The Niroditi Ceremony
The ceremony begins on a Saturday evening, after the new moon, when the chosen candidate goes to a village of the clan to which his future ti belongs and sleeps there in the ordinary hut.
On the following morning he goes before daybreak to the front of the dairy of the village, naked except for his kuvn, and a man of the village stands at the door of the dairy holding a tuni in his hand, and says three times, “Tunivatkia!”—“Touch the tuni!” The candidate answers, “Tunivatkin,” and takes the tuni. If the garment is a complete one, he puts it on; if only a piece, he puts it in his pennar and taking seven tudr leaves and tudr bark he goes to the stream of the dairy and performs the usual drinking and rubbing ceremony, and after putting the tudr bark in his hair, goes a little way off and shakes his head so that the bark falls out. He repeats the ceremony twice, so that it is performed three times altogether—i.e., he drinks from the tudr leaves three times seven. This ceremony is called teshnir, and is done in view of the inhabitants of the village. The candidate stays for the rest of the day at the village. If there is a wursol there, the food of the candidate is prepared by this dairyman[2]; if no wursol is present, it is prepared by the palikartmokh. The food is grain boiled in milk, and is only eaten in the evening. The candidate sleeps that night in a wood near the village, but not the same wood as that by the stream where teshnir had been done. Either the wursol or the palikartmokh must pass the night in the wood with the candidate, and other men of the village may also be their companions. Until the candidate lies down to sleep he must remain naked (except for the kuvn), but when sleeping he may cover himself with his ordinary cloak.
Next morning (Monday) the candidate gets up at sunrise, [[158]]lays aside his cloak, and goes to bathe completely in the stream, saying three times, “Tudraspinem,”[3]—“Tudr I have washed,” thus washing off the tudr of the previous day. He then returns to the place where he had slept, puts on his ordinary cloak with the right arm out, and goes to the front of the dairy. He is given food by the wursol, or, in his absence, by the palikartmokh, and eats it outside the dairy, after which he washes. He then goes to the ordinary stream of the village (ars nipa) and takes up water with his hand, and by so doing he becomes perol—i.e., he loses any sanctity he has acquired by the ceremony of the previous day.
The candidate then goes direct to the village of Òdr and stays near that village till the evening, when he makes his way to the front of the dairy of that place. He stands about ten yards from the dairy and throws off his cloak. A man of the clan to which his future ti belongs now gives him a complete tuni of the kind worn in the village dairy (a mad tuni, not a ti tuni), saying three times, “Tunivatkia,” to which is replied “Tunivatkin.” The man who gives the tuni now remains as assistant and companion till the candidate reaches his future dairy. The candidate puts the tuni round his loins, goes to the stream of the dairy, and performs the drinking and rubbing ceremony with muli leaves and shoots as in the ordination of palikartmokh. The assistant makes fire by friction and lights a fire of muli wood, at which the candidate warms himself.
The drinking ceremony with tudr is then carried out in the same way as at teshnir, and then the wursol of Òdr brings buttermilk in an ertatpun and gives it in cups of kakud leaves to both the candidate and his assistant. They also receive food from the wursol, while any other men present go to the ordinary hut for their meal. That night is passed at a special spot under a tree not far from the dairy at Òdr, the wursol and assistant being the companions of the candidate. On that night the candidate may not [[159]]touch his ordinary cloak and has to be content with the scanty covering of the tuni.[4]
On the next day (Tuesday), the ceremony with tudr leaves and bark is repeated three times as on the previous days, and after the wursol has finished his dairy work he gives buttermilk and food to both the candidate and his assistant. On the afternoon of this day the tudr ceremony is performed again, but on this occasion seven times, so that the candidate drinks from the tudr leaves seven times seven. In the evening buttermilk and food are again given by the wursol and the three men pass the night in the wood.
On the next day (Wednesday) the candidate fetches bark of the tree from which the material called twadrinar is made and makes for his temporary use a rough kuvn. When it is ready, he bathes in the dairy stream, takes off the old pennar and kuvn and puts on the newly made garment, together with the tuni, and goes with the wursol to the dairy where the buffaloes of his ti are standing. When they approach the ti mad the wursol goes away and leaves the candidate to go to the dairy alone, where he sits on the outskirts (pül) of the ti mad. When the kaltmokh sees the candidate approaching, he collects the buffaloes at the milking place (pepkarmus) and catches hold of the tails of certain buffaloes which are to be taken in charge by the new palol, saying to himself three times for each buffalo, “Tover vatkina?”—“Tail shall I hold?”—and replying to himself each time, “Vat!” At the Nòdrs ti if the candidate is to be palol of the tiir, the kaltmokh holds the tails of three buffaloes, one of each kind; if he is to be palol of the warsir, two buffaloes only take part (see p. [112]). After this the kaltmokh prepares food in the pül of the dairy and gives it to the palol designate. While the kaltmokh is attending to the new palol he must become a perkursol—i.e., he degrades himself to this rank before undertaking these duties. During the night the candidate together with the kaltmokh and the other palol already in office [[160]](if there are two, as at the Nòdrs ti) sleep in the hut of the ti mad.
The next day (Thursday) the new palol goes to the stream and performs the tudr ceremony three times in the morning and nine times in the afternoon; i.e., he drinks from the tudr leaves three and nine times seven. On this day the kaltmokh milks the punir, takes the milk to the pül, churns there and gives buttermilk, butter and other food to the new palol. On that night all sleep in the karenpoh or calf-house.
The proceedings of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are the same as those of Thursday, except that the new palol may now drink the milk of the punir like the full palol.
On Monday morning the new palol enters on his office. In the morning he bathes and then takes off the temporary pennar and kuvn he has been wearing and replaces them by others made in the same way. A Badaga (the tikelfmav) then brings one of the two cloaks of the palol, that called pòdrshtuni, and lays it down at the outskirts of the dairy. It is taken up by the kaltmokh and given to the new palol, who spreads it out on the place where the buffaloes are milked. He then takes pounded tudr bark, says the kwarzam of the gods, of the ti and of the buffaloes (see Chap. X) and throws the pounded bark on the garment. He turns the garment over so as to expose the other surface and purifies this in the same way. He then asks himself, “Pòdrshtuni tutkina?”—“Shall I tie the pòdrshtuni?”—and throwing off the mad tuni he has been wearing hitherto, he puts on the pòdrshtuni. The kaltmokh returns the mad tuni to the Nòdrs people, who come on this day and stand on the outskirts of the place.
The new palol then purifies his dairy by sprinkling it with water and tudr bark in the same way as is done when going to a new dairy (see p. [136]). He next takes the uppun, puts into it water and tudr bark, and turning towards the Nòdrs people with the vessel to his forehead, says three times to them, “Poh pûkhkina?”—“Shall I enter the dairy?” All the Nòdrs people cry “Pûkh!” and the new palol enters his dairy with the full rights of his position.
At some period before entering into office as full palol [[161]]the candidate touches a tasth or bar of the entrance into the tu. This ceremony is similar to that performed by the kaltmokh, and as in this case it seemed to be the special indication of entrance on full office, but unfortunately my notes do not make it clear exactly when this touching of the tasth is done nor with what ceremonial it is accomplished.
For a month from this day there will be what is called pon, nothing being either sold or given from the dairy. At the end of the month, on a Monday, a tuni of the kind called kubuntuni is brought by the tikelfmav, and is put on in the usual way. (During the previous month the pòdrshtuni will have been used both as a cloak and as a loincloth, and will have been taken into the sleeping hut.) The palol is visited by the dairymen of his rank from the other ti dairies, and there will be many visitors from all the Todas, who come and sit in the pül of the dairy and feast. The new palol also receives greetings on this day from the Todas for the first time since his entry upon office. He greets the Tartharol first, saying “Bañ” in the usual way, and then the Teivaliol, saying “Pekein,” and each reply in the customary manner.
The ordination ceremonies of the palol are thus very prolonged. There is a preliminary qualifying ceremony in which the would-be candidates receive pieces of tuni, perform both the muli and the tudr purificatory ceremonies, each once only, and on the following day go through the very peculiar ceremonial in which they are given superabundant food by an old woman while in a condition of complete nudity.
The proper ordination ceremonies begin on a Sunday, when the candidate receives tuni, performs the purificatory ceremony with tudr three times seven, and sleeps in a wood. On Monday he washes off the tudr, becomes a perol, and goes to the village of Òdr, where he again receives tuni, goes through the muliniròditi ceremony which makes him a palikartmokh, and then performs the tudr ceremony three times seven and sleeps in the open, covered only with the tuni. On Tuesday he performs the tudr purification three times seven in the morning and seven times seven in the evening and again sleeps in the open. On Wednesday he bathes and assumes a special kuvn and goes to his future dairy, where the kaltmokh [[162]]performs the tail-holding ceremony and the candidate sleeps in the hut. On the four next days the tudr ceremony is performed three times seven in the mornings and nine times seven in the afternoons, and the calf-house is used as a sleeping-place. On the following Monday the palol enters upon office, assuming the pòdrshtuni, touching a tasth, and entering his dairy.
The foregoing description of the ordination of the palol applies primarily to the Nòdrs ti, but in its main details it holds good for other places.
I am doubtful as to the part taken by the village of Òdr, and am not clear whether part of the ordination ceremony is performed at this place by every palol or only by those of the Nòdrs ti. It is possible that it is only the latter who visit the village, but I do not know of any corresponding village visited by the candidates for the post of palol at other ti dairies. My impression is that every candidate for the office of palol visits this village.
The only definite modification of the ceremonies attendant on entrance into office of which I know occurs at the Kars ti. Here the palol is first ordained to the parsir—i.e., he becomes the palol of this herd of buffaloes and tends them only. At the end of a month he becomes palol of the pürsir, and the ceremony of entrance upon this office was spoken of as pelkkatthtiti to the pürspoh. In this case the ceremony of ordination to the parspoh is called niròditi, and that of removal to another dairy pelkkatthtiti.
On the afternoon of the appointed day the palol churns the milk of the morning in the parspoh and then shuts the door of this dairy, which he never re-enters as long as he is in office. He could only do so if he should cease to be palol and be re-ordained to the same ti.
A new pòdrshtuni is brought by a Badaga and is assumed by the palol after purification in the usual manner. At the same time he puts on a new kagurs,[5] which has been purified by the kaltmokh, who has also cut a new kwoinörtpet on the hill of Kulinkars which the palol then purifies with tudr bark in the usual manner, saying the names of the four deities, Anto, Nòtirzi, Kulinkars, and Kuzkarv. [[163]]
The palol then digs up earth from the footprints of one of the pürsir, saying the whole prayer of the ti as he does so. He drives the buffalo slightly to one side by touching it with the wand, and takes earth from the exact place where the foot of the buffalo had been resting and puts the earth into a cup which he has made of tudr leaves. He adds pounded tudr bark and goes to the spring (kwoinir) of the dairy, where he mixes water with the earth and bark. He then goes to the stone called pepkusthkars, where he has previously laid a complete set of new dairy vessels and implements of the inner room, together with the lamp and the bell (Ner) of the pürspoh. The bell is laid on the stone, the other things by its side.
Wearing the pòdrshtuni and holding the kwoinörtpet under his left arm, the palol sprinkles the contents of the leaf-cup over the dairy vessels and other objects, beginning with the bell, and as he does so he prays, using the whole prayer of the dairy. He then ties all the vessels and other contents of the dairy on a staff called pepkati in exactly the same manner as when taking them from one ti mad to another. The bell is tied up in a leafy covering of kiaz and everything is done as in the migration from one place to another, and the staff with its burden is then borne by the palol from the pepkusthkars to the stone called perskars, by the side of which the dairy vessels are laid, while the mani is uncovered and laid on the stone. The staff is then placed at the back of the dairy.
Having untied the dairy vessels and arranged them by the stone, the palol pounds fresh tudr bark, and with the kwoinörtpet under his left arm goes with the karitòrzum to the sacred spring, into which he throws the bark, takes water, and returns. Taking more pounded bark, he puts it in the idrkwoi and pours water into this vessel from the karitòrzum. He takes the idrkwoi with its contents to the front of the dairy, and with his right hand sprinkles the water over the outside of the dairy and then into its interior till the vessel is emptied. The dairy vessels are not again purified, but are taken into the dairy with the same procedure as that described in the last chapter. The vessels of the outer room, which have been purified by the kaltmokh, are then taken to their places. Fire is made by friction; one fireplace is lighted [[164]]and fire transferred to the other, and from this the lamp is lighted, and the palol, who is now palol of the pürsir, goes out to look after and milk his new charges. On this evening no food is taken, nor does the palol drink buttermilk as usual, and the kaltmokh does not blow the horn in the evening. On the following day, which is the occasion of a feast for all Todas, the usual routine is followed.
The most interesting feature of this ceremony at the Kars ti is that the vessels of the inner room are taken by the palol from the pepkusthkars to the perskars, a distance said to be about fifty yards, in exactly the same manner as that in which they are carried from one dairy to another during the migrations when the distance may be many miles.
The essential feature of the various ordination ceremonies is purification by drinking water from certain leaves and rubbing the body with the juice of certain plants or the bark of a tree mixed with water from a dairy stream or spring. The ordinary dairyman uses the leaves and shoots of muli; the dairymen of the Taradr kugvali and the Kanòdrs poh use seven kinds of leaves and rub themselves with tudr bark, while the three grades of dairyman open only to Teivali or Melgars people not only rub with the juice of tudr bark, but use tudr leaves for the purificatory drinking.
The palikartmokh drinks and rubs himself seven times only, the wursol and kaltmokh seven times seven, while at various stages in his ordination the palol uses tudr bark three times seven, seven times seven, and nine times seven.
The final stage of ordination or induction is marked by touching some sacred object of the dairy. The ordinary dairyman touches one or more of the sacred vessels of the dairy; the wursol, kugvalikartmokh, and the pohkartpol of Kanòdrs touch the mu, a dairy vessel buried in the buffalo pen, which is dug up for the ordination ceremony. The kaltmokh and the palol touch a tasth, the former touching a bar of the calf enclosure and the latter one in the opening of the pen used for adult buffaloes.
According to one account, the Teivali palikartmokh also touches a mu on entrance into office, but it is very doubtful if [[165]]this is correct. Nothing was said about it at the ordination at which I was present, and I saw nothing to indicate that this vessel was being used, but it is possible that the mu had been dug up earlier in the day and put inside the dairy.
Another interesting feature of the ordination ceremonies is that a dairyman of a higher grade may be taken through the lower stages on his way to the higher office. Thus both wursol and palol perform the purificatory ceremony with muli, which is the chief feature of the ordination of the palikartmokh. There did not seem to be any stage in the ordination of the palol when he could be said to be a wursol, though the ceremonies of Monday evening and Tuesday are very much like those of the wursol, the chief difference being in the exact number of times that the tudr purification is performed. [[166]]
[1] This is the ordinary muli used in the ordination of the palikartmokh. [↑]
[2] This is inconsistent with the statement made on p. [73] that the wursol never prepares food except at the irpalvusthi ceremony. It is possible that the food is only given to the candidate by the wursol and is not prepared by him. [↑]
[3] This has not the same form as the word uttered by the wursol and kaltmokh in the corresponding ceremony. In some cases different verbal forms are used at the ti, and this may be an instance. [↑]
[4] It has been stated by Harkness, Marshall and others that when the palol is entering on his office he has to sleep in the wood completely naked. This is not strictly correct, though the covering afforded by the tuni is so meagre that the statement is almost justified. [↑]
[5] The ti name of the kuvn. [↑]
CHAPTER VIII
SPECIAL DAIRY CEREMONIES
I have so far dealt with the organisation and ritual of the dairy, with the ceremonies accompanying the movements of the buffaloes from one place to another, and with the ceremonies attendant on the entrance of the dairymen into office. There remain ceremonies which accompany certain events in the course of the dairy ritual or in the lives of the buffaloes. One of these, the pepkaricha ceremony, is performed whenever any evil befalls a certain dairy vessel which is buried in the buffalo pen. Another ceremony celebrates the birth of a calf, and a group of ceremonies are connected with the act of giving salt to the buffaloes.