been established in its neighbourhood, and the people appear to have
been a good deal influenced by the altered conditions. I was unable to
visit any of the villages, and I know less about this clan than any
other.
All the villages of the clan are situated in the district of the hills
called by the Todas Purgòdr, and the people of the clan are, therefore,
often called the Purgòdrol.
At present there appear to be seventeen males and fourteen females, but
it is probable that these numbers are not complete. There are two kudr,
headed by Kiurvan (32) and Atcharap (34). The former has three pòlm, of
which the chief men are Puner (31), Kiurvan (32), and Òrudz (33), and
the latter has two pòlm, headed by Atcharap (34) and Kudar (35).
This clan seems now to occupy only two villages. One is Kwòdrdoni
(Kodudonnemand), where there is only a tarvali, though there was
formerly a wursuli, now ruined, in which was kept a mani called
Kirsongg which has disappeared. The other village is Katikar
(Kodanadmand). The male funeral place is Iudi, and the female, Punmud.
PÄM
This is a clan which formerly occupied the site of Coonoor and
Wellington. Its numbers are small, probably only seventeen males and
thirteen females. There are two kudr, headed by Udrchovan (36) and
Pungievan (37). Udrchovan’s kudr has only one pòlm. Pungievan’s kudr
has three pòlm, of which the chief men are Pungievan (37), Arparners
(38) and Seili (39).
The original etudmad of the clan was Pirspurs, the site of which was
used for the Coonoor racecourse. Päm was then adopted as the chief
village, but it has been allowed to fall into ruins, though still
giving its name to the clan. The dairy at Päm was called Palikûdrbedz
and the buffalo-pen, Tûgûdron. Inikitj, where the people now live, is
an uninteresting village at which there are the ruins of a tarvali.
There is a building in which the four or five sacred buffaloes
(nashperthir) are kept, but they are not milked as there is no
palikartmokh.
The male funeral place of this clan was Puvi, and the female, Kwatkash.
These were situated where the Wellington barracks now stand, and the
funerals are now held near Inikitj. Fig. 51 shows the wooden teiks at
which the sacred buffalo would be killed at the funeral of a male.
There are several stories about Karnisi (37), a member of this clan. He
is said to have been an exceptionally strong man, and the Todas tell
how on one occasion two English soldiers came to Päm and insulted the
women and how Karnisi took the two men unaided to the barracks at
Wellington.
Karnisi also spent a fortune which had been stored in the dairy of Päm
for many generations. A vessel (pun) full of rupees had been deposited
in the dairy by an ancestor of Karnisi called Kiuten. It remained there
till Karnisi spent it in buying buffaloes, ornaments for his many wives
and household goods. He gave some of the rupees away and spent others
in travelling to Coimbatore, and in a short time the money had
disappeared.
NIDRSI
The headquarters of the Nidrsi clan are to the south of Coonoor. The
people are closely surrounded by tea estates and have been much
influenced. It is not now a large clan, having about sixteen male and
twenty-five female members.
There are two kudr, headed by Todrigars (41) and Kudrmaskutan (43)
respectively, each kudr having two pòlm. The chief men of the pòlm of
one kudr are Puveners (40) and Todrigars, and of the other kudr,
Kadrkutan (42) and Kudrmaskutan.
This clan affords a very good example of the degeneration which has in
some cases befallen the dairy organisation. The people have only one
wursulir left. The dairy (wursuli) has fallen into ruins, and they have
no wursol and, therefore, the one buffalo is not milked. At a funeral
of a male they will have to procure a wursol from another clan to kill
this buffalo.
There are two mani, called Eshkiakudr and Eikudr, each with an iron
chain, but as they have no wursuli these bells are kept under a stone
at Akirsikòdri, the male funeral village. The other sacred buffaloes,
pineipir, &c., are milked at a tarvali.
There are now only four inhabited villages, and only one of these seems
to be of any importance.
Nidrsi. This is near the Badaga village of Hulikal. It consists chiefly
of huts obviously of recent construction and not of the proper Toda
form. There is a small dairy (tarvali) and the situation of the former
wursuli, almost completely overgrown, can still be seen. There is a
buffalo enclosure called Punatu. The irnörtkars is a stone of ordinary
appearance with other smaller stones round it, and there is also a
pilinörtkars of which only a small piece now shows above the ground.
There is a very large tukitthkars at this village (see pp. 252 and
597).
Another stone here is called imudrikars or parsatthkars. Milk is put on
it every morning and evening by the palikartmokh, but it is not used in
any way in connexion with a funeral. The Todas relate that an
Englishman shot at and splintered this stone some years ago. Soon after
he was bitten by his horse, and he asked the Todas, with whom he was on
very good terms, what ought to be done. He was told that he should
perform the irnörtiti ceremony, and a few days later he brought a
three-year-old calf to the irnörtkars at Nidrsi and gave it to the
people. It was taken by both kudr and the Englishman was soon well
again. The whole affair was regarded as a good joke, and is interesting
as showing that the Todas do not object to making sport of one of their
sacred ceremonies, especially when they gain an addition to their stock
of buffaloes.
Akirsikòdri. This is the male funeral village, at which there is a
dairy with three rooms, in which the body of a dead man is placed on
the day of the etvainolkedr.
MELGARS
The Tarthar clan which takes its name from the village of Melgars
occupies a very special position in the Toda social organisation and in
the dairy ceremonial. Although a Tarthar clan, the Melgarsol in many
respects resemble the Teivaliol much more closely than they resemble
the other clans of their own division.
In former times the Melgarsol are said to have held the office of palol
at the Kars ti and at the Pan ti, and to have lost this privilege owing
to misbehaviour of a palol, of which an account has been already given.
They are still capable of holding the offices of wursol and kaltmokh,
for which otherwise only Teivaliol are eligible, and they have
privileges and duties in connexion with various kinds of Toda
ceremonial which are wholly unshared by other clans.
Though they may still hold the offices of wursol and kaltmokh, they are
not allowed to carry out certain of the duties; thus, a Melgars wursol
may not kill the sacred buffalo at a funeral, nor may he perform any of
the other duties which fall to the part of a wursol on this occasion.
Although a Melgars man may no longer be palol, the Melgars people have
a large number of privileges and duties connected with the ti. An
account of these has already been given, but they may shortly be
recapitulated here with the names given to them by the Todas.
(i.) Mòr vatiti, tòr tititi. “Buttermilk he drinks, food he takes.” The
Melgars men may take buttermilk and food at the dwelling-hut of any ti,
and they alone have this privilege at the dairies of the Nòdrs ti.
(ii.) Teirpülk mad oiiti. “He goes at the head (of the procession) to
(the place called) teirpül.”
(iii.) Ti alugpur putiti. “The alug things of the ti he carries.”
(iv.) Alug putz nitz ithtothi. “Alug come, stand he must.” The Melgars
man must stand by a certain tree with the alug when he comes to the new
place during the migration of the ti buffaloes.
(v.) Erd pünrs ithtothi. “Two pünrs (four days) he must be.” He stays
at Anto from the Sunday on which the buffaloes migrate till the
following Wednesday.
In addition to these privileges, it is also the duty of the Melgarsol
to carry out rebuilding or repairing operations at a ti mad, and he has
also to assist in carrying the body of a dead palol.
The special duties of the Melgarsol are not limited to the ceremonial
of the ti, but in certain other ceremonies it is essential that a
Melgars man shall be present or take part. He must milk a buffalo to
provide milk for Tarthar women coming out of the seclusion-hut both
after the hand-burning ceremony of pregnancy and after childbirth. He
does this for women of his own clan and for those of all other Tarthar
clans except that of Kwòdrdoni. A Melgars man must be present on the
second day of the irpalvusthi ceremony of the kugvalir of Taradr, and
the ceremony of this day, which is called irpataduthti, cannot take
place if a Melgars man is not present.
It was also said that a Melgars man must be present whenever a feast is
given at the end of a period called pon in any clan, but I am very
doubtful as to the necessity of this. I think it is probable that no
feast ever occurs at which a Melgars man fails to put in an appearance,
and that my informants had come to regard his presence as necessary,
but it seemed very doubtful whether his presence was an essential
condition for the occurrence of this, as it certainly was in the case
of certain other ceremonies.
There was some difference of opinion as to the reasons why the
Melgarsol enjoyed these exceptional privileges. The Melgars people
themselves believed that their exceptional position was due to the
connexion of Kwoto with their clan. They said that when Kwoto became
superior to all the gods, and was called Meilitars, these privileges
were given to the clan to which he belonged. According to another
account, the position of a Melgars man at the head of the procession of
the Nòdrs ti was settled by Anto in order to appease the buffalo Enmars
when two of its bells were taken away and given to the Pan ti. Others,
again, said that the privileges of the Melgarsol were given as a
recompense when this clan was deprived of its privilege of becoming
palol. There is little doubt that the real reason for the Melgars
privileges has been lost and that different reasons have been sought in
the Toda legends. The Melgars people have chosen a reason which
gratifies their pride in claiming Kwoto as one of themselves, while
other Todas have reasons which serve to add to the importance of the
sacred institution of the ti, of which they are so proud.
There are other special features in which the Melgars people differ
from the rest of the Tarthar clans. They have no wursulir, though they
can become wursol to other clans, so that, in this respect, they
resemble the Teivaliol in being able to tend buffaloes which they do
not themselves possess. Another difference is that the palikartmokh of
the Melgarsol uses tudr bark in his ordination ceremonies, and this
gives him a higher rank than other tarpalikartmokh. It is on this
account that a Melgars palikartmokh may not visit the tarvali of
another clan (see p. 66).
The Melgarsol again resemble the Teivaliol in not shaving the head
after a funeral, as is done by Tarthar clans other than that of
Melgars.
The Melgarsol resemble the Teivaliol in so many respects that it is
tempting to suppose that this clan must at one time have formed part of
the Teivali division and for some reason was transferred to the
Tartharol. Every Toda whom I questioned on the point was, however,
certain that the Melgars people had always been members of the
Tartharol.
There are two facts which show that there is some special relation
between the people of Melgars and those of Kwòdrdoni. One is that
intermarriage is said to be prohibited between members of these two
clans; the other is that the milking by a Melgars man when a Tarthar
woman is leaving the seclusion-hut does not take place in the case of a
Kwòdrdoni woman. These facts point to some relation between the two
clans of which I was unable to obtain any account.
The Melgarsol form a fairly large clan, having at the present time
about thirty-one male and twenty female representatives. They have at
present only one kudr, the other having become extinct about eight
years ago on the death of Tikon (49). A half-sister of this man is
still living, but the kudr has no male representative. During the last
eight years, the Melgarsol have had no trouble (kaspel) which has made
it necessary to perform the irnörtiti ceremony, but should the occasion
arise, a naim would decide on a re-division of the other kudr. I was
told that the matter was continually the subject of discussion, and it
seemed probable that the nature of the re-division was already more or
less arranged, but would not be definitely settled till the occasion
arose.
The one kudr has four pòlm, of which the chief men are Kiunievan (44),
Artholvan (45), Nòtirzi (46) and Ilgeivan (48). Tergudrvan (47)
belonged to the same pòlm as Artholvan. The families included in Table
49 are all extinct in the male line, and, with the exception of Tikon,
I am doubtful to which kudr or pòlm they belonged.
Melgars, the chief village, is situated behind the gardens of
Government House at Ootacamund. It has few features of interest, and
there is little to be seen at the other villages of the clan. Nüln
(Narigulimand) is situated in the Kundahs.
Two Toda villages, Ki Perththo and Padegar, are said to be the general
property of the Tartharol, but at the time of my visit both were
inhabited by the Melgarsol.
The village of Katol, which is now ruined, is mentioned by Harkness as
one of the villages near Ootacamund.
The chief funeral place is Ushadr, mentioned in the story of Kwoto.
There is another funeral place called Mirzoti common to Melgars and
Kidmad.
KIDMAD AND KARSH
These are two sub-divisions of the Melgarsol which separated from the
main body, probably about seven or eight generations ago. At first I
heard only of Kidmad, and it was only when working over the Nidrsiol
that I found there were people living with this clan who did not belong
to it, but were an offshoot of the Melgars people and were called
Karshol.
According to one account, both Kidmadol and Karshol separated from the
main body at the same time, but, according to another, the people who
first separated belonged to Karsh and then split some generations later
into the two groups.
The separation was due to a quarrel between father and son. The Melgars
people were holding a council and one of the chief men of the clan was
late in coming. When he appeared in the distance, he was recognised by
nobody but his own son, who, when asked who was coming, said “pazuli
padmokh pöti âtham nôtthred? Kûtm it vòrs!”—i.e., “A wanderer and
bastard comes, why do you look at him? Let the council go forward!”
(Pazuli is a name applied to a man who belongs to no clan, and padmokh
is the name of the child of a woman with whom no man has performed the
pursütpimi ceremony.)
The manmokh (sister’s son) of the father was present at the council,
and when his uncle arrived, the manmokh told him what had been said by
his son in the council, and the father said, “I am no pazuli, it is you
who are the pazuli: henceforward you must not live at Melgars; you will
have nothing from me except what I give you to-day.” The father gave
the son a one-horned buffalo (kwadrkutir) and a portion of the Mirzoti
funeral place.
Since that day descendants of the son have been separate from Melgarsol
and they have held their funerals at Mirzoti, but not on the same spot
as the Melgars people.
The Kidmadol and Karshol have lost certain privileges possessed by
other Todas. The loss of these privileges is expressed by the Todas as
follows:—
(i.) Meitün kitht ògadi. “He may not sit on the meitün.” When a man of
Kidmad or Karsh goes to any Tarthar dairy he is not allowed to sit on
the raised bed on the right hand side of the door.
(ii.) Nîrsi nest ògadi. “He may not rub the fire-sticks.” If fire has
to be made at a male funeral, or on any other occasion, it must be done
by a man of another clan.
(iii.) Ertatpun pitth ògadi. “He may not touch the ertatpun,” a dairy
vessel which may be touched by any other Toda man. The result of this
restriction is that a man of these clans can never hold a dairy office.
Marriages are not allowed between Melgars people and those of either
Kidmad or Karsh.
The village of Karsh no longer exists; it was near Akirsikòdri, but in
the time of Kilpan (51) the people were so poor that they went to live
with the Nidrsiol and have remained with them since. Though living at
Nidrsi, they are still regarded as a separate people, and marriages may
take place between the two clans. They have only three or four ordinary
buffaloes. If a male dies they have to kill a persasir, which they
obtain from Melgars. The only males living are one man and his son, the
father having also two sisters.
The Kidmadol are more prosperous, and the men of the clan appear to be
fairly prominent people among the Todas, in spite of their
disadvantages. Kijievan (5) has the reputation of being one of the
ablest people of the whole community. The clan numbers five males and
three females.
THE TEIVALI CLANS
KUUDR
This is the most important of the Teivali clans, at any rate from the
social point of view. It has supplied the monegar since the institution
of this office, and it is the only Teivali clan represented on the Toda
naim or council. From the religious point of view the Kuudrol are less
important and have no exclusive rights to any sacred office, [263]
though they are exceptional in being greeted by the palol with the
kwarzam of their clan, Ivikanmokhkûtmeilteu, followed by idith as in
the prayers. The origin of this custom is said to be that long ago
strangers came to the hills and massacred all the people of the clan
except one boy, who hid himself in the buffalo pen. The present people
of Kuudr are descended from the boy and his escape is commemorated in
the greeting of the palol. The Kuudrol also possess the very sacred
dairy of Kiudr.
The Kuudr clan is the largest of the Teivali clans and stands second in
point of numbers among all the Toda clans. It has at least sixty-three
male and thirty-five female representatives. I omitted to obtain the
children of two families, and these would raise the numbers slightly.
I had much difficulty in obtaining a correct account of the
organisation of the Kuudrol, the difficulty proving to be due to
certain anomalies in this clan. It has three chief divisions, headed by
Kuriolv (52), Ishkievan (60) and Tövoniners (61), and each of these
divisions is sometimes called a kudr. From the point of view, however,
of the irnörtiti ceremony it is clear that the division of Tövoniners
is not a definite kudr, for the men of this division do not receive
buffaloes from any other division, although they may themselves perform
the irnörtiti ceremony, in which case the buffalo goes to the men of
the other two divisions. The family of Tövoniners differs also from
other families of the clan in having no place at the village of Kuudr.
This anomalous position of the family is due to the part played by the
men of the family in the quarrel which led to the separation of the
Pedrkars people from Kuudr (see p. 675). The family of Tövoniners is
probably not a kudr in the strict sense of the term, and if so, the
Kuudr clan falls into line with other clans in being divided into two
kudr only.
There was also some confusion about the pòlm of the Kuudr clan, one
source of confusion being due to the trouble connected with the
parentage of Teitchi (52), which has been already considered (see p.
564).
It was quite clear that the kudr of Ishkievan has two pòlm only, headed
by Ishkievan and Tadrners (60).
Kuriolv’s division was said to have eight pòlm, the head men being
Kuriolv (52), Targners (53), Pöteners (54), Keitas (55), Tüliners and
Tikievan (56), Mudriners (57), and Madsu (58). The men of the first
four pòlm are known to be closely connected with one another, and, as
may be seen in the genealogies, the first three claim common descent
from Tudrvan. Similarly the pòlm of Tüliners, Tikievan and Madsu are
known to be closely connected. About the position of the pòlm of
Mudriners, as we have already seen, there is much doubt, the state of
affairs being that it is really most closely connected with the pòlm of
Tüliners and Tikievan, but that Kuriolv claims it as closely allied to
his own through the relation of Teitchi to Kòrs. Formerly the family of
Arsners (59) formed a separate pòlm, but owing to the fact that it now
has only two young members, and is very poor, it has been joined to the
pòlm of Madsu (58).
Including the families of Tövoniners and Arsners, there would thus be
twelve pòlm. This is not consistent with the information given in
connexion with the pepkaricha ceremony (see p. 169), from which it
appears that there are fifteen heads of families in the Kuudrol. It may
be that the pòlm and family do not correspond with one another, or
there may be some other explanation of the discrepancy.
The following are the chief villages of the Kuudrol:—
Kuudr (Kundakodumand). This is a large village with substantial huts in
the Tamil style which have been built by Kuriolv. There is a large
dairy, the tudrpali, and a smaller dairy, the kidpali, in front of it,
with two buffalo enclosures (tu), one apparently for each dairy. In the
large tu there are three stones called keinkars, tashtikars and
mutchudkars, all of ceremonial importance (see p. 169). Growing in one
side of the tu there is a tree called teikhuwadiki, under which the mu
is buried.
As usual, water is taken from two sources, and at Kuudr that used for
sacred purposes is drawn from a spring, called kiznir. The origin of
this spring has been already given in connexion with the prayer of
Kuudr, in which this and other events in the history of the village are
commemorated. The special relations between Kuudr and Òdr have been
already considered in the account of the latter village.
Kiudr (Kengodumand). This village has a somewhat anomalous position in
that, though not the chief village of its clan from the social point of
view, it is in many ways more sacred than Kuudr.
It is a very picturesque village, shown in Fig. 7, in which there are
two dwelling-huts. That shown in the figure is one of the largest and
best constructed of existing Toda huts, having been rebuilt recently
under the direction of Kijievan (50), who has a special reputation as
an architect. It was at this village that a pregnant woman was not
allowed to come to the hut, but had to remain at some little distance,
and the sacredness of the hut is also shown by the fact that the prayer
of this village provides the only instance in which the kwarzam of a
hut occurs.
The dairy is situated at some little distance from the huts, quite out
of sight of people at the latter. On going from the huts to the dairy a
shallow stream flowing over broad flat stones is crossed. This stream
is called Keikudr, and is of some ceremonial importance (see p. 307).
The dairy which is called Kilpoh is shown in Figs. 20 and 31, and is a
large, well-built structure of the ordinary shape. It is situated
within a high wall, which is much thicker than usual, and in front it
must be several yards across, so that it is possible to walk about on
the top of it. On this wall, on the right hand side, are two old stones
(shown in Fig. 31), called neurzülnkars. Close to the dairy there are
two ancient and weatherworn stones, shown in Fig. 32, to which the same
name is given.
There are six bells in the dairy. Two are kept on the patatmar and are
called patatmani, the individual names of the bells being Mudrani and
Kerani. The other four are called ertatmani, and are kept on the
ertatmar; their individual names are Pongg, Nongg, Pundrths, and Pan.
Kiudr is one of the villages which was said to have been at one time a
ti mad. In favour of this is the fact that its dairy is called poh and
that there are stones called neurzülnkars which are usually found at a
ti mad. The people have also to play a part during the procession of
the buffaloes of the Nòdrs ti, and there seems to be little doubt that
the village is in some way especially connected with the ti
institution, though exactly how is uncertain.
Kiudr is certainly a village especially revered not only by the Kuudrol
but by all Todas. It is a sati mad, and any Toda will be believed if he
speaks in front of its dairy. Another sign of the sanctity of the dairy
is the fact that the ceremony of pilinörtiti may be performed here not
only by members of the Kuudr clan, but also by any other Toda.
Molkush. This is a recently established village, little more than a
quarter of a mile from Kiudr. The scenes shown in Figs. 16 and 17 were
taken at this village. It has no dairy and the milk of the ordinary
buffaloes is churned in the dwelling-hut. This village may be regarded
as an adjunct to the sacred village of Kiudr, at which the ordinary
buffaloes are tended. At the time of my visit the wife of one of the
men who usually lived at Kiudr gave birth to a son and the
seclusion-hut was at Molkush, and both before and after the birth the
woman and those connected with her were living at this village. It
seemed as if the restrictions connected with life at Kiudr are avoided
by building at a little distance what is technically another village,
at which the people live whenever for any reason they are not allowed
to live at Kiudr. Its existence seemed to me to be one of the many
devices by means of which the Todas keep the letter of the law with the
minimum of inconvenience.
Miuni (Marlimand). This is a village of the Kuudrol which is reverenced
by all Todas on account of the belief that it was formerly the
meeting-place of the gods. It is a very picturesque village, situated
near the Marlimand reservoir and has two dairies.
Kwirg is chiefly important as the place at which new pep is made for
the Kuudr clan. Its prayer is given on p. 222.
Ars is an uninteresting village near Kuudr.
Peivòrs. This is a village near Paikara. It contains a double house,
shown in Fig. 8, and has two dairies, one of which is now used as a
calf-house. The second dairy was built when two families were living at
the village, and the one dairy was not large enough for both.
Pirsush. This is a kalolmad.
Karia, a village near the Paikara road, from which a modern long house
in the Tamil style is to be seen. Behind this are the old dwelling-hut
and the dairy. At the time of my visit the new house was unoccupied and
the people were living in the old hut.
PIEDR
The people of Piedr derive their special importance from the fact that
they provide the palol for the sacred ti of Nòdrs. According to
tradition, they had this privilege exclusively at one time; later, they
shared it with the Kuudrol, and now they share with the people of
Kusharf. They form a fairly large clan, having about twenty-eight male
and fourteen female members.
As in the case of the Kuudrol, there was some doubt about the divisions
of the clan. There are said to be three kudr, of which the chief men
are Teikudr (63), Eisòdr (64), and Nongarsivan (62). If a man of
Teikudr’s division has to perform the irnörtiti ceremony, the buffalo
goes to Eisòdr’s division, and vice versa. If a man of Nongarsivan’s
division performs the ceremony, the buffalo would go to both the other
divisions. Thus Nongarsivan’s kudr seems to form an extra division,
like that of Tövoniners among the Kuudrol. I did not obtain any
explanation of this, but it is probably due to the fact that the people
of Nongarsivan’s division live at Kavidi in the Wainad, and are, in
consequence, regarded as being outside the regular affairs of the clan.
I failed to obtain an account of the pòlm.
The chief village of the clan is now rarely visited. It is in the
northern parts of the hills near the Badaga village of Hullatti. I had
hoped to have visited it and the neighbouring village of Kusharf, but
had not time. Some members of the clan visit the village of Piedr once
a year, but I did not learn what was done on the occasion.
Kuudi. This is now one of the chief villages of the clan. It has a
modern house, the largest and most highly ornamented Toda dwelling
which I saw on the hills.
Tavatkudr is a village of one hut and a dairy. It was this dairy which
was burnt during my visit as a consequence of the revelation of ti
secrets to me by Kaners, who lived at this village.
Eparskòdr is an ancient village at which the first Toda died (see p.
400). At present the village consists of a dairy only.
Kavidi is situated in the Wainad, not far from Gudalur. I did not visit
it, but, so far as I could gather, it contained no object of interest
and there was no evidence that it was an ancient settlement.
The clan has several funeral places, partly owing to the fact that the
Kavidi people are at too great a distance from the top of the hills to
hold the etvainolkedr in the ordinary funeral place. The Kavidi people,
therefore, have two special funeral places, called Sudvaili for males
and Mòmanothi for females. The second funeral, or marvainolkedr, was,
however, held at the regular places of Meroln and Pamarkol.
A disused village in the Wainad is called Potvaili. The termination
vaili of this village and of the male funeral place only occurs here,
and is probably borrowed from some other language, possibly from the
Kurumbas.
One abandoned village of this clan, Nongarsi, seems to have been
situated near Ootacamund. Its Badaga name is Kettarimand, and it is
possibly one of the villages mentioned by Harkness.
KUSHARF
The people of this clan are called indifferently Kusharfol or Umgasol.
There seemed to be no doubt that Kusharf is the chief village, but,
like Piedr, it is little used, and Umgas is coming to be regarded as
the etudmad.
The Kusharfol seem to be in some way related to the Piedrol. They share
with the latter the privilege of providing the palol for the Nòdrs ti,
and the two clans are not allowed to intermarry. They have the same
nòdrodchi, Teipakh, and it seems possible that they were originally two
sub-divisions of one clan.
At present the Kusharfol are not numerous, having only about thirteen
male and thirteen female representatives. They have two kudr, headed by
Nòdrners and Ongudr, each of which has two pòlm. The chief men of the
pòlm of one kudr are Ongudr (65) and Pangudr (66); of the other,
Nòdrners and Erkhud (67).
The chief village of Kusharf is near Hullatti, and, like the
neighbouring Piedr, is rarely visited.
Umgas. This is at present the most important village of the clan; it is
shown in Fig. 72. There are two large dwelling-huts shown on the
right-hand side of the figure. The building to the left of them is the
chief dairy, which is called Kwotòdrvoh. It is a poh and not a pali,
though of the ordinary form, and is exceptional in being situated so
near the dwelling-huts. The pali is situated still more to the left,
hidden by trees.
The two tall stones in the foreground are called nadrkkars. They serve
as irnörtkars and also mark out the path by which women must go on
their way to the huts, the women having to keep on the right-hand side
of these stones. By the wall of the huts and close to the poh there are
two stones, the majvatitthkars, at which women stand when they receive
buttermilk (maj) from the dairy. About fifteen yards in front of the
other dairy (pali) there is a stone called imudrikars. On one side of
this there is a narrow well-worn track along which women must go on
their way to the dairy, and nearer the pali there are two
majvatitthkars, where they stand when receiving buttermilk.
Between the poh and the pali there is the tu and at the far end of this
is a large stone, the muütthkars, marking the spot where the mu is
buried.
Teidr is not far from Nòdrs. It has two huts and a dairy. The
teidrtolkars of Nòdrs takes its name from this village, the wursol who
gave the name to the stone being a Teidr man.
Teidr is one of the villages which is said to have been formerly a ti
mad, and in support of the statement I was taken to see two stones
called neurzülnkars at some little distance from the village.
Pòln is close to the tree known in Ootacamund as “the umbrella tree.”
There are two huts and a dairy, which was in ruins at the time of my
visit. Under the “umbrella tree” there are two stones. One of these has
been overgrown by the tree so that it is now firmly imbedded. It is
called Korateu and is said to have been thrown by Korateu from his
hill. The other stone is deeply imbedded and only shows three small
projections above the ground. This is the Nòtirzikars and was thrown to
this spot by the goddess Nòtirzi from her hill.
In a wood near at hand overgrown by trees, there is another stone
called Känkars, marking the spot where the pasthir were killed at the
funeral place which formerly existed here.
KEADR
This clan had at one time the privilege of supplying the palol to the
Pan ti, but its numbers are now small, and the palol of this ti at
present belongs to the Piedrol. There are now only eleven males and ten
females belonging to the clan.
Till recently there was a branch of the clan called Kwaradrol, taking
their name from the village of Kwaradr. According to some, the
Kwaradrol were a separate clan, but there seemed to be little doubt
that they were part of the Keadrol and formed one kudr of the clan. The
division only became extinct in the male line a few years ago, and the
genealogical record of the family is given in Table 70.
The head man of the other kudr is Perner (68), and this division has
three pòlm, two of which are headed by Perner and Pichievan (69), while
the third has only three young boys, Karem (69) and his brothers, as
members. Since the Kwaradrol died out, the clan has only had one kudr,
but during my visit it was decided that a new kudr should be formed,
and the pòlm of Karem was made the new division, so that in future the
Keadrol will have one kudr consisting ofone pòlm, and another of two
pòlm. It was said that the original partition of the clan into Keadrol
and Kwaradrol was due to Kwoten, who established the two divisions in
order that there should be someone to take the place of a palol who
left on account of a funeral in his clan.
Keadr. This, the chief village of the clan, is situated near Keradr. I
was unable to visit it, and have no record of any features of interest
it may possess.
Kwaradr, the village from which one division took its name, is near
Avalanche, and is now falling into ruins owing to the dying out of the
family which occupied it.
Pekhòdr is called by the Badagas Osamand, or “new village,” and has
only been in existence about ten years.
Kapthòri is now in ruins, but is mentioned in the story of Kwoten.
PEDRKARS
This clan is an offshoot of the Kuudrol, from which it has now for a
long time been separated. The division arose out of a quarrel at a
council which was once being held at Kuudr. [264] There were three
parties in the naim, each wishing that a different ceremony should be
performed. One party wished to give salt to the buffaloes, a second
wanted to sacrifice a calf (erkumptthpimi), and a third were in favour
of moving to another village (irskidthtothi). The three parties could
not agree, and it was finally decided that those who wished to do
irskidthtothi should separate from the rest. They did so and went to
live near Kwòdrdoni, and have since been a separate clan, now known as
the Pedrkarsol. The people who wished to do erkumptthpimi were the
ancestors of Tövoniners, and it is in consequence of this quarrel that
this family occupies its anomalous position and has no place at Kuudr.
At the same time the people of Pedrkars lost the privilege of being
palol or wursol, but they may become eligible by performing the
irnörtiti ceremony at Kuudr or Kiudr.
For some time after the separation intermarriage was not allowed
between Kuudr and Pedrkars, but recently such marriages have taken
place, and several are recorded in the genealogies.
There are very few members of the clan, only seven males and five
females. At present there is only one kudr and this has only one pòlm.
Formerly there were two kudr, but one became extinct some time ago.
About three generations ago there was a quarrel between the people of
Pedrkars and those of Piedr. A man of Pedrkars named Kavanadi had
married a woman of Piedr and one day quarrelled with his wife’s father.
At Piedr there were at the entrance of the buffalo-pen two large wooden
posts (tüli). After the quarrel Kavanadi went to Piedr and carried off
both the posts with the wooden bars (tasth) by which the opening of the
pen is closed. When Kavanadi had carried the posts and bars as far as a
place called Kalin, near the Kota village of Tizgudr, a stone on the
top of one of the tüli fell down. It may still be seen and is known as
Kalinkars. Kavanadi went on, but he soon began to spit blood, and when
he had gone some way further, he was obliged to drop the tüli at a
place which is now called Tülipudinpem. He managed to reach his home at
Pedrkars and then died. A council was held and it was decided that
marriage should not be allowed in future between the Piedrol and
Pedrkarsol, and no such marriages are recorded in the genealogies.
The stone called Kalinkars which fell by the way is now said to be able
to move about and may be seen one day at one spot and on another day at
another. The Kotas of Tizgudr have several times taken the stone to
their village, but it has always gone back again. In spite of his
unfortunate end, Kavanadi is regarded, more or less, as a hero by the
Todas and is mentioned in the funeral eulogy of Pidrvan (p. 387).
All the villages of the Pedrkarsol are in the part of the hills near
Kwòdrdoni. Pedrkars itself is said to have been at one time a ti mad.
Some Tamil people once came to the hills and found some of the
buffaloes of the ti standing by a swamp. The Tamils fired at the
buffaloes and one was killed. When the palol saw this, he cursed,
saying “pedr kars ama, kwòdr nòdr ama!” “may the Tamil stone become;
may the ti place an ordinary place become!” Then the people who had
killed the buffalo became stones and the buffaloes were taken by the
palol to the ti mad of Kakwai. The people who had separated from Kuudr
had before this been living at Pongudr, but when the ti mad was
deserted they went to live there, and the place was called Pedrkars in
consequence of the curse of the palol and the clan has since taken its
name from this village.
KULHEM
This clan appears to occupy the same kind of inferior position among
the Teivaliol as that taken by the Kidmadol among the Tarthar clans.
The Kulhemol are not allowed to sit on the meitün (right-hand side) of
a dairy, and they are not allowed to perform the ordination ceremony
with tudr bark, which cuts them off from holding the offices of palol,
kaltmokh, or wursol.
There was some difference of opinion about the cause of the inferior
position of Kulhem. According to one account the people separated from
Kuudr at the same time as the Pedrkarsol and for the same reason.
According to another account, when Teikirzi was dividing the buffaloes,
she left Kulhem till last, intending to give them a good portion. When
she was about to give the people of this clan their buffaloes, the
invaders came who have been mentioned in the story of Teikirzi (p.
187). After the invaders had been turned to stone, Teikirzi returned to
her task of giving buffaloes to Kulhem, but she came to the conclusion
that the clan was in some way responsible for the misfortune which had
happened, and she gave them no sacred buffaloes and only a few putiir,
and she enjoined that they should not be ordained with tudr. It seems,
however, that the Kulhemol resemble the Pedrkarsol in becoming eligible
for the office of palol if they do irnörtiti to Kuudr.
The chief village, Kulhem or Kulthlem, is near Kanòdrs. The only other
village of importance is Konikwòr, near Paikara. At the time of my
visit several of the clan were living at a place called Kultu. This is
not properly a Toda village, the people living in a hut of the Badaga
form near a tea plantation in order to sell the buffalo dung to the
planters.
This clan now numbers only six males and three females, all belonging
to one family (72). They have neither kudr nor pòlm.
CHAPTER XXIX
TEIVALIOL AND TARTHAROL
The existence of these two divisions of the Toda people raises one of
the most interesting problems of their social organisation. The fact
that the Todas are an Indian people at once suggests that we have to do
here with some form of the institution of caste. Each division is
endogamous, as is the caste, and each is divided into a number of
exogamous septs resembling the gotras of a caste. Again, there is some
amount of specialisation of function, the Teivaliol being the division
from which the most sacred of the dairymen are chosen.
The names of the two divisions probably correspond with this
differentiation of function. The Teivaliol evidently derive their name
from the sacred office, deva, of Sanskrit origin, being in common use
in South India for ‘sacred,’ while devalayam means a temple. [265] The
origin of Tartharol [266] is more doubtful, but I believe that the word
carries the idea of ordinary, târ being used sometimes in this sense.
There is little restriction on social intercourse between the two
divisions. So far as I am aware, they can eat together, and a member of
one division can receive food from any member of another.
Though intermarriage is forbidden, the irregular unions in which the
man is the mokhthodvaiol of the woman (see Chap. XXII) are frequent
and, indeed, it seems to be the rule for connexions of this kind to be
formed between members of the two divisions.
The only definite restriction on social intercourse is that a Teivali
woman may not visit a Tarthar village, so that if a Tarthar man becomes
the mokhthodvaiol of a Teivali woman, he has to visit her at her home,
or may go to live at her village altogether or for long periods. There
is no similar restriction on the visits of Tarthar women to Teivali
villages, and at the time of my visit at least one Tarthar woman was
living altogether at the village of her Teivali consort.
The prohibition of the visits of Teivali women to Tarthar villages is
said to have had its origin in the misbehaviour of certain Teivali
women who once visited the village of Nòdrs, but I did not learn in
what their offence consisted.
The most obvious features which mark off the two divisions from one
another occur in connexion with the dairy organisation. The most
important dairy institutions of the Todas belong to the Tartharol, but
their dairymen are Teivaliol. This applies not only to the ti dairies,
but also to the wursuli dairies of the Tarthar villages. The highest
dairy office, that of palol, can only be held by a Teivali man, while
the lower offices of kaltmokh and wursol must be held by them or by one
of the Melgars clan of the Tartharol. According to tradition, the
members of the Melgarsol were also at one time capable of holding the
office of palol, but lost the right owing to the misbehaviour of one of
their number. As I have already suggested, the Melgarsol may have been
formerly a Teivali clan, but on repeated inquiry, it seemed clear that
they had always been Tartharol, so that at one time in Toda history
certain Tartharol were permitted to hold the highest dairy office as
well as the lower grades for which they are still eligible. The
position of the Melgars clan is, however, so much of a mystery in
itself that it can contribute little to the understanding of our
present difficulties.
Although the Teivaliol hold the highest dairy offices, and while
holding them have a very high degree of sanctity, it is quite clear
that, apart from the holding of these offices, they have no sanctity
whatever. A Teivali man who, while holding office as palol, is so
sacred that he may not be touched by nor touch anyone, and may be
visited even by his nearest relatives on two days of the week only,
becomes an ordinary person, with absolutely no restrictions on
intercourse, the moment he ceases to hold office.
Further, the fact that the Teivaliol hold these sacred offices does not
lead to any respect being shown by Tartharol towards Teivaliol; there
is not the slightest trace of the belief that their right to exert the
highest priestly functions gives the Teivaliol any superiority, nor, it
seemed clear to me, did the right inspire the Teivaliol themselves with
any feeling of superiority. Indeed, it was distinctly the other way.
The Tartharol always boasted that they were the superior people and
that the Teivaliol were their servants, and the Teivaliol always seemed
to me to acquiesce, though unwillingly, in this opinion. Whenever I
asked a Tarthar man why he regarded his division as superior, he always
answered, “We have the ti and we appoint the Teivaliol to act as our
servants.” In the case of the Teivali dairyman acting as wursol at the
Tarthar villages, I had definite evidence in more than one instance
that the priest was regarded as a paid servant, to be treated with
scant respect except in the special points prescribed by custom. The
fact that the Teivali dairyman living at a Tarthar village may not
touch any of the Tartharol puts him very much at the mercy of the
latter, and the dairyman has, so far as I know, no redress for any
wrong, real or fancied, which he may receive.
The inferiority of the Teivaliol came out in one very striking point to
which I shall return later. I learnt from the Tartharol that there were
certain differences in language between the two divisions; that the
Teivaliol used certain words as names of objects which were not used by
the Tartharol. I obtained a list of these, and later approached a
Teivali man on the matter. When I opened the subject he was very much
taken aback, and then became very angry because I had been told of the
difference, though its existence was not denied. His whole attitude was
that of a man ashamed of his lowly origin. Far more indignation was
shown by him and by other Teivaliol because I had been told of their
peculiarities of language than was ever shown after the exposure of
deeds distinctly immoral even from the Toda point of view. I shall
return to this subject again shortly; I mention it here because it
seemed to me to afford the clearest evidence that the Teivaliol were
conscious of their own inferiority in the social scale.
In the story of Kwoten we find that the Tarthar hero is accompanied by
Erten of Keadr, a Teivali man, and the latter was said to have been the
servant of the former. This suggests the possibility that at one time
the Teivaliol may have acted as servants to the Tartharol, even more
definitely than at present.
At the present time there are some features of the social organisation
and social life which might be held to weigh strongly against the idea
that the Teivaliol are the inferior division. The monegar of the Todas
is one of the Teivaliol, and the most influential member of the naim,
or council, at the present time is a Teivali man. I believe the
monegarship, however, to be a recent institution, possibly dating only
from the advent of Europeans to the hills. The chief duty of the
monegar is the collection of the assessment made by the Government, and
it is quite consistent with Toda ideas that this troublesome, and from
their point of view menial duty should be handed over to one of the
Teivaliol. The great power of the Teivaliol in the naim is probably
still more recent and due to the influence of one man. The Teivaliol
should have only one representative on the naim, while the Tartharol
should have three, and it is entirely owing to the powerful personality
of Kuriolv that this balance has been disturbed, and that the influence
of the Teivaliol is so predominant. It is possible that Kuriolv will do
much to obliterate the social inequality of the two divisions, though I
suspect from what the Todas told me that it is intended to revert to
the old order as soon as he dies.
There is one custom which shows very clearly that it is only as
dairymen that the Teivaliol have any sanctity. If the sacred buffaloes
(pasthir) of the Teivaliol go to a Tarthar village, they may be milked
either at a wursuli or a tarvali, and the Tarthar people may use the
milk. If Tarthar buffaloes, however, go to a Teivali village, the
Teivaliol may neither milk them nor use their milk or its products.
Thus buffaloes which are normally milked by a Teivali dairyman when at
their own village may not be milked by Teivaliol at a Teivali village,
while there is no restriction on the milking of Teivali buffaloes by
the Tartharol.
Although the Tartharol are in the habit of speaking of the Teivali
dairymen as their servants, they have no means of enforcing service.
The post of dairyman of any kind is one of profit, and, as we have
seen, when the post, even of palol, ceases to bring a sufficient
income, the Tartharol fail to obtain people to occupy it.
In the ceremonial of the dairy, the relation between the two divisions
is entirely one-sided. The Tartharol own the buffaloes and the dairies,
and the Teivaliol do the work. In certain other ceremonies, there is
more reciprocity in the relations of the two divisions to one another.
The Tartharol have certain definite duties at a Teivali funeral and the
Teivaliol at a Tarthar funeral, and in most cases the duties are
thoroughly reciprocal and the two divisions appear to act on equal
terms. Thus, in the earth-throwing ceremony, the earth is dug by a
Teivali man at a Tarthar funeral, and the Tarthar men before they throw
ask the Teivaliol whether they may do so. At a Teivali funeral these
positions are reversed. Similarly, the buffaloes are caught by
Tartharol for Teivaliol and vice versa.
On the other hand, there are some ceremonies in which the Teivaliol
have definite duties to perform at a Tarthar funeral which are not
reciprocated. In the earth-throwing ceremony of the Tartharol, earth is
first thrown by the Teivali wursol, but he does this as dairyman and
not as one of the Teivaliol. The koòtiti ceremony of the second funeral
is, however, only performed at a Tarthar funeral, and in it a Teivali
man plays an important part, wearing the cloak which has been covering
the relics and adorning himself with women’s ornaments. He hangs on the
neck of the calf the bell called tukulir mani and touches the relics
with the bow and arrow after asking the Tartharol if he may do so. It
is said that this ceremony is performed at a Tarthar funeral in order
to purify the Tartharol with tudr before they go to Amnòdr, and the
prominent position of the Teivaliol in this ceremony is evidently due
to the use of this sacred substance.
After a funeral the Tartharol in general shave their heads, and this is
not done by the Teivaliol, but it is also not done by the Melgarsol,
which shows that the difference is connected with the different
relations of the two divisions to the dairy ritual.
One important difference between the funeral ceremonies of the two
divisions is that the mani, or sacred bell, is not used by the
Teivaliol, except by the Piedr clan, and in this case the bell is hung
on the neck of the buffalo about to be slaughtered by a Tarthar man
belonging to the Nòdrs clan. The use of a mani at the funeral appears
to be pre-eminently a Tarthar custom.
A further distinction between the two divisions is a consequence of the
last difference. The Teivaliol do not purify the dairy after the
funeral ceremonies because nothing has been taken from the dairy to be
defiled. Similarly, the fact that the Teivaliol and Melgarsol use a
male buffalo calf for the ceremony of purifying the various funeral
places is connected in some way with the use of tudr by these
divisions, while the general body of the Tartharol who are not purified
with tudr use the blood of an adult female buffalo.
It will thus be seen that there is definite reciprocity between the two
divisions as regards certain funeral duties, while the differences
between the procedures of the two divisions are largely, if not
altogether, connected with the use of the mani among the Tartharol and
of the tudr tree among the Teivaliol, and each of these are points at
which the funeral ceremonies come into relation with the dairy ritual.
The differences in funeral rites would seem to be chiefly due to the
different organisation of the dairy and its ritual in the two
divisions.
There are other ceremonies in which the duties of the two divisions are
reciprocal. In the ceremony of ear-piercing, a Tarthar man pierces one
ear of a Teivali boy and a Teivali man performs the same service for a
Tarthar boy, and in the ceremony called putkuli tâzâr ütiti (see p.
503), a man belonging to one division acts when the girl undergoing the
ceremony belongs to the other.
One of the most obscure of Toda ceremonies is that called tersampipimi
which is performed together with or later than the ceremony of
name-giving when a child is about three months old. The chief feature
of the ceremony is that a lock of the child’s hair is cut by the
maternal uncle of the child, the hair of a Tarthar child being cut with
a piece of sharpened iron called kanab, while the hair of a Teivali
child is cut with an ordinary knife. The special interest, however, for
our present purpose lies in the fact that this ceremony must be
performed on the day after the second funeral of a Tarthar man, and
this whether the child be Tarthar or Teivali.
This ceremony points to the existence of a belief in the influence of
the spirit of the dead man, and I have already (p. 404) given reasons
why it is probable that this influence should be regarded as good
rather than bad. But, whether good or bad, we are left wholly without a
clue why this influence should be exerted by the ghosts of the
Tartharol and not by those of the Teivaliol.
In the ceremonies connected with childbirth the ritual of one division
differs from that of the other more widely than in any other case. The
most striking difference is that the ceremonial of the artificial dairy
is limited to the Tartharol, and here again it is possible that the
difference is a secondary consequence of the difference in dairy
organisation. In the chapter dealing with these ceremonies, I have
thrown out the conjecture that the use of an artificial dairy, and of
threads from the madtuni, or sacred dairy garment, may be a survival of
a time when women had more to do with the dairy ritual than they have
at present; and if there is anything in this conjecture, it would point
to this connexion of women with the dairy having been limited to the
Tartharol, or to its having persisted longer in this division.
The fact that a Tarthar woman drinks milk drawn by a Melgars man, while
a Teivali woman drinks water which is assumed to be the milk of a
pregnant buffalo, again brings the differences into relation with the
dairy ritual, but another difference between the two divisions in the
hand-burning ceremony is entirely foreign to this ritual. This is the
ceremony of invoking Pirn and Piri, and there is no evident reason why
this rite should be practised by the members of one division and not by
those of the other. Similarly, the ceremony of offering to Namav by a
Teivali woman when going to the seclusion-hut after childbirth stands
entirely apart from the dairy ritual.
Both of these ceremonies are unlike the ordinary run of Toda ritual,
and it is, on the whole, most probable that they have been borrowed.
We have thus seen that a large number of the ceremonial differences
between the two divisions may be regarded as secondary consequences of
the differences in the dairy ritual and that the few ceremonies which
stand in no relation to the dairy ritual may have been borrowed.
Taking the differences of ceremonial as a whole, it is tempting to
surmise that some of them may have arisen owing to differences of
environment during some past stage of Toda history. The Todas now form
so small a community, living in so small a space and knowing so much
about each other, that it seems improbable that the differences can
have come altogether into existence while they have been on the Nilgiri
Hills. In so far as they can be explained as secondary consequences of
the dairy organisation, it is possible that they may have arisen since
the Todas have been on the Nilgiris, but when the practices have no
relation to the dairy ritual it seems improbable that one division
would have adopted a custom quite independently of the other.
Such a view would involve the consequence that at some time in their
history the two divisions of the Toda people have had a different
environment, and if the Todas are derived from one tribe or caste, this
could only have come about if the two divisions came to the hills at
different times, the interval having been sufficiently long to enable
differences of ceremonial to have arisen. The differences would perhaps
be still more readily explicable if we suppose the Tartharol and
Teivaliol to have been derived from two different castes or tribes
which reached the hills at different times, and I will now proceed to
give some evidence which points to this having really happened.
Perhaps the strongest evidence in this direction is the existence of
the differences of language to which I have already referred. The chief
differences are as follows:—
Tarthar. Teivali.
Wooden spoon chudi or sudi kîrstegi
Basket tòdri putukêri
Food vessel paterkh tòdriterkh
Round metal vessel kûdikunm kûdichakh
Milking-vessel pun kònipun
A dairy vessel tat kashtat
Iron instrument pòditch pòtch
Comb tîrkòli siekhkòli
Small boy’s cloak kuchâr kupichâr
Roof pòdri idrnpòdri
Western side of hut meilmerkal meilkushkòni
Eastern side of hut kîmerkal kîkushkòni
Mushroom kiûn âlabi
A tree tipöti ketak
A black fruit kalpom akatpom
To-morrow morning pelikhaski pedrkhaski
I was given one sentence as quite different in the two divisions. This
was “Bring a piece of ragged cloth to the dairy!” By the Tartharol this
would be rendered, Palivorsk pari evâ! but by the Teivaliol, Kutanpari
palivorsk panmeiliteivâ! the chief difference here being in the verb.
Though these are all the differences in vocabulary of which I could
obtain a record, I was told by the Tartharol that formerly there were
many more, and that they were diminishing in number because “the
Teivaliol were now learning to speak properly.”
I think it possible that a phonologist might also detect many
differences in pronunciation and accent in the two divisions. I thought
that I detected such differences myself—that the Tartharol used a k
when the Teivaliol used a g, for instance—but I am so uncertain about
this that I do not feel entitled to lay any emphasis on it. In one
case, however, the Todas themselves told me of a difference in
pronunciation. They said that the usual word for dairy was pronounced
as I have written it in this book but that by the Tartharol it was
rather püli.
Scanty as the evidence is, there can be no doubt of the existence of
dialectical differences between the two divisions of the Toda people.
Another indication that the Todas are two tribes or castes which have
coalesced is of a different and more doubtful kind. There is some
reason to believe that people sometimes preserve a relic of their
migrations in the belief concerning the path taken by the dead in their
journey to the next world. We have seen that the Todas believe that the
dead journey to the west, but the special point of interest in the
present connexion is that the dead Teivaliol are believed to travel by
a path different from that traversed by the Tartharol.
I must reserve till the next chapter the full consideration of the path
by which the Todas reached the hills, but I hope to show then that
there is a great probability that the Todas came from Malabar. If this
view be correct, it is not impossible that in the belief as to the
different paths traversed by the dead, we may have a relic of two
independent migrations.
A third indication is one about which I am still more doubtful, because
I have no exact observations to support it. When on the hills I was
struck at times by differences in the general appearance of the people
of the two divisions. Towards the end of my visit I sometimes made a
successful guess that an unknown village I was entering was a Teivali
village, and this guess was founded, so far as I could tell, on a
difference in the appearance of the people. The Teivaliol seemed to me
to be, on the whole, darker, and to have a lower type of face. My
surmises in this direction only took shape towards the end of my visit,
when it was too late to make any exact observations. I know how
dangerous such impressions are, and I do not wish to lay any stress on
them, and I mention them hoping that more exact observations on the
point may be made at some future time.
The idea that the two divisions of the Toda community reached the hills
at different times is perhaps supported by their distribution on the
Nilgiri plateau. In Fig. 73 I give a plan of the district, giving all
the villages from which the Toda clans take their names, the Tarthar
villages being in Roman type and those of the Teivaliol in italics. I
have omitted the chief villages of those clans which I know to have
arisen in recent times by splitting off from other clans, and I have
included two villages of which I can only give the approximate
positions. These are Piedr and Kusharf, which are now rarely occupied,
and are situated off the main plateau, near the Badaga village of
Hullatti. I also give Pirspurs, the old etudmad of the Pämol. In Fig.
74 I give a second plan, showing the positions of all the villages
which I know to be ancient, either because they possess sacred dairies
or because they are mentioned in legend.
It will be seen that the greater part of the hills is occupied by the
Tartharol, while the Teivali villages lie chiefly in the north-west
part of the hills. The chief exception is the village of Keadr, which
is situated some way south of the rest.
If, in coming to the hills, the Todas followed the routes now supposed
to be traversed by the dead, the position of Keadr would suggest that
this clan was assigned a seat soon after the Teivaliol had crossed the
Pakhwar, and that the others journeyed on northwards.
The plans certainly make it clear that there is a difference in the
geographical distribution of the two divisions, and the nature of this
distribution is consistent with the advent of the two divisions at
different times. It will be noticed in both plans that one Tarthar clan
has its seat in the middle of what would otherwise be exclusively a
Teivali district. This clan is that of Taradr, and it is perhaps
significant that the Taradrol have many features which differentiate
them from Tarthar clans in general, especially in their possession of
the kugvalir and in the possession of their own Amnòdr, though, as we
have seen, the latter feature may merely be a later consequence of
their isolated position.
It is known that when two tribes coalesce to form a community, the
inferior people may act as the sorcerers and wizards of the community.
At the present time the majority of the teuol, or diviners, belong to
the Teivaliol, but this branch of sacred function is not limited to
that division. The magical powers of the sorcerer seem to be now almost
equally divided among the two divisions, and there is no evidence that
magical powers in the past have been attributed to one division more
than to the other.
In the preceding pages I have put together the chief evidence which
throws any light on the problem raised by the existence of the two
divisions of the Toda people. It is far from conclusive, but I incline
to the view that the present organisation of the Todas is due to the
coalescence of two tribes or castes which came to the hills at
different times. It seems probable that the Tartharol arrived first and
occupied the hills widely. When later the Teivaliol came, it seems
possible that they were placed by the Tartharol in those priestly
offices which, though honourable, involved many hardships and
restrictions, and were assigned dwelling-places and pastures in a
comparatively limited district of the hills.
The analysis of the genealogical record has brought out some
interesting differences between the two divisions. The data compiled
from the genealogical tables by Mr. Punnett [267] would seem to show
that the preponderance of males was and is still greater among the
Teivaliol than among the Tartharol. The tables provide statistics
roughly for four generations. In the second of these, [268] the number
of males for every hundred females was 159·7 among the Tartharol, 259
among the Teivaliol. For the last generation, these numbers have sunk
to 129·2 and 171 respectively. These figures almost certainly mean that
female infanticide was more in vogue among the Teivaliol and is still
practised by them to a greater extent than by the Tartharol.
This would seem to show that the Teivaliol have clung more closely to
the old custom of infanticide and may be taken as an indication of the
greater conservativeness of the priestly caste, but the Teivaliol
chiefly occupy those parts of the hills furthest removed from the
European settlements, and the greater freedom from external influence
is probably an important reason for the greater frequency of
infanticide among them at present, though it will not explain the
greater prevalence in the earlier generations.
The Teivaliol are now much the smaller of the two divisions, the
numbers at the most liberal estimate being less than half of those of
the Tartharol, and this difference is certainly of long standing. It
may be due to original disproportion of numbers, but if female
infanticide has long been more frequent among the Teivaliol, this might
furnish a cause of their smaller population. It is perhaps significant
in this connexion that the only extinct clan of which I have a record
is a Teivali clan, the Kemenol, which is said to have become extinct
about a hundred years ago, and the causes which led to its extinction
may well have produced a great diminution of numbers in other branches
of the Teivaliol.
CHAPTER XXX
THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE TODAS
I have now given the whole of the material which I have collected on
the institutions of the Todas. In describing these institutions I have
discussed various general problems suggested by their nature, but I
have said little about the points of resemblance or difference between
the customs of the Todas and those of other peoples either in India or
elsewhere. It remains in this last chapter to see how far the evidence
which I have given throws any light on the very difficult questions:
Who are the Todas? How do they come to be living on the Nilgiri Hills?
The evidence which might be available for our inquiry is of three
kinds: records of the Todas in the past, traditions preserved by the
Todas, and, lastly, evidence derived from the comparative study of
physical and psychical characters, language, beliefs, and institutions.
The evidence coming under the first two heads is of the scantiest. Our
earliest record of the Todas is contained in a Portuguese manuscript
now in the British Museum. It records the visit of a Portuguese priest
named Finicio to the Nilgiri Hills in 1602. This manuscript was
partially translated and published by Thomas Whitehouse in a book
dealing with the Syrian church of Malabar, under the title “Lingerings
of Light in a Dark Land.” As the translation given by Whitehouse is
incomplete, I had the manuscript retranslated, and it was then found
that several interesting details had been omitted, and that there were
several errors in the translation. The new translation is given on pp.
721–730.
The account given by Finicio is very superficial, being the result of
only two days’ intercourse, but it is sufficient to show that there has
probably been little change in the Todas and their surroundings in the
three centuries which elapsed between his visit and mine. I have
referred in the general body of the work to several of the points in
which his account either corroborates or differs from my own. Perhaps
the most important feature of his story is that it shows the relation
between the Todas and Badagas three centuries ago to have been very
much what it is at the present day, and shows clearly that this
relation between the two tribes is of longer standing than has usually
been supposed. Finicio’s account is, however, so brief and superficial
that it helps us little in our search for evidence on the evolution of
Toda society. We know from it that the institution of the ti was in
existence, and the scanty evidence goes to show that the life of the
palol was much what it is now, but there is nothing to tell us whether
the ritual had then reached the high pitch of development which it now
shows, nothing to tell us whether since that time there has been
development or degeneration.
From 1602 to 1812 we have, so far as I am aware, no record of the
Todas. In the latter year William Keys, Assistant Revenue Surveyor,
reported the existence of the Todas, or Thothavurs, and other tribes in
a letter to the Collector of Coimbatore. His account gives little
information about the Todas, except that they kept buffaloes and held
it a sacred and inviolable custom to keep their heads uncovered. In
1819 “a Subscriber” wrote an account of the Nilgiri tribes which was
published in the Madras Courier. Beyond a description of their
appearance, the only information given about the Todas or Todevies is
that it is against the custom to wear either turban or sandal, that
they permit hair and beard to grow long, and that the Badagas pay a few
handfuls of grain from each field as acknowledgment that they received
their land from the Todas. In 1820 Lieutenant Macpherson reported the
practices of polyandry and infanticide, and in the following year
Captain B. S. Ward described the marriage customs more fully, and gave
some account of the dairies and priesthood. In 1826 the Rev. James
Hough addressed a number of letters to the Bengal Hurkaru, giving an
account of the Nilgiris and their inhabitants, and these letters were
republished in a book in 1829. A more elaborate and most excellent
account of the Todas was given by Captain Harkness in 1832, in a work
entitled A Description of a Singular Aboriginal Race Inhabiting the
Summit of the Neilgherry Hills, and since that time very many of those
who have visited the Nilgiri Hills have had something to say about the
Todas and their ways. As I have already pointed out, these records from
the earlier part of last century differ but little from my own, and do
not furnish us with any evidence that Toda customs underwent any great
change during that century.
As regards the evidence from Toda tradition, we are in no better case.
Several writers have stated that the Todas believe that they came to
the Nilgiris from elsewhere, but whenever I made any inquiries on this
point I was assured that they had always been on the Nilgiri Hills, the
first Toda having been created on the Kundahs in the manner already
described.
It seems most probable that those who have ascribed such traditions to
the Todas have been misled by the account of the Kamasòdrolam. These
are the people who are believed to have been driven away from Kanòdrs
by Kwoten (see p. 195). The Todas have a very sincere belief in the
existence of these people, and when I showed one man the frontispiece
in Marshall’s book, representing a Toda village and its inhabitants,
something unfamiliar in the arrangement of the scene made the man think
that it must be a picture of the Kamasòdrolam. Any Toda who is asked
whether there are other Todas and where they live will at once think of
the Kamasòdrolam and will tell of these people, and the story might
easily be mistaken for a tradition of their origin.
The Todas are also said to believe in their descent from Ravan, and I
was told by one man that they were descended from the Pandavas, but I
have little doubt that such beliefs are only recent additions to their
mythology.
In studying the origin and history of the Todas we have thus no record
earlier than three centuries ago, and no traditions of any value, and
we are altogether thrown back on the evidence furnished by the manners
and customs of the people, their language, and their physical
characteristics.
Though the manners and customs of the Todas are in many ways unique, or
very exceptional, there is a general resemblance between them and those
comprised under the general title of Hinduism, and especially with such
more popular customs as are described by Mr. Crooke. [269] The great
development of the ritual aspect of religion, the importance of
ceremonies connected with birth and death, the sacredness of the
milk-giving animal, the nature of the system of kinship, the marriage
regulations and many other features bear a general, and in some cases a
close, resemblance to institutions found in India generally, or in
certain parts of India.
On the social side these resemblances are perhaps closer than on the
religious side. The system of kinship is very similar to that of other
parts of Southern India, and, so far as my knowledge goes, to that of
India generally. The marriage regulation that the children of brother
and sister should marry is found throughout Southern India and probably
throughout the Dravidian population of India. The practice of polyandry
probably exists scattered here and there throughout India, and has
undoubtedly existed in recent times in Malabar. The practice of the
mokhthoditi union between man and woman has also close analogies in
Malabar.
On the religious side the high development of the dairy ritual, so far
as I know, stands alone, but the customs connected with birth and death
have many resemblances to practices followed in other parts of India,
though this resemblance is general only and usually breaks down on
going into detail.
Thus in Brahmanic ritual there are several ceremonies prescribed at
different stages of pregnancy, and some Indian tribes or castes have
pregnancy ceremonies peculiar to themselves, but I do not know of any
tribe or caste except that of the Todas in which giving a bow and arrow
forms the essential feature of a pregnancy ceremony, though it is not
uncommon for this weapon to play a part in marriage rites, and in Coorg
a little imitation bow and arrow is put into the hand of a newly born
boy.
Similarly, seclusion after childbirth is common in India, and in the
Brahmanic ceremony of Jatakarma water is poured over the heads of
mother and child by the priest. In some cases from Mysore (see p. 705)
there is a still closer resemblance to Toda custom, but there are some
features of the Toda ceremonial for which I can find no parallel.
In many points, again, there are distinct resemblances between the
practices of the Todas and the more popular customs of India; thus the
pounder, sieve and broom frequently play a part in the popular magic of
India, [270] as of other parts of the world, but I do not know of any
parallel for their being regarded as especially the emblems of women,
as they appear to be in Toda belief.
It is perhaps in the funeral ceremonies that we find the largest number
of resemblances between Toda custom and that of other parts of India.
Thus, among those who cremate their dead, it is usual to have
ceremonies some time after the cremation, and some have regarded the
second funeral ceremony of the Todas, the so-called dry funeral, as the
representative of the Sapindi ceremony of orthodox Hinduism. Among
several tribes fragments of bone are preserved after the cremation,
which become the objects of further ceremonies. Thus, the Hos and
Mundahs [271] preserve large fragments of bone, which are hung up in
the house and are buried in an earthenware pot much later, after being
taken in procession to every friend and relation of the deceased.
Again, among the Saoras of Madras [272] fragments of bone are picked
out from the ashes and covered over with a miniature hut.
Animals are frequently killed at funerals throughout India, and among
the Saoras, just mentioned, [273] the animal is a buffalo, which is
killed close to the stone on which its blood is smeared. Again, among
the Kois [274] a bullock is slain and the tail placed in the hand of
the corpse.
A funeral practice which is very widely spread in India is the breaking
of a pot, and in some cases the pot so broken is one which has
contained the water used to quench the fire. Among the Naickers and the
Reddies of South India [275] the body is bathed with water from an
earthen pot, which is then dashed upon the ground, while in other
places an earthen pot filled with water is carried round the body three
times, after which the fire is lighted and later extinguished by water
which runs from a perforation in the pot. The common Indian practice,
according to Padfield, [276] is for the chief mourner to throw a pot
over his head behind him so that it is dashed in pieces.
That the kindred should retire with averted faces from the place where
the corpse is left is prescribed by Manu, [277] and the custom of
burning or burying face downwards is practised by low caste people, the
motive in this case being to prevent the evil spirit from escaping and
troubling its neighbours. [278]
While there is thus a general resemblance between many of the manners
and customs of the Todas and those existing in various parts of the
Indian peninsula, there is one district which possesses customs and
institutions which seem to stand in a much closer relation to those of
the Todas than is the case elsewhere.
The social and religious customs of the west coast, and especially of
Malabar, not only bear a general resemblance to the customs of the
Todas, but this resemblance in some cases persists when followed into
detail. The similarity would probably become still more obvious if we
knew more of the customs of the less civilised inhabitants of this
district of India.
In going over the resemblances I will begin with those on the social
side. The most characteristic feature, of the social organisation of
the Todas is the institution of fraternal polyandry, The Nairs of
Malabar have given their name to a different type of polyandry, but it
is extremely doubtful whether the relations existing in recent times
between Nair women and their consorts should be regarded as examples of
polyandry. Nevertheless, there is undoubted evidence that true
polyandry has existed in Malabar, and in the most definite examples
known this has been of the fraternal type. From the Report of the
Malabar Marriage Commission, published in 1891, it is clear that,
though polyandry is now extinct in North Malabar, it still persists in
some districts of South Malabar. One witness before the Commission
stated that at one time polyandry was very prevalent in South Malabar,
and that it was still the practice for a woman of the Kammalar or
artisan caste to have five or six brothers as husbands, and the witness
had known personally a woman in Calicut who was the wife of five
brothers, spending a month at a time with each. Another witness stated
that polyandry existed in some parts of Cochin, and in a few places in
South Malabar. Another said that among the Tiyans of North Malabar it
was the custom for one man to marry a girl for all the brothers of the
family. One of the names for marriage in Malabar is uzham porukka,
which probably means “marriage by turns.” The Kanisans or astrologers
of Malabar proudly point out that, like the Pandavas, they used
formerly to have one wife in common to several brothers, and that the
custom is still observed by some. [279]
Polyandry is not the only marriage institution in which there is a
resemblance between the Todas and the people of Malabar. The
mokhthodvaiol of a Toda woman seems to be very much like the consort of
a Nair woman, and when these consorts are, as they usually are,
Nambutiris or Malabar Brahmans—i.e., belong to a different caste—the
resemblance to the mokhthoditi custom becomes very close.
More important is the custom of giving a cloth as the essential
marriage ceremony. The two chief features of a Toda marriage are the
giving of a loincloth to the girl and the salutation of the girl’s
relatives by the husband. Similarly the essential feature of the
irregular union between man and woman is that the mokhthodvaiol gives a
cloak to the woman, and the Badaga name by which the relation has
previously been known is derived from this fact—the man is called the
“blanket man” of the woman. Throughout the greater part of the Malabar
coast the essential feature of the marriage ceremony is that the man
gives a cloth to the woman. The Nairs have two marriage ceremonies,
[280] of which the later, or sambandham, forms the actual alliance
between man and woman. The ceremony of this marriage consists in giving
a cloth, and various names for the ceremony, such as muntukotukkuka,
vastradanam, putavakota and pudamuri, all mean “cloth-giving.” In South
Malabar a marriage is dissolved by tearing up a cloth called kachcha,
[281] and among the Izhavas, [282] the actual wedding ceremony consists
of the gift of a cloth.
The act of giving clothing as part of the marriage ceremony is found
generally throughout India, but it seems to be a much more prominent
and essential feature of marriage in Malabar than elsewhere.
Among the funeral ceremonies of the Todas there is one in which a cloth
is laid on the body of the deceased. The essential feature of this
ceremony is that a cloth is given by a man belonging to the clan of the
deceased to those who have married into the clan, the cloth being then
placed on the corpse by the wives of these men. The whole ceremony
seems to be essentially a transaction between clans which have
intermarried and evidently stands in a close relation to the regulation
of marriage, and it is therefore of great interest not only that a
cloth should play so prominent a part, but also that the word used for
the cloth which gives the name to the ceremony should be kach, the same
word as is used sometimes in Malabar for the cloth so important in the
marriage ceremonies.
The resemblance between the Todas and Nairs in this direction goes,
however, one step further. Among the funeral ceremonies of the Nairs
there is one called potavekkuka, in which new cotton cloths are placed
on the corpse by the senior members of the deceased’s Tarawad
(corresponding to clan), followed by all the other members,
sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, and other relatives. The details of the
ceremony differ in the two communities; among the Nairs the placing of
cloths is the duty of a wide circle of relatives, but the resemblance
between the customs is sufficiently close to make it highly probable
that we have to do with two developments of one custom.
The ceremony just described is not the only point in which the funeral
rites of the Todas resemble those of Malabar. The earthen pot which I
have already mentioned plays a part in the rites of both Nairs and
Nambutiris. By the Nairs [283] the pot is carried three times round the
pyre while the water leaks out through the holes, and on completing the
third round the pot is dashed on the ground close by the spot where the
head of the corpse had lain. The Nambutiris burn their dead and bury
the ashes three days later, and when the body is being burnt an earthen
pot containing water is carried round the fire, and is then punctured
and the water received into another vessel, from which it is thrown on
the fire, and then the pot is smashed and thrown away. [284]
We have seen that according to Toda belief it is necessary that those
who have not been through certain ceremonies in life must do so after
death, and the same belief is entertained by the Nambutiris, who tie
the tali at the funeral of an unmarried girl, [285] just as the Todas
perform the pursütpimi ceremony.
The Nairs collect pieces of unburnt bones from the ashes fourteen days
after the cremation, but they either throw them into the nearest river
or take them to some sacred place, thus following a frequent Indian
practice.
There is one feature of the urvatpimi ceremony of the Todas which also
suggests a possible link with Malabar, and this is the name, pülpali,
given to the artificial dairy used by the Tartharol. The Nairs of
Malabar have a ceremony at the ninth month called pulikuti, in which
the woman drinks tamarind (puli) juice which has been poured over a
knife by her brother. [286] The Toda word for the sour taste is
pülchiti, derived from tamarind, and I have suggested that the name
pülpali may mean ‘tamarind dairy,’ and be a survival of community
between the Toda ceremony and that of Malabar.
I have now enumerated a number of points in which there is a close
resemblance between the customs of the Todas and those of the people of
Malabar. In some cases, as in that of the cloth ceremony of the
funeral, the resemblance is so close that we seem almost bound to seek
its explanation either in identity of origin or in borrowing. We may be
confident that if there has been any borrowing from the inhabitants of
Malabar, it has not been recent, and we may also be fairly confident
that the physical barrier in the past must have prevented any but the
most infrequent intercourse between the inhabitants of the Nilgiri
plateau and those of Malabar. If we attach any significance to the
resemblances I have indicated, the conclusion seems almost inevitable
that the Todas at some time lived in Malabar and migrated to the
Nilgiri Hills, and it remains to inquire whether there are any other
facts in favour of this view.
On one line of evidence I cannot speak with any authority, but I
strongly suspect that there is a very close resemblance between the
Toda language and Malayalam.
I think there is little doubt that the Toda language is much more
nearly allied to Tamil than to Canarese, and I believe that the
contrary opinion of Dr. Pope was due to the inclusion in his material
of many words borrowed by the Todas from their Canarese-speaking
neighbours, the Badagas. Malayalam is closely allied to Tamil,
differing from it chiefly in its disuse of the personal terminations of
the verbs and in the large number of Sanscrit derivatives, [287] and I
should like to make the suggestion, for the consideration of Dravidian
philologists, that there is a close resemblance between the Toda
language and Malayalam, minus its Sanscrit derivatives.
The Todas claim that their diviners, who, when in their frenzy, are
believed to be inspired by the gods, speak the Malayalam language, some
clans speaking a language which the Todas say is that of people they
call Mondardsetipol, living in Malabar. I do not know whether the Toda
claim is justified, but in any case the belief exists that the diviners
speak the languages of Malabar, and that these are the languages of the
gods. It is possible that in their beliefs concerning the language of
the gods the Todas may be preserving a tradition of their
mother-tongue, and if it could be proved that the diviners actually
speak the Malayalam language the link with Malabar would be very
materially strengthened. [288]
The Todas believe that their dead travel towards the West and are able
to describe the paths by which they pass. Here, again, there is some
reason to think that people may preserve in their beliefs about the
passing to the next world a tradition of the route by which their
ancestors travelled from a former home, and this may be so in the case
of the Todas.
Another fact linking the Todas with Malabar is the use of the tall pole
called tadri in the funeral ceremonies. This pole is procured for the
Todas from the Malabar side of the hills by the Kurumbas, and I was
told that suitable poles only grew in Malabar, and the pole is adorned
with cowries which are also probably of Malabar origin. Other objects
burnt at the funeral, such as the boxes called pettei and the umbrella
called miturkwadr, are also procured from Malabar. The use of objects
in funeral ceremonies which are procured from Malabar is suggestive,
though, taken alone, it would have little significance.
A fact which would perhaps be regarded by most as more important is
that there is now a settlement of the Todas at Gudalur in the Wainad,
on one of the routes from Malabar to the Nilgiris. It seems clear that
at one time the settlement was larger than it is at present, and it is
tempting to suppose that we have here evidence of the route of the Toda
migration. There are, however, facts which make it improbable that this
clue is of any value. If the villages about Gudalur had been survivals
of the migration they would almost certainly have been sacred villages,
but it was quite clear that they had no sanctity whatever and were not
even saluted when seen from a distance. Unfortunately I did not visit
Kavidi, the only village which remains, and if I had done so I might
have discovered some evidence of sanctity and antiquity, but from what
I was told it is very unlikely that any such evidence exists. This
absence of sanctity is further in agreement with the traditions of the
Todas, who say that the settlement at Gudalur is recent. There are,
however, other facts which point to an ancient connexion of the Todas
with this district. Some of the buffaloes of the most sacred and
ancient Nòdrs ti are said to have come from Perithi in the Wainad, and
the Taradrol, in many ways an exceptional Toda clan, are said to have
their own future world or Amnòdr at this place.
It will thus be seen that, in addition to the points of similarity in
custom and belief, there are definite facts pointing to connexion with
Malabar, and if we suppose that the Todas migrated from this district
we have next to conjecture the path by which they travelled. If any
importance is attached to the belief in the paths taken by the dead, we
should regard it as the most probable view that the Todas travelled
over the Kundahs, the two divisions of the people travelling by
slightly different routes. The Toda tradition that men were created on
the Kundahs is perhaps in favour of this route, which would seem to
correspond with the road to the Nilgiris known as the Sisipara Ghat.
If, on the other hand, we attach importance to the settlement at
Kavidi, the route followed would be that through Gudalur. At the
present time the latter road is far the easier of the two, and, if the
Todas had travelled during the last few years, it would have been the
natural road by which to come, but it does not appear that there was
any essential difference in the difficulties of the two routes before
the roads were made. The evidence in favour of either route is very
scanty, but if the Todas came from Malabar it is probable that they
came by one or other of these paths.
There are two other districts which have some claim to be considered as
possible places from which the Todas may have migrated—viz., Mysore and
Coorg.
The Todas regard with some reverence a Hindu temple at Nanjankudi in
Mysore, and visit it to pay vows, and there is little doubt that they
have done this for a long time. Further, Nòdrs, one of the oldest and
most sacred of the Toda villages, is close to the present road from
Mysore and may have been near the most convenient route from Mysore in
ancient times. I think, however, that, though not recent, the relations
with the Hindu temple at Nanjankudi are not of very great antiquity,
and I am inclined to ascribe the Toda reverence for it to their
association with the Badagas, who almost certainly came from Mysore. I
have not been able to find many parallels to Toda customs in Mysore. In
one case, however, the resemblance is very close. Among the Gollavalu
of Mysore [289] a woman after delivery is turned out into a leaf or mat
hut, about 200 yards from the village, and on the fourth day a woman of
the village pours water over her. In this case the woman lives in the
hut for three months, her husband also living in a special hut. Again,
among the Kadu (or forest) Gollas of Mysore [290] the mother and child
remain in a small shed outside the village for seven to thirty days.
The other district which has customs especially resembling those of the
Todas is Coorg. Among the people of Coorg cloth-giving appears at one
time to have formed the essential marriage ceremony, and there still
exist what are called ‘cloth-marriages’ in which a man becomes the
husband of a woman merely by giving her a cloth. There is also some
evidence that polyandry has been practised in Coorg, and I have already
referred to the resemblance between the pursütpimi ceremony of the
Todas and the Coorg custom of giving a little bow and arrow to a newly
born boy. The bow is made of a stick of the castor-oil plant and for
the arrow the leaf-stalk of the same plant is used. In Coorg the
imitation bow and arrow is put into the hand of the newly born child,
but this custom is not widely removed from that of the Todas in which
the bow and arrow is put into the hand of the mother shortly before the
child is born.
The Todas know the people of Coorg, which they call Kwûrg, and have a
tradition of an invasion of their hills by these people, but it is very
improbable that there has been any direct borrowing, and it seems more
likely that some of the customs of the Todas and Coorgs have had a
common source.
The resemblance with the customs of Coorg are perhaps more striking
than with those of Mysore, and the former region is much more likely to
have been influenced by Malabar than the latter. The links with Coorg
do not weaken, and perhaps even strengthen, the conclusion that the
Todas owe much to Malabar.
If we accept provisionally the view that the Todas migrated to the
Nilgiris from Malabar, we are next confronted with the problem as to
whether they are directly derived from any of the races now living in
that district. The most diverse views have been held by those who have
considered the racial affinities of the Todas. Leaving on one side the
conjectures of those who have supposed them to be Scythians, Druids,
Romans, or Jews, we find that the Todas have been supposed by several
writers to be of Aryan or Caucasic origin. De Quatrefages [291] grouped
the Todas with the Ainus of Northern Japan and Keane [292] follows him
in putting the two peoples together, and regards both as witnesses to
the widespread diffusion of Caucasic races in Asia. Deniker [293]
suggests that they belong to the Indo-Afghan race, with perhaps an
admixture of the Assyroid race.
Previous writers have found no special reason to link the customs of
the Todas with those of Malabar, and, so far as I am aware, no one has
considered how far the Todas may be of the same race as any of the
inhabitants of this district. [294] In considering this matter, we may
anticipate that even if the Todas and any of the tribes or castes of
Malabar had the same origin, marked differences would have been
produced by the long sojourn of the former on the Nilgiri plateau. How
long the Todas have been on the Nilgiri Hills no one can say, but we
may safely conclude that a very long time must have been necessary to
produce the wide divergence in custom and belief which is found to
separate them even from those other inhabitants of India whom they most
closely resemble. If the Todas came from Malabar, they came from a
country differing enormously in temperature and in general physical and
climatic characters from the Nilgiri plateau. Life on the hills must
almost certainly have altered the physical characters of the people,
and it is perhaps now hopeless to expect that any exact resemblance
would be found with the existing races of Malabar even if the Todas are
an offshoot of one of them. Nevertheless, in comparing the physical
measurements of the Todas, which we owe to Mr. Thurston, with those of
various Malabar races taken by Mr. Fawcett, it would seem that the
differences are not very great, and in the measurements to which
anthropologists attach most importance, those of the head and nose,
they are very slight.
In the table on the following page I give the chief measurements in
centimeters for Todas, Nairs, and Nambutiris.
The average dimensions of the heads and noses of the Todas correspond
very closely with those of the Nairs, and the differences from the
Nambutiris are nowhere great. It must be remembered that the
measurements on the Todas were taken by one observer, and those on the
Nairs and Nambutiris by another, [295] and this may partly account for
the large divergence in the case of the maxillo-zygomatic index, which
is calculated from the bigoniac and bizygomatic measurements, in both
of which there is considerable scope for differences between different
observers. The only other measurements which show any decided
divergence are the stature and the length from the middle finger to the
patella, and the greater stature of the Todas may well be the result of
their more healthy environment. The cubit of the Todas also differs
very decidedly from that of the Nambutiris, though little longer than
this dimension of the Nairs.
Todas. [296] 182 Nairs. 25 Nambutiris.
Stature 169·8 165·6 162·3
Span 175·9 175·1 170·0
Chest 82·0 80·6 83·7
Middle finger to patella 12·0 10·1 10·5
Shoulders 39·3 40·0 40·7
Left cubit 47·0 46·2 44·2
Left hand, length 18·8 18·5 18·0
,, ,, width 8·1 8·3 7·8
Hips 25·7 26·0 26·2
Left foot, length 25·0 25·4 24·5
,, ,, width 9·2 8·8
Cephalic length 19·4 19·2 19·2
,, width 14·2 14·1 14·6
,, index 73·3 73·1 76·3
Bigoniac 9·6 10·4 10·6
Bizygomatic 12·7 13·1 13·2
Maxillo-zygomatic index 75·7 80·1 80·4
Nasal height 4·7 4·8 4·9
,, width 3·6 3·6 3·7
,, index 76·6 76·8 75·5
We do not know the probable errors of these different groups of
measurements, but the agreement between the Todas and the two castes of
Malabar is so close as to suggest strongly a racial affinity between
the three. [297]
The hairiness of the Toda is perhaps the feature in which he differs
most obviously from the races of Malabar, while the robustness of his
physique and general bearing are perhaps almost as striking. The latter
qualities may be entirely due to his environment, to his free life in
the comparatively bracing climate of the Nilgiris, and, so far as we
know, the development of hair may have a similar cause. Of all the
castes or tribes of Malabar, the Nambutiris perhaps shows the greatest
number of resemblances to the customs of the Todas, [298] and it is
therefore interesting to note that Mr. Fawcett describes these people
as the hairiest of all the races of Malabar and especially notes that
one individual he examined was like a Toda.
I am not competent to express a decided opinion on the amount of
importance which is to be attached to the resemblance which is shown by
the figures on p. 708, but it seems to me that the facts before us give
no grounds [299] for separating the Todas racially from the two chief
castes of Malabar.
The identification of the Todas with Nairs or Nambutiris would still
leave their racial affinities somewhat indeterminate. The Nambutiris
are often supposed to be Aryan invaders of Malabar, and, owing to the
cause already mentioned, the Nairs are so largely of Nambutiri blood
that, if the Nambutiris are Aryan, the Nairs must also be strongly
Aryanised even if they were originally of pure Dravidian descent.
If future research should show that the Todas are an offshoot of one of
the races now existing in Malabar, and if any definite conclusion can
be drawn as to the time during which they have been on the Nilgiri
Hills, physical anthropologists will be provided with a most
interesting example of the influence of environment on the physical
characters of a race. Few greater contrasts of environment could be
found in a country than that existing between Malabar and the Nilgiris,
and it is possible that the Todas may furnish a striking example of the
influence of environment on physical characters.
In endeavouring to link the Todas with Malabar I have naturally dwelt
on the points of resemblance rather than on the points of difference.
The differences are, however, very great. The general manner of life of
the two peoples is now wholly different, while on the religious side I
may point to the wide prevalence of snake worship in Malabar,
especially among the Nambutiris.
The hypothesis that the Todas are derived from one or more of the races
of Malabar would not be tenable for a moment except on the assumption
that the migration took place very long ago, and that the culture of
Malabar has undergone great changes since the migration. As to the
length of time during which the Todas have been on the Nilgiris, we can
only offer the vaguest surmises. We know that three centuries ago the
Todas were living on the Nilgiris, apparently in much the same state as
at the present day. The appearance of some of their sacred stones
suggests great antiquity, especially the well-worn polished appearance
of the neurzülnkars, which, if the accounts are right, are only rubbed
a few times in the year.
On the other hand, the history of Malabar is highly conjectural. The
two great positive landmarks in its history are the beginning and end
of the rule of the Perumal princes. The date of the first Perumal is
put at about the time of Christ, or somewhat later, and it is tempting
to surmise that the Todas may have been driven or have retired from
Malabar in consequence of the political changes which took place at
this time. The last Perumal probably reigned about a thousand years
ago, but there does not appear to have been any political upheaval at
the time, the last prince having his period of office prolonged beyond
the usual twelve years, and having then divided his dominions among his
family and retainers.
If we assume that the Todas came from Malabar, the date of their
migration would be of great interest in relation to the possibility of
Christian or Jewish influences on the Toda religion. There are ancient
settlements of both Christians and Jews in Malabar. Tradition assigns
the starting-point of the native Christian settlements in Malabar to
St. Thomas; but, leaving this on one side, there seems to be no doubt
that both Christians and Jews were well established in Malabar more
than a thousand years ago. An ancient document is still preserved by
the Jews of Cochin, which was given to their leader by the Perumal of
the day, and this document can be dated about 750 A.D. A similar
document preserved by the Nestorian Christians can be dated 774 A.D.
If the Todas left Malabar at the beginning of the Perumal rule, Jewish
or Christian influences can be excluded, but if at a later period such
influences may have been present, though it is very improbable that
they were important; for, unless the Todas have changed very much, they
would have been very unlikely to have borrowed from religious settlers
of an alien race. Still, in considering the strange resemblance between
the Hebrew and Toda versions of the Creation, this possible influence
should be borne in mind.
I have so far said nothing of the archæological evidence which may
possibly help in the settlement of the vexed questions which I have
raised in the preceding pages. Our knowledge of the history of the
Todas would be very materially advanced if we knew whether the cairns,
barrows and other ancient remains which are found on the Nilgiri Hills
are Toda monuments. In the cairns and barrows there are found objects
which suggest a Toda origin, such as figures of buffaloes with bells
round their necks (see Fig. 76, 9), but the vast majority of the finds
are utterly unlike anything now possessed by the Todas. They include
pottery of many designs, the lids of the vessels being often adorned
with the figures of animals. Many other animal figures have also been
found, and though that of the buffalo often occurs, figures of the
horse (see Fig. 76, 10), sheep, camel, elephant, leopard (?), pig (?),
and low-country bullock with hump are all found. Such figures can only
have been made by those well acquainted with the low country, and none
of these animals are ever mentioned in Toda legends.
Metal work is also found in the cairns and barrows; bronze vases,
basins and saucers (Fig. 76, 1, 2, 3), iron razors, styles or pins (?),
and daggers (Fig. 76, 8), while iron spear-heads (Fig. 76, 4, 7, 13)
are frequently met with.
In addition to the more elaborate cairns, cromlechs and barrows found
on the Nilgiri Hills, Breeks, to whom we owe most of our knowledge on
this subject, found what he took to be ancient examples of the azaram
or circle of stones within which the Toda buries the ashes of his dead
at the end of the second funeral. In such azaram in the district
between Kotagiri and Kwòdrdoni, Breeks found bronze bracelets and
rings, iron spear-heads, a chisel, a knife and an iron implement in
something of the style found in Malabar and differing from those
usually found in the cairns.
Breeks points out that the characteristic feature of the cairns and
barrows of the Nilgiris is the circle of stones, and that some consist
of an insignificant circle hardly to be distinguished from the Toda
azaram. He often found it difficult to say whether a given monument was
a cairn or an azaram, so that it would appear that there are
intermediate gradations between the more elaborate cairns or barrows
containing the pottery and metal work and the simple Toda azaram. From
the amount of rust on the iron implements, however, Breeks concluded
that there was a long interval of time between the most recent of the
cairns and the oldest azaram, but he points out that if the latter are
really azaram, they show that the Todas used at one time to bury such
objects as iron spears. [300]
As regards the cairns, Breeks points out that though the figures of
many animals occur in addition to that of the buffalo, most of the
animals are so badly imitated that it is difficult to identify them,
while the figures of the buffaloes are singularly characteristic and
often very spirited.
The only implements found by Breeks which might be agricultural were
shears and sickles (Fig. 76, 12, 5), and he recalls the kafkati burnt
by the Todas with their dead, which is a curved knife, different,
however, in shape from the sickles often found in the cairns.
On the other hand, very few of the human figures found in the cairns
resemble the Todas in any way; the women have the low-country top-knot
instead of the Toda curls, and they carry chatties on their heads,
which would never be done by a Toda woman at the present time, whatever
she may have done in the past.
Breeks himself inclined to the view that the cairns are Toda monuments.
One objection which has been made to this view is that the Todas
exhibit little or no interest in the cairns, and offer no objection to
their excavation. I have already given reasons [301] why this cannot be
regarded as a conclusive argument against the Toda origin of the
monuments. The Todas certainly identify the hills which possess stone
circles with the abodes of their gods, and the absence of objections to
the excavation may merely be due to the fact that they have no
traditional injunctions against interference with these circles.
In dealing with the religion of the Todas, I have advanced the view
that the ritual and beliefs of the people furnish us with an example of
a religion in a state of decadence. It seems probable that the Todas
once had a religious cult of a distinctly higher order than that they
now possess, and if I am right in supposing that the Todas came from
Malabar, it might follow that they brought their highly developed
religion with them, and that although certain features of the religion
may have undergone great development, the general result of the long
isolation has been to produce degeneration. The study of the religion
suggests that we have in the Todas an example of a people who show us
the remnants of a higher culture.
If we could accept the view that the cairns, barrows, and cromlechs of
the Nilgiri Hills were the work of the ancestors of the Todas, we
should have at once abundant further evidence that the Todas have
degenerated from a higher culture. We should have an example of a
people who once used, even if they did not make, pottery, showing
artistic aptitudes of a fairly high order which they have now entirely
lost. The Toda now procures his pottery from another race, and, so long
as this is of the kind prescribed by custom, he is wholly indifferent
to its æsthetic aspect. I doubt if there exists anywhere in the world a
people so devoid of æsthetic arts, and if the Nilgiri monuments are the
work of their ancestors, the movement backwards in this department of
life must have been very great.
It is easy to see how the Todas may have lost such arts, supposing that
they once possessed them. The Toda now regards nearly every kind of
manual labour as beneath his dignity, and if a people showing artistic
skill in the adornment of the articles they use in everyday life should
hand over the making of these articles to another race, it is fairly
certain that the artistic side would suffer, and this is especially
likely to happen when the artisans whose services are employed are such
people as the Kotas. [302] Assuming that such a transference took
place, it is easy to understand the complete disappearance of art even
higher than that which the contents of the monuments show.
The use of the bow and arrow and the club in ceremonial furnishes us
with another example of material objects which have wholly disappeared
from the active life of the Todas, and here again it is easy to see why
the disappearance has taken place, for on the Nilgiris the Todas have
had no enemies, either human or feral. This disuse of weapons has
indeed so obvious an explanation that it cannot be treated as an
instance of degeneration; and while the origin of the cairns remains
doubtful, the only evidence of degeneration of culture is shown by the
religion; and though it seems to me that the evidence here, especially
that derived from the nature of the prayers, is conclusive, it may not
be so regarded by all.
In the preceding lines I have put forward for consideration the
tentative hypothesis that the Todas may furnish us with an example of a
people who once have possessed a higher culture of which some features
have undergone degeneration. If we combine this hypothesis with that
advanced earlier, that the Todas came from Malabar, we may suppose that
the Todas brought the higher culture with them from this district, and
if this were so, the original culture of the Todas may have been on
much the same general level as that of the dominant castes of Malabar
at the present day. On this hypothesis, it seems to me most likely that
in their new home the religion of the Todas underwent a very special
development, its ritual coming to centre more and more round the
buffalo, because in their very simple environment this was the most
accessible object of veneration. I think there is little doubt that the
extraordinary development of the ritual of the dairy must have taken
place since the Todas have been on the Nilgiris; and, as I have already
pointed out, it seems to me most probable that the degeneration of the
religion has been largely a consequence of the extreme development of
this ritual aspect of their religion.
If we reject the view that the Todas are representatives of one or more
of the castes of Malabar whose institutions have in some ways
degenerated during a long period of isolation, the most likely
alternative view is that the Todas are one of the hill tribes of the
Western Ghats who have developed a higher culture than the rest in the
very favourable environment provided by the Nilgiri plateau. I have
already referred to the resemblance between certain Toda customs and
those of one such tribe, the Hill Arrians, who live in the hills in
Travancore and on the Travancore-Cochin boundary. These people are
fair, about five feet six inches in height, and frequently have
aquiline noses. They inherit in the male line, and have an early
marriage ceremony, followed by another in which cloths are presented to
the bridegroom. After childbirth the woman lives in a shed for sixteen
days. They bury their dead, the earth being dug with the ceremony to
which I have already alluded, [303] and though we are not told that a
cloth is laid on the corpse at the funeral ceremonies, Fawcett [304]
records the fact that a cloth is placed on the grave. There are thus
several points of resemblance between their customs and those of the
Todas, and this resemblance extends in some measure to the physical
appearance and suggests, not only that they and the Todas have been
influenced by the same culture, but even that they are people of the
same race. We are here, however, plunged almost entirely in the region
of conjecture, and we must wait for further information before we
consider whether such tribes as the Hill Arrians are representatives of
the same race as the Todas, both having been driven from the plains of
Malabar into their mountain fastnesses, or whether the Todas and
Arrians are two hill tribes of similar descent who have each been
influenced by Malabar, of whom the Todas have advanced more in culture,
owing to their exceptionally favourable environment on the Nilgiri
plateau.
The whole of this last chapter is, I am afraid, open to the charge of
being highly conjectural. It has, however, seemed to me desirable to
raise some of the problems suggested by the existence of the Todas. In
the settlement of these problems much further research is necessary,
and I have somewhat reluctantly dealt so largely with the conjectural
topics of the chapter, because they seem to point clearly to two lines
of research in which further work is necessary. One is the archæology
of the Nilgiris, which would, I believe, now well repay further
investigation; the other is a detailed inquiry into the more popular
customs of Malabar and especially of its less known peoples, such as
the Hill Arrians, of whom I have just written. It is in the hope that
further interest may be awakened in these lines of inquiry that I have
devoted so much space to the hypotheses and surmises of this final
chapter.
If further research should show that the Todas are derived from ancient
races of Malabar, it is possible that the existence of this strange
people may help to illuminate the many dark places which exist in our
knowledge of the connexion between the Aryan and Dravidian cultures. It
is even possible that the Todas may give us a glimpse of what the
culture of Malabar may have been before the introduction of Brahmanism,
a culture from which many features would have disappeared, while others
would have undergone special development; and, if this were the case,
the complex dairy ritual of the Todas would be the most striking
instance of the development, a development, however, carrying with it
the germs of that degeneration from which the Toda religion now seems
to be suffering.
APPENDICES
APPENDIX I
I give here a translation of two extracts from Portuguese manuscripts
preserved in the British Museum. The original spelling of the names of
places and persons has been preserved and I have added some notes. I am
indebted for the translation to Miss A. de Alberti.
The Mission of Todramala. [305]—This new mission of Todramala belongs
to the college of Vaipicotta, and it seems necessary to give your Rev.
an account thereof that you may be informed of what has been
discovered, as well as of what still remains to be done. Vague rumours
had reached the Lord Bishop Dom Frco. Ros that in the interior of this
Malabar, among some mountains, there dwelt a race of men descended from
the ancient Christians of S. Thomas; in order to discover and open the
way to them he sent from our seminary a Cassanar [306] and a Chamas,
which means a priest and a deacon, who after travelling for more than
fifty miles reached the summit of the mountain of Todramala. Here they
came upon a race which appeared, in accordance with the rumour, to be
of those who were driven from the territory of S. Thome by the many
wars in former times and scattered through these parts. They did not
call it by that name, however, but pointing in the direction of S.
Thomas, they said that certain men came thence, some of whom settled in
those mountains, and others went further down, of whom they knew
nothing. The Cassamar thereupon took occasion to ingratiate himself
with them, saying that those who settled lower down were his ancestors,
and therefore they were all of one race, and they had come solely to
visit them as their brethren and relations. This moved them to such
love and pity that men, women, and children embraced and welcomed them
with tears. They found no trace of Christianity in them; they had
neither crosses nor books, though they said they had some once, but
they were lost as those who could read had died out. They have no
pagoda worship nor pagan ceremonies. On being questioned concerning
their god they spoke of a bird, a father, and a son, from which it may
be presumed that they had some notion of the Blessed Trinity. They
rejoiced to hear of the creation of the world and other discourses
which the Cassamar and the Chamas held with them; and they were very
eager that they should remain with them a long while, but they could
not do so, as their guide was very pressing that they should return.
They are a somewhat white-skinned race and tall of stature; they grow
long beards and wear their hair after the ancient Portuguese fashion,
bushy on the head and falling on the shoulders behind. They have
necessaries in abundance, namely, rice, some wheat, vegetables, and
meat in great variety, both fowls and wild game; quantities of cattle,
and so much milk that they cannot use it all and give it to the very
cattle to drink. Many other things were related of their customs which
I leave until more is known of them. Upon this information the Father
Vice-Provincial, at the instance of the Bishop, resolved to send
thither a priest well acquainted with the Malabar tongue, and therefore
he commissioned the father who was going to the residence of Calicut to
inquire the easiest road and best season for this mission. He found
that it was much nearer Calicut through the territory of the Samorim,
and that the best time was the month of January, when, by the help of
God, a father will set out with several Cassamars, and of what occurs
your Rev. will be informed next year.
The Mission of Todamalâ. [307]—Last year your Rev. received a brief
account of a new mission destined for Todamalâ to a certain race
dwelling in the interior of this country of Malabar, among rugged
mountains, at a distance of fifty leagues or thereabouts. These were
supposed to be descendants of the Christians of S. Thomas who had
somehow drifted to those parts. Though last year the Bishop of
Angamale, Dom Frco. Ros, sent a priest belonging to the Christians of
S. Thomas, accompanied by a deacon and a good guide, to explore the
land and acquire information concerning this race, they did not bring
back such full and certain intelligence as was desired. Therefore the
Lord Bishop asked our Vice-Provincial to send one of our fathers, and
the choice fell upon Father Yacomo Fenicio, [308] who has known the
people of Malabar for many years and is well acquainted with their
language. The father set out from Calicut, where he resides, and whence
the road is easiest, and with the assistance of good guides reached the
desired destination, though at the cost of great labour and risk.
Having acquired ample information, he returned to Calicut from
Thodomala, and on his arrival wrote a letter to the Vice-Provincial,
dated the 1st of April, 1603, giving him an account of his discoveries,
of which the following is a copy—
Copy of a letter from Father Yacome Finicio to the Vice-Provincial Of
Calicut, 1st of April, 1603
Thanks be to God, I am returned from Todamalâ, though with great labour
and little satisfaction, for I did not find there what we hoped and
were led to expect. And as the prosecution or abandonment of this
mission depends upon it, I think it necessary to give you here a
detailed account of all I discovered and endured. The road by Charti
being impracticable on account of the wars which had broken out among
the people, I was obliged to go by Manarechatem, and this was
providential for us, it being the road taken by the Cacenar whom the
bishop sent last year. It is thirteen leagues from the shore of Tanor.
So far the way was safe and easy, this being the territory of the
Samorim, and in every village we met people who knew our Christian
Errari, [309] the nephew of the Samorim, who accompanied me. I was very
glad of his company, because he offered it himself, and because he
could speak Canara, the language of the Badegas, neighbours of the
Todares. Before we reached Mararachate we had an interview with the
chief ruler of the Samorim, who lives within two leagues. I gave him a
palm-leaf from Carnor, chief ruler of the Samorim, in which he bade him
give me the men and assistance necessary for my journey to Todamalâ,
and to go with me himself if necessary. The ruler welcomed us with many
compliments, but as regards the journey he made many difficulties, and
not only he, but many others of that place said that the way was very
long and full of wild and rugged mountains; that there were elephants
and tigers, that it was very cold up there, and finally that there was
a risk that some of us would die. The ruler wished to send two Naires,
who knew the way, with me, but they would not go for fear of falling
sick, even though I would have paid them well. Finding that they made
so many difficulties I pressed the Errari to return to Calicut with his
people, as it was feared that they would fall sick upon the way, and I
would go to Manaracathe and there provide myself with a guide and
escort. This touched the Errari upon a point of honour, and he bade me
not to speak of such a thing, for he was resolved to go, and his Naires
had all bound themselves by an oath to go likewise. The Errari had with
him a Varser, [310] which is little less than a Brahmin, and he said to
me, “Father, if I die on the road, bury me where you will; it is of no
consequence.” I asked another young Naire if he wished to go, and he
replied, “I will accompany your Reverence while I have breath.” Upon
this we took leave of the ruler and went to Manarecathe, where we found
the very chatim who went with the Cacenar; however, the Errari thought
it best to take another more trustworthy, who had relatives in the
country. Here we were told that it was six Canara leagues to Todamalâ,
which is twelve Malabar leagues, and that it would take two days and a
half to get there. Everyone provided himself with clothes against the
cold of Todamalâ, and with provisions for the journey; also with pots
which the Naires carried on their heads, not for want of coolies, but
because the Naires and Brahmins will not allow those of a different
caste to touch the pots in which they cook their rice. The arms were
left behind that the natives might not suppose that the people of
Malabar had come to fight with them. Thus we set out cheerfully, and
the first day, as we could not reach a village before night, we dined,
and started between eight and nine in the morning, and marched quickly
until evening that we might not be benighted in the thicket, for fear
of the elephants, and yet our guide said we had only travelled two
Canara leagues. That day we crossed a sandy mountain.