Photography was used as a tool in ethnological research
since the 1850s, supplanting drawings and prints to more objectively measure
physical features. Albert T. W. Penn’s portraits show a certain intimacy and
rapport with his subjects. The Toda man is clearly posed, yet Penn reveals strength
of character in his bare chest and distant gaze. This portrait was reproduced
in Edgar Thurston’s Castes and Tribes of Southern India
(1909) to substantiate certain racial theories. The text refers to the “profuse
development of hair” and shoulder scar as characteristic of Toda men, who were
said to burn themselves to fight fatigue.