Strange Peoples

by Frederick Starr

HINDU SNAKE CHARMERS (BREHM).

Nowhere in the world are there more dreadful religious customs than in India. People there are so crowded that life is hard. The result of this was that parents often destroyed their little babies, particularly girls. Often the mothers themselves threw the little beings into the sacred river, where they were drowned in its waters or were eaten by crocodiles. At the great religious festivals, men tortured themselves fearfully, or threw themselves under the chariot of the god that they might be crushed to death. The dead among the Hindus were usually cremated—burned upon a great open fire of wood. Formerly the widow of the dead man mounted the funeral pyre and was burned with his body. The English government has put an end to many of these practices, and among them this suttee, or burning of the widow. It has really done little good, as a widow’s life is so sad that she might almost better die. A widow must shave her head, wear miserable clothing, and serve every one like a slave: she is despised and harshly treated.

Few peoples have caused as much wonder as the Gypsies. With their swarthy complexions, black hair and eyes, and handsome faces, they are a striking type. They love out-door life, and hate to be within walls. They wander from place to place, pitching their tents where fancy leads them. They are tinkers, mending pots and kettles; they are horseshoers, jockeys, horse traders, horse doctors; they tell fortunes, in which almost all of us believe a little, and every one fears them a little. There are many thousands of them in the United States: there are many in Great Britain, Spain, Italy, Poland, and other European countries; they are in North Africa, in Mexico, in Brazil, in India. Everywhere they are the same, and everywhere they talk their own language, the Romany. It is believed that they first came from India, and that they are related to the Hindus.

XIX.
TODAS.

In the “hill country” of India live many curious brown peoples whose languages are different from the Aryan tongue of the Hindus. These peoples, called Dravidians, are considered the earliest occupiers of India. Among them no tribe is more curious than the Todas. In some ways they are like the Ainu. Though brown, they are probably really white or Caucasic. They have the features, strong beards, and hairy bodies of whites, and in these respects are like the Ainu.

The Todas live on a tableland whose surface is covered with hills and rolling prairies. The hills are clad with coarse grass, and in some of the valleys are deep forests. The sunshine is bright and warm, and the dry season is long.

The Todas think only of their cattle. They do not hunt—in fact, they have no weapons; they do not cultivate any fields, getting what plant food they use from the Badagas and other neighboring tribes. But they do raise cattle—buffalo. Their villages are located in the midst of pasture land. No village is occupied for a whole year, but the people have always at least two villages and live first in one, then in the other. This is to have fresh pasture for their cattle and to be secure in the wet season. Toda villages contain but few houses, most of which consist of a single room eight feet square; sometimes two or three such rooms are set side by side—these do not open into each other, but each has an outside door. The roofs of these houses are thatched and project a yard or so beyond the house walls. The people sit under the shelter of these projecting roofs while they work or visit. There are no windows or chimneys to the houses. Everything in the house has its proper place—the pestle and mortar for pounding grain, the fireplace, and the raised bank of clay that serves the old people as a sleeping place. Near the house is a pen of stones and mud for the owner’s cattle.

All the cattle of the villages are herded together. There is one dairy for the village, and all the cattle are milked there by special dairymen. After milking, these men give out so much milk as is needed to every one in the village; from the balance they make butter which they divide to the men of the village according to the number of cattle each owns. We have already said that the Todas raise no crops. The Badagas and Kotas live on the land of the Todas; they are stronger and more vigorous than the Todas, and both tribes have weapons and could easily defeat them in battle. But they live in peace with them and pay them, as rent for their land, grains and other produce they need.

We have spoken of the common village herds. There are other (sacred) herds, which are cared for by dairymen priests, who are themselves almost worshipped. The priest has an assistant who cuts wood for him and otherwise serves him. When the priest milks the sacred cows, and he alone may do so, he repeats a prayer. He does the same when he carries the milk into the dairy. The village people treat him and his assistant with great respect and may not touch them, nor any of the implements they use. Men and boys may go to the wall that encloses the dairy buildings, but may not enter. Women may not go near the place.