Toda Tribe Pukhoor Embroidery Nilgiris Tamil Nadu

The Toda tribe of the Nilgiri hills produce a distinctive needle embroidery called pukhoor or Toda embroidery, worked on coarse undyed or natural-coloured cotton cloth using red and black thread in counted-thread technique. The geometric designs — composed of chevrons, lozenges, parallel bands, and stylized buffalo and dairy motifs — encode clan identity, gender, and ceremonial status, with specific design sequences restricted to male priests and female embroiderers according to Toda sacred custom. Toda women are the sole embroiderers, working on the traditional white cotton shawl (putkuli) worn by both men and women and on household ceremonial cloth. The craft has GI protection. The Toda community at villages in the Nilgiri plateau around Ooty and Gudalur maintain the tradition, and Toda embroidered textiles are supplied to state emporiums and heritage textile collectors. NGO support has helped in market linkage and community intellectual property protection against commercial imitation.