160 
ON THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS 
Some of their legends connect the Todas with the Raksasa 
king Rdrana, others with his great antagonist, Rama. The 
ancestors of the Todas are said to have been the palanquin 
bearers of Eavana ; if so, they belong to the Gauda-Dravi- 
in holes under large slats in the middle of the cemeteries. 4th. The nu- 
merous figures of buffaloes, some with bells ro\md their necks, made of 
pottery, found in the cairns are monuments of the antiquity of the Thau- 
tawar custom of sacrificing buffaloes decorated with bells at funerals. 5th. 
In every case I have observed a Thautawar village situated contiguously to 
the cairn, manifesting some connection. 6th. The Thautawars claim to be 
the original proprietors of the land, a claim acknowledged by the English, as 
■well as the Native inhabitants of the Hills. 7th. The prevailing opiaion 
amongst the latter that these cairns belonged to the early Thautawar people. 
8th. The absence of any inscription on any of the vessels dug out of the 
cairns, considered with reference to the fact of the Thautawars having no 
written language. 9th. The circumstance of some lascars attempting 
to open a cairn in search of treasure being compelled to desist iu their 
■enterprize by the Thautawars of an adjoining ^^lIage." Dr. Shortt, in 
the article above mentioned, says on p. 45: "The Todas themselves 
attribute the cairns found on the Neilgherries, sometimes to a people 
who preceded them, at others to the Kurumbas, and that they formed their 
:burial places ... It is generally believed by the Natives that these cairns 
and cromlechs are the work of the followers of the Pandean Kings, and that 
they at one time ruled on the NeUgherries also. The Todas and Badagas 
likewise believe this, while some of them attribute them to the Kurumbas. 
The Rev. Mr. Metz is also of the latter opinion, and I am inclined to coincide 
with this gentleman." See also J. W. Breeks' Frimitn e Tribes of t/ic Xlla- 
ffiris, pp. 72-110 ; p. 95 : "The Perangauad cairns, lyingbetweenKotagherry 
and Kodanad, dilfer less from those at Tuneri ; the figures are generally 
smaller and rougher, and the colour darker, but the urns are often very fine, 
with strong glaze of mica . . It is, however, remarkable that the rougher 
remains are found in the division in which lie the two (probably) oldest Toda 
mands, and the only cairns claimed by the Todas. . (On p. 96.) At one time, 
they were generally assigned to the Todas ; and Colonel Congreve wrote an 
' elaborate essay to prove the Scythian origin of this people and their claim 
I to the cairns. His large theories, and oecasionall}- incorrect facts, dis- 
credited his cause rather unduly, and of late years the cairns have been 
generally attributed either to the Kurumbas or to an extinct race. Those 
who held these views, however, seem to have been xmaware of, or to have 
overlooked, the significant fact that the Todas even now burn their dead 
in a circle of stones and bury the ashes there. Now, not only may the 
circle of stones be c;illed the fundamental idea of cairns and baiTows. but 
- some of them consist of insignificant circles of stones, hardly to be distin- 
guished from Toda Azarams except by the trees or bushes which indicate 
their greater age... (On p. 97.) It will be seen that these old Azdranis 
(supposing them to be Azarams), shew one or two mai'ked points of approx- 
imation to the cau'us. 1st. They prove that metal ornaments and objects 
