The existence of these two divisions of the Toda people raises one of the most interesting problems of their social organisation. The fact that the Todas are an Indian people at once suggests that we have to do here with some form of the institution of caste. Each division is endogamous, as is the caste, and each is divided into a number of exogamous septs resembling the gotras of a caste. Again, there is some amount of specialisation of function, the Teivaliol being the division from which the most sacred of the dairymen are chosen.
The names of the two divisions probably correspond with this differentiation of function. The Teivaliol evidently derive their name from the sacred office, deva, of Sanskrit origin, being in common use in South India for ‘sacred,’ while devalayam means a temple.[1] The origin of Tartharol[2] is more doubtful, but I believe that the word carries the idea of ordinary, târ being used sometimes in this sense.
There is little restriction on social intercourse between the two divisions. So far as I am aware, they can eat together, and a member of one division can receive food from any member of another.
Though intermarriage is forbidden, the irregular unions in which the man is the mokhthodvaiol of the woman (see Chap. [[680]][XXII]) are frequent and, indeed, it seems to be the rule for connexions of this kind to be formed between members of the two divisions.
The only definite restriction on social intercourse is that a Teivali woman may not visit a Tarthar village, so that if a Tarthar man becomes the mokhthodvaiol of a Teivali woman, he has to visit her at her home, or may go to live at her village altogether or for long periods. There is no similar restriction on the visits of Tarthar women to Teivali villages, and at the time of my visit at least one Tarthar woman was living altogether at the village of her Teivali consort.
The prohibition of the visits of Teivali women to Tarthar villages is said to have had its origin in the misbehaviour of certain Teivali women who once visited the village of Nòdrs, but I did not learn in what their offence consisted.
The most obvious features which mark off the two divisions from one another occur in connexion with the dairy organisation. The most important dairy institutions of the Todas belong to the Tartharol, but their dairymen are Teivaliol. This applies not only to the ti dairies, but also to the wursuli dairies of the Tarthar villages. The highest dairy office, that of palol, can only be held by a Teivali man, while the lower offices of kaltmokh and wursol must be held by them or by one of the Melgars clan of the Tartharol. According to tradition, the members of the Melgarsol were also at one time capable of holding the office of palol, but lost the right owing to the misbehaviour of one of their number. As I have already suggested, the Melgarsol may have been formerly a Teivali clan, but on repeated inquiry, it seemed clear that they had always been Tartharol, so that at one time in Toda history certain Tartharol were permitted to hold the highest dairy office as well as the lower grades for which they are still eligible. The position of the Melgars clan is, however, so much of a mystery in itself that it can contribute little to the understanding of our present difficulties.
Although the Teivaliol hold the highest dairy offices, and while holding them have a very high degree of sanctity, it is quite clear that, apart from the holding of these offices, [[681]]they have no sanctity whatever. A Teivali man who, while holding office as palol, is so sacred that he may not be touched by nor touch anyone, and may be visited even by his nearest relatives on two days of the week only, becomes an ordinary person, with absolutely no restrictions on intercourse, the moment he ceases to hold office.
Further, the fact that the Teivaliol hold these sacred offices does not lead to any respect being shown by Tartharol towards Teivaliol; there is not the slightest trace of the belief that their right to exert the highest priestly functions gives the Teivaliol any superiority, nor, it seemed clear to me, did the right inspire the Teivaliol themselves with any feeling of superiority. Indeed, it was distinctly the other way. The Tartharol always boasted that they were the superior people and that the Teivaliol were their servants, and the Teivaliol always seemed to me to acquiesce, though unwillingly, in this opinion. Whenever I asked a Tarthar man why he regarded his division as superior, he always answered, “We have the ti and we appoint the Teivaliol to act as our servants.” In the case of the Teivali dairyman acting as wursol at the Tarthar villages, I had definite evidence in more than one instance that the priest was regarded as a paid servant, to be treated with scant respect except in the special points prescribed by custom. The fact that the Teivali dairyman living at a Tarthar village may not touch any of the Tartharol puts him very much at the mercy of the latter, and the dairyman has, so far as I know, no redress for any wrong, real or fancied, which he may receive.
The inferiority of the Teivaliol came out in one very striking point to which I shall return later. I learnt from the Tartharol that there were certain differences in language between the two divisions; that the Teivaliol used certain words as names of objects which were not used by the Tartharol. I obtained a list of these, and later approached a Teivali man on the matter. When I opened the subject he was very much taken aback, and then became very angry because I had been told of the difference, though its existence was not denied. His whole attitude was that of a man ashamed of his lowly origin. Far more indignation was [[682]]shown by him and by other Teivaliol because I had been told of their peculiarities of language than was ever shown after the exposure of deeds distinctly immoral even from the Toda point of view. I shall return to this subject again shortly; I mention it here because it seemed to me to afford the clearest evidence that the Teivaliol were conscious of their own inferiority in the social scale.