The Todas

by W. H. R. Rivers

The goddess Teikirzi lived at Nòdrs and was its ruler, and Nòdrs was in consequence especially favoured when the various buffaloes were distributed by this deity. When Püv died and Ön went away to Amnòdr (see p. [185]), the Nòdrs ti and its buffaloes went with him. Teikirzi, who remained behind, found after a time that it was not good to rule a country without a ti, so she complained to Ön and asked him to send the buffaloes back. He consented and people were sent from Nòdrs to Amnòdr to fetch the buffaloes. Ön gave them the buffaloes and all the things of the ti, and he also gave a milking vessel and a churning stick made of gold. When the men started to bring back the buffaloes, they went some way and then found that they had forgotten the gold vessel and churn given to them by Ön. So they went back and asked Ön for the two things. Ön refused to give them up as they had not been taken at first, and it is believed that they are still in the dairy at Amnòdr.

Ön told the men who returned to ask for the things they had forgotten that the Todas were to make the vessel and churn of bamboo. They were to go to the hill called Teikhars or Kulinkars, where they would find a flower called kavulpuv, and he told them to make a new kòghlag of the same shape as that flower. They did so, and ever since that time the churning-stick both at the ti and at the ordinary village has been made so that it is like the flower kavulpuv.

Another incident which occurred during the journey of the ti buffaloes back from Amnòdr was the birth of a mani. One of the two palol was carrying the dairy vessels of the inner room, and the other was carrying the mani called Keu. When they were about half-way back to this world, the palol who was carrying the dairy vessels found that they had become very heavy, so he put them down, and, taking off the tòrzum which was covering one of the persin, he found a bell in the milk of the persin. So they called the bell Persin because it was the son of a persin, and to this day the bell is fed with milk because it was born in milk. It is the mani which is kept in the ti poh of the Nòdrs ti, while the other [[112]]mani Keu, carried by the other palol, is kept in the wars poh and this bell, Keu, is not fed with milk.

When the buffaloes of the Nòdrs ti returned from Amnòdr, they talked like men. One day when the palol told the kaltmokh to bring the calves, the buffaloes used bad language such as may not be uttered before women; they would not obey the palol, and refused to allow him to milk them. Then Teikirzi found that it was bad that buffaloes should have the tongues of men, and she dragged the tongues out of the mouths of the buffaloes and made them new tongues of tudr bark. The buffaloes could then talk no longer, and they allowed themselves to be milked.

Originally the Nòdrs ti had three places, or ti mad, given to it by Teikirzi: Anto, Òdrtho, and Kulâdrtho. Later the people made other ti mad, and at one time, in addition to the three, they had the following places:—Mòdr, Kudreiil, Majòdr, Mûkòdr, Tidj, Pûth, and Pòos. Several of these are now disused or have disappeared altogether, but are still mentioned in the prayer of the ti. Of the three original places, Kulâdrtho has disappeared and its place is occupied by the Prospect tea estate. The sites of Tidj and Pûth are also occupied by tea estates. The way to Pòos has been blocked by a Kota village, so that the buffaloes would be unable to reach it without being defiled by going through the village, and, in consequence, this dairy is not used. Mukòdr is very close to another ti mad, probably Majòdr, and the palol “were lazy” and allowed it to fall into ruins. There is a conical dairy, now in ruins, near Makurti Peak, which belonged to the Nòdrs ti, and it is possible that this is the dairy of Mukòdr.

The herds now spend the greater part of the year at Mòdr, but still go in most years to Anto, Òdrtho, Kudreiil, and Majòdr at certain seasons.

The Nòdrs ti has two kinds of persinir, the tiir and the warsir, each of which has its own palol. There are also the punir for the special use of the palol. The tiir have three subdivisions, the unir, the atir, and the teirtir, so called because descended from certain buffalo ancestors, or nòdrkutchi, who were connected with Anto, Tidj, and Teir. The warsir, [[113]]are divided into two groups, the kulatir and the perithir, so called because their nòdrkutchi were connected with Kulâdrtho and Perithi respectively. Teir is close to Mòdr, but does not seem at any time to have been itself a ti mad, and I could not ascertain why it should have given its name to one group of the buffaloes. Perithi is near Gudalur, and in the prayer of Anto (see p. [225]), there is a reference to a ti dairy at this place from which the buffaloes evidently took their name.

At most of the dairies the buffaloes stand together and the two palol occupy the same ti mad, though each has his own dairy; but when one herd, that of the tiir, goes to Òdrtho, the other herd, that of the warsir, goes to another place called Kudreiil. These two places are quite close to one another, but are regarded as separate ti mad. The reason given for this separation was that at one time the warsir did not behave properly at Òdrtho, and Teikirzi ordered that they should not stand there again, but should go to another place. I could not ascertain what the buffaloes did to merit this punishment.

I obtained a full account of the buffaloes of the Nòdrs ti at the time of my visit. There were seven unir; four adult buffaloes, called Kôzi, Perith, Kâsimi, and Uf, and three young buffaloes not yet named; five atir, Persuth, Enmars, Tòthi, and two unnamed; three teirtir, Pülkoth, Köji, and one unnamed. Of kulatir there were four, Köji, Keirev, and two young buffaloes; of perithir five, Kâsimi, Kiûd, Persv, and two unnamed. Thus the ti palol had fifteen persinir, and in addition about thirty punir, while the wars palol had nine persinir and about fifteen punir.

The dairy of the tiir is often called the ti poh, and that of the warsir, the wars poh, and every dairy has also its special name; thus, at Anto the dairy of the tiir is called Medrpoh, and the dairy of the warsir is called Kadpoh or Kadvoh. One of these dairies is of the conical form, but my record does not tell me which. According to Breeks the name of the conical dairy is Kiurzh. This is possibly the same word as Kad(poh), the name of the dairy of the warsir. The two dairies at Mòdr are Pänpoh and Känpoh. The name of the ruined conical dairy near Makurti Peak [[114]]which belonged to the Nòdrs ti was Kateidipoh (Breeks, Katedva).