The Todas

by W. H. R. Rivers

Close to the poh, between it and the tarvali, are the ruins of another dairy, the former kudrpali, which is said to have had seven rooms. It was disused on account of the difficulty in obtaining the services of a kudrpalikartmokh. It will be remembered that this grade of dairyman has to do his work without any covering, and in the bleak exposed position of Nòdrs, it seems that this was so great a hardship that the office went begging. The Nòdrs people are said to have ceased to use this dairy about four generations ago, and the condition of the ruins is about what might be expected if this statement were correct.

There are a large number of important stones at Nòdrs. Formerly seven kinds of buffalo were killed at the funeral of a male, and each was killed at a different stone. Now only two buffaloes may be killed, but the stones remain to show what was formerly done. Two wursulir were killed, one at the stone called uteiks and another at the stone nerovkars, both of which are shown in [Fig. 70]. One nashperthir was killed at the nashperthkars. The two sacred mani were hung on the necks of one of the wursulir and the nashperthir. One pineipir was killed at the stone called tukervòrskars. One persasir was killed at the persaskars, and two putiir were killed, one at the teidrtolkars and the other at the menkars. The teidrtolkars, shown in [Fig. 13], also marks the spot where the unfortunate wursol milked his buffaloes (see p. [439]). The menkars, shown in [Fig. 12], is the stone used in the game of narthpimi, in which a boy creeps under a stone. It is on the village side of the wall, close to the entrance to the tarvali. All the other stones are on the same side of the wall as the poh.

FIG. 70.—A VIEW OF NÒDRS. THE STONE IN THE FOREGROUND ON THE LEFT IS THE ‘NEROVKARS’; THAT ON THE RIGHT IS THE ‘UTEIKS.’ IN THE BACKGROUND IN THE CENTRE IS AN OLD ‘TU.’ THE LOWER PART OF THE CONICAL DAIRY CAN BE SEEN BETWEEN THE BOY AND THE ‘UTEIKS.’

Òdr (Aganadmand). This is second in importance among [[646]]the villages of the Nòdrsol, and it was a question whether the wursuli dairy, though of the ordinary form, had not even a greater sanctity than the poh of Nòdrs. More difficulty was made when I wished to go close to it than at any other place during the whole of my visit (except, of course, at the ti dairy), but, unfortunately, the affair was complicated by the fact that on this day my usual attendant, Kòdrner, was not with me, and the difficulty may have been partly due to this. When I was allowed to approach the building, only one man came with me and he would not go within several yards of the dairy, while allowing me to go on. The special sanctity of this dairy is due to the fact that the two mani of the Nòdrsol are kept here. Both this dairy and a smaller tarvali are at a much greater distance from the village than usual, but with that exception there is nothing to distinguish them from the dairies of other villages. The wursuli is one of those which has two rooms. It is at the village of Òdr that the palol passes one night during his [[647]]ordination ceremonies, and I was shown the spot under a tree where he has to sleep, the same spot being also used by the wursol and kaltmokh when they undergo any part of their ordination ceremonies at Òdr.

Another feature of interest is the connexion of this village with Kuudr. An Òdr man must be present at the irpalvusthi and salt-giving ceremonies of Kuudr, and a Kuudr man must attend when these ceremonies are performed at Òdr. Further, the kwarzam of Òdr are said in the prayer of the erkumptthpimi ceremony at Kuudr and the Kwarzam of Kuudr are said at Òdr.

The following legend records the origin of these customs:—

Soon after Teikirzi had given the buffaloes to the different villages, the buffaloes of Kuudr and Òdr were grazing together, and when evening came they could not be separated and both herds went together to the funeral place called Keikars. The wursol of Òdr and the palikartmokh of Kuudr brought their milking-vessels, each to milk his own buffaloes, and they also brought their churning-vessels (patat) and cooking-vessels. After they had milked, the wursol of Òdr went to pour his milk into his patat, and when doing so some of the milk splashed into the vessel of the palikartmokh. They then cooked some food with the milk, and as the food was boiling strongly, some of it went from one cooking-pot to the other. Then the people of the two villages met and decided that, as the two kinds of buffalo had been milked in one place and the two kinds of milk had been mixed with one another, each of the villages should mention the kwarzam of the other in its prayer, and people of one village should attend the ceremonies of the other.

Tedshteiri (Talapattaraimand). This is another important Nòdrs village. It was vacant at the time of my visit, but is still often occupied. It had at one time a dairy called Okurshapali with seven rooms, which was, like that of Nòdrs, a kudrpali. It fell into disuse at the same time as the Nòdrs dairy, and its site is still quite distinct; but though it seemed larger than usual, I could discover no indication of the number of rooms it had had. When I visited the village there were nine ovens standing in a row, which had been used to cook the [[648]]food when Teigudr (4) took his wife Uwer from Nertolvan of Pan (16). On this occasion Nertolvan came to Tedshteiri to receive nine buffaloes from Teigudr, and the number of ovens corresponded with the number of the buffaloes.

Kudrnakhum (Kudinagamand). The chief point of interest about this village is that it is the place where the ceremony of tesherst often takes place. It is an outlying village to the west which I was unable to visit.