Various Magical Remedies
The utkòren also practise various other methods of treatment.
Headache. This is called madersnûdr, “if head aches.” For this the utpol places his hand on the head of the sufferer, and says the following incantation in a low voice, so that the patient may not distinguish what is being said.[11] After the names of the four gods, as in previous formulæ, it runs:—
nâkherov cobra mad head tathi kan broken into pieces tath mâ; not break may; ker a snake mad tathi &c. kan tath mâ;
and the same formula is repeated, substituting first the names of other kinds of snake and then of other animals. The following are the animals mentioned: kûrûpatz, a black poisonous snake; putpob, a variegated snake, which is called the foolish snake, because it will not get out of the way; taverûni, a green snake; pâlipob, another green snake; uitch, a kind of lizard reputed to suck blood; anîli, a squirrel; kapan, a frog; tugûli, a crayfish(?); kadrmad, a water animal of some kind; mîn, a fish; îgal, an earthworm; nelnpüf, an insect found under stones; âpipüf, an insect found in buffalo dung. After all these animals have been mentioned with the same formula, the names of Pithioteu and Ön are again uttered, followed by the words tathkhma. The utpol flicks the corner of his cloak first against the ground, and then against the forehead of the sufferer, and then, if the man is sitting, he says, “ateuk ir,” “sit there off!” and the man moves a little way from the place where he had been sitting. If the man is unable to sit, and is lying down, the words will be “ateuk padr,” “lie there off!” or “lie a little way off!” [[266]]
I could not obtain a satisfactory account of the exact meaning of the incantation; it was said to mean “may the snake’s head be broken in pieces, and so may your head be broken”—i.e., so may the pain go; another rendering was “may the pain go to the snake’s head,” the latter being by far the more probable meaning. Three divisions of the incantation are recognised: in the first, snakes only are mentioned; in the second, things which live in the water; and in the third, things which live in the earth. The treatment is repeated on one or two days, if necessary, but it is never done more than three times, “because the ailment is always cured in that time.”
Another condition treated by the utkòren is stomach-ache, which is called püfkwatnûdr, “if worms bite.” The utpol places his hand on the belly of the sufferer, and after reciting the names of the four gods, he continues:—
kêrs kêrs tree pûv flower kâdkanm fallen as fall kâl down mâ; may;
and this formula is repeated, substituting the names of various trees and other plants for the name of the kêrs tree. The trees and plants mentioned pirzkh and kûrêrs, trees having edible fruit; pul, kîl, kwadriki, kid, trees from which bees get honey; kab, sugarcane; teg, coco-nut; patm, samai; ners, rice; eri, ragi; kîtj, potato; perigi, chillies; melkh, pepper; kwatimeli, Coriandum sativum; kadrkh, mustard; and kîri or kîrsi, red amaranth.
Thus the last clause would run: kîri pûv kâdkanm kâl mâ, and this would be followed by the names of Pithioteu and Ön. Then the utpol flicks his cloak three times, first against the ground and then against the belly of the sufferer, and says, “ateuk ir,” or “ateuk padr,” according as the man is sitting or lying down, and the sufferer moves a little from his place.
The names of flowers are used because the Todas believe that worms come from eating honey, and the honey has come from flowers. The flowers mentioned belong to four groups;[12] (i) those of trees which bear edible fruits; (ii) those from which bees get honey; (iii) those of trees or plants part of [[267]]which are eaten; (iv) those of trees which give pungent substances like chillies and pepper.
There were various other complaints for which the utkòren are consulted, such as:—elptûksnûdr, depression in the chest of a child when it breathes (elp or elv = bone); tekhpkâdathvüdnûdr, pain in the side; kankpudithnûdr, if anything gets into the eye; erutûthtinûdr, if cut or wounded in any way; pobersnûdr, if snake bites.
Each of these has its appropriate treatment, but the only method of which I obtained an account was the last. Certain men have a special reputation for the treatment of snake-bite. A cord is made of woman’s hair and this is bound tightly round the bitten limb in three places. The doctor takes a piece of pathanmul and strikes the bitten limb while he utters the appropriate incantation.[13] The ligature is kept on the limb for two or three days and the incantation is repeated three times a day during that period. Anyone whom a snake has bitten must not cross a stream. If it is absolutely necessary that he should cross, he must be carried over it.
If wild animals attack the buffaloes, a procedure which closely resembles those already described is carried out by the utkòren. The procedure is called kâdrkatinamûdr—i.e., “wild beast tie mouth if.” It is also carried out if a buffalo is lost, and in this case the charm will keep the animal from injury by wild beasts. The utpol takes three stones secretly and goes at night to the front either of the dairy or hut and utters the following incantation:—
Pithioteu Ön idith, Teikirzim Tirshtim idith; pef big pîrzi tiger kût teeth terz fastened nil stand mâ; may; kâkh black kerman bear mûn face terz nil mâ; padr crowd kenai red dog amûn other side terz nil mâ; pob snake teuv erect head terz nil mâ; pef big per hill terz nil mâ; pef big po river pâ stream terz nil mâ; pef big pòdi porcupine mul[14] quills terz nil mâ. [[268]]
Then come the names of Pithioteu and Ön, followed by
âth these ûvòdin all before kati tie vaiumâ. keep may.
The utpol then takes a piece of ragged cloth in which he ties the three stones and hides them in the thatch of the hut. If a buffalo has been lost it will come back the next day, and even if it remains in the wood no tiger would touch it while the stones are in the thatch. When the buffalo returns the stones are taken out and thrown away.
All the remedies so far described resemble one another in that they are applied by one of the people called utkòren. The following remedy is applied by the sufferer himself. If a man is frightened in any way, as by a sudden noise when he is passing along a road, he will go home and put the hoe (kudali) and a stone called neilikal into the fire till the hoe is red hot. He puts the hoe and stones into a brass vessel called terg and pours on water. He then covers himself entirely with his cloak and remains covered till the water in the vessel ceases to bubble, when he opens his cloak, drinks water from the vessel three times, and throws the rest away.
There was some difference of opinion as to the use of the stone called neilikal at ordinary times. It was said first to have been used for making fire before matches were introduced, and there seems to be no doubt that fire was sometimes made in this way. Others said that the neilikal was used for sharpening iron tools. The only neilikal I saw was at Nidrsi and this was a large piece of quartz, and there seemed to be no doubt that this had at one time been used for making fire.
In one of the methods of sorcery which have been described it will be remembered that human hair is used. The Todas take the same kind of precautions about hair and nail-parings which are so widely spread throughout the world, but the reasons for the precautions differed from those usually given. I was told that the Todas do not ordinarily cut their hair, but the heads of children are shaved and adults also shave their heads on special occasions. The hair removed [[269]]at these times is hidden in bushes or hollows in the rocks, and the reason given is that it may not be taken by crows.
Nail-parings are buried in the ground, and this is done in order that they may not be eaten by the buffaloes, for “nails are poisonous to buffaloes,” who will die or become ill if they find them when grazing.
There was some difference of opinion as to what was done with the hair cut off at the ceremony called tersamptpimi (see p. 333). It was clear, however, that care was taken that it should not be eaten by crows, for if crows obtained any of the hair first cut from a child’s head the child would suffer from shaking of some kind.
Both at the first head-shaving and at the tersamptpimi ceremony special bangles are put round the wrist of the child, and these are certainly of the nature of charms, for it is believed that the child would fall ill if they were not used.
The Todas believe in certain injurious influences which they class together under the name of pudrtvuti,[15] but I was able to obtain very little information about them, and I suspect that belief in these influences is largely of recent growth and due to contact with Hinduism.
One variety of pudrtvuti is the evil influence of Keirt (Keirtpudrtvuti) at the ceremonies after childbirth (see p. [326]). Another variety is kòdipudrtvuti (kòdi, demon?). The Todas now adopt as a preventative of this evil influence a round mark made with ashes above the nose. If a Toda should suffer from the effects of kòdipudrtvuti, two remedies are adopted. One is called kavkal wart atpimi—i.e., “kavkal (a stone) grind, pour we.” I did not obtain an account of the remedy, but it is possibly the same as that already described which is used by a man when frightened. The other remedy is kwagal atpimi. Kwagal (Polygonum rude or P. Chinense) is the same plant which is used in one of the remedies for the evil eye (see p. [264]) and it is possible again that this remedy is the same as that already described. Kwagal is also the plant used by the goddess Puzi to quench the fire of her son, Kurindo.
It will have been noticed that the formulæ recorded in this [[270]]chapter have the same general form as the prayers of the dairy ritual. They consist of sentences ending in mâ, which seem to be of the nature of supplications that certain things may come to pass, preceded by the names of certain deities followed by the word idith, occasionally with other sentences allied in meaning to these. The two parts of the prayer are represented, but the first part, consisting of the kwarzam, does not appear to have acquired the same degree of importance as in the prayer. Thus the magical formulæ of the Todas have precisely the same general form as those used in their religious ritual. In the case of the prayer, I have pointed out that the actual words leave one in doubt as to whether there is anything of the nature of a direct appeal to the gods. In the magical formulæ, on the other hand, the case for an appeal to the gods is stronger. In all the formulæ, whether used by sorcerers to bring evils on their enemies or by medicine-men to remove sufferings of various kinds, the names of the same four deities are mentioned, and these four deities, Pithioteu, Ön, Teikirzi, and Tirshti, are undoubtedly four of the most ancient and sacred of the Toda gods. It is noteworthy that the sorcerer does not say the names of these gods when he is removing his spells, but simply refers to them as “those gods,” and it is clear that he does this because he does not wish his victim to learn the names of the gods by whose power his misfortunes have been brought about and are now to be removed. This procedure leaves little room for doubt that it is through the active intervention of the gods that the sorcerer is believed to work.
There still remains the question whether the words of the magical formula imply anything of the nature of supplication, or whether the sorcerer is not rather using forms of words which will compel the gods to exert their powers in the way the sorcerer wishes. I have no definite information as to the belief of the Toda sorcerer on the point, but the almost contemptuous tone of the two clauses which follow the names of the four gods might perhaps be held to point to the latter conclusion, and to indicate that the sorcerer can use the gods as his instruments of wrath much as seems to have been the case with the magicians of our mediæval times. [[271]]
On the other hand, it is not unlikely that the words, “â teu sati udâsnûdr, an nòdr nòdr udâsnûdr,” may have originally had a meaning very different from that which the bare translation seems to give to them. A similar formula occurs in the story of Kwoten (p. 194) in the curse uttered by Kwoten’s mother, which has the proviso, “on sati udairnûdr,” which was translated, “if I have reverence to the village.” This makes it possible that the translation of the words of the magical incantation should rather be, “if I have proper reverence to the gods and to the gods’ country.” The interpretation on page 257 is that which was given to me by Teitnir, but it is not at all improbable that it is wrong, and that a translation on the lines of that given for the curse of Kwoten’s mother would be more correct.
The nature of the words used makes it clear that the remedies employed by the Toda utkòren, or medicine-men, are of a magical kind. The words are essentially the same as those used by the pilikòren, or sorcerers, to remove the evils they have brought about by their previous magical incantations. The same formulæ are used to remove ills supposed to be due to natural causes as are used to remove those due to the workings of magic. It seems clear that the Todas have advanced beyond the stage of human culture in which all misfortunes are produced by magic. They recognise that some ills are not due to human intervention, but yet they employ the same kind of means to remove these ills as are employed to remove those brought about by human agency. The advance of the Todas is shown most clearly by the differentiation of function between pilikòren and utkòren, between sorcerers and medicine-men, and we seem to have here a clear indication of the differentiation between magic and medicine. The two callings are followed by different men, who are entirely distinct from one another, but both use the same kind of formula to bring about the effect they desire to produce. It seems that the powers of the utkòren are less definitely passed on from father to son than in the case of the pilikòren. There is no doubt that these powers depend largely on a knowledge of the words to be used, and especially on a knowledge of the names of the four gods, but it [[272]]is probable that this knowledge is transmitted from one old person to any other who may be likely to inspire confidence. It will be noted that a woman can practise the magical remedies of the utkòren, but I do not know whether this is a recent innovation. It seems clear that a woman could never become one of the pilikòren or sorcerers.
When discussing the formulæ of the dairy ritual, it was mentioned that one difficulty in the way of regarding these formulæ as prayers is that the names of deities are not uttered in the vocative form, and that this might be held to negative the idea that they involve supplication to higher powers. In the magical formulæ there seems to be a clearer case for the presence of a distinct address to deities, though it is doubtful whether this address is of a supplicative or compelling character. If there is a distinct address in the case of the magical formulæ, which every Toda would acknowledge to be used for an evil end, it is very probable that the words of the dairy formulæ also involve the idea of an address to deities. These formulæ are always directed to avert evils from and to call down blessings on the buffaloes, and it seems almost certain that for this good end the words imply not only an address to the powers of the gods, but also one of a supplicative rather than of a compelling character.
One distinction between the formulæ of the dairy and those of the sorcerer may be pointed out. In the latter the names of the gods are those used in ordinary conversation, i.e., Teikirzi, Tirshti, and are not the kwarzam, i.e., Ekirzam meidjam.
One of the most interesting features of this chapter has been the clear evidence given in the formulæ of the close relation existing between magic and religion among the Todas. The formulæ of magic and of the dairy ritual are of the same nature, though the differentiation between the sorcerer and the priest who use them is even clearer than that between the sorcerer and the medicine-man. It is probable that the names of the gods with the characteristic formulæ of the prayer are later additions to the magical incantation; that at some time the sorcerer has added the names of the most important of his deities to the spells and charms which at one [[273]]time were thought to be sufficient for his purpose. It is also possible, however, that the similarity of prayer and spell points to a time when the functions of priest and sorcerer were combined in one person; that as the restrictions which hedge round the life of the dairyman-priest increased, it became impracticable for him to exert his magical functions, and that there has therefore come about a differentiation of function, though the means used continue to show a close resemblance.
It may perhaps be said that the clear evidence of the supposed influence of the gods takes the facts which have been described in this chapter out of the realm of magic and puts them in that of religion. The Toda’s methods of procuring ill to his neighbours are clearly in their essential nature of a magical kind, but their close blend with religious ideas is the reason why I have considered them in their present place.