🎨Culture of Uttarakhand

The ritual red-and-white floor art of Kumaon

Aipan is the ritual folk art of Kumaon, drawn freehand in white rice paste on a deep red-ochre ground. It marks thresholds, courtyards and worship spaces at every festival, puja and life ceremony, and in 2021 it received a Geographical Indication tag.

Pichora, ghagra and the Pahadi topi

The traditional dress of Uttarakhand is built for cold, work and ceremony. Everyday wear is plain and practical, but for weddings and festivals the hills bring out bright colour, above all the orange-and-red pichora that a Kumaoni woman wears at every important rite.

The nath, hansuli and guloband

Uttarakhandi jewellery is heavy, gold and full of meaning, worn most fully by a bride. The great gold nath, the rigid hansuli at the throat and the velvet-backed guloband are the pieces that define a Pahadi wedding look.

Ringaal bamboo, woodcarving and Almora copper

The crafts of Uttarakhand come straight from its forests and its mountains: dwarf-bamboo baskets, carved wooden doorways, hand-beaten copper vessels and the thick wool of the high valleys. Most were made for use, and the best of them are quietly beautiful.

Garhwali, Kumaoni and the Pahari tongues

Two main languages carry the culture of the hills: Garhwali in the west and Kumaoni in the east, both part of the Central Pahari group. They are spoken by millions, rich in song and proverb, and written in the Devanagari script, though neither has official status.