Toda Tribe

In news : On International Women’s Prime Minister of India mention women of Toda tribes and their artistic works

A brief note on Toda Tribes

Location: They are pastoral tribe of the Nīlgiri Hills of southern India, mainly concentrated in Tamil Nadu
Language: They speak Toda language which is Dravidian but is the most aberrant of that linguistic stock.They also speak in other languages like Kannada, Telugu, and Malayalam etc.
House/Settlements: They live in settlements of from three to seven small thatched houses scattered over the pasture slopes; built on a wooden framework, the typical house has an arched roof in the shape of a half barrel.
They call their villages as munds, which consist of five buildings or huts, out of which they use three as dwellings, one as a dairy and the other as shelter for the calves at night
Trading: These tribes traditionally trade dairy products, as well as cane and bamboo articles, with the other Nīlgiri peoples, receiving Baḍaga grain and cloth and Kota tools and pottery in exchange
Religion: Their religion centres on the all-important Buffalo. They also worship nature like hill gods, Lord Amodr (the realm of the dead) & Goddess Teikirzi

Unique practices:
- As per the tradition, ritual must be performed for almost every dairy activity, from milking and giving the herds salt to churning butter and shifting pastures seasonally
- There are ceremonies for the ordination of dairymen-priests, for rebuilding dairies, and for rethatching funerary temples.
- These rites and the complex funeral rituals are the major occasions of social intercourse, when intricate poetic songs alluding to the buffalo cult are composed and chanted.
Polyandry: It is fairly common; several men, usually brothers, may share one wife. When a Toda woman becomes pregnant one of her husbands ceremonially presents her with a toy bow and arrow, thus proclaiming himself the social father of her children.
PVTG: Toda tribe is Listed as Particularly vulnerable tribal group (PVTG)