Teikirzi, in the Toda phonemic spelling Tökisy, is the foremost goddess of the Toda pastoralists of the Nilgiri Hills. By their own account the Toda and their long-horned buffalo were created on the high massif of the Nilgiris by Teikirzi, who while she dwelt among living men ordained the institutions of Toda society and the elaborate ritual of the sacred dairy. She is paired with her brother On: where she governs the living and their herds, he reigns over the dead. Together they are reckoned the two most important beings of a vast Toda pantheon that also includes the gods of particular hills and rivers.