Toda dairy formula is of this nature. It seems more probable that the Toda formula furnishes an example of the way in which the mantra or similar form of words may be developed. I have already shown that the dairy formula is probably a prayer in process of degeneration. This process has to go but little farther to produce a form of words which no one could recognise as prayer, and in this stage the words would probably be held to have virtue in themselves without any idea of appeal to higher powers.
It seems probable that such a form of words as the Indian mantra may arise in two ways. In one, it is merely a development of that lower order of magic spell which involves no idea of higher powers, because those who use it have no idea of higher powers. In the other, it is a product of the degeneration of prayer, and the Toda prayer possibly shows us a stage in this degenerative process.
In conclusion, I may point out that the preceding pages have furnished material which shows how close the connection between magic and religion may continue to be, even in a people whose religion is so highly developed as is that of the Todas. Among these people magic and religion have undoubtedly diverged widely from one another. There is a clear separation between sorcerer and dairyman-priest, and yet both use forms of words which are obviously related to one another, bearing clear signs of a common origin. The sorcerer who wishes to injure his fellow-creatures uses a form of words closely resembling that used by the dairyman who wishes to promote the prosperity of his buffaloes, and there is some reason to believe that the attitude to the deities invoked is much the same in the two cases.
W. H. R. Rivers.
