Nilgiri Hills and it's Tribes

At Nandi Hills Nilgiri pigeons found in numbers. Nilgiri is brand name of so many products. The 1 st recorded word Nila applied to this region can be traced to 1117 AD in the report of a general of Vishnuvardhana King of Hoysalas . The Hoysala Empire was a prominent Southern Indian Knnadiga empire that ruled most of the modern-day state of Karnataka between the 10 th and 14 th Centuries.The King who in reference to his enemies, claimed to have frightened the To-das, driven the Kangas underground. Slaughtered the Pallavas, put to death the Malayalas , terrified King of Kala and then proceeded to offer the pick of Nila mountain (presumably Dodabetta) to Laksmi, Goddess of wealth. The original inhabitants of the Nilgiri Hills were the Toda, Badaga, Kota, Irula and Kurumbas.

Toda Family

The Toda language is a member of Dravidian family. Todas live in small hamlets called munds. The Toda Huts which are of an oval pent-shaped construction are usually 10 feet high, 18 feet long and 9 feet wide. They are built of bamboo fastened with rattan and are thatched .Each hut is enclosed within a wall of loose stones .The front and back of the hut are usually made of dressed stones (most granite). The hut has a tiny entrance at the front –about three feet wide, 3 feet tall. This unusually small entrance is a means of protection from the wild animals. The front portion is decorated with the Toda art forms, a kind of rock mural painting. Thicker bamboo canes arched to give the hut its basic pent shape. Thinner bamboo canes are tied close and parallel to each other over this frame. Dried grasses is stacked  over ,this is as thatch.

Todas and Kotas have shared genes which separate them from the other Nilgiri Hills Tribes. The Toda dresses consists of single piece of cloth, which is worn like the plaid of a Scottish high lender over a dhoti for men and skirt for women .The symbols from traditional costumes are very old Thracian-Danubian culture(dacian/ scytian/getic).

According to the Todas, the Goddess Teikirshy and her brother first created the sacred buffalo and then the first Toda man. The first Toda woman was created from the right rib of the first Toda man.