FIG. 25.—THE ‘POH’ OF KANÒDRS. THE TWO WALLS ARE SHOWN.
When a pohkartpol is in office he is allowed to have one companion, who is a perol, or ordinary person, i.e., he undergoes no special ordination ceremony. With the exception of the two men, no one is allowed to go near the building for any purpose. When I visited the place, my guide stayed a considerable distance away from and out of sight of the dairy while I went with my interpreter to inspect the building and its surroundings. The pohkartpol and his companion sleep in the kwotars, or calf-house, in which there is a bed (tün) for each. This building has no door and is a very flimsy structure, so that sleeping in it can differ very little from sleeping in the open air. There is a fireplace between the two beds, but its warmth can hardly be sufficient for any degree of comfort. Further, the pohkartpol may only wear the tuni, a very scanty garment as compared with the putkuli. The pohkartpol must be celibate while in office, and his companion, [[81]]must also be celibate while at the dairy. The pohkartpol must take his food sitting on the outer wall which surrounds the dairy. He must not put his hand to his mouth, but must throw his food in; nor must he put the leaf used as a cup to his lips, but must pour into his mouth from above.
Several of these rules and restrictions are even more severe than those for the palol, to be considered in the next chapter. The reason given for the strictness of ritual is that the god Kwoto or Meilitars “had done so many wonderful things on that side” (see [Chapter IX]).
One feature peculiar to the Kanòdrs dairy is that milk receives the special name persin. This is the name of the churning-vessel of the ti, but is not used for milk in any other dairy. Otherwise the names used at Kanòdrs are the same as at other village dairies.
The Teivali Dairy
Among the Teivaliol, the various grades of dairy and dairymen so far considered have no existence. Many Teivali villages have two dairies, but each is served by a palikartmokh of the same rank.
The general procedure of the Teivali dairy does not appear to differ in any very marked respect from that of the Tarthar tarvali. The most marked difference which I could discover is in the clothing of the dairyman. When engaged in the dairy operations, the Teivali palikartmokh wears, at any rate in some cases, the tuni, or garment of dark grey cloth of the same kind as that worn by the wursol.
The sacred buffaloes of the Teivaliol are known as pasthir, and there are no differences corresponding to the different grades of the Tartharol. Similarly with one exception, the Teivali pasthir of each clan have no special names like the martir, nashperthir, &c., of the Tartharol. The exception is that the buffaloes of the Piedr clan are called kudeipir or kudipir, apparently the same name as that of the wursulir of Pan.
The village of Kiudr, belonging to the Kuudrol, possesses a dairy of special sanctity (see [Fig. 31]). It is served by a [[82]]palikartmokh, and it does not appear to have any special complexities of ritual except in connexion with certain bells which this dairy contains. There are six of these bells, two kept on the patatmar, called patatmani, and four kept on the ertatmar, called ertatmani. During the dairy ceremonial these bells are ‘fed’ by the palikartmokh, the patatmani receiving milk and the ertatmani buttermilk. I only became aware of the existence of these bells incidentally, and had not the opportunity of ascertaining their history or meaning. It is clear, however, that they differ from the mani of the Tartharol and from those of the Piedr clan among the Teivaliol in that they are never used at a funeral (see p. [352]). [[83]]