The Toda Population
The chapters on kinship and marriage will furnish object-lessons on the method of application of the knowledge derived from the genealogies to the study of social regulations. In the remainder of this chapter I propose to consider various problems connected with population, of biological as well as [[472]]of sociological interest. The data derived from the genealogies are here of distinct service, though, for reasons already considered, their value is not so great as in the investigation of social regulations.
Records of the numbers of the Todas have been taken at various times, beginning with what must have been a very rough estimate made by Keys[3] in 1812, in which the number of the Todas or Thothavurs was placed at 179. In 1821, Ward[4] estimated the numbers of men and women at 140 and 82 respectively, of whom the great majority lived in the Todanad district of the hills.
Hough[5] in 1825 found the population to consist of 145 men, 100 women, 45 boys, and 36 girls, altogether 326.
In 1838, Birch[6] gives the population as consisting of 294 men and 184 women, amounting to 478, but elsewhere in his paper he says that the number of the Todas was computed at about 800.
In 1847, Ouchterlony[7] found the number of the Todas to be 337, made up of 86 adult males, 87 male children, 70 adult females, and 94 female children. The proportion of males to females is only 173 to 164, showing a very much smaller preponderance of males than in any other estimate before or since.
In 1856, Grigg[8] gives 185 males and 131 females, altogether 316.
In 1866, Grigg gives the population as 704. If the estimates of this year and that of 1856 were correct, it would show that the population had more than doubled in ten years. It is evident that the census of 1866 is the first which gives anything approaching an accurate record of the Toda population. Even in this year there is one obvious source of error, for it would seem that those living at the foot of the hills, near Gudalur were not included, and probably twenty or thirty, if not more, would have to be added on this account. [[473]]
For the census of 1871 the records are conflicting. On p. 29 of the Manual, Grigg gives the numbers as 693, 405 males and 288 females. On p. 187 he gives instead of these numbers 376 males and 263 females, making a total of 639. Breeks gives the latter numbers and also a revised result which brings out the total population as 683. This figure, or the earlier of Grigg’s figures, evidently approximates to the correct population, which shows a slight falling off as compared with five years earlier.
In the census of 1881, the numbers would appear to have continued to diminish, the population being put at only 675; 382 males and 293 females.
In 1891, the number had risen to 736; 424 males and 312 females.
In the census of 1901, which was taken with especial care to record all the Todas, there were found to be 451 males and 354 females, making together 805.
The population as recorded in my genealogical tables compiled in 1902 was only 736; 419 males and 317 females. My numbers fall far short of those of the census taken a year previously. As I have already pointed out, my genealogies are untrustworthy as a record of the young children of the community now living, and it is possible also that I have omitted a certain number of women. The excess of men over women is distinctly greater in my figures than in the census of 1901, and this may be due to the fact that I failed to hear of a certain number of widows or unmarried women or girls. If so, it is probable that these defects are in the genealogies of the Teivaliol, and it is in them that the excess of men is greatest.
The earlier records of the population are certainly far below the mark. Captain Harkness, writing in 1832, estimates the attendance at a funeral at 300 men, nearly half that number of women, and about as many boys and girls. Those seen by Harkness may not have been all Todas, since Badagas and Kotas undoubtedly attend Toda funerals, but we may safely call this a total attendance of 500, which would show that the records of Hough in 1825 and of Birch in 1838 are far below the mark, and that Birch’s rough estimate of 800 is [[474]]probably far more nearly correct, and may even have been too small.
The records have probably been fairly complete since 1866, and if so, they show a falling off in population from this date till the 1881 census. It is, however, possible that the gradual increase in numbers during recent censuses has been due to the greater care taken at each succeeding census. Unsatisfactory as the records are, they seem to point to a diminution of population about the middle of the last century, which ceased between 1880 and 1890, since which time the population has probably increased.
Mr. R. C. Punnett[9] has analysed the data furnished by my genealogical records to ascertain the average size of the Toda family. He divided the families recorded in the genealogies into four groups: (A) those where the eldest child would in 1903 be over 90 years of age; (B) those where he would be between 60 and 90; (C) and (D) those where he would be between 30 and 60 and between 0 and 30 respectively. He has recorded the results for Tartharol and Teivaliol separately in the following table.
| Group. | Tartharol. | Teivaliol. | ||||
| No. of families. | Average size of family. | ♂s per 100 ♀s. | No. of families. | Average size of family. | ♂s per 100 ♀s. | |
| A | 9 | 3·0 [4·2] | 237·5 | 4 | 4·5 [6·0] | 200 |
| B | 49 | 4·1 [5·0] | 159·7 | 21 | 3·8 [5·4] | 259 |
| C | 87 | 3·3 [3·7] | 131·4 | 40 | 3·8 [5·0] | 202 |
| D | 104 | 2·5 [2·8] | 129·2 | 45 | 2·3 [2·9] | 171 |
The figures in square brackets give the average size of the family for each generation, making allowance for cases of female infanticide, which we shall see presently to be a Toda custom which is almost certainly diminishing in frequency.
The conclusion Mr. Punnett draws from this table is that there has been a marked decrease in fertility during the period covered by the genealogies.
The defects in my record as regards young children make [[475]]any conclusions about the last generation very inconclusive, but since the record for very young children is certainly defective, and since many families now existing will certainly increase in size, it is probable that any progressive decrease in the size of a family has now been arrested, and the details of the genealogical record would therefore agree with the Census Reports in showing the presence of a distinct tendency of the Toda population to increase.
None of the previous records have given any indication of the numbers of the two chief divisions of the Toda people. According to my genealogical records, there were living, in 1902, 528 Tartharol and 208 Teivaliol. The defects in my record are probably somewhat greater for the Teivaliol than for the Tartharol, but any difference there may be is certainly not great, and I think we may conclude that, though these figures are not accurate, they represent approximately the true proportion of the numbers of the two divisions. It is quite certain that the Tartharol are more than twice as numerous as the Teivaliol. Mr. Punnett’s table does not show any great difference between the two divisions in the average size of the family, so that the proportion between the numbers of the two divisions has probably not altered during the period covered by the genealogical record. It is probable that the Teivaliol have always or for a very long time been the smaller division.
The Census Reports and the genealogical record then agree in pointing to a diminution of the Toda population about the middle of last century which has now ceased, the probability being that the Todas are increasing slightly in numbers.
There can be little doubt that any decrease in the Toda population about the middle of last century was the direct result of the changes brought about by the advent of Europeans to the Nilgiri Hills. The adverse influences which came into the lives of the Todas probably owe their origin to the large immigration of native servants and to the development of the bazaar. Though Europeans first began to come to the Nilgiri Hills about 1820, it was not till twenty or thirty years later that they arrived in any considerable numbers, so that it was probably the middle of the century [[476]]before the injurious influences made their effects felt to any great effect.
The especial influences injurious to fertility have probably been syphilis and sexual immorality, for the Todas do not appear to have fallen to any very great extent under the influence of alcohol or opium. They certainly take both, and especially after the market day at the Ootacamund bazaar, I have seen Todas obviously under the influence of drink; but I believe this to have been only an influence of minor importance on the health of the people. Syphilis, on the other hand, has undoubtedly affected them to a considerable extent. At the present time its ravages are not very obvious, though, without looking for it especially, I saw several examples of its effects. There can be little doubt, however, that it has been a potent factor in the past. In a note in a book by A. C. Burnell,[10] it is mentioned that in 1871 thirty-one Todas were treated at Ootacamund for venereal disease, and of these thirty were syphilitic. This means that in one year over 4 per cent. of the total Toda population were treated for syphilis at one place, and we may be fairly confident that all those suffering from the disease did not apply for treatment.
Another factor working towards the diminution of the population has probably been sexual immorality. I shall have to return to this subject again later, and must be content here to point out that the Toda women have a very bad reputation, though perhaps their laxity is not as great as is usually supposed. Still, there can be little doubt that the women of some villages are extremely immoral, and it is probable that this has distinctly tended to produce sterility.
If the diminution in the size of the Toda family is due to these adverse influences, it should be found to be greatest in those sections of the Toda community which have been most subject to these influences. The best way of throwing light on this question is to compare the fertility of the different clans of the Tartharol. Some of these, such as Nòdrs, Pan, Taradr, and Kanòdrs, either live in outlying parts of the hills or are sufficiently remote from the chief centres of the European population not to have been influenced very greatly. [[477]]
The chief village of the Kars clan is situated close to Ootacamund and has suffered greatly from its neighbours, but many of the villages of the clan are more remote, so that the clan may be put down as one partly influenced. The people of Päm and Nidrsi, on the other hand, are more influenced than any other of the Toda clans, as is shown by the alterations in their villages and the neglect of the ritual of their religion. The villages of the Pämol are, or were, near to Wellington Barracks, and it is certainly the most degenerated of all the Toda clans. The following table, taken from Mr. Punnett’s paper, shows the average size of the family in each case, and though the figures are somewhat irregular, they bear out the view that sterility is greater the more the people have come into contact with Europeans and their followers.
| Name of clan. | No. of families. | No. of offspring. | Average size of family. | Average size of family for group. | |||
| Nòdrs |  | (uninfluenced) | 14 | 54 | 3·84 | | 3·59 |
| Pan | 8 | 21 | 2·37 | ||||
| Taradr | 9 | 43 | 4·77 | ||||
| Kanòdrs | 11 | 33 | 3·00 | ||||
| Kars | (partly influenced) | 25 | 76 | 3·04 | 3·04 | ||
| Päm |  | (much influenced) | 10 | 22 | 2·20 | | 2·60 |
| Nidrsi | 10 | 30 | 3·00 | ||||