Explore the culture and art

PUKHOOR ON THE PEAKS

NEERKASI MUND AND KARIKAD MUND

About Us

We are the Toda people, living in the Nilgiri Hills. Our days begin with buffalo herding and farming, and end in quiet circles where needle, thread and laughter keep the craft alive. “I have been doing embroidery for 35 years,” says Roobavathi, leader of the women’s group Torhohor – Ormoni Poov. “When I was young, we made Puthukulis only for our own ceremonies; now people far beyond our hills wear them too.”

The Puthukuli is more than a shawl. We wrap it for weddings, funerals and every milestone; its wave-like Torvohor patterns echo our mountains, rivers and plants. Mothers still teach daughters at day’s end, dyeing Karur wool in the beloved reds and blacks, and now also in blues, greens and purples, so the heart of the Nilgiris can travel farther than we ever have. Through exhibitions, Instagram and word of mouth, each shawl still carries the soul of our land, sun, moon and buffalo—stitched forever into every thread.

Artisans

Meet the Toda artisans—mountain herders by dawn, master embroiderers by dusk—whose needles turn Nilgiri rivers and buffalo songs into every Puthukuli.

Name: Roobavathi

Experience: 35 years

Certification for embroidery and toda tribal dance

Name: Sudhamalli

Experience: 24 years

Certification from nift and their community

Name: Rukkumalli

Experience: 20 years

Certification for embroidery

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Each Puthukuli is a stitched piece of the Nilgiri soul.

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