Chapter XXVIII

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[170] This may possibly be the world of Yama, the Todas rarely, if ever, using the letter y. The word was often pronounced Amanòdr.

[171] This is one of several instances in which the initial t of a word is omitted in compound forms.

[172] Möditi is the name applied to all the women of other tribes. It is perhaps suggestive that this name should be used for a stone connected with the goddess Teikirzi.

[173] Several of those who have witnessed Toda funerals have noticed that barren buffaloes are killed on these occasions, and I believe that it is a recognised custom to use such animals. Pidrvan’s funeral lament begins with a reference to barren buffaloes, and the clause, “in the midst of barren buffaloes you went,” evidently refers to Pidrvan’s skill in catching buffaloes at the funeral ceremonies.

[174] See Fawcett, Journ. Anthrop. Soc. Bombay, 1890, vol. ii., p. 146.

[175] In Teitnir’s lament for Pidrvan (see p. 387) he speaks of a Kars kazun, which suggests that each clan has its own kazun.

[176] At this place there is now only a dairy.

[177] Pp. 18 and 67.

[178] According to another account, these bells are kept at the wursuli of Nasmiòdr, and the wursuli of Kars has three mani in addition to these.

[179] As we have already seen (p. 243) there is some reason to think that there has been example of such transference of sanctity to an object in the case of the mu or buried dairy vessel.

[180] Falls of the Cavery, 1834, p. 49.

[181] For the special method employed see p. 581.

[182] Burton (Goa and the Blue Mountains, p. 316) brands the Todas as inveterate liars, because, evidently owing to some misunderstanding, he was told that a “putting stone” was the “grandfather of the gods.”

[183] It will be remembered that at the azaramkedr of a woman, two women stand at the entrance of the azaram one of whom holds a pounder in her hands.

[184] I do not intend by this to indicate my belief that these cairns are ancient Toda monuments. I only wish to point out that one of the arguments which has been directed against this view is probably not valid. I shall return to this point in a future chapter.

[185] I had no Toda with me when I visited the place, so cannot speak with absolute certainty on the point.

[186] I do not wish to lay any stress on this argument, for, as I have already indicated, it is possible that the eating of sambhar is a recent innovation, which has arisen since the advent of Europeans to the Nilgiris. Also I do not wish to indicate by the above that I commit myself to a belief in the universality of totemism as a stage in religious development. I only wish to point out that if this has been so, the Todas furnish a good case in which we might expect all traces of this descent to have disappeared or to have become so blurred and scanty as to be of little value.

[187] These were the names given to me by the Todas, and their spelling may not correspond with that in ordinary use.

[188] See Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits, vol. v, p. 122.

[189] For a few cases in which an individual is entered as the child of a man who is known not to be his real father, see p. 534. In such a case I have assigned the child to the parent who is regarded as the legal father by the Todas.

[190] Grigg’s Manual of the Nilagiri District, 1880, Appendix No. 17, p. xlviii.

[191] Ibid. App. No. 20, p. lx.

[192] Letters on the Neilgherries, London, 1829, p. 75.

[193] Madras Journ. of Lit. and Science, 1836, vol. viii, p. 86.

[194] Ibid., 1848, vol. xv, p. 1.

[195] Manual, p. 27.

[196] Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc., 1904, vol. xii, p. 481.

[197] Specimens of South Indian Dialects, Mangalore, 1873.

[198] Pp. 194–5.

[199] See Marshall, p. 213.

[200] Properly the river should not be crossed at all on these days (see p. 418).

[201] The probable rule is that the day must not be a madnol or palinol.

[202] In cases of polyandry the names of the husbands are enclosed in square brackets.

[203] See his account at the end of this chapter.

[204] I use the term ‘fatherhood’ instead of ‘paternity’ because the latter term seems to imply a meaning which does not belong to the Toda notion of ‘father.’

[205] For an instance, see p. 535.

[206] It will be noticed that I am using the term ‘Levirate’ in a wider sense than that in which it is sometimes employed, for Sargveli was not a childless widow.

[207] In 1902.

[208] Ter is also used in the sense of ‘fine,’ but is only used when the fine takes the form of a buffalo or buffaloes. A money fine is called saver.

[209] For an instance in the past see p. 538.

[210] For an instance see p. 535.

[211] Mokh here means ‘child’ in general, not son.

[212] For a full account see p. 366.

[213] Grigg’s Nilgiri Manual, Appendix, p. lxxiv.

[214] The definite appearance of jealousy in the history of Kwoten must, however, be noted in this connexion.

[215] Loc. cit.

[216] This is evidently the same word as marth, which occurs in