COIMBATORE: Todas, the primitive tribal community in the Nilgiris district, staged a demonstration in front of the Collectorate in Udhagamandalam on Thursday to protest against a private TV channel for allegedly misrepresenting their traditional ceremonies.
President of Nilgiris District Todas Welfare Association Adaiyala Kutta said that in a feature on Toda marriage telecast by the TV channel for its programme Nijam at 10 pm on Wednesday, it had wrongly projected a ceremony called ‘Bow and Arrow’ — conducted when a woman becomes pregnant — as Toda men marrying after their brides conceive.
Adaiyala who led the agitation demanded that the channel telecast a clarification. He said the community would consider sending a notice to seek compensation from the channel.
According to him, as the Toda community worshipped nature, marriage ceremony was not conducted. A Toda youth and his parents would go to a girl’s house. If the youth expressed his wish to marry the girl, then the youth would take the girl to his house. If the girl became pregnant, ‘Bow and Arrow’ would be performed.
This practice was wrongly projected as the marriage ceremony.
Sathiyaraj, one of the leaders of tribal communities in the Nilgiris, appealed to the media not to project Toda’s tradition and culture in a bad taste.
