Publication Information The main body of the Publication Information page contains all the metadata that HRAF holds for that document.
Author: Author's name as listed in Library of Congress records
Rivers, W. H. R. (William Halse Rivers),
1864-1922
Title:
The Todas
Published By: Original publisher
London ; New York: Macmillan. 1906. 18, 755 p.
[incomplete] ill., map
By line: Author's name as appearing in the actual publication
William Halse Rivers
HRAF Publication Information: New Haven, Conn.:
Human Relations Area Files, 2010. Computer File
Culture: Culture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC) with the alphanumberic OWC identifier in parenthesis.
Toda (AW60)
Subjects: Document-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Pastoral activities (233);
Dairying (234);
Comparative evidence (171);
Sacred objects and places (778);
General character of religion (771);
Priesthood (793);
Ritual (788);
Etiquette (576);
Mythology (773);
Cultural participation (184);
Sociocultural trends (178);
Community structure (621);
Kinship terminology (601);
Abstract: Brief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This standard ethnological study of the Todas is based on
the authors field work among them in 1901-02. Rivers primary emphasis has been placed on
the religion and sociology of the people; their personalities and physical characteristics
have been the subject of studies published by the author and others elsewhere. Full details
are provided in this work on the complex social, economic, ritualistic and ceremonial
aspects of the dairy organization. The importance of ritual in the dairy structure provides
the basis for Rivers theory that the Todas are a people who possess a religion in process
of degeneration --that their religious orientation has been transferred from the formerly
highly developed idea of 'god' of 'gods' to a series of almost entirely ritualistic
practices and mechanical formulae applied predominantly to the dairy animals,
dairymen-priests, buildings, vessels and sacred bells. Among other distinctive features of
Toda culture the author lists Toda relationships with neighboring tribes of the Nilgiri
hills, polyandry, and female infanticide. The division of Toda society into moieties and
the resultant cultural distinctions between the two groups, the organization of the clan
communities, and the elaborate funeral customs, are also discussed in detail.
Document Number: HRAF's in-house numbering system derived from the processing order of documents
1
Document ID: HRAF's unique document identifier. The first part is the OWC identifier and the second part is the document number in three digits.
aw60-001
Document Type: May include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs or chapters/parts of monographs.
Component part(s), monograph
Language: Language that the document is written in
English
Note:
Includes bibliographical references Omitted from the
collection pages 749-755). Page numbers [749] to [788] have been assigned to the
unpaginated genealogical charts The glossary on pp. 741-748, indexed for the subject
GLOSSARY (104), should be consulted for definitions of native words used extensively in the
text. The genealogical charts frequently are indexed for the subject KINSHIP TERMINOLOGY
(601).
Field Date: The date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1901-1902
Evaluation: In this alphanumeric code, the first part designates the type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigene, and so on. The second part is a ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data
Ethnologist-5
Analyst: The HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection.
Mary L. Bartlett; 1954
Coverage Date: The date or dates that the information in the document pertains to (often not the same as the field date).
1602-1902
Coverage Place: Location of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Nilgiri Hills, southern India
LCSH: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Toda (Indic people)
