The last clause was said by Samuel to be interpreted: [[308]]“Let me not get into trouble with the government,” but it is probably much older than this interpretation would indicate, and refers to the former dislike of the Todas to any intercourse with people other than the Badagas and Kotas. “Twelve years” is a common expression for an indefinitely long time, and may be translated “for ever.” The practice of combining positive and negative sentences as in this prayer is one which seems to be not uncommon in the Toda language. It will be noticed that several of the clauses are identical with those of the prayer ordinarily used in the dairy.
When the pilinörtpol has finished his prayer he rises, and the palikartmokh takes up the tuni and the ring and puts them in the dairy. Then the pilinörtpol and his companions go into the outer room of the dairy and take food prepared by the dairyman, after which they go to a wood near Kiudr and stay there till after nightfall, when they make their way home, taking care not to be seen by anyone.
If the ring is given by one of the Kuudrol it becomes the property of the men of the other kudr, but as its value is very small, only from four annas to two rupees, it is not divided, but is usually taken by the man of the kudr who takes the chief part in the ceremony.
The ceremony as described above resembles those of irnörtiti and tuninörtiti, in that the offering is given by a man of one division of the clan to the members of the other division.
Pilinörtiti may also be undertaken by a man as an atonement for wrong-doing, and in the only case of the kind of which I know, the wrong-doer, although he belonged to the Kars clan of the Tartharol, had to make the offering to Kiudr. In this case there was no question of the ring passing from one kudr to another, and it probably became the property of the man connected with Kiudr who took the chief part in conducting the ceremony.
Various unfortunate events which occurred during my visit to the Todas illustrate very well the working of the regulations which have been described in this chapter. One of these misfortunes befell Kutadri, who went with me to visit the Kundahs, the headquarters of the Pan clan. Mr. [[309]]Mackenzie, with whom I was staying, had shot a sambhar, and Kutadri joined others in making a hearty meal on the flesh of the animal. The next day he felt far from well, and searching in his mind for the cause of his sufferings, his suspicions did not fall on the sambhar, but wavered between sorcery of the Kurumbas and the anger of the gods of the locality, because he had shown me certain sacred features of the land. He was unable to continue to act as my guide, rendering my visit to the Kundahs largely fruitless, and on his return home he frightened himself into serious illness.
Teitnir, who had told me many things, but, above all, had dared to show me the erkumptthpimi sacrifice, lost his wife a few days after this ceremony. She had given birth to a dead child, and in spite of obviously serious fever, she had gone through a trying ceremony connected with removal to the seclusion-hut, and had walked a long way to this hut. Two days later she died.
Kaners, who had been my chief informant on the procedure of the ti dairy, awoke one morning to find the dairy of his village burnt. No human agency seemed possible, and no doubt was entertained that it was another manifestation of the displeasure of the gods.
Numerous councils were held, and the diviners were consulted, on this occasion Midjkudr and Tadrners. They found that Kutadri’s misfortunes were due to his having revealed to me secrets about Pan, although, as a matter of fact, his illness had prevented his telling me anything of importance. It was decided that he was to give a buffalo to the Pan ti.
The death of Teitnir’s wife was found to have two causes.[13] The first was that Teitnir had shown me the erkumptthpimi ceremony; the second was that he had gone with his wife to Lake View, the house of the Zenana mission, and had stayed there for several months, Teitnir having done this in order to avoid losing his wife according to the terersthi custom (see [Chap. XXII]). For the first offence Teitnir was to do irnörtiti to his clan, the Kuudrol, and for the second offence he was to give a buffalo to the Amatol, [[310]]his pia, or grandfather, being especially singled out among them. The latter penalty was paid before I left the hills. Teitnir devoted a sacred buffalo (pasthir) to his grandfather, and as a sign that he had done so, he did kalmelpudithti to Ivievan (52), one of the chief men of his family. The giving of the buffalo was followed by a feast.