The Design Story of Drishti Bommai

In the bustling streets of South India, it isn’t unusual to spot a pair of wide, unblinking eyes staring back at you. Sometimes it’s a clay doll mounted on a compound wall, other times it’s painted across the back of a lorry. These figures often fierce, are known as Drishti Bommai (Tamil), Drishti Gombe (Kannada), or Drishti Bomma (Telugu). At their core, they are talismans created to ward off the evil eye, but for anyone with an eye for design, they are also fascinating works of visual culture.

The Cultural Lens

The Drishti Bommai has existed for centuries as a protector figure. Traditionally modeled after Asuras (demons) with menacing features, flared nostrils, and bulging eyes, their purpose is to absorb negative energy directed at a home, family, or business. They embody the deep-rooted Indian belief in nazar, the idea that envy or ill-intention can manifest as harm.

These dolls aren’t confined to temples or sacred rituals. You’ll see them perched on newly built homes, tied to scaffolding at construction sites, hung on vehicles, or even printed as stickers on shop shutters. What’s striking is how seamlessly the motif adapts to context, retaining cultural meaning while taking on new visual forms.

The Visual Language

From a design standpoint, the Drishti Bommai is a masterclass in visual exaggeration. Every element is dialed up: the bold palette of red, black, yellow, and green; the oversized eyes that demand attention; the expressive facial features that balance fear with humor. This deliberate aesthetic distortion makes them instantly memorable and effective in their function—after all, to repel a bad gaze, you need a gaze more powerful than any other.

Much like other Indian folk art traditions, these dolls rely on symbolism through form. The fangs signal ferocity, the colors evoke energy, and the symmetry of features creates harmony within chaos. When reinterpreted in modern design whether in branding, illustration, or even digital memes, this visual vocabulary carries forward a cultural memory while still feeling fresh and contemporary.

Why It Matters

In a world obsessed with minimalism and muted palettes, the Drishti Bommai stands loud and unapologetic. It resists being reduced to mere “folk kitsch” and instead asserts its role as both guardian and storyteller. For Indian designers, it’s a cue to look inward, to explore how indigenous symbols can be woven into contemporary narratives without losing their roots.

The Drishti Bommai may have begun as a shield against envy, but today it is also a canvas of cultural resilience, a striking symbol that continues to protect, delight, and inspire through the language of design.