Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/515

Rh an unknown being, but have little religion of any kind. So far as they have any worship, it is connected with the dairy in which the milk is kept and churned. Into this the women are not allowed to enter; nor the men, until after performing certain cleansing ceremonies.

They have also temples built in a circular form, with a conical thatched roof, terminating in a point, capped by a stone; but in these also there is the same absence of Hindu idols. On one occasion I had an opportunity of entering one of these temples, and of making an examination as to the presence of idols. The Todars, not wishing to seem unlike their neighbours, always tell you that there is an image within; and to deter intruders from entering, inculcate the idea that to approach the temple would be attended with danger. I found, however, no such object of worship. With some difficulty I managed to remove the heavy slab of wood which served as a door and played in a groove within, and squeezed my body through the narrow opening. The apartment was small, and contained nothing but the dairy implements; it was separated by a partition of upright planks from an inner room. The door to the second room was, if any thing, still smaller,