Perhaps the strongest evidence in this direction is the existence of the differences of language to which I have already referred. The chief differences are as follows:—
| Tarthar. | Teivali. | |
| Wooden spoon | chudi or sudi | kîrstegi |
| Basket | tòdri | putukêri |
| Food vessel | paterkh | tòdriterkh |
| Round metal vessel | kûdikunm | kûdichakh |
| Milking-vessel | pun | kònipun |
| A dairy vessel | tat | kashtat |
| Iron instrument | pòditch | pòtch |
| Comb | tîrkòli | siekhkòli |
| Small boy’s cloak | kuchâr | kupichâr |
| Roof | pòdri | idrnpòdri |
| Western side of hut | meilmerkal | meilkushkòni |
| Eastern side of hut | kîmerkal | kîkushkòni |
| Mushroom | kiûn | âlabi |
| A tree | tipöti | ketak |
| A black fruit | kalpom | akatpom |
| To-morrow morning | pelikhaski | pedrkhaski |
I was given one sentence as quite different in the two divisions. This was “Bring a piece of ragged cloth to the dairy!” By the Tartharol this would be rendered, Palivorsk pari evâ! but by the Teivaliol, Kutanpari palivorsk panmeiliteivâ! the chief difference here being in the verb.
Though these are all the differences in vocabulary of which I could obtain a record, I was told by the Tartharol that formerly there were many more, and that they were diminishing in number because “the Teivaliol were now learning to speak properly.”
I think it possible that a phonologist might also detect many differences in pronunciation and accent in the two divisions. I thought that I detected such differences myself—that the Tartharol used a k when the Teivaliol used a g, for instance—but I am so uncertain about this that I do not feel entitled to lay any emphasis on it. In one case, however, the Todas themselves told me of a difference in pronunciation. They said that the usual word for dairy was pronounced as I have written it in this book but that by the Tartharol it was rather püli. [[688]]
Scanty as the evidence is, there can be no doubt of the existence of dialectical differences between the two divisions of the Toda people.
Another indication that the Todas are two tribes or castes which have coalesced is of a different and more doubtful kind. There is some reason to believe that people sometimes preserve a relic of their migrations in the belief concerning the path taken by the dead in their journey to the next world. We have seen that the Todas believe that the dead journey to the west, but the special point of interest in the present connexion is that the dead Teivaliol are believed to travel by a path different from that traversed by the Tartharol.
I must reserve till the next chapter the full consideration of the path by which the Todas reached the hills, but I hope to show then that there is a great probability that the Todas came from Malabar. If this view be correct, it is not impossible that in the belief as to the different paths traversed by the dead, we may have a relic of two independent migrations.
A third indication is one about which I am still more doubtful, because I have no exact observations to support it. When on the hills I was struck at times by differences in the general appearance of the people of the two divisions. Towards the end of my visit I sometimes made a successful guess that an unknown village I was entering was a Teivali village, and this guess was founded, so far as I could tell, on a difference in the appearance of the people. The Teivaliol seemed to me to be, on the whole, darker, and to have a lower type of face. My surmises in this direction only took shape towards the end of my visit, when it was too late to make any exact observations. I know how dangerous such impressions are, and I do not wish to lay any stress on them, and I mention them hoping that more exact observations on the point may be made at some future time.
The idea that the two divisions of the Toda community reached the hills at different times is perhaps supported by their distribution on the Nilgiri plateau. In [Fig. 73] I give a plan of the district, giving all the villages from which [[689]]the Toda clans take their names, the Tarthar villages being in Roman type and those of the Teivaliol in italics. I have omitted the chief villages of those clans which I know to have arisen in recent times by splitting off from other clans, and I have included two villages of which I can only give the approximate positions. These are Piedr and Kusharf, which are now rarely occupied, and are situated off the main plateau, near the Badaga village of Hullatti. I also give Pirspurs, the old etudmad of the Pämol. In [Fig. 74] I give a second plan, showing the positions of all the villages which I know to be ancient, either because they possess sacred dairies or because they are mentioned in legend.