About a dozen Narikuravars sit under the trees on Marina beach, tattooing tourists, the buzz of their machines creating a dull symphony. Among them is D Rajini (44), who has a tattoo of an eagle covering his back.
Rajini says that the last time he saw people seeking traditional designs — flowers, kolams and bundles of crops — was when his mother’s generation got tattooed. “Youngsters prefer the latest designs. The old ones had a lot of lovely shading that we no longer see,” he says, tattooing cartoon hearts on a customer’s forearm.
The Narikuravar community in Tamil Nadu has long been associated with pachai kuthal. This art form that uses the skin as its canvas imparts a green tinge due to the ink, made of herbs and soot. This nomadic community first began using thorns, then needles. They moved to tattoo machines only about three years ago.
