Oval Huts, Dairy Temples and Holy Milkmen: How a Secluded Existence Produced the Idiosyncratic Toda Traditions - The Todas are an ethnic group that inhabit the Nilgiri Plains of south India. They were once one of the most isolated people in the world. Their customs and language are still considered strange to non-Toda visitors, though they have gotten less unusual in recent years due to exposure to the modern global culture. Nonetheless, the Todas still stand out because of their novel way of life and beliefs. One particularly interesting facet of their culture is the architecture of their traditional oval and pent-shaped houses and temples.
Traditional Huts in the Munds
Most Todas today live in houses that would not stand out in a modern suburb, but there are a few Toda villages, or munds as they are called in their language, which contain the traditional grass and bamboo house lived in by their ancestors. These houses are called dogles.
A traditional Toda mund usually consists of two or three huts. The huts are constructed using bamboo beams that are bent into an arc shape and planted into the ground so that they will retain that shape. Once the bamboo skeleton has been completed, grass is placed over the frame to create thatch for the roof.
There is also a revival among the Todas to bring back this ancient way of life, which goes back at least to the 17th century (according to European records when the first European explorers encountered them in 1603.) When regular contact between the Todas and the world beyond the Nilgiri plateau began in the 1820s, their lifestyle showed little change from that earlier time.
The two ends of the pent-shaped hut are made of wood or stone. The front entrance is usually decorated with Toda artwork and has a small door where one must bend over or crawl in to enter. The reason for the small size of the door is for protection against the elements and from wild animals. Both sides of the entrance have a raised platform and semi-private area for sitting and talking. Each hut would contain a family or household.
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