SOCIO - ECONOMIC LIFE OF TODAS TRIBES IN NILGIRI HILLS OF TAMIL NADU – AN OVERVIEW

Among the Toda marriages are contracted in a style to which, for simplicity and the absence of ceremony, it is difficult to find a parallel elsewhere. Unlike the natives of the plains, youth marriages are not in vogue amongst them; but, like more civilized people, the sexes marry only on attaining the age of puberty. The girls on these hills attain puberty at from thirteen to sixteen years of age, in which respect they do not differ from the low country races. No restriction, in the matter of personal choice and taste, is placed on either sex belonging to the same tribe; but intermarriages with the other tribes are not permitted.