Ön was the son of Pithi. He created the buffaloes and the Todas and became the ruler of Amnòdr, the world of the dead, where he now lives.
One day Ön went with his wife Pinârkûrs to Mêdrpem (the top of the Kundahs). There he put up an iron bar which stretched from one end of the pem to the other. Ön stood at one end of the bar and brought forth buffaloes from the earth, 1,600 in number. Then Pinarkurs tried to produce buffaloes and she stood at the other end of the bar and produced 1,800 buffaloes.
Behind Ön’s buffaloes there came out of the earth a man, holding the tail of the last buffalo, and this was the first Toda. Ön took one of the man’s ribs (parikatelv or magalelv) from the right side of his body and made a woman, who was the first Toda woman. The Todas then increased in number very rapidly so that at the end of the first week there were about a hundred.[1]
The descendants of the buffaloes created by Ön became sacred buffaloes, while the descendants of those created by his wife are the ordinary buffaloes. [[185]]
Ön had a son called Püv. One day when Püv was acting as palikartmokh at Kuudr, he was churning in the dairy with a ring on the little finger of his right hand. When the dairyman goes to fetch water he should always take the churning stick out of the patat or vessel in which the milk is churned. On this occasion Püv left it in the patat and went out to fetch water. As he was going a black bird called karpüls tried to check him, saying “tîs, tîs, tîs,” meaning “Don’t go to the water,” but Püv paid no attention and went on. When he was taking the water the ring dropped from his little finger into the spring. Püv saw the ring in the water, but could not reach it, and so he got into the spring. The water was not deep, and yet as soon as he stepped into the spring it completely covered him and he was drowned. When Ön found that his son was lost he cried very bitterly and covered himself with his cloak (tuni). (Ön is said to have been a palol at this time.) When Ön covered himself he looked downwards and saw, as through a veil, his son in Amnòdr playing with the ring, putting it on and off his finger.[2]
When Ön saw that his son was in Amnòdr he did not like to leave him there alone and decided to go away to the same place. So he called together all the people and the buffaloes and the trees to come and bid him farewell. All the people came except a man of Kwòdrdoni named Arsankutan. He and his family did not come. All the buffaloes came except the arsaiir, the buffaloes of the Kwòdrdoni ti. Some trees also failed to come. Ön blessed all the people, buffaloes and trees present, but said that because Arsankutan had not come he and his people should die by sorcery at the hands of the Kurumbas, and that because the arsaiir had not come they should be killed by tigers, and that the trees which had not come should bear bitter fruit. Since that time the Todas have feared the Kurumbas, and buffaloes have been killed by tigers. All the Todas and all the buffaloes appear to have suffered for the evil deeds of Arsankutan and the arsaiir.
Then Ön went away to Amnòdr, taking the buffaloes [[186]]and the palol of the Nòdrs ti with him, and since that time Ön has ruled over Amnòdr, which is sometimes called Önnòdr after him.
Teikirzi
This goddess is perhaps the most important of the Toda deities. She is said to have been the sister, and probably the elder sister, of Ön. I could learn very little about the story of her life, but nearly all the customs of the Todas were referred to her, and it seemed clear that when Ön left this world Teikirzi became the ruler or nòdrodchi of the Todas. Whenever I tried to obtain from the Todas an explanation of any ceremony or custom I nearly always received the reply, which was regarded as final, that it had been so ordained by Teikirzi.