The neutrality of this article is disputed. This article is largely based on text from the out-of-copyright 11th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, which was produced in the U.K. in 1911, and it may express a worldview specific to that time and place and/or an unbalanced critical assessment. It needs editing to bring it up to date and to put it in compliance with Wikipedia's neutral point of view policy.
A Toda. Photograph from 1913 The Toda people are a small pastoral tribe of Southern India who reside in the Nilgiri Hills. The Toda number less than 1,400 and are an isolated people who speak Toda, a Dravidian language. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Encyclopædia Britannica, the 11th edition The 11th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ...
UK redirects here. ...
Year 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ...
Image File history File links Toda. ...
Image File history File links Toda. ...
Titians The Pastoral Concert Pastoral refers to the lifestyle of shepherds and pastoralists, moving livestock around larger areas of land according to seasons and availability of water and feed. ...
A teapicker at work in the Nilgiris Nigiris Hills It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into The Nilgiris District. ...
Toda is a Dravidian language well known for its many fricatives and trills. ...
The Dravidian family of languages includes approximately 73 languages[1] that are mainly spoken in southern India and northeastern Sri Lanka, as well as certain areas in Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and eastern and central India, as well as in parts of Afghanistan and Iran, and overseas in other countries such...
Culture and society
 The hut of a Toda Tribe of Nilgiris, India. Note the art at the front wall, and the unusually very small door. The huts, of an oval, pent-shaped construction, are usually 10 feet (3 m) high, 18 feet (5.5 m) long and 9 feet (2.7 m) wide. They are built of bamboo fastened with rattan and thatched. Over this Each hut is enclosed within a wall of loose stones. The front and back of the hut is usually made of dressed stones (mostly granite). Hut has only a tiny entrance at the front – about 3 feet (90 cm) wide, 3 feet (90 cm) tall. This unusually small entrance is a means of protection from the wild animals. The front portion of the hut is decorated with the Toda art forms, a kind of rock mural painting. The Toda dress consists of a single piece of cloth, which is worn like the plaid of a Scottish highlander. Their sole occupation is cattle-herding and dairy-work. They practice fraternal polyandry, a practice in which a woman marries all the brothers of a family. The ratio of females to males is about three to five. The Toda are most closely related to the Kota both ethnically and linguistically. The Todas worship their dairy-buffaloes, but they have a whole pantheon of other gods. The only purely religious ceremony they have is Kona Shastra, the annual sacrifice of a male buffalo calf. Toda villages, called munds, usually consist of five buildings or huts, three of which are used as dwellings, one as a dairy and the other as a shelter for the calves at night. The inhabitants of a mund are generally related and consider themselves one family. The Todas numbered 807 in 1901 and their current population stands at around 1,100. See W. H. R. Rivers, The Todas (1906). Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1280x960, 648 KB) The hut of a Toda Tribe of Nilgiris, India. ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1280x960, 648 KB) The hut of a Toda Tribe of Nilgiris, India. ...
Adelphogamy (from the Greek adelphos - brother), or fraternal polyandry, is a form of marriage in which two or more brothers share one wife or more. ...
The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ...
Photograph of W.H.R. Rivers William Halse Rivers Rivers (March 12, 1864 - 4 June 1922) was an English anthropologist and psychiatrist, best known for his work with shell-shocked soldiers during World War I. Rivers most famous patient was the poet Siegfried Sassoon. ...
Contemporary Toda Culture While many of the Todas still only speak their native languages and worship the water buffalo, they are not untouched by Western Culture. American and European tourists can spend a day in a Toda village. The Rough Guide to South India mentions outfitters that will take tourists to a Toda Village in the Nilgiri Hills, this is usually via the town of Ootacamund, another tourist area and summer vacation spot for wealthy Indians. Usually some members of the town speak English and most wear western clothes. They do still practice polyandry (citation needed). For the controversy at the University of Pennsylvania, see Water buffalo incident. ...
Ooty , short for Ootacamund (the official name is Udhagamandalam, sometimes abbreviated to Udhagai), is a city, a municipality and the district capital of The Nilgiris district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. ...
In social anthropology and sociobiology, polyandry (Greek: poly- many, andros- man) means a female forming a sexual union with more than one male. ...
History The origin of the Todas is not very clear. They are one of the original tribes inhabiting the highest regions of the Nilgiris mountain range and have remained secluded for a very long time. Map of The Nilgiris district The Nilgiris or Blue Mountains, often called The Queen of Hills are a range of mountains and a district in the south-Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. ...
Around 1823, the then collector of Coimbatore John Sullivan took a fancy to their land and bought it from them for a mere one rupee. He established a town at the place named Udagamandalam on this land. The interaction with western civilisation caused many changes in the lifestyle of the Todas. , Coimbatore (Tamil: ), also known as Kovai (Tamil: ), is a major industrial city in India. ...
Ooty , short for Ootacamund (the official name is Udhagamandalam, sometimes abbreviated to Udhagai), is a city, a municipality and the district capital of The Nilgiris district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. ...
Religion
 A Toda temple in Muthunadu Mund near Ooty, India. According to the Todas, the goddess Teikirshy and her brother first created the sacred buffalo and then the first Toda man. The first Toda woman was created from the right rib of the first Toda man. The Toda religion also forbids them from walking across bridges, rivers must be crossed on foot, or swimming. ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x768, 201 KB) Summary A Toda temple on Muthunadu Mund near Ooty, India. ...
ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x768, 201 KB) Summary A Toda temple on Muthunadu Mund near Ooty, India. ...
Curiously, while the Todas revere the Pandavas they do not believe in the rest of the Hindu mythology. In the Mahabharata, the Pandava are the five acknowledged sons of Pandu, by his two wives Kunti and Madri. ...
Toda temples are constructed in a circular pit lined with stones and are quite similar in appearance and construction to Toda huts.
From Frazer's Golden Bough, 1922:
| “ | Among the Todas of Southern India the holy milkman, who acts as priest of the sacred dairy, is subject to a variety of irksome and burdensome restrictions during the whole time of his incumbency, which may last many years. Thus he must live at the sacred dairy and may never visit his home or any ordinary village. He must be celibate; if he is married he must leave his wife. On no account may any ordinary person touch the holy milkman or the holy dairy; such a touch would so defile his holiness that he would forfeit his office. It is only on two days a week, namely Mondays and Thursdays, that a mere layman may even approach the milkman; on other days if he has any business with him, he must stand at a distance (some say a quarter of a mile) and shout his message across the intervening space. Further, the holy milkman never cuts his hair or pares his nails so long as he holds office; he never crosses a river by a bridge, but wades through a ford and only certain fords; if a death occurs in his clan, he may not attend any of the funeral ceremonies, unless he first resigns his office and descends from the exalted rank of milkman to that of a mere common mortal. Indeed it appears that in old days he had to resign the seals, or rather the pails, of office whenever any member of his clan departed this life. However, these heavy restraints are laid in their entirety only on milkmen of the very highest class. | ” |
Language The Toda language is a Dravidian language. It does not have a script. Toda is a Dravidian language well known for its many fricatives and trills. ...
The Dravidian family of languages includes approximately 73 languages[1] that are mainly spoken in southern India and northeastern Sri Lanka, as well as certain areas in Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and eastern and central India, as well as in parts of Afghanistan and Iran, and overseas in other countries such...
Culture The Todas used to be polyandrous but are increasingly becoming monogamous. Toda women are usually quite skilled in embroidery and their work usually features red and black patterns on white cloth. In social anthropology and sociobiology, polyandry (Greek: poly many, andros man) means a female forming a stable sexual union with more than one male. ...
In monogamy (Greek: monos = single/only and gamos = marriage) a person has only one spouse at a time (as opposed to polygamy). ...
Lifestyle
The constructional details of a Toda hut. Thicker bamboo canes are arched to give the hut its basic pent shape. Thinner bamboo canes are tied close and parallel to each other over this frame. Dried grass is stacked over this as thatch. The Todas live in small villages called munds. The forced interaction with civilisation has caused a lot of changes in the lifestyle of the Todas. The Todas used to be a pastoral people but are now increasingly venturing into agriculture and other occupations. They used to be strict vegetarians but some can be now be seen eating non-vegetarian food. They used to be polyandrous but are now becoming increasingly monogamous. Many of them have abandoned their traditional distinctive huts for concrete houses. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1139x948, 531 KB) created by Pratheepps I, the creator of this work, hereby grant the permission to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1. ...
Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1139x948, 531 KB) created by Pratheepps I, the creator of this work, hereby grant the permission to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1. ...
External links - Ooty.com - Todas — A short introduction to the Todas.
- Frontlineonnet.com - Todas — The Truth about the Todas.
- THE TODAS, W.H.R. RIVERS., ANTHROPOLOGICAL PUBLICATIONS, Oosterhout N.B. The Netherlands 1909
- A population genetic study of the Kota in the Nilgiri Hills, South India
- Oral Poets of South India: The Todas, M.B. Emeneau, Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 71, No. 281, Traditional India: Structure and Change (Jul.-Sep., 1958), pp. 312-324
- Ethnologue: Toda, A language of India
References - This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
|
Feeds |
Contact