Note 20 — Chapter II · THE TODA PEOPLE

Previous accounts of the Toda gods have been very erratic. Some writers have given the names of Hindu gods. Breeks gives the names of dairies as those of gods, though he also records abbreviated versions of several of the stories given in this chapter. The most curious account, however, of the Toda gods is that of Marshall, who gives20 the following as the names of five gods which are muttered when milk is put on the sacred bells:—Ânmungâno, Godingâtho, Beligoshu, Dekulâria, and Kazudâva. We puzzled over these words for a long time, and could not discover the names of gods even remotely resembling them. Finally it became clear that the last was “kars ud âva” (“Give me one rupee”). Similarly there was little doubt that “Beligoshu, Dekulâria” stood for “beli karsu tudkersia” (“Will you not give me a silver coin?”), the Badaga equivalent of the last word being very much like Dekulâria. The first two names we could not identify with certainty, but the first is possibly “en mûn gânei” (“Do not see my face”), and the second is possibly the name of a Badaga buffalo-pen.