Dakshina Chitra literally means – "a picture of the south". Set up like a heritage village DakshinaChitra has been designed to offer a visitor an unforgettable and authentic insight into the lifestyles of the people of South India. Traditional crafts persons and folk artists work and perform in the reconstructed period settings of 19th century streets, homes and workshop-spaces in the Tamil Nadu & Kerala sections. Whichever section one visits one has a live view of the culture of the communities in the areas either through an exhibition on Tamil culture or a 150 year old agriculturist house from the fertile delta region of Thanjavur or a potter's house from Tiruvallur with its terracotta exhibition.
Other exhibits include folk and classical craft, kitchen utensils, and demonstrations of artisans at work in their traditional environments. The Kerala section has reconstructions of domestic architecture in the distinct styles of north & south Kerala.
The centre occupies ten undulating acres overlooking the Bay of Bengal, at Muttukadu, twenty five kilometers south of Chennai, on the East Coast Road to Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu, India. A project of the Madras Craft Foundation (MCF), a non-profit organisation Dakshina Chitra does not only document but also actively promotes the conservation of the different living traditions of South India. Apart from its publications it runs a Masters Course in Arts Management with Kalakshetra. It also arranges a wide array of activities in the area of cultural conservation including summer camps, festivals of folk arts and village crafts, folk performances, textile etc. The institution has also done extensive documentation of Tamil Nadu's traditionally jewel making and the practice of colouring wood.