Vernacular Architecture

Module 03: Tribal Architecture

By: Sonu Mohanty

9th, 12th & 16th April 2021
Tribal Architecture

Introduction to Tribal
Architecture
 Tribes

A tribe is a social group of people who have the following qualities:

- a definite territory or who claim to occupy a common territory

- A common name
- A common dialect
- A common culture
- Behaviour of an endogamous group
- Common taboos
- Existence of distinctive social and political systems
- Full faith in their leaders
- Self-sufficiency in their distinct economy
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 Tribal Architecture

Tribal vernacular of different regions are made up of a wide distinct

architectural types which have gradually evolved over the years

Tribes build their shelters using local materials on selective sites or

burrowed within the earth itself

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 Tribal India

- Tribal in India are found in forests and in naturally isolated regions.

- In the places like hills and jungles of Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar,
Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura and Himachal
Pradesh

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Tribal Architecture: Andhra Pradesh

Araku Valley: Gatorjilda,

Korayi and Kottavalsa
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Tribal Architecture: Andhra Pradesh

Araku Valley: Araku Tribal

Museum
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 Tribal Architecture

Chuttillu from Visakhapatnam

district of Andhra Pradesh
 Chuttillu from Visakhapatnam
district of Andhra Pradesh

- Chuttilu style houses are built with mud or mud and wattle, the house is raised on a plinth decorated
with finger marks in white rice paste or vertical stripes of white and red ochre. Thickly thatched roof
projects and comes down very low on all sides to protect interiors of the mud walls from the rains
and because of it, it was better not to have windows.

- The interior of the house is divided into two or three rooms: the inner circular room is used to stock
grains during summer and used as sleeping space during winters, it is enveloped by another circular
space that serves as the kitchen on one side and a store or a sitting/sleeping area at the other end.
Each house has a spacious verandah at the entrance.

- Earlier, the houses were built close to each other in a circular formation so that the cyclonic winds
that often hit the coast bounced off tangentially away from the cluster.

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Chuttillu from Visakhapatnam
district of Andhra Pradesh

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Chuttillu from Visakhapatnam
district of Andhra Pradesh

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Tribal Architecture

Madhya Pradesh: Gond

*Credit to slideshare
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 Tribal Architecture in Madhya Pradesh

Dwellings of different tribes in Madhya Pradesh have many features in

common – thick mud walls for insulation, pitched roof with wooden
trusses to allow water to run off the and a raised plinth to avoid
flooding during the heavy rains brought by the monsoon winds.

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 Dwelling of Gond Tribes
Kanha Buffer Area, Narna Village

- the unique houses painted in blue and white

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 Dwelling of Gond Tribes
Kanha Buffer Area, Narna Village

- The white colour is basically limestone mixed with water, and the blue colour is
achieved by mixing distemper powder with colouring agents

- The primary reasons for adopting these colours is the ease of availability in the market,
and them being cost effective.

- The locals also believe that the white colour used in the bottom half of the walls,
allows them to easily detect and spot the movement of snakes or dangerous insects
even at night, as the white background of the walls helps them stand out.

- These colours also act as cooling agents during hot summers

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 Dwelling of Gond Tribes
Kanha Buffer Area, Narna Village

- the foundation

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 Dwelling of Gond Tribes
Kanha Buffer Area, Narna Village

- the third layer on the outside, at the bottom of the structure, which is the base of the
house and acts as a strong foundation holding the entire structure together.

- Also called as Pirbitti in the local language

- This base is slightly projected towards the outside and is pasted with cow dung.

- It also serves as a seating area for the locals outside their house

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 Dwelling of Gond Tribes
Kanha Buffer Area, Narna Village

- Wall Art Work

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 Dwelling of Gond Tribes
Kanha Buffer Area, Narna Village

- Majority of these structures have cattle sheds in front of each house with at least three
four cattle in every household

- Behind each house you will also find an organic garden which grows vegetables and
fruits making the inhabitants self- sufficient, throughout the year

- The upper half of these houses are fascinating too, as almost all the houses have a
well-built storage area

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*Credit to slideshare
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*Credit to slideshare
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Tribal Architecture

Odisha: Kondh and Santal

 Kondh
Kandhmal Highlands

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 Kondh
Kandhmal Highlands

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 Kondh
Niyamgiri Hills

- The Niyamgiri hill range, 40km from Rayagada, is home to the Dongria Kondh, a unique
farming tribe who worship nature, hills and streams.

- They worship the mountain god Niyam Raja and his hilly dominion that includes the
4,000m Niyam Dongar (literally, Mountain of Law).

- While their name is derived from ‘dongar’, meaning ‘mountain’, they regard themselves
as Jharnia or ‘protectors of the streams’.

- This reverence for nature is echoed in their art, which uses triangular motifs to depict
various deities.

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 Kondh
Niyamgiri Hills

- One of the largest tribal communities in the state, the Kondhs have an intrinsic
knowledge of the forest, mountains, trees and plants including rare medicinal herbs.

- Apart from cattle breeding, they cultivate fruits in orchards and a vast range of crops
for livelihood.

- Wrapped in strips of white cloth, the women of the Dongria Kondh community can be
distinguished by their facial tattoos, distinctive jewellery, multiple earrings and a trio of
nose rings besides silver neck bands, bangles and beads. Another distinction is their
hair, styled with many attractive hairclips.

- Dongria Kondh men are no less fashionable, sporting hair buns, hair clips and two nose
rings, though they are less colourful than the ladies. They carry hunting tools like bows
and axes.

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 Kondh
Niyamgiri Hills

- The Kondhs speak a language called Kui.

- The community is spread around Kandhmal (Phulbani), Balangir, Koraput and Ganjam
districts.

- Head to Barakhamba from where you can hike to the remote villages of the Desia
Kondh. Desia Kondhs bear beautiful tattoos on their faces.

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 Kondh
Niyamgiri Hills

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 Kondh
Niyamgiri Hills

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 Santal
Districts of Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Balasore

- The word ‘Santal’ is derived from two words; santa meaning calm and peaceful and ala
meaning man. In the past, the Santals were leading a nomadic life.

- Gradually they came to settle down in the Chhotanagpur plateau.

- Towards the end of 18th Century they migrated to the Santal Parganas of Bihar and
then they came to Odisha.

- They speak Santali language which belongs to the Munda group of Austro-Asiatic sub
family of languages.

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 Santal
Districts of Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Balasore

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 Santal
Districts of Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Balasore

Settlement and its Surrounding

- The Santal village is surrounded by agricultural fields, pastures, ponds, graveyard and a
common place of worship known as jaher era or jaher in short.

- Located at the village outskirts the jaher is the sacred groove comprising of sal trees
within which their deities are believed to be residing.

- Usually, the Santal villages are large and the number of households vary from fifty to
hundred.

- Their houses enclosed within boundaries are arranged in a linear pattern on both the
sides of a wide village street

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 Santal
Districts of Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Balasore

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 Santal
Districts of Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Balasore

Wall, Wall Decoration and Interior Spatial Arrangement

- Santal houses called olah are large, neat and clean as well as attractive with multi-
coloured paintings on the outside walls.

- The bottom of the wall is painted with black soil, the middle portion with white soil and
the upper portion with red soil. The houses are multi roomed and thatched with local
tiles (khapar) or straw (busub).

- The walls are made of wooden planks plastered with cow dung and mud. Each house
has a long verandah.

- Rooms are very spacious. Towards the corner of the main room, there is a sacred place
known as bhitar where the ancestral spirits are worshipped.

- The main room is partitioned with a mud wall, which is used for storing grain and other
agricultural products and kept on a wooden platform.

- The kitchen (dakaolah) is found at one side of the main room

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 Santal
Districts of Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Balasore

Kitchen-Garden and Headman’s House

- The cowshed pangrigalah is situated adjacent to the house. The kitchen garden is
attached to the house.

- The houses have rectangular courtyard where the members sit in their leisure time and
discuss various matters.

- The largest house of the village belongs to Manjhi, the secular headman of the village.
In front of his house another ritual place called Manjhi-than is located. It is the seat of
the spirit of founder headman of the village.

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