The original inhabitants of India are most correctly described by the umbrella term Adivasi. Under this term a large number of communities exist with different social, religious and artistic practises.
Teju belongs to the Pauva caste, also known as Jogi or Bharathari. Traditionally their profession was to wake people at dawn, by singing. Painting was done directly onto the walls of domestic dwellings and Teju is well known for her many murals on cow-dung and clay walls in Delhi and Udaipur.
During the 1980’s the Bharat Bhavan arts centre located in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh encouraged local and international curators and artists to visit Adivasi communities as a way of promoting their cultural practises. This acted as a catalyst for many Adivasi painters who found new subjects and mediums for painting.
Teju for example, was encouraged by the Baroda School painter, Haku Shah to begin drawing on paper. She first began drawing on paper and first showed her works on paper in 1985 at the Crafts Museum in Delhi and later at the Volkenkundemuseum, Zurich University, 1992 and 'Prakriti', Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, 1993. She often portrays herself in her work and is directly inspired by the things around her, her house, children and Hindu beliefs. While Teju's art does not derive from a particular 'Adivasi' style, it nevertheless displays influences from Rhajastani painting and represents a contemporary style of folk painting.