The Ordination of the Palol
In accordance with the fact that the palol belongs to the highest and most sacred grade of the dairy-priesthood, we find that the ceremonies preceding his entrance upon office are far more elaborate and prolonged than for the minor grades.
In order that a Teivali man may become a candidate for the office of palol he must first have gone through a preliminary qualifying ceremony called tesherst. When the office of palol becomes vacant, the people of the clan to which the ti belongs are restricted in their choice to those men who have been through this ceremony. When one of these qualified men has been selected, he then goes through the proper ordination ceremonies, known as niròditi.
In the case of a palol of the Nòdrs ti, the niròditi ceremonies are performed partly at Nòdrs, partly at Òdr, one of the most sacred villages of the Nòdrs clan, and finally at the ti mad where he is to hold office. [[154]]
The Tesherst Ceremony
This qualifying ceremony for the office of palol is always performed by a number of men at the same time. The number taking part must be three, five, seven or nine. There seemed to be no doubt that it was not permissible for four, six or eight men to perform the ceremony together. One or two Todas told me that an even number of men might do the ceremony, but all the more trustworthy witnesses were agreed that there must be an uneven number, and on all the occasions of which I could obtain records of actual ceremonies, an uneven number of men had done tesherst together. The ceremony may not be performed while the funeral ceremonies of any Teivali person are uncompleted.
At the time of my visit there were only nine or ten men who had been through the tesherst ceremony, including those who were holding or had held the office of palol. It was proposed that a number of the younger men should perform the ceremony about this time, but it had to be delayed till the second funeral ceremonies of two Teivali women had been held.
The tesherst ceremony always begins on a Monday after the new moon. It takes place at certain villages where people are living, and in all the cases of which I obtained records it had been done at Kudrnakhum, belonging to the Nòdrsol, or at Pushtar, belonging to the Taradrol. People must be living at the village at the time the ceremony is performed.