Traditional Dwelling in Cuttack
Danda – (Chakk)
- According to “Vastu Shastra” every village must contain this sacred place.
- This place in my village contains “a Trinath Mandir” (the Bramha ,the Vishnu ,the Maheshwar).
- This place is very significant place where three roads meet together showing three stages of life, the birth, the workplace and the death.
Tulsi Chaura
- Every house contains a Tulsi chaura, a place meant for performing rituals, festivals and celebrations.
Dand (Aangan)
- The place is in front of the house where parking, cattle shed (open and closed) are present.
- This place is very important for children to play.
Cattle Shed
- The cattle shed contains a pair of bullocks and two cows.
- This place is also used as store room for food grain, crop like pumpkins, coconuts etc.
Gahira (Agricultural Land)
- For the people in Orissa cultivation is the most important occupation, large agricultural land is present surrounding the village.
- Almost all the GAHIRAS have a large play ground which are used by small children to play and cattle to graze.
Pokhori (Pond)
- A small pond plays an important role in these areas.
- Every house must contain at least one pond.
- The ponds are mostly used for fish culture, bathing, washing, clothes, utensils and vegetables etc.
Bari (Backyard)
- Almost all the important household business are performed like-Harvesting rice, moong etc
- Drying of rice grain.
- Drying of fire wood.
- Place for well, poultry, hay storage and fire wood store.
- Place for grinding room and sanitation.
Fire Wood Store
- It is a temporary store for emergency fire wood which are used in rainy season.
Duara (Central Courtyard)
- It is a very sensible place responding to various climatic conditions.
- In summers “Courtyard effect” takes place keeping the adjacent rooms cool.
- In winters people sit in the courtyard in sun.
- The place has also a good religious appeal –
- Bada usha
- Bhumi puja
- Ghata puja
- Radha mohan puja
- Makar sankranti
- Raja sankranti
- This place used for cooking, having food , drying of fire wood ,crop etc.
Attu (Inside Roof)
- These are the horizontal roofs framed with palm tree’s trunk, supported with bamboo and plastered with clay.
- These roof are helpful for heat resistance and storage.
- In these areas sloping roof of hay, framed with bamboo are constructed as the place if frequently visited by heavy rain, commonly cyclone.
Doors
- These houses contains traditional doors which are quite strong and beautiful.
- Long iron nails are hammered into beautifully arranged battens.
Features
- The house the features like:
- Danda – The front courtyard (parking)
- Bari – The back courtyard (crop harvesting)
- Duara – The central courtyard (courtyard effect, cooking, dining etc)
- Penda – The verandah surrounding the central courtyard (movement).
- Tulsi chaura – Place of worship.
- Khanja– Rooms surrounding the central courtyard in the four corners.
- Handi sala– Kitchen present in the verandah in the south east direction.
- Sloping roof
- For the state like Orissa where there is heavy rainfall and frequent visit of cyclone the sloping roof of hay framed with bamboo is preferred.
- Thick walls are preferable as the temperature varies from 21’C –32’C.
- People in Orissa are very self sufficient so they want their daily consumable requirements to be locally grown or reared in their fields and in their houses like-vegetables, fish, fowl meat, cotton, paddy, pulses and cereals.
- The village consists of certain groups of people living in a certain lane, like goldsmith’s lane milkman’s lane etc.
- The building material used is bamboo, trunks of palm tree, hay and earth which are locally available in plenty and cheap.
Is this an active site? I am
Is this an active site? I am keen in constructing a village home in Orissa, puri district. The board pinciples of a traditional home needs to be incoporated. Can i get techincical assistance? Do you have team that can provide that support?
Regards,
Sanjay