Emeneau

The Todas are a small community who live on the isolated Nilgiri plateau in S. India. They lived there in aboriginal days, i.e. prior to the early 19th cent., in coexist. with other jungle communities. The local social org. was a cast-like system in which the Todas were the top-ranking community. Their population is a minuscule group within the enormous population of India or of the Dravidian part of India. However, the Todas have attracted a disproportionate amount of attention because of their difference from their neighbors in appearance, manners & customs. This study was based on linguistic data collected in a year of contact with the Todas in the 3-year period from mid-1935 to mid-1938. Contents: Grammar; Texts with Translation; & Commentary.