Mahisha ritual among Todas?

[Venkatraman Iyer]

A recent India Today has on its cover, A. B. Vajpayee sporting
a headwear with two buffalo horns. Probably on a trip to
a central Indian tribe areas. Baigas (or another tribe?) have
the buffalo horns headwear decorated with sea shells. The position
of buffalo horns are exactly like in the famous Indus seal of
the cross-legged deity sitting amidst animals and also like the Mahisha
in Maamallapuram Pallava panel where Durga is fighting
Mahisha.

Do the Todas, the Dravidian tribe in the Nilgiri mountains,
have a headwear like this or do they have rituals where
buffalo horns are worn? The Toda culture is based extensively
on buffalo rearing and dairying.

V. Iyer

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