The Sanctity of Milk
The different degrees of sanctity attaching to the different dairies are associated with differences in the rules regulating the use of milk, and these rules seem to show clearly that [[240]]the milk of buffaloes belonging to the more sacred dairies has a higher degree of sanctity than that churned in the lower grades.
The milk of ordinary buffaloes may be drunk by anyone, man, woman, or child. The Todas do not ordinarily sell milk, but if they do so, they may only use the milk of ordinary buffaloes for this purpose. I have a note that anyone may also drink the milk of buffaloes belonging to the tarvali, but I suspect that this only applies to men who must drink it at the dairy.
The milk of the kudrpali may only be drunk by the kudrpalikartmokh himself. It is believed that any other person or animal who should drink milk from this dairy would die.
At the wursuli milk may be given to men at the dairy, but it must be mixed with buttermilk. At the kugvali of Taradr the milk of the kugvalir themselves is not drunk by anyone, the dairyman having certain ordinary buffaloes for his own use, and this is also the case at the ti. I believe that not even the palol would drink the milk of the persinir, the sacred buffaloes of the ti.
There is one exception to the rule that ordinary people may not use the milk of the sacred buffaloes of the village dairies (except in the form of butter and buttermilk). At the irpalvusthi ceremony at all the village dairies, including the kugvali, food is prepared with the milk of one of the sacred animals and this food is given to the people of the clan to which the dairy belongs and also to members of other clans.
In the case of the wursuli, I was especially told that this is the only occasion on which the milk of wursulir is used by people in general. At the kugvali, people of other clans are only given this food on the second day of the proceedings, and the distribution of the food is preceded by a ceremony in which some of the food is thrown into the fire. The milk used on this occasion is the milk of the buffalo which has recently calved, the ceremony being in celebration of this event.
At the wursuli it is noteworthy that the food is cooked by the wursol himself, the ceremony of irpalvusthi being the [[241]]only occasion on which a dairyman of this grade prepares food. Thus, when the milk of the wursulir is used ceremonially as a food by ordinary people, the food is prepared by the dairyman-priest. One feature of the irpalvusthi ceremony is that the work is performed kabkaditi in every dairy, and it is possible that this sign of increased respect is intended to counteract the desecration which is about to take place in the use of the milk by the profane. As I have already pointed out, the irpalvusthi ceremony has a strong resemblance to a sacrificial feast, in which people partake of the sacred animal, but in this case it is the milk of the animal and not the animal itself which is taken.
A further indication of the sanctity of milk is given in the prohibition against the drinking of milk by a widower or widow during a period which, as we shall see later, may extend to many months.
The restrictions on the use of the milk of the sacred animals have the general characters associated with taboos, and the whole daily ritual of the dairy would seem to be designed to remove the taboo. It is possible that at one time the milk of the sacred buffaloes was not used at all, and that these animals only suckled their calves. If then the Todas had begun to milk the sacred buffaloes, it is natural that the milking and churning should have been accompanied by ritual designed to counteract the evils to be expected from the profanation of the sacred substance and the breaking of the taboo. In certain circumstances even now the Todas do not milk their sacred buffaloes, but allow them to suckle their calves only. If a ti dairy, or even one of a lower grade, has no dairyman, the buffaloes are not milked, though they are still tended by some unsanctified person and are kept ready to take their part in the dairy ritual if a dairyman should again be appointed.