The Daily Life at the Ti
The inhabitants of the ti rise before it is light, probably about five a.m., and on getting up from the bed some say “ekirzam meidjam.”[2] The kaltmokh goes at once to open the tu in which the buffaloes have been penned for the night. The palol salutes with hand to forehead when he leaves the sleeping-hut and goes to the front of the dairy, where there is water standing in a bamboo vessel called papun, corresponding to the kepun of the village dairy. He washes his hands and face, and then washes out his mouth by taking up water with his right hand, pouring into his left, and taking the water into his mouth from the latter. It is noticeable that the palol uses his left hand for this purpose of personal cleanliness, and not the right hand, which is chiefly used in his sacred work. He then ties up his straggling hair at the back of his head, bows down at the threshold of his dairy and enters, in some cases saying “ekirzam meidjam” as he does so.
When the palol enters the outer room of the dairy, he transfers fire from the tòratthwaskal, where it has been burning all night, to the other fireplace, the pelkkatitthwaskal, and then takes off the kubuntuni, which has been his covering during the night and puts the pòdrshtuni round his loins. He lights the lamp by means of three pieces of wood of the kind called kid, taken from the pelkkatitthwaskal, and while so doing begins to pray, using the prayer of the ti. After lighting the lamp, and while still continuing to pray, he takes up the persinkudriki and knocks with it on the middle of the three vessels called persin, going from one persin to another, when he pauses to take breath. I had the greatest difficulty in finding out exactly what happened in connexion with this [[93]]prayer, but after I had settled on the foregoing description as correct I was allowed one day by the kaltmokh to go near the dairy while the palol was praying, and was able to hear the beating on the earthenware vessel with each word of the prayer.
The next step is to take up the pohvet and place it against the wall, and then the palol begins to churn the coagulated milk in the middle persin, milk in this state being here called kudabpol instead of adrpars, as in the ordinary dairy.
In those cases in which the mani is ‘fed,’ the palol puts kudabpol on the bell shortly after beginning to churn. This is done three times, the syllable Oñ being uttered each time. When the palol does anything three times in this way, he says that he does it mushtiu. This expression for ‘thrice’ is not used in the ordinary dairy.
The next steps are to pour into the kwoi and karitòrzum most of the coagulated milk which has been broken up by the churning, to add to the milk remaining in the persin some persinpen, or butter especially kept for the purpose in the peptòrzum, to add water, and to churn the mixture of coagulated milk, water, and butter in the middle persin. When the new butter is formed, the palol pours out the buttermilk into the vessel called idrkwoi, keeping back the butter with his hand. The buttermilk is transferred from the idrkwoi to one of the alug in the outer room. Some of the milk which had been put into the kwoi or karitòrzum is then poured back into the middle persin, more water is added, and the mixture is churned, after which the buttermilk is again transferred by means of the idrkwoi to the alug, while the butter is kept in the persin. This procedure is repeated till all the milk of the middle persin has been churned.
The persin on the right-hand side of the palol is then taken, and its position exchanged with that of the vessel hitherto used, and the churning is continued in exactly the same manner. The buttermilk is transferred to the alug, but the butter when formed is transferred to the persin, which had been originally in the middle. When the contents of the second persin have been churned, the third persin is placed in the middle and the same procedure is followed, so that when [[94]]the churning is over all the butter which has been formed will be in the persin which was originally in the middle. Some of this butter is put into the peptòrzum to act as persinpen on another occasion, and the remainder is transferred to the butter alug by means of the idrkwoi. The two tòrzum are then put on the tops of two of the persin as covers, the peptòrzum being placed on the middle persin and the palol takes the milking-vessel (kwoi) and wand (kwoinörtpet) in his right hand and goes out to milk, having first put some buttermilk, called pep, into the kwoi.
When the palol leaves the dairy, he raises the milking-vessel and wand to his forehead and salutes in the way shown in [Fig. 27]. The Todas say that he is saluting the sun and the buffaloes. It is probable that, in general, the palol faces approximately east as he salutes, but there is no doubt that, at the present time, his salutation is chiefly to the buffaloes. He salutes in the same direction both morning and evening, and certainly pays no attention to the direction in which the sun lies.
This salutation is now often done in a very perfunctory manner. The vessel and wand may be raised hastily to the forehead for a few seconds only as the palol goes towards his buffaloes, and I am doubtful whether the salutation is ever performed exactly as shown in the figure, for the vessel contains some of the buttermilk called pep, which might be spilt if the vessel were held quite horizontally.
When the palol salutes, he says “Oñ” three times, and repeats two or three clauses of the dairy prayer, usually the kwarzam of the more important gods of the dairy.
When going to milk and when going from one buffalo to another, the kwoi and kwoinörtpet are always held together in the right hand. When the kwoi is filled, it is taken into the dairy. If it is the custom of the dairy to put milk on the mani, this is now done three times, saying “Oñ” each time, and then the milk is poured into the middle persin, the kwoi being held in the left hand, and the palol goes out again to refill the kwoi. When all the persinir have been milked, the milk of the three persin is mixed together by pouring from one to the other. The reason for this is that the buttermilk, called pep, [[95]]is only taken out in the kwoi on first going to milk, and in consequence the pep would affect the milk of the middle persin only if its contents were not mixed with those of the vessels filled later.
FIG. 27.—THE ‘PALOL,’ KARKIEVAN, SALUTING AT MÒDR. HE IS STANDING IN THE ‘PEPKARMUS.’ THE BUILDING NEXT TO THE ‘PALOL’ IS THE ‘TI POH’; THAT ON THE RIGHT IS THE ‘KARENPOH,’ AND BETWEEN IT AND THE ‘TI POH’ CAN BE SEEN THE HUT WHERE THE INHABITANTS OF THE ‘TI MAD’ SLEEP.
The palol next goes out to milk the punir, taking for this purpose the vessel called karpun and an ordinary wand, the kwoi and kwoinörtpet being only used for the more sacred buffaloes. There was some difference of opinion as to what should be done with the milk of the punir. According to [[96]]some it may be used to fill the persin if these are not filled by the milk of the persinir; according to others it is wrong to do this, and the milk of punir should on no account be put in the more sacred vessels of the inner room. I think there is no doubt that at the Nòdrs ti at any rate the first procedure is followed. At this ti the punir outnumber the persinir by far, and it is probable that the milk of the former is used to supplement that of the more sacred buffaloes, although it is contrary to tradition that this should be done.
The three persin being filled, the tòrzum are again put on as covers, and the palol takes up the wand called pohvet, and prays, standing in front of the screen (patun) with his hands lying over one another cross-wise on the top of the stick as shown in Fig. 28. He recites the full prayer of the ti, then replaces the pohvet between the persinand the patun and this act of replacing the wand marks the end of the more sacred part of the dairy operations. If a Toda wishes to ascertain if the work of the dairy is over, he asks, “Has he taken the pohvet?”
FIG. 28.—TO SHOW THE ATTITUDE ADOPTED BY THE ‘PALOL’ WHEN PRAYING.
The palol now unties his hair, sees to anything necessary in connexion with his food, fills the uppun with buttermilk, and then leaves his dairy and goes to sit on the seat called pohvelkars on one side of the door of the dairy, viz., on the opposite side to that on which the mani is placed. At Mòdr he sits on the stone on the right side of the door when going [[97]]in (K in [Fig. 26]), and the fact that he does so is one of the reasons which make it probable that the arrangement of the poh of that place is as I have given it in the plan.
When the palol has seated himself on the pohvelkars, he calls out to the kaltmokh “Kaizhvatitva,” “Come here and pour buttermilk!” When the kaltmokh comes, the palol gives the uppun to the boy, who says three times “Kaizhvatkina”, “Shall I pour buttermilk?” and the palol replies each time, “Vat!” The kaltmokh pours from the uppun into a cup made of the leaf called kakuders held by the palol, who drinks after raising to his forehead. This is repeated till the palol is satisfied, when the leaf-cup from which he has been drinking is thrown away,[3] and he goes again into the outer room to get food. He gives food to the kaltmokh, who eats it in the sleeping-hut, while the palol himself eats sitting on the pohvelkars. If any mòrol (see p. [107]) are present, they are fed at this stage with buttermilk and food by the kaltmokh, who gives them the buttermilk out of the mòrpun, pouring it into leaf-cups as when giving to the palol.
The rest of the morning is passed in looking after the buffaloes, cutting firewood, plucking leaves used as cups and plates, or doing any other work connected with the ti.
In the afternoon the palol returns to his dairy and goes through the same operations as in the morning, except that he fetches water from the kwoinir early in the proceedings, usually bringing enough for the work of that afternoon and of the next morning. He churns the milk drawn in the morning, and when the time for milking has arrived, the buffaloes will have returned to the milking-place, and as soon as they arrive their calves are let out from the house (karenpoh) in which they have been kept.
When the churning and milking are over, the buffaloes are shut up in the tu for the night. The palol then takes buttermilk as in the morning, and both he and the kaltmokh take their food. The latter eats his food in the sleeping-hut as in [[98]]the morning, and the palol does not enter till the boy has finished. As the palol enters, the kaltmokh says “Oñ” thrice, takes the horn or horns, and standing at the door blows three times (if there are two horns, three times on each horn), and then re-enters the hut and all go to rest.
In the afternoon the palol prays three times; when lighting the lamp, and after milking and filling the three persin as in the morning, and again after shutting up the buffaloes in the tu for the night, when he stands in front of the entrance to the pen. In each case he uses the whole of the ordinary prayer of the dairy. He also utters a few clauses of the prayer when going out to milk. These prayers will be given in [Chap. X].