R. Krishnan

R. Krishnan Kitna painted the stories of the Alu Kurumba people of the Nilgiris, using colours made from nature. He was named posthumously for the Padma Shri in 2026 in the field of art, from Tamil Nadu ^[1].

Learning from the walls

Krishnan was born on 5 January 1973 in Vellaricombei village in the Nilgiris ^[2]. As a child he started painting, inspired by elders who painted on the walls of their homes ^[2]. He left school after Class 8 but kept learning from elders, about the meaning of the motifs and also about honey gathering and traditional farming ^[2].

Reviving Ajile Bottu

From the late 1990s he took part in surveys and community work with the Keystone Foundation ^[2]. In 1999 he joined training workshops run by the C. P. Ramaswamy Foundation and became the senior artist who taught younger community members ^[2]. In 2004 he formed the Ajile Bottu artists’ group with other senior Alu Kurumba artists ^[2].

He held workshops and exhibitions across India and contributed to books on Alu Kurumba knowledge, including Folk Tales from the Nilgiri Hills (2015) ^[2]. His work was recognised by the Lalit Kala Akademi’s regional centre in Chennai, DakshinaChitra and the Tribal Research Centre in Ooty, among others ^[2].

He died on 20 March 2025, while in the middle of a training programme in an Alu Kurumba village ^[2].