the Kanòdrsol, Munantharpinnantho; the

Kwòdrdoniol, Adutharathiars; the Pämol, Pämûtharkathar; the Melgarsol,

Narzthar. The kwarzam of the Kuudrol is Ivikanmokhkûtmeilteu (see p.

101), but the other Teivali clans have no such special names.

The only one of the above, of which the meaning is quite clear, is that

of Pan, in which case the kwarzam gives the names of the two kudr of

the clan (see p. 652). The latter part of the kwarzam of the Keradrol

means a horn or son of Keradr, and is also the name of a man, and with

further knowledge there is little doubt that the other kwarzam would be

found to have some meaning.

The following are the kwarzam of the buffaloes of the different clans:—

Nòdrs, karûdchîrkünâkh; Kars, inâtvidshti inâtvan; [248] Pan and

Taradr, Mutchôthvanmodethokvan; Keradr, miniapîr mâvelkar; Kanòdrs,

Tîrztashkkarzikunp; Kwòdrdoni and Nidrsi, Keitankeikar; Päm,

Arzomolkutchi; Melgars, Narzulnnatülnnâkh; Kuudr and Pedrkars,

Kishvettarskvan; Piedr, Kûzherikwelvpurserthunm; Kusharf,

Nulkarsîrnazhuv; Keradr, Nelppârsîrkudeipar; Kulhem, Pelthrîrkan.

The kwarzam of the Keradr buffaloes refers to the tradition of their

creation (see p. 192), and here again with further knowledge there is

little doubt that most of the kwarzam would be found to have a definite

meaning, probably derived from legends concerning the buffaloes or the

villages to which they belong.

The second kind of sacred language, in use at the ti dairies, has been

already considered. Every kind of dairy vessel or other object used in

the dairy ceremonial has a name at the ti different from that used in

the house or village dairy. These different names have been given in

describing the dairy ceremonial, but I have not hitherto referred to

certain other differences of language, especially in verbal forms.

Different words are used in the two kinds of dairy for the verb ‘to

drink’; thus, when a village dairyman orders another to drink

buttermilk, he says “Maj ûn!” while at the ti the palol says

“Kaizhvat!” This latter formula is interesting in that kaizh is not the

usual ti word for buttermilk (mòr) and only occurs, as far as I can

ascertain, in conjunction with the verb vat. A village dairyman uses

the verb part, pray, while at the ti, the verb pôhvetnört is used. Thus

the question “have you prayed?” would be “partikudricha?” at the

village and “pôhvetnörtikudricha?” at the ti. Similarly different forms

of the verb ‘to milk’ are used. “We have milked” at the village would

be “îrkartkudrvispimi” often shortened into îrkartspimi, while at the

ti “karvukkudrivispimi” would be said; “we have not milked” would be

“îrkarami” at the village and “îrkarpûkhami” at the ti.

There are certain verbs used at the ti dairy which may only be

pronounced by ordinary people in the third person. A good example is

the verb nört, and it will be noticed that the names of ceremonies in

which this verb is used have always been given in the third person,

irnörtiti, and never in the first person plural as in the case of most

other ceremonies.

About the third kind of sacred language, I know very little. It will

have been noticed that the words and sentences which are used in the

legends of Chapter IX are unlike those which occur elsewhere, and I was

especially told that certain words only occurred in the stories of the

gods. A special instance given was that of the words “tar

tûrzhoḍthrska” (see p. 201), where tar [249] was said to be the teu

word for ‘man.’ The words kwudrpedrshai and kaipedrshai in the same

legend were given as other examples of teu language.

SECRET LANGUAGE

The Todas have a large number of expressions which they use in the

presence of Badagas, Tamils and others when they wish to be understood

only by themselves. Many of the Badagas and Tamils with whom the Todas

associate no doubt pick up some knowledge of their language, and even

if this were not the case, the Toda language is sufficiently like Tamil

to enable a stranger to understand part of what is said. In consequence

the Todas have adopted a secret code for use among themselves which

they call kalikatpimi, literally “stolen we tie,” while in distinction

the ordinary language is called itherkelv or “front fact.”

The following are the chief instances of which I was told.

ORDINARY LANGUAGE. SECRET LANGUAGE.

Pârshk nîr at kwadr! Nonk nâr pudvaink

Milk to water mix give. Four sides which came from

i.e., give milk mixed with water! kagîr pârs at kwadr!

old buffalo milk mix give!

i.e., give milk mixed with what

comes from the four teats of an

old buffalo.

Pârs âdr Nonk nâr pud mûdn tarsk

milk cook Four sides come three on up

i.e., cook food in milk! idsht!

put

i.e., Put what comes from the four

teats upon the three (stones of the

oven).

Tòr tidshia? Kâtô nòrth kershia?

Have you taken food? Teeth between did you throw?

At vokh! At erd af!

There (or away) go! There (or away) two (legs) get!

Iren akaik ud! kûdr valvpoi tòrs ûlâr kî!

The buffalo in the wood hide! Horn crooked wood into go!

Kan odthi? Kûdren pom odthinû?

Is he not blind? Black fruit has he not?

When a man is thought to be dying, the Todas may ask “Is this man going

from one place to another?”

Whenever a Toda first sees a man, he looks at his feet, and,

correspondingly, when a Toda asks another his opinion of a man, he says

“Kal pel ilûdinû,” “What sort of leg and nail has he?” In secret

language the leg may be called metipol, “walk thing,” also used for

footprints or pûmi ûlâr pî pol, “thing that goes into the earth.”

Many other things and persons have secret names; thus, a rupee, or

money generally, is called atchertvai, that which is stamped; butter is

called pelthpol or white thing; clarified butter (nei) is called

kârtpol or melted thing; sugar and honey are called tichedpol or sweet

thing; rice is called peitpudvai, that which comes from Peit, a place

near Kavidi in the Wainad from which rice used to be procured; arrack

(saraim) is called îrthpol or püshetpol, each meaning “drink thing.”

The sun is called etûdol, “great man.”

The various tribes on the hills have secret names; thus, both Badagas

and Tamils are called tutâr katvai, he who wears or ties the turban; a

Kota is called kîmas ithvai, he who is beneath; a Kurumba is called âr

kârthpol, the man who watches the way; a European is called pelthpol,

or white man. A forest guard is called petuni ütvai, petuni being here

used as a term for uniform, so that if a forest guard has come, they

will say, petuni ütvai podvuchi.

Several of the words used in the secret language do not appear to have

any other meaning and are not ordinarily used. Thus the ordinary word

for tooth is pars, but in secret language kâtô or kâtû is used. This

word is the name of the wall of a buffalo-pen and it is possible that

it may mean stones, but I could not ascertain whether this was the

derivation, and could only learn that it was another word for tooth.

Similarly the ear, of which the ordinary name is kevi, is called

pertars, and the question “Did you wear gold earrings?” becomes

pertarsk ütshia? “to ear did you wear?”

CHAPTER XXVI

PERSONAL NAMES

The ceremonies of name-giving have already been considered, the chief

point of interest being that the name of a boy is given to him by his

maternal uncle, while that of a girl is probably given by her paternal

aunt. In this chapter I wish to consider the general nature of the

personal names of the Todas and some special customs connected with

them.

The genealogies provide a large store of material, for it is

exceptional for two Todas to have the same name, and no Toda should

bear a name which has been borne by another for four generations, and

certainly not one which has been borne by one of his own family.

The great majority of Toda names have distinctive terminations which

are different for men and women.

The common terminations for males are -van, -kûdr, -kût or -kûtan,

-olv, -eidi, and -ners. The first was said to be the same word as pan

or pun, the Toda name for the stone circles found on the summits of the

hills. The names of deities often receive the same termination; thus

Nòtirzi is also called Nòtirzivan, and, in several cases, men received

the names of gods or hills followed by the syllable -van. The same

termination is also given to names which have other derivations.

The terminations, -kûdr or -gûdr, -kût or -kûtan, are different forms

of the word kûdr, which means primarily ‘horn,’ and when it occurs in a

name seems to mean ‘child.’ The termination in -kûdr or -gûdr seems to

be much more frequently used by the Teivaliol than by the Tartharol,

and in both divisions it is rare in older generations.

I do not know the meaning of the terminations in -olv and -eidi: it is

noteworthy, however, that -olv is also a frequent ending of the names

of dairies.

The termination -ner or -ners sometimes becomes -nîr, and it may be the

word for water, possibly with the idea of ‘spring.’

The usual terminations of female names are -veli, -veni or -vani,

-eimi, and -idj or -idz. Of these, the first is by far the most

frequent, being usually pronounced with a th sound, as in -velthli or

-vilthli. It is possibly the same word as a frequent Indian name of

Venus, which is also the Toda name for this planet. The word also means

silver and in the form pelthiti is used for ‘white.’

The termination -veni or -vani is probably derived from pani, which is

said to be an ancient name for a Toda woman. Occasionally the latter

form occurred, as in the name of Sinadapani (67), and one of the wives

of Kwoten was named Kwaterpani. I know nothing of the derivation of the

terminations -eimi and -idz.

The names of Todas are often derived from villages, dairies or dairy

vessels, hills and their deities, and objects of various kinds. There

seems to be no objection to use the names of deities or of such sacred

objects as the mani as personal names, but only as those of men.

Recently the Todas have begun to use words of Hindu or even English

origin for the names of their children.

It is the names of men which are chiefly derived from villages, and at

least twenty examples occur in the genealogies. In some cases the name

of the village is used without any suffix, as in Ushadr (48) and Madsu

(58); in other cases one or other of the customary terminations is

used, as in Keradrkutan [250] (26), Nongarsivan (62), Kuirsiners (18),

and Karseidi (8). The special point of interest here is that the names

of villages which have now disappeared may be preserved as personal

names; thus Harkness mentions the village of Kattaul as being near

Ootacamund, and, though the village has now disappeared, its memory is

preserved in the name Katolvan (44), borne by one of the Melgarsol, to

whom the village belonged. Again, the village of Kepurs, an extinct

village mentioned in the legend of Kwoten, is preserved in the name of

Kepursvan (18), borne by one of Kwoten’s clan, the Panol.

In general, when a man receives a name derived from a village or other

place, the village or place is one belonging to his own clan. Names may

be derived from ti places as well as from ordinary villages, of which

Makars (10) and Pursas (42) are examples.

The special feature of interest about these sources of nomenclature is

that personal names may thus preserve records of the past, and a full

investigation of the genealogies from this point of view might bring to

light the names of many other villages now extinct.

Names are also derived from dairies, buffalo-pens, stones, and other

objects of the village; thus Tarziolv, the special name of the kudrpali

of Kars, is borne by a member of the Karsol (15), and Tilipa (12) is

probably a corruption of Tilipoh. A boy of Nidrsi is named Punatu (43)

after the buffalo-pen of his village, and the men called Agar (7),

Pepners (44), and Persinkudr (16), have received names connected with

the operations of the dairy.

The names of stones occur in the examples Menkars (10) and Mutchud

(45). Several men are named after the sacred bells, or mani, of which

examples are Nalani (35), Kerani (35), Pongg (47), while Mudriners (57)

is named after Mudrani, one of the patatmani of Kiudr. The name of

Eshkiaguln of Kars (8) is very much like that of one of the bells of

Nidrsi, Eshkiakudr, and in one case a man is called Maniners (62).

The kwarzam of the prayers form a frequent source of personal names.

Thus the name of Puthion (64) occurs in the last clause of the Kuudr

prayer, and no less than six men take their names, either directly or

with some modifications, from the Kiudr prayer; these are Kil, Erai,

Etamudri, Kwelthipush from Kwelpushol, Kishkar from Arsvishkars, and

Keikudr, who was also called Parvakudr, derived from another kwarzam of

this prayer. In one of these cases the name is taken from the kwarzam

with so much modification that I should not have guessed its derivation

if I had not been told; and if this extensive modification is frequent,

there may be many more names derived from kwarzam than appears to be

the case at first sight.

The names of deities are not uncommonly adopted as personal names; the

chief examples being Nòtirzi (47), Meilitars (44), Teipakh (20), Etepi

(26), Karzo (12), Pòrzo (4), and Pakhwar (16). Two people are also

called Tevò (3 and 53), which is a corruption of Teipakh, and a boy is

called Kòdrthokutan (43). In many cases men are named after hills, of

which Drugevan (40), Kòdrner (7), and Mopuvan [251] (16) are examples,

and it is not improbable that these hills are also provided with

deities. Two of the instances given above are the names of river-gods,

and there is also a man, Palpa (16), named after the stream by which

Kwoten met the goddess Terkosh. Punatvan (53) is named after one of the

personages in the story of Kwoto. Among these names it is noteworthy

that Nòtirzi, the name of a female deity, is borne by a man, and that

there is no instance in which a man is named after one of the three

ancient and important deities, Pithi, Ön, and Teikirzi.

This use of the names of deities as personal names seems to point to

the absence of any high degree of reverence for the divine beings. The

Todas are by no means free from the ideas of danger and disrespect

connected with the utterance of names; and if their gods still received

any great degree of veneration, I think it is improbable that their

names would be allowed to be in everyone’s mouth, as must be the case

when used as personal names. It is possible that this use of the names

of deities is recent; it is certainly more frequent at the present time

than in the older generations recorded in the genealogies, and I

strongly suspect that the practice adds another indication to those

already given of the decay of the religious sentiment of the Todas.

It seems to be extremely rare for persons to have the same names as

buffaloes. There is only one doubtful example in the genealogies,

Kerani (35). This is also the name of a bell, and I am doubtful whether

it is really a buffalo-name. It is probable that the absence of the

names of buffaloes is merely utilitarian and has no deeper

significance. Buffaloes are generally referred to by name, and it would

obviously be inconvenient that they should have the same names as

people.

Many other names are derived from objects or from the language of

everyday life. Examples of such are Nipa, stream; Perol, unsanctified

man; Irsimitch, lime; Sakari, sweet; Kakar, a grass; Mogai, cubit;

Kapur, camphor; and Pòl, a two-year-old calf. Sometimes such words

become names by the addition of the terminations -kûdr or -veli, as in

Panmkudr, the horn of a four-anna piece, and Nirveli and Kadakveli,

derived from the words for water and for the wild rose. Probably with a

wider knowledge of the Toda vocabulary, it would be found that a very

large number of the names are formed in this way.

In one case a girl was called Mudukugh (72). She was the third girl in

the family, and the name was no doubt given to commemorate the fact.

Often two or more children of a family are given names with a

considerable degree of similarity to one another. In one case two

brothers are called Mongeidrvan and Tergeidrvan (53); in another,

Piliar and Piliag (52); and in a third, Singudr and Sinar (55); three

sisters are called Teinesveli, Ternersveli, and Kenerveli (51), and in

such cases it seems probable that new names are invented.

At the present time children are in many cases receiving Hindu names.

Three young boys are called Arjun, Parvishki, and Sandisparan, and a

young girl is called Natcham, which was said to represent Latchmi.

Other Hindu names are Katcheri (Cutcherry), Sirkar, Kedjeri, and

probably there are many others.

In a few cases names of English origin have probably been given, as in

the case of Pensil, and the name Birkidj was said to be derived from

Breeks.

The genealogical record shows clearly that this use of names derived

from external sources is quite recent. There is a very striking

difference in general character between the names of the present and

those of older generations, and a foreign origin is especially frequent

in the names of children less than ten or fifteen years of age. The

evidence from names would seem to point to a rapid spread of outside

influence during the last ten years.

Shortened forms of names are often used. The termination of a word may

be dropped; thus Nurmaners is often called Nurman, Ultzkudr becomes

Ultz, and Paniolv, Pani. Sometimes the contraction is of a different

kind; thus the girls Astrap and Pumundeivi are usually called Asp and

Pumidz, and the name of the boy Kulpakh often becomes Kulen.

In addition to his proper name nearly every Toda has a nickname,

usually given to him by the Badagas. These names often refer to some

personal peculiarity, and this is probably the reason why nicknames

were usually given to me with great reluctance, there being a distinct

reversal of the condition found in communities of lower culture, where

the proper names are usually kept secret, while only nicknames are

uttered. Arpurs (46) was nicknamed Suri (knife) on account of his sharp

nose, and Nertolvan (16) is called Teinkan or ‘Bee eye,’ on account of

the smallness of his eyes, like those of the honey bee. In other cases

I do not know the origin of the Badaga names, but they have usually

different forms from those of true Toda names, often terminating in

-oin or -üln. Sometimes the Badaga name is merely a modification of the

Toda name, as when Tudrvan becomes Utudiki. In a few cases I heard the

Badaga name of a man more often than his Toda name; thus Tövoniners is

usually called Aravoin, and a noted Toda of the last generation is

always spoken of by his Badaga name, Mervoin. In a few cases, men long

dead are remembered by their Badaga names, while their Toda names are

forgotten.

As I have already indicated, nicknames are often used by people of low

culture as a means of evading taboos, and though, as we shall see

shortly, such taboos exist among the Todas, I met with no instance in

which a Toda, who was unable to utter a name, gave a nickname in its

stead.

From the foregoing account it is evident that in the names of the Todas

we have a storehouse of words the investigation of which might lead to

many discoveries in connexion with their half-forgotten folklore and

past history. We have seen that the names of villages which have now

entirely disappeared may still be preserved in the names of persons,

and I have little doubt that a complete investigation of the names

included in the genealogies would furnish a record of many more extinct

villages and possibly provide clues to institutions which have now

wholly disappeared.

CHANGE OF NAME

There are three chief conditions which lead Todas to change their

names. If two men have the same name, and one of the two should die,

the other man would change his name, since the taboo on the name of the

dead would prevent people from uttering the name of the living. The

most recent example of this occurred about six years ago. There were

two men named Matovan, one of Pan (19) and the other of Kwòdrdoni (34).

The Kwòdrdoni man died and Matovan of Pan changed his name to Imokhvan,

and it is this name which will be found in his pedigree.

This change of name may also be effected even when there is only a

similarity between two names. Thus when Punbuthuvi, the wife of Parkurs

(8), died, Sinbuthuvi of Kusharf (65) changed her name to Pukuruveli.

Similarly when Òners of Kuudr (56) died, Einers of Piedr [252] (64)

changed his name to Tokulvan.

A person may also change his name merely because it is the same as, or

very similar to, that of another, this being done simply to avoid

inconvenience and misunderstanding. It sometimes happens that a child

is given the same name as some other child, and then one or other is

renamed. Thus a boy was named Oblodj, but it was found later that there

was a girl at Kars called Obalidz (12), and so the name of the boy was

changed to Meilitars (44). A boy of Päm was called Kudeners, but it was

found that there was another Kudeners at Taradr (25), so the name of

the former was changed to Arparners, often shortened to Arpar (38).

When Kainir (3) married, his wife’s name was Kanir, but she changed it

since it was so like that of her husband. It was said to have been

changed to Singub, but she was always known as Udz at the time of my

visit.

Change of name of this kind is not obligatory, and there are several

cases in which two people now living have the same name. When a change

is made because two people have the same name or similar names, it is

the younger of the two who changes. In most of the cases in which two

people bear the same name it will be found that one belongs to the

Tartharol and the other to the Teivaliol, and I am doubtful whether in

this case names are changed except as the result of death.

A third reason for changing names is illness or other misfortune. When

a man is ill, change of name is sometimes recommended by a diviner, but

this is not often done. One of my guides, Kutadri (7), had changed his

name twice. His original name had been Okeithi or Okvan, but as there

was another Okvan of Keadr (68), he became Tagarsvan. Later he fell

ill, and, on the recommendation of a diviner, Tagarsvan changed his

name to Kutadri, and I never heard him spoken of or addressed by any

but this name during my visit.

TABOOS ON NAMES

The only definite restrictions on the utterance of the names of living

people are those connected with kinship which have already been

considered in Chapter XXI. A man may not utter the names of his

mother’s brother, his grandfather and grandmother, his wife’s mother,

and of the man from whom he has received his wife, who is usually the

wife’s father. The names of the above are tabooed in life, while after

death the restrictions are still wider, and it is forbidden to utter

the name of any dead elder relative, while the names of the dead are in

any case only said reluctantly.

It may seem strange that this reluctance should exist among a people

who possess so full a genealogical record. The reluctance probably only

extends to the public utterances of ordinary life and disappears when

the people discuss affairs in which genealogical lore plays a part, or

when they are transmitting this lore to others.

In addition to the definite taboos, there is often much reluctance in

uttering personal names. The Todas dislike uttering their own names,

and a Toda, when asked for his name, would often request another man to

give it. Sometimes my guide was obviously reluctant to give me the

names of the people who came to see me, and it seemed to me that this

was especially so when the people were related to him by marriage,

i.e., men who had married into his clan; but I could not satisfy myself

definitely that it made him more uncomfortable to utter the names of

such relatives than those of other people.

In some parts of the world the taboo on the names of the dead involves

also a taboo on the names of the objects which correspond to the names

of the dead or to parts of these names. If such restrictions existed

among the Todas, they would have on the death of Nirveli and Panmkudr

to find other names for water and for a four-anna piece. It was quite

clear, however, that there were no such restrictions, and that this

frequent cause of change of vocabulary has not been at work in the case

of the Toda language.

CHAPTER XXVII

RELATIONS WITH OTHER TRIBES

In this chapter I propose to put together the chief facts with which I

am acquainted which throw light on the very difficult problem of the

relations between the Todas and the other tribes of the Nilgiri Hills.

The chapter could only be written with any degree of completeness by

one who had studied the question from the point of view of each of the

Nilgiri tribes separately. I have only been able to do so, and that

incompletely, from the Toda point of view. My information is derived

almost wholly from the Todas themselves, and gives their way of

regarding the relations between themselves and the other tribes.

The five tribes inhabiting the Nilgiri Hills are shown in Fig. 68

(taken from Breeks), the Todas in the centre with the Badagas on their

right and the Kotas on their left. Next to the Badagas are the Irulas,

and next to the Kotas are the Kurumbas.

The tribes with which the Todas come into contact habitually are the

Badagas and Kotas, while their points of contact with Kurumbas and

Irulas are much less important. The Badagas are not only the

agriculturists of the Todas, but are the constant intermediaries

between the Todas and the extra-Nilgiri world. The two tribes regard

each other more or less as social equals. The Kotas, on the other hand,

who are the artisans of the Todas, are regarded by them as social

inferiors. The relations with the former may be considered first.

TODAS AND BADAGAS

The Todas call a Badaga Mav, [253] which seems to be a form of the

Canarese word for father-in-law or maternal uncle. The origin of this

term is said to have been that when the Todas first met a Badaga, they

asked his name and he answered “Mav.” A Badaga who performs certain

services for the palol is called tikelfmav. Certain elders of the

Badagas are also called madtin.

Whenever a Toda meets a Badaga monegar (headman) or an old Badaga with

whom he is acquainted, a salutation passes between the two which is

represented in Fig. 69. The Toda stands before the Badaga, inclines his

head slightly, and says “Madtin pudia!” (“Madtin, you have come.”) The

Badaga replies “Buthuk! buthuk!” (“Blessing, blessing”) and rests his

hand on top of the Toda’s head. This greeting only takes place between

Todas and the more important of the Badaga community. It would seem

that every Badaga headman may be greeted in this way, but a Toda will

only greet other Badaga elders if he is already acquainted with them.

The salutation is made to members of all the various castes of the

Badagas except the Torayas. It has been held to imply that the Todas

regard the Badagas as their superiors, but it is doubtful how far this

is the case. The Todas themselves say they follow the custom because

the Badagas help to support them. It seems to be a mark of respect paid

by the Todas to the elders of a tribe with which they have very close

relations, and it is perhaps significant that no similar sign of

respect is shown to Toda elders by the Badagas.

The Badagas perform definite services for the Todas and give what may

be regarded as a tribute of grain at the harvest. The tribute is called

gudu. I did not myself investigate the nature of the gudu, and there is

some difference of opinion among previous writers [254] as to whether a

definite amount of grain or a given proportion of the crop is given. I

have no information as to the way in which the giving of the tribute is

regulated, and it is eminently one of those points on which evidence

must be sought from both Todas and Badagas. In the case of the Kotas,

we shall see that there is a definitely organised system regulating the

relations of certain Kota villages to certain Toda clans, and some such

system probably exists to regulate the supply of Badaga grain to

different clans, but I have no information on the point. [255]

The contribution of grain from the Badagas has usually been regarded as

given in return for the use of the land, the Todas being supposed to be

the original owners of the soil. That this is not the whole explanation

is shown by the fact that the Badagas also give a tribute of grain to

two other Nilgiri tribes, the Kotas and Kurumbas. Harkness [256] was

told by the Badagas that the portion given to the ti was in return for

the prayers of the palol, and that they did not believe that “their

crops or their cattle, themselves or their children, would prosper

without his blessing.” The Badagas also stated that they generally

desisted from cultivating their fields when the ti was left without a

palol. They looked on the tribute of grain to the Todas as given of

their own good will, while a similar tribute to the Kurumbas was

dictated by fear of the consequences of sorcery which might be employed

if the duty were neglected.

It has been supposed that the fear of Toda sorcery is one reason for

the maintenance of the tribute, and, since the Badagas undoubtedly fear

the power of the Toda sorcerers, it is probable that this factor plays

a part, though one less important than in the case of the Kurumbas.

Another view which has been taken is that the Todas maintain rights

over old dairies in the middle of the Badaga fields, and that any

recalcitrance on the part of the Badagas might be followed by the

taking up of these old rights. It is possible that the Todas have at

some time threatened to resume their rights over disused dairies, but,

in the case of the more sacred dairies, the fear of defilement of the

sacred buffaloes by approaching a Badaga village would prevent the

Todas from putting such a threat into practice.

The grain is probably given, partly because it is an immemorial custom,

partly because the Badagas believe that they receive benefits and avoid

evils in consequence of the custom.

At the present time, the amount of grain supplied by the Badagas is not

sufficient for the needs of the Todas, and both grain and rice are

bought by the Todas in the bazaar. All the grain used by the palol

must, however, be that supplied by the Badagas; but if more grain is

required than the Badagas supply, it is possible that other grain may

be used, though it is always in this case procured through the Badagas.

The rice used at a ti dairy must also be procured through the Badagas.

The supply of grain is far from being the only duty of the Badagas to

the ti dairies. Each ti has one or more special Badagas, each called

tikelfmav, or “ti help Badaga,” who acts as intermediary between the

palol and the Hindus. The earthenware vessels used in the inner room,

the various garments of the palol, and other objects are made by

Hindus, from whom they are procured by the tikelfmav. I did not learn

of any material recompense given to the Badagas for these services, and

the motive is probably some such belief as that described by Harkness.

One of the most important parts played by the Badagas in the Toda

community is in connexion with the naim, or council, of which one

member is a Badaga belonging to the village of Tuneri. He is only

called upon to sit, however, in cases of difficulty, and probably one

of his functions is to assist in the settlement of any dispute which

may arise in connexion with the tribute of grain, or other transactions

between members of the two communities.

There is little evidence that the Badagas have had much influence on

the more important customs and ceremonies of the Todas. Few traces of

their influence are to be found in the dairy ceremonial, but it is

possible that some of the rites accompanying birth and death may have

been borrowed from this people. The practice of making cicatrices on

the arm (p. 576) is common to both Badagas and Todas, and may have been

borrowed by the latter from the former, but the practice is not in any

way of a ceremonial character. The only part played by a Badaga at a

Toda funeral is that the bell called tukulir mani may be kept by a

Badaga or a Kota, and, as I have suggested on p. 377, the whole

ceremony with the calf in which this bell is used may have been

borrowed from the Badagas. The idea of a thread bridge between this

world and the next is said to be common to Todas and Badagas, but I

have no evidence to show which has borrowed from the other.

In the ordinary life of the people there is more evidence of influence.

At many Toda villages there may now be seen huts like those of the

Badagas which usually result from the practice of allowing Badagas to

occupy a Toda village when the proper occupants have gone elsewhere.

The visitors build a hut of their own kind in which to live, and

sometimes the Todas on their return inhabit this hut, though in general

they only use it as an appanage to the hut of the proper kind.

The fact that the Badagas will thus come to live at a Toda village

seems to show that when the Todas move from one place to another the

pasturage is not necessarily exhausted, for the Badagas would not bring

their buffaloes in this case. It seems that the grazing-grounds for the

Badaga buffaloes are not very extensive, and that the Badagas are

always glad to use the more extensive pasturage of the Todas, even when

the grass has been partly eaten off.

Transactions in buffaloes between Todas and Badagas seem now to be

fairly frequent. I often heard of a buffalo as having been received

from the Badagas, but I have no very definite information as to the

reasons for the transference. On the occasion of the ceremony of the

ear-piercing of Tikievan’s sons (p. 336), Tikievan received a present

of two buffaloes from the Badaga monegar of Tuneri, and this present

was said to be in return for things which Tikievan had previously given

to the monegar, but I did not learn the exact nature of this gift.

In two departments there is very clear evidence of Badaga influence.

The astronomical ideas of the Todas are almost certainly borrowed from

their neighbours (see Chap. XXIV), and in the closely allied practical

question of the calendar I think Badaga influence may be suspected.

The other department is medicine. There is no special reason to suppose

that the magical remedies of the utkòren (Chap. XII) have been borrowed

from the Badagas, but the more strictly medical remedies used by the

Todas are largely borrowed, the actual leaves or other substances

employed being obtained from the Badagas. The practice of suicide by

opium, said to be very prevalent among the Badagas, has, in at least

one recent case, been adopted by a Toda, and the threat of suicide by

this means is said to be fairly common.

There is no doubt that the Badagas believe in the powers of the Toda

sorcerers. I was told of several definite instances in which

misfortunes were believed to have been brought upon the Badagas in this

way, and there is little doubt that, in one case, the supposed author

of the death of a child was murdered by the Badagas.

If a Badaga suspects magical influence of this kind he may consult one

of the Toda diviners, showing that the Badagas believe in Toda

divination as well as in Toda sorcery.

It is probable that the relations between the Todas and Badagas have

existed for very long. It is generally held that the Badagas are

comparatively recent immigrants to the Nilgiri Hills. Breeks [257]

states that the Badagas are said to have come to the hills about three

centuries ago in consequence of the troubles that followed the fall of

Vijayanagar, but it is certain that they have been on the hills much

longer than this, for the account of Finicio in 1602 (see App. I) shows

that the relations between Todas and Badagas were much the same then as

they are now. The close connexion of Badagas with the ti dairies, their

intermediation between the palol and the Hindu, and the fact that the

palol must eat Badaga grain, are all indications of very ancient

relations between the two tribes.

There is one fact which may be held to show that the relation between

Todas and Badagas is recent as compared with that between the Todas and

other Nilgiri tribes. This is the fact that the Badagas are not

mentioned in one of the legends of the Toda gods, while Kotas,

Kurumbas, and Irulas each play a part in one or more of these stories.

TODAS AND KOTAS

The Toda name for a Kota is Kuv. The relation between the two people is

very different from that between Toda and Badaga. While a Toda regards

a Badaga as his equal, or perhaps even as his superior, he looks down

on the Kota as inferior, as hardly to be classed as a man with himself.

In their secret language, a Toda speaks of a Kota as kimas ithvai, “he

that is beneath,” and in the remedies for the evil eye (see p. 264) the

Kotas are the only hill tribe which is not thought worthy of

mention—they are not thought to be of sufficient importance to be able

to cast the evil eye. When a Kota meets a Toda, he raises both hands to

his face and salutes from a distance. The two people do not touch one

another in general, though I do not know that contact is definitely

prohibited. A Toda will not sleep or take food at a Kota village in

general, but makes an exception in the case of Kulgadi in the Wainad

(see p. 200). It is usually supposed that the contempt of the Toda for

the Kota is due to the flesh-eating, or even carrion-eating, habits of

the latter, and this is certainly one of the elements which influence

the relations between the two peoples.

The Kotas supply the Todas with the larger part of their pottery and

ironware. [258] All the earthenware vessels of the dairies, except

those of the inner rooms of the ti dairies, are supplied by the Kotas,

and the various knives and other metal objects of the Todas are chiefly

obtained from these people. The Kotas supply most of the things burnt

at Toda funerals and they supply the music on these occasions.

Just as the Badagas do not supply grain to the Todas only, so the Kotas

do artisan work for Badagas, Kurumbas, and Irulas. The Kotas are the

artisans, not of the Todas only, but of the whole hill district.

The relations between the Todas and Kotas are strictly regulated, each

Kota village supplying certain Toda clans. There are seven Kota

villages on the hills, of which the following are the Toda and Badaga

names:—

In the Todanad district:—

Tizgudr, Tizgadr, or Tizgwadr (Badaga, Tirichigadi), between Ootacamund

and Kanòdrs, near the Toda village of Ushadr.

Kurguli (B. Padagula or Kuruvoje), near the Badaga village of Sholur.

In the Mekanad district:—

Kalmal (B. Kolamala or Kollimalai), not far from Kateri.

In the Peranganad district:—

Meilkukal (B. Melkotagiri or Perangada) in Kotagiri, one of the three

chief European stations on the hills. Kikukal (B. Kilkotagiri or

Kinnada), north-east of Kotagiri.

In the Kundanad district:—

Medrkukal (B. Menada).

The seventh is Kulgadi (B. Kalagasa) at Gudalur in the Wainad.

The village of Tizgudr is connected with the Toda clans of Kars,

Melgars, Kanòdrs, and sometimes with the people of Kulhem. Kurguli

supplies the clans of Nòdrs, Taradr, Kuudr, Piedr, and Kusharf, and

occasionally Kulhem. Kalmal supplies Keradr, Nidrsi, Päm, Kidmad, and

Keadr. Meilkukal and Kikukal are both connected with Kwòdrdoni and

Pedrkars, and Medrkukal is the Kota village of the Panol. Kulgadi is

connected only with the village of Kavidi, near Gudalur, which belongs

to the Piedrol. When there were several Toda villages in the Wainad, it

probably served them all.

The connexion between clans and villages seems to depend almost wholly

on geographical distribution. The clans are supplied by the Kota

villages which are nearest to their headquarters. An outlying village

such as Kavidi has not the same Kota village as the rest of its clan.

The Kidmadol, who are a branch of the Melgarsol, have not the same Kota

village as the parent stock; but, on the other hand, the Panol, who now

live chiefly among other Todas near Governor Shola, are still connected

with the Kundah Kotas.

Each Kota village is responsible for the supply of the clan or clans

with which it is connected. Its inhabitants make the various utensils

used in the household and in the less sacred dairy work of the Todas.

At the funeral of any member of a clan with which they are connected,

they provide the music and the following objects:—

At the etvainolkedr, a cloak in which the corpse is wrapped, five to

ten measures (kwa) of the grain called patm (samai), and one or two

rupees. If the Kotas do not possess the grain, they may give another

one or two rupees in its stead.

At the marvainolkedr, they supply a cloak; eight annas to pay for the

embroidery of the cloak, which is done by the Toda women; two to five

rupees towards the funeral expenses; a bow and three arrows; a knife

(kafkati); a sieve (kudshmurn) and a basket (tek).

In return, the Kotas receive the carcases of the buffaloes killed at

the funeral, and on the occasion of a Kota funeral, the Todas supply

one male calf from three to five years of age and one measure (kudi) of

clarified butter. The Kotas also receive the bodies of any Toda

buffaloes which die a natural death.

A Kota visiting a Toda village at any time is given clarified butter to

take away with him. He is also given food consisting of jaggery and

rice, which must be eaten on the outskirts of the village. A Kota is

never given milk, buttermilk, or butter.

Once a year there is a definite ceremony in which the Todas go to the

Kota village with which they are connected, taking an offering of

clarified butter and receiving in return an offering of grain from the

Kotas. I only obtained an account of this ceremony as performed between

the people of Kars and the Kota village of Tizgudr, and I do not know

whether the details would be the same in other cases.

In the Kars ceremony the Todas go on the appointed day to the Kota

village, headed by a man carrying the clarified butter. Outside the

village, they are met by two Kota priests whom the Todas called

teupuli, who bring with them a dairy vessel of the kind the Todas call

mu, which is filled with patm grain. Other Kotas follow with music. All

stand outside the village, and one of the Kotas puts ten measures (kwa)

of patm into the pocket of the cloak of the leading Toda, and the

teupuli give the mu filled with the same grain.

The teupuli then go to their temple and return, each bringing a mu, and

the clarified butter brought by the Todas is divided into two equal

parts, and half is poured into each mu. The leading Toda then takes

some of the butter and rubs it on the heads of the two Kota priests,

who prostrate themselves, one at each foot of the Toda, and the Toda

prays as follows:—

Ultamâ; Kûv erdm tânenmâ; kadr pelumâ;

May it be well; Kotas two may it be well; fields flourish may;

mâ un mâ; îr kar mâ, nûv pedr mâ.

rain may; buffalo milk may, disease go may.

The Toda then gives the two mu containing the clarified butter to the

Kota priests, and he and his companions return home.

This ceremony is obviously one in which the Todas are believed to

promote the prosperity of the Kotas, their crops, and their buffaloes.

[259]

In another ceremonial relation between Todas and Kotas, the Kwòdrdoni

ti is especially concerned. The chief annual ceremony of the Kotas is

held about January in honour of the Kota god Kambataraya. This ceremony

lasts about a fortnight, and, during part of the time, the proceedings

are attended by Todas and other of the hill tribes. In order that this

ceremony may take place, it is essential that there should be a palol

at the Kwòdrdoni ti, and at the present time this ti is only occupied

every year shortly before and during the ceremony. The palol gives

clarified butter to the Kotas, which should be made from the milk of

the arsaiir, the buffaloes of the ti. Some Kotas of Kotagiri whom I

interviewed claimed that these buffaloes belonged to them, and that

something was done by the palol at the Kwòdrdoni ti in connexion with

the Kambataraya ceremony, but they could not or would not tell me what

it was.

The relations between Todas and Kotas are probably of very old

standing. The fact that the Kotas supply the bow and arrows burnt at a

Toda funeral suggests that the connexion goes back to the time when the

Todas used these weapons, while the special sieve supplied by the Kotas

for a funeral is of a different pattern from that in use at the present

time. The Kotas are mentioned in Toda legend. The people of Tizgudr

play a prominent part in the story of Kwoten (p. 195), and this deity

is said to have been the first Toda who stayed at a Kota village, viz.,

at the village of Kulgadi (or Gudalur). He sat and slept on the Kota

tün and since that time the Todas have stayed at this village, though

they will not stay at any other. The relation between Kwoten and the

Kotas seems to have been especially close. The old woman, Muturach,

from whom the present people of Kanòdrs are descended, according to the

legend, may have been a Kota. The Kotas who give tribute to the Todas

are known as their muṭṭu Kotas, and the first part of the old woman’s

name may have been this word.

Our acquaintance with Kota mythology is too scanty to contribute much

to our knowledge of the relations between the two peoples. Breeks

states that Kurguli (Padagula) is the oldest of the Kota villages, and

that the Badagas believe that the Kotas of this village were made by

the Todas. At Kurguli there is a temple of the same form as the Toda

dairy, and this is said to be the only temple of the kind at any Kota

village.

Breeks gives a legend which records the origin of the different foods

of the Nilgiri tribes. Kambataraya, perspiring profusely, wiped from

his forehead three drops of perspiration, and out of these formed the

Todas, Kurumbas, and Kotas. The Todas were told to live principally

upon milk, the Kurumbas were permitted to eat the flesh of buffalo

calves, and the Kotas were allowed perfect liberty, being informed that

they might eat carrion if they could get nothing better. My

interpreter, Albert, was told a different version of this legend,

according to which Kambataraya gave to each people a pot. In the Toda

pot was calf-flesh, and so the Todas eat the flesh of calves (i.e., at

the erkumptthpimi ceremony); the Kurumba pot contained the flesh of a

male buffalo, so this is eaten by the Kurumbas. The pot of the Kotas

contained the flesh of a cow-buffalo, which may, therefore, be eaten by

this people.

TODAS AND KURUMBAS

The Toda name for a Kurumba is Kurub, which often sounds like Kurb. In

the secret language, a Kurumba is called âr kârthpol, “the man who

watches the way.” Mr. Thurston states that when a Kurumba meets a Toda,

he bends forward and the Toda places his hand on the Kurumba’s head.

The Todas may visit Kurumba villages and take food in them.

Two ceremonial objects are obtained by the Todas from the Kurumbas. One

is the tall pole called tadrsi or tadri, which is used in the dance at

the second funeral ceremonies and afterwards burnt. Poles of the proper

length are said to grow only on the Malabar side of the Nilgiris and

are probably most easily obtained from the Kurumbas. The other is the

teiks, or funeral post at which the buffalo is killed, which is

probably made of teak wood.

The most striking feature of the relations between Todas and Kurumbas

is the belief of the former in the magical powers of the latter, a

belief which is shared by both Kotas and Badagas. The sorcery of the

Toda is dangerous, but can be remedied, while for kurubudrchiti, or

Kurumba sorcery, there is no remedy, and all that can be done is to

kill the Kurumba, apparently to avoid further evil consequences to the

community rather than from motives of revenge.

The Kurumbas play no part in the social life of the Todas. With the one

exception of providing the funeral pole, I could not learn that they

had any functions at Toda ceremonies. It was said that the teuol,

Pangudr, who was believed to be inspired by Kwoto, must dance, i.e.,

divine, to the Kurumbas before he dances to the Todas, and when so

doing, must dance like a lame man, this behaviour owing its origin to

the god Kwoto (see p. 209). It is possible that this shows that the

Kurumbas believe in Toda divination and consult the diviners.

The Kurumbas are mentioned in several Toda legends. According to one

account, it was this people whom Kwoto deceived, making them eat the

flesh of a buffalo calf; according to another, it was the Panins or

Panyas who were deceived by the god.

Kwoten is said to have initiated the practice of allowing Todas to

visit Kurumba villages, and he appears to have been closely connected,

in some way, with the Kurumbas, who still offer plantains to Terkosh

and light lamps in her honour, Terkosh being the goddess who was

connected with his disappearance and deification.

In the story of Kuzkarv, the Kurumbas, together with the Irulas,

collect honey for the Todas from nests in a tree, [260] and this seems

to point to a time when these tribes took an active part in the social

life of the Todas. It seems possible that the Kurumbas and Irulas were

the huntsmen of the Todas, and sought roots and honey for them, just as

the Badagas were the agriculturists and the Kotas the mechanics.

TODAS AND IRULAS

The Irulas live on the lower slopes of the Nilgiri Hills and have few

relations with the Todas. They are called Erl by the Todas, and,

according to Mr. Thurston, they are saluted in the same way as the

Kurumbas. The Irulas are among the people mentioned in the remedial

formula used against the effects of the evil eye, and are evidently

regarded as having some magical power, though they are not feared in

the same measure as the Kurumbas.

The name of the Irulas only occurs once in my collection of Toda

legends, in the story of Kuzkarv, where they are associated with the

Kurumbas. Atioto, who is the special deity of Kwòdrdoni and Pedrkars,

is said to have a temple of which the priest is an Irula. This is

probably an Irula temple to which the Todas make offerings.

CHAPTER XXVIII

THE CLANS OF THE TODAS

In this chapter I propose to give a short account of each of the Toda

clans with any special features which characterise its ceremonial and

social organisation. The chapter will consist largely of detail, much

of which may be thought to have no great interest, but it seems

desirable to put on record as full an account as possible of the

condition of the people at the time of my visit. A certain amount of

folklore will be included, those tales being given which are specially

connected with the history of a clan.

THE TARTHAR CLANS

NÒDRS

The people of Nòdrs owe their special importance to their connexion

with the goddess Teikirzi, who was the nòdrodchi, or first ruler of the

clan, and according to tradition bestowed certain special favours on

her people. Chief among these is the possession of the Nòdrs ti. This

is undoubtedly the most sacred and important of the five ti

institutions, and its herds are much larger than those of any other.

The fact that the Nòdrs people own this ti and have the power of

appointing to the office of palol gives them great distinction in the

eyes of the Todas, and this is emphasised when the palol is undergoing

his ordination ceremonies, for several of these take place in villages

of the Nòdrsol. The preliminary ceremony for those who wish to become

palol, which is called tesherst, is also usually performed at a Nòdrs

village.

Another title to fame is the possession of the poh, or conical dairy

temple at Nòdrs, which is known to the European inhabitants of the

Nilgiri Hills as the “Toda Cathedral.” It is certainly not the most

sacred of Toda dairies, but it is the most accessible of the few

dairies of this kind now remaining.

The Nòdrsol are one of the clans represented in the naim. They now

stand second among the Tarthar clans in point of numbers, having

forty-three males and thirty females. [261] It has two kudr, one of

which, consisting of the family given in the first of the genealogical

tables, has now only two male members; as these have at present no son,

it is possible that it may shortly become extinct. The other kudr has

five pòlm, of which the chief men are Kerkadr (2), Kudòdrsvan (3),

Teigudr (4), Mondothi (5), and Keitan (6). If any of the members of

these five pòlm should perform the irnörtiti ceremony, the buffalo

would go to Mudrigeidi and Odrkurs, while, if either of these men had

to give a buffalo, its value would be divided among the other five

pòlm. Kerkadr is regarded as the head of the second kudr.

The madnol of the Nòdrs people are Tuesday and Friday, and they hold

the funerals of men on Sunday, and of women on Thursday. The special

features of their funeral ceremonies are that the body of a man lies in

the tarvali of Nòdrs for some days before the etvainolkedr and that a

special bell (mani) is used at male funerals which has to be brought

from Òdr. Male funerals are held at Nòdrs, and female funerals at

Külthpuli. The clan used also to have another funeral place close to

the Paikara road, which is not now used.

The Nòdrsol have many villages, of which fourteen are still inhabited,

and I obtained the names of five others now in ruins.

The following are the chief villages.

Nòdrs (Muttanadmand). In addition to the conical poh, this village has

the distinguishing feature of a long wall which passes between this

dairy and the huts where the people live. The wall then passes at the

back of the poh and runs for some distance northward. The tarvali (in

Fig. 12) is situated in an enclosure of the wall near the

dwelling-huts, so that the women can go to it for buttermilk without

crossing the wall and entering the enclosure in which the poh stands.

In the south part of the wall is the gap through which the calf is

driven at the irnörtiti ceremony (see Fig. 43). The wall is reputed to

have been built by Elnâkhum.

Close to the poh, between it and the tarvali, are the ruins of another

dairy, the former kudrpali, which is said to have had seven rooms. It

was disused on account of the difficulty in obtaining the services of a

kudrpalikartmokh. It will be remembered that this grade of dairyman has

to do his work without any covering, and in the bleak exposed position

of Nòdrs, it seems that this was so great a hardship that the office

went begging. The Nòdrs people are said to have ceased to use this

dairy about four generations ago, and the condition of the ruins is

about what might be expected if this statement were correct.

There are a large number of important stones at Nòdrs. Formerly seven

kinds of buffalo were killed at the funeral of a male, and each was

killed at a different stone. Now only two buffaloes may be killed, but

the stones remain to show what was formerly done. Two wursulir were

killed, one at the stone called uteiks and another at the stone

nerovkars, both of which are shown in Fig. 70. One nashperthir was

killed at the nashperthkars. The two sacred mani were hung on the necks

of one of the wursulir and the nashperthir. One pineipir was killed at

the stone called tukervòrskars. One persasir was killed at the

persaskars, and two putiir were killed, one at the teidrtolkars and the

other at the menkars. The teidrtolkars, shown in Fig. 13, also marks

the spot where the unfortunate wursol milked his buffaloes (see p.

439). The menkars, shown in Fig. 12, is the stone used in the game of

narthpimi, in which a boy creeps under a stone. It is on the village

side of the wall, close to the entrance to the tarvali. All the other

stones are on the same side of the wall as the poh.

Òdr (Aganadmand). This is second in importance among the villages of

the Nòdrsol, and it was a question whether the wursuli dairy, though of

the ordinary form, had not even a greater sanctity than the poh of

Nòdrs. More difficulty was made when I wished to go close to it than at

any other place during the whole of my visit (except, of course, at the

ti dairy), but, unfortunately, the affair was complicated by the fact

that on this day my usual attendant, Kòdrner, was not with me, and the

difficulty may have been partly due to this. When I was allowed to

approach the building, only one man came with me and he would not go

within several yards of the dairy, while allowing me to go on. The

special sanctity of this dairy is due to the fact that the two mani of

the Nòdrsol are kept here. Both this dairy and a smaller tarvali are at

a much greater distance from the village than usual, but with that

exception there is nothing to distinguish them from the dairies of

other villages. The wursuli is one of those which has two rooms. It is

at the village of Òdr that the palol passes one night during his

ordination ceremonies, and I was shown the spot under a tree where he

has to sleep, the same spot being also used by the wursol and kaltmokh

when they undergo any part of their ordination ceremonies at Òdr.

Another feature of interest is the connexion of this village with

Kuudr. An Òdr man must be present at the irpalvusthi and salt-giving

ceremonies of Kuudr, and a Kuudr man must attend when these ceremonies

are performed at Òdr. Further, the kwarzam of Òdr are said in the

prayer of the erkumptthpimi ceremony at Kuudr and the Kwarzam of Kuudr

are said at Òdr.

The following legend records the origin of these customs:—

Soon after Teikirzi had given the buffaloes to the different villages,

the buffaloes of Kuudr and Òdr were grazing together, and when evening

came they could not be separated and both herds went together to the

funeral place called Keikars. The wursol of Òdr and the palikartmokh of

Kuudr brought their milking-vessels, each to milk his own buffaloes,

and they also brought their churning-vessels (patat) and

cooking-vessels. After they had milked, the wursol of Òdr went to pour

his milk into his patat, and when doing so some of the milk splashed

into the vessel of the palikartmokh. They then cooked some food with

the milk, and as the food was boiling strongly, some of it went from

one cooking-pot to the other. Then the people of the two villages met

and decided that, as the two kinds of buffalo had been milked in one

place and the two kinds of milk had been mixed with one another, each

of the villages should mention the kwarzam of the other in its prayer,

and people of one village should attend the ceremonies of the other.

Tedshteiri (Talapattaraimand). This is another important Nòdrs village.

It was vacant at the time of my visit, but is still often occupied. It

had at one time a dairy called Okurshapali with seven rooms, which was,

like that of Nòdrs, a kudrpali. It fell into disuse at the same time as

the Nòdrs dairy, and its site is still quite distinct; but though it

seemed larger than usual, I could discover no indication of the number

of rooms it had had. When I visited the village there were nine ovens

standing in a row, which had been used to cook the food when Teigudr

(4) took his wife Uwer from Nertolvan of Pan (16). On this occasion

Nertolvan came to Tedshteiri to receive nine buffaloes from Teigudr,

and the number of ovens corresponded with the number of the buffaloes.

Kudrnakhum (Kudinagamand). The chief point of interest about this

village is that it is the place where the ceremony of tesherst often

takes place. It is an outlying village to the west which I was unable

to visit.

Perththo (Perattitalmand). This is a village which is shared by two

clans. The part occupied by the Nòdrsol is called Meil Perththo, or

Upper Perththo. The other part of the village was said to be general

property, but it is at present occupied by Melgars people.

Kozhtudi or Kozhteidi. The special feature of this village is that it

has a wursuli in which everything has to be carried out kabkaditi,

i.e., the dairyman is not allowed to turn his back to the contents of

the dairy. This certainly points to the village having been at one time

of importance.

KARS

This is at present the largest of the Tarthar clans, having sixty-seven

male and fifty female members. It is represented in the naim, and there

was some reason to think that it occupies a more important position in

this body than the other Tarthar clans. The family of Parkurs (8) is

called tinkanikudupel, ranking next to a manikudupel, and Parkurs was

till lately a second or assistant monegar.

There seems to be no doubt that the Karsol have always been an

important clan, and its members are often mentioned in the stories,

though they do not appear to have had any legendary hero such as those

of Melgars and Pan. Their nòdrodchi (ruler or presiding deity) is

Kulinkars, now believed to live on a hill near Makurti Peak. The Kars

people possess a ti which in importance and wealth is second only to

that of Nòdrs.

Kars resembles Nòdrs in having two kudr differing greatly in size.

Kutadri is the head of one, which comprises all the members of the

family given in Table 7. It has two pòlm, headed by Kutadri and

Peithol. The other kudr has eight pòlm, of which the chief men are

Parkurs (8), Pidrvan (9) [262], Piutolvan (10), Kudrvas (11), Kutthurs

(12), Mongudrvan (13), Kiunervan (14), and Keitazvan (15). Till

recently there appear to have been only five pòlm in the Kars clan,

each of which has lately been divided into two. There is a very marked

disproportion in the number of members of some of these divisions; thus

the pòlm of Parkurs has sixteen males in five more or less distinct

families, while others have only three or four males. Nevertheless each

of the latter would contribute the same amount towards joint expenses

of the clan as the sixteen males of the pòlm of Parkurs.

The chief villages of the Karsol are in or near Ootacamund, and this

clan formerly had several other villages on sites now occupied by

modern buildings.

The following are the chief places:—

Kars (Kandalmand). This village is one of the best known of Toda

villages, being just on the outskirts of Ootacamund. It is a very

typical example of a Toda village; there is a small group of houses,

with a large dairy, the kudrpali (Fig. 21), called Tarziolv, close to

them; just above the houses on the rising ground is a smaller dairy,

the wursuli called Karziolv, shown in the background of Fig. 42 and

partly shown in Figs. 23 and 44. Opposite the kudrpali are two raised

circular mounds with flat tops called the imudrikars (seen in the

foreground in Fig. 21), on which the body of a dead man is laid before

being taken to the funeral hut at Taradrkirsi. Above the kudrpali is

the hut for calves.

In the middle of the enclosure within which the village lies, is a row

of stones (shown in Fig. 42) which are the irnörtkars, and in the

ceremony of irnörtiti the calf is driven across these stones.

Behind the houses there is a small circular enclosure which is now used

as a tu and is called Althftu. The entrance to this enclosure is shown

in Fig. 29 just in front of the boy carrying the dairy vessels.

Formerly there was a dairy of the conical kind within this circle, of

which the name was Ishpoh. About five generations ago, this dairy still

existed and was tended by a wursol; but several dairymen died in

succession, and this so alarmed the Todas that it became impossible to

obtain anyone to fill the office, and when the dairy decayed its

remains were removed and the circular enclosure within which it stood

has since been used as a pen. In size and appearance the enclosure is

quite unlike other pens, and resembles much more nearly the circular

walls round the conical dairies of Nòdrs and Kanòdrs.

Kuzhu (Kunditolmand). This, the second in importance of the villages of

the Karsol, is a very picturesque place south of Ootacamund. There is a

kudrpali called Tudrpoh, in front of which is a stone called

imudrikars. The gold bracelet mentioned in the story of Kwoto is kept

in this dairy. In front of the dwelling-huts is another stone called

menkars (see p. 342). The menkars at Kuzhu and that at Nòdrs are the

only stones of this name, but they do not resemble one another, and the

Kuzhu stone is not adapted for the narthpimi game as is that of Nòdrs.

Keshker (Kakerimand). This is a large village near Ootacamund at which

there is a kudrpali, but little else of interest. It is probably the

Kishkeijar mentioned by Harkness.

Nasmiòdr (Aganadmand). This is a very old village which was probably at

one time much more important than at present. It is situated about a

quarter of a mile from the road leading from Ootacamund to Ebanad, not

far from the Badaga village of Tuneri. There is now only a small dairy

(wursuli) situated in the middle of a wood. When I visited Nasmiòdr,

this dairy was unoccupied, and, as is usual in such cases, my Toda

guide refused to go to the dairy with me, and remained outside the

wood. Soon after I left the hills, it was to be occupied by the wursol

of Kars, who would take his buffaloes there for a month.

This village is mentioned in two Toda legends, in both of which it

seems to have been a village at which people were living. The dairy is

called Tilipoh or Pohtilipoh, and it still contains the two mani,

Karzod and Kòni, which were hung on the neck of Enmon (see p. 208). It

is one of the few wursuli which have two rooms.

Pakhalkudr (Bagalkodumand). This village, not far from Paikara, is one

of the most outlying villages of the Karsol. There is a very small

dairy here resembling the merkalars which serves both as kudrpali and

wursuli, the former being in front, while the latter is behind, with

the door on one side. The wursuli is so small that there can scarcely

be room for a fully grown man to do the churning.

Isharadr and Peletkwur. These are outlying villages of no special

interest. The former was only built in the time of the grandfather of

Parkurs (8), and has a dairy resembling that of Pakhalkudr.

Taradrkirsi (Kavaikkadmand). This is the funeral place for men of the

Kars clan, and is also a kalolmad. There is a kudrpali with three rooms

called Paliven keirsi, and a pen called Tuoks. There are two stones

where the wursulir and nashperthir are killed, and close to them there

is a spot by the side of a wood where earth is thrown at a funeral.

There is a slight break in the edge of the wood here, and this is

probably the position of an old pen which has been completely

overgrown.

There is a long wall at this village passing near the dairy and the

funeral stones, and then extending a long way towards the east. It

resembles the Nòdrs wall, and these seem to be the only two examples of

walls of this kind at Toda villages. The wall at Taradrkirsi is said to

have been built by Kwoten, but it seems unlikely, for this hero had no

special connexion with the Karsol.

Several villages which have now wholly disappeared are still mentioned

in the prayer which the Kars people use at the erkumptthpimi ceremony.

One of these, Tashtars, stood where the Masonic Hall at Ootacamund now

stands. The site of another, Turskidt, is occupied by a private house.

Two, Tüli and Keitaz, were situated on Elk Hill, and two others, Sing

and Kurkars, were near Nasmiòdr.

PAN

The Pan clan have their headquarters in the Kundahs and are often

called the Medrol, or people of Medr, the Toda name for the Kundahs.

The chief villages of this clan are in the Kundahs, but they are only

visited during the dry season, and for the greater part of the year the

Panol live at the comparatively new village of Naters in the most

thickly populated part of the hills. The legendary hero, Kwoten,

belonged to Pan.

The clan is small, having now about twenty-seven male and nine female

members. It is not represented on the naim, and in the Badaga grouping

of the Todas this clan is joined with that of Nòdrs.

The Panol have two kudr, and provide the only example among the

Tartharol in which the kudr have special names. The formation of the

kudr is said to have been due to Kwoten, who divided the people into

Panol and Kuirsiol, named after the two chief villages of the clan. The

two divisions are also called Pandar and Peshteidimokh.

The Pandar or Panol have three pòlm, headed by Timurvan (16), Todars

(16), and Nòrtiners (17). The Peshteidimokh or Kuirsiol have two pòlm,

headed by Timners (18) and Imokhvan (19).

The irnörtiti and tuninörtiti ceremonies are performed in front of the

wursuli at Pan or Kuirsi. The spots on which the ceremonies take place

are not marked by any stones, and the ceremonies are spoken of as

paliknörtiti, i.e., “he gives to the dairy,” though, as a matter of

fact, the calf passes from the men of one kudr to the men of the other

kudr as in other clans.

The madnol of Pan are said to be Sunday and Wednesday, and the funerals

of men take place on Sunday or Tuesday, and those of women on Thursday

or Saturday. It is probable that Tuesday is the proper day for the

funerals of men, but that they are now sometimes held on Sunday.

The following are the chief villages of the Panol:—

Pan (Onnamand) is commonly known to Europeans as “One mand.” It is a

large village in the south-west corner of the Kundahs, with two houses

of the long variety, with a door at each end and a partition in the

middle. There is a wursuli called Keinulv, and a kudrpali called

Nersolv, and outside the pen there is a stone called mutchudkars.

Kuirsi (Kolimand). This village is near Pan. It has a wursuli and

kudrpali, the former being called Marsolv and the latter Keinulv.

Outside the pen, called Tu matu, there is a large stone called

keinkars, and inside it there are two stones called mutchudkars and

pudrthkars. I could learn little of the history or functions of these

stones, but they were said to have been “played with” by Kwoten and

Terkosh.

Perg (Yeragimand) is a small village near Avalanche Bungalow and is an

example of a kalolmad.

Naters (Natanerimand) is a large village near Governor Shola, where

most of the Panol live for the greater part of the year. This village

has a wursuli and tarvali, but nothing else of interest.

Near Avalanche Bungalow there is the site of a village called Pathmars.

Little remains of it, but the fireplace of a hut can still be seen.

Kabudri (Tebbekudumand). This is the male funeral village of the Panol.

Here there are two stones called teiks where the wursulir are killed,

and they are reputed to have been set up by Kwoten; one, called

parsteiks, is for the Panol, and the other, called kirshteiks, for the

Kuirsiol. Another place given as the male funeral place of Pan was Tim,

where there is a three-roomed dairy of the same kind as that at

Taradrkirsi, in the outermost room of which the body is placed. It is

probable that Tim and Kabudri are two names for the same place.

TARADR

All the villages of this clan are situated in the north-west corner of

the hills and the clan appears to have no villages far removed from the

etudmad. The clan is a large one having now at least thirty-seven male

and thirty-nine female members.

The Taradrol appear to have in several ways a special position among

the Tarthar clans. They possess the special institution of the kugvali,

which, though resembling in some respects a ti, is situated by the

other dairies of the village and is tended by dairymen belonging to the

clan. The Taradrol are also unique in having their future world

(Amnòdr) near Perithi.

The Taradrol are divided into two kudr, each of which has three pòlm.

The chief men of the pòlm of one kudr are Ircheidi (20), Parkeidi (21),

and Polgar (22); of the second, Paners (23), Irkiolv (24), and Kudeners

(25). About the time of my visit the place of Ircheidi, who was ill,

was taken by his son, Siriar.

The six pòlm of the clan take it in turn to look after the kugvalir,

each having charge of the dairies and herd for a period of three years.

Shortly before my visit, the charge had been taken over by the pòlm of

Ircheidi and Siriar.

The following are the chief villages:—

Taradr (Tarnardmand). This is one of the most characteristic Toda

villages, situated near the road leading to the Paikara falls. It is

shown in Figs. 5 and 6, and has three dairies, situated at some

distance from the dwelling-huts. The two dairies shown in Fig. 5 are

the tarvali and kugvali, the former on the left-hand side and the

latter on the right. The third dairy of the village is a wursuli,

situated to the right of the kugvali.

Near the kugvali is a stone (shown in Fig. 24) at which the wursulir is

killed at a Taradr funeral. The stone is called püdrshtikars after the

name of the buffaloes (püdrshtipir). At a little distance from the

three dairies are the remains of another pali, which was only used at

the funeral of a male. This pali, like those at other funeral places

had three rooms, and in the ruins at the time of my visit it was easy

to make out the three divisions. When the occasion arises, the dairy is

rebuilt on the day of the funeral, and the tarpalikartmokh takes the mu

into the innermost room after purifying it with tudr bark. The body of

the dead man is then laid in the outermost room and kept there till it

is taken out after the slaughter of the buffaloes. If this temporary

building is the representative of a former dairy with three rooms, it

would seem that the village of Taradr once had four dairies.

Kudrmas (Kudimalmand). This is a kalolmad on the western side of the

Paikara. The kugvalir were here during the greater part of my visit.

Telgudr (Telkodumand). This is another kalolmad.

Pushtar (Pattaraimand). This village is one at which the tesherst

ceremony (see p. 154) is sometimes performed.

Kudimad (Kulimand). This is a large village near Taradr at which many

of the people live, but it is not an important village ceremonially,

having only one dairy, a tarvali.

Near Paikara there can still be seen the remains of a village called

Pevar which was deserted because the family which lived there became

extinct.

KERADR

This is one of the smallest of the Tarthar clans, all its members being

included in Table 26. There are at present sixteen male and nine female

members.

There is at present only one kudr, the other having become extinct

about three generations ago. As there has been no occasion for

irnörtiti, no fresh division has been made. The kudr has two pòlm, one

headed by Paniolv, and the other by Teikner.

The chief village, Keradr (Kannagimand), is situated in the south-west

part of the hills near the Teivali village of Keadr. Keradr is also the

male funeral place of the clan and was not occupied at the time of my

visit. At this time most of the Keradrol were living at Tovalkan, near

Paikara, a recent village at which there is a dairy of the ordinary

kind (tarvali). Near the houses there is a raised mound shown in Fig.

59, erected to mark the spot on which Keirevan (26) was killed by

falling from a tree into which he had climbed to cut wood.

KANÒDRS

This is one of the outlying Toda clans, and its people were said to

have been less influenced by the altered conditions on the hills than

any other clan, but they seem nevertheless to have given up several of

their institutions. The sacred poh is only occasionally occupied, and I

am doubtful whether they can be said to be in a more untouched

condition than several other clans. The people are often called the

Kererol, but I could not find that there was any village of Kerer from

which this name is derived, and it is possibly the name of a district

of the hills. The clan is distinguished by its possession of the

conical poh at Kanòdrs, and by the fact that many of the adventures of

Kwoto or Meilitars took place in the region it inhabits. Although Kwoto

was a Melgars man, he is regarded as having a close connexion with the

Kanòdrs people, and various features of the ritual of the Kanòdrs poh

are said to be derived from him.

The clan is at present a small one, with a distinct majority of

females. In fact, it seems so usual for members of this clan to have no

children or only female children that there is some likelihood that the

Kanòdrsol may become extinct. The present numbers are about thirteen

males and twenty-three females.

There was some doubt as to the number of kudr. I was told that there

are three, headed by Arsolv (27), Kineri (29), and Pòlkab (30)

respectively, but at an irnörtiti ceremony both Arsolv and Kineri would

give to Pòlkab, while the latter would give to both, so that it seems

probable that there are properly only two kudr, as in other clans. One

of these has only one pòlm, that of Pòlkab. The other has three pòlm,

headed by Arsolv, Neratkutan (28), and Kineri.

The following are the chief villages of the Kanòdrsol:—

Kanòdrs (Devarmand). This village now consists of the poh only. There

are still two mani at this village, one of which is called Pünkòghlag,

a name closely resembling the name of the churning-stick at the ti.

There are at present no dwelling-huts at the place, nor any remains of

such huts, though it would appear from the legend of Kwoten that the

village was inhabited at one time.

Pishkwosht (Bikkapatimand). This is a large village where most of the

Kanòdrsol now live. The only dairy is in ruins. Close to the village

there are a number of flat stones almost level with the ground (Fig.

71) which are called Teuâr, “the god way,” and are said to mark the

spot where the gods (teu) used to meet. Just above these is a large

buffalo pen, which is reputed not to have been made by man. Whenever

the gods went this way they used to deposit pieces of dried

buffalo-dung on this spot and these became the stones of the tu.

Near the village is a forest hut, and opposite this are two stones

called pedrkars. The Todas once had a large gathering here, and a man

jumped a long distance which was recorded by means of these stones.

The other villages of the Kanòdrsol, Taknin, Kuzhu or Kushu, &c., are

in the same neighbourhood, but I was unable to visit them, and do not

know whether they have any objects of interest.

KWÒDRDONI