SACRIFICE AND OFFERINGS
In this chapter various ceremonies will be described which may all be regarded as examples of propitiation of the higher powers by sacrifices or offerings. We shall see later that in the funeral ceremonies buffaloes are killed, but it is clear that there is no idea of propitiation or atonement connected with this slaughter, the animals being killed so that they may go to the next world for the service of the dead.
The Erkumptthpimi Ceremony
In this ceremony a young male calf is killed and eaten. The ordinary name is erkumptthpimi (“male buffalo we kill”) or erkumptthiti, but at the ti the ceremony is called ernudrtipimi. I met with great obstacles in obtaining a satisfactory account, the men who had told me all the details of the dairy ceremonial denying at first all knowledge of any ceremony among the Todas in which a calf was killed or eaten. As soon as they found that I knew positively of the existence of the ceremony, they acknowledged that they killed a calf, but said they could not tell me anything about it. I succeeded at last in obtaining a record of the ceremony from Teitnir, and when I was endeavouring to identify the various parts into which the sacrificial animal is divided, we met with such difficulties[1] that Teitnir agreed to allow me to see the ceremony on the condition that I would provide the cost of the calf. [[275]]
Owing to the general reluctance to talk about this ceremony, I was not able to obtain such independent accounts from other people as I should have liked, but the details of the sacrifice as given me by Teitnir agreed with those of the ceremony I witnessed, and I have no doubt as to its essential accuracy. I had hoped to have obtained independent evidence on some doubtful features at the end of my visit, but these hopes were entirely frustrated by the death of Teitnir’s wife a few days after the ceremony which had been performed for my benefit, her death being generally ascribed to the anger of the gods because the secrets of erkumptthpimi had been revealed. After I had left the hills, however, Samuel succeeded in obtaining information on several doubtful points, and was given an independent account which entirely confirmed the accuracy of the proceedings which he had witnessed at the same time as myself.
The ceremony is performed both at the ordinary village and at the ti dairy. At the ti there is no doubt that it is performed three times a year, but there was much discrepancy in the accounts of its frequency at the village. According to some, the sacrifice only takes place once a year at each village in October, soon after the ceremony of teutütusthchi, to be described later in this chapter. According to others, the ceremony is performed whenever the people have a suitable male calf to sacrifice. During the ten years that my interpreter, Samuel, had been living among the Todas, he had come to the conclusion that the ceremony is performed fairly often, his opinion being based on chance remarks made by the children. I think there is very little doubt that a calf is now killed in each village more often than once a year, and the ceremony at which I was present was almost certainly one of the occasional performances, though the time of year at which it took place makes it possible that it was the chief annual occasion of that village.
There was also some doubt whether there is an annual ceremony in every village for the people living in that village, or whether the annual ceremony is only performed in the etudmad, or chief village of each clan, for all the people of the clan. The true state of affairs at the present time is probably [[276]]that the ceremony is performed at the Nòdrs ti in October. Fifteen days later it is performed at the other ti mad and at the chief village of each clan. In addition to these annual celebrations the sacrifice is performed on two other occasions at the ti, while at a village it may be performed whenever the people of the village have a suitable animal.
The place at which the sacrifice is performed is called the ernkar, and at Karia, where I witnessed the ceremony, the ernkar is in a wood nearly half a mile from the village at a spot where it is very unlikely that the proceedings would be disturbed by chance visitors. It seems that there is not only a special ernkar for each ti and for each clan, but that each village has also its appointed place.
The ceremony is performed on appointed days, different for each ti and clan. In the case of the Kuudrol, these are Sunday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and the ceremony which I witnessed at Karia, a village of this clan, took place on a Sunday. The chief officiator at the sacrifice at an ordinary village is the palikartmokh of the village, who must, however, for this occasion be of the same clan as those who are celebrating the sacrifice.