The Kaltmokh
The ordination of the kaltmokh begins either on Sunday, Wednesday or Thursday. In the case of a kaltmokh of the Nòdrs ti, the first part of the ceremony takes place at the village of Nòdrs, while in some cases it seems that the candidate may go to the same village of Òdr which is visited by the palol during his ordination. I have no information about the place of ordination in the case of the other ti dairies.
A boy who is to become kaltmokh of the Nòdrs ti goes to Nòdrs either on Sunday, Wednesday, or Thursday, and, going to the ordinary dairy of that place (tarvali), he is given water by the palikartmokh in the vessel called pòlmachok. The boy washes his hands with this water and puts on a tuni which the palikartmokh gives him, after saying the same formula as in the ordination of wursol. He then does muliniròditi and so reaches the grade of palikartmokh. This and the following ceremony are done at a special stream at Nòdrs called niròdigudr. The purification ceremony is then performed with tudr bark and leaves till the candidate has drunk seven times seven. Food and buttermilk are given by the palikartmokh, and then the boy together with the [[152]]palikartmokh and the wursol of Nòdrs pass the night in the wood near that place.
The next morning the candidate goes to the ordination stream and washes himself from head to foot. This is called tudraspipini, its object being the same as in the ordination of the wursol. The boy next goes to the front of the tarvali, where the palikartmokh gives him a special string made of twadrinar, which he puts round his waist as kerk, and then warms himself at a fire of muli wood. The palikartmokh brings a mu, which the candidate touches with the same formalities as in the ordination of wursol, and by so doing reaches the grade called perkursol, which is of the same rank as that of wursol. The perkursol then takes the mu into the tarvali, prostrating himself at the threshold before entering. He prostrates himself to the patatmar and to the ertatmar, puts the mu on the patatmar and comes out. He then goes to the poh, or conical dairy of Nòdrs, prostrates himself at the threshold, enters, and prostrates himself before patatmar, ertatmar and, finally, before the mani. Up to the point of saluting the bell in this way he keeps on the tuni but at this stage he throws it down and comes out of the dairy naked (except for the kuvn), puts on the ordinary cloak and goes to the dairy at which the ti buffaloes are standing.
When he reaches the ti mad, the candidate goes to the palol, whom he salutes with the words “îr kar ûdâ,” this salutation being called pîrwadrikpini. He goes to the sleeping hut, prostrates himself before the horns which are kept in this building, and then goes to the front of the dairy. He is now perkursol, and in order that he shall become full kaltmokh or tunitusthkaltmokh, the palol gives him a piece of tuni (petuni). The boy asks three times, “Tunitusthvaskina?”—“Shall I go to wash the tuni?”—to which the palol answers each time “Tusthva!”—“Wash, go!” The boy takes the petuni to the stream for ordinary use (not the kwoinir) and bathes from head to foot. He puts to himself three times the question, “tunitoikina?” and laying the piece of tuni on a stone, he pours water on it three times and returns with the petuni in his hand to the palol who will be sitting on his [[153]]pohvelkars in front of the dairy. The palol asks three times, “Tunitusthpacha?”—“Have you returned from washing the tuni?”—and each time the boy replies, “tunitusthpuspini”—“I have come from washing the tuni.” Then both palol and boy go to the front of the kadr in which the calves are kept and the palol puts into the gate three bars (tasth), which shut the opening of the enclosure. The boy asks three times, “Tasthvatkina?”—“Shall I touch the tasth?”—and each time the palol replies “Tasthvat!” The boy, who hitherto has been perkursol, now touches the tasth, and by so doing attains the full rank of kaltmokh, and at once goes and pours buttermilk (kaizhvatiti) for the palol.
The latter parts of the ordination ceremonies of the kaltmokh, from the point at which he receives petuni from the palol to the touching of the tasth, are always performed whenever the kaltmokh returns to the ti after a journey in which it has been necessary to degrade himself to the rank of perkursol (see p. [106]). The initial stages of becoming a kaltmokh are known in general as niròdibudnudr.