The Todas

by W. H. R. Rivers

One of the most important parts played by the Badagas in the Toda community is in connexion with the naim, or council, of which one member is a Badaga belonging to the village of Tuneri. He is only called upon to sit, however, in cases of difficulty, and probably one of his functions is to assist in the settlement of any dispute which may arise in connexion with the tribute of grain, or other transactions between members of the two communities.

There is little evidence that the Badagas have had much influence on the more important customs and ceremonies of the Todas. Few traces of their influence are to be found in the dairy ceremonial, but it is possible that some of the rites accompanying birth and death may have been borrowed from this people. The practice of making cicatrices on the arm (p. 576) is common to both Badagas and Todas, and may have been borrowed by the latter from the former, but the practice is not in any way of a ceremonial character. The only part played by a Badaga at a Toda funeral is that the bell called tukulir mani may be kept by a Badaga or a Kota, and, as I have suggested on p. [377], the whole ceremony with the calf in which this bell is used may have been borrowed from the Badagas. The idea of a thread bridge between this world and the next is said to be common to Todas and Badagas, but I have no evidence to show which has borrowed from the other. [[634]]

In the ordinary life of the people there is more evidence of influence. At many Toda villages there may now be seen huts like those of the Badagas which usually result from the practice of allowing Badagas to occupy a Toda village when the proper occupants have gone elsewhere. The visitors build a hut of their own kind in which to live, and sometimes the Todas on their return inhabit this hut, though in general they only use it as an appanage to the hut of the proper kind.

The fact that the Badagas will thus come to live at a Toda village seems to show that when the Todas move from one place to another the pasturage is not necessarily exhausted, for the Badagas would not bring their buffaloes in this case. It seems that the grazing-grounds for the Badaga buffaloes are not very extensive, and that the Badagas are always glad to use the more extensive pasturage of the Todas, even when the grass has been partly eaten off.

Transactions in buffaloes between Todas and Badagas seem now to be fairly frequent. I often heard of a buffalo as having been received from the Badagas, but I have no very definite information as to the reasons for the transference. On the occasion of the ceremony of the ear-piercing of Tikievan’s sons (p. 336), Tikievan received a present of two buffaloes from the Badaga monegar of Tuneri, and this present was said to be in return for things which Tikievan had previously given to the monegar, but I did not learn the exact nature of this gift.

In two departments there is very clear evidence of Badaga influence. The astronomical ideas of the Todas are almost certainly borrowed from their neighbours (see [Chap. XXIV]), and in the closely allied practical question of the calendar I think Badaga influence may be suspected.

The other department is medicine. There is no special reason to suppose that the magical remedies of the utkòren ([Chap. XII]) have been borrowed from the Badagas, but the more strictly medical remedies used by the Todas are largely borrowed, the actual leaves or other substances employed being obtained from the Badagas. The practice of suicide by opium, said to be very prevalent among the Badagas, has, in [[635]]at least one recent case, been adopted by a Toda, and the threat of suicide by this means is said to be fairly common.

There is no doubt that the Badagas believe in the powers of the Toda sorcerers. I was told of several definite instances in which misfortunes were believed to have been brought upon the Badagas in this way, and there is little doubt that, in one case, the supposed author of the death of a child was murdered by the Badagas.

If a Badaga suspects magical influence of this kind he may consult one of the Toda diviners, showing that the Badagas believe in Toda divination as well as in Toda sorcery.

It is probable that the relations between the Todas and Badagas have existed for very long. It is generally held that the Badagas are comparatively recent immigrants to the Nilgiri Hills. Breeks[5] states that the Badagas are said to have come to the hills about three centuries ago in consequence of the troubles that followed the fall of Vijayanagar, but it is certain that they have been on the hills much longer than this, for the account of Finicio in 1602 (see App. I) shows that the relations between Todas and Badagas were much the same then as they are now. The close connexion of Badagas with the ti dairies, their intermediation between the palol and the Hindu, and the fact that the palol must eat Badaga grain, are all indications of very ancient relations between the two tribes.