Black, red, and white.

The colours of the Toda embroidery may be limited, but their repertoire is far from it. Using just red and black thread (and occasionally blue), the women of the Toda tribe of the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu create a wide variety of designs.

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The Todas, a pastoral community of about 1,500, are one of the six tribes of the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu. Recent research suggests that they may have moved to the higher Nilgiris around 3,500 years ago, due to climate change in the peninsula!

The Toda thread craft, which they call pukhoor, was traditionally used to beautify their shawls, called poothkuli. The motifs were inspired by nature, primarily the buffalo, and flowers, after which the craft itself is named. They also had other geometric designs in their repertoire: heart shapes, triangles, Ws, and combinations of the same.

Toda artisans at work

Some say the black, white, and red represent the netherworld, nature, and the heavens, and others say the colours represent positive and negative emotions.

The Toda lifestyle underwent a huge change in the past 200 years or so, and the once-pastoralist community has taken to agriculture. While traditional Toda embroidery was primarily for personal use and created on their shawls, these days, the embroidery is used to adorn different products.

The traditional craft of Toda embroidery was accorded the Geographic Indication (GI tag) in 2013, and is different from traditional embroidery in many ways.

For one, patterns are created by counting the threads, almost like a weave. No wonder the finished product is often mistaken for Assamese weaves! Because it is similar to a weave, the reverse is as beautiful, with no signs of hanging threads or knots.

What’s more, these Toda women, many of whom have not had any modern numeracy training, are able to produce complex geometric patterns without any ‘pattern book’ or ready reference.

With younger women leaving the pastoral life, there are fewer than 200 practitioners of the craft, most of them women over 50 years of age. “The craft is in real danger of dying out, and without any income, we are unable to hold on to it,” says a member of the tribe.

Of late, many organizations have tried to bring Toda embroidery to prominence, and it has a great following abroad as well. While an entire shawl made using Toda embroidery can be out of the reach of many, we bring you products that preserve the techniques and motifs of the craft, while allowing everyone to enjoy the beauty of this ancient Indian craft. Take a look at our sling bags, keychains, hand made pouches, luggage tags and Earphone pouch.

Our partner works with about 200 Toda women to create beautiful products using this ancient Indian craft.

(Images courtesy: Shalom)

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