364
the pure Toda breed—and its attendant six dairy temple grades—upon which this
naturalistic people’s entire cosmology depends.
41.2 Ethical Animism
As Dr. Chhabra points out in his ethnographic masterpiece, The Toda Landscape—
Explorations in Cultural Ecology, at the opening of its Appendix 4, “Toda Sacred
Chants”,
7
“Every Toda hamlet has its own specific prayer, which mentions the
kwa(r)shm (sacred names) of nearby stones and rocks, streams and pools, swamps
and grassy slopes, trees and shola thickets, buffaloes, pens and pen posts, calves and
calf enclosures, summits and hills, sacred bells and churning vessels, sacred paths
and routes....” Prayers generally converge upon a singular volition: “Poll(zh)yzh
(põhzh) pehg mawhh! Twehhzh pehrry mawhh!” meaning, “May the dairy-temple
products [milk, butter, buttermilk, and ghee (clarified butter)] be abundant! May the
occupants of the buffalo pen be plentiful!”.
8
As Anthony Walker wrote back in the mid-1980s, “…the buffaloes are credited
with almost human intelligence.” They talk, and various anthropomorphic characteristics are attributed to their behavior, whether mourning with a human, or having
been instrumental in actually founding “a particularly sacred dairy”.
9
Throughout history, there have been, of course, significant matrices of cultural
worship and specific species. The Roman Pan (man/goat); the horse, sacred to
Phoenicians; Ganesha, the Hindu elephant god of wisdom created by Parvati; the
deer, sacred to Artemis in ancient Greek culture; cats in Egypt; all the animals of the
Chinese Zodiac—Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey,
Rooster, Dog, and Pig; the wolf (Goddess Luperca) in terms of the birth of Roman
civilization; a “Young Lion” in Genesis; the “Monkey King” in China; the Jaguar in
Aztec and Mayan cultures; the corvids (crow/raven) for the Bhutanese as well as the
Tlingit of Alaska; the Frigatebird (Fregata) for Easter Islanders; the Judaic fish god,
Dagon; the hawk-god Laki Heno for the Kayans of Borneo; and so on. Monkey
temples abound in Asia, like that of Swayambhunath in Kathmandu. There are rat
temples, sloth-bear temples, and the Ram-headed Sphinxes at Karnak Temple in
Egypt, where Middle Kingdom hieroglyphs render a window on the mixed veneration of jackals, beetles, shrews, the mongoose, baboons, ibis, crocodiles, and many
and lowland savannas”- all bearing amazing levels of floristic endemism (ibid., Chhabra, p. 17) to
tea and fast growing eucalyptus plantations. See “The Sholas, Evergreen Hill Forests and Moist
Evergreen Low Forests,” in Wonders Of The Indian Wilderness, by Erach Bharucha, Mappin
Publishers Pvt Ltd., Ahmedabad, India, and Abbeville Press Publishers, New York, pp. 685–686
7 op cit., Chhabra, p. 477.
8 op cit., Chhabra, p. 481.
9 Anthony R. Walker, The Toda Of South India: A New Look, Hindustan Publishing Corporation,
Delhi, India, 1986, p. 103.
41 The Conical Temple of Konawsh
the pure Toda breed—and its attendant six dairy temple grades—upon which this
naturalistic people’s entire cosmology depends.
41.2 Ethical Animism
As Dr. Chhabra points out in his ethnographic masterpiece, The Toda Landscape—
Explorations in Cultural Ecology, at the opening of its Appendix 4, “Toda Sacred
Chants”,
7
“Every Toda hamlet has its own specific prayer, which mentions the
kwa(r)shm (sacred names) of nearby stones and rocks, streams and pools, swamps
and grassy slopes, trees and shola thickets, buffaloes, pens and pen posts, calves and
calf enclosures, summits and hills, sacred bells and churning vessels, sacred paths
and routes....” Prayers generally converge upon a singular volition: “Poll(zh)yzh
(põhzh) pehg mawhh! Twehhzh pehrry mawhh!” meaning, “May the dairy-temple
products [milk, butter, buttermilk, and ghee (clarified butter)] be abundant! May the
occupants of the buffalo pen be plentiful!”.
8
As Anthony Walker wrote back in the mid-1980s, “…the buffaloes are credited
with almost human intelligence.” They talk, and various anthropomorphic characteristics are attributed to their behavior, whether mourning with a human, or having
been instrumental in actually founding “a particularly sacred dairy”.
9
Throughout history, there have been, of course, significant matrices of cultural
worship and specific species. The Roman Pan (man/goat); the horse, sacred to
Phoenicians; Ganesha, the Hindu elephant god of wisdom created by Parvati; the
deer, sacred to Artemis in ancient Greek culture; cats in Egypt; all the animals of the
Chinese Zodiac—Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey,
Rooster, Dog, and Pig; the wolf (Goddess Luperca) in terms of the birth of Roman
civilization; a “Young Lion” in Genesis; the “Monkey King” in China; the Jaguar in
Aztec and Mayan cultures; the corvids (crow/raven) for the Bhutanese as well as the
Tlingit of Alaska; the Frigatebird (Fregata) for Easter Islanders; the Judaic fish god,
Dagon; the hawk-god Laki Heno for the Kayans of Borneo; and so on. Monkey
temples abound in Asia, like that of Swayambhunath in Kathmandu. There are rat
temples, sloth-bear temples, and the Ram-headed Sphinxes at Karnak Temple in
Egypt, where Middle Kingdom hieroglyphs render a window on the mixed veneration of jackals, beetles, shrews, the mongoose, baboons, ibis, crocodiles, and many
and lowland savannas”- all bearing amazing levels of floristic endemism (ibid., Chhabra, p. 17) to
tea and fast growing eucalyptus plantations. See “The Sholas, Evergreen Hill Forests and Moist
Evergreen Low Forests,” in Wonders Of The Indian Wilderness, by Erach Bharucha, Mappin
Publishers Pvt Ltd., Ahmedabad, India, and Abbeville Press Publishers, New York, pp. 685–686
7 op cit., Chhabra, p. 477.
8 op cit., Chhabra, p. 481.
9 Anthony R. Walker, The Toda Of South India: A New Look, Hindustan Publishing Corporation,
Delhi, India, 1986, p. 103.
41 The Conical Temple of Konawsh