Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad (IIT-H) are in the process of recording the age-old and now-declining practices of Thotis, a tribal community in the northern Telangana district of Adilabad.
- The tattoo work of Thotis stands out with unique patterns and craft and faces extinction, as the number of people who know this beautiful art that requires immense skills, is dwindling.
- The Thoti tribals are an associated group of Raj Gonds and their traditional profession was singing ‘Gond Gadhas’.
- The women of the community have been traditional tattoo makers, which they practiced as part of the healing and curing process.
- They engrave tattoos of different signs on the legs, back, forearms, forehead, etc and do not consider one married until one is tattooed on the forehead.
- The team at IIT took up the project as the conventional practices of the Thotis have been on a decline as only a handful of families continue with the age-old traditions.
- The Thotis are also an endangered tribal community as per the Census with only 4,811 members alive.
