The Todas

by W. H. R. Rivers

The Todas have so highly developed the cult of one animal that they show few traces of belief in the sanctity of others. I will put together here the whole of the scanty evidence which I possess concerning their relations with animals in general.

The Tiger.—The Todas have a legend that at one time the tiger used to watch over the buffaloes for them during the day and hand over his charge in the evening. One day the tiger was very hungry and its hunger made it angry. When it brought the buffaloes back to the village it saw a cat catching a rat. Then the tiger asked the cat for some of the flesh, but the cat said, “There is no fool like you; why don’t you eat some of the buffaloes you look after?” At that time the tiger usually slept at the village, but on this evening it went into the wood and at midnight came slowly back and took one of the buffaloes out of the pen, and since then it has always done this.

According to another legend (see p. [185]), buffaloes have been killed by tigers ever since the arsaiir of the Kwòdrdoni ti failed to come to the general gathering which assembled to bid farewell to Ön when he went to rule over Amnòdr.

Jervis[5] states that the natives of the hills salaam to the tiger. He does not say definitely that it is the Todas who do this, but it is probable that he is referring to them. He also states that the women of the village throw themselves on their knees before a tiger which has been killed, and touch his bristles with their foreheads. I do not know whether these practices are still followed. [[432]]

As we have seen (p. 417), there is a belief that a man who fails in the performance of certain sacred duties may be killed by a tiger, but the Todas do not appear to fear this animal except on behalf of their buffaloes, and I could only learn of one case in which a Toda had been killed, and as his name was not known it must have occurred very long ago, or may have been altogether mythical.

The Jackal.—I was told by my interpreter that he had seen the Todas saluting a jackal, but I did not hear of any beliefs associated with the practice.

The Sambhar.—The most interesting point in connexion with this animal is the fact that the Todas are undoubtedly permitted to eat its flesh. Kutadri, who was most scrupulous in his obedience to the customs of his people, had no reluctance in eating sambhar flesh, and when he had fallen ill soon after, he never thought of ascribing his illness to what was probably its real cause, which shows clearly that there could have been no idea that he had done anything forbidden or unorthodox.

The fact that the Todas may eat the flesh of the sambhar while taking that of no other animal, except ceremonially, might well be looked upon as an indication that there may at one time have been totemic restrictions on food. In their earlier homes, before they reached the Nilgiri Hills, it is probable that the sambhar was an unknown animal, and could not therefore have been a totem. Consequently, when they came to the Nilgiris, they would have found there an animal on the eating of the flesh of which there were no restrictions, and the absence of restriction would, on this hypothesis, have continued to the present day. The eating of sambhar flesh would be the proverbial exception that proves the rule.

It seems to me possible, however, that there is a different reason for the absence of any prohibition. The Todas have no weapons with which they could kill a sambhar, and if this animal is ever killed by Kotas or Kurumbas, the mere fact that it had been killed by these people would probably be a sufficient reason why the Todas should not eat its flesh.

It is possible that it is only since the advent of Europeans [[433]]to the Nilgiris, and the extensive slaughter of sambhar which followed it, that the Todas have thought of eating the flesh of this animal, and as no prohibition against the eating of its flesh has been handed down to them, they have no reluctance in satisfying in this way the liking for animal food which the erkumptthpimi ceremony keeps in existence, if it does not actually stimulate it.