Photograph — A craftswoman at hand-embroidery work (representative photograph). Source image unavailable; caption preserved.
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Embroidery & Needlecraft · Tamil Nadu — Nilgiris
Toda Embroidery (Pukhoor)
A distinctive red-and-black counted-thread embroidery on white cotton or wool shawls, created by the Toda people of the Nilgiris, a community of only a few thousand people.
GI status: GI-registered, 2013
Shelf life: Indefinite
Women-led sector
| Category | Embroidery & Needlecraft |
|---|---|
| Region | Tamil Nadu — Nilgiris |
| GI status | GI-registered, 2013 |
| Typical shelf life | Indefinite |
| Women's role in production | Practised exclusively by women of the small Toda pastoralist community of the Nilgiri hills; Toda embroidery is one of the very few crafts in India that is documented as done only by women, using no drawn pattern, entirely from memory. |
Why this fits a low-wastage SHG model: An entirely finished, non-perishable textile product from one of India's smallest and most clearly women-led craft communities — a strong, low-risk anchor item for the catalogue.
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