The male funeral place of this clan was Puvi, and the female, Kwatkash. These were situated where the Wellington barracks now stand, and the funerals are now held near Inikitj. [Fig. 51] shows the wooden teiks at which the sacred buffalo would be killed at the funeral of a male.
There are several stories about Karnisi (37), a member of this clan. He is said to have been an exceptionally strong [[659]]man, and the Todas tell how on one occasion two English soldiers came to Päm and insulted the women and how Karnisi took the two men unaided to the barracks at Wellington.
Karnisi also spent a fortune which had been stored in the dairy of Päm for many generations. A vessel (pun) full of rupees had been deposited in the dairy by an ancestor of Karnisi called Kiuten. It remained there till Karnisi spent it in buying buffaloes, ornaments for his many wives and household goods. He gave some of the rupees away and spent others in travelling to Coimbatore, and in a short time the money had disappeared.
Nidrsi
The headquarters of the Nidrsi clan are to the south of Coonoor. The people are closely surrounded by tea estates and have been much influenced. It is not now a large clan, having about sixteen male and twenty-five female members.
There are two kudr, headed by Todrigars (41) and Kudrmaskutan (43) respectively, each kudr having two pòlm. The chief men of the pòlm of one kudr are Puveners (40) and Todrigars, and of the other kudr, Kadrkutan (42) and Kudrmaskutan.
This clan affords a very good example of the degeneration which has in some cases befallen the dairy organisation. The people have only one wursulir left. The dairy (wursuli) has fallen into ruins, and they have no wursol and, therefore, the one buffalo is not milked. At a funeral of a male they will have to procure a wursol from another clan to kill this buffalo.
There are two mani, called Eshkiakudr and Eikudr, each with an iron chain, but as they have no wursuli these bells are kept under a stone at Akirsikòdri, the male funeral village. The other sacred buffaloes, pineipir, &c., are milked at a tarvali.
There are now only four inhabited villages, and only one of these seems to be of any importance.
Nidrsi. This is near the Badaga village of Hulikal. It [[660]]consists chiefly of huts obviously of recent construction and not of the proper Toda form. There is a small dairy (tarvali) and the situation of the former wursuli, almost completely overgrown, can still be seen. There is a buffalo enclosure called Punatu. The irnörtkars is a stone of ordinary appearance with other smaller stones round it, and there is also a pilinörtkars of which only a small piece now shows above the ground. There is a very large tukitthkars at this village (see pp. 252 and 597).