The Ponup Ceremony
At the ti dairy salt is given to the buffaloes on certain other occasions and with a far more elaborate ritual. The ceremony is then called ponup, or ‘festival salt,’ and takes place soon after the migration from one dairy to another. At the Nòdrs ti the salt is given on the Wednesday following the Sunday on which the migration has occurred, and at the Kars ti and the Pan ti, on Sunday, a week later than the procession.
On the night before the ceremony the palol shuts up the buffaloes in the special pen called the pon tu.
On the morning of the appointed day, when the churning is finished, but before the buffaloes have been milked, each palol brings six sprigs of the shrub called puthimul, each sprig having on it five or six leaves. Three of these sprigs [[178]]are put on one side, and the other three are used as follows:—Rice has been previously prepared and placed either on the leaf called kakuders or on that called katers. The palol makes a hole in this food in which he puts butter, and, taking the first sprig of puthimul, he plucks from it one leaf and, using it as a spoon, takes up some of the food and puts it on the fire in the fireplace called tòratthwaskal, saying the name of the chief teu or god of the ti. He then takes some of the butter, and holds it over the fire till it drops, when he utters the name of the same god. He repeats this with a second leaf of the puthimul, saying the name of the second most important god of the ti, and so on with the other leaves. I obtained the fullest account of ponup from Koboners, who had been palol of the Kars ti, and here food and butter were put on the fire six times, saying the names of Anto, Nòtirzi, Kuzkarv, Kulinkars, Onkomn, and Karmanteu.
The kaltmokh then brings water taken from the ordinary stream in the vessel called mòrkudriki, and gives it to the palol, who sits in the outer room facing towards the inner room, and throws some of the rice in front of him once, some behind him once, and the rest outside the dairy. He puts some salt on the fire, and taking the water brought by the kaltmokh, he sprinkles it before and behind him as he had done with the food.
Then follows kaizhvatiti, i.e., the kaltmokh pours out buttermilk for the palol. This is the only occasion on which this act takes place before the buffaloes have been milked, the ceremony of drinking buttermilk on every other occasion taking place when the morning’s work is over. The palol gives food to the kaltmokh, and here, again, there is a feature peculiar to this day, for the kaltmokh eats his food sitting in the place in the hut where the palol usually sits.
The buffaloes are then milked, after which the palol fetches three sticks of the kind ordinarily called kwadrikurs, but at the ti, kakul. Each is used for a special purpose and has a corresponding name, one being called irpasthkakul, the second kwarkul, and the third parkul.
The palol takes buffalo-dung in both hands and the irpasthkakul in the right hand, and separates certain buffaloes [[179]]from the rest by knocking their backs three times with the dung and stick. At the Kars ti two buffaloes are separated in this way; at the Nòdrs ti five buffaloes are set apart, one of each kind, three by the ti palol, and two by the wars palol. These buffaloes are known as ponir. The dairy is then purified with the dung and water. The irpasthkakul is laid on one side, and the palol puts salt in the basket called ponmukeri, and takes it with the water-vessel called karpun to the place where salt is to be given, taking also the remaining sprigs of puthimul and a bundle of fern.
At the place for the ceremony there is a stone called ponkars (when there are two palol there will be two stones), and at the stone the palol makes a vessel of clay and water so as to resemble a milking-vessel. This clay vessel is called teukwoi (teu, god, and kwoi, milking-vessel).
The palol then takes two perfect tudr leaves, and fastens them together with the petioles of other leaves, so that they form a cup which is called püvup. Salt is placed in this leaf vessel, which is laid down by the side of the teukwoi. One such vessel is made for each buffalo, two at the Kars ti and five at the Nòdrs ti.
The palol then takes the stick called kwarkul, and with it makes a hole in the middle of each teukwoi, saying (at the Kars ti) “antok teukwoi ûrîj, paln!” (“To Anto in teukwoi make hole, O palol!”). He then makes other holes round the sides of the clay vessel, saying the names of the other gods in the same manner. (At the Kars ti those which have already been given. At the Nòdrs ti the names of five gods are mentioned—Anto, Kulinkars, Nòtirzi, Kuladrvan, and Kuzkarv.) Two pieces of tudr bark and a sprig of puthimul are then placed in each hole, saying for the first, “Antok teukwoi et, paln!” (“To Anto in teukwoi put, O palol!”), and this is repeated with the name of a different god for each hole.
Next the palol takes the stick called parkul, which has a sharpened end, and makes small holes called upunkudi as in the mòrup ceremony. At the Kars ti only two upunkudi are made; at the Nòdrs ti one palol makes three and the other two holes. Tudr bark is thrown three times into the holes and into the water of the spring. Water is taken from the [[180]]spring in the karpun, salt is put into the water three times and the salt and water are poured into the holes, and the buffaloes previously set apart are led to the holes and drink three times, one buffalo from each hole. The leaf vessels previously made (püvup) are then given to the buffaloes, and are eaten by them. Care is taken to give the leaf vessels in such a way that the end of the leaf corresponding to the petiole enters the mouth of the buffalo first.
The palol takes Anto’s leaf from the teukwoi and puts it in the karpun with water, then faces towards the place where Anto lives (Anto’s hill) and pours in that direction, saying “Antok,” “to Anto.” This is repeated with the other leaves, the palol in each case turning and pouring towards the place where the god lives.
Then follows the ceremony called tafkeirpudrti, i.e., “fern pool he strokes.” The palol takes the bundle of fern which he has brought with him and goes to the stream, which is blocked up, so that the water accumulates and forms a pool. He waits till the pool is so deep that the water would come half-way up his thighs, when he steps in with the bundle of fern in his right hand and strokes the bundle over the water, saying the kwarzam, or prayer names of certain gods and buffaloes (at the Nòdrs ti the palol says, “Anto idith, Kûlinkârs idith, Nòtîrzi idith, Kûlâdrvan idith, Kuzkârv idith, Mûv idith, Mòrs idith, Pan idith, Kûdreij tîdj idith”: see [Chapter X]). The palol then buries the fern at the bottom of the pool, so that there is no chance that it may come up again, and throws the grass called kargh into each upunkudi once only.
The palol then goes to the buffaloes and knocks one of the ordinary kind called punir to one side with a bush called pîrskwadriktûr and pours a little water on its back. This is called punîr ûvk nîr atiti, i.e., “he pours water on the back of the punir.”
Finally the palol goes to a stream near the upunkudi and washes there from the hands to the elbows. This final washing is called peiaspiti. Pei is the Tamil word for ‘demon,’ and the word suggested that there was an idea of warding off the influence of some kind of evil spirit, but it [[181]]seemed that peiaspiti was merely the ti form of kaiaspiti, “he washes the hands.”
The following day is called ûpkârvnol. On this day small Badaga children go to the ti mad and the palol gives them clarified butter on a leaf. On this day also any one who has been a palol (patol) may go to the ti mad and receive food unless the funeral ceremonies for one of his clan should still be uncompleted.
The ceremonies of ponup were said to be designed to invite the gods to be present by means of the clay vessels. The tudr bark and leaves were said to be used in order to purify these vessels after their defilement by human hands in the process of making. [[182]]
[1] This is the only occasion on which this cream is used by the Todas. It is used because there are now neither butter nor ghi at the dairy. Its use here is an indication that the process of coagulation is less rapid than usual. [↑]
[3] I am doubtful whether a special wand is also used in other dairies. [↑]
[4] Eleven ak = one kwa (see p. [588]). [↑]
[5] When there is only one palol for both kinds of buffaloes, as at the Pan ti, he only digs one hole. [↑]
[6] See [Chapter XVII]. [↑]
[7] This hole at an ordinary village is sometimes known as a tarupunkudi. [↑]
CHAPTER IX
THE TODA GODS
The ceremonies which have been described in the last five chapters make up a large part of the ritual of the Toda religion, but there is one important feature of this ritual which has so far been left on one side, or only cursorily mentioned, because its full consideration only becomes possible after an account has been given of the Toda gods.
In describing the ritual of the dairy and the various ceremonies connected with the buffaloes, it has been mentioned that at certain times the prayer of the dairy or the prayer of the village is used. In these prayers there are references to various incidents in the lives of the gods, and many of the clauses would be unintelligible without a knowledge of these lives. It therefore becomes necessary to consider this branch of Toda mythology before dealing with the prayers in detail.
The typical Toda god is a being who is distinctly anthropomorphic and is called a teu. In the legends he lives much the same kind of life as the mortal Toda, having his dairies and his buffaloes. The sacred dairies and the sacred buffaloes of the Todas are still regarded as being in some measure the property of the gods, and the dairymen are looked upon as their priests. The gods hold councils and consult with one another just as do the Todas, and they are believed to be swayed by the same motives and to think in the same way as the Todas themselves.
At the present time most of the gods are believed to [[183]]inhabit the summits of the hills, but they are not seen by mortals. Before the Todas were created, the gods lived on the Nilgiri Hills alone, and then it is believed that there followed a period during which gods and men inhabited the hills together. The gods ruled the men, ordained how they should live and originated the various customs of the people. The Todas can now give no definite account of their beliefs about the transition from this state of things to that which now exists.
Each clan of the Todas has a deity especially connected with it. This deity is called the nòdrodchi of the clan, and is believed to have been the ruler of the clan when gods and men lived together. I am doubtful whether there is at the present time any belief that the nòdrodchi exerts an influence over the clan with which he is connected.
There was no department of Toda lore which gave me greater difficulty than the study of the beliefs about the gods. There was no doubt that two gods stood out pre-eminent among the rest. One was a male deity whose name was Ön, and the other a female deity, Teikirzi. A simple question which I had the greatest difficulty in settling was the relation of these deities to one another. According to one account they were brother and sister; according to another, father and daughter. It seemed quite certain they were not husband and wife, and most probable that they were brother and sister. Others of the gods were believed to be related to one another, but on such points as this I found it almost impossible to obtain trustworthy information. It may have been reticence which made the difficulty, but I do not think so, and am inclined to think that the Todas have now only vague ideas about the histories of their more ancient gods, and have nothing like the definite traditions which they possess about deities of obviously more recent origin.
Sometimes there were discrepancies between different accounts which I could not clear up, and in such cases I give the account which seems to me to be the most trustworthy. [[184]]