Food
The chief foods are milk, buttermilk, ghi, grain, rice, and sugar. The chief drink is buttermilk, and milk is used chiefly when boiled with rice or grain.
In clarifying their butter the Todas add some grain or rice, and this forms a sediment on the bottom of the cooking vessel which is called al, which is the chief food of the dairymen, and it is probably also used largely as a food in ordinary life.
A list of various herbs, fruits, &c., eaten by the Todas is given by Mr. Thurston.[3] There is very little doubt that at one time these were used much more largely than at present, when the grain provided by the Badagas is supplemented by rice and grain bought in the bazaar. The Todas have a tradition of a time when they lived chiefly on roots, herbs, fruits and honey, and the importance of honey comes out in several of their legends.
A much prized substance called patcherski is made from samai grain (Panicum miliare), which is roasted and pounded so as to get rid of the husk. It is used in the preparation of a food which is eaten on all the chief ceremonial occasions. When they prepare it the Todas say “ashkkartpimi,” and this verbal form is used as the name of the food. In making ashkkartpimi, patcherski is put into a basket (tòdri) which has been carefully cleansed by rubbing it all over with dried buffalo-dung. Buttermilk and jaggery are added and the whole mixed together and rolled into balls, each about as large as a cricket ball. When eating, a hole is made in the ball into which ghi and butter, sometimes honey, are poured, and then the hole is covered with rice.[4] A man will usually eat two of these balls at a feast, but a greedy man may manage three or four.
The Todas do not like others to see them eating, and if this happens, the same consequences may ensue as are [[581]]produced by the evil eye. Their natural politeness also makes the Todas uncomfortable when they see others eating, and in the early part of my visit I sometimes dispersed a group surrounding me by taking sandwiches out of my pocket and beginning to eat.
I did not ascertain definitely who cooks among the Todas. I had some reason to suppose that all the cooking is done by the men and that the women have nothing to do with this part of domestic economy, but I am not clear about this. It is possible that it is only food containing milk which must be cooked by the men.
The Todas are an example of a people who have no native intoxicant, but they have now taken to alcoholic drinks, though I do not believe that they indulge in these habitually. The only occasions on which I saw Todas under the influence of alcohol were when they were returning from the bazaar on market days. I was only once asked by a Toda for alcohol and then by a woman. Tobacco is now largely used and opium is certainly also used, though I do not believe that it is taken in excess. It may be employed, however, as a means of committing suicide.