himself with his buffaloes and his Tirieri or dairy-temple. The Boath
or Boa often called the Toda Cathedral is again a subject for speculation.
Some writers have thought that the Boaths were built by the extinct race.
Through centuries of pastoral life the Toda has forgotten his own history.
The Toda village is called a mand. The
name itself means a herd or a cattle-pen (Tamil, Manthai). It is usually
a collection of three huts....
The Tirieri is the sum and substance of
Toda life. It is also called palchi. It is managed by the Palals........
The Palal is assisted by Kaltamaks, boys
between eight and ten years of age.....Inside the Tiriery the Kaltamak
must go naked except in his own apartment. Kaltamak means watching
son (Kkkum maga.
The Toda is the aristocrat of the Blue
Mountains. .... It is not certain when the tribe first appeared on the
Nilgiris
``......The tud tree (Meliosma simplicifolia)
is the sacred tree of this tribe and important for almost everything.
The Toda calls himself actually Tuda and the Tamils call him Tudavan.
The Todas claim they were the first on the Nilgiri soil.
Butter
and ghee is what they depend on. They are strictly vegetarian. But, a
certain ritual performed in the seventh month of pregnancy indicates an
earlier stage when the tribe must have carried arms.
They (the Todas) call God by the Tamil
name Kadavul ............They conceive of a heaven which they call Amnad.......
..........The Palals and Kaltamaks come
from the Peik clean who seem to be superior to others. The Peikis are
called Tertals-trttl
or trnda
(superior) and the rest are called Tartal-tarttl
or tnda
(inferior)1
The Tda numerals
from one to ten are enough to show, that the Tda
language is only a corrupt form of Tamil and not a primitive dialect.
The numerals are: odd, edd, md, nnk,
tsh
1.R.A.T.pp.120-4
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