I have in the title and throughout this paper assumed that the dairy formulæ are examples of prayer, and I have now to consider how far this assumption is justified. The essential feature of prayer is supplication to a higher power, and in the dairy formula of the Todas there is no direct evidence of such supplication. The gods are not directly invoked; the name of no god is ever mentioned in the vocative form, and in some prayers there may be barely mention of a god at all, if the term 'god' is limited to the anthropomorphic beings who dwell on the Nilgiri hill-tops.
The exact relation between the gods and the formula largely depends on the exact meaning of the word iḍith, which is unfortunately doubtful. But, whatever the meaning of this word, it is quite clear that it is used in exactly the same way in the case of a god as in the case of a buffalo, a place, a dairy vessel, or other even meaner object.
Perhaps the clearest approach to an appeal to gods in the prayer is in the words at the end, in which the names of certain gods are mentioned followed by the words âtham iḍith emk tânenmâ, "for their sake may it be well for us."
Some light is thrown on the nature of these dairy formulæ by a consideration of the incantations which are used in Toda sorcery. The following is one of several which I have recorded. It is employed by a sorcerer who wishes to injure one, richer than himself, who has not treated a request for assistance with the proper respect. The words run:—
Pithioteu Ön iḍith, Teikirzim Tirshtim iḍith; â teu sati
those gods power
udasnûdr; an nòdr nòdr udasnûdr; an kar warkhi peu mâ;
if there be; his country country if there be; his calf sleep so may;
an îr têrgi pûti pâr mâ; ath on nîr ud puk âthm
his buffaloes wings grow fly may; he I water drink as he also
nîr un mâ; on nikh âs puk âthm nîkhai mâ; on eirt
water drink may; I thirsty am as he also thirsty be may; I hungry
puk âthm eirth mâ; en mokhm ödrth puk an mokhm ödr mâ;
as he also hunger may; my children cry as his children cry may;
en tazmokh kutm pût puk an tazmokhin kûtm pûv mâ.
my wife ragged cloth wear as his wife ragged cloth wear may.
