The Teivali Dairy

Among the Teivaliol, the various grades of dairy and dairymen so far considered have no existence. Many Teivali villages have two dairies, but each is served by a palikartmokh of the same rank.

The general procedure of the Teivali dairy does not appear to differ in any very marked respect from that of the Tarthar tarvali. The most marked difference which I could discover is in the clothing of the dairyman. When engaged in the dairy operations, the Teivali palikartmokh wears, at any rate in some cases, the tuni, or garment of dark grey cloth of the same kind as that worn by the wursol.

The sacred buffaloes of the Teivaliol are known as pasthir, and there are no differences corresponding to the different grades of the Tartharol. Similarly with one exception, the Teivali pasthir of each clan have no special names like the martir, nashperthir, &c., of the Tartharol. The exception is that the buffaloes of the Piedr clan are called kudeipir or kudipir, apparently the same name as that of the wursulir of Pan.

The village of Kiudr, belonging to the Kuudrol, possesses a dairy of special sanctity (see [Fig. 31]). It is served by a [[82]]palikartmokh, and it does not appear to have any special complexities of ritual except in connexion with certain bells which this dairy contains. There are six of these bells, two kept on the patatmar, called patatmani, and four kept on the ertatmar, called ertatmani. During the dairy ceremonial these bells are ‘fed’ by the palikartmokh, the patatmani receiving milk and the ertatmani buttermilk. I only became aware of the existence of these bells incidentally, and had not the opportunity of ascertaining their history or meaning. It is clear, however, that they differ from the mani of the Tartharol and from those of the Piedr clan among the Teivaliol in that they are never used at a funeral (see p. [352]). [[83]]

[1] This is literally ‘cooked milk.’ It probably receives this name because the coagulation is often hastened by heating. [↑]

[2] About four pints. [↑]

[3] I am not sure whether this restriction does not also apply to the tarvalikartmokh. [↑]

[4] See [Chapter XXIII]. [↑]

[5] Probably a corruption of kaipun, hand vessel. [↑]

[6] This is done by folding a leaf in such a way that it forms a cup. [↑]

[7] The method of wearing the cloak adopted by the wursol is not unlike that shown in a picture at the Guimet Museum in Paris, which represents a Brahman engaged in prayer. [↑]

[8] The world of the dead. [↑]

[[Contents]]

CHAPTER V

THE TI DAIRY

The ti is the name of an institution which comprises a herd of buffaloes with a number of dairies and grazing districts tended by a dairyman-priest or priests called palol with an assistant called kaltmokh. Each dairy with its accompanying buildings and pasturage is called a ti mad, or ti village.

In most cases there are two kinds of buffaloes at each ti, and each kind should properly be tended by its own palol and kaltmokh. There is, however, only one ti which possesses two palol at the present time, and they share a kaltmokh between them, though a second is appointed on certain ceremonial occasions. In other cases one palol tends both kinds of buffalo, and in others, again, the dairies are unoccupied for the greater part of the year and the office of palol is only filled for certain limited periods.

Each ti is regarded as the property of a Tarthar clan, but the palol has to be taken from the Teivaliol, the choice being in some cases restricted to one or two Teivali clans; thus, the palol of the Nòdrs ti must belong either to Piedr or Kusharf. The palol is chosen by the Tarthar owners, but the latter do not seem to gain any material advantage from their possession. In fact, it involves them in some expense owing to the necessity of giving certain feasts, and this expense was put forward as one reason why a ti is often unoccupied. Nevertheless [[84]]the Tartharol are very proud of the fact that the institution of the ti belongs to their division, and whenever I asked a Tarthar man why he considered his people superior to the Teivaliol, the answer always ran that they had the ti and that the Teivaliol who tended the ti were their servants.

The buffaloes belonging to a ti are of two kinds, distinguished as persinir and punir. The former are the sacred buffaloes, and the elaborate ceremonial of the ti dairy is concerned with their milk. The punir correspond in some respects to the putiir of the ordinary village dairy, and their milk and its products are largely for the personal use and profit of the palol and are not treated with any special ceremony. The persinir are usually of various kinds, but the nature of their classification is different at each ti and its consideration may be postponed till later.

I obtained most of my information from people connected with the Nòdrs ti. During the whole of my visit the herds of this ti were at Mòdr, which is only about a mile from the Paikara bungalow. Owing to the restrictions on intercourse with so sacred a personage as a palol, it was not practicable to obtain all my information from those actually in office, and I found it best to work with men who had formerly held the post and had retired. I worked chiefly with Kaners (63), an old man who had been palol at the Nòdrs ti, and with Koboners (58), who had been at the Kars ti. For some time I worked with one or other of these two men every day, paying occasional visits to Mòdr to observe as much of the ceremonial as I was allowed to see. On these occasions I was also able to consult Karkievan, the chief palol, on points about which the ex-officials were doubtful.

Both Kaners and Koboners were trustworthy witnesses, but Kaners was old and had given up his office some time before, and in consequence often committed faults of omission. Koboners was an admirable informant, and the fulness of the account of the ti ceremonial is largely due to him. It must be remembered that I was only able to see for myself a few superficial features of the ceremonial, and that my account is based on the descriptions given by these and other men, but [[85]]nevertheless I have a considerable degree of confidence in its essential accuracy.

The dairy of a ti is always called poh, whatever its shape may be, and at those places where there is, or should be, more than one palol, each has his own dairy. In these cases the work of one dairy goes on quite independently of the other, each palol being only allowed to enter and work in his own building. In addition to the dairy, or dairies, there is at each ti mad a hut in which the palol and kaltmokh sleep and in which the latter takes his food. When there are two palol, both sleep in the same hut. There is a house for the calves called karenpoh, corresponding to the kwotars of the village dairy.

The milking-place of a ti mad is called pepkarmus instead of irkarmus, as at the ordinary dairy, and is usually enclosed so that the buffaloes are screened from the eyes of ordinary people.

There is always one buffalo-pen, or tu,[1] for ordinary use, and at some places two others, called pon tu, or festival pens, used on the ceremonial occasions of migration from one place to another and of salt-giving.

The surroundings of the dairy are called pül, and there is a special part of the pül to which alone the ordinary Toda is allowed to go, and he may only go there by a special path. Each ti dairy which I visited was by the side of a wood and the place for ordinary Todas was in the wood.

At a little distance from the dairy there is the source from which the water for sacred purpose is drawn. This source is called kwoinir, and at Mòdr, where there was a kwoinir for each palol, it was a spring built in with stones, and not a stream as at most villages. In addition to the kwoinir there is also a stream from which water is taken by the kaltmokh, who is not allowed to go to the sacred spring.

There are various stones and other objects of ceremonial importance at most ti places, but the description of these may be given with that of the ceremonies in which they play a part. [[86]]

At Mòdr, the dairy place I know best, all the buildings and objects of the ti mad are shut off from the outer world either by walls or by the natural configuration of the ground or forest. Within this screen, partly natural and partly artificial, there is the large milking-ground which may be entered by the buffaloes from two directions, and on one side of this are the three pens, the two dairies, and other buildings.

The more important of the two dairies has situated close to it the sleeping-hut and two huts for the calves, and this small group of buildings, shown in [Fig. 27], is surrounded by a wall like that round the ordinary village dairy, leaving little space between the wall and buildings. These buildings, being within the outer boundaries of the ti mad, are already well screened from the world, and in consequence the surrounding wall is low. The other dairy is situated on the boundary, so that it can be seen by anyone outside the ti mad, and the wall around it is therefore high, so that a person standing outside can see nothing of the proceedings of the dairyman. At Mòdr the water springs are at some distance from the dairies and there is a special path by which the palol goes from the dairy to fetch water.

At another dairy, that of Anto, there is one path by which the palol goes to fetch water and another by which he returns, but I do not know if this is so at all dairies.

Although I visited Mòdr on many occasions, I never had an opportunity to investigate the buildings closely. I was never allowed to go within the walls enclosing the dairies, much less to go inside these buildings. If the annual programme of the ti had been carried out, the buffaloes would have left this place before the end of my visit, and I intended to make a thorough inspection after they had gone; but owing to various causes I mention elsewhere (see [Chap. VI]) the herds stayed at Mòdr till after my departure, and I had no opportunity of ascertaining the exact plan of the dairies and their surroundings.

The dairy of a ti always has two rooms, an inner room, the ulkkursh, and an outer room, the pòrmunkursh. These are divided from one another by a screen, or patun, which stretches [[87]]about two-thirds of the way across the breadth of the building and is about three feet high. The palol stands in the outer room and performs the dairy operations proper to the inner room leaning over the top of the screen. The object of the screen is to keep the sacred objects of the dairy from the gaze of anyone who may look in, and especially from that of the kaltmokh; but in the only dairy of the kind into which I had the chance of looking, the screen was made of vertical sticks with wide intervals between them, so that I could easily see through. This dairy was, however, unoccupied, and if dairy vessels had been there, it is possible that they would have been screened from view in some way. In this dairy the screen extended from the right-hand wall as one looked in, but at Mòdr I was told that the screen was attached to the left-hand wall, and there were certain facts which make it almost certain that this statement is correct, though I had not the opportunity of confirming it by actual observation.

FIG. 26.—SHOWING THE GENERAL PLAN OF THE TI DAIRY.

A. Mani. B, C, D. The three persin. E. The idrkwoi. F. The lamp. G. The pelkkatitthwaskal. H. The tòralthwaskal. I. The patun. J, K. The pohvelkars. L. The screen in front of the dairy.

I did not discover whether there were any differences between the internal arrangements of the conical dairies and those of the dairies of the ordinary form. Breeks has given a description of the conical dairy at Anto, and from this it would seem that the dairy is divided into two rooms by a [[88]]partition extending to the roof, the two rooms communicating by a door. There are two possibilities as to procedure. It is possible that only one room of this dairy is used for the ceremonial and that it is again divided by an incomplete screen into inner and outer rooms, or it may be that the dairyman churns in the inner room. I have no information on this point, but the general nature of the churning procedure at the ti dairy makes it highly probable that the former supposition is correct and that the inner room is divided into two parts.

In the plan on p. [87], I have adopted the arrangement in which the patun, or screen, is attached to the left-hand side of the building, but this is certainly not the case in all dairies. In some dairies also the fireplaces are on the other side.