Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 15, 1904.djvu/186

 1 68 Toda Prayer.

k&vel Ark ?!td per kdrt pa md fustht kdrt pA md

may there be no may be kept from (falling may be kept from floods

wild beasts (tigers, &c.) down) steep hills

tut ark md md un md vtaj eu md pul pilv md

may there be no fire may we have rain may clouds rise may grass flourish

nir lir ma may water spring

The prayer then concludes with the names of two of the most important gods or objects of reverence followed by the words :

Atham idith emk tanenrnd

them for the sake of for (or to) us may it be well

There does not seem to be any strict regulation as to the clauses of the prayer, and in different versions some of those given above were omitted, while others were added, especially requests for protection against special animals, as pob ark md, " may there be no snakes," and pirzi ark md, "may there be no tigers." One man concluded with the words erddrsink erddriini, " I know half to pray, I know not half to pray," but I do not know whether this was an individual peculiarity or a special feature of the prayer of his dairy.

It seemed clear that the whole prayer referred to the buffaloes. It mav be summarised as follows :

" May it be well with the buffaloes, may they not suffer from disease or die, may they be kept from poisonous animals and from wild beasts and from injury by flood or lire, may there be water and grass in plenty."

I had much difficulty in obtaining examples of the first portions of the prayers. I finally obtained the complete prayers of four village dairies and two of the prayers of the most sacred or ^i diaries. I will give here an example of each kind.^

The following is the prayer used in the dairy of Kuudr,

the chief village of the chief clan of the Teivaliol division

of the Todas. In the first column are given the kwarzam^

' The full record of these prayers will appear in a work on " The Todas of the Nilgiri Mills."