At any rate, their religion is not such as to make them more enterprising.

Gods they may be said to have none.

The bare names of certain deities of the hill-tops are retained, but whether these were once the honoured gods of the Todas or, as some think, those of a former race, certain it is that there is more shadow than substance about them now.

The real religion of the people centres round a dairy-ritual.

From a practical and economic point of view, the work of the dairy consists in converting the milk of their buffaloes into the butter and buttermilk which constitute their staple diet.