Language:

Bernhard Schmid (1837) regarded the Toda language as a member of the Dravidian family or, more precisely, as a relative of Tamil. Robert Caldwell (1856) in the first edition of ‘A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South Indian family of languages’ accepted this view based on vocabulary and short sentences. Grierson (1903) also endorses this view. Ruckert (1813) holds that Tamil has a remarkable analogy with the Tartar dialect. Shortt (1868) in his book enbodying ‘An Account of tribes on the Nilgiri has recorded as follows: ‘The language of the tribe on the Nilgiris is unmistakably Tamil, although what is now spoken is a mixed dialect being a Jargon of Tamil and Canarese.’ Aiyappan (1948) says that ‘the language of the Toda is connected with Tamil rather than with Kannada.’ Metz (1864), one of the earliest persons to encounter Todas, believes it is a dialect of Canarese. G. U. Pope (1873) says it is a kind of Old Kanarese. He points out the structure of language: "The Tuda language has no compositions, written or unwritten, not a ballad nor a scrap of anything to indicate intellectual activity.” This language, of which but a very scanty fragment remains in use, has more sounds than any other Dravidian dialect, and some of those are peculiar to it, seeming to have been modified by the position and habits of the tribe. The Tuda chiefly converse in the open air, calling each other from one breezy hilltop to another. Their speech sounds like Old Kanarese spoken in the teeth of a gale of wind. The language seems to have been originally Old Kanarese, not a distinct dialect. The Tudas were probably immigrants from the Kanarese Country, and have dwelt on the Nigiris for about 800 years. Their language was Old Kanarese. The Poligars introduced a few Tamil forms. Intercourse with the Badagas has probably modernised some forms and introduced some words. In his second edition (1875), Robert Caldwell quoted and approved this view. The Nilgiri District Manual furnishes this information on Toda speech. The Toda language is not confined to use by Todas alone, as was once thought. It is a dialect of Old Canarese and closely allied to other Dravidian languages of the plains. W. H.R. Rivers (1906), in his monumental work ‘The Todas ', tried to show an affinity between Toda and Malayalam. Dr Oppert believes the Toda is probably more allied to Telugu than any other southern dialect. According to Henry Harkness Toda, language has no affinity with Sanskrit. According to Prince Peter of Greece (1951), it is related to the Sumerian language. This is based on the coincidence he found in the names of gods between the Sumerian and Toda.

Social Organisation:

The organisation of the Toda community is shaped by the relationship between the two Toda divisions, the clans, their different grade of buffaloes and the complex hierarchy of temples that form the Toda dairy complex. This is another context within which the Toda people may be understood, apart from their traditional relationship with other indigenous communities.

The Toda live in settlements known as Mud, a term for the clan. However, it is not restricted to the clan and the settlement. It also comprises the temple complex, funeral sites and activities pertaining to the patrician. The Toda identify themselves with the clan and the village associated with it. Hence, the village is also called Mud. The hamlets are spread across the hills and grasslands of Nilgiris. Most of the hamlets are located on the edge of forests and close to water points. Water requirement for the hamlets and the herds becomes crucial in discovering the hamlets. The huts are shaped in a semi-circle, made with thatch or marsh grass called Avul (Eriochrysis rangacharii) and Kabpul (Puyravaud et al., 2003). The thatch grass was earlier available around the Toda villages and is not eaten by the buffaloes. For the last fifteen to twenty years, they have been travelling sixty kilometres to Korakundah and Upper Bhavani to collect the grass for thatching their huts and temples. The thatch grass has become very rare. Once the temples and huts are built, they last over eighty years with periodic re-thatching. They are thatched using material procured from the environment, like thatch, cane and wooden planks. The cane (Calamus pseudo-tenuis) is also procured from the extreme edges of the Nilgiri plateau (Chabbra 2002). The traditional residential hut structures are replaced by modern houses made using bricks and reinforced concrete cement (RCC) roofs. However, the temples in their traditional form are still retained.

Each settlement has a Toda and a Tamil name. In Tamil, the Toda settlements are called ‘Mund’. The Todas use the Toda name while referring to the village settlements to another Toda. While talking about the settlements to a non-Toda outsider (Pyodar), the Tamil name is used. Toda call their society Jauđi. They refer to themselves as ‘Aul’ people. The word Jauđi is very similar to the Sanskrit word ‘jati,’ used to connote ‘caste’ in Indian society. A Toda identifies another member of his society as Aul jauđi. There are two endogamous divisions, namely Tordarsh Aul and Tevilh Aul, and one belongs to either by birth. Marriage of members between the two divisions is prohibited. The two-part structural division of the Toda plays an essential role in organising the community. Each division plays a significant role in the functioning of the Toda community. Without either of the divisions, the functioning of the Toda community is hindered. The Tordarsh people consider the Tevilh people ritually lower in status. Both divisions have a familiar name with which to address each other. The term ‘Sauthy’ is commonly used to refer to the Auđ of the opposite division. The referring division is the Seemi, and the division is Sauthy. The term Sauthy has functional significance. It is the responsibility of the Sauthy to execute the work pertaining to festivals, marriages, and death rituals for the Seemi. It is the sacred task of the Sauthy to ensure the performance of rituals, which, in turn, provides the

smooth functioning of the Toda community. The concept of Sauthy and Seemi is very fluid, as one of the divisions must occupy a status by performing a prescribed role. The Sauthy and Seemi have fixed roles which they have to perform. The Toda have a mythical legend explaining the origin of these two divisions. According to their legend, thousands of years ago, during the period of Kwattein (a legendary Toda hero), both the divisions lived as only Tordarsh, and no distinction existed between them. A death occurred in one of the villages, and the people belonging to that village observed mourning, while in another town, unaware of this death, the Toda, in their usual jovial mood, were rejoicing, singing, and dancing. The act of one village's people mourning whilst another celebrating drew the attention of Kwattein. He got deeply interested in the behaviour of the Toda people. He noted this behaviour to be unique. He summoned all the clan members and pronounced that the kin of the deceased clan would not carry out any of the death rituals. It becomes the responsibility of the kin of the rejoicing members to perform the death rites of the deceased. This incident divided the Toda into two divisions, the Tordarsh and Tevilh. The kin member of the deceased was called Tordarsh, while the kin members of the rejoicing group were associated with the Tevilh. It is disrespectful for either of the two divisions to refer to each other by their names, i.e., Tordarsh and Tevilh. Mentioning these two names is avoided by the Toda. If a Toda or a non-Toda (Pyodar) identifies a Toda by his division, it may not be liked and may invite conflict. The reference creates tension and a cleavage between the division members. The undercurrent of conflict can be observed during ritual ceremonies and social gatherings. This difference between the two divisions is more evident in the younger generation of Toda. The two divisions are further divided into exogamous patricians. The Tordarsh division comprises ten exogamous patricians, and the Tevilh division shall comprise five exogamous patricians. The Tordarsh division patricians are Kars, Meor, Nors, Thorore, Melgars, Kerore, Karare, Inkuthi, Pirgore and Nirie. The Tevilh division patricians are Omgarsah, Thevak, Kiwore, Mothkare and Kiwut. The divisions are endogamous, while the patricians are exogamous. Every Toda belongs to one of the clans that are patrilineal, from which the Toda trace their lineage. Simultaneously, the Toda trace their lineage through their matrilineal line (Polyual) for marriage. The clan is not merely a social unit; It is also associated with the religious rituals and the economic institutions.

Religion:

The Todas (now numbering about 1,500 people) still retain vibrant beliefs in gods and goddesses, which they say once lived among them but thereafter became mountains; they also tell of ancestors, who were once living Todas but subsequently became divinities. To this day, many Todas can enthusiastically recount the miraculous deeds of these divine ancestors. Beyond such indigenous Toda convictions, many Hindu (and a trace of Islamic) beliefs and/or ritual practices have been absorbed, most of them probably during the past two to three centuries, both from mountain neighbours and surrounding lowland peoples. Christian ideology, promulgated at first by professional, foreign-led missionaries who, with much effort, succeeded in establishing a breakaway Toda Anglican community (now affiliated to the Church of South India), then, more recently – and less formally – by itinerant ethnic Tamil evangelical and charismatic preachers (mostly lay) as well as through Tamil language Christian radio programmes. Notwithstanding the many different and diverse sources of Toda religious ideology, the predominant and most public display of Toda ritual activity still centres on their unique sacred dairying cult – and this despite the decline in the importance of buffaloes in the community’s modern-day economic life.

Most modern-day orthodox (i.e., non-Christian) Todas, would agree concerning the primacy of their Goddess Tö·-kisy, at least during their mortal existence. In this world of living Todas, they would say, Goddess Tö·-kisy is greater than any other of the many gods, goddesses, and demigods they sometimes mention in prayer and whose divine exploits they love to relate. Besides Goddess Tö·kisy and her counterpart ruler of the after world, God Ö·n, the Todas recognise a pantheon of deities unique to their community. The names of several of these gods and goddesses are mentioned quite regularly in formal prayers. At the same time, their attributes and activities are recounted in myths still widely known in the community. Todas maintain that, in the beginning, their gods alone inhabited the Nilgiris, although it seems they conducted their lives and affairs very much like Todas. For example, they say God Ö·n functioned as a poł-o·ł (highest ranking dairyman-priest), while his son Pyu·f served as a (much lower-ranking) poły xarp-o·ł. W.H.H. Rivers admirably describes these Toda high gods as “distinctly anthropomorphic” and living “much the same kind of life as the mortal Todas.” They had their “dairies and … buffaloes … [held] councils and consult[ed] with one another just as do the Todas ….” Moreover, they were “swayed by the same motives and … [they thought] in the same way as the Todas themselves.” Subsequently, after the gods had created Todas, their buffaloes, and their secular and sacred institutions, gods and Todas lived together for some time on the Nilgiris. But the gods acted not as equals but as rulers and managers of their creations. William Noble (1991: 3), borrowing from Australian Aboriginal ethnography, has labelled “the Toda dreamtime,” a usage Tarun Chhabra has subsequently adopted. The deities of this Toda “dreamtime” included many gods and goddesses, most of whom – if we follow Toda mythology – seem to have belonged to a single large family of high gods, whose pater familias was Ö·n, of whom, so it is told, he subsequently become the ruler of the Toda after-world. His spouse is Ti·-ko·n-e·r, who bore him two sons – Pyu·f and Töw-fax – and a daughter, the already oft mentioned Tö·-kisy. She and her husband, Pin-bi·θy, begat at least ten sons, including Peṭ-xoṇ, Kwïṛïṇ döw, Neṣn-gosy, Ö·-söw, Mo·söw, Est-xal-xwïṛ, Tï köṇy, Ni·r-posy, Kïr-töw, and Kora-töw; also, two daughters, Poȥe-fïsn and Pïse-fïsn.

So Todas relates, Ö·n functioned as the chief deity for a time, whom Rivers named Pithy. At any rate, in some versions of the Todas’ creation myth, it was Ö·n who created the Todas and their buffaloes and who ruled over the Nilgiris. The very first of Emeneau’s (1984: 191) collection of Toda texts offer an insight into one Toda man’s attempt to classify the gods of his community. The Toda says (in Emeneau’s translation): “Tö·kisy and the other [high] gods are gods created of themselves [emphasis added].” Following their act of self-creation, these high gods went on to create “in play all the customs,” then, “after creating the Todas, [they] disappeared.” (In this context, “disappeared” means they relinquished their mortal-like condition without leaving behind any physical body for which the performance of funeral rites would have been mandatory.) High gods aside, a second category of deity identified in the exact Toda language text comprises those divine beings who were born as Todas, but seemingly were divine from the start, since they also “creat[ed] in play after the example of Tö·kisy.” Among these demigods Emeneau’s text names Kwa-te·n, Ertn, and Eḷ-ṇo·xm; in fact, there are many more. Kwa-töw, so Toda myth relates, was the son of a Meḷ-ga·s patriclan father and a Ke-rïr patriclan mother. But despite such mundane affiliations, his birth was quite the opposite. Kwa-töw had a mischievous nature, which we saw demonstrated in the story of how he fooled the people of Ka·s patriclan into believing their clansmen Po·nï-ṭa·n had decided to remain in the land of the dead. After some time, the company of gods became frustrated by the antics of Kwa-töw and so called upon one of their number, the God Ko·ra-to·w, son of Goddess Tö·-kisy and tutelary deity of Niṛy patriclan, to throw him over a cliff nearby Niṛy, down to the plains below. But Kwa-töw turned himself into a bird of prey, pulled up a hefty bamboo stem by its roots and used it to beat Ko·ra-to·w’s head, splitting it into three pieces, still to be seen as the three promontories atop Hulikal Droog (1,900 m a. s. l.), known to Todas as “Ko·ra-to·w’s Mountain.” Meanwhile, Kwa-töw returned to his seat near where the gods had assembled. The gods deliberated as to what they should do with this mischief-maker. Finally, they told Kwa-töw that, if he could make the stream called O·l-foy flow uphill, the sun drink of its waters and turn day into night, they would recognise him as being among their company. Kwa-töw met all three challenges, He dammed the O·l-foy with a huge rock, causing it to flow backwards; he caught the sun with a stone chain, compelling it to drink from a stone trough (still to be seen) in the bed of the stream; finally, he led the sun to a pool of water surrounded by trees. Here he tethered it with the stone chain, thereby preventing it from shining on this world or that of the dead. The gods now begged Kwa-töw to restore the sun to its proper place; they recognised not only Kwa-töw’s divinity but acknowledged him as the most powerful amongst them. Kwa-te·n is said to have been a significant innovator of Toda customs. For example, it was he, so it is told, who changed the rules governing interaction between Todas and their Kota and Kurumba neighbours, to permit Todas henceforth (as they are still allowed) to enter and eat inside the Kota village of Kal-goḍy (Kalgas) in the Nilgiri Wynad (all other Kota settlements still being forbidden to them); he also initiated the custom of Todas visiting and dining together with the Alu Kurumba villagers of Po·ny in the Kundahs. And with regards to his patriclan, Mö·ṛ, it was Kwa-te·n who was responsible for separating it into the two divisions that remain today.

The late Kamil Zvelebil (1982: 149), Czech linguist and Dravidianist – also, inter alia, Nilgiri specialist – has written that “the worship of mountains which are gods, seems to be one of the Nilgiri areal features,” for it is found among Todas, Kotas, Kurumbas, and Irulas. It is not surprising, therefore, that Toda commonly label their self-created high gods, also their gods who were born as Todas, and their culture heroes as töw-θiṭ (töw “god;” -θiṭ from tiṭ “mountain/hill”). Tarun Chhabra has identified thirty-four of these “god mountains” or, better translated, “mountains that are gods.” A deity peak (whether an actual hill or not) takes its name (in Toda, of course) from the associated deity. Todas treat their töw-θiṭ with great respect, reverently saluting with bared right arm when they see one.

Within their traditional world, the Todas were solely a pastoral community, whose herds of far-from-docile, long-horned buffaloes not only provided for their economic wellbeing but were also the principal focus of the community’s ritual life. Indeed, so prominent was the Todas’ “buffalo cult,” as Murray Emeneau (1938: 111) labelled it, that to many observers it seemed to eclipse quite thoroughly the cosmographical and theological domains of Toda religion that we have discussed thus far. Indeed, W. H. R. Rivers, the Todas’ premier ethnographer, remarked in his 1906 book (455): “The Todas seem to show us how the over-development of the ritual aspect of religion may lead to atrophy of those ideas and beliefs through which the religion has been built up ….” Indeed, the complexity of the ritual activity with which Todas have embellished every aspect of their sacred dairying and herding procedures is quite without equal on the Indian subcontinent and, probably, anywhere else in the world. Virtually every significant activity associated with the dairy-temples – building or rebuilding a dairy, re-thatching its roof, consecrating a dairyman for it, introducing dairy equipment into the building, lighting the dairy lamp and fire, processing milk into butter and ghee (clarified butter), and distributing the by-product, buttermilk – are highly ritualised acts, as also are the milking of the temple buffaloes, especially the first-milking, the naming of all female buffaloes, giving them salt water to drink at specific times of the year, migrating with them to fresh pastures, burning off degraded pastures to provide them with more succulent fodder, offering them as gifts or in payment of fines, and sacrificing them at funerals.

At this juncture, it is as well to emphasise that it is the dairy-temples – as embodiments of “the gods of the places” – that are the Todas’ principal objects of worship, not their associated buffaloes, as is so often claimed in the popular literature on this community; The principal objectives of the Toda sacred dairy operations are for the dairyman-priest – a man or male youth of greater ritual purity than that of a per o·ł or ordinary male – to milk the temple buffaloes in his charge and to process their milk inside the dairy-temple, producing butter, buttermilk, and ghee. The milk drawn for a dairy is considered sacred, from whatever grade of buffalo it has been drawn. This is a significant datum confirming that it is the dairy-temple for which it has been drawn, rather than the buffalo from which it has been obtained, that sanctifies the milk. Buttermilk and butter, unlike the unprocessed milk, have much less sanctity, while ghee has none. Consequently, it is possible to interpret the entire dairy ritual, though not an indigenous exegesis, as a procedure for diluting the extreme sanctity of the milk so that its final product, ghee, may be consumed by, or traded with, anybody. To operate a dairy-temple, an eligible Toda man (according to the rules of the institution he is to serve and provided he is not suffering from the particular ritual contamination known as icïl) must undergo specific rituals of ordination, which raise his level of purity from that of per-o·ł (lay per son) to one that is commensurate with the sanctity of the dairy-temple he is to serve.

Marriage:

Traditionally, the Toda have been a polyandrous community and practised female infanticide, an institution responsible for the low population among the Toda (Marshall 1873). Polyandry has been replaced by monogamy, and nowadays infanticide is no longer practised. The whole series of cultural events about marriage is called Pirsith Paan. The Pirsith is a strict institution with rules and taboos which dictate the conduct in Toda society. The two divisions, i.e., Tordarsh and Tevilth are endogamous units. Neither of the two divisions can be the givers or the receivers. It is taboo to marry women from the opposite division. There have been deviant cases of this norm. It is regarded as a sin to bring a Sauthy woman as a bride. An act of marrying women from the opposite division brings social sanction upon the wrongdoer. The couple is asked to abandon living in the village. They are thrown out of the Toda society. The couple should not maintain or seek any fellowship with their kin members thereafter. The couple is debarred from attending any rituals, temple ceremonies and events related to Toda society.

Every Toda traces his lineage to a Polyaul, a matrilineal line for marriage. For an alliance to be considered, the matrilineal line of the man is most important. The children receive the polyaul from their mother. The polyaul is passed from one generation to another through the female line. The polyaul is an institution where children trace their lineage to the mother’s lineage. It is the regulator of marriage alliances. Polyaul is a factor that decides permissible marriage. Polyaul acts as a taboo mechanism. It functions on the principle of Polyaul exogamy. In this, a male and a female belonging to a similar polygynous society cannot seek an alliance with each other. The man and woman must belong to different Polyaul. Marriage within the same Polyaul, the Toda believe, brings ill-luck. It is considered a presage of evil for the household. The consequences of such marriages can be ruinous. The mother runs the risk of dying while delivering a child. The children born to parents belonging to the same Polyaul are believed to bring bad luck, have poor health or be born with physical disabilities.

The marriage or “bow and arrow ceremony” is called Pirsith. It is called so because the bow and arrow are made using a plant called Pirsith mayne, which the bridegroom-to-be gives to the Tozmokh during the marriage ceremony. The symbol relates to the Indian epic, the Mahabharata. The Pandavas, the protagonists of the epic, fought battles using bows and arrows. When the woman becomes pregnant, one of the brothers or kin members presents the bow and arrow to the woman. Before this, the relationship between a man and a woman was considered different. Once the pregnant woman accepts the bow and arrow, the Pirsith giver becomes the symbolic father of the child. The Pirsith giver agrees to take up the responsibility of taking care of the child. The Pirsith can be given to a woman in her third, fifth or seventh month of pregnancy. The date of the Pirsith ceremony is fixed by the mud aid (clan people). The clan members dress up nicely in clean clothes, as it is an essential function. The meeting is held in the bridegroom’s (Pirsith giver’s) parents’ house as they follow a patrilocal residence pattern. The couple stay in the bridegroom’s parents’ house until the Pirsith ceremony. Afterwards, they may follow a virilocal residence pattern, staying separate from their parents. The ‘Pirsith’ is a grand ceremony for men and women. It gives the first experience for a man who is socially accepted as the father of the unborn child. Pirsith is the only ritual which pronounces the legal father of the child-to-be born socially. A man’s wife-to-be is already decided when he is very young. Nichyam, confirming the alliance, is done by the elderly members from both families. The boy’s parents informally select a date for visiting the girl’s parents. The date is decided when both meet somewhere in the Ooty market. On the decided day and date, the boy, his father, and a few other clan members arrive at the girl’s house. The nichyam is not a very elaborate ceremony. On arrival, the elders from the boy’s side explain the purpose of their visit. Usually, women from the boy’s family do not accompany the men to the girl’s house. The acceptance of the pair is marked by touching the feet to receive blessings (Kaul Kothie). The ‘couple to be’ prostrates in front of the elders from both families. Their heads face downwards, while the elder men lift their left toes and place them on the head of the couple one after the other.

After the celebration, the boy’s side leaves the girl’s ‘mud’ (village). The boy and girl are now tied in a ritual knot, and either the boy or the girl can terminate or break the alliance. This can be done only until the Pirsith (Bow and Arrow) ceremony occurs. Walking out of the relationship is difficult once Pirsith is given to a girl who accepts it. The traditional council (noyam) deals with divorce cases and other disputes. However, divorces are rare in Toda society. The Tozmokh (wife) is brought to her-to-be husband’s house after she attains puberty. The boy can get the Tozmokh home whenever he thinks convenient, after she has attained the age of puberty. The Tozmokh starts visiting and staying in the to-be husband’s house after age thirteen. The Tozmokh would have shuttled between her and her husband’s home several times before Pirsith.

The Tozmokh is taken to each household to meet the other members. Often, all the village folk congregate in the groom’s house to look at the new bride. Men and women perform the Odith (Toda Dance) accompanied by Toda songs (Nagqitsh). The Odith and Nagqitsh are performed

together during happy occasions. The Toda add flavour to the celebration by singing a few non-Toda songs and performing Badaga dances. The relationship between a man and a woman before the Pirsith ceremony is like a live-in relationship. The Toda give social consent for a man and a woman to live together. By doing so, the ties attain a legal status in the Toda community. The couple living together enjoy much freedom as their relationship is flexible. They visit Ooty town, watch a movie, eat in a restaurant, and spend time together. In some cases, the men present gifts to their partners.

The relationship is enjoyed till it lasts. Love relationships are common amongst young Toda. A young Toda man enjoys talking about his love life to his friends. Not all live-in relationships survive to experience the Pirsith ceremony. They break in between. When unhappy with the woman he has been staying with, a man can leave her. The woman has the same choice. After the marriage, a man can leave his wife on account of her not working, or on account of her behaviour, but cannot divorce her on the grounds of adultery. During the tenure of the live-in relationship, a man can take away another man’s partner. This can happen when a woman is willing to leave her partner for another man. When a man takes another man’s partner, he gives a gift. The noyam decides the gift, and in most cases, the gift is a prescribed number of buffalo.

Dress and Ornaments:

The garments worn by Toda men are three in number: the [kutu: n] or perineal cloth, the [torp] or waistcloth, and the [pu:txulj] or cloak. Women wear the latter two. Men wear the [torp] by carrying one of the long edges completely round the waist and tucking the end of this edge at the left side, letting the garment fall straight to the knee. The garment is adjusted to fall only as far as the knees by folding over enough material at the top before carrying it around the waist. Women wear the [torp] by passing it in the same way around the body under the armpits. Children until puberty wear only a [torp], draping it as their elders do. The garments' material is khaddar, a rather heavy, somewhat coarse, hand-woven cotton material, almost white in colour. It is made to order for the Nilgiri tribes by Chettis in Coimbatore and Satimangalam, and probably other towns in the plains on the Tamilian side of the Nilgiris, and is brought up to the hills by Chetti middlemen. Both types of cloth, for the [torp] and the [pu:txulj], have colored stripes woven in. Perhaps the most striking feature of Toda clothes is the embroidery done by the Toda women. Most cloaks that are seen have a small amount of needlework on them. The best and most elaborately worked specimens however are worn by men and women of some importance and affluence, as well as at festive gatherings, including funerals, by all who are fortunate enough to possess them, and elaborate specimens are kept stored away by elderly people to be put on their bodies when they are dead. The most elaborate specimens of [torp] are now kept for this latter purpose. It must be noted that the [torp] ordinarily worn, that of machine-made cotton, usually has no embroidery on it, except sometimes a simple edging.

Food and Drinks:

The food frequency pattern of the selected Toda tribes, an indigenous community from the Nilgiri Hills of southern India, is influenced by their pastoral lifestyle and agricultural practices. The Toda people have a unique and culturally distinct diet. Toda people’s diet revolves primarily around milk and rice, with vegetables contributing less frequently but still playing an important role. Wild foods, forest products, and seasonal fruits add variety to their diet. This indicates that their diet includes a substantial number of plant-based foods. While dairy and plant-based foods form the core of the Toda diet, they are not strict vegetarians and consume meat less frequently and mainly for ceremonial purposes. Rice became a staple cereal for all Todas, especially recently, due to its widespread cultivation and easy availability. Wheat was consumed twice to thrice a week, typically in rotis, upma, or porridge. Finger millet was included in their diet once or twice a month. he consumption of dairy products among the Toda tribe reflected a firm reliance on milk and its by-products, which were an essential part of their traditional diet. The data suggested varying consumption levels for dairy items, as discussed here. Milk was a central component of the Toda diet, with all 352 selected Toda tribes consuming it daily. This emphasised milk’s critical role as a primary source of nutrition, providing essential proteins, fats, and vitamins. Milk from cows or buffaloes was likely consumed directly and used to produce other dairy products, integral to the tribe’s food practices. Curd was another daily Toda diet staple consumed by all the selected tribes. The high consumption of curd highlighted its cultural and nutritional significance in their daily routine. Buttermilk, butter, and ghee, made from the liquid left after churning curd, were consumed twice a month by all the selected Toda tribes. Interestingly, cheese was not part of the Toda tribe's diet. Paneer, a fresh cheese made from curd, was also not consumed by the Toda tribes. The Toda people did not traditionally prepare paneer; instead, they preferred other dairy products like curd or ghee, which were more integral to their dietary and cultural practices. In Premagowri Balakrishnan’s article “Traditional to Modern: Food consumption Pattern Shifts in the Toda Tribal Community”, we find that as per the survey eggs, fish, crab, poultry, and mutton were preferred by only 11% of the Toda tribe, with these individuals likely consuming them on an occasional basis. The remaining 89% did not consume these items, as they were not staple foods for the Toda people. Cultural and religious preferences influenced the consumption of non-vegetarian items. The entire selected Toda tribe (100%) abstained from consuming beef due to religious, cultural, and ethical reasons, as certain tribes or communities prohibit beef consumption, particularly in regions where cows are revered or hold cultural significance. None of the selected Toda tribes consumed non-vegetarian items such as pork, rats, mice, cats, rabbits, snails, squirrels, or crabs. This reflected cultural taboos and dietary preferences that excluded such animals from their regular or occasional food sources. The Toda tribe’s diet was primarily based on the natural resources available in the Nilgiri Hills, including fruits, dairy products, grains, and tubers. The Toda people regularly consumed plums, mulberries, pears, and wild mangoes due to their regional abundance and nutritional benefits. These fruits were staples in the diet of many Toda families, indicating their frequent inclusion in daily meals. In contrast, fruits like pineapples, oranges, avocados, figs, guava, papaya, sapota, custard apple, apples, grapes, and pomegranate were more seasonal and consumed less frequently, typically during certain times of the year when they were in season. This occasional intake suggested that these fruits were enjoyed during specific periods. Bananas, being versatile and easily accessible, were consumed frequently in the Toda diet. Balakrishnan further writes that all the Toda people commonly consumed green leafy vegetables such as Malabar spinach (Basella or puisaag), creeping wood sorrel, amaranthus, palak, and cabbage twice a week. Depending on availability, other greens like manathakali, Ponnaganni, Drumstick leaves, and Agathi were eaten once or twice a month.

In the misty folds of the Nilgiri hills, the Toda tribe has woven a delicate fabric of existence, their lives a testament to the intricate dance between tradition and the whispers of modernity. Their social system, a complex web of kinship and clan affiliations, binds them to the land and to each other with ties of mutual obligation and reverence. In their religion, the sacred buffaloes are more than mere beasts of burden – they are vessels of the divine, their hum a constant reminder of the sacredness that permeates every aspect of Toda life. The Todas' relationship with nature is one of profound intimacy, their food habits a reflection of the land's bounty. The Todas' diet is simple, yet rich in meaning, with dairy products playing a central role in their culinary traditions. Their dress, a testament to their artistry, is a symphony of embroidered cloaks and headdresses, each thread a narrative of their history and mythology. As the Toda tribe navigates the complexities of the modern world, their cultural heritage stands as a poignant reminder of the beauty and fragility of traditional ways of life. Theirs is a world where the sacred and the mundane are inextricably linked, where every action is imbued with a deep sense of reverence and respect for the land and its rhythm.