Influence of other Religious Systems
The Todas show undoubted signs of the influence of Hinduism on their religion. It would be quite easy for a visitor to the Todas to talk to some of the younger and more sophisticated men and to go away believing that the Todas differed little from the surrounding tribes in their religious beliefs. In my first conversation with the Todas on religious matters I was told that they worshipped the following six gods:—Nanjandisparan, whose temple is at Nanjankudi in Mysore; Petkon or Betakarasami, whose temple is at Gudalur; Punilibagewan, whose temple is called Punilikudi and is near Cheirambadi; Mari, a female deity, with a temple called Marikudi near Pokapparam; Magòli, another female deity, with a temple near Kodanad on the Nilgiris, and Karmudrangan,[4] whose temple is near Mettapollayam.
Four or five of these gods are probably Hindu deities, while Magòli may be a deity of the Kurumbas or Irulas. At the present time there is no doubt that their temples are visited by the Todas and offerings made to them. The most frequent motive for these offerings appears to be the desire for children. The Todas now pray to these gods, most commonly for this purpose to Nanjandisparan, Magòli or Karmudrangan, and if a child is born it is taken when one year old to the temple, its head is shaved, and an offering, usually in the form of an image of the child, given to the priest. Rice is also given, sufficient, it is said, to feed 101 men, and the proceedings are said to cost the Todas [[458]]from 40 to 100 rupees. They have a rule that, however much money they take away with them from their villages, all must be spent and none brought back.
If the Todas wish to obtain more buffaloes they offer silver images of these animals to the temples.
I do not know how long these Hindu gods have been worshipped by the Todas, but my informants were emphatic that Nanjandisparan and Petkon had been worshipped by the Todas for very long, and that annual offerings of small sums were made to them by every Toda family.
This worship and appeal to Hindu deities appears to me to have gone on side by side with the proper religion of the Todas, but to have influenced it little. It shows how people of low culture make use of the gods of other races as well as of their own, and in the same way I believe that the Todas reverence the gods of Badagas, Kurumbas, or any other of the tribes with which they have dealings, and if asked point-blank if the gods of these people are their gods they will assent.
It is probable that Hinduism is now having more influence on the Todas than ever before, and, as I have already pointed out, I believe that the reverence to Swami and the frequent utterance of his name is a sign of the increasing influence of Hinduism, perhaps combined with that of Christianity.
Christianity has so far had no appreciable influence. The Church Missionary Zenana Society has for some years employed two catechists to work among the Todas, and one of them, Samuel, who by the kindness of the Society was allowed to act as my interpreter for a large part of my stay, ought to have been successful if earnestness and honesty are of any avail, but his efforts, carried on for ten years, had borne very little fruit.
In the whole of the mythology and ceremonial there are few features which suggest the probability of Christian influence, and the chief of these is the incident in the legend of the origin of mankind where woman is created from a rib taken from the right side of a man. It is very unlikely that this is a recent accretion to the legend, and, if it is due to Christian influence, I think it must have arisen long ago. We [[459]]know that, three centuries ago, priests visited the Todas and preached to them, and it is stated (see p. [720]) that one chose the Hebrew story of the creation for his lesson, and it may be that the incident, striking the fancy of the people, was incorporated into their own tradition of the origin of man. The resemblance between the Toda madnol and the Sabbath may also excite the suspicion that the former institution is founded on ideas borrowed from Christians or Jews. I think we may be confident that, if this has been the case, the borrowing took place very long ago. I hope to show in the last chapter that it is probable the Todas came from Malabar, and it is possible that their migration to the hills took place after the settlement of Christians or Jews in that district. If Christianity has affected the religious beliefs or practices of the general body of the Todas, I think it is certain that this influence has not been recent.