freedom from accident; and, later in the day, the stalwart buffalo
catchers turned up at the travellers' bungalow for a pourboire in
return, as they said, for treating us to a good fight. The beasts
selected for sacrifice were a full-grown cow and a young calf. As
they were dragged near to the corpse, now removed from the arbour,
butter was smeared over the horns, and a bell tied round the neck. The
bell was subsequently removed by Kotas, in whose custody, it was said,
it was to remain till the next day funeral. The death-blow, or rather
series of blows, having been delivered with the butt end of an axe,
the feet of the corpse were placed at the mouth of the buffalo. In the
case of a male corpse, the right hand is made to clasp the horns. [It
is recorded by Dr. Rivers that, at the funeral of a male, men dance
after the buffalo is killed. In the dancing a tall pole, called
tadri or tadrsi, decorated with cowry shells, is used.] The customary
mourning in couples concluded, the corpse, clad in four cloths, was
carried on the stretcher to a clear space in the neighbouring shola,
and placed by the side of the funeral pyre, which had been rapidly
piled up. The innermost cloth was black in colour, and similar to that
worn by a palol. Next to it came a putkuli decorated with blue and
red embroidery, outside which again was a plain white cloth covered
over by a red cotton cloth of European manufacture. Seated by the
side of the pyre, near to which I was courteously invited to take a
seat on the stump of a rhododendron, was an elderly relative of the
dead woman, who, while watching the ceremonial, was placidly engaged
in the manufacture of a holly walking-stick with the aid of a glass
scraper. The proceedings were watched on behalf of Government by a
forest guard, and a police constable who, with marked affectation,
held his handkerchief to his nose throughout the ceremonial. The
corpse was decorated with brass rings, and within the putkuli were
stowed jaggery, a scroll of paper adorned with cowry shells, snuff
and tobacco, cocoanuts, biscuits, various kinds of grain, ghi, honey,
and a tin-framed looking-glass. A long purse, containing a silver
Japanese yen and an Arcot rupee of the East India Company, was tied
up in the putkuli close to the feet. These preliminaries concluded,
the corpse was hoisted up, and swung three times over the now burning
pyre, above which a mimic bier, made of slender twigs, was held. The
body was then stripped of its jewelry, and a lock of hair cut off by
the daughter-in-law for preservation, together with a fragment of the
skull. I was told that, when the corpse is swung over the pyre, the
dead person goes to amnodr (the world of the dead). In this connection,
Dr. Rivers writes that "it would seem as if this ceremony of swinging
the body over the fire was directly connected with the removal of the
objects of value. The swinging over the fire would be symbolic of its
destruction by fire; and this symbolic burning has the great advantage
that the objects of value are not consumed, and are available for use
another time. This is probably the real explanation of the ceremony,
but it is not the explanation given by the Todas themselves. They say
that long ago, about 400 years, a man supposed to be dead was put on
the funeral pyre, and, revived by the heat, he was found to be alive,
and was able to walk away from the funeral place. In consequence of
this, the rule was made that the body should always be swung three
times over the fire before it is finally placed thereon." [Colonel
Marshall narrates the story that a Toda who had revived from what
was thought his death-bed, has been observed parading about, very
proud and distinguished looking, wearing the finery with which he had
been bedecked for his own funeral, and which he would be permitted
to carry till he really departed this life.] As soon as the pyre was
fairly ablaze, the mourners, with the exception of some of the female
relatives, left the shola, and the men, congregating on the summit of
a neighbouring hill, invoked their god. Four men, seized, apparently
in imitation of the Kota Devadi, with divine frenzy, began to shiver
and gesticulate wildly, while running blindly to and fro with closed
eyes and shaking fists. They then began to talk in Malayalam, and offer
an explanation of an extraordinary phenomenon, which had appeared in
the form of a gigantic figure, which disappeared as suddenly as it
appeared. At the annual ceremony of walking through fire (hot ashes)
in that year, two factions arose owing to some dissension, and two sets
of ashes were used. This seems to have annoyed the gods, and those
concerned were threatened with speedy ruin. But the whole story was
very vague. The possession by some Todas of a smattering of Malayalam
is explained by the fact that, when grazing their buffaloes on the
northern and western slopes of the Nilgiris, they come in contact
with Malayalam-speaking people from the neighbouring Malabar district.
At the funeral of a man (a leper), the corpse was placed in front of
the entrance to a circle of loose stones about a yard and a half in
diameter, which had been specially constructed for the occasion. Just
before the buffalo sacrifice, a man of the Paiki clan standing near the
head of the corpse, dug a hole in the ground with a cane, and asked
a Kenna who was standing on the other side, "Puzhut, Kenna," [51]
shall I throw the earth?--three times. To which the Kenna, answering,
replied "Puzhut"--throw the earth--thrice. The Paiki then threw some
earth three times over the corpse, and three times into the miniature
kraal. It is suggested by Dr. Rivers that the circle was made to do
duty for a buffalo pen, as the funeral was held at a place where there
was no tu (pen), from the entrance of which earth could be dug up.
Several examples of laments relating to the virtues and life
of the deceased, which are sung or recited in the course of the
funeral ceremonies, are given by Dr. Rivers. On the occasion of
the reproduction of a lament in my phonograph, two young women were
seen to be crying bitterly. The selection of the particular lament
was unfortunate, as it had been sung at their father's funeral. The
reproduction of the recitation of a dead person's sins at a Badaga
funeral quickly restored them to a state of cheerfulness.
The following petition to the Collector of the Nilgiris on the subject
of buffalo sacrifice may be quoted as a sign of the times, when the
Todas employ petition-writers to express their grievances:--
"According to our religious custom for the long period, we are bringing
forward of our killing buffaloes without any irregular way. But,
in last year, when the late Collector came to see the said place,
by that he ordered to the Todas first not to keep the buffaloes
without feeding in the kraal, and second he ordered to kill each
for every day, and to clear away the buffaloes, and not to keep the
buffaloes without food. We did our work according to his orders, and
this excellent order was an ample one. Now this ----, a chief of the
Todas, son of ----, a deceased Toda, the above man joined with the
moniagar of ---- village, joined together, and, dealing with bribes,
now they arose against us, and doing this great troubles on us, and
also, by this great trouble, one day Mr. ---- came for shooting snapes
(snipe) by that side. By chance one grazing buffalo came to him, push
him by his horns very forcely, and wounded him on his leg. By the help
of another gentleman who came with him he escaped, or he would have
die at the moment. Now the said moniagar and ---- joined together,
want to finish the funeral to his late father on the 18th instant. For
this purpose they are going to shut the buffaloes without food in the
kraal on the 18th instant at 10 o'clock. They are going to kill the
buffaloes on the 19th instant at 4 o'clock in the evening. But this
is a great sin against god. But we beg your honour this way. That is,
let them leave the buffaloes in the grazing place, and ask them to
catch and kill them at the same moment. And also your honour cannot
ordered them to keep them in the kraal without food. And, if they
will desire to kill the buffaloes in this way, these buffaloes will
come on us, and also on the other peoples one who, coming to see funs
on those day, will kill them all by his anxious. And so we the Todas
begs your honour to enquire them before the 18th, the said funeral
ceremony commencing, and not to grant the above orders to them."
A Whit Monday at Paikara was given up to an exhibition of sports
and games, whereof the most exciting and interesting was a burlesque
representation of a Toda funeral by boys and girls. A Toda, who was
fond of his little joke, applied the term pacchai kedu (green funeral)
to the corpses of the flies entrapped by a viscous catch'em-alive-oh
on the bungalow table. To the mock funeral rites arrived a party of
youths, as from a distant mand, and crying out U, hah, in shrill
mimicry of their elders. The lad who was to play the leading part
of sacrificial buffalo, stripping off his putkuli, disappeared from
sight over the brow of a low hillock. Above this eminence his bent and
uplifted upper extremities shortly appeared as representatives of the
buffalo horns. At sight thereof, there was a wild rush of small boys
to catch him, and a mimic struggle took place, while the buffalo was
dragged, amid good-tempered scuffling, kicks, and shouting, to the
spot where the corpse should have been. This spot was, in the absence
of a pseudo-dead body or stage dummy, indicated by a group of little
girls, who had sat chatting together till the boy-beast arrived,
when they touched foreheads, and went, with due solemnity, through
the orthodox observance of mourning in couples. The buffalo was slain
by a smart tap on the back of the head with a cloth, which did duty
for an axe. As soon as the convulsive movements and twitchings of the
death struggle were over, the buffalo, without waiting for an encore,
retired behind the hillock once more, in order that the rough and
tumble fight, which was evidently the chief charm of the game, might
be repeated. The buffalo boy later on came in second in a flat race,
and he was last seen protecting us from a mischievous-looking member
of his herd, which was grazing on the main-road. Toda buffaloes, it
may be noted, are not at all popular with members of the Ootacamund
Hunt, as both horses and riders from time to time receive injuries
from their horns, when they come in collision.
While the funeral game was in progress, the men showed off their
prowess at a game (eln), [52] corresponding to the English tip-cat,
which is epidemic at a certain season in the London bye-streets. It
is played with a bat like a broomstick, and a cylindrical piece of
wood pointed at both ends. The latter is propped up against a stone,
and struck with the bat. As it flies off the stone, it is hit to a
distance with the bat, and caught (or missed) by the out fields.
At the Muttanad mand, we were treated to a further exhibition of
games. In one of these, called narthpimi, a flat slab of stone is
supported horizontally on two other slabs fixed perpendicularly in
the ground so as to form a narrow tunnel, through which a man can
just manage to wriggle his body with difficulty. Two men take part
in the game, one stationing himself at a distance of about thirty
yards, the other about sixty yards from the tunnel. The front man,
throwing off his mantle, runs as hard as he can to the tunnel, pursued
by the 'scratch' man, whose object is to touch the other man's feet
before he has squeezed himself through the tunnel. Another sport,
which we witnessed, consists of trial of strength with a heavy
globular stone, the object being to raise it up to the shoulder;
but a strong, well-built-man--he who was entrusted with slaying the
funeral buffalo--failed to raise it higher than the pit of the stomach,
though straining his muscles in the attempt. A splendidly made veteran
assured me that, when young and lusty, he was able to accomplish the
feat, and spoke sadly of degeneration in the physique of the younger
members of the tribe.
Mr. Breeks mentions that the Todas play a game resembling
puss-in-the-corner, called karialapimi, which was not included in
the programme of sports got up for our benefit. Dr. Rivers writes
that "the Todas, and especially the children, often play with
mimic representations of objects from practical life. Near the
villages I have seen small artificial buffalo-pens and fireplaces
made by the children in sport." I have, on several occasions, come
across young children playing with long and short pieces of twigs
representing buffaloes and their calves, and going solemnly through
the various incidents in the daily life of these animals. Todas,
both old and young, may constantly be seen twisting flexible twigs
into representations of buffaloes' heads and horns.
Of Toda songs, the following have been collected:--
Sunshine is increasing. Mist is fast gathering. Rain may
come. Thunder roars. Clouds are gathering.
Rain is pouring. Wind and rain have combined.
Oh, powerful god, may everything prosper!
May charity increase!
May the buffaloes become pregnant!
See that the buffaloes have calves.
See that the barren women have children.
Go and tell this to the god of the land.
Keygamor, Eygamor (names of buffaloes).
Evening is approaching. The buffaloes are coming.
The calves also have returned.
The buffaloes are saluted.
The dairy-man beats the calves with his stick.
Milk has been offered to the bell.
It is growing dark.
This is a buffalo with beautiful horns.
A buffalo stupidly given away by the Badaga.
A buffalo brought to the Kandal mand.
Innerovya (name of buffalo).
Like this buffalo there is no other.
Parkur (name of a Toda).
Like him there is no man.
The sun is shining. The wind is blowing.
Rain is coming. The trees are in flower.
Tears are falling. The nose is burning.
He is coming, holding up his umbrella.
He is coming, wearing a good body-cloth.
He is coming, wearing a good under-cloth.
He (the palol) is coming, wearing a black cloth.
He is coming, holding his walking-stick of palai wood.
I have a god. What is to become of me?
I am inclined to cry, my heart being heavy.
Oh, my child! Do not cry. It is still crying.
Thuree. Thuree. See. Be quiet.
A robust bull buffalo. Ach! Ach!
A big buffalo not intended for killing. Ach! Ach!
Is leading the cow buffalo. Ah! Ah!
Two or three men are driving it. Ah! Ah!
Song in honour of the arrival of the Maharani-Regent of Mysore at
Ootacamund.
All we Todas go to her house, and dance before her.
She gives us fifteen rupees.
She comes near our women, and talks to them.
She gives cloths to us.
Next day we take milk, eight bottles in the morning, four in
the evening.
Month by month she pays us for our milk.
She goes back to Mysore, and, when she goes, we stand in a row
before her.
She gives us presents; cloths and three rupees.
The women cut their hair, and stand before her.
Marriage Song.
Boys and girls are singing.
Much money are they spending.
To the girl her father is giving five buffaloes.
The husband tells his wife that she must curl her hair.
If her hair is curled, all the people will rejoice.
The buffalo is slain, and now we must all dance.
Why are not more people here? More should come.
My buffalo is big, very big.
Go quickly and catch it.
The Todas are all there. They are standing in a row.
Who will run, and catch the buffalo first?
To him will a present of five rupees be given.
I will go and catch it first.
The Todas are all fighting.
The Todas are all feasting.
People give them rice.
The buffalo is coming. Two men run to catch it by the neck.
Ten men collect the buffaloes. They pen them in a kraal.
At one o'clock we take our food.
The buffalo is running, and I hit it on the back with a stick.
It swerves aside, but I drive it back to the path.
Night comes, and we all dance.
Next morning at ten o'clock we bring out the buffalo, and slay it.
At four in the morning we wrap rice and grain in a white cloth,
and burn it.
At eleven we cut the hair of the boys and girls.
At four in the morning the priest goes to the temple (dairy).
He lights the lamp.
At eight he milks his buffaloes.
He puts on no cloth.
He places butter and ghi before the god.
Then he grazes his buffaloes, and eats his food.
Then he puts on his cloth.
At three in the afternoon he goes again to the temple.
He kindles a fire, and lights the lamp.
He puts milk in a chatty, and churns it into butter with a cane.
He mixes water with the butter-milk, and gives it to the women
to drink.
He alone may sleep in the temple.
At four in the morning he lets out the buffaloes to graze.
At seven he milks them.
The woman's house is down the hill.
The priest must not go in unto the woman.
He may not marry.
When he is twenty, he may not enter the temple.
Another is made priest in his stead.
The religious institutions of the Todas, including the elaborate
dairy ritual, and their religion, are described in full detail by
Dr. Rivers. The Todas have been to some extent influenced by Hinduism,
and some visit the temples at Nanjengod in Mysore, Karamadai in
the Coimbatore district, and other shrines, whereat they worship,
present votive offerings, and pray for offspring, etc. Writing in
1872, Mr. Breeks remarked that "about Ootacamund, a few Todas have
latterly begun to imitate the religious practices of their native
neighbours. Occasionally children's foreheads are marked with the
Siva spot, and my particular friend Kinniaven, after an absence of
some days, returned with a shaven head from a visit to the temple
of Siva at Nanjengudi." A man who came to my laboratory had his hair
hanging down in long tails reaching below his shoulders. He had, he
said, let it grow long because his wife, though married five years,
had borne no child. A child had, however, recently been born, and,
as soon as the second funeral of a relation had been performed, he
was going to sacrifice his locks as a thank-offering at the Nanjengod
temple. The following extracts from my notes will serve to illustrate
the practice of marking (in some instances apparently for beauty's
sake) and shaving as carried out at the present day.
(1) Man, aged 28. Has just performed a ceremony at the ti mand. White
curved line painted across forehead, and dots below outer ends thereof,
on glabella, and outside orbits. Smeared with white across chest,
over outer side of upper arms and left nipple, across knuckles and
lower end of left ulna, and on lobes of ears.
(2) Man, aged 21. Painted on forehead as above. Smeared over chest
and upper eye lids.
(3) Man, aged 35. White spot painted on forehead.
(4) Man, aged 30. Hair of head and beard cut short owing to death
of grandfather.
(5) Boy, aged 12. Shock head of hair, cut very short all over owing
to death of grandfather.
(6) Girl, aged 8. Hair shaved on top, back and sides of head, and in
median strip from vertex to forehead.
(7) Boy, aged 6. White spot painted between eyebrows. Hair shaved
on top and sides of head, and in median strip from vertex to
forehead. Hair brought forward in fringe over forehead on either side
of median strip, and hanging down back of neck.
(8) Male child, aged 18 months. White spot painted between
eyebrows. Shaved on top and sides of head.
Todupuzha Vellala.--For the following note, I am indebted to
Mr. N. Subramani Aiyar. Besides the Nanchinad Vellalas, there are,
in Travancore, two sections of the Vellala caste, inhabiting the
mountainous Todupuzha taluk. These are the Tenkanchi and Kumbakonam
Vellalas. The former are known by the popular name of Anjuttilkar,
or the five hundred, and the latter are designated Munnutilkar, or the
three hundred, in reference to the number of families which originally
settled in the taluk. Like the Nanchinad Vellalas, they take the
title of Pillai, and, in special cases, the honorific prefix Kanakku.
The Tenkanchi Vellalas appear to have dwelt originally in the
Tenkasi taluk of the Tinnevelly district, and to have emigrated,
as the legend goes, on account of the demand of a Vaduka ruler for
the hand of a member of their community in marriage. The Vadakkumkur
Rajas were ruling over Todupuzha at the time of their migration,
and afforded them a safe asylum. The Kumbakonam Vellalas believe
that they emigrated to Travancore about the commencement of the
Malabar era from Kumbakonam in the Tanjore district. Both divisions
speak Malayalam, but there are clear indications in their speech
that their mother-tongue was once Tamil, and they always use that
language in their ceremonial writings. The Anjuttilkar women have
adopted the dress and ornaments of the Nayars. Both sections wear
the tuft of hair in front, but the Munnutilkar women do not tie the
hair on the left side like the Nayars and Anjuttilkars, but behind
like the Pandi Vellalas. Nor do the Anjuttilkar women wear a white
dress like the Tenkanchis, but a coloured cloth, sixteen cubits in
length, in orthodox Tamil fashion. Again, while the Tenkanchi women
largely resort to the todu and other Nayar ornaments, the Kumbakonam
women are more conservative, and wear only the pampadam and melidu,
though they sometimes wear jewels, such as the nagapata tali for the
neck. Both sections are Saivites, in the sense that they abstain from
flesh and fish.
Their principal occupation is agriculture. They worship the
two mountain deities Bhadrakali and Durga. In the Kirikkot muri
of the Karikkod property there is a temple dedicated to Siva or
Unnamalanathar, with a large amount of property attached to it. This
belongs to the Tenkanchi Vellalas, and a Malayalam Brahman performs the
priestly functions. The Kumbakonam Vellalas have their own temples,
such as the Ankalamma koil, Annamala matam, Virabhadran koil, etc.,
and worship, besides the principal gods of the Hindu pantheon, such
minor deities as Virabhadran, Karuppan, Bhairavan, Mariamman, and
Muttaramman. The priests of both sections are East Coast Brahmans,
who live in the Todupuzha taluk. As their profession is regarded by
other Brahmans as degrading, they, especially in the case of the
Kumbakonam Vellalas, perform their duties stealthily. The headman
of the Kumbakonam section lives in the Periyakulam taluk of the
Madura district, and, by his order, an image of Siva is worshipped
at their homes.
Divorce is not permitted on any ground, and, in ancient days, widow
remarriage was forbidden. There is a legend that a woman of this caste,
who was a friend of the daughter of a certain Vadakkumkur Rajah, was
so aggrieved at the news of her newly married husband's death that,
at her intercession, the Rajah issued a proclamation permitting
the remarriage of widows. If no husband has been found for a girl
before she reaches puberty, certain propitiatory rites have to be
performed, at which one of her female relations represents her. On
the fourth day of the marriage ceremony, the bride and bridegroom,
before they bathe, rub each other's bodies with oil, and, going to a
large caldron containing water, throw a gold and silver ring into it,
and pick them out three times. Inheritance of both sections is from
father to son (makkathayam). A sambandham alliance does not confer
any rite of inheritance.
The names of both sections are such as are unknown among Nayars,
e.g., Sivalingam, Arunachalam, Chidambaram, Arumukham. The Tenkanchis
are considered to be higher in the social scale than the Kumbakonam
section, as they observe only twelve days' death pollution, whereas
the latter are under pollution for sixteen days. The Tenkanchis may
enter the temple, and, like Nayars, stand on the left side of the
inner shrine, whereas the Kumbakonam Vellalas may proceed only as far
as the balikkalpura, or out-house of the temple, and not enter the
nalambalam. Again, butter-milk is freely received by Brahmans from
the Tenkanchis, but not from members of the Kumbakonam section. While
Pandi Vellalas will not receive food from the Tenkanchis, or give
their daughters in marriage to them, the latter will not intermarry
with the Nanchinad Vellalas.
Togata.--The Togatas are Telugu weavers, most numerous in the
Cuddapah district, who manufacture the coarsest kind of cotton
cloths, such as are worn by the poorer classes. They are generally
Vaishnavites, wear the sacred thread, and have for their priests
Vaishnava Brahmans or Satanis. They eat flesh, and their widows are
allowed to remarry. Writing concerning the Togatas in 1807, Buchanan
states [53] that "widows cannot marry again, but are not expected to
kill themselves. The Panchanga, or village astrologer, attends at
births, marriages, funerals, at the ceremonies performed in honour
of their deceased parents, and at the building of a new house, and
on each occasion gets a fee of one fanam, or eight pence. On other
occasions, when a weaver wants to pray, he calls in a Satanana, who
reads something in an unknown language, and gives the votary some
holy water, which he consecrates by pouring it on the head of a small
image that he carries about for the purpose."