Chapter XXVIII: The Clans of the Todas (2)

It is a very picturesque village, shown in Fig. 7, in which there are two dwelling-huts. That shown in the figure is one of the largest and best constructed of existing Toda huts, having been rebuilt recently under the direction of Kijievan (50), who has a special reputation as an architect. It was at this village that a pregnant woman was not allowed to come to the hut, but had to remain at some little distance, and the sacredness of the hut is also shown by the fact that the prayer of this village provides the only instance in which the kwarzam of a hut occurs.

The dairy is situated at some little distance from the huts, quite out of sight of people at the latter. On going from the huts to the dairy a shallow stream flowing over broad flat stones is crossed. This stream is called Keikudr, and is of some ceremonial importance (see p. 307).

The dairy which is called Kilpoh is shown in Figs. 20 and 31, and is a large, well-built structure of the ordinary shape. It is situated within a high wall, which is much thicker than usual, and in front it must be several yards across, so that it is possible to walk about on the top of it. On this wall, on the right hand side, are two old stones (shown in Fig. 31), called neurzülnkars. Close to the dairy there are two ancient and weatherworn stones, shown in Fig. 32, to which the same name is given.

There are six bells in the dairy. Two are kept on the patatmar and are called patatmani, the individual names of the bells being Mudrani and Kerani. The other four are called ertatmani, and are kept on the ertatmar; their individual names are Pongg, Nongg, Pundrths, and Pan.

Kiudr is one of the villages which was said to have been at one time a ti mad. In favour of this is the fact that its dairy is called poh and that there are stones called neurzülnkars which are usually found at a ti mad. The people have also to play a part during the procession of the buffaloes of the Nòdrs ti, and there seems to be little doubt that the village is in some way especially connected with the ti institution, though exactly how is uncertain.

Kiudr is certainly a village especially revered not only by the Kuudrol but by all Todas. It is a sati mad, and any Toda will be believed if he speaks in front of its dairy. Another sign of the sanctity of the dairy is the fact that the ceremony of pilinörtiti may be performed here not only by members of the Kuudr clan, but also by any other Toda.

Molkush. This is a recently established village, little more than a quarter of a mile from Kiudr. The scenes shown in Figs. 16 and 17 were taken at this village. It has no dairy and the milk of the ordinary buffaloes is churned in the dwelling-hut. This village may be regarded as an adjunct to the sacred village of Kiudr, at which the ordinary buffaloes are tended. At the time of my visit the wife of one of the men who usually lived at Kiudr gave birth to a son and the seclusion-hut was at Molkush, and both before and after the birth the woman and those connected with her were living at this village. It seemed as if the restrictions connected with life at Kiudr are avoided by building at a little distance what is technically another village, at which the people live whenever for any reason they are not allowed to live at Kiudr. Its existence seemed to me to be one of the many devices by means of which the Todas keep the letter of the law with the minimum of inconvenience.

Miuni (Marlimand). This is a village of the Kuudrol which is reverenced by all Todas on account of the belief that it was formerly the meeting-place of the gods. It is a very picturesque village, situated near the Marlimand reservoir and has two dairies.

Kwirg is chiefly important as the place at which new pep is made for the Kuudr clan. Its prayer is given on p. 222.

Ars is an uninteresting village near Kuudr.

Peivòrs. This is a village near Paikara. It contains a double house, shown in Fig. 8, and has two dairies, one of which is now used as a calf-house. The second dairy was built when two families were living at the village, and the one dairy was not large enough for both.

Pirsush. This is a kalolmad.

Karia, a village near the Paikara road, from which a modern long house in the Tamil style is to be seen. Behind this are the old dwelling-hut and the dairy. At the time of my visit the new house was unoccupied and the people were living in the old hut.

PIEDR

The people of Piedr derive their special importance from the fact that they provide the palol for the sacred ti of Nòdrs. According to tradition, they had this privilege exclusively at one time; later, they shared it with the Kuudrol, and now they share with the people of Kusharf. They form a fairly large clan, having about twenty-eight male and fourteen female members.

As in the case of the Kuudrol, there was some doubt about the divisions of the clan. There are said to be three kudr, of which the chief men are Teikudr (63), Eisòdr (64), and Nongarsivan (62). If a man of Teikudr’s division has to perform the irnörtiti ceremony, the buffalo goes to Eisòdr’s division, and vice versa. If a man of Nongarsivan’s division performs the ceremony, the buffalo would go to both the other divisions. Thus Nongarsivan’s kudr seems to form an extra division, like that of Tövoniners among the Kuudrol. I did not obtain any explanation of this, but it is probably due to the fact that the people of Nongarsivan’s division live at Kavidi in the Wainad, and are, in consequence, regarded as being outside the regular affairs of the clan. I failed to obtain an account of the pòlm.

The chief village of the clan is now rarely visited. It is in the northern parts of the hills near the Badaga village of Hullatti. I had hoped to have visited it and the neighbouring village of Kusharf, but had not time. Some members of the clan visit the village of Piedr once a year, but I did not learn what was done on the occasion.

Kuudi. This is now one of the chief villages of the clan. It has a modern house, the largest and most highly ornamented Toda dwelling which I saw on the hills.

Tavatkudr is a village of one hut and a dairy. It was this dairy which was burnt during my visit as a consequence of the revelation of ti secrets to me by Kaners, who lived at this village.

Eparskòdr is an ancient village at which the first Toda died (see p. 400). At present the village consists of a dairy only.

Kavidi is situated in the Wainad, not far from Gudalur. I did not visit it, but, so far as I could gather, it contained no object of interest and there was no evidence that it was an ancient settlement.

The clan has several funeral places, partly owing to the fact that the Kavidi people are at too great a distance from the top of the hills to hold the etvainolkedr in the ordinary funeral place. The Kavidi people, therefore, have two special funeral places, called Sudvaili for males and Mòmanothi for females. The second funeral, or marvainolkedr, was, however, held at the regular places of Meroln and Pamarkol.

A disused village in the Wainad is called Potvaili. The termination vaili of this village and of the male funeral place only occurs here, and is probably borrowed from some other language, possibly from the Kurumbas.

One abandoned village of this clan, Nongarsi, seems to have been situated near Ootacamund. Its Badaga name is Kettarimand, and it is possibly one of the villages mentioned by Harkness.

KUSHARF

The people of this clan are called indifferently Kusharfol or Umgasol. There seemed to be no doubt that Kusharf is the chief village, but, like Piedr, it is little used, and Umgas is coming to be regarded as the etudmad.

The Kusharfol seem to be in some way related to the Piedrol. They share with the latter the privilege of providing the palol for the Nòdrs ti, and the two clans are not allowed to intermarry. They have the same nòdrodchi, Teipakh, and it seems possible that they were originally two sub-divisions of one clan.

At present the Kusharfol are not numerous, having only about thirteen male and thirteen female representatives. They have two kudr, headed by Nòdrners and Ongudr, each of which has two pòlm. The chief men of the pòlm of one kudr are Ongudr (65) and Pangudr (66); of the other, Nòdrners and Erkhud (67).

The chief village of Kusharf is near Hullatti, and, like the neighbouring Piedr, is rarely visited.

Umgas. This is at present the most important village of the clan; it is shown in Fig. 72. There are two large dwelling-huts shown on the right-hand side of the figure. The building to the left of them is the chief dairy, which is called Kwotòdrvoh. It is a poh and not a pali, though of the ordinary form, and is exceptional in being situated so near the dwelling-huts. The pali is situated still more to the left, hidden by trees.

The two tall stones in the foreground are called nadrkkars. They serve as irnörtkars and also mark out the path by which women must go on their way to the huts, the women having to keep on the right-hand side of these stones. By the wall of the huts and close to the poh there are two stones, the majvatitthkars, at which women stand when they receive buttermilk (maj) from the dairy. About fifteen yards in front of the other dairy (pali) there is a stone called imudrikars. On one side of this there is a narrow well-worn track along which women must go on their way to the dairy, and nearer the pali there are two majvatitthkars, where they stand when receiving buttermilk.

Between the poh and the pali there is the tu and at the far end of this is a large stone, the muütthkars, marking the spot where the mu is buried.

Teidr is not far from Nòdrs. It has two huts and a dairy. The teidrtolkars of Nòdrs takes its name from this village, the wursol who gave the name to the stone being a Teidr man.

Teidr is one of the villages which is said to have been formerly a ti mad, and in support of the statement I was taken to see two stones called neurzülnkars at some little distance from the village.

Pòln is close to the tree known in Ootacamund as “the umbrella tree.” There are two huts and a dairy, which was in ruins at the time of my visit. Under the “umbrella tree” there are two stones. One of these has been overgrown by the tree so that it is now firmly imbedded. It is called Korateu and is said to have been thrown by Korateu from his hill. The other stone is deeply imbedded and only shows three small projections above the ground. This is the Nòtirzikars and was thrown to this spot by the goddess Nòtirzi from her hill.

In a wood near at hand overgrown by trees, there is another stone called Känkars, marking the spot where the pasthir were killed at the funeral place which formerly existed here.

KEADR

This clan had at one time the privilege of supplying the palol to the Pan ti, but its numbers are now small, and the palol of this ti at present belongs to the Piedrol. There are now only eleven males and ten females belonging to the clan.

Till recently there was a branch of the clan called Kwaradrol, taking their name from the village of Kwaradr. According to some, the Kwaradrol were a separate clan, but there seemed to be little doubt that they were part of the Keadrol and formed one kudr of the clan. The division only became extinct in the male line a few years ago, and the genealogical record of the family is given in Table 70.

The head man of the other kudr is Perner (68), and this division has three pòlm, two of which are headed by Perner and Pichievan (69), while the third has only three young boys, Karem (69) and his brothers, as members. Since the Kwaradrol died out, the clan has only had one kudr, but during my visit it was decided that a new kudr should be formed, and the pòlm of Karem was made the new division, so that in future the Keadrol will have one kudr consisting ofone pòlm, and another of two pòlm. It was said that the original partition of the clan into Keadrol and Kwaradrol was due to Kwoten, who established the two divisions in order that there should be someone to take the place of a palol who left on account of a funeral in his clan.

Keadr. This, the chief village of the clan, is situated near Keradr. I was unable to visit it, and have no record of any features of interest it may possess.

Kwaradr, the village from which one division took its name, is near Avalanche, and is now falling into ruins owing to the dying out of the family which occupied it.

Pekhòdr is called by the Badagas Osamand, or “new village,” and has only been in existence about ten years.

Kapthòri is now in ruins, but is mentioned in the story of Kwoten.

PEDRKARS

This clan is an offshoot of the Kuudrol, from which it has now for a long time been separated. The division arose out of a quarrel at a council which was once being held at Kuudr. [264] There were three parties in the naim, each wishing that a different ceremony should be performed. One party wished to give salt to the buffaloes, a second wanted to sacrifice a calf (erkumptthpimi), and a third were in favour of moving to another village (irskidthtothi). The three parties could not agree, and it was finally decided that those who wished to do irskidthtothi should separate from the rest. They did so and went to live near Kwòdrdoni, and have since been a separate clan, now known as the Pedrkarsol. The people who wished to do erkumptthpimi were the ancestors of Tövoniners, and it is in consequence of this quarrel that this family occupies its anomalous position and has no place at Kuudr.

At the same time the people of Pedrkars lost the privilege of being palol or wursol, but they may become eligible by performing the irnörtiti ceremony at Kuudr or Kiudr.

For some time after the separation intermarriage was not allowed between Kuudr and Pedrkars, but recently such marriages have taken place, and several are recorded in the genealogies.

There are very few members of the clan, only seven males and five females. At present there is only one kudr and this has only one pòlm. Formerly there were two kudr, but one became extinct some time ago.

About three generations ago there was a quarrel between the people of Pedrkars and those of Piedr. A man of Pedrkars named Kavanadi had married a woman of Piedr and one day quarrelled with his wife’s father. At Piedr there were at the entrance of the buffalo-pen two large wooden posts (tüli). After the quarrel Kavanadi went to Piedr and carried off both the posts with the wooden bars (tasth) by which the opening of the pen is closed. When Kavanadi had carried the posts and bars as far as a place called Kalin, near the Kota village of Tizgudr, a stone on the top of one of the tüli fell down. It may still be seen and is known as Kalinkars. Kavanadi went on, but he soon began to spit blood, and when he had gone some way further, he was obliged to drop the tüli at a place which is now called Tülipudinpem. He managed to reach his home at Pedrkars and then died. A council was held and it was decided that marriage should not be allowed in future between the Piedrol and Pedrkarsol, and no such marriages are recorded in the genealogies.

The stone called Kalinkars which fell by the way is now said to be able to move about and may be seen one day at one spot and on another day at another. The Kotas of Tizgudr have several times taken the stone to their village, but it has always gone back again. In spite of his unfortunate end, Kavanadi is regarded, more or less, as a hero by the Todas and is mentioned in the funeral eulogy of Pidrvan (p. 387).

All the villages of the Pedrkarsol are in the part of the hills near Kwòdrdoni. Pedrkars itself is said to have been at one time a ti mad. Some Tamil people once came to the hills and found some of the buffaloes of the ti standing by a swamp. The Tamils fired at the buffaloes and one was killed. When the palol saw this, he cursed, saying “pedr kars ama, kwòdr nòdr ama!” “may the Tamil stone become; may the ti place an ordinary place become!” Then the people who had killed the buffalo became stones and the buffaloes were taken by the palol to the ti mad of Kakwai. The people who had separated from Kuudr had before this been living at Pongudr, but when the ti mad was deserted they went to live there, and the place was called Pedrkars in consequence of the curse of the palol and the clan has since taken its name from this village.

KULHEM

This clan appears to occupy the same kind of inferior position among the Teivaliol as that taken by the Kidmadol among the Tarthar clans. The Kulhemol are not allowed to sit on the meitün (right-hand side) of a dairy, and they are not allowed to perform the ordination ceremony with tudr bark, which cuts them off from holding the offices of palol, kaltmokh, or wursol.

There was some difference of opinion about the cause of the inferior position of Kulhem. According to one account the people separated from Kuudr at the same time as the Pedrkarsol and for the same reason. According to another account, when Teikirzi was dividing the buffaloes, she left Kulhem till last, intending to give them a good portion. When she was about to give the people of this clan their buffaloes, the invaders came who have been mentioned in the story of Teikirzi (p. 187). After the invaders had been turned to stone, Teikirzi returned to her task of giving buffaloes to Kulhem, but she came to the conclusion that the clan was in some way responsible for the misfortune which had happened, and she gave them no sacred buffaloes and only a few putiir, and she enjoined that they should not be ordained with tudr. It seems, however, that the Kulhemol resemble the Pedrkarsol in becoming eligible for the office of palol if they do irnörtiti to Kuudr.

The chief village, Kulhem or Kulthlem, is near Kanòdrs. The only other village of importance is Konikwòr, near Paikara. At the time of my visit several of the clan were living at a place called Kultu. This is not properly a Toda village, the people living in a hut of the Badaga form near a tea plantation in order to sell the buffalo dung to the planters.

This clan now numbers only six males and three females, all belonging to one family (72). They have neither kudr nor pòlm.