At this time Korateu was unmarried and he carried a stick of iron. One day a Kurumba woman came to the mòrs tree in search of honey. Korateu knocked her on the head with the iron stick and at once she became pregnant. That evening she gave birth to a daughter, who was very beautiful, and Korateu decided to marry the child and sent away the mother that night. (According to another version, the child was so beautiful that the mother was frightened and went away to her own village, and Korateu fed the child with milk and fruit and honey, and when she grew up he married her.)
Soon after the death of the Irulas and Kurumbas a sambhar calf came to Korateu, who caught it, tamed it, and [[192]]kept it for a month. Then certain Todas went to Korateu and asked him for a place. Korateu gave them a place and said that it should be called Keradr. The people of Keradr then asked for buffaloes. So Korateu gave them the sambhar calf and said that it should become buffaloes for them, and he ordered that the buffaloes should be called miniapir, and that the calves should be called mâvelkar—i.e., calf from a sambhar. This was the origin of Keradr and of its wursulir, which are still called miniapir, and they are the only buffaloes of the Todas which were made from sambhar.
After these things had happened the gods recognised that Korateu was a teu, and calling him asked him who he was. He answered that he was the son of Teikirzi, and the manmokh or sister’s son of Teipakh. He was then admitted as one of the gods and now lives on the hill Korateu, but still sometimes sits in the lap of Teipakh. He is the nòdrodchi of the Keradr and Keadr clans, and the chief villages of these clans are near his hill. He is called Kuzkarv when mentioned in prayer.
Another god, called Etepi, is said to be the same god as Korateu. It appeared, however, that Korateu lived on one hill and Etepi on another, and I could not ascertain the true relation of the deities to one another.
Azo-mazo is mentioned in the prayer of the Kars ti as two deities, Azo and Mazo.
Puzi and Kurindo
I am very doubtful as to the identity of Puzi. According to some accounts Puzi or Purzi was merely another name for Teikirzi; according to other accounts Puzi was a male deity and the husband of Teikirzi. In the following story Puzi is a female deity, inhabiting a hill near Nòdrs. She gave birth to a son called Kurindo. As soon as Kurindo was born he became fire. Puzi did not approve of this, as it seemed to show that the boy was too powerful, so she took a leaf of the kind called kwagal, pounded it and mixed it with water and sprinkled it on the fire. The fire then turned back again into a boy who was bent to one side. [[193]]
Puzi said, “I will put you on a hill opposite to me.” So she put him on the hill called Mopuvthut, near the village of Naters, and in order to make the hill higher she put three baskets of earth on the top, so that her son might be seen by everybody.
When Kurindo was on his hill he thought to himself, “My mother has treated me badly; she sprinkled me with water and quenched my power, and she has made me bent to one side; I do not like to be opposite to her.” So he went away to a hill near Kanòdrs. This was before the time of Kwoten and before the Kamasòdrolam had run away (see p. [195]). While Kurindo was living on this hill a strange tribe came to the hills, so Kurindo again moved and went away to the hill of Arsnur on the Mysore side, where he still lives.