There were several points of interest about the lamps used to light the dairies. At one time it seems that every palol was provided with an iron lamp with a number of cavities, each cavity being fitted with a wick. These lamps are reputed to have been as old as the foundation of the ti dairies. One of the lamps which is still in existence at the Nòdrs ti (that of the warspoh) is said to have been brought from Amnòdr. There is some doubt about the exact number of cavities and wicks in these lamps, but in the existing lamp of the Nòdrs ti there seems to be little doubt that there are seven cavities and wicks, and the lamp is called önavpelk, “the lamp of the seven holes.” All the seven wicks are only lighted on special occasions (ponnol), and on most days only one is used. At some dairies these iron lamps have been long lost, and in these cases the palol used to make lamps of the bark of the tudr tree. According to Marshall (p. 141), these lamps have five wicks, and this appears to be still the case at the Kars ti, where there were formerly two iron lamps, one with five cavities and one with four, and in the lamp now used at this ti they still keep up the use of five wicks on special occasions, using only two on ordinary days. It is possible that Marshall derived his information from a man who had been palol at this ti. At one of the dairies of the Pan ti there is an old iron lamp with seven cavities, and at the other, where a bark lamp is used, it has three wicks. At the present time the dairymen rarely trouble to make bark lamps, but are content with earthenware lamps procured from the bazaar. If these are broken and cannot be replaced at once, bark lamps are used during the interval. The wicks of the lamps, for whichever lamp they may be used, are always made of tuni taken from the garments worn by the palol, and the substance used in the lamps is butter.
Of the two fireplaces in the outer room, the tòratthwaskal is used for ordinary purposes, for cooking food, &c. The [[92]]other, called pelkkatitthwaskal, or sometimes persinkaftthwaskal, is used for lighting the lamp or for any other purpose directly connected with the vessels of the inner room.
The Daily Life at the Ti
The inhabitants of the ti rise before it is light, probably about five a.m., and on getting up from the bed some say “ekirzam meidjam.”[2] The kaltmokh goes at once to open the tu in which the buffaloes have been penned for the night. The palol salutes with hand to forehead when he leaves the sleeping-hut and goes to the front of the dairy, where there is water standing in a bamboo vessel called papun, corresponding to the kepun of the village dairy. He washes his hands and face, and then washes out his mouth by taking up water with his right hand, pouring into his left, and taking the water into his mouth from the latter. It is noticeable that the palol uses his left hand for this purpose of personal cleanliness, and not the right hand, which is chiefly used in his sacred work. He then ties up his straggling hair at the back of his head, bows down at the threshold of his dairy and enters, in some cases saying “ekirzam meidjam” as he does so.
When the palol enters the outer room of the dairy, he transfers fire from the tòratthwaskal, where it has been burning all night, to the other fireplace, the pelkkatitthwaskal, and then takes off the kubuntuni, which has been his covering during the night and puts the pòdrshtuni round his loins. He lights the lamp by means of three pieces of wood of the kind called kid, taken from the pelkkatitthwaskal, and while so doing begins to pray, using the prayer of the ti. After lighting the lamp, and while still continuing to pray, he takes up the persinkudriki and knocks with it on the middle of the three vessels called persin, going from one persin to another, when he pauses to take breath. I had the greatest difficulty in finding out exactly what happened in connexion with this [[93]]prayer, but after I had settled on the foregoing description as correct I was allowed one day by the kaltmokh to go near the dairy while the palol was praying, and was able to hear the beating on the earthenware vessel with each word of the prayer.
The next step is to take up the pohvet and place it against the wall, and then the palol begins to churn the coagulated milk in the middle persin, milk in this state being here called kudabpol instead of adrpars, as in the ordinary dairy.
In those cases in which the mani is ‘fed,’ the palol puts kudabpol on the bell shortly after beginning to churn. This is done three times, the syllable Oñ being uttered each time. When the palol does anything three times in this way, he says that he does it mushtiu. This expression for ‘thrice’ is not used in the ordinary dairy.
The next steps are to pour into the kwoi and karitòrzum most of the coagulated milk which has been broken up by the churning, to add to the milk remaining in the persin some persinpen, or butter especially kept for the purpose in the peptòrzum, to add water, and to churn the mixture of coagulated milk, water, and butter in the middle persin. When the new butter is formed, the palol pours out the buttermilk into the vessel called idrkwoi, keeping back the butter with his hand. The buttermilk is transferred from the idrkwoi to one of the alug in the outer room. Some of the milk which had been put into the kwoi or karitòrzum is then poured back into the middle persin, more water is added, and the mixture is churned, after which the buttermilk is again transferred by means of the idrkwoi to the alug, while the butter is kept in the persin. This procedure is repeated till all the milk of the middle persin has been churned.
The persin on the right-hand side of the palol is then taken, and its position exchanged with that of the vessel hitherto used, and the churning is continued in exactly the same manner. The buttermilk is transferred to the alug, but the butter when formed is transferred to the persin, which had been originally in the middle. When the contents of the second persin have been churned, the third persin is placed in the middle and the same procedure is followed, so that when [[94]]the churning is over all the butter which has been formed will be in the persin which was originally in the middle. Some of this butter is put into the peptòrzum to act as persinpen on another occasion, and the remainder is transferred to the butter alug by means of the idrkwoi. The two tòrzum are then put on the tops of two of the persin as covers, the peptòrzum being placed on the middle persin and the palol takes the milking-vessel (kwoi) and wand (kwoinörtpet) in his right hand and goes out to milk, having first put some buttermilk, called pep, into the kwoi.