THE TODA: INDIA

The Toda people are a small tribal

community who live far away from Nilgiri
plateau in the hill country of Southern India.
TheToda peopledesignates a small
pastoral community that live on the isolated
Nilgiri plateauof SouthernIndia. Prior to the
late eighteenth century, the Toda coexisted
locally with other communities, including the
Badaga, Kota, and Kurumba, in a loosecaste-
like community organization.
 They reside in small Toda Huts also
referred to as Todas Hamlets. These
structures, set at a distance of
around 5.6 km from the mainland of
Ooty, are an original representation
of Toda community still in existence.
 culture
They were part of a cattle-herding
tradition that was once vibrant in south
India.
These places were alsoprobably the
ceremonial gathering spots for the cattle
herders. Maybe some two thousands
yearsago, one group, it seems, settled
more or less permanently on the Nilgiri
Plateau and the reason isnot too hard to
fathom.
 Over the centuries, the Toda came to rely
heavily upon the buffalo for their livelihood.
They created religious and social values
around the buffalo, including their origin myth.
The first sacred buffalo had been created by
the gods before the first Toda man and woman.
Kona Shastra, the annual sacrifice of a male
buffalo constitutes their central religious
ceremony. The person who tends the holy
sacred buffalo, the divine milkman, has the
highest position in Toda society.
 society
The Toda traditionally live in settlements
consisting of three to seven small thatched
houses, constructed in the shape of half-barrels
and spread across the slopes of the pasture. [2]
They traditionally trade dairy products with their
Nilgiri neighbors.[2]Toda religion centers on the
buffalo; consequently, they perform rituals for all
dairy activities as well as for the ordination of
dairymen-priests. The religious and funerary rites
provide the social context in which the Toda
compose and chant complex poetic songs about
the cult of the buffalo.
 The area, though very remote, has a
unique climactic ecosystem. It is likean
island of cool breezes surrounded on all
sides by steamy heat.
Despite living in one region, theToda
engaged their animals in a yearly
migration to the nearby rivers in summer,
an event that isdirectly tied up to the
ritual requirements for purity and
rejuvenation.
 architecture
The Toda do not build barns, but elaborate milking houses that
are at the conceptual center of their villages, called munds,
that are inhabited during the dry season. A typical settlement
mightcomprise up to five dwellings, one to three dairy
buildings, and various pens, called hundi, for theanimals. The
dwellings are usually built close together and are often aligned
in a row. The houses,called arsh, are rectangular in plan with a
barrel-vaulted roof that reaches down to the ground.Sturdy
bamboo poles, about eleven, are placed on the front and rear
facades and span the entirelength of the house. The top-most
beam, mohul podh, is significantly larger than the rest.
Theseare held in place by arches made of split bamboo and
rattan, a vine-like plant. Horizontally placedpoles are then
used to close the frame and serve as the support of the thatch.
The curious structure does not have windows and the semi
barrel shape huts are so small that people need to bend
over to enter from the main door.
Each hut has only a tiny entrance at the frontabout 3 feet
(90 cm) wide, 3 feet (90 cm) tall. The unusually small
entrance serves as a means of protection from the weather
as well as the sudden attack of wild animals.
The front portion of the hut is decorated with the Toda art
forms, a kind of rock mural painting. On each side of the
doorway is a raised platform, equivalent to a verandah or
thinna(builtin-seat), a semi-private area where people sit
and talk.
Dwelling unit or hut is called arsh. All Arsh units have similar
internal layouts and dimensions.
The shape is curvi-linear (rainbow) and always facing East
The total width of a hut visited measured around 4.2 m., height
3.3 m. and depth ranging from 4.5 m to 6.0 m. The arch shape is
maintained by the two opposite walls on either end of the hut with
wooden planks erected in ground, fixed with mud mortar.
The doors are small measuring about 60 cms in width and under 1
m in height. The reason is largely to keep large mammals out.
The locals shared that the design kept the dwelling warm in winter
and cool in summers.
Internally on one side was the kitchen and on the other side was
the sleeping area
Shelves were lined with steel utensils
The grass used for the roofing was obtained from upper Bhawani
area.
The cost of maintaining these huts and the reduced availability of
raw materials were the main reasons whey they were having to
think of building brick houses.
An earthen bench about 60 centimeters high runs along the
entire length of the interior and serves as a bed and sitting
area. A hearth is located near the back, opposite the
sleepingplatform. Since there is no chimney, smoke escapes
through the thatch roof. Roughly in thecenter of the house is a
small hole sunk some 15 centimeters into the floor, which
dividesthe interior space into pure and impure areas. Only in
the front section may the householdsmilk be churned to
produce butter and buttermilk; as churning is exclusively a
male task, thefront part of the house is associated with men
folk. The nonritual area, where the hearth islocated, is
associated with women. Pure and impure connotations are also
attached to pathsand waterways
The cattle enclosure, hundi, where the bufi'alo herd will be kept
afl:er the grazing hours of the day, is essentially a circular open
space along the slope of the hill. On the upper parta water tank
will have been scooped out of the slope and at the far end there
is a drainageslit opening to the valley. As in the temple, the
entire space is partially sunken into the slopeto make a leveled
ground for the bufialoes. It is marked with two vertical stone
posts for itsentry.
Toda temples are constructed in a
circular pit lined with stones and are
quite similar in appearance and
construction to Toda huts. Only the priest may enter it. It
The temples called paluvarsh have is used for storage of the
the same shape with slight sacred of buffalo milk.
differences. The other type, called
poovarsh, are cylindrical with a long
conical roof. This is considered more
sacred than paluvarsh as the main
festivals of Toda are conducted here.