DakshinaChitra

Heritage village in Tamil Nadu, India

DakshinaChitra ("a picture of the south") is a living history museum in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, dedicated to South Indian heritage and culture. It is located to the south of Chennai. Opened to the public on 14 December 1996, the museum was founded and is being managed by the Madras Craft Foundation (MCF). The MCF was established in 1984. Deborah Thiagarajan, an Indian art historian of American origin, governs the museum. The museum is built on of land taken on a 33 year lease from the Government of Tamil Nadu. Located at Muttukadu, on the East Coast Road connecting Chennai and Pondicherry, the site overlooks Bay of Bengal. Developed as a heritage village, DakshinaChitra has an array of displays and relocated originals of dwellings depicting the life pattern of people in the states of southern India. The exhibits portray the architecture, art, folk performing arts and craft of South Indian traditions. The amenities include a research unit, crafts bazaar, playground, an area to hold religious functions, stone workshop, and souvenir kiosks. There are craftsmen who permanently work at DakshinaChitra who demonstrate or explain how they make their wares. Besides workshops are conducted regularly for various crafts by artists who rent the community studio.

DakshinaChitra, meaning "a picture of the south", is a heritage village where the lifestyle of South Indians is displayed based on their states, through the architecture of the region and the living conditions and habits of the people. It was founded by the Madras Craft Foundation (MCF), an NGO started in 1984, by Deborah Thiagarajan. Thiagarajan came to Madras (now Chennai) in 1970, and visited several rural villages in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. She founded MCF in 1984 with the intent of preserving the regional culture and heritage. In July 1991, the MCF received of land for the project from the Government of Tamil Nadu on a 33 year lease. In establishing the museum, cooperation was maintained between government organizations, industry and specialists in the sphere of conservation. Contributors to the museum's creation included long term corporate donors [Ford Foundation] and the Office of the Development Commissioner for Handicrafts
The roots of this museum can be traced back to the open air museums of Europe, the United States, Japan and Southeast Asia, though its closest precursor is National Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum, New Delhi. Deborah Thiagarajan was influenced by Old Sturbridge Village and Plimoth Plantation (USA) and unidentified sites in Japan and Romania. The center's emphasis on pre industrial technology and material culture were selectively borrowed from many of the existing museums. DakshinaChitra's exhibitions are predominantly architectural as at Skansen, Greenfield Village (USA) and the Weald and Downland Museum (England). The exhibitions consist of relocated originals. Not all structures are reassembled originals, as seen at Colonial Williamsberg and Plimoth Plantation, several structures are generic replicas of vernacular styles and others are exact recreations of specific off site structures. In addition, the exhibitions span a broad range. With its relocated originals and re created copes, DakshinaChitra aims to represent the late eighteenth to mid twentieth century, framing that vaguely bounded period of intensive British colonization.

The museum's master plan was developed by architect Laurie Baker, free of cost, because of his interest in rural architectural design. A master plan is a small scale graphic outline that shows all the major elements of a project. Laurie Baker, known for his unconventional approach, included the use of local materials and the adaptation of artisanal production methods suited to the environment in design. Baker began his master plan for DakhshinaChitra as a map, which in execution on site was different from the it. He planned to represent architecture of each southern state as a village with its small streets and walkways. Baker did not want to have grand buildings in the campus. He thought that ‘this place’ should deal with arts and crafts of ordinary people. He pursued his philosophy of ‘small is beautiful’. Benny Kuriakose, the architect who carried out the work later, recalls in one of his articles that Baker said; “the idea is to abandon the big exhibition pavilion system entirely. For one thing, they can’t be typical or genuine because our forebears didn’t have such things, and for another thing, folk stuff is mainly small. Blow it up and out of size, it is all wrong.” The reason for this change was due to change in circumstances around the site location. One such example is the change of entrance from side road to the East Coast Road. When Baker prepared the master plan, the sizes and styles of the buildings which are purchased were not known. To accommodate these transplanted buildings, master plan had to be modified.

The collection consists of items of daily life used in the southern states. As of 2014, there were 4,220 artefacts on display; 3,200 are objects 950 are textiles and 70 contemporary works. The textile collection consists of cotton and silk attires of male (dhoti, lungi, kurta, turban, cap, ceremonial attire), female (saree, blouse, half saree, full skirt, set mundu, veil, scarf), furnishings, yardage (Real Madras Handkerchief, Ikat, Kalamkari etc. ), Telia Rumal, decorative wall hangings and ritual textiles. The entire display is in the English language, and highlights the cultural aspects of people and the craft traditions of heritage homes of South India. With its fusion of the education, entertainment and spectacle, it is a major destination marketed to the cosmopolitan audiences. It is a space offering rural southern India as representation of the country, that invites both detached contemplation and nostalgic attachment. It is also said that DakshinaChitra embodies the contradiction of mourning the loss of pre industrial life ways, yet is premised on free market economic practice.