Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s6.17

c48.s6.17

land of the Nīlgiri, on which they have been isolated from pre-historic time. Both apparently belong to the same stock, but the Kōta admit their inferiority to the others, though having turned out more adaptable to new circumstances they appear to be more prosperous. The Toda are essentially a pastoral community, their sole wealth consisting of their stock of buffaloes. Owing to their residing within an easy morning's walk of a popular hill-station, also the seat of Government for the greater part of the year, the tribe has received abundant notice, and has been to some extent cherished as a valuable asset, being a specimen of what may be called "stall-fed aborigines". There is some justification for this interest in the striking difference in physical appearance between the Toda and most of the surrounding population, as well as in their picturesque houses and mode of life. It is probably, however, that they come from no great distance from their present seat, and their language has been described as "old Kanarese spoken in a gale", but it seems to have closer affinity to Tamil, whilst the invocations more resemble Malayālam, with the Sanskritic strain omitted. The Kōta speak a different dialect, but the two tribes understand each other. It is not improbable, therefore, that they both moved up to the seclusion of the table-land from the Malabar forests in the neighbourhood of the Wainād or possibly even from Coorg. In the ranges south of the Nīlgiri are found several small forest tribes, most of whom live in as wild a state as the present conditions allow. The Kanikkar of Travancore are thought to be, like the Kurumban, the descendants of a race once holding dominion over the surrounding plains, but driven to the hills by invaders from the north. The title appears to indicate, like Bhūmiā and its synonyms, the first claim to the soil, and this seems to be in harmony with their position in relation to the Brāhmanic castes below the hills, who treat them as considerably purer than the menials of the village or farm. They live by rude cultivation on the wood-ash system for a part of the year, and then trust to hunting and the sale of jungle produce for the rest. They are skilled in archery, and face elephants and tigers with success. The Malāyarāyan, or Arāyan of the hills, are more settled than the Kanikkar, and have well-built villages, with considerable areas of cultivated land. In some respects they bear a striking resemblance to the Toda, as in not labouring for hire, but their reputation for practical sorcery deprives them of the sympathy of the residents of the coast. Other hill-tribes with the same title as the above or one closely resembling it, live in the forests east of the Malabar district, with a similar fame as wizards and casters of spells. All these tribes have been the subject of inquiries in the course of the Ethnographic Survey, and till recently but little was known about them.