ANDAMAN AND

NICOBAR ISLANDS
Vernacular Architecture India.
Geographical Locations
 Geographical Locations
• There are 349 islands in the territory having an
area of 8,249 km2 (3,185 sq .mi.). Of these, about
38 are permanently inhabited.
• The islands extend from 6° to 14° North
latitudes and from 92° to 94° East
longitudes.
• The Andamans are separated from the Nicobar
group by a channel (the Ten Degree Channel)
some 150 km (93 mi) wide.
• The highest point is located in North Andaman
Island (Saddle Peak at 732 m (2,402 ft). The
Andaman group has 325 islands which cover an
area of 6,170 km2 (2,382 sq mi) while the
Nicobar group has only 24 islands with an area
of 1,765 km2 (681 sq mi).
 Climatic Conditions
• Tropical climate.
• Humid Weather and has no winter season. Rainy
season lasts for 180 days in a year. The southwest
monsoon touches the Indian soil first in the
Andamans and then proceeds towards the Indian
mainland.
• Seasons: Summer - January to April, Monsoon –
May to December.
Relative Humidity: 70% - 90%.
Mean minimum temperature at 23 °C and
maximum at 28°C
Annual Rainfall: 3,000 mm
• Andaman & Nicobar Islands is always warm, with
pleasant sea-breeze . The rainy season happens twice a
year under the influence of Southwest monsoon in
mid-May to September, and Northeast monsoon in
 Onge Hut
• They are built to the shape of a somewhat flattened
cone, about 13 feet high, and 30 feet in diameter.
• On a framework of light sticks , supported by
twenty or more upright poles planted irregularly
about the interior, a thick covering of large mats is
laid.
• The mats are made by fastening the stripped mid-ribs
of a species of fern-palm side by side with a rattan
lashing after the style of a "chick," and then securing
at right angles to the foundation thus constructed a
thick layer of the pinna of the same plant.
• For doors, several of the lower mats are arranged to
roll up, and leave an opening about 4 feet square.
• Sleeping platforms are formed by laying split
bamboos lengthwise on a framework, measuring
about 5 feet by 4 feet, which is raised above the
KAR NICOBARESE FAMILY
AND DWELLING-
 KAR NICOBARESE FAMILY AND DWELLING-
HOUSE, WITH LOUNGE BENEATH
• All the buildings stand on thick piles, about
7 feet high, but vary in architectural type.
• The living-houses (pati), roughly about 20
feet in diameter, and 15-20 feet in height
from floor to apex, are in shape something
between an inverted basin and a pie-dish,
covered with a heavy thatch of lallang grass.
• Without windows or visible entrance, the
interior is reached by a neatly-made ladder of
bamboo, or notched pole, through a trapdoor
in the floor, which works on like hinges and
has an alarum attached, so that any nocturnal
intruder will make his presence known.
KAR NICOBARESE FAMILY AND DWELLING-
HOUSE, WITH LOUNGE BENEATH
• The top of each pile is fitted with a large, circular, wooden disc, to prevent the
entry of rats and reptiles, and beneath the house, in the shade, there is generally a
swing, and also a platform of springy cane that serves the native for a lounge.
Baskets, bag-shaped and wide-meshed, hang from the piles, and in these the hens are
put when it is laying-time.
• Inside, the walls are generally neatly lined with thin battens of areca palm attached
horizontally; up in the roof, a kind of attic is formed, by means of a light shelving
of areca or other palm wood, having a square aperture left in the centre for
entrance.
• On the floor, which is also grated, are the wooden clothes-chests that contain the
family possessions, betel-boxes, the mats of areca palm leaf, and the wooden head-
rests which are used when sleeping; and from the walls hang baskets, spears,
crossbows, suspensory contrivances made from small branches with part of the twigs
left on, and also some tobacco, coconuts, and a piece of pork—the offering to the
A KITCHEN HOUSE,
 A KITCHEN HOUSE, MUS VILLAGE

• At the further end the fireplace is situated. A flat block of wood is hollowed
out and covered with sand or clay, and huge clay pots often with a capacity of
many gallons stand above it, on pieces of stone, raising them clear of the
coconut husks which are the principal fuel.
• Around lie pandanus fruit, the boards and shells with which it is prepared for
eating, and the thorn-armed leaf stems of the rattan, which the natives use for
grating up coconut. Up in the roof, are stuck, between the thatch and the rafters,
hollowed out wooden troughs, in which the food of the pigs, dogs, and other
animals is prepared; flat wooden dishes, provision baskets, and fans for blowing
up the fire, made of the sheathing petiole of palm trees, while, across the beams,
are hung coconut shells joined in pairs by a short rattan handle which contain
the day's supply of water.
KITCHEN AND DWELLING-
HOUSE,WITH
 KITCHEN AND DWELLING-HOUSE,WITH
FESTIVAL TREES,NANKAURI
• Bamboo posts, too, split at the upper end and spread out fanwise, are planted at intervals
along the beach; they are put up yearly by every man in the village, to keep fever and devils
(iwi) away; and several grotesque figures of crocodiles (yéo), placed in little shelters, raised
on poles, prevent their living counterparts from attacking the villagers when they enter the
water.
• The houses are of two kinds, round and rectangular; the latter are used as kitchens and
storerooms, but there is a fireplace in the others, where much of the cooking is done. The
conical roofs are made of attaps of nipah palm, neatly fastened to a framework of thick rattan
by lashings of cane, the sides and floor are generally of roughly-hewn boards; inside, about 3
feet from the wall, a circle of posts helps to support the roof, which, in some cases, is entirely
lined with horizontal laths of wood. The apex is crowned outside by a high, carved finial.
Access is obtained by means of a notched pole, and to permit the entrance of domestic
animals, a tree trunk, split and hollowed out to form a trough, slopes gently up from the
ground to door or window. Beneath the houses are platforms on which the natives keep their
DWELLING-HOUSES,DRING
 DWELLING-HOUSES,DRING HARBOUR,
KARMOTA
• They are fairly numerous, and those living near the shore are on friendly
terms with the coast people, bartering jungle produce and rattans. It is not
wise, however, to go into the interior of Great Nicobar, as the wild men
(orang utan) will murder strangers for the sake of their clothes and
ornaments. They themselves are clothed in bark apparel. Their houses are
either light shelters, the materials of which they carry about in their
journeys, fitted with bunks one above the other, beneath the lowest of
which a small fire smoulders; or are of a more substantial construction,
with a fence surrounding each house cluster.
A VILLAGE OF THE SHOM PEN
 A VILLAGE OF THE SHOM PEN
• The houses were small structures built on piles, 4 to 6 feet high, with
open sides, and roofs of attaps.
• The houses five in number, and recently constructed stood on piles about
12 feet high; in several cases a live tree being built in. These supports were
strengthened by diagonal struts a most uncommon form of scaffolding
among savages. The floors were made of saplings placed side by side, and
the side walls, about 3 feet high, of split nibong palm; while the roofs,
which just afforded head-room at the apex, were roughly thatched with
whole palm leaves, piled on butt downwards.
HUTS OF THE SHOM PEN
 HUTS OF THE SHOM PEN
• Each house was about 8 feet square, and at one end of each a small
platform was attached, on which was the fireplace, with cooking
apparatus of bark sheets covered with large green leaves, to prevent
charring. In a corner of each hut was a shelf of split sticks, and a long
trough of split and hollowed palm trunk sloped from ground to floor
for the dogs and other animals to mount by. The ladders for human use
were about 18 inches wide, with cross-pieces fastened on by rattan
bindings.
MODERN
RESIDENCY IN
ANDAMAN
AND NICOBAR
ISLANDS
THANK YOU