CHAPTER XII

DIVINATION AND MAGIC

This chapter will furnish a very good example of specialisation of religious and magical functions among the Todas. We shall find that certain Todas have the power of divination, others are sorcerers, and others again have the power of curing disease by means of spells and rites, while all three functions are quite separate from those of the priest or dairyman. The Todas have advanced some way towards specialisation of function in this respect, and have as separate members of the community their prophets, their magicians and their medicine-men in addition to their priests.

DIVINATION

Certain men among the Todas are reputed to have special powers as diviners, and are known as teuòdipol, “god-gesticulating men,” or more commonly as teuol. Samuel, my interpreter, always spoke of their performances as devil-dancing and evidently regarded the teuol as like those whom he called the devil-dancers of his own people.

In several cases these men are said to have inherited their powers from some near relative, often a grandfather, but it seems that anyone who showed evidence of the necessary powers might become a teuol. All but one of the present diviners are Teivaliol, but the divining power is not limited to this division. There is no relation between the various offices of the dairy and the power of divination, and, in fact, a diviner necessarily gives up his divining if he becomes a palol. [81]

Each of the teuol is believed to be possessed by a special god when he falls into the divining frenzy, and when in this state it is said that the diviner does not, as a rule, speak in his own language, but in some other, most commonly in Malayalam, or one of its dialects. The following are those who are at present credited with the power of divination:—

Midjkudr (63) of Piedr, who is inspired by the gods Kulinkars and Petkon. He speaks in Malayalam, and he does not appear to have succeeded anyone else as teuol. He is the most successful of those who are at present practising the art, and played the chief part in all the divining which took place during my visit.

Tadrners (60) of Kuudr, inspired by Ethrol and Arivili, succeeded his mother’s father, Kasorivan (66) of Kusharf. He is said to speak the language of people whom the Todas call Mondardsetipol living in the Wainad, a language which appears to be a dialect of Malayalam.

Pangudr (66) of Kusharf, also succeeded Kasorivan, his grandfather, and is inspired by Petkon and Meilitars. There was some doubt as to the language used by him.

Ethgudr (52) of Kuudr is inspired by Arivili, and, like Tadrners, speaks the language of the Mondardsetipol.

Terkudr (63) of Piedr, inspired by Teipakh, the river god, succeeded his grandfather Keitolv. When inspired, his speech is like the babbling of a running river, “like the river’s voice,” and cannot be understood.

Kangudr (62) of Piedr, who lives at Kavidi in the Wainad, is inspired by Meilitars and speaks Malayalam. He succeeded Tarsvan (62), his father, and Tarsvan had succeeded his father Keithiolv.

Kobuv (61) of Kuudr, is inspired by Meilitars and Kuderol and speaks Malayalam.

Pöteners (54) of Kuudr, is inspired by Petkon and speaks the language of the Mondardsetipol.

Karkievan (63), the palol of the Nòdrs ti, was formerly a teuol, but gave up divining when he became palol.

All the above belong to the Teivaliol, and the only Tarthar diviner at the present time is Mongudrvan (13) of Kars. He is said to be inspired by the god of Miuni village, and to speak the Toda language. The village of Miuni belongs to the Teivaliol, so that the only Tarthar diviner is inspired by a god connected with the division to which the majority of the diviners belong.

Two other Tarthar men, Kerveidi (5) and Tevò (3), both of Nòdrs, are said to have been teuol at one time, but they have ceased to divine. They succeeded another man of their clan. Kangudr, who is inspired by Meilitars, has to ‘dance’ or divine before the Kurumbas, and when he does so he dances as a lame man. This custom is reputed to have come down from the time of Meilitars (see p. 210), who danced as a lame man before the Kurumbas, and promised that whenever he came in the future he would dance to the Kurumbas first and then to the Todas.

It will be noticed that many of the deities by whom the diviners are inspired are not true Toda gods. Petkon, who inspires Midjkudr, Pangudr, and Pöteners, is said to be a hunting god. According to some he was a son of Teikirzi, but is almost certainly not a true Toda deity.

Arivili inspires Tadrners and Ethgudr, who are both reputed to speak the language of the Mondardsetipol, and he is probably a god of these people, a tribe of the Wainad. Ethrol, who also inspires Tadrners, is probably another deity of the same people. I do not know anything about Kuderol, by whom Kobuv is believed to be inspired.

It is noteworthy that the only existing Tarthar teuol speaks the Toda language when divining, and is believed to be inspired by a local Toda god; while the diviners belonging to the Teivaliol seem to speak dialects of Malayalam, and many are believed to be inspired by gods who are almost certainly not true Toda deities.

The teuol are consulted whenever any misfortune befalls a Toda. The following are various instances in which I have records of resort to divination: sickness or death of a Toda or of any of his family; sickness or death of a buffalo; failure of milk in a buffalo and persistent kicking of its calf; failure to make a buffalo go to the spot at which it is to be killed during a funeral ceremony; failure of milk to coagulate; burning down of a dairy; disappearance of the bells of a dairy; loss of a tukitthkarsor lifting stone. In this last instance the stone at the village of Nidrsi was carried away some years ago by a party of English people who came to picnic near the village while the people were away. They carried the stone for some miles and then threw it down. The Nidrsi people could not find it, and consulted Midjkudr and Mongudrvan, who were able to reveal where the stone was to be found, and it was restored to the village, where it can now be seen.

The diviners usually work in pairs, though occasionally it would seem that one only may be consulted. If they are asked for an explanation of some misfortune which has befallen a man, the teuol usually find either that the sufferer has committed an offence against the dairy or that he is the subject of spells cast on him by a sorcerer. In the former case, they prescribe the ceremony which must be performed in order to expiate the offence. In the latter case, they name the sorcerer so that the sufferer may know with whom to make his peace.

I have already said that towards the close of my visit a number of misfortunes befell the Todas; one man fell ill, the wife of another died, and the dairy of a third was burnt down, and these events kept the diviners busy, but probably because I was implicated I was not allowed the chance of observing the diviners at work.

The only occasion on which I saw the process of divining was at a funeral. The buffalo which was to be killed had been caught at some distance from the place appointed for its slaughter. The animal was unusually refractory and at length lay down and all the natural efforts of the Todas failed to make it move. Midjkudr and Mongudrvan were then called upon to discover the cause of the obstinacy of the buffalo. Mongudrvan first began to dance slowly to and fro, away from and towards the buffalo. He had taken off his cloak and was only wearing the tadrp. As I already knew the man, I was able to observe that his general appearance was unaltered and that he did not appear to be in any abnormal mental condition. He was soon joined by Midjkudr, who danced up and down much more wildly (Fig. 36). His general appearance was very different to that usually presented by a Toda man. His hair seemed to stand out from his head, although it shook with each of his violent movements; his eyes were abnormally bright and his face gave every appearance of great mental excitement. I had not previously known the man, but when he came to see me a few days later I could hardly believe that the quiet, self-possessed man whom I saw before me was the same individual whom I had seen dancing at the funeral. It was obvious that he had been in a distinctly abnormal condition of frenzy during the divining process. After dancing for a time Midjkudr began to utter broken sentences in a loud and almost chanting voice, while Mongudrvan remained silent throughout. After Midjkudr had in these sentences given the reason for the obstinacy of the buffalo, and had prescribed what was to be done, he took a red cloth and dancing more violently than ever waved the cloth before the buffalo and pushed against the body of the animal. Then after the people had dragged the buffalo a little way, it rose and went quietly to the place where it was to be killed.

I had much difficulty in finding out exactly what Midjkudr had said. When he came to see me a few days later he stated that he did not know at the time what he was saying, and that his only knowledge was derived from those who had heard him, and I am inclined to believe that he was speaking the truth. His appearance during the divining was remarkably different from that of ordinary days, and strongly suggested a semi-hypnotic state, during which he might well have had no knowledge, or only a very vague knowledge, of anything he said. [82] In his ordinary condition he professed to be ignorant of Malayalam, the language which he was said to use in his frenzied condition.

My ignorance of Malayalam, and the obvious difficulties of the investigation, make me hesitate before expressing any decided opinion as to the real nature of Midjkudr’s condition when divining, but I have a very strong leaning towards the idea that the man was in a genuinely abnormal condition, allied to the hypnotic state, and I am disposed to accept the statement of the Todas that he was speaking in a language of which he had only a very vague knowledge when in a normal condition. It is, of course, quite possible that the abnormal appearance of Midjkudr was merely due to the exercise of dancing and to mental excitement, and that he knew perfectly well what he was doing and saying. I can but record my impression that there was something more, and I only commit myself to this extent in regard to the special occasion on which I saw Midjkudr divining; even if I saw a genuine hypnotic or semi-hypnotic phenomenon, it does not follow that all Midjkudr’s performances are wholly, or even partly, of this nature, and still less does it follow that the performances of all the teuol are of this kind. Nothing struck me more than the contrast between the frenzied condition of Midjkudr and the calm, ordinary demeanour of Mongudrvan, his fellow diviner.

In the case I have described the necessity for the intervention of the diviner arose out of the funeral proceedings, but it appears to be not uncommon for divination to be practised during funerals. Both Mr. Walhouse and Mr. Thurston have seen the process of divining going on at funerals. In Mr. Thurston’s case he notes that the diviners talked in Malayalam, and offered an explanation of a gigantic figure which had suddenly appeared and as suddenly disappeared some time previously.

SORCERY

I met with greater difficulties in discovering the methods of sorcery than in any other branch of my work. It was quite certain that there were men called piliutpol (sorcery praying people), or pilikòren, who had the reputation of possessing magical powers, comprised together under the title piliutvichi or piliutiti. I was able to obtain the names of these people from several sources, but when I approached any one of them on the subject he professed total ignorance and usually suggested that I should apply to some other man, who, he said, was a real piliutpol. Occasionally someone would give me a fragment of information, but would impress on me carefully that he had heard it from somebody else and did not know whether it was true or false.

One or two men, who were certainly not sorcerers, told me that they hoped that I should succeed in finding out the methods and would tell them, for they said that the Todas who had no magical powers were always trying to find out the methods of the sorcerers and were never successful.

I was told by two men that they believed that a sorcerer, by merely thinking of the effect he wished to produce, could produce the effect, and that it was not necessary for him to use any magical formula or practise any special rites.

It was not until my last week on the Nilgiris that I was told of some of the magical rites by Teitnir, who had previously denied all knowledge, though he was said by others to be a sorcerer, and he knew that I was aware of his reputation. He was not a trustworthy informant, but his account was consistent in itself and was in agreement with fragments which I had picked up elsewhere, and I believe it is correct, though I cannot guarantee its accuracy with the same degree of confidence which I feel in regard to most of my information.

The following men were said by various people to be pilikòren:—

Kaners, Kudrievan, and Teikudr (63), Ishkievan (60), Keinkursi (54), Puthion (64), and Teitnir (52), among the Teivaliol; Keitan (6), Mudrigeidi (1), Kiunervan and Usheidi (14), and Karseidi (8), among the Tartharol. Pushteidi, the elder brother of Keitan, was a noted sorcerer who paid for the belief in his magical powers with his life. It will be noted that magical powers appear to be fairly evenly distributed between the two divisions and do not greatly predominate in one as in the case of divination.

The power of sorcery was said to belong to certain families, and I was told that it was inherited. It seemed probable that a sorcerer only communicated his methods to his sons, and usually only to one of his sons, or if he communicated his knowledge to all, it was often one of them only who obtained the credit for magical powers.

We have already seen that when a man sustains a misfortune of any kind, he consults the diviners, and they find whether the misfortune is due to a fault committed by the sufferer or whether it is the result of sorcery. In the latter case, they say by whose magic the misfortune has been produced, and the sorcerer is then propitiated and removes the spell, the nature and details of the process varying according to the method of sorcery used and the offence which had led the sorcerer to exert his powers. Thus when Pirsners (9) fell ill, he consulted Midjkudr, who said that Kudrievan had bewitched him. Pirsners went to Kudrievan and gave him food, and asked him to remove the spell, and Pirsners became well soon after.

There are two chief reasons which induce a sorcerer to work his magic on another. One is when a request by the sorcerer for assistance has been met by deception. If the sorcerer asks a rich man for a buffalo, or for money, and the rich man refuses point-blank, it does not appear that the sorcerer proceeds farther; but if the rich man promises a gift and does not give it, or if he delays giving a positive answer and puts off a decision from day to day, it is a clear case for the application of occult measures. The other chief motive for sorcery is a quarrel with a sorcerer. The methods are different in the two cases. In the first case the sorcerer procures some human hair—it may be the hair of any one, even his own hair. It is not the hair of the man he wishes to injure because it would be impossible to get it. Five small stones are taken and tied together by means of the hair, and both hair and stones are tied up in a piece of cloth. Then, holding the stones and hair in his hand, the sorcerer utters the following incantation:—

Pithioteu Ön idith, Teikirzim Tirshtim idith; â teu sati those gods power

udâsnûdr; an nòdr nòdr udâsnûdr; an kar warkhi peu mâ; if there be; his country country if there be; his calf sleep go may;

an îr têrgi pûti pâr mâ; ath on nîr ud puk âthm his buffaloes wings grow fly may; he I water drink as he also

nîr un mâ; on nîkh as puk âthm nîkhai mâ; on eirt puk water drink may; I thirsty am as he also thirsty be may; I hungry as

âthm eirth mâ; en mokhm ödrth puk an mokhm ödr mâ; en he also hunger may; my children cry as his children cry may; my

tazmokh kûtm pût puk an tazmokhm kûtm pûv mâ. wife ragged cloth wear as his wife ragged cloth wear may.

This incantation was freely rendered by Teitnir as follows: For the sake of Pithioteu, Ön, Teikirzi, and Tirshti; by the power of the gods if there be power; by the gods’ country if there be a country; [83] may his calves perish; as birds fly away may his buffaloes go when the calves come to suck; as I drink water, may he have nothing but water to drink; as I am thirsty, may he also be thirsty; as I am hungry, may he also be hungry; as my children cry, so may his children cry; as my wife wears only a ragged cloth, so may his wife wear only a ragged cloth.

When he has uttered the incantation, the sorcerer takes the hair and stones in their cloth to the village of the man upon whom he wishes these misfortunes to fall, and hides them secretly in the thatch of the roof of the man’s hut.

It seemed that this method of sorcery is only justified when the sorcerer is a poor man, and the references in the incantation to the poverty of the sorcerer confirm this.

When a man who has prevaricated with the request of a sorcerer suffers any evil fortune, he consults the diviners, and they may tell him not only who has produced the misfortune, but why the sorcerer has brought the misfortune upon him and they may advise the sufferer to become reconciled with his enemy and to give him what he has asked. The man goes to the sorcerer, who is usually only too ready to take the credit of the affair, and it is arranged that he shall come to the village of the sufferer. Whenever he comes a third person must be present, who is called the nedrvol, or intermediate man. [84] The nedrvol brings about the reconciliation, and arranges the terms, and then the sufferer bows down before the sorcerer and performs the kalmelpudithti salutation. The sorcerer then utters the following formula while his foot is resting on the head of the man:—

â teu udâsnûdr, an nòdr udâsnûdr; taned peu mâ; term Those gods if there be, his country if there be; cold go may; mercy

ai peu mâ; in îr kark elm ultâmâ; en mans elm become, go may; this buffalo calf to all be well; my mind all

tülsvîshpini, tan mansm tüli mâ. cleared from guilt have I, his mind also clear may.

Teitnir rendered this freely as follows:—

By those gods if there be gods, and by their country if there be a country; as water is cold, so goes my anger; as mercy comes, may my anger go; may his buffaloes and calves be well; I have now nothing evil in my mind, you must also have no evil in your mind.

Food is then given to the sorcerer, who also obtains the object for which he had originally asked. Later the sorcerer goes secretly to the hut of the man and takes out the stones and hair which he had hidden in the thatch.

In removing the spell the sorcerer does not mention the names of the four gods, but speaks of them as “those gods.” The object of this is that the names of the four gods whom the sorcerer invokes shall not become generally known.

If any one quarrels with a sorcerer, the method adopted by the latter is different. He obtains a bone of a man, buffalo, or some other animal, or if unable to obtain a bone, he may use a lime. He sits, holding the bone or lime in his right hand, and utters the following incantation:—

Pithioteu Ön idith, Teikirzim Tirshtim idith; a teu sati udâsnûdr,

an nòdr udâsnûdr; ank pudra pîrsk pat mâ; ank ud to him will destroy disease come may; to him one

ultâkhâth pun pâ mâ; an kal muri ûmâ; an kai mûri ûmâ; incurable sore come may; his leg broken may be; his hand broken may be;

an kan pudri ûmâ; an ârs ulrsh an kûdûpel ûvòdink sakötam his eye destroyed may be; his house into his family to all trouble

pâ mâ; âth enk sakötam kasvai agi ankm sakötam come may; he to me troubles did who accordingly to him also troubles

ö mâ; an nòdr udi ed ariken â teu udi occur may; his country there is that we shall know those gods there is

ed kanken; i elv nels alaiu ai that we shall see; this bone into the ground what happens, that

òlkm alâ mâ. man to also happen may.

The only clause of this incantation of which the meaning is not clear is the penultimate, and the free rendering of this was said to be “as there are undoubtedly gods, we shall see all this happen”; it seems that ariken, which means literally “we shall know,” is often used in the sense “without doubt.” If he is using a lime, the sorcerer substitutes îrsimitch for elv in the last clause.

The bone or lime is then buried in a wood near the village of the man who is to suffer the misfortune.

When the misfortune comes, and the diviners have discovered its cause, the matter is arranged by a nedrvol as in the other kind of sorcery, and it is usually settled that the sufferer shall give a one- or a two-year-old calf to the sorcerer. When the matter is arranged, the sorcerer visits the village of the bewitched man, who does kalmelpudithti to the sorcerer, and the spell is removed with the following words:—

teu udâsnûdr, an nòdr udâsnûdr; taned peu mâ; term ai peu mâ [85]; mokh son

madrik an kûdûpel elmk; in mel en mans elm children to his family all to; this after my mind all

tülsvînem in uli agi mâ; nûv put, nudri cleared from guilt (as I) this well be may; disease leave, troubles

put peu mâ. leave go may.

The sorcerer is then given food and goes away with his calf, and later he goes secretly and takes the bone or lime out of the ground.

I have already mentioned that these methods of casting and removing spells were obtained with great difficulty and only from one man. This man, Teitnir, was one of the most intelligent of the Todas, but was not a very trustworthy guide. In this case, however, the account he gave was so consistent in itself and with the general character of Toda customs and beliefs that I have no doubt that his methods are those actually in use. It is more than probable, however, that other sorcerers may use other methods, and even that Teitnir’s account is not a wholly accurate description of the methods of any one sorcerer. The other Todas had told me that Teitnir was himself a sorcerer, but even after he had given me the above account, he denied that he had himself magical powers, but said that he had learnt the methods from Ishkievan. I had been told of one instance in which Teitnir had practised sorcery on Teikudr (63), but Teitnir gave a different account of this event. Teitnir and Teikudr had quarrelled and in consequence Teitnir had been angry with Teikudr, a condition which the Todas call murthvichi. Teitnir belonged to the chief family of the Kuudrol, which is known as the mani kudupel; “it is a bad thing for one of so important a family to have murthvichi” and any one who has been the cause of such a state of things is liable to suffer misfortunes. When therefore some of Teikudr’s buffaloes died and Teikudr consulted the teuol, these diviners gave as the reasons for the misfortunes the murthvichi, not the piliutvichi, of Teitnir. According to Teitnir, Teikudr was himself a sorcerer and there were reports that the recent death of Teitnir’s wife was due to the piliutvichi of Teikudr, and just before I left the hills, I was told that the teuol had arrived at the conclusion that Teikudr had had a hand in her death.

The Toda sorcerers are not only feared by their fellow Todas but also by the Badagas, and it is probably largely owing to fear of Toda sorcery that the Badagas continue to pay their tribute of grain.

The Badagas may also consult the Toda diviners. In one recent case a Badaga consulted Mongudrvan, who found that the misfortune from which the man was seeking relief was due to the sorcery of Kaners. Kaners was, no doubt, propitiated by the Badagas, and it is probable that the belief of the Badagas in the magical powers of the Todas is turned to good account by the latter.

In some cases Todas have been killed by the Badagas owing to this belief. About ten years ago Pushteidi of Nòdrs (6), the elder brother of Keitan, was a very notable sorcerer, much dreaded by both Todas and Badagas. He visited the Badaga village of Nanjanad on the occasion of a feast, and soon after a Badaga child died and its death was at once ascribed to the sorcery of Pushteidi. Not long after, Pushteidi’s dead body was found near his village, and there seemed to be no reason to doubt that the Badagas had killed him, but owing to the fact that the Todas held the funeral and burnt the body before they made a report to the police, the crime could not be thoroughly investigated nor the murderers brought to account.

One of the events which the Todas ascribe to sorcery is failure of the milk to coagulate. If there is much trouble in getting the milk to form adrpars, the teuol are consulted, and they sometimes find that it is due to sorcery and sometimes that some offence against the dairy has been committed. I have no information, however, as to the method which the sorcerer uses to prevent the coagulation of the milk of any one who has offended him.

The only other indication of Toda methods of sorcery came to me from a Badaga source. A Badaga maistri said that he had been given an account by a Toda. According to this account, the sorcerer takes three leaves of each of the plants which the Badagas call jakalmul, pemmul, and tupumul (evidently varieties of the muli of the Todas), puts the nine leaves in a new earthenware pot and buries the pot in a wood after saying certain formulæ in which he wishes evil to a given man whom he mentions by name. When the man falls ill and the diviners say by whom his illness has been produced, a reconciliation is effected and the sorcerer digs up the pot of leaves when the sufferer again becomes well. This information came from a Badaga source and I could not obtain confirmation of it from the Todas but it is possibly an approximation to the method employed in one form of Toda sorcery.

The Todas dread the sorcery of the Kurumbas more than that of their own pilikòren. The latter can be remedied, but the sorcery of the Kurumbas, called kurubudrchiti (Kurub = Kurumba), is much more dangerous and cannot be remedied. If it is found that a Kurumba has made a man ill, the only thing to be done is to kill the Kurumba (see p. 641).

When Kutadri became ill while he was with me in the Kundahs, the first suggestion was that the Kurumbas were responsible. Soon after this I went to Kotagiri, and Kòdrner, Kutadri’s brother, who was to accompany me, said that as the Kurumbas were very numerous in that part he did not like to go alone with me and made a stipulation that while I was on that side of the hills I was to provide him with a companion. Mr. Thurston [86] describes a similar experience in which his guide was afraid to walk from Ootacamund to Kotagiri lest he should come to grief at the hands of the Kurumbas. In this case it seemed that the man was using his fears as an excuse, and in my case the fear may have been used as a lever to provide occupation for a friend, but that there was a very real fear of Kurumba sorcery I have no doubt.

It is easy to see how this belief in the magical powers of the Kurumbas may have arisen, or, more probably, how its existence may have been maintained. The slopes of the hills on which the Kurumbas live are extremely malarious, and it must often have happened that a visit to a Kurumba village was followed by an attack of fever of a severe kind. We probably have here a good example of a vicious circle. Whenever two tribes of different degrees of culture live near one another, the members of the lower usually acquire the reputation of being sorcerers. For this and other reasons they are driven to a less healthy district, and the unhealthiness of the district helps to maintain and reinforce their reputation for magical powers.

THE EVIL EYE

Various misfortunes may befall a man if any one says that he is looking very well or is very well dressed. It is also unlucky that any one should look at a man when he is eating. Similarly it is unlucky for anyone to say that a buffalo is giving much milk; she will probably kick her calf or will suffer in some other way soon after.

This kind of misfortune is usually called kanarvaznudr, which was translated, “if looking anxiously.” It is also often known now by the Tamil name konduti or kontushti or evil eye. One of the commonest effects of kanarvaznudr is indigestion. When anyone is suffering from evil effects of this kind, he calls in one of certain people called utkòren, or “praying people,” or, probably more correctly, “saying incantations people.” Piutolvan (10), Keitazvan (15), and a woman, Sinpurs (7), are utkòren of repute. Any one of the male utkòren may be spoken of as an utpol, but I was doubtful whether this name would also be used for a woman.

The utpol rubs the belly of the sick person, holds one corner of his cloak in his left hand, and, putting some salt on the cloak, strokes the salt with a thorn of the plant called pathanmul. [87] The thorn and some of the salt are then put into the fire, and the utpol utters the following incantation:—

Pithioteu Ön idith, Teikirzim Tirshtim idith, tan âv kan pudrs kan his mother eye perish eye

pudri ûmâ; tan in kan pudrs kan pudri ûmâ; be destroyed may; father

and this formula is repeated, substituting for av or in the names of the following relatives:—an, akkan, nòdrved, mun, mimi, pian, piav. [88] Then follows the same formula repeated, in which the names of various tribes are substituted for those of the relatives, as “mav kan pudrs kan pudri uma”—“Badaga eye perish, may his eye be destroyed.” The people mentioned are mav (Badaga), pedr (Tamil), suti (? chetties), kurub (Kurumbas), erl (Irulas), panin (Panyas). [89] The last clause is möditi kan pudrs kan pudri uma, extending the imprecation to the women of all the people already mentioned. When the incantation is finished, the remainder of the salt is eaten by the sick man.

The Toda utkòren may practise ‘absent treatment.’ If a man wishes to treat a sufferer from the evil eye, and is unable to visit his patient, he puts the salt on the ground and strokes it with the thorn of pathanmul, repeating the above incantation as he strokes. He then sends the salt to the sick man, by whom it is eaten.

The treatment in any case is repeated till it has been done three times.

If it is a buffalo which is suffering from the evil effects of kanarvasnudr, the utkòren use the same method, and the salt is eaten by the buffalo.

In the special case in which the evil is produced by saying that a man is looking well or is well dressed, the utkòren have a different method. They take a piece of the root called kabudri, [90] and a plant called kwagal, and squeeze the juice of both into a vessel. An incantation is said, the same as, or similar to, that already given, while the utkòren strokes the sick man with the corner of his cloak. After the incantation the sufferer drinks the juice.

VARIOUS MAGICAL REMEDIES

The utkòren also practise various other methods of treatment.

Headache. This is called madersnûdr, “if head aches.” For this the utpol places his hand on the head of the sufferer, and says the following incantation in a low voice, so that the patient may not distinguish what is being said. [91] After the names of the four gods, as in previous formulæ, it runs:—

nâkherov mad tathi kan tath mâ; ker mad tathi cobra head broken into pieces not break may; a snake &c.

kan tath mâ;

and the same formula is repeated, substituting first the names of other kinds of snake and then of other animals. The following are the animals mentioned: kûrûpatz, a black poisonous snake; putpob, a variegated snake, which is called the foolish snake, because it will not get out of the way; taverûni, a green snake; pâlipob, another green snake; uitch, a kind of lizard reputed to suck blood; anîli, a squirrel; kapan, a frog; tugûli, a crayfish(?); kadrmad, a water animal of some kind; mîn, a fish; îgal, an earthworm; nelnpüf, an insect found under stones; âpipüf, an insect found in buffalo dung. After all these animals have been mentioned with the same formula, the names of Pithioteu and Ön are again uttered, followed by the words tathkhma. The utpol flicks the corner of his cloak first against the ground, and then against the forehead of the sufferer, and then, if the man is sitting, he says, “ateuk ir,” “sit there off!” and the man moves a little way from the place where he had been sitting. If the man is unable to sit, and is lying down, the words will be “ateuk padr,” “lie there off!” or “lie a little way off!”

I could not obtain a satisfactory account of the exact meaning of the incantation; it was said to mean “may the snake’s head be broken in pieces, and so may your head be broken”—i.e., so may the pain go; another rendering was “may the pain go to the snake’s head,” the latter being by far the more probable meaning. Three divisions of the incantation are recognised: in the first, snakes only are mentioned; in the second, things which live in the water; and in the third, things which live in the earth. The treatment is repeated on one or two days, if necessary, but it is never done more than three times, “because the ailment is always cured in that time.”

Another condition treated by the utkòren is stomach-ache, which is called püfkwatnûdr, “if worms bite.” The utpol places his hand on the belly of the sufferer, and after reciting the names of the four gods, he continues:—

kêrs pûv kâdkanm kâl mâ; kêrs tree flower fallen as fall down may;

and this formula is repeated, substituting the names of various trees and other plants for the name of the kêrs tree. The trees and plants mentioned pirzkh and kûrêrs, trees having edible fruit; pul, kîl, kwadriki, kid, trees from which bees get honey; kab, sugarcane; teg, coco-nut; patm, samai; ners, rice; eri, ragi; kîtj, potato; perigi, chillies; melkh, pepper; kwatimeli, Coriandum sativum; kadrkh, mustard; and kîri or kîrsi, red amaranth.

Thus the last clause would run: kîri pûv kâdkanm kâl mâ, and this would be followed by the names of Pithioteu and Ön. Then the utpol flicks his cloak three times, first against the ground and then against the belly of the sufferer, and says, “ateuk ir,” or “ateuk padr,” according as the man is sitting or lying down, and the sufferer moves a little from his place.

The names of flowers are used because the Todas believe that worms come from eating honey, and the honey has come from flowers. The flowers mentioned belong to four groups; [92] (i) those of trees which bear edible fruits; (ii) those from which bees get honey; (iii) those of trees or plants part of which are eaten; (iv) those of trees which give pungent substances like chillies and pepper.

There were various other complaints for which the utkòren are consulted, such as:—elptûksnûdr, depression in the chest of a child when it breathes (elp or elv = bone); tekhpkâdathvüdnûdr, pain in the side; kankpudithnûdr, if anything gets into the eye; erutûthtinûdr, if cut or wounded in any way; pobersnûdr, if snake bites.

Each of these has its appropriate treatment, but the only method of which I obtained an account was the last. Certain men have a special reputation for the treatment of snake-bite. A cord is made of woman’s hair and this is bound tightly round the bitten limb in three places. The doctor takes a piece of pathanmul and strikes the bitten limb while he utters the appropriate incantation. [93] The ligature is kept on the limb for two or three days and the incantation is repeated three times a day during that period. Anyone whom a snake has bitten must not cross a stream. If it is absolutely necessary that he should cross, he must be carried over it.

If wild animals attack the buffaloes, a procedure which closely resembles those already described is carried out by the utkòren. The procedure is called kâdrkatinamûdr—i.e., “wild beast tie mouth if.” It is also carried out if a buffalo is lost, and in this case the charm will keep the animal from injury by wild beasts. The utpol takes three stones secretly and goes at night to the front either of the dairy or hut and utters the following incantation:—

Pithioteu Ön idith, Teikirzim Tirshtim idith; pef pîrzi kût terz big tiger teeth fastened

nil mâ; kâkh kerman mûn terz nil mâ; padr kenai amûn stand may; black bear face crowd red dog other side

terz nil mâ; pob teuv terz nil mâ; pef per terz nil mâ; pef snake erect head big hill big

po pâ terz nil mâ; pef pòdi mul [94] terz nil mâ. river stream big porcupine quills

Then come the names of Pithioteu and Ön, followed by

âth ûvòdin kati vaiumâ. these all before tie keep may.

The utpol then takes a piece of ragged cloth in which he ties the three stones and hides them in the thatch of the hut. If a buffalo has been lost it will come back the next day, and even if it remains in the wood no tiger would touch it while the stones are in the thatch. When the buffalo returns the stones are taken out and thrown away.

All the remedies so far described resemble one another in that they are applied by one of the people called utkòren. The following remedy is applied by the sufferer himself. If a man is frightened in any way, as by a sudden noise when he is passing along a road, he will go home and put the hoe (kudali) and a stone called neilikal into the fire till the hoe is red hot. He puts the hoe and stones into a brass vessel called terg and pours on water. He then covers himself entirely with his cloak and remains covered till the water in the vessel ceases to bubble, when he opens his cloak, drinks water from the vessel three times, and throws the rest away.

There was some difference of opinion as to the use of the stone called neilikal at ordinary times. It was said first to have been used for making fire before matches were introduced, and there seems to be no doubt that fire was sometimes made in this way. Others said that the neilikal was used for sharpening iron tools. The only neilikal I saw was at Nidrsi and this was a large piece of quartz, and there seemed to be no doubt that this had at one time been used for making fire.

In one of the methods of sorcery which have been described it will be remembered that human hair is used. The Todas take the same kind of precautions about hair and nail-parings which are so widely spread throughout the world, but the reasons for the precautions differed from those usually given. I was told that the Todas do not ordinarily cut their hair, but the heads of children are shaved and adults also shave their heads on special occasions. The hair removed at these times is hidden in bushes or hollows in the rocks, and the reason given is that it may not be taken by crows.

Nail-parings are buried in the ground, and this is done in order that they may not be eaten by the buffaloes, for “nails are poisonous to buffaloes,” who will die or become ill if they find them when grazing.

There was some difference of opinion as to what was done with the hair cut off at the ceremony called tersamptpimi (see p. 333). It was clear, however, that care was taken that it should not be eaten by crows, for if crows obtained any of the hair first cut from a child’s head the child would suffer from shaking of some kind.

Both at the first head-shaving and at the tersamptpimi ceremony special bangles are put round the wrist of the child, and these are certainly of the nature of charms, for it is believed that the child would fall ill if they were not used.

The Todas believe in certain injurious influences which they class together under the name of pudrtvuti, [95] but I was able to obtain very little information about them, and I suspect that belief in these influences is largely of recent growth and due to contact with Hinduism.

One variety of pudrtvuti is the evil influence of Keirt (Keirtpudrtvuti) at the ceremonies after childbirth (see p. 326). Another variety is kòdipudrtvuti (kòdi, demon?). The Todas now adopt as a preventative of this evil influence a round mark made with ashes above the nose. If a Toda should suffer from the effects of kòdipudrtvuti, two remedies are adopted. One is called kavkal wart atpimi—i.e., “kavkal (a stone) grind, pour we.” I did not obtain an account of the remedy, but it is possibly the same as that already described which is used by a man when frightened. The other remedy is kwagal atpimi. Kwagal (Polygonum rude or P. Chinense) is the same plant which is used in one of the remedies for the evil eye (see p. 264) and it is possible again that this remedy is the same as that already described. Kwagal is also the plant used by the goddess Puzi to quench the fire of her son, Kurindo.

It will have been noticed that the formulæ recorded in this chapter have the same general form as the prayers of the dairy ritual. They consist of sentences ending in mâ, which seem to be of the nature of supplications that certain things may come to pass, preceded by the names of certain deities followed by the word idith, occasionally with other sentences allied in meaning to these. The two parts of the prayer are represented, but the first part, consisting of the kwarzam, does not appear to have acquired the same degree of importance as in the prayer. Thus the magical formulæ of the Todas have precisely the same general form as those used in their religious ritual. In the case of the prayer, I have pointed out that the actual words leave one in doubt as to whether there is anything of the nature of a direct appeal to the gods. In the magical formulæ, on the other hand, the case for an appeal to the gods is stronger. In all the formulæ, whether used by sorcerers to bring evils on their enemies or by medicine-men to remove sufferings of various kinds, the names of the same four deities are mentioned, and these four deities, Pithioteu, Ön, Teikirzi, and Tirshti, are undoubtedly four of the most ancient and sacred of the Toda gods. It is noteworthy that the sorcerer does not say the names of these gods when he is removing his spells, but simply refers to them as “those gods,” and it is clear that he does this because he does not wish his victim to learn the names of the gods by whose power his misfortunes have been brought about and are now to be removed. This procedure leaves little room for doubt that it is through the active intervention of the gods that the sorcerer is believed to work.

There still remains the question whether the words of the magical formula imply anything of the nature of supplication, or whether the sorcerer is not rather using forms of words which will compel the gods to exert their powers in the way the sorcerer wishes. I have no definite information as to the belief of the Toda sorcerer on the point, but the almost contemptuous tone of the two clauses which follow the names of the four gods might perhaps be held to point to the latter conclusion, and to indicate that the sorcerer can use the gods as his instruments of wrath much as seems to have been the case with the magicians of our mediæval times.

On the other hand, it is not unlikely that the words, “â teu sati udâsnûdr, an nòdr nòdr udâsnûdr,” may have originally had a meaning very different from that which the bare translation seems to give to them. A similar formula occurs in the story of Kwoten (p. 194) in the curse uttered by Kwoten’s mother, which has the proviso, “on sati udairnûdr,” which was translated, “if I have reverence to the village.” This makes it possible that the translation of the words of the magical incantation should rather be, “if I have proper reverence to the gods and to the gods’ country.” The interpretation on page 257 is that which was given to me by Teitnir, but it is not at all improbable that it is wrong, and that a translation on the lines of that given for the curse of Kwoten’s mother would be more correct.

The nature of the words used makes it clear that the remedies employed by the Toda utkòren, or medicine-men, are of a magical kind. The words are essentially the same as those used by the pilikòren, or sorcerers, to remove the evils they have brought about by their previous magical incantations. The same formulæ are used to remove ills supposed to be due to natural causes as are used to remove those due to the workings of magic. It seems clear that the Todas have advanced beyond the stage of human culture in which all misfortunes are produced by magic. They recognise that some ills are not due to human intervention, but yet they employ the same kind of means to remove these ills as are employed to remove those brought about by human agency. The advance of the Todas is shown most clearly by the differentiation of function between pilikòren and utkòren, between sorcerers and medicine-men, and we seem to have here a clear indication of the differentiation between magic and medicine. The two callings are followed by different men, who are entirely distinct from one another, but both use the same kind of formula to bring about the effect they desire to produce. It seems that the powers of the utkòren are less definitely passed on from father to son than in the case of the pilikòren. There is no doubt that these powers depend largely on a knowledge of the words to be used, and especially on a knowledge of the names of the four gods, but it is probable that this knowledge is transmitted from one old person to any other who may be likely to inspire confidence. It will be noted that a woman can practise the magical remedies of the utkòren, but I do not know whether this is a recent innovation. It seems clear that a woman could never become one of the pilikòren or sorcerers.

When discussing the formulæ of the dairy ritual, it was mentioned that one difficulty in the way of regarding these formulæ as prayers is that the names of deities are not uttered in the vocative form, and that this might be held to negative the idea that they involve supplication to higher powers. In the magical formulæ there seems to be a clearer case for the presence of a distinct address to deities, though it is doubtful whether this address is of a supplicative or compelling character. If there is a distinct address in the case of the magical formulæ, which every Toda would acknowledge to be used for an evil end, it is very probable that the words of the dairy formulæ also involve the idea of an address to deities. These formulæ are always directed to avert evils from and to call down blessings on the buffaloes, and it seems almost certain that for this good end the words imply not only an address to the powers of the gods, but also one of a supplicative rather than of a compelling character.

One distinction between the formulæ of the dairy and those of the sorcerer may be pointed out. In the latter the names of the gods are those used in ordinary conversation, i.e., Teikirzi, Tirshti, and are not the kwarzam, i.e., Ekirzam meidjam.

One of the most interesting features of this chapter has been the clear evidence given in the formulæ of the close relation existing between magic and religion among the Todas. The formulæ of magic and of the dairy ritual are of the same nature, though the differentiation between the sorcerer and the priest who use them is even clearer than that between the sorcerer and the medicine-man. It is probable that the names of the gods with the characteristic formulæ of the prayer are later additions to the magical incantation; that at some time the sorcerer has added the names of the most important of his deities to the spells and charms which at one time were thought to be sufficient for his purpose. It is also possible, however, that the similarity of prayer and spell points to a time when the functions of priest and sorcerer were combined in one person; that as the restrictions which hedge round the life of the dairyman-priest increased, it became impracticable for him to exert his magical functions, and that there has therefore come about a differentiation of function, though the means used continue to show a close resemblance.

It may perhaps be said that the clear evidence of the supposed influence of the gods takes the facts which have been described in this chapter out of the realm of magic and puts them in that of religion. The Toda’s methods of procuring ill to his neighbours are clearly in their essential nature of a magical kind, but their close blend with religious ideas is the reason why I have considered them in their present place.

OMENS

The Todas do not pay much attention to omens, but meeting certain animals is regarded as lucky or unlucky. The most definite instance of an omen-animal is a black bird called karpüls, which is said to be the Indian cuckoo. If a Toda is going on an errand and sees this bird on the left side, he takes it as a bad omen and turns back; if on the right side, it is a good omen. This bird appears twice in Toda legend. It warned Püv, the son of Ön, and in the last scene of the life of Kwoten, it appeared going from left to right. It is noteworthy that when Erten is interpreting the omen in this legend, he brings in Naraian (Narayan), who is certainly not a Toda deity, and this suggests that the whole incident of the omen-bird may be an accretion to the legends, and that the belief in omens has been borrowed from the Badagas or other Hindus.

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