Session 43 summary
Toda tribe and embroidery-The Nilgiris were the first place Gina went to where she wanted to research on the jewelries of the Seven Tribes. There she found the Toda embroidery very interesting which she thought she could incorporate into necklaces. The Toda settlements are in the Nilgiris’ 10-12 villages and there are about 200 Toda embroiderers. They are a small pastoral community and their traditional occupation is agriculture and cattle herding which is mostly done by the men. The women of the community are very skilled with Toda embroidery. The Toda embroidery is called Pugur (flower) in the native tongue and the patterns are based on the thread counts. The women are very skilled as all the patterns are made by memory, and since there is no recorded evidence of the embroidery they remember the exact thread counts of a pattern and the motifs that are to be put in and the combinations stitched together in perfect harmony. It is important to note that the patterns are also pretty on the other side (backside) as the women work with great precision and clean work without any threads left hanging. The embroidery is done in red and black on a white cloth using woolen threads. The Toda motifs are inspired by nature and the flora and fauna of the Nilgiris. For the Todasthe buffalo horn is very sacred and used as an important symbol. Other motifs used are; sun, moon, stars, flowers, mountains, valleys, snakes, rabbits and boxes. All these motifs are converted into geometric patterns and then used in the embroideries. The colors that were initially used were red, black and blue but now blue is not used much in the embroideries. The colors depict various things; white-purity and innocence, red-adolescence and youth and black-maturity. Gina took these Toda embroidery stripes and put it together with beads and made the cascading necklaces.
Lot of people often confuse the Toda embroidery with the Naga weave. But they are different with different set of motifs. The Toda embroideries have the motifs represented through geometric patterns and the Naga weave have the actual motifs on them and they are worn on auspicious occasions.
All the women of the tribes have hair ringlets which look like dreds which Gina found to be interesting. She also found that the women of the tribes of Nilgiris have tattoos in different parts of their bodies which are geometric shapes and the tribes can be distinguished by the position of the tattoo on the body. The tattoos are made with breast milk and ash. Exploring different tribes she came to know about the traditional set of Bagada jewelry worn during Mande Dandhu (head shaving ceremony of baby boy). There are four Kadagas, malaimani and aarnakair (waist belt). The traditional bagadamookuti (nosering) and chinna (earring) are inspired by the flowers found in that region.
About the Speaker
Gina Joseph
Designer, story collector, craft revivalist
Chennai
Gina is a part craft revivalist and part jewelry designer. She collaborates with the rural and folk artisans across India. Her jewelry design cater to modern contemporary women. Her brand ZOLA India allows rural and folk artisans to express themselves through wearable art and is a voice to the world.
