The woman’s house is down the hill.
The priest must not go in unto the woman.
He may not marry.
When he is twenty, he may not enter the temple.
Another is made priest in his stead.
The religious institutions of the Todas, including the elaborate dairy ritual, and their religion, are described in full detail by Dr. Rivers. The Todas have been to some extent influenced by Hinduism, and some visit the temples at Nanjengōd in Mysore, Karamadai in the Coimbatore district, and other shrines, whereat they worship, present votive offerings, and pray for offspring, etc. Writing in 1872, Mr. Breeks remarked that “about Ootacamund, a few Todas have latterly begun to imitate the religious practices of their native neighbours. Occasionally children’s foreheads are marked with the Siva spot, and my particular friend Kinniaven, after an absence of some days, returned with a shaven head from a visit to the temple of Siva at Nanjengudi.” A man who came to my laboratory had his hair hanging down in long tails reaching below his shoulders. He had, he said, let it grow long because his wife, though married five years, had borne no child. A child had, however, recently been born, and, as soon as the second funeral of a relation had been performed, he was going to sacrifice his locks as a thank-offering at the Nanjengōd temple. The following extracts from my notes will serve to illustrate the practice of marking (in some instances apparently for beauty’s sake) and shaving as carried out at the present day.
(1) Man, aged 28. Has just performed a ceremony at the ti mand. White curved line painted across forehead, and dots below outer ends thereof, on glabella, and outside orbits. Smeared with white across chest, over outer side of upper arms and left nipple, across knuckles and lower end of left ulna, and on lobes of ears.
(2) Man, aged 21. Painted on forehead as above. Smeared over chest and upper eye lids.
(3) Man, aged 35. White spot painted on forehead.
(4) Man, aged 30. Hair of head and beard cut short owing to death of grandfather.