Intro

My Name is Kevin and I am a sophomore at East Stroudsburg University. I am studying Health and Physical Education. I hope to educate children on living healthy in the future. This blog is for my world regional geography class. It is meant to introduce you to a new culture from a different part of the world. I will be talking about the Toda people from Southeast India. They are very interesting, and not a lot of people have heard about them. I hope you enjoy reading!

http://www4.esu.edu/

Migration

The toda people do not migrate. They have always been in the Nilgrili Hills. They do have migrants from all over India. still this number of people is also low. this information was limited. as you can see in my references.

http://commonorgarden.blogs.com/photos/india_may/tribals.html

References
httpd://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_birds_of_South_India

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toda_people

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/597880/Toda

http://www.ooty.com/todas.htm

http://www.nilgiris.com/nilgirispeople.htm

http://www.importantindia.com/7516/toda-tribes/

http://books.google.com/books?id=U0PRAAAAMAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=Toda

http://psrcentre.org/images/extraimages/1312074.pdf

Birds

There is an abundance of birds in South East Asia. The Toda people do not hunt the birds. I could not find any significance that the birds in the area had on the Toda people.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Great-Hornbill.jpg

               Great Hornbill                          Black  Eagle
Theses are just two of  over 70 types of birds. With every type there is more specific sub sets too.

To see all the birds in the area click the link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_birds_of_South_India

NEIGHBORS
The Toda's closet neighbors are the Kota people. They have a very similar dialect. However it is not the same. Also the Kota people have been know as being less friendly to visitors. They are also neighbors with the Kubra people. The all have coexisted peacefully. however the Toda are very different theen both of their neighbors. This is what draws quite a bit of attention to them.   

HISTORY
"Before the 18th century, the Toda coexisted locally with other communities, including the Kota, and Kuruba, in a loose caste-like community organisation in which the Toda were the top ranking." Their population has remained the same for the past century. They have just recently stopped practicing child marriage. They want to be a part of the modern world, however they do not want to lose any of their customs or religion.   

CULTURAL SURVIVAL 

http://www.geetachhabra.com/photo_news/april_2011.php

Population- 700 to 900

Cattle herders and dairy workers

Vegetarians 

Get all food from nature. 

They eat dairy products and rice mostly. 

They have a small population but it is steady so they are not declining or losing population.

They continue to live of the land and do things the same way they always have while still adapting to a constantly evolving world. 

They do not want to fall behind, but they still strive to keep their culture in tact. 

However they used to be more of a pastoral people and are being pressed in to becoming more of an agricultural society.

HOMELAND
Nilgiri Hills in South India Or Blue Mountains of India

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Biosphere_Reserve_Location_MapL_-_Tamil_Nadu.gif

http://deepapuhan.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-nilgiri.html

The hills they live on serve as pastures for their live stock.
This is essential for their every day life. 
the Toda also use the rich soils to grow rice. 

Food

The Toda people are primarily vegetarians. 

They do not eat eggs that can hatch or fish

   Although some Toda do eat Fish 

More recently some Toda have began to eat some meat
They live off the land.
There was not a ton of information on what they ate other then this. I think it is because they don not have a lot of variety in their diet. 

COSMOS
Religion- Hinduism and some non traditional beliefs.

"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." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toda_people). 

This is why they do not eat the buffalo.

Some of their non traditional beliefs are that they do not where shoes. Also that they may not travel over bridges they walk through bodies of water.



http://nilgiris.nic.in/todas.html

Living Space

HOMELAND

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Toda_Hut.JPG

The Toda people live in dogles. or hamlets called munds 

They are small half circle shaped houses made from bamboo and rattan. The front and back are made from granite stones. They have a small entrance to protect themselves from animals.