160 PRIMITIVE PATERNITY 



of his inquiries as to the sexual relations of the Todas, 

 says : " There seems no doubt that there is little 

 restriction of any kind on sexual intercourse. I was 

 assured by several Todas not only that adultery was 

 no motive for divorce, but that it was in no way 

 regarded as wrong. It seemed clear that there is no 

 word for adultery in the Toda language. . . . When a 

 word for a concept is absent in any language it by no 

 means follows that the concept has not been developed ; 

 but in this case I have little doubt that there is no 

 definite idea in the mind of the Toda corresponding to 

 that denoted by our word 'adultery/ Instead of 

 adultery being regarded as immoral, I rather suspected, 

 though I could not satisfy myself on the point, that 

 according to the Toda idea immorality attaches rather 

 to the man who grudges his wife to another. One 

 group of those who experience difficulty in getting to 

 the next world after death are the kashtvainol, or 

 grudging people ; and I believe this term includes 

 those who would in a more civilised community be 

 plaintiffs in the divorce court." After intimating his 

 doubts whether the " widespread, almost universal 

 abhorrence " of incest is shared by the Todas, he goes 

 on to say : " So far as I could tell the laxity in sexual 

 matters is equally great before and after marriage. If 

 a girl who has been married in infancy but has not yet 

 joined her husband should become pregnant, the 

 husband would be called upon to give the bow and 

 arrow at the pursutpimi ceremony and would be the 

 father of the child, even if he were still a young boy, 

 or if it were known that he was not the [actual] father 

 of the child." x 



1 Rivers, 515, 319, 517, 518, 523, 526, 62, 68, 72, 78, 99, 

 103, 156, 505, 5 2 9. 530, 53i. 



