Attention may here be called to the fact that the Todas evidently regard the first half of the month as most auspicious for their ceremonies, and it would seem that in most cases the first appropriate day of the week after the new moon is the proper day for nearly every Toda ceremonial. I met with no case in which any ceremony was appointed for the period of the full moon or for the second half of the moon’s period. At the present, it seems that such ceremonies as those connected with the migrations of the buffaloes may take place in the second half of the month, but I have no doubt that this is only a result of modern laxity.
The definite values assigned to different days of the week is a very special feature of Toda custom, and in the madnol we have an institution very closely resembling that of the Sabbath. In a busier community than that of the Todas, the existence of different madnol for different clans of the community would soon become a serious obstacle to carrying on the business of life, and such a community would probably agree that all clans should have the same holy day. At present the madnol is undoubtedly more sacred than the other [[412]]sacred days, and if the latter were then to be neglected, we should have a community in which various activities were prohibited on one day of the week, and the institution so arising would differ very little from the Hebrew Sabbath. It is possible that the Todas show in an early stage the institution of a Sabbath in which the whole community has not yet settled on a single and joint holy day.
Sacred Numbers
Certain numbers recur with great frequency in the dairy ceremonial, and may be regarded as having a special sanctity on this account. There seems to be a general preference for uneven numbers, and this preference comes out very strongly in the tesherst ceremony, in which an uneven number of men must take part on any one occasion. The number of men performing this ceremony together must be three, five, seven, nine, &c.
In the dairy ritual the numbers which occur chiefly are three, seven and nine, but other numbers have also been singled out in other branches of Toda lore. The numbers which occur in ceremonial may now be considered in detail.
Three.—A large proportion of the ritual acts of the dairy are performed three times, usually with the accompaniment of the sacred syllable Oñ uttered thrice, once with each performance of the act. This three-fold performance is especially marked in the ceremony of putting milk or curds on the sacred bells and in the ceremonial drinking of buttermilk. In the ordination ceremonies, the number occurs less frequently. The purificatory drinking is always done seven times or some multiple of seven, but after drinking, the candidate rubs himself three times with the shoots or bark, and, at the ordination of a palol, the candidate drinks three times seven on several occasions. Other acts during the ordination of the palol are also performed thrice, and the same number occurs in the ordination of the kaltmokh.
Acts are performed thrice with special frequency in the ceremonial of the ti, and, at the ordinary dairy, this number is especially connected with the ‘feeding’ of the sacred [[413]]bell, and there is no doubt that it is a number regarded as especially sacred. Whenever the sacred syllable Oñ is used, it is nearly always uttered thrice, and there seems to be a special association between the number three and this word.
In the erkumptthpimi ceremony three branches of tudr leaves are used, and they and the log with which the calf is killed are passed round the body of the animal thrice. Later in the ceremony three pieces of wood are thrown over the fire.
In the ceremonies connected with childbirth, the woman drinks thrice on various occasions, in the pursütpimi ceremony the name of the bow is asked and the answer given three times, and in the ceremony of name-giving three grains of barley are put into the mouth of the child and three into his hair.