MANUAL OF THE NILAGIRI DISTRICT. 



Revenue 

 History. 



cla 



CHAP. XIII, S. R. Lusliingtoiij whilst Governor, liad practically ignored these 

 PART 1. claims, but his successor. Sir Frederick Adam, regarded them 

 favourably, and made concessions which were opposed to the 

 permanent rights in soil which throughout India belong to 

 the State. Lord Elphinstone did not disturb the policy of his 

 predecessor, although towards the end of his reign, in 1840, after 

 Mr. Sullivan's retirement, the civilian members of the Govern- 

 ment made a determined attack on the policy of the preceding 

 five years ; but on the accession to power of the Marquis of 

 Tweeddale the papers were referred to the Honorable Court of 

 Directors. In their reply of 21st June 1843 the question as to 

 the rights of the Todas in the land was finally set at rest. 



The position claimed for the Todas was similar to that known 

 as the jenm tenure in Malabar, and was alleged to extend to the 

 whole of the plateau. The " gudu," or basket of grain, which 

 the Todas received from the Badagas was regarded as rent paid by 

 the tenants to the landlords for the lands occupied by them. The 

 high position claimed for this tribe of barbarous herdsmen was 

 in great measure due to the ignorance that existed in regard 

 to the nature of this custom. But when it was ascertained that 

 other tribes received from the timid Badagas benevolences of a 

 similar nature, the argument grounded thereon lost much of its 

 force. At first, too, it was believed that all Badaga ryots paid a 

 contribution of the kind,^ but later it was ascertained that the 

 payment was not universal, but was mainly confined to Badaga 

 villages neighbouring the Toda grazing grounds of the uplands. 

 The contribution, which is believed by Mr. Breeks ^ to amount 

 to about two kuligas or four Madras measures of grain for an 

 ordinary putta field, appears to be of a two-fold character. 

 It is probably, to some extent, compensation for appropriation 

 to cultivation of lands once grazed by Toda buffaloes, but it also 

 partakes of the nature of a free-will oft'ering to secure the favour, 

 or rather avert the displeasure, of the Todas, who are supposed 

 to possess necromantic powers. The fond advocates of Toda 

 rights also lost sight of the fact that they had from time 

 immemorial paid to the Circar a tax on all female buflTaloes in their 

 possession, amounting to 2 cantarai fanams, or 9 annas 5 pies, per 



1 " The ' goodoo ' is not collected into a common fund and then divided, but 

 each ' mund ' or ' moort ' has the goodoo of a cei-tain number of Burgher villages 

 appropriated for its support, and if any difficulty should be made in payment, 

 the aid of the monegar is called in for its collection." — Mk. Sullivan. 



2 Major Ouchterlony states that the Todas claim one-sixth of the produce, 

 and that the Badagas admit that they paid at this rate before the advent of the 

 English. He also states that the owner of a good house contributed 1 cuudagam 

 = 20 kuligas ; the less opulent 5 or | cundagam. Some interesting information 

 on the custom will be found in his memoir. 



