CHAPTER VII
ORDINATION CEREMONIES
Before a dairyman enters upon office he has to undergo certain initial rites, which may fitly be spoken of as “ordination ceremonies.” These ceremonies vary greatly in their elaborateness, according to the dairy in which the candidate is to serve.
In the case of the ordinary dairyman, or palikartmokh, the proceedings are simple and may be accomplished in a few minutes, while for the highest grade of the priesthood they are extremely elaborate and prolonged over more than a week.
The essential feature of all the ordination ceremonies is a process of purification by drinking and washing with the water of a stream or spring used for sacred purposes only (palinipa or kwoinir). In every case the water is drunk out of certain leaves, and the body is rubbed with water mixed with the juice of young shoots or bark.
A general name for ordination is pelkkodichiti or pelkkatthtiti, “lamp he lights.” This name is derived from the fact that the first act in connexion with the dairy work which a new dairyman has to perform is to light the lamp of the dairy. The former of the two names given above was used especially in the case of the ordinary dairy and the latter in the case of the ti, but I am doubtful whether there is any strict limitation of the terms in these senses.
Another general name used for the ceremony of ordination is niròditi, which in a more limited sense is applied to the drinking and purification at the dairy stream or spring which is the essential feature of the ceremony. This term was very often used for the ceremony of ordination to the office of palol.
THE PALIKARTMOKH
The ceremony of ordination of the palikartmokh is called pelkkodichiti and very often muliniròditi, the latter being derived from the muli leaves used in the ceremony. The ordination may take place on Sunday, Wednesday, or Saturday. On the day before the ceremony the candidate goes to the dairy, takes his food there, and sleeps at night in the outer room. His food is prepared and given to him either by the outgoing palikartmokh or by some other man holding this office.
On the morning of the ceremony the candidate washes his hands in the pali nipa and goes to the front of the dairy, having a piece of the ordinary mantle round his waist. The assisting palikartmokh will have placed a small piece of the dark cloth called tuni on the threshold of the dairy, this small piece being called petuni. The candidate bows down (nersatiti), as in Fig. 20, at the threshold to the petuni, which he then raises to his forehead and puts in the string of his kuvn on the left side.
The candidate then plucks seven leaves of the kind called muliers—i.e., leaves of a plant called muli (Rubus ellipticus). This plant is also often called pelkkodsthmul, after the ceremony in which it is used. He also plucks a handful of young shoots or nan of the same plant, and takes the leaves and shoots to the dairy stream. At the stream he pounds the shoots with water on a stone, takes up some water from the stream with the pounded shoots, drops this water into one of the leaves three times, raises the leaf to his forehead, drinks (see Fig. 34), throws the leaf over his head and puts the shoots down on one side. When he squeezes the water from the shoots into the leaf-cup he holds the former in his right hand and the latter in his left, but when about to raise the leaf-cup to his forehead and drink he transfers it to his right hand. The candidate then takes a fresh piece of the pounded shoots and repeats with a second leaf, and so on till the seven leaves are finished, throwing the leaf over his head in each case after drinking.
He then takes all the pounded shoots which he has placed on one side, dips them in water, rubs them over his face and body three times, and puts them in his back hair, whence they are allowed to drop anywhere. In the only case in which I saw this ceremony I noticed that they remained in the hair till the end of the day.
The candidate then goes to the dairy, bows down at the threshold as in Fig. 20, and enters. If there are two rooms, he bows down in the same way at the threshold of the inner room. If there is a mani, he salutes it (kaimukhti) with hand to forehead. He next bows down to the patatmar and to the ertatmar, and finally touches a vessel of the ertatmar, usually the majpariv, and a vessel of the patatmar, the patat, and by doing this becomes a full palikartmokh. He proceeds to light the fire and the lamp and goes to milk the buffaloes.
There are a few small points in which the ordination of a Teivali dairyman differs from that of the Tartharol. The Teivaliol use three pieces of the grass called kakar, with which the candidate sweeps the threshold of the dairy before bowing down and entering, the grass being left on the threshold. Among the Teivaliol also the place of the petuni may be taken by the special kind of cloth called twadrinar, which is manufactured by the Todas, and in the case in which I saw the ceremony, the candidate wore this instead of petuni. The Tartharol must use petuni.
In the only case in which I saw this ceremony the ordination was to a Teivali dairy and the candidate was completely naked except for the kuvn. The Tarthar tarpalikartmokh wears part of an ordinary mantle as a loincloth during his ordination. The ceremony is the same for the kudrpalikartmokh as for the tarvalikartmokh, except that the former is quite unclothed except for the kuvn and that he alone has a mani to salute.
THE WURSOL
The ceremony begins either on Tuesday or Friday and lasts two days. On the first day the candidate goes early in the morning to the ordinary dairy of the village at which he is to be wursol; at Kars he goes to the kudrpali. He receives food from the palikartmokh and eats it sitting on the seat (kwottün) outside the dairy. He stays near the dairy till the afternoon. When the palikartmokh has finished his afternoon work and has distributed butter and buttermilk, one of the men of the village comes to the candidate and says, “Niròd!” The candidate throws off his cloak and is given either a full tuni or a piece of this garment called petuni. The palikartmokh then stands in front of the door of his dairy, and the candidate stands opposite to him and asks three times “Tunivatkina?”—“Shall I put on the tuni?” The palikartmokh replies each time “Vat!”—“Put on!” Then the candidate raises the garment to his forehead and if he has been given a complete tuni he puts it on; if only a petuni he puts it in the string of his kuvn. This string is ordinarily called pennar, but is now called kerk, and this part of the ceremony is called kerkatiti. The fact that this name is given seems to indicate that properly the complete garment should not be given till a later stage of the proceedings.
The candidate then finds seven leaves called muliers and seven shoots or nan of the same plant and goes through exactly the same ceremony at the stream as in the ordination of palikartmokh, putting the shoots in his back hair at the end. This part of the ceremony is called muliniròditi, and its object is to make the candidate a palikartmokh as a step towards becoming wursol. He is taken through the lower degree on his way to the higher.
After muliniròditi the candidate goes to the wall of the dairy and stands outside it. The palikartmokh brings a firebrand from the dairy and lights with it a fire of muli wood, at which the candidate warms himself. The firebrand must be one of the three following kinds—kid, pasòr or kiaz. After warming himself, the candidate goes to fetch bark of the tudr tree, which must not be cut, but knocked off with a stone. He also brings seven perfect tudr leaves, and goes again to the dairy stream. He pounds the bark on a stone and dips it in water, squeezes the water into one of the tudr leaves, drinks, throws over his head and puts the bark on one side exactly in the same way as before, but using tudr bark and leaves instead of the shoots and leaves of muli. After doing this seven times he dips the pounded bark in water, sprinkles his head and face three times, puts the bark in his hair, and, going a little way off, shakes his head.
The candidate then goes again to find bark and leaves of tudr, and repeats the whole ceremony and continues to repeat it till he has done it seven times—i.e., he drinks out of the tudr leaves seven times seven. After this he goes to the wood near the stream (at Kars, called Tarskars) and the palikartmokh comes to him there with the ertatpun filled with buttermilk, and with four leaves of the kind called kakuders. Two leaves are given to the candidate and two kept by the dairyman, and each folds the leaves in the usual way to make a cup (ersteiti). The dairyman then puts the ertatpun between his thighs and, holding it there, depresses it so that he can pour buttermilk into his leaf-cup; from this he pours into the leaf-cup of the candidate who then drinks, and this is repeated till the latter is satisfied. The palikartmokh brings food and fire from the dairy and both stay in the wood for the night, being allowed to have companions. The place where they sleep is called tavarpali.
In the morning the candidate again goes for tudr bark and leaves, and carries out the whole ceremony seven times as on the previous evening. He then goes to the tavarpali and waits there till the palikartmokh has finished his morning work, when the candidate again receives buttermilk and food. Then both go out together to look after the buffaloes.
When they return in the afternoon the candidate goes to the dairy stream and bathes from head to foot. This bathing is called tudraspipini (tudr I have washed), its object being to wash off the tudr bark previously used. After this he takes a piece of the cloth called twadrinar and, using it as a girdle in addition to that he already wears, he goes to the wall of the dairy while the palikartmokh digs up a vessel called mu which is buried in the buffalo pen. (At Kars the mu which is used is that of the tarvali.) The palikartmokh then puts the mu on the ground and stands by it. The candidate asks three times, “Muvatkina?” “Shall I touch the mu?” and the palikartmokh replies each time “Muvat!” The candidate then touches the mu, and by doing so becomes a full wursol. The mu is reburied by the palikartmokh.
All the ceremonies so far have taken place at or near the ordinary dairy, either tarvali or kudrpali, or at the stream belonging to one or other of these dairies. The candidate now for the first time goes to the dairy in which he is to be wursol (the wursuli) and prostrates himself at the threshold. He next enters and prostrates himself to the patatmar and then to the ertatmar. He takes up and puts in its place one of the vessels of the ertatmar and then one of the vessels of the patatmar. He salutes the mani (kaimukhti), lights the fire and the lamp and prays, using the prayer of the village. He then cleans the vessels and goes to milk, doing mani terzantirikiti with the first milk as usual.
I was especially told that if the candidate for the office of wursol wishes to scratch his head during his ordination ceremonies he must do so with a stick, but this is probably a feature of all ordination rites.
In the case of the wursol, it seemed that there is a difference in the ceremonial according to whether the dairy is occupied or not when the new dairyman enters upon office. The foregoing account applies to the case in which the dairy is already occupied and the new dairyman replaces another, so that there is no break in the continuity of the dairy proceedings. If the dairy should be unoccupied, I was told that the candidate would have to sleep for two nights in the wood, and there would almost certainly be additional purifications, but I did not learn the exact nature of the proceedings in this case.
Though I was only told of this difference of procedure in the case of the wursol, it is not unlikely that there is a corresponding difference of procedure in the case of other dairies when the dairy has been unoccupied. There will certainly be a ceremony of purification of the dairy, such as takes place when the buffaloes migrate to a new village, and probably the dairy vessels will also have to be purified.
THE KUGVALIKARTMOKH OF TARADR AND THE POHKARTPOL OF KANÒDRS
The ordination ceremonies of these two dairymen appear to be almost identical. So far as I could ascertain, the feature which the kugvalikartmokh of Taradr and the pohkartpol of Kanòdrs have in common is that they serve institutions to which a high degree of sanctity is attached. The ritual of both dairies bears some resemblance to that of the ti and, as we have already seen, the regulations for the conduct of the pohkartpol are, in some respects, even more stringent than those of the palol.
The kugvalikartmokh is ordained either on Wednesday or Sunday, the pohkartpol on Tuesday. On the night preceding the ordination the candidate sleeps in the wood. Seven leaves are used of the following kinds: pelkkodsthmul, [45] puthimul, änmul, takmul, kadakmul, tòrimul, and pathanmul. One leaf of each kind is taken and the leaves pounded together and used in the same way as the shoots of muli or the bark of the tudr tree, water being dropped from them into leaves of puthimul. The pounded leaves are then placed in the back hair as usual. This is followed by the ceremony of drinking water three times out of a leaf containing water and some buffalo-dung. The bark of the tudr tree is then rubbed all over the body, though no tudr leaves are used for drinking. The candidate attains his full office by touching a mu, prostrates himself at his dairy, enters and begins his work as in the dairies of a lower grade.
THE KALTMOKH
The ordination of the kaltmokh begins either on Sunday, Wednesday or Thursday. In the case of a kaltmokh of the Nòdrs ti, the first part of the ceremony takes place at the village of Nòdrs, while in some cases it seems that the candidate may go to the same village of Òdr which is visited by the palol during his ordination. I have no information about the place of ordination in the case of the other ti dairies.
A boy who is to become kaltmokh of the Nòdrs ti goes to Nòdrs either on Sunday, Wednesday, or Thursday, and, going to the ordinary dairy of that place (tarvali), he is given water by the palikartmokh in the vessel called pòlmachok. The boy washes his hands with this water and puts on a tuni which the palikartmokh gives him, after saying the same formula as in the ordination of wursol. He then does muliniròditi and so reaches the grade of palikartmokh. This and the following ceremony are done at a special stream at Nòdrs called niròdigudr. The purification ceremony is then performed with tudr bark and leaves till the candidate has drunk seven times seven. Food and buttermilk are given by the palikartmokh, and then the boy together with the palikartmokh and the wursol of Nòdrs pass the night in the wood near that place.
The next morning the candidate goes to the ordination stream and washes himself from head to foot. This is called tudraspipini, its object being the same as in the ordination of the wursol. The boy next goes to the front of the tarvali, where the palikartmokh gives him a special string made of twadrinar, which he puts round his waist as kerk, and then warms himself at a fire of muli wood. The palikartmokh brings a mu, which the candidate touches with the same formalities as in the ordination of wursol, and by so doing reaches the grade called perkursol, which is of the same rank as that of wursol. The perkursol then takes the mu into the tarvali, prostrating himself at the threshold before entering. He prostrates himself to the patatmar and to the ertatmar, puts the mu on the patatmar and comes out. He then goes to the poh, or conical dairy of Nòdrs, prostrates himself at the threshold, enters, and prostrates himself before patatmar, ertatmar and, finally, before the mani. Up to the point of saluting the bell in this way he keeps on the tuni but at this stage he throws it down and comes out of the dairy naked (except for the kuvn), puts on the ordinary cloak and goes to the dairy at which the ti buffaloes are standing.
When he reaches the ti mad, the candidate goes to the palol, whom he salutes with the words “îr kar ûdâ,” this salutation being called pîrwadrikpini. He goes to the sleeping hut, prostrates himself before the horns which are kept in this building, and then goes to the front of the dairy. He is now perkursol, and in order that he shall become full kaltmokh or tunitusthkaltmokh, the palol gives him a piece of tuni (petuni). The boy asks three times, “Tunitusthvaskina?”—“Shall I go to wash the tuni?”—to which the palol answers each time “Tusthva!”—“Wash, go!” The boy takes the petuni to the stream for ordinary use (not the kwoinir) and bathes from head to foot. He puts to himself three times the question, “tunitoikina?” and laying the piece of tuni on a stone, he pours water on it three times and returns with the petuni in his hand to the palol who will be sitting on his pohvelkars in front of the dairy. The palol asks three times, “Tunitusthpacha?”—“Have you returned from washing the tuni?”—and each time the boy replies, “tunitusthpuspini”—“I have come from washing the tuni.” Then both palol and boy go to the front of the kadr in which the calves are kept and the palol puts into the gate three bars (tasth), which shut the opening of the enclosure. The boy asks three times, “Tasthvatkina?”—“Shall I touch the tasth?”—and each time the palol replies “Tasthvat!” The boy, who hitherto has been perkursol, now touches the tasth, and by so doing attains the full rank of kaltmokh, and at once goes and pours buttermilk (kaizhvatiti) for the palol.
The latter parts of the ordination ceremonies of the kaltmokh, from the point at which he receives petuni from the palol to the touching of the tasth, are always performed whenever the kaltmokh returns to the ti after a journey in which it has been necessary to degrade himself to the rank of perkursol (see p. 106). The initial stages of becoming a kaltmokh are known in general as niròdibudnudr.
THE ORDINATION OF THE PALOL
In accordance with the fact that the palol belongs to the highest and most sacred grade of the dairy-priesthood, we find that the ceremonies preceding his entrance upon office are far more elaborate and prolonged than for the minor grades.
In order that a Teivali man may become a candidate for the office of palol he must first have gone through a preliminary qualifying ceremony called tesherst. When the office of palol becomes vacant, the people of the clan to which the ti belongs are restricted in their choice to those men who have been through this ceremony. When one of these qualified men has been selected, he then goes through the proper ordination ceremonies, known as niròditi.
In the case of a palol of the Nòdrs ti, the niròditi ceremonies are performed partly at Nòdrs, partly at Òdr, one of the most sacred villages of the Nòdrs clan, and finally at the ti mad where he is to hold office.
THE TESHERST CEREMONY
This qualifying ceremony for the office of palol is always performed by a number of men at the same time. The number taking part must be three, five, seven or nine. There seemed to be no doubt that it was not permissible for four, six or eight men to perform the ceremony together. One or two Todas told me that an even number of men might do the ceremony, but all the more trustworthy witnesses were agreed that there must be an uneven number, and on all the occasions of which I could obtain records of actual ceremonies, an uneven number of men had done tesherst together. The ceremony may not be performed while the funeral ceremonies of any Teivali person are uncompleted.
At the time of my visit there were only nine or ten men who had been through the tesherst ceremony, including those who were holding or had held the office of palol. It was proposed that a number of the younger men should perform the ceremony about this time, but it had to be delayed till the second funeral ceremonies of two Teivali women had been held.
The tesherst ceremony always begins on a Monday after the new moon. It takes place at certain villages where people are living, and in all the cases of which I obtained records it had been done at Kudrnakhum, belonging to the Nòdrsol, or at Pushtar, belonging to the Taradrol. People must be living at the village at the time the ceremony is performed.
The candidates go to the village on Monday evening, accompanied by two or three Nòdrs men. All go to a stream by a wood and the ceremony begins after sunset, when all the candidates throw off their cloaks and stand in a row. A man of the Nòdrs clan has a tuni in his hand and each candidate asks three times, “Tunivatkina?”—“Shall I touch the tuni?”—and each time the Nòdrs man replies, “Tunivat!” The first man in the row touches the tuni and then the others in order. The Nòdrs man then gives the tuni to the first man who touched it, and he tears it into as many pieces as there are candidates, giving a piece to each man, who puts it in the string of his kuvn. All then go in search of the leaves of muli and each plucks seven leaves and seven shoots. They go to the stream, one by one, and each drinks and rubs himself with the shoots seven times, as in the ordination ceremony, and puts the shoots in his back hair.
While they are doing this, the Nòdrs man will have made fire by friction, using the wood of muli, and the men warm themselves at the fire. Each man then goes in search of seven tudr leaves and tudr bark and carries out the usual purification ceremony once only, drinking out of each of the seven leaves, after which the men take food prepared by another of the Nòdrs men, and all pass the night in the wood. Next morning the men fetch tudr bark and leaves and repeat the drinking and rubbing ceremony of the previous evening, but on this occasion each man says “Teshniròdinem,” as he throws the leaf over his head after drinking. All then bathe completely in the stream.
While they are doing this, the Nòdrs men have been cooking a large amount of food, more than the candidates can readily eat, and an old woman of the Tartharol who is to take part in the ceremony has bathed and dressed in her best clothes and put on all the ornaments she can procure: gold earrings, necklace, bracelets, and rings. When the men have bathed, they wait till the message comes that the food is ready, and then each man takes off his piece of tuni and his pennar and his kuvn, so that he is completely naked. The Nòdrs man portions out the food and puts it on tudr leaves, the portion for each man being more than he can possibly eat at one sitting, and the portions of food are given to the old woman, who sits down with her back to the men. Each man goes up behind the back of the old woman, and she gives him his portion of food by putting her hand behind her back so that she does not look at him, and in doing so she says three times “Teshtòrtudenk?”—“Tesh food have I not given?” The men take the food, go into the thickest part of the wood and eat it. None of the food prepared on this occasion may be eaten by the Nòdrs men or by the old woman, but though the amount is excessive, the whole of it must be eaten by the candidates during the day. After each man has eaten to the full he may put on his cloak. The Nòdrs men and the old woman go back to their villages and they must hold no communication of any kind with the candidates after the food has been given. The men remain in the wood all day, and when it is getting dark they go to the nearest village at which any of them live, taking care that no one sees them on the way.
One of the most remarkable features of this ceremony is the part taken by the old woman. She must be one of the Tartharol; she must be past the age of child-bearing, and she must never have had intercourse with one of her own clan. In the last particular the word of the woman is trusted, for it was said that she would never deceive in such a matter. Every woman believed that if she did not speak the truth she would die, and all those concerned in the ceremony would either die or have serious illness. I was told that it was by no means easy to find a woman who fulfilled this requirement, and in each of the cases of which I have records the same woman officiated—viz. Naspilthi of Taradr (21).
Other remarkable features of this ceremony are that the men should be given more food than they are readily able to eat, as in the ceremony connected with the kaltmokh after the migration (p. 139), and that they receive this food in a condition of complete nudity, a condition which only occurs in one other dairy ceremonial.
The tesherst ceremony is one in which candidates for the office of palol go through certain of the rites which ordinarily form part of the process of ordination, with the addition of special ceremonies, in which a superabundant portion of food is given by a woman who fulfils certain peculiar conditions.
When the office of palol becomes vacant, the clan to which the ti belongs chooses from among those who have been through the tesherst ceremony, and the chosen man has then to undergo the ordination ceremonies proper, or niròditi.
THE NIRODITI CEREMONY
The ceremony begins on a Saturday evening, after the new moon, when the chosen candidate goes to a village of the clan to which his future ti belongs and sleeps there in the ordinary hut.
On the following morning he goes before daybreak to the front of the dairy of the village, naked except for his kuvn, and a man of the village stands at the door of the dairy holding a tuni in his hand, and says three times, “Tunivatkia!”—“Touch the tuni!” The candidate answers, “Tunivatkin,” and takes the tuni. If the garment is a complete one, he puts it on; if only a piece, he puts it in his pennar and taking seven tudr leaves and tudr bark he goes to the stream of the dairy and performs the usual drinking and rubbing ceremony, and after putting the tudr bark in his hair, goes a little way off and shakes his head so that the bark falls out. He repeats the ceremony twice, so that it is performed three times altogether—i.e., he drinks from the tudr leaves three times seven. This ceremony is called teshnir, and is done in view of the inhabitants of the village. The candidate stays for the rest of the day at the village. If there is a wursol there, the food of the candidate is prepared by this dairyman [46]; if no wursol is present, it is prepared by the palikartmokh. The food is grain boiled in milk, and is only eaten in the evening. The candidate sleeps that night in a wood near the village, but not the same wood as that by the stream where teshnir had been done. Either the wursol or the palikartmokh must pass the night in the wood with the candidate, and other men of the village may also be their companions. Until the candidate lies down to sleep he must remain naked (except for the kuvn), but when sleeping he may cover himself with his ordinary cloak.
Next morning (Monday) the candidate gets up at sunrise, lays aside his cloak, and goes to bathe completely in the stream, saying three times, “Tudraspinem,” [47]—“Tudr I have washed,” thus washing off the tudr of the previous day. He then returns to the place where he had slept, puts on his ordinary cloak with the right arm out, and goes to the front of the dairy. He is given food by the wursol, or, in his absence, by the palikartmokh, and eats it outside the dairy, after which he washes. He then goes to the ordinary stream of the village (ars nipa) and takes up water with his hand, and by so doing he becomes perol—i.e., he loses any sanctity he has acquired by the ceremony of the previous day.
The candidate then goes direct to the village of Òdr and stays near that village till the evening, when he makes his way to the front of the dairy of that place. He stands about ten yards from the dairy and throws off his cloak. A man of the clan to which his future ti belongs now gives him a complete tuni of the kind worn in the village dairy (a mad tuni, not a ti tuni), saying three times, “Tunivatkia,” to which is replied “Tunivatkin.” The man who gives the tuni now remains as assistant and companion till the candidate reaches his future dairy. The candidate puts the tuni round his loins, goes to the stream of the dairy, and performs the drinking and rubbing ceremony with muli leaves and shoots as in the ordination of palikartmokh. The assistant makes fire by friction and lights a fire of muli wood, at which the candidate warms himself.
The drinking ceremony with tudr is then carried out in the same way as at teshnir, and then the wursol of Òdr brings buttermilk in an ertatpun and gives it in cups of kakud leaves to both the candidate and his assistant. They also receive food from the wursol, while any other men present go to the ordinary hut for their meal. That night is passed at a special spot under a tree not far from the dairy at Òdr, the wursol and assistant being the companions of the candidate. On that night the candidate may not touch his ordinary cloak and has to be content with the scanty covering of the tuni. [48]
On the next day (Tuesday), the ceremony with tudr leaves and bark is repeated three times as on the previous days, and after the wursol has finished his dairy work he gives buttermilk and food to both the candidate and his assistant. On the afternoon of this day the tudr ceremony is performed again, but on this occasion seven times, so that the candidate drinks from the tudr leaves seven times seven. In the evening buttermilk and food are again given by the wursol and the three men pass the night in the wood.
On the next day (Wednesday) the candidate fetches bark of the tree from which the material called twadrinar is made and makes for his temporary use a rough kuvn. When it is ready, he bathes in the dairy stream, takes off the old pennar and kuvn and puts on the newly made garment, together with the tuni, and goes with the wursol to the dairy where the buffaloes of his ti are standing. When they approach the ti mad the wursol goes away and leaves the candidate to go to the dairy alone, where he sits on the outskirts (pül) of the ti mad. When the kaltmokh sees the candidate approaching, he collects the buffaloes at the milking place (pepkarmus) and catches hold of the tails of certain buffaloes which are to be taken in charge by the new palol, saying to himself three times for each buffalo, “Tover vatkina?”—“Tail shall I hold?”—and replying to himself each time, “Vat!” At the Nòdrs ti if the candidate is to be palol of the tiir, the kaltmokh holds the tails of three buffaloes, one of each kind; if he is to be palol of the warsir, two buffaloes only take part (see p. 112). After this the kaltmokh prepares food in the pül of the dairy and gives it to the palol designate. While the kaltmokh is attending to the new palol he must become a perkursol—i.e., he degrades himself to this rank before undertaking these duties. During the night the candidate together with the kaltmokh and the other palol already in office (if there are two, as at the Nòdrs ti) sleep in the hut of the ti mad.
The next day (Thursday) the new palol goes to the stream and performs the tudr ceremony three times in the morning and nine times in the afternoon; i.e., he drinks from the tudr leaves three and nine times seven. On this day the kaltmokh milks the punir, takes the milk to the pül, churns there and gives buttermilk, butter and other food to the new palol. On that night all sleep in the karenpoh or calf-house.
The proceedings of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are the same as those of Thursday, except that the new palol may now drink the milk of the punir like the full palol.
On Monday morning the new palol enters on his office. In the morning he bathes and then takes off the temporary pennar and kuvn he has been wearing and replaces them by others made in the same way. A Badaga (the tikelfmav) then brings one of the two cloaks of the palol, that called pòdrshtuni, and lays it down at the outskirts of the dairy. It is taken up by the kaltmokh and given to the new palol, who spreads it out on the place where the buffaloes are milked. He then takes pounded tudr bark, says the kwarzam of the gods, of the ti and of the buffaloes (see Chap. X) and throws the pounded bark on the garment. He turns the garment over so as to expose the other surface and purifies this in the same way. He then asks himself, “Pòdrshtuni tutkina?”—“Shall I tie the pòdrshtuni?”—and throwing off the mad tuni he has been wearing hitherto, he puts on the pòdrshtuni. The kaltmokh returns the mad tuni to the Nòdrs people, who come on this day and stand on the outskirts of the place.
The new palol then purifies his dairy by sprinkling it with water and tudr bark in the same way as is done when going to a new dairy (see p. 136). He next takes the uppun, puts into it water and tudr bark, and turning towards the Nòdrs people with the vessel to his forehead, says three times to them, “Poh pûkhkina?”—“Shall I enter the dairy?” All the Nòdrs people cry “Pûkh!” and the new palol enters his dairy with the full rights of his position.
At some period before entering into office as full palol the candidate touches a tasth or bar of the entrance into the tu. This ceremony is similar to that performed by the kaltmokh, and as in this case it seemed to be the special indication of entrance on full office, but unfortunately my notes do not make it clear exactly when this touching of the tasth is done nor with what ceremonial it is accomplished.
For a month from this day there will be what is called pon, nothing being either sold or given from the dairy. At the end of the month, on a Monday, a tuni of the kind called kubuntuni is brought by the tikelfmav, and is put on in the usual way. (During the previous month the pòdrshtuni will have been used both as a cloak and as a loincloth, and will have been taken into the sleeping hut.) The palol is visited by the dairymen of his rank from the other ti dairies, and there will be many visitors from all the Todas, who come and sit in the pül of the dairy and feast. The new palol also receives greetings on this day from the Todas for the first time since his entry upon office. He greets the Tartharol first, saying “Bañ” in the usual way, and then the Teivaliol, saying “Pekein,” and each reply in the customary manner.
The ordination ceremonies of the palol are thus very prolonged. There is a preliminary qualifying ceremony in which the would-be candidates receive pieces of tuni, perform both the muli and the tudr purificatory ceremonies, each once only, and on the following day go through the very peculiar ceremonial in which they are given superabundant food by an old woman while in a condition of complete nudity.
The proper ordination ceremonies begin on a Sunday, when the candidate receives tuni, performs the purificatory ceremony with tudr three times seven, and sleeps in a wood. On Monday he washes off the tudr, becomes a perol, and goes to the village of Òdr, where he again receives tuni, goes through the muliniròditi ceremony which makes him a palikartmokh, and then performs the tudr ceremony three times seven and sleeps in the open, covered only with the tuni. On Tuesday he performs the tudr purification three times seven in the morning and seven times seven in the evening and again sleeps in the open. On Wednesday he bathes and assumes a special kuvn and goes to his future dairy, where the kaltmokh performs the tail-holding ceremony and the candidate sleeps in the hut. On the four next days the tudr ceremony is performed three times seven in the mornings and nine times seven in the afternoons, and the calf-house is used as a sleeping-place. On the following Monday the palol enters upon office, assuming the pòdrshtuni, touching a tasth, and entering his dairy.
The foregoing description of the ordination of the palol applies primarily to the Nòdrs ti, but in its main details it holds good for other places.
I am doubtful as to the part taken by the village of Òdr, and am not clear whether part of the ordination ceremony is performed at this place by every palol or only by those of the Nòdrs ti. It is possible that it is only the latter who visit the village, but I do not know of any corresponding village visited by the candidates for the post of palol at other ti dairies. My impression is that every candidate for the office of palol visits this village.
The only definite modification of the ceremonies attendant on entrance into office of which I know occurs at the Kars ti. Here the palol is first ordained to the parsir—i.e., he becomes the palol of this herd of buffaloes and tends them only. At the end of a month he becomes palol of the pürsir, and the ceremony of entrance upon this office was spoken of as pelkkatthtiti to the pürspoh. In this case the ceremony of ordination to the parspoh is called niròditi, and that of removal to another dairy pelkkatthtiti.
On the afternoon of the appointed day the palol churns the milk of the morning in the parspoh and then shuts the door of this dairy, which he never re-enters as long as he is in office. He could only do so if he should cease to be palol and be re-ordained to the same ti.
A new pòdrshtuni is brought by a Badaga and is assumed by the palol after purification in the usual manner. At the same time he puts on a new kagurs, [49] which has been purified by the kaltmokh, who has also cut a new kwoinörtpet on the hill of Kulinkars which the palol then purifies with tudr bark in the usual manner, saying the names of the four deities, Anto, Nòtirzi, Kulinkars, and Kuzkarv.
The palol then digs up earth from the footprints of one of the pürsir, saying the whole prayer of the ti as he does so. He drives the buffalo slightly to one side by touching it with the wand, and takes earth from the exact place where the foot of the buffalo had been resting and puts the earth into a cup which he has made of tudr leaves. He adds pounded tudr bark and goes to the spring (kwoinir) of the dairy, where he mixes water with the earth and bark. He then goes to the stone called pepkusthkars, where he has previously laid a complete set of new dairy vessels and implements of the inner room, together with the lamp and the bell (Ner) of the pürspoh. The bell is laid on the stone, the other things by its side.
Wearing the pòdrshtuni and holding the kwoinörtpet under his left arm, the palol sprinkles the contents of the leaf-cup over the dairy vessels and other objects, beginning with the bell, and as he does so he prays, using the whole prayer of the dairy. He then ties all the vessels and other contents of the dairy on a staff called pepkati in exactly the same manner as when taking them from one ti mad to another. The bell is tied up in a leafy covering of kiaz and everything is done as in the migration from one place to another, and the staff with its burden is then borne by the palol from the pepkusthkars to the stone called perskars, by the side of which the dairy vessels are laid, while the mani is uncovered and laid on the stone. The staff is then placed at the back of the dairy.
Having untied the dairy vessels and arranged them by the stone, the palol pounds fresh tudr bark, and with the kwoinörtpet under his left arm goes with the karitòrzum to the sacred spring, into which he throws the bark, takes water, and returns. Taking more pounded bark, he puts it in the idrkwoi and pours water into this vessel from the karitòrzum. He takes the idrkwoi with its contents to the front of the dairy, and with his right hand sprinkles the water over the outside of the dairy and then into its interior till the vessel is emptied. The dairy vessels are not again purified, but are taken into the dairy with the same procedure as that described in the last chapter. The vessels of the outer room, which have been purified by the kaltmokh, are then taken to their places. Fire is made by friction; one fireplace is lighted and fire transferred to the other, and from this the lamp is lighted, and the palol, who is now palol of the pürsir, goes out to look after and milk his new charges. On this evening no food is taken, nor does the palol drink buttermilk as usual, and the kaltmokh does not blow the horn in the evening. On the following day, which is the occasion of a feast for all Todas, the usual routine is followed.
The most interesting feature of this ceremony at the Kars ti is that the vessels of the inner room are taken by the palol from the pepkusthkars to the perskars, a distance said to be about fifty yards, in exactly the same manner as that in which they are carried from one dairy to another during the migrations when the distance may be many miles.
The essential feature of the various ordination ceremonies is purification by drinking water from certain leaves and rubbing the body with the juice of certain plants or the bark of a tree mixed with water from a dairy stream or spring. The ordinary dairyman uses the leaves and shoots of muli; the dairymen of the Taradr kugvali and the Kanòdrs poh use seven kinds of leaves and rub themselves with tudr bark, while the three grades of dairyman open only to Teivali or Melgars people not only rub with the juice of tudr bark, but use tudr leaves for the purificatory drinking.
The palikartmokh drinks and rubs himself seven times only, the wursol and kaltmokh seven times seven, while at various stages in his ordination the palol uses tudr bark three times seven, seven times seven, and nine times seven.
The final stage of ordination or induction is marked by touching some sacred object of the dairy. The ordinary dairyman touches one or more of the sacred vessels of the dairy; the wursol, kugvalikartmokh, and the pohkartpol of Kanòdrs touch the mu, a dairy vessel buried in the buffalo pen, which is dug up for the ordination ceremony. The kaltmokh and the palol touch a tasth, the former touching a bar of the calf enclosure and the latter one in the opening of the pen used for adult buffaloes.
According to one account, the Teivali palikartmokh also touches a mu on entrance into office, but it is very doubtful if this is correct. Nothing was said about it at the ordination at which I was present, and I saw nothing to indicate that this vessel was being used, but it is possible that the mu had been dug up earlier in the day and put inside the dairy.
Another interesting feature of the ordination ceremonies is that a dairyman of a higher grade may be taken through the lower stages on his way to the higher office. Thus both wursol and palol perform the purificatory ceremony with muli, which is the chief feature of the ordination of the palikartmokh. There did not seem to be any stage in the ordination of the palol when he could be said to be a wursol, though the ceremonies of Monday evening and Tuesday are very much like those of the wursol, the chief difference being in the exact number of times that the tudr purification is performed.
##