Gorgeously crafted from wood, this grinding platform or chaki is an excellent example of the much functional and yet beautiful domestic tools having been used by the Toda tribe, an ancient pastoral community of Tamil Nadu, the Nilgiri Hills. Their interest in environmentalism and their expressions are brought out in their symbolism and such everyday objects. It is a wooden disk with legs- three short legs have grooves to enable such short legs to form an insecure tripod construction. The defining feature of this particular piece is the carved tortoise head at one end, so that the whole structure looks like a tortoise. In tribal Hindu beliefs, the tortoise is often said as standing for hardness," "resilience," and balancing the whole cosmos; thus, this chaki is not merely a kitchen item but a part of life.
This chaki is almost an essential belonging of a Toda house as it is predominantly used in dough preparation and chapathis or similar Indian bread making. The sturdy make and balanced tripod offering sufficient function of making the best use of such an artfully carved object are cosmology that speaks for the tribe's deep into nature and mythology. The tortoise has also carried memories of a much older thought about Lord Vishnu's Kurma avatar, who took this shape to sustain the universe. This wooden chaki mends together the components of art, symbolism, and utility into one display of both Nature's and Craftsmanship's tribute to the Toda.