Note 2 — Chapter XVI · FUNERAL CEREMONIES—continued

The Badagas of the Nilgiris let loose a calf at a funeral to bear the sins of the deceased.2 It is possible that the calf in this Toda ceremony may have the same significance. If so, the practice has not improbably been borrowed, and the fact that the bell which is hung on the neck of the calf is kept by Kotas or Badagas suggests that the whole incident may have been borrowed by the Todas from one or other of these races.