i.e., “Can he tie the sun with a stone chain?” Kwoto then took a stone chain and tied it to the sun and brought the sun down to Nern, near Kanòdrs, and tied it to a tree. When the sun wanted to drink, Kwoto took it to the stream Kalvoi, from which the sun drank, and there is now to be seen a hole in this stream at the place where the sun drank.[17] Then Kwoto took the sun to a pool surrounded by trees called Nerpoiker, also near Kanòdrs. While the sun was tied in this way, it was dark both in this world and in Amnòdr. Then the people of Amnòdr came to the gods and asked why they allowed Kwoto to do these things, and said that they were now living in thick darkness, and they begged that Kwoto should be allowed to put the sun back in its right place. Then the gods went to Kwoto and asked him to put the sun [[207]]back, and they acknowledged that he was a god and the most powerful of the gods. They said that he should no longer be called Kwoto, but that his name should be Meilitars, because he was superior to all the gods; also that he should go “parnur nòdr, putnur nòdr”, “to 1,600 places, 1,800 places,” i.e., he should not belong to one place only, like the other gods, but should go everywhere.
Then Meilitars put back the sun in its proper place.
(According to another version, the task of tying the sun was given in the words:
“Kânêr Male buffalo ât, tie, pîrsagun sun patrôkâ?” can he catch?
The sun was said to have been at this time sitting on the back of a male buffalo, and Kwoto was told to tie the buffalo and catch the sun. According to this account Kwoto first used an iron chain, kabantagars, which was melted by the heat of the sun. Next he tried a bronze (?) chain called kuchtagars, which also melted. Then he used a stone chain, or karstagars, which did not melt, and he succeeded in tying the sun with this. (This version of the story corresponds with that given by Breeks.)
Kwoto or Meilitars was closely connected with two clans, those of Melgars and Kanòdrs. It is said to be owing to the fact that Kwoto was a Melgars man that Melgars people have the special privileges and duties which are peculiar to that clan. At any rate, this is the view held by the people of Melgars. At Kanòdrs, the name of Kwoto occupies a prominent place in the prayer of the dairy, and several of the special features of the ritual of the Kanòdrs dairy are said to exist in consequence of the many wonderful things which Kwoto had done in its neighbourhood. When new buttermilk has to be made for Kanòdrs, it is made at a place called Kautarmad, far away, because Kwoto made new buttermilk there, and in the ceremony at this place earth is taken from certain places from which Kwoto took it.
Kwoto or Meilitars is the hero of several stories, in none of which does he play a very creditable rôle.
At one time the Todas used to go to and fro between this [[208]]world and Amnòdr. Those who were dead stayed permanently in Amnòdr, but living people could go to visit them and return. One day Punatvan of Kars went with Meilitars to Amnòdr. They stayed there two days and two nights, and then Meilitars came away without Punatvan’s knowledge. At that time the people of Kars were living at Nasmiòdr, so Meilitars went to Nasmiòdr and said that Punatvan intended to stop in Amnòdr, and wished the Kars people to perform the funeral ceremonies for him, killing thirty buffaloes. So the Kars people caught thirty buffaloes, the chief one being called Enmon. Round the neck of Enmon were hung the two bells (wursuli mani) called Karsod and Kòni. They cut a piece of stick and put it in a putkuli to represent the dead body and then killed the thirty buffaloes. As the buffaloes were on their way to Amnòdr, they met Punatvan on his way back. Punatvan asked the chief buffalo, Enmon, “Why do you come here?” Then Enmon told him what Meilitars had done. The man and buffalo put their heads together and cried, and their tears became a pool of water.[18] Then Punatvan took the two bells from the neck of Enmon and sent them back to Nasmiòdr, where they are kept to this day, but he returned to Amnòdr with the buffaloes. Then Ön, the ruler of Amnòdr, ordered that in future no one should return to the world of the living from Amnòdr, and since that day the Todas have not been able to go to and fro between the two worlds as they used to do.
At the present time the people of Keradr have no ti. Once they had a ti which they lost through the action of Kwoto, who went one day to their dairy at Tîkîrs, near Mòdr, and, hiding the kaltmokh in the wood, took his place. When the palol milks, it is the duty of the kaltmokh to let out the calves and send them to the palol. Kwoto did not do this properly, but sent more calves than were required, so the palol became angry and took his stick (kwoinörtpet) to beat the supposed kaltmokh, but the stroke missed and fell on the palol himself.
Another day the palol told Kwoto to pour out the remainder [[209]]of the buttermilk at the appointed place. Instead of doing this Kwoto poured it into the stream, and the buttermilk so poured became a god called Mòraman, who sends smallpox.[19] Then the palol became very angry and said he would no longer be palol, if he had to keep such a kaltmokh. Then Kwoto revealed to the palol and to the real kaltmokh that he was a god, and gave them a medicine called mûvòmad, which has the property that anyone who takes it will never grow old.