Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 28, 1917.djvu/185

 Btill-baiting, Bull -racing, Bull-fights. 153

neck of the animal, and both men put their whole weight on the neck of the buffalo and bear it to the ground. Often they are carried many yards before they succeed in getting the infuriated animal under control, and when catching the horns they are sometimes severely gored, though this rarely happens now, and I could hear of no case in which there had been fatal consequences." ^^ Again, when the second funeral ceremony " was prolonged over two days, the proceedings of the first day opened with the capture of the buffaloes, which were put in the pen, and then followed a scene in which the Todas entered the pen, flourishing heavy clubs. The animals were belaboured and driven round and round the pen, and at intervals several men would catch and hold down a buffalo. . . . On the second day the proceedings began again with a repetition of the driving and catching in the pen. In the afternoon, after the earth-throwing ceremony, the buffaloes, now wearied and subdued, were dragged from the pen and killed." 35

Of course, it may be said that this is merely a way of reducing the semi-savage beasts to subjection, and Dr. Rivers, with characteristic caution, does not imply that the violence used had any ritualistic significance. Still, when we compare it with the cases already quoted, we may, with some probability, infer that these holy animals are not ill-treated without some good reason. We know that the animals sacrificed at the death rites are intended to accompany the spirits to Amnor or deathland.^^ Possibly

^■' The Todas, 350 et seq. '-'^ Ibid. 3S4.

■^'' Amnor is the name u.sed by Dr. Rivers and Lieut. -Col. Marshall to desig- nate the spirit-land of the Todas. It may be well to state that the name seems to be based on a misunderstanding. Mr. Lewis Rice, a good authority, points out that the word is evidently the honorific plural, Ammanavaru, of Amma, Mariamma, or Maramma, the Mother goddess, and cannot mean a place, answering to heaven. Whether the misunderstanding is due to European writers, or to the Todas themselves, I cannot say (B. L. Rice, Mysore Gazetteer^ ed. 1897, i. 456).