CHAPTER II

THE TODA PEOPLE

I do not propose to describe at any length the physical characters of the Todas. [8] It must be sufficient to say here that the people differ remarkably in general appearance, and perhaps still more remarkably in general bearing, from the other inhabitants of Southern India. The average height of the men is about 5 ft. 7 in., and that of the women 5 ft. 1 in.; both are well-proportioned, and the men robustly built. Their heads are distinctly dolichocephalic, the cephalic index of the men being 73.3. The shaved heads of the children show very well the great length, and probably owing to the special method of shaving (see Figs. 63 and 64), this feature is in them exaggerated so as to seem almost abnormal.

The nose is usually well-formed and not especially broad, the nasal index being 74.9. It is often distinctly rounded in profile. The skin is of a rich brown colour, distinctly lighter than that of most of the Dravidian inhabitants of Southern India. The skins of the women are lighter than those of the men. There is much hair on the bodies of the men, who usually grow thick beards, and the hair of the head is luxuriant in both men and women. The men are strong and very agile; the agility being most in evidence when they have to catch their infuriated buffaloes at the funeral ceremonies. They stand fatigue well, and often travel great distances. One day I met an old man about seventy years of age going to the market at Gudalur for a supply of grain, and in the evening I met him on his return carrying a large and heavy bag. He had travelled over thirty miles, had gone down and again come up some 3,000 feet, and most of his journey had been in a climate much warmer than that of his native hills.

My guide at the end of the day would sometimes go a distance of eight or ten miles and back to arrange for my supply of men for the next day’s work, and I have seen him on these occasions running at a steady pace which he would keep up for miles. In going from one part of the hills to another, a Toda always travels as nearly as possible in a straight line, ignoring altogether the influence of gravity, and mounting the steepest hills with no apparent effort.

In all my work with the men, it seemed to me that they were extremely intelligent They grasped readily the points of any inquiry upon which I entered, and often showed a marked appreciation of complicated questions. They were interested in the customs of other parts of the world, and appeared to grasp readily the essential differences between their own ways and those of other peoples. It is very difficult to estimate general intelligence, and to compare definitely the intelligence of different individuals, still more of people of different races. I can only record my impression, after several months’ close intercourse with the Todas, that they were just as intelligent as one would have found any average body of educated Europeans. There were marked individual differences, just as there are among the more civilised, and it is probable that I saw chiefly the more intelligent members of the community.

My time was largely devoted to experimental work, especially on the nature of the sensory and perceptual processes. The people entered readily into this work, quickly grasped the nature of the methods employed, and showed the same power of close attention and careful observation which, as I have found in other races, enable even more definite and consistent results to be obtained from uncultured races than from most classes of a civilised community.

I had slighter opportunities of estimating the intelligence of the women than that of the men, but, as a general rule, it seemed to me that there was a very marked difference between the two sexes. Some of the younger women, when examined by various tests, showed as ready a grasp of the methods as any of the men, but most of the elder women gave me the impression of being extremely stupid. It was often obvious that they were not attending and were thinking far more of their personal appearance and of the effect it was having on the men of the party than of the task they were being set, but even when a liberal discount was made for this, it seemed to me that they were distinctly less intelligent than the men.

The characteristic note in the demeanour of the people is given by their absolute belief in their own superiority over the surrounding races. They are grave and dignified, and yet thoroughly cheerful and well-disposed towards all. In their intercourse with Europeans, they now recognise the superior race so far as wealth and the command of physical and mental resources are concerned, but yet they are not in the slightest degree servile, and about many matters still believe that their ways are superior to ours, and, in spite of their natural politeness, could sometimes not refrain from showing their contempt for conduct which we are accustomed to look upon as an indication of a high level of morality. It is in the matter of ethical standards that the difference between the Todas and ourselves comes out most strongly.

THE VILLAGE AND THE HOUSE

The Todas live in little villages scattered about the hills. The greater part of the plateau consists of grass-covered hills separated by valleys, sometimes narrow, more often of wide extent. In every valley there are streams and in many places swamps. In the hollows of the hills are small woods, generally known as sholas, and it is usually near these sholas that the Toda villages are to be found. Some parts of the hills are much more thickly beset with villages than others, and this is especially the case in the neighbourhood of the part known as Governor Shola, about six to eight miles west and north-west of Ootacamund.

In other parts one may go considerable distances without finding a Toda village, but relics of the former history of the Todas may be found widely scattered over the hills, and I think there can be little doubt that at one time the Toda habitations were much more generally distributed than they are at present. The bazaar at Ootacamund has now become an important place in the economic life of the Todas; they sell there the ghi or clarified butter in which form their dairy produce chiefly goes to the market, and they procure in return at the bazaar the rice and grain and other things which have now taken their places among the necessaries of life. In consequence there exists a tendency for the larger part of the Todas, especially those of the Todanad, to live within an easy distance of Ootacamund, and many of the villages in the more distant parts of the hills are now only occupied for a few weeks in the year.

The Toda name for a village is mad, [9] but this is now often replaced by the Badaga form of the word, mand, and the latter word is used exclusively by the Europeans and others living on the Nilgiri hills. A mad usually consists of several huts. In some villages there may be only one hut, and the maximum number I have seen is six. At some places where there was formerly a village with dwelling-huts there is now only a dairy, but the term mad is still applied to the place at which the dairy is situated. The term mad is also given to the funeral-places of the Todas. Sometimes the funeral-place is also a village at which people live; sometimes it has only a dairy; while in other places there may be no trace of human habitations; but the term mad is equally applied in all three cases. The term is also used for the dairies and accessory buildings connected with the most sacred herds of buffaloes (the ti). Each group of buildings is called a mad or ti mad. The term has therefore a wider significance than “village” and denotes rather a “place”—a place connected in any way with the active life of the Todas. The chief village of a clan and certain other sacred or important villages are called etudmad and other villages are often known as kinmad.

A typical Toda village consists of a small group of huts (ars), often on a piece of ground slightly raised above the surrounding level and enclosed by a wall (katu). In this wall there are two or three narrow openings, large enough to admit a man but not a buffalo. In most villages there is a dairy or there may be several dairies. Each of these buildings is also enclosed by a wall, usually higher than that surrounding the dwelling-huts. The dairies may be near the huts, but more commonly are at some little distance from the latter. Somewhere near the dairy will be found a circular enclosure, the buffalo-pen, or tu, [10] in which the buffaloes are enclosed at night, and there may be more than one tu for use on different occasions or for different kinds of buffalo. There will be a small pen for the calves which is called kadr, and there may also be a house for the calves (kwotars). A small structure called kush (? kudsh), used as an enclosure for calves less than fifteen days old, may often be seen, situated between the spreading roots of a tree.

Close to the village there will be at least one stream (nipa), and very often there are two streams. If possible, there should be two streams, in order that one may be used for the sacred purposes of the dairy, the pali nipa, while the other is used for household purposes, the ars nipa. Where there is only one stream, different parts are used for the two purposes, and the two parts of the stream then receive the names pali nipa and ars nipa. In this case the pali nipa is always above the ars nipa, so as to avoid the danger that the water used for the dairy shall have been contaminated by contact with household vessels. At some villages there may even be a third stream, or part of a stream, used in the ordination ceremonies of the dairymen.

It has often been a subject of remark by visitors to the Nilgiri Hills that the Todas have chosen the most beautiful spots for their dwellings, and interest has been taken in the love of beauty in nature which this choice shows. I think there can be little doubt that the choice of suitable dwelling-places has been chiefly determined by the necessity of a good water-supply, and if possible of a double water-supply, and the Todas have chosen the beautiful spots, not because they are beautiful, but because they are well watered. Their choice has been dictated, not by a love of beautiful scenery, but by the practical necessities of their daily life.

In the immediate neighbourhood of a village there are usually well-worn paths by which the village is approached, and some of these paths or kalvol receive special names. Some may not be traversed by women. When I first visited the village of Taradr, nearly the whole population of the village met me at the spot where the path to the village leaves the road. We all went along together till I suddenly found that I was walking with the men and boys only, while the women and girls were following another path. We were going by the way over which the sacred buffaloes travel when leaving or approaching the village, and the women might not tread this path, but had another appointed way by which they were to reach their home.

Within the village there are also certain recognised paths, of which two are especially important. One, the punetkalvol, is the path by which the dairyman goes from his dairy to milk or tend the buffaloes; the other is the majvatitthkalvol, the path which the women must use when they go to the dairy to receive buttermilk (maj) from the dairyman. Women are not allowed to go to the dairy or to other places connected with it, except at appointed times when they receive buttermilk given out by the dairyman, and when going for this purpose they must keep to the majvatitthkalvol. This path is sometimes indicated by a stone, the majvatitthkars, and the spot where the women stand to receive the buttermilk is called the majvatvaiidrn.

At many villages there are other stones which have definite names and mark the sites where certain ceremonial functions are performed.

The house is called ars, and is of the kind shown in Fig. 7. It is shaped like half a barrel, with the barrel-like roof and sides projecting for a considerable distance beyond the front partition containing the door. The size of the hut is by no means constant; in some cases it is sufficiently roomy to enable people to move about with ease and comfort, while in others it is so small that it is unbearably stuffy, and the smoke from the fire, which is always burning, makes it difficult to believe that anyone can long live in it. The entrance to the hut is always very small, and is closed by a door which slides over the opening on its inner side.

Some houses are much longer than others, with a door at each end and a central partition, so as to form a double hut which is called epotirikhthars, i.e., “both-ways-turned house.” This kind of hut did not seem to be common, and I only saw three or four examples, of which one is shown in Fig. 8.

A much more common kind of double hut is called merkalars, i.e., “other-side house,” in which the back part of the hut is partitioned off, with a door at one side.

In some Toda villages there may now be found huts of the same kind as those of the Badagas. In the cases in which I found such huts, I was told that they had been built by Badagas who had lived in the villages while the Toda occupants were away. Todas may also occasionally be found living away from their own villages, usually near tea plantations. They do this because there is a demand for buffalo manure at the plantations, and when living in this way they not uncommonly use huts of the Badaga pattern.

In front of the hut on either side of the door there are usually raised seats called kwottün, and there are similar raised portions, called tün, within the huts on which the people sleep. The floor of the hut is divided into two parts, which are marked off from one another by the hole in which grain is pounded by the women. The part in front of this is often used for churning, and with this part women have nothing to do, their operations being limited to the hinder part.

There is little difference between the dress of men and women. Each wears a mantle called the putkuli, which is worn thrown round the shoulders without any fastening. Under it is worn a loin-cloth called tadrp, and the men also wear a perineal band called kuvn, corresponding to the Hindu languti. The kuvn is kept in position by a string round the waist called pennar, a string which, we shall see later, is of considerable ceremonial importance.

There are various ways of wearing the cloak which will be more fully described in