After giving mûvòmad to the palol and kaltmokh, Kwoto sent them into the air, together with the dairy and the buffaloes and everything belonging to the ti, and they all went in the air to Kupars, near Pan; they stayed there for some time and then disappeared, and now nothing can be seen of them, but if people go near Kupars, they hear the voices of the palol and kaltmokh when they are talking to one another.
Since that time the people of Keradr have been without a ti.
Another story in which Kwoto played a prominent part is connected with the custom of eating flesh. I received several versions of this story and was unable to satisfy myself which was correct.
According to one account Kwoto once went to Mitur in the Wainad, where Kurumbas live. Kwoto played with these people, and one day caught and killed a wild buffalo. He said to the Kurumbas, “I have killed this buffalo; let us eat its flesh”; and he gave to each a portion. The Kurumbas ate their portions, but Kwoto only pretended to eat; he held out his putkuli in front of him and instead of eating dropped his portions inside the cloak. When the Kurumbas had finished, Kwoto got up and all saw on the place where he had been sitting the flesh which he had pretended to eat. Then the Kurumbas were angry and went to beat Kwoto with sticks, asking why he had not eaten the flesh, and they insisted that Kwoto should eat some of it. Kwoto ran away, and when the Kurumbas pursued him he [[210]]pretended that he was lame and consented to eat some of the flesh of the buffalo. He also told them that he was a god and said that he would dance before them, and did so like a lame man. He told the Kurumbas that whenever he came in the future, he would dance to the Kurumbas first and then to the Todas; and now the Kwoto teuol, or diviner (see [Chap. XII]), when he dances, does so first to the Kurumbas, and when he dances before them he does so as if he were lame.
After this Kwoto disappeared and since that time has not been seen. He is said to live in a temple at Mitur, but “wherever there is a god, there also is Kwoto, or Meilitars.”
According to another account, this story was told of the people called Panins (Panyas), but in this version Kurumbas were also said to be present, though it was the Panins who were made to eat the flesh.
According to a third account, obtained, however, from an untrustworthy informant, Kwoto practised this deception on the gods themselves, and made them eat the flesh of a calf while only pretending to eat himself. This was said to have been the starting-point of the erkumptthpimi ceremony, and Kwoto was said to have killed the calf with the same formalities as are now used in this ceremony. All other Todas strenuously denied that Kwoto made the gods eat flesh. There was, however, so much reticence about the erkumptthpimi ceremony and its history, that I am not confident that Kwoto was not in some way connected with its origin, and that the version of my untrustworthy informant may in this case have been correct.
Other Gods
There are very many other deities. Of the following I can give little more than the names.