India is a multinational country. The mysterious peoples of Toda live on the territory of this multifaceted state, whose history and culture, due to their uniqueness and uniqueness, have been objects of close attention from scientists for many years.
Particularly attractive to linguists, historians, anthropologists and culturologists can be called the Toda people living in the south of this amazing, similar in shape to the huge heart of Asia.
Toda is a small people, one might even say that this is not a people at all, but a tribe. It lives in the Nilgiri mountains. People of the tribe communicate with each other in their own language, which scientists attribute to the Dravidian languages.
Toda lifestyle
The Indian people of Toda cannot be called sociable, the local people have always preferred to live in isolation. Maybe that's why they managed to preserve their identity. However, relatively recently, civilization nevertheless unobtrusively penetrated the world of this tribe, and its influence is already visible to the naked eye.
For example, if before all the representatives of this people were completely vegetarians, now this is far from the case. If in the past centuries the people of the tribe were engaged only in cattle breeding - solely for the production of dairy products, now farmers, artisans and traders have appeared here.
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Dwelling
However, despite the expansion of the modern world, the traditions of the Indian Toda people are respected today. Inhabitants of some villages, as huddled from time immemorial in a settlement consisting of only five buildings, still huddle to this day. Three houses are inhabited by people, one contains livestock, and another building is used for household needs.
The huts resemble modern agricultural hangars in their appearance - they are of the same oval shape. Bamboo and rattan are used for housing construction. The roof of the huts is thatched. A notable feature of these unusual houses is the tiny door. Locals say that a door of such a miniature size is an excellent protection from uninvited guests - wild animals. It is a pity, but gradually such wonderful buildings are becoming a thing of the past, to be replaced by houses made of bricks and with a tiled roof, here and there in local villages.
The strangeness of family relationships
If polygamy lives and flourishes in Arab countries, polygamy was considered commonplace for centuries in this remote corner of India. This is due to the fact that before women in the tribe were 12 times less than men. Now the demographic situation is changing, and in recent years, monogamous marriages among the Toda people have become increasingly popular.
Beliefs
The Toda tribe has a very interesting belief - the belief in the buffalo. This animal, which is considered sacred by the locals, is worshiped and honored. Toda people believe that a person is inextricably linked with a buffalo, while they say that he (a person), in addition to a soul, has a spirit. The soul is in a human body, but his spirit lives in a buffalo.
Temple
The Toda people have a temple where women and unmarried men are not allowed. In the temple, on the door of which horns, the moon and stars are depicted, secret services are held annually. The priest conducting the service does not go outside for three months. None of the uninitiated people have a clue of what is happening inside the temple.
Rituals
Although the Toda tribe is so kind to buffaloes, this does not prevent them from killing them. But this happens only when the owner of the buffalo dies. The ritual killing ends with the chopping off of the buffalo's head and burying the carcass. Then the deceased is burned at this place. Toda people believe that the spirit of the buffalo guides the soul of the deceased to the constellation Bull, which, according to beliefs, is their ancestral home.
Differences
People of the Toda tribe can be figuratively called black sheep. They do not look like people of other peoples of India. They have lighter skin and curly reddish hair.
And finally: Toda women are very skilled embroiderers. The ornaments created by him on fabric canvases are highly valued not only in India, but throughout Asia.