(carpenters), which is worth narrating. Their version of the story is
repeated among themselves, and not by the Panan, at every marriage
and tali-tying ceremony. They identify the village of the Perumal's
washerman as Kanipayyur. This is the name of a Nambutiri's illam in
the Ponani taluk of Malabar. The Nambutiri is, it may be mentioned,
considered to be the highest extant authority in architecture. Disputed
points relating to this subject are referred to him, and his decision
is final, and accepted by all carpenters and house-builders. The
washerman's stone is said to have been lying flat in the water. The
girl Ayyesvari was also of Kanipayyur, and was carried off as in
the former story. But there was no request for an armed guard to
rescue her. The Perumal was, instead, asked to make the washerman
marry her, and thus avoid disgrace. He consented to do so, and
all the 7,764 families of the five classes of Kammalans assembled
for the wedding. An immense booth, supported on granite pillars,
was erected. The washerman and his party were fed sumptuously. But
the booth had been so constructed that it could be made to collapse
instantaneously. So the Kammalans went quietly outside, and, at a given
signal, the booth collapsed, and crushed to death the washerman and his
friends. After this, the Kammalans fled, and remained one year, eight
months and eleven days in the Izhuva country. Negotiations were carried
on through the Izhuva king, and the Kammalans returned under his
guarantee that their demands would be complied with. The Izhuva king
sent his own men and the Nasrani to the capital of the Perumal. The
story of the exodus and the return was inscribed on granite stone with
solemn rites, and in the presence of witnesses. This was buried at
the northern gate of the Tiruvanchakulam temple on Friday, the eighth
of the month of Kanni. It was resolved that, in any case of doubt,
the stone should be unearthed. And it was only after all this had been
done that the Izhuva king's envoy returned to him. Then the Kammalans
came back to Malabar. According to the carpenters, the copper-smiths
did not return. They say that eighteen families of Asaris remained
behind. Some of these returned long afterwards, but they were not
allowed to rejoin the caste. They are known as Puzhi Tachan, or sand
carpenters, and Patinettanmar, or the eighteen people. There are
four families of this class now living at or near Parpangadi. They
are carpenters, but the Asaris treat them as outcastes.
There is yet another variant of the story of the exodus, which is
obviously of recent manufacture, for a Pattar Brahman is brought in,
and gives cunning advice. We know that the Pattars are comparatively
new comers in Malabar.
The Tiyans have recently been summed up as follows. [31] "The Tiyas
have always been characterised by their persevering and enterprising
habits. A large percentage of them are engaged in various agricultural
pursuits, and some of the most profitable industries of Malabar have
from time out of mind been in their hands. They are exclusively engaged
in making toddy and distilling arrack. Many of them are professional
weavers, the Malabar mundu being a common kind of cloth made by
them. The various industries connected with cocoanut cultivation are
also successfully carried on by the Tiyas. For example, the manufacture
of jaggery (crude sugar) is an industry in which a considerable
number of the Tiyas are profitably engaged. The preparation of coir
from cocoanut fibre is one of their hereditary occupations, and this
is done almost wholly by their women at home. They are very skilful
in the manufacture of coir matting and allied industries. Commercial
pursuits are also common among them. Apart from their agricultural and
industrial inclinations, the Tiyas give evidence of a literary taste,
which is commendable in a people who are living under conditions which
are anything but conducive to literary life. They have among them good
Sanskrit scholars, whose contributions have enriched the Malayalam
literature; physicians well versed in Hindu systems of medicine;
and well-known astrologers, who are also clever mathematicians. In
British Malabar, they have made considerable progress in education. In
recent years, there has been gaining ground among the Tiyas a movement,
which has for its object the social and material improvement of the
community. Their leaders have very rightly given a prominent place
to industry in their schemes of progress and reform. Organisations
for the purpose of educating the members of the community on the
importance of increased industrial efforts have been formed. The
success which has attended the Industrial Exhibition conducted by
the members of the community at Quilon, in 1905, has induced them to
make it a permanent annual event. Some of their young men have been
sent to Japan to study certain industries, and, on their return,
they hope to resuscitate the dying local industries, and to enter
into fresh fields of industry awaiting development. Factories for the
manufacture of coir matting and allied articles have been established
by the Tiyas in some parts of Travancore and Cochin."
In 1906, the foundation stone of a Tiya temple at Tellicherry was
laid with great ceremony. In the following year, a very successful
Industrial Exhibition was held at Cannanore under the auspices of
the Sri Narayan Dharma Paripalana Yogam. Still more recently, it was
resolved to collect subscriptions for the establishment of a hostel
for the use of Tiya youths who come from other places to Tellicherry
for educational purposes.
Tiyoro.--The Tiyoros are described, in the Madras Census Report, 1901,
as "Oriya fishermen, who also make lotus-leaf platters. They have four
endogamous sections, viz., Torai, Ghodai, Artia, and Kulodondia." It
has been suggested that the caste name is a corruption of the Sanskrit
tivara, a hunter. (See Risley, Tribes and Castes of Bengal, Tiyar.)
Toda.--Quite recently, my friend Dr. W. H. Rivers, as the result of
a prolonged stay on the Nilgiris, has published [32] an exhaustive
account of the sociology and religion of this exceptionally
interesting tribe, numbering, according to the latest census
returns, 807 individuals, which inhabits the Nilgiri plateau. I
shall, therefore, content myself with recording the rambling notes
made by myself during occasional visits to Ootacamund and Paikara,
supplemented by extracts from the book just referred to, and the
writings of Harkness and other pioneers of the Nilgiris.
The Todas maintain a large-horned race of semi-domesticated buffaloes,
on whose milk and its products (butter and ney) [33] they still
depend largely, though to a less extent than in bygone days before
the establishment of the Ootacamund bazar, for existence. It has
been said that "a Toda's worldly wealth is judged by the number of
buffaloes he owns. Witness the story in connection with the recent
visit to India of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. A clergyman,
who has done mission work among the Todas, generally illustrates Bible
tales through the medium of a magic-lantern. One chilly afternoon,
the Todas declined to come out of their huts. Thinking they required
humouring like children, the reverend gentleman threw on the screen
a picture of the Prince of Wales, explaining the object of his tour,
and, thinking to impress the Todas, added 'The Prince is exceedingly
wealthy, and is bringing out a retinue of two hundred people.' 'Yes,
yes,' said an old man, wagging his head sagely, 'but how many buffaloes
is he bringing?'"
The Todas lead for the most part a simple pastoral life. But I have
met with more than one man who had served, or who was still serving
Government in the modest capacity of a forest guard, and I have
heard of others who had been employed, not with conspicuous success,
on planters' estates. The Todas consider it beneath their dignity to
cultivate land. A former Collector of the Nilgiris granted them some
acres of land for the cultivation of potatoes, but they leased the
land to the Badagas, and the privilege was cancelled. In connection
with the Todas' objection to work, it is recorded that when, on one
occasion, a mistake about the ownership of some buffaloes committed
an old Toda to jail, it was found impossible to induce him to work
with the convicts, and the authorities, unwilling to resort to
hard remedies, were compelled to save appearances by making him an
overseer. The daily life of a Toda woman has been summed up as lounging
about the mad or mand (Toda settlement), buttering and curling her
hair, and cooking. The women have been described as free from the
ungracious and menial-like timidity of the generality of the sex in
the plains. When Europeans (who are greeted as swami or god) come to a
mand, the women crawl out of their huts, and chant a monotonous song,
all the time clamouring for tips (inam). Even the children are so
trained that they clamour for money till it is forthcoming. As a rule,
the Todas have no objection to Europeans entering into their huts,
but on more than one occasion I have been politely asked to take my
boots off before crawling in on the stomach, so as not to desecrate
the dwelling-place. Writing in 1868, Dr. J. Shortt makes a sweeping
statement that "most of the women have been debauched by Europeans,
who, it is sad to observe, have introduced diseases to which these
innocent tribes were once strangers, and which are slowly but no
less surely sapping their once hardy and vigorous constitutions. The
effects of intemperance and disease (syphilis) combined are becoming
more and more apparent in the shaken and decrepit appearance which
at the present day these tribes possess." Fact it undoubtedly is,
and proved both by hospital and naked-eye evidence, that syphilis has
been introduced among the Todas by contact with the outside world,
and they attribute the stunted growth of some members of the rising
generation, as compared with the splendid physique of the lusty
veterans, to the results thereof. It is an oft-repeated statement that
the women show an absence of any sense of decency in exposing their
naked persons in the presence of strangers. In connection with the
question of the morality of the Toda women, Dr. Rivers writes that
"the low sexual morality of the Todas is not limited in its scope
to the relations within the Toda community. Conflicting views are
held by those who know the Nilgiri hills as to the relations of the
Todas with the other inhabitants, and especially with the train of
natives which the European immigration to the hills has brought in
its wake. The general opinion on the hills is that, in this respect,
the morality of the Todas is as low as it well could be, but it is a
question whether this opinion is not too much based on the behaviour
of the inhabitants of one or two villages [e.g., the one commonly
known as School or Sylk's mand] near the European settlements, and
I think it is probable that the larger part of the Todas remain more
uncontaminated than is generally supposed."
I came across one Toda who, with several other members of the tribe,
was selected on account of fine physique for exhibition at Barnum's
show in Europe, America and Australia some years ago, and still
retained a smattering of English, talking fondly of 'Shumbu' (the
elephant Jumbo). For some time after his return to his hill abode,
a tall white hat was the admiration of his fellow tribesmen. To this
man finger-prints came as no novelty, since his impressions were
recorded both in England and America.
Writing in 1870, [34] Colonel W. Ross King stated that the Todas had
just so much knowledge of the speech of their vassals as is demanded
by the most ordinary requirements. At the present day, a few write,
and many converse fluently in Tamil. The Nilgiri C.M.S. Tamil mission
has extended its sphere of work to the Todas, and I cannot resist
the temptation to narrate a Toda version of the story of Dives and
Lazarus. The English say that once upon a time a rich man and a poor
man died. At the funeral of the rich man, there was a great tamasha
(spectacle), and many buffaloes were sacrificed. But, for the funeral
of the poor man, neither music nor buffaloes were provided. The English
believe that in the next world the poor man was as well off as the
rich man; so that, when any one dies, it is of no use spending money
on the funeral ceremonies. Two mission schools have been established,
one at Ootacamund, the other near Paikara. At the latter I have seen a
number of children of both sexes reading elementary Tamil and English,
and doing simple arithmetic.
A few years ago a Toda boy was baptised at Tinnevelly, and remained
there for instruction. It was hoped that he would return to the hills
as an evangelist among his people. [35] In 1907, five young Toda women
were baptised at the C.M.S. Mission chapel, Ootacamund. "They were
clothed in white, with a white cloth over their heads, such as the
Native Christians wear. A number of Christian Badagas had assembled
to witness the ceremony, and join in the service."
The typical Toda man is above medium height, well proportioned
and stalwart, with leptorhine nose, regular features, and perfect
teeth. The nose is, as noted by Dr. Rivers, sometimes distinctly
rounded in profile. An attempt has been made to connect the Todas
with the lost tribes; and, amid a crowd of them collected together
at a funeral, there is no difficulty in picking out individuals,
whose features would find for them a ready place as actors on the
Ober Ammergau stage, either in leading or subordinate parts. The
principal characteristic, which at once distinguishes the Toda from
the other tribes of the Nilgiris, is the development of the pilous
(hairy) system. The following is a typical case, extracted from my
notes. Beard luxuriant, hair of head parted in middle, and hanging in
curls over forehead and back of neck. Hair thickly developed on chest
and abdomen, with median strip of dense hairs on the latter. Hair
thick over upper and lower ends of shoulder-blades, thinner over
rest of back; well developed on extensor surface of upper arms,
and both surfaces of forearms; very thick on extensor surfaces of
the latter. Hair abundant on both surfaces of legs; thickest on
outer side of thighs and round knee-cap. Dense beard-like mass of
hair beneath gluteal region (buttocks). Superciliary brow ridges
very prominent. Eyebrows united across middle line by thick tuft
of hairs. A dense growth of long straight hairs directed outwards
on helix of both ears, bearing a striking resemblance to the hairy
development on the helix of the South Indian bonnet monkey (Macacus
sinicus). The profuse hairy development is by some Todas attributed
to their drinking "too much milk."
Nearly all the men have one or more raised cicatrices, forming
nodulous growths (keloids) on the right shoulder.These scars are
produced by burning the skin with red-hot sticks of Litsæa Wightiana
(the sacred fire-stick). The Todas believe that the branding enables
them to milk the buffaloes with perfect ease, or as Dr. Rivers puts it,
that it cures the pain caused by the fatigue of milking. "The marks,"
he says, "are made when a boy is about twelve years old, at which age
he begins to milk the buffaloes." About the fifth month of a woman's
first pregnancy, on the new-moon day, she goes through a ceremony,
in which she brands herself, or is branded by another woman, by
means of a rag rolled up, dipped in oil and lighted, with a dot on
the carpo-metacarpal joint of each thumb and on each wrist.
The women are lighter in colour than the men, and the colour of the
body has been aptly described as of a café-au-lait tint. The skin
of the female children and young adults is often of a warm copper
hue. Some of the young women, with their raven-black hair dressed
in glossy ringlets, and bright glistening eyes, are distinctly
good-looking, but both good looks and complexion are short-lived,
and the women speedily degenerate into uncomely hags. As in Maori
land, so in Toda land, one finds a race of superb men coupled to
hideous women, and, with the exception of the young girls, the fair
sex is the male sex. Both men and women cover their bodies with
a white mantle with blue and red lines, called putkuli, which is
purchased in the Ootacamund bazar, and is sometimes decorated with
embroidery worked by the Toda women. The odour of the person of the
Todas, caused by the rancid butter which they apply to the mantle
as a preservative reagent, or with which they anoint their bodies,
is quite characteristic. With a view to testing his sense of smell,
long after our return from Paikara, I blindfolded a friend who had
accompanied me thither, and presented before his nose a cloth, which
he at once recognised as having something to do with the Todas.
In former times, a Badaga could be at once picked out from the other
tribes of the Nilgiri plateau by his wearing a turban. At the present
day, some Toda elders and important members of the community (e.g.,
monegars or headmen) have adopted this form of head-gear. The men who
were engaged as guides by Dr. Rivers and myself donned the turban in
honour of their appointment.
Toda females are tattooed after they have reached puberty. I have
seen several multiparæ, in whom the absence of tattoo marks was
explained either on the ground that they were too poor to afford
the expense of the operation, or that they were always suckling or
pregnant--conditions, they said, in which the operation would not be
free from danger. The dots and circles, of which the simple devices
are made up, [36] are marked out with lamp-black made into a paste
with water, and the pattern is pricked in by a Toda woman with the
spines of Berberis aristata. The system of tattooing and decoration
of females with ornaments is summed up in the following cases:--
1. Aged 22. Has one child. Tattooed with three dots on back of left
hand. Wears silver necklet ornamented with Arcot two-anna pieces;
thread and silver armlets ornamented with cowry (Cypræa moneta)
shells on right upper arm; thread armlet ornamented with cowries on
left forearm; brass ring on left ring finger; silver rings on right
middle and ring fingers. Lobes of ears pierced. Ear-rings removed
owing to grandmother's death.
2. Aged 28. Tattooed with a single dot on chin; rings and dots on
chest, outer side of upper arms, back of left hand, below calves, above
ankles, and across dorsum of feet. Wears thread armlet ornamented with
young cowries on right forearm; thread armlet and two heavy ornamental
brass armlets on left upper arm; ornamental brass bangle and glass
bead bracelet on left wrist; brass ring on left little finger; two
steel rings on left ring finger; bead necklet ornamented with cowries.
3. Aged 35. Tattooed like the preceding, with the addition of an
elaborate device of rings and dots on the back.
4. Aged 35. Linen bound round elbow joint, to prevent chafing of
heavy brass armlets. Cicatrices of sores in front of elbow joint,
produced by armlets.
5. Aged 23. Has one child. Tattooed only below calves, and above
ankles.
The following are the more important physical measurements of the
Toda men, whom I have examined:--
Av. Max. Min.
cm. cm. cm.
Stature 169.8 186.8 157.6
Cephalic length 19.4 20.4 18.2
Do. breadth 14.2 15.2 13.3
Do. index 73.3 81.3 68.7
Nasal height 4.7 4.9 4.6
Do. breadth 3.6 3.8 3.4
Do. index 74.9 79.9 70.
Allowing that the cephalic index is a good criterion of racial or
tribal purity, the following analysis of the Toda indices is very
striking:--
69 **
70 *******
71 ***********
72 *******
73 ************** [37]
74 *********************
75 *********
76 ******
77 *
78 *
79 *
80
81 *
A thing of exceeding joy to the Todas was my Salter's hand-dynamometer,
the fame of which spread from mand to mand, and which was circulated
among the crowd at funerals. Great was the disgust of the assembled
males, on a certain day, when the record of hand-grip for the morning
(73 lbs.) was carried off by a big-boned female, who became the
unlovely heroine of the moment. The largest English feminine hand-grip,
recorded in my laboratory note-book, is only 66 lbs. One Toda man,
of fine physique, not satisfied with his grip of 98 lbs., went into
training, and fed himself up for a few days. Thus prepared, he returned
to accomplish 103 lbs., the result of more skilful manipulation of
the machine rather than of a liberal dietary of butter-milk.
The routine Toda dietary is said to be made up of the following
articles, to which must be added strong drinks purchased at the
toddy shops:--
(a) Rice boiled in whey.
(b) Rice and jaggery (crude sugar) boiled in water.
(c) Broth or curry made of vegetables purchased in the bazar, wild
vegetables and pot-herbs, which, together with ground orchids, the
Todas may often be seen rooting up with a sharp-pointed digging-stick
on the hill-sides. The Todas scornfully deny the use of aphrodisiacs,
but both men and women admit that they take salep misri boiled in milk,
to make them strong. Salep misri is made from the tubers (testicles
de chiens) of various species of Eulophia and Habenaria belonging to
the natural order Orchideæ.
The indigenous edible plants and pot-herbs include the following:--
(1) Cnicus Wallichii (thistle).--The roots and flower-stalks are
stripped of their bark, and made into soup or curry.
(2) Girardinia heterophylla (Nilgiri nettle).--The tender leafy shoots
of vigorously growing plants are gathered, crushed by beating with a
stick to destroy the stinging hairs, and made into soup or curry. The
fibre of this plant, which is cultivated near the mands, is used for
stitching the putkuli, with steel needles purchased in the bazar in
lieu of the more primitive form. In the preparation of the fibre,
the bark is thrown into a pot of boiling water, to which ashes have
been added. After a few hours' boiling, the bark is taken out and
the fibre extracted.
(3) Tender shoots of bamboos eaten in the form of curry.
(4) Alternanthera sessilis. Pot-herbs.
Stellaria media.
Amarantus spinosus.
Amarantus polygonoides.
The following list of plants, of which the fruits are eaten by the
Todas, has been brought together by Mr. K. Rangachari:--
Eugenia Arnottiana.--The dark purple juice of the fruit of this tree
is used by Toda women for painting beauty spots on their faces.
Rubus ellipticus. Wild raspberry.
Rubus molucanus.
Rubus lasiocarpus.
Fragaria nilgerrensis, wild strawberry.
Elæagnus latifolia. Said by Dr. Mason to make excellent tarts and
jellies.
Gaultheria fragrantissima.
Rhodomyrtus tomentosa, hill gooseberry.
Loranthus neelgherrensis. Parasitic on trees.
Loranthus loniceroides.
Elæocarpus oblongus.
Elæocarpus Munronii.
Berberis aristata. Barberry.
Berberis nepalensis.
Solanum nigrum.
Vaccinium Leschenaultii.
Vaccinium nilgherrense.
Toddalia aculeata.
Ceropegia pusilla.
To which may be added mushrooms.
A list containing the botanical and Toda names of trees, shrubs, etc.,
used by the Todas in their ordinary life, or in their ceremonial,
is given by Dr. Rivers. [38]