A military search party found the wreckage a whole week after the accident on Dec 19 in the Denad reserve forest near Kil-Kotagiri, 40 miles north of Coimbatore. The party found the plane completely disintegrated and the bodies in decomposed state.

The wreckage of the plane was found in a rocky desolate valley below Rangaswami Hill, eight miles from Kil-Kotagiri, with an elevation of about 6,000 feet. The military party and medical men from Wellington had practically to crawl on hands and feet the last one and a half mile to reach the spot.

Immediately on receipt of information, Messrs. H.C.M. McLaughlin,

Collector of the Nilgiris, T.V.M. Wilson, R.D.O., Coonoor, Ayyannah

Conservator of Forests, went to the spot. Kuttappa Kurup, a forest guard and a washerman were the first to spot the wreaked plane.

Inspector Mansfield of Ooty Police with his party rushed to the place and saw the plane lying “in a million and one bits”. The belongings of passengers were lying scattered about.

Mr. Viswanathan, Inspector of Post Office, Coonoor, who arrived in the party which reached first, salvaged most of the mails. Valuables were also brought back by the police.

After the discovery of the plane wreckage, several persons care forward to claim the reward of Rs.500 announced by the D.S.P of Coimbatore for anyone whose first information led to the discovery of the plane. Great efforts made by Mr. and Mrs. Morris and the Mysore Police to locate the missing plane. A military party consisting of 100 officers and Sepoy’s led by Lt. Col. Mukherjee of the staff College comprised the search party. The search team was followed by angry tigers and wild elephants.”

As it was considered impossible to remove the bodies from the spot owing to the difficult nature of the terrain, an inquest was conducted on the spot.

Among the dead were Andrew Browne Wiseman, the Chief Pilot, Ramnath Narayan Aiyar, Co-Pilot, Cynthia Celine Staggs, Air Hostess, P.K. Kapur of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, C.P. Harry of Mukund Iron and Steel Works, Mr and Mrs, Abraham Wald, world renowned statistician, Mrs. Thein of Britain, Mr and Mrs Robey of Britain, C.G. Marshall of UK, F.W. Saile of Switzerland, and Brig. Abaya Singh.

Nilgiri Documentation Centre.

Bhai Mardana, Guru Nanak’s Muslim childhood friend, accompanied Guru Nanak in all his journeys, playing the Rebab, a musical string instrument.

In all places and along the journey, Guru Nanak would enlighten people through his divine Shabads (Hymns) the existence of Ik Onkar or One God, and to give up existing superstitions and futile rituals in their pursuit for salvation. Well-read in several religious scriptures, the Guru would engage in healthy debates with priests and religious scholars as he went along, winning them over with logic.

Guru Nanak Ji’s First Udasi was from 1500 to 1506 when he  visited places in the north including present Pakistan, Delhi, Haryana, Uttarakhand, UP, Bihar , Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Bangladesh, West Bengal, and Orissa.

Guru Nanak’s  Second Udasiwas  from 1506 to 1513 at the age of 37 years when he traveled through the southern parts of India including present Andhra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Sri Lanka.

In circa 1507, Guru Nanak’s entourage is believed to have visited the Nilgiri hills from Palghat. Though the saint was known to speak several languages, it is doubtful if was familiar with the hill languages. However, as the first written record of Nilgiris in 1602 states some of the hill tribes were proficient in Kannada and Malayalam by virtue of their trade with the plains people in Kerala and Karnataka. Guru Nanak Ji could have used these people as interpreters. In any case, the Nilgiris hills were sanctified by his presence.

Nilgiri Documentation Centre

The Nilgiris for a Sanatorium.

28th May 1827.

“ The Board have already refused the offer made by Mr. Sullivan of his House on the Nielgherries as an Hospital for European soldiers in consequence of the Report made by the Medical Board of its not being

adapted for that purpose. But though I am satisfied that it is unfit for a Hospital I think that it might be of great use in furnishing accommodation for sick Officers. Even if we had a good Hospital on the Hills the want of supplies and the difficulty of bringing them from below would render it almost impossible to provide in a suitable manner for the wants of sick soldiers. This can never be done even in the most limited manner until supplies become easily procurable by its being an object

for private dealers to provide them.

The most likely way to attain this end would be by giving every facility to Officers of Civil and Military Service to visit the Hills for the recovery of their health. They require no assistance from the public but shelter from the weather. They can find their own supplies and the constant residence of a certain number in succession would gradually encourage Bazarmen in the low country to make it their business to supply all their wants. As the building of Houses on the Hills is from the want of materials and workmen of every kind attended with much difficulty and delay, I propose that we should rent Mr. Sullivan’s House for two or three years. It is better built than any house that is likely to be erected on the Hills for some time and would furnish accommodation at once for eight or ten Officers.

The Reports of Medical men on the climate of these Hills which we have hitherto received are highly favourable to its healthfulness, especially in restoring constitutions enfeebled by climate rather than broken down by disease. It is highly probable therefore that many young men would be saved by a year’s residence on the Hills who would otherwise be inevitably lost, and that many Civil and Military servants whose constitutions have suffered from a residence of some years in the country would by a residence of some months on the Hills obviate the necessity of going home. If only a very small proportion of these Officers could be restored to health by a temporary residence on the Hills instead of a Voyage to Europe the charges incurred by Government would be amply repaid”.

Nilgiri Documentation Centre

In June 1835 Governor General William Bentinck was in Ooty recuperating. Sir Frederick Adam, the Governor or Madras and Lord Macaulay were with him. Bentinck was staying in the present Ooty Club. Once, probably when the monsoon rains were battering town, an argument arose between Bentinck and Sir Frederick as to the ‘muscular superiority of the armies of the three presidencies. Bentinck,  who was Governor of Bengal for a long time, argued that Bengalis had the superior physical strength.  Sir Frederick, disputed the claim of the Governor General saying that the muscular force of the Madras and Bombay armies were superior.  Of course, they do not seem to have gone to the extent of laying a bet on the issue. But an order did originate in Bengal soon after for weighing and measuring the men of the Bengal army.

Now we have an idea what the Governor Generals and Governors did, at least sometimes, to while away their time in Ooty, especially during the nasty monsoon weather.

Nilgiri Documentation Centre

Gandhiji returned from his eventful stay in South Afraica to India in 1914 and stayed in Tagore’s Santhiniketan. He first had a glimpse of Nilgiris through the paintings of artist K.Venkatappa who was also staying at Santiniketan. Seeing one of the paintings of Venkatappa about the harshness of the monsoon of Nilgiris,  Gandhiji’s is said to have shivered involuntarily.

In 1917, Millie Polak and sisters, close associates of the Gandhiji in South Afria,  stayed in Coonoor for recuperation. They would have regularly apprised Gandhi about the place.

In the same year, Dr. Anni Besant was  kept in House Arrest in Ooty from June to September. The incident attracted worldwide condemnation. To secure her release, Gandhiji proposed a Padayatra from Chennai to Ooty but the proposal was dropped due to practical difficulties.

In 1919, Tagore came on a nearly fortnight’s tour to the Nilgiris and would have surely shared his experience with Gandhiji.

By that time several Princely states of Gujarat like Baroda, Porbundar and Navanagar had set up establishments in Ooty. The topic of Nilgiris would have certainly cropped up during Gandhiji’s talks with them.

Gandhiji finally arrived in Coonoor on January 29, 1934 en route his hectic untouchability tour of south India. He stayed in Nageswara Rao’s ‘Ramashram’ at Mount Pleasant. Though he came for rest, Gandhi was on the move for the next seven days visiting Kotagiri, Coonoor and Ooty. His routine consisted of morning walks with his associates, meeting visitors, visiting Harijan colonies, addressing public meetings and evening prayers in which hundreds took part.

While in Coonoor Gandhiji wrote to Vallabhbhai Patel, “ Coonoor is a beautiful place. If one can get accommodation here, the daily necessities are cheap. It is very cold in winter though not extremely so. I suggested that, if they wished to give me eight days’ rest, they should let me have it in Coonoor so that I could work among the hill people and also dispose of the papers which had accumulated. I am glad I came here. The hill people come to see me every day. Our workers have been doing good work among them”.

Two years later in 1936, Gandhiji and Patel planned a visit to Nilgiris for rest but it did not come through because of political developments.

Image 1: A painting of Venkattapa of the Ooty lake

Image2: Artist impression of Gandhiji addressing a meeting at Kotagiri

Nilgiri Documentation Centre

Ootacamund June 1. The following is the reply of H.E the Governor ( Lord Willingdon, who later became the Governor General of Canada) to the address presented by the Hill tribes.

Members of the Hill tribes of Nilgiris, I thank you for your interesting address to which I have just had the pleasure of listening. I particularly glad to see you here today for I fear that you and your communities are socially qualified to take part in such celebrations as these since you above all others as age long residents of these hills, have been in a position to mark the gradual growth and development of this town. You too, through traditions handed down to your families, will have clearer impressions of what the spot was like a hundred  years ago when the pioneer of modern Ootacamund first made his way up from the plains and discovered the salubrious nature of these cool Hill tops. It is clear too from what you told me that active assistance of your ancestors was not lacking in those early days to help the founder of Ootacamund in making their roads through virgin forests and I am glad to think that you have had no cause to regret the cooperation and good will which you showed to the stranger in your midst. You acknowledge with gratitude the benefits of education and efficient administration which you have received and the knowledge you have gained of modern methods of raising crops and I take this opportunity of assuring you continued interest which my government takes in your welfare and advancement. I am confident that the progress you have made will be steadfastly maintained and I trust that long before the next century of Ootacamund you will have attained the high place to which you aspire among the peoples of this district. In conclusion let me thank you most warmly for the cordial good wishes to Her Excellency  and myself with which you close your address and express again the pleasure which we both feel at joining with you in celebrating the centenary of Ootacamund in the amenities of which we all share.

                                                —————–

Ooty Centenary

Governor’s Speech

Reply to Address

(Associated Press of India)

Ootacamund June1.

The first centenary of Ootacamund was fittingly celebrated today by the residents of Ootacamund both European and Indian enthusiastically taking part in the celebrations. His Excellency received three addresses in the course of the afternoon from the Station Municipality, Nilgiri District Board, the Hill tribes of Nilgiris respectively and made suitable replies. There was a distinguished gathering at the Stonehouse where the first two addresses were presented and their Excellencies planted two oak trees in front of  the building in commemoration of the occasion. After refreshments the whole party moved on to the Breeks Memorial school playground where there was a huge crowd consisting of school children, hill tribes and others. Here there was a demonstration of girl guides and boy scouts. After inspecting the Governor received an address from the Hill tribes on the same ground and thereafter switched on the electric current at a spot arranged by the Municipality. Thus the town is partially lighted with electricity from today and the lighting scheme will be compete in a month or so.

Ootcamund June 1. The following is the joint reply of H.E. the Governor to the addresses presented by the Ootacamund Municipal Council and  the Nilgiris District Board this afternoon at Stonehouse in connection with the centenary of Ootacamund.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me in the first place in my capacity as one of your hosts offer you on behalf of all my colleagues a very hearty welcome and express the pleasure we feel at your presence here this afternoon to join with us in celebrating  this important occasion in the history of Ootacamund.

Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the Municipality, I thank you most warmly on behalf of my wife and myself for the address which you have just presented and for the charming, and  I fear, all too flattering references which you have made to our work amongst you since I became the governor of this Presidency. This much, I can very truly say, that we have done our best to increase the amenities for the enjoyment of life for all classes and communities who permanently reside in or visit this Hill station. As you suggested, if we have in any way succeeded in our efforts, I can sincerely assure you that the most generous remarks you have made to us today have amply repaid for any labours we have undergone. Let me recall to your minds an occasion about four years ago, soon after my arrival as the governor of Madras when I paid my first visit to Ootacamund and was officially welcomed and received an address from the Municipality. On that occasion you demanded from the new governor three things as urgent necessities. Those three  things were electric lighting, a Town Hall and a Modern Dairy Farm and,  though the  major portion of my term of office has passed without seeing the materialization of these three projects, it is ,  believe  me, not for want of trying , and I assure you it is a great source of satisfaction to me to think that through the wonderful energy and financial genius of Her Excellency we have now a flourish hall in the shape of the Assembly Rooms, that we are, I think I can safely say, assured of a supply of electric power in the near future, and that our enterprising Municipality  has approved a scheme for a Modern Dairy Farm on the Wenlock Downs which will , I trust, ere long do much to improve the health of this town. So though you may think we may have been slow, we have been at least persevering and I hope you will agree when I repeat we have done our best. 

I thank you too Mr. President and members of the District Board , for the appreciative reference which you have made to Her Excellency’s work in this district and on behalf of myself and my Government for your expression of gratitude for the help we have been able to accord you in the administration of local affairs. Let me also, on behalf of the residents and visitors, alike express our appreciation of your efforts to do all you for our comfort and convenience. Indeed, I think we may truly, congratulate  the District Board and the Municipal Council on the part they have played and are playing in the development of Ootacamund and Nilgiris. We are met here today to celebrate the centenary of Ootacamund as a hill station of the government and I feel it to be great good fortune that this occasion should have fallen during the period of my official life as the Governor of Madras. I am glad that you have mentioned the name of Mr. Sullivan, whose oak tree will, after this ceremony today, no longer stand alone of its kind on Stonehouse Hill. Up till now I think I am right in saying that very few of those who enjoy the amenities of the place have realized how much they owe to Mr. Sullivan. Indeed, I doubt if many were even aware of his name ( now his name is a household word) and it is only fitting that on this occasion we should honour his memory and acknowledge the debt we owe to the pioneer of Ootacamund. We can claim without fear of contradiction , I speak with some experience of Hill stations in this country, that she well deserved the name of the Queen of Hill Stations. I go further and claim for her that she is one of the most beautiful spots in the British Empire to whose wonderful climate jaded Governors and Officials have for long years owed much for the refreshment in body and mind they have received here to help them carry on their arduous duties for the welfare of  the people.

To commemorate this auspicious occasion in a few minutes my wife and I have been bidden to plant two oak saplings beside,  their centenarian  brother and we express the hope that 100 years hence when my successor in the Governorship  of Madras is engaged in a similar task when celebrating the second century , my wife and I may be here in spirit and find that recollection of our humble efforts while living amongst you are still remembered at Ootacamund.

In conclusion let me thank you once more for the graceful and generous references in your addresses and express pleasure I feel at meeting you all here today. Our purpose is to express our high hopes for the future of Ootacamund and our conviction that for long years to come our two races will be found cooperating , working together as they are now to make it and keep it the Queen of Hill Stations. 

Nilgiri Documentation Centre

Photo : DC

For the indigenous people of Nilgiris mountains and peaks continue to be sacred and objects of worship.

Similarly, the 10 day Durga Puja underway at Kolkata has an interesting   mythological   connection with the Nilgiris which not many are aware.

According to the book, ‘The Constant and Changing Faces of the Goddess: Goddess Traditions of Asia’,  one legend links the beginning of the Kalighat temple, where the Durga Puja is held, with a devotee named  Brahmananda Giri who was meditating to Goddess Kali, alone in the Nilgiri hills. As the Goddess would not appear to him he decided to commit suicide at which point the Goddess appeared to him with an assurance that she would never leave him unless he asked her to go. Later another devotee is believed to have joined him and Goddess Kali decided to take them to the site of her future temple.

She gave them a stone to hold and close their eyes and next moment they found themselves at Kalishetra. Following the instruction of the goddess, they travelled north and installed the stone at the present Kalighat and started worshiping her giving rise to the widespread Kali worship.

Later, the devotee Brahmananda Giri is believed to have lost Goddess Kali’s presence when he did not recognize her in her disguise as a beggar girl and told her to go away.

Nilgiri Documentation Centre

A Triumphal Arch was erected at Charing Cross to welcome him. This was the first visit by a Viceroy of India.

The entire European population of Ooty as well as a sizable number of Todas, Badagas and Kotas assembled at Charing Cross. The Viceroy stayed at Woodlands.

The Viceroy had squeezed in a visit to the hill station during his tour of the Madras presidency to review the famine relief work.

The annual exodus of the Madras secretariat was cancelled for two years due to the famine. However, Governor the Duke of Buckingham came to Ooty with his daughters to receive the Viceroy.

In his address to the Viceroy, Mr W.E.Schmidt, the Municipal Vice President said, “In most other parts of India the Englishman is simply a sojourner.

He leaves his native land to fulfil an official or commercial career, and then returns to his home. On these Hills, however, we find Englishmen devoting their capital, their energies, and their lives, to the permanent development of the resources of the country. They have made the Nilgiris their home”.

The Municipal Council also pleaded with the Viceroy for, ‘a Railway from the foot of the Hills to Ootacamund.’

In his reply to the address of the Municipal Council, Viceroy Lytton paid glorious complements to the town.

He said, “The Duke drove me in his pony carriage this morning to the first stage of our little journey hither. The morning was fine and for the first time I have seen Ootucamund. Having seen it.

I affirm it to be a paradise, and declare without hesitation that in every particular it far surpasses all that it’s most enthusiastic admirers and devoted lovers have said to us about it.

The afternoon was rainy and the road muddy, but such beautiful English rain, such delicious English mud. Imagine Hertfordshire lanes, Devonshire downs. Westmoreland lakes, Scotch trout streams, and Lusitanian views !”

Prior to his departure, Lord Lytton sent to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital and the Friend-in-Need Society donations of Rs. 500 each.

Nilgiri Documentation Centre.

In that year a treaty was signed between the East India Company and His Highness Ameer Dost Mohummud Khan, Walee of Cabool to “respect the territories of the Honorable East India Company and never to interfere therein; and to be the friend of the friends and enemy of the enemies of the East India Company”.

Dost Mohammad Khan was the founder of the Barakzai dynasty and one of the prominent rulers of Afghanistan during the First Anglo- Afghan War.

The treaty was signed in Peshawar. On behalf of the East India Company, John Lawrence, Chief Commissioner of the Punjab (younger brother of Henry Lawrence, the founder of Lawrence Schools and later the Viceroy of India) signed the treaty.

The treaty was authorized and ratified by the Most Noble the Governor-General, Lord Dalhousie, at Ootakamund, on May 1,1855.

Dalhousie was recuperating in the Nilgiris where he stayed in Ooty, Coonoor and Kotagiri for nearly nine months.

In 1940 an Afghan rebel prince, Sardar Amir Jan, was held in captivity in Ooty and Coonoor and released in 1947.

Along with him had come some of his clansmen who later settled down in Ooty and Coonoor and came to be known as Kabuliwalas or ‘Ettadi Marwadi’ (8 foot moneylenders).

These six foot plus tall moneylenders with their prominent turban and long flowing kurtas travelling in Vespa scooters was a common sight in Ooty and Coonoor in the 1950s and 60s.

The mere sight of them used to strike terror in the borrowers who were mostly punters on race days.

Image: signing of the 1855 treaty.

Nilgiri Documentation Centre.

Many renowned doctors of the IMS served in Nilgiris. Noble winner  Sir Ronald Ross was member who did work in Nilgiris in 1897 on malaria. John Shortt, besides serving Nilgiris,  wrote an important book on the local tribes in 1868. John Wolfran Cornwall, the first Director of Pasteur Institute, Coonoor and some of his successors were from IMS. Some of the doctors of IMS died and buried here.  Indian Medical Service continued till 1947.

The following report appeared in June 1912 in the Indian Medical Gazette. The contents of the report are timeless and most appropriate to the current situation. This is published as a tribute to the medical fraternity for its yeomen service in these pandemic times. )

What the Indian Medical Service has done for India ?

“ From time to time the question is asked what has  the Indian Medical Service done for India? The present time appears to be appropriate for an attempt to record what the Service has done during the past two centuries, towards the treatment of disease in India. What has been achieved in India by members of the medical profession, employed and paid by Government for the public service, there is nothing new. All of it is, or should be, well known. It has all been said a dozen times before. But in India memories are short.

In order to justify the maintenance of a Medical Service, it is not necessary to show that it has gone beyond the sphere of daily duty. If  the members of that Service have, with few and rare exceptions, honestly carried out the duties entrusted to their charge; that seems to us sufficient. That they have done this much, even the detractors of the Service would hardly deny.

In many a desolate frontier outpost, in many a dismal little civil station, they along with their fellow servants, civil and military, have carried on their daily work, in most cases without expectation of any further reward than their fixed and regular pay. They have laid down their lives by scores in “plague, pestilence, and famine, in battle, murder, and in sudden death.” But we hope to show that, in every generation, some members of the service, at least, have done much more than their ordinary duty, and have materially contributed to the advancement of knowledge or to the advantage of the country of their adoption. In so doing, a few have attained to fortune, a somewhat larger number to some degree of fame. Most have gained little for themselves, beyond the consciousness of duty done”.

Image: Unidentified members of IMD in France during World War I

Nilgiri Documentation Centre

“Miss Lee, a daughter of the famous Confederate General, who is staying with Sir Frederick and Lady Roberts, dined with us. She told me what I had either never known or quite forgotten, viz., that Stonewall Jackson had received a mortal wound by the fire of his own men and  her father (General Lee) said to her, ‘I have lost my right arm !’. (Jackson was a formidable commander who fought in Virginia and Maryland and was nick named Stonewall for his valour). This story was later corroborated by history”.

“ Miss Lee was wearing a bracelet, which attracted my attention, and she took it off, at my request. It was formed of buttons from uniforms worn in the American war. One was her father’s (General Lee’s), one Beauregard’s (Confederate officer), two belonged to two of her brothers (George Washington Lee, a great grand step son of George Washington and Robert Lee Jr) one to an uncle who was a Commodore, one to Prince Polignac (a French nobleman), who had fought on the Confederate side, and one to Wade Hampton (Confederate officer).

Nilgiri Documentation Centre

Hastings Fraser belongs to family with a long connection with towns in the Madras presidency. Being the first born among 10 children in 1771in Vellore,  he was named Hastings in gratitude to Warren Hastings, then member of the Council at Madras and later the first Governor General of India.

Hastings Fraser distinguished himself within the army after joining in 1788. He was only 28 when he led his regiment against Tipu Sultan in 1799.  He was nominated as one of the Prize Agents who were tasked with distributing the treasury of Tipu Sultan. He took for himself the famous ‘Attar Casket’,  a silver coffer ‘from Tipu’s own room and other valuables which were later donated by his descendants to the British Museum.

Hastings Fraser saw action in many fronts in India and abroad before retiring to London, where he died in 1852 at the age of 83, unmarried.  

How did the plaque in this name land up near Kotagiri?

Hastings Fraser’s father Major General James Stuart Fraser was the Resident at the Court of the Nizam of Hyderabad for many years and developed loyalty to the Nizams. Naturally, he would have known the Muslims well. One of his daughters also married the brother of the wife of the famous novelist Sir Walter Scott who admired Tipu Sultan. Hasting, himself, having fought in the Siege of Serringapattnam, had a closeness to Muslims and would have kept a Muslim peon as his assistant.

In 1829, Hastings father was compelled to take rest in the Neilgherries where he remained till the middle of 1830. Evidently, they stayed somewhere in Kotagiri as the new road from Mettupalayam to Kotagiri had been completed just then. Quite possibly Hastings would have accompanied his father with all his servants. He would have possibly  also stayed back after his father left in the middle of the year. Kadir Khan must have died after that due to illness as the plaque is dated 7^th December. The Fraser connection did not end with that. In 1837  Major General James Stuart Fraser ‘bought several hundred square feet of land from neighboring Kotas’, in Kotagiri vicinity as the records show.

All Nilgiri communities had two funerals. One, a ‘Green funeral’ immediately after death and a ‘Dry funeral’, after a convenient time period. For the dry funeral,  the earth is tied in a cloth to the neck of a walking stick to represent the dead person  and all the usual funerary rituals are then performed on the stick.

For the Badagas, if a person is eaten by a tiger, carried away in a flood, buried by government authorization after an autopsy, or burned as a plague victim (such that no corpse remains), the rituals can be performed over some object that the deceased was fond of or over a walking stick, in the case of a man or a headband, in the case of a woman. And in earlier times, if a man disappeared, his relatives would wait 12 years to see if he might return. After that they held the dry funeral using a stick in place of the corpse. (Should he return, he was isolated from the community until a ritual of reinstatement had been performed.)

If during an epidemic,   many bodies are buried without ceremony, a communal disposal of walking sticks to which earth has been tied will occur. All will be placed on a single cot, then each family will do the obsequies for its particular members and afterward a joint grain-placing ceremony is performed at the Funeral Grassland.

The  head of the cot is oriented toward the west, and the sticks lie parallel to each other with their handles toward the west. They lie in order of generational level of the dead, with the senior most to the south and the junior most to the north. Within each generational level they are ranked according to actual age but are not separated by sex. Finally, depending on the custom of the phratry, all the sticks will be burned on one pyre or else will be buried in a pit.

The Todas have the green funeral immediately and after some months have the dry funeral for those dead and those who had died since then. As an observer noted, “This is called the dry funeral  but from the amount of feasting and drinking, dancing that ensues, it would appear to be anything but dry”.

Similarly, the Senufo tribe of Burkina Faso have their funeral in two stages. Firstly,  the “wet funeral” which happen in the days following the death of the deceased. One or more years after the burial of the deceased comes the “dry funeral”. These events are always held when the granaries are full of food, after harvest and during the dry season. These rituals last for several days. During this period, the village of the deceased is in spree, and its activity is punctuated by the funeral dances and festivities. They come from afar to attend the funeral celebrations of one of their community member.

Abbe Dubois, the French writer who travelled in southern India in 1792-1823 says in his book,  ‘Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies’, “There is one of these holy mountains in the Carnatic, in the district of Coimbatore. It is called Nilagiri-malai and is believed to be the highest in the province. For this reason alone the Hindus have made it a punyasthala or place of virtue. As it is very difficult to reach the top of this mountain, a view of the summit alone (and it is visible a long way of) is considered sufficient to remove the burden of sin from the conscience of any person who looks at it, provided he looks at it with that  intension”.

When John Sullivan ventured to explore the Nilgiris in 1819  labourers from his district (Coimbatore)  refused to join the expedition declaring the mountains to be the domain of the gods and preferring not to dare a journey beyond the ‘mists’.

According to a ‘well informed Koimbatoori’, ‘The Orientalist containing a series of tales, legends and historical romances’ published in 1842  had this to say about the origin of the name.

The name is derived from the Moon, says the legend current among the Hindoos of Koimbatoor. God Ram was in pursuit of his enemy Ravana, who it is well known had forcibly carried off the divine Goddess Sita. Ram sped through the vaulted heavens, having his sword drawn, ready to deal the death blow of revenge to Ravana. In the forgetfulness of this direful wrath, by a careless  wave of his mighty weapon , he struck the moon with the point thereof and severed from the face a chain of verdant mountains which fell to the earth in the province of Koimbatoor and united the Eastern ghats and the Western ghats.

Hence came the name Chandragiri (Mountain of the Moon).

A name which was subsequently changed by Ram to Neilgherry (Blue Mountains)  because he could not endure to be reminded of his careless  mischance.

For the doubtful, the well informed Koimbatoree  said, “Let him look upon the moon when three or four days old and he will see upon her unequal disk, the very spot from which the Neilgherries were cut off”.

Nilgiri Documentation Centre