Admired for its pristine beauty, the Nilgiri Hills in South India are also remembered as a space for traditional people like Toda, Kota, Kurumba,, Irula and Badaga. Their simple lifestyle woven with socio-ritualistic fabric creates a unique symbiosis of culture and belief system. The file looks through the eye of a Toda family, their surrounding and their interactive life style within nature where “buffaloes” remain the focus.
Todas call themselves the man with sacred buffaloes. Their language, hair style, dress ad conical habitats clearly constitute a distinctive cultural heritage. Their sacred Dairy temple with circular base and conical roof have carvings of sacred buffaloes, Sun, moon and icons from epic.
This film reflects the life of Toda through their songs, Toda life revolves around their sacred dairies and when a dairy is rebuilt or renovated it is a sacred occasion. Toda dairies are barrel vaulted and divided into two rooms. The inner room is the sanctum sanctorum where sacred dairy equipments are kept and milk is churned. Toda religion mainly focuses on sacred buffaloes. Toda marriage is initiated in childhood and completed at maturity. The Bow and Arrow ceremony performed during the seventh month of pregnancy determines the social and paternity of the unborn child and its place in Toda society.
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