The food of the wursol is prepared for him by the palikartmokh of the dairy in which he sleeps. The wursol never prepares food either for himself or others, except on the occasion of the festival called irpalvusthi (see [Chap. VIII]).
Most wursuli have only one room, the exception being the poh at Nòdrs, and the wursuli of Nasmiòdr and Òdr. It is noteworthy that these, however, are three of the most ancient and important dairies of the Todas. The reason why the other wursuli have one room is probably the fact that the wursol is not allowed to sleep in the dairy, and consequently there is no necessity for an outer room. When these dairies have been rebuilt, or new dairies have been made, the Todas have probably not thought it worth while to keep two rooms except at the especially important and sacred places. I was also told, however, that each of the three places which have two rooms had been at one time a ti dairy, and, as we shall see later, dairies of this, the highest, grade always have two rooms.
Another indication of the special sanctity of these three dairies is that at them, and also at the wursuli at Kozhtudi, the wursol must never turn his back on the contents of the dairy—i.e., he must do all his work and go in and out of the dairy facing the place where the mani is kept. The Todas call this proceeding in which the back is never turned on the contents of the dairy “kabkaditi.”
The vessels of the wursuli are divided, like those of the ordinary dairy, into those of the patatmar and those of the [[74]]ertatmar. The following sketch of the arrangement was made by Kòdrner, but I do not feel confident of its accuracy.
FIG. 22.
- A. Patatmar.
- B. Ertatmar.
- C. The mani or bell.
- D. The pelk or lamp.
- E. Waskal or fireplace.
- F. The door.
The lamp is of iron, bought in the bazaar: it is called tudrkpelk or tagarspelk, according as it is hung by a hook or on a chain. This distinction probably holds for other village dairies.