Toda village behind Sylk's Hotel, Udagamandalam (Ootacamund).

Photograph of a Toda village behind Sylk's Hotel, Ootacamund in South India, from the Archaeological Survey of India Collections, taken by an unknown photographer in the 1870s. Udagamandalam or Ootacamund, popularly known as Ooty, was developed as a hill station by the British in the 1820s. This is a view of two Toda houses, with a family group posed in the foreground. The Todas were a tribal people, living in the Nilgiri Hills of southern India, whose livelihood depended on cattle. Their dwellings were huts constructed of bamboo, rattan and thatch enclosed with a wall of loose stones. A Toda village was usually made up of five buildings; three were used for living accommodation, one as a dairy and one to house cattle at night.

Photographer: Unknown

Medium: Photographic print

Date: 1870