OF BHARATAVARSA OR INDIA. 
165 
dim idea of the divine powers; they possess hardly any 
religious rites ; but they firmly believe in the existence of a 
life after death, in a heaven for the good and a hell for 
the bad. 
The ceremonies at births, marriages and funerals are 
very curious and have often been described. They burn 
their dead with the face downwards, a custom which prevails 
stUl among the aborigines of some parts of Central India. 
The Todas go always bareheaded, as also do the Khonds. 
The habit of polyandry peculiar to the Gauda-Dravidian 
race is also prevalent among the Todas. 
The interest which this tribe has excited is mainly due to 
their fine and striking appearance so different from that of 
other races and to their dwelling in a most picturesque country. 
The Todas are regarded by the other hill tribes as the lords 
of the soil, and as such exact a tribute [rjudu) from them. 
How they obtained this supremacy is unknown, and the 
acquisition of their influence is the more remarkable, as, 
unless they have greatly changed since their first appearance, 
they are not a war-like race^ and could not have forced their 
way into these hiUs with the aid of arms. The fact that 
the Todas enjoy this peaceful supremacy proves them to 
be very ancient, if not the aboriginal inhabitants of these 
Hills. The Todas are steadily decreasing in numbers and, 
according to the last census, numbered only 689. Their 
reputation as sorcerers stood them in good stead and perhaps 
frightened into submission those who might otherwise have 
molested them. The Todas alone among the hill tribes 
block of stone surrounded with smaller pieces, and all covered with red-lead. 
During the jatra which is held in the month of Chaitra, and lasts for four 
days, people of all castes, but especially the Kunbis, flock from a circle of a 
hundred miles, and offer many sheep in sacrifice." 
The buffalo was the carrier of Yama, and he is therefore also known as 
Mahisaihvaja and Mahiaavdhana. Skanda is known as Mahisdrdana, and 
one of his Matris is called Mahisdnand. Mahisa or Mahi?a, Mahisaka or 
Mahisaka are names of people. Mahisasthall is the name of a place, Mdhisya 
that of a mixed caste, and Mdhisika besides meaning a herdsman is also used 
in the sense of a man who lives by the prostitution of his wife. — Seep. 130. 
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