At the etvainolkedr, a cloak in which the corpse is wrapped, [[638]]five to ten measures (kwa) of the grain called patm (samai), and one or two rupees. If the Kotas do not possess the grain, they may give another one or two rupees in its stead.
At the marvainolkedr, they supply a cloak; eight annas to pay for the embroidery of the cloak, which is done by the Toda women; two to five rupees towards the funeral expenses; a bow and three arrows; a knife (kafkati); a sieve (kudshmurn) and a basket (tek).
In return, the Kotas receive the carcases of the buffaloes killed at the funeral, and on the occasion of a Kota funeral, the Todas supply one male calf from three to five years of age and one measure (kudi) of clarified butter. The Kotas also receive the bodies of any Toda buffaloes which die a natural death.
A Kota visiting a Toda village at any time is given clarified butter to take away with him. He is also given food consisting of jaggery and rice, which must be eaten on the outskirts of the village. A Kota is never given milk, buttermilk, or butter.
Once a year there is a definite ceremony in which the Todas go to the Kota village with which they are connected, taking an offering of clarified butter and receiving in return an offering of grain from the Kotas. I only obtained an account of this ceremony as performed between the people of Kars and the Kota village of Tizgudr, and I do not know whether the details would be the same in other cases.
In the Kars ceremony the Todas go on the appointed day to the Kota village, headed by a man carrying the clarified butter. Outside the village, they are met by two Kota priests whom the Todas called teupuli, who bring with them a dairy vessel of the kind the Todas call mu, which is filled with patm grain. Other Kotas follow with music. All stand outside the village, and one of the Kotas puts ten measures (kwa) of patm into the pocket of the cloak of the leading Toda, and the teupuli give the mu filled with the same grain.
The teupuli then go to their temple and return, each bringing a mu, and the clarified butter brought by the Todas is divided into two equal parts, and half is poured into each mu. The leading Toda then takes some of the butter and [[639]]rubs it on the heads of the two Kota priests, who prostrate themselves, one at each foot of the Toda, and the Toda prays as follows:—
Ultamâ; May it be well; Kûv Kotas erdm two tânenmâ; may it be well; kadr fields pelumâ; flourish may; mâ un mâ; rain may; îr buffalo kar milk mâ, may, nûv disease pedr go mâ. may.
The Toda then gives the two mu containing the clarified butter to the Kota priests, and he and his companions return home.
This ceremony is obviously one in which the Todas are believed to promote the prosperity of the Kotas, their crops, and their buffaloes.[7]