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. [[256]]
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. [[257]]
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 those teu gods sati power udâsnûdr; if there be; an his nòdr country nòdr country udâsnûdr; if there be; an kar warkhi his calf sleep peu mâ; go may; an îr his buffaloes têrgi pûti wings grow pâr mâ; fly may; ath on nîr he I water ud puk âthm drink as he also nîr un mâ; water drink may; on nîkh I thirsty as puk am as âthm he also nîkhai mâ; thirsty be may; on eirt I hungry puk as âthm he also eirth hunger mâ; may; en my mokhm children ödrth cry puk as an his mokhm children ödr cry mâ; may; en my tazmokh wife kûtm ragged cloth pût wear puk as an his tazmokhm wife kûtm ragged cloth pûv wear mâ. 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;[3] 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 [[258]]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.[4] 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 Those teu gods udâsnûdr, if there be, an his nòdr country udâsnûdr; if there be; taned cold peu go mâ; may; term mercy ai become, peu go mâ; may; in this îr buffalo kark calf to elm all ultâmâ; be well; en my mans mind elm all tülsvîshpini, cleared from guilt have I, tan his mansm mind also tüli clear mâ. 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 [[259]]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 to him pudra will destroy pîrsk disease pat come mâ; may; ank to him ud one ultâkhâth incurable pun sore pâ come mâ; may; an his kal leg muri broken ûmâ; may be; an his kai hand mûri broken ûmâ; may be; an his kan eye pudri destroyed ûmâ; may be; an his ârs house ulrsh into an his kûdûpel family ûvòdink to all sakötam trouble pâ come mâ; may; âth he enk to me sakötam troubles kasvai did who agi accordingly ankm to him also sakötam troubles ö occur mâ; may; an his nòdr country udi there is ed that ariken we shall know â those teu gods udi there is ed that kanken; we shall see; i this elv bone nels into the ground alaiu what happens, ai that òlkm man to also alâ happen mâ. 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. [[260]]
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[5]; mokh son madrik children an to his kûdûpel family elmk; all to; in this mel after en my mans mind elm all tülsvînem cleared from guilt (as I) in uli this well agi be mâ; may; nûv disease put, leave, nudri troubles put leave peu go mâ. 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 [[261]]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 [[262]]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[6] 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 [[263]]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.