Vernacular Architecture of Rajasthan

1. Rajasthan Vernacular

2. Presenters
Yash & Saumya
“
padhaaro
mhare des
”

3. Rajasthan in a nutshell
 Culture
 Embelishment of culture and of people
(sometimes cattle!)
 Showcase grandeur in ‘Land of Rajputs’
(they are proud and they know it!)
 Multi-colour is the new black
 More is more (glitter!)

4. • Tropical desert climate
• Summer- March to September (35
degree Celsius to 40 degree Celsius)
• Winter-October to February (4 degree
Celsius to 28 degree Celsius)
• The eastern parts have comparatively
higher rainfall, thus are more humid than
the western.
• Driest state of India
 Climate:
Rajasthan in a nutshell

5. • Bhunga- Jaisalmer
• Bhil- Udaipur
• Meena- Jaipur and Madhopur
• Gaira Lohars- (nomads) Udaipur
• Garasia- Sirohi and Kota districts
• Damor
• Dhanka
• Koli
http://www.rajras.in/index.php/tribes-of-rajasthan/
Festivals, fairs, dancing, music are
integral part of these tribes of Rajasthan
state.
http://tribesindia.in/rajasthan-tribes.php
Commonly found tribes

6. BHUNGA
• The Bhunga is a traditional construction
type
• This construction type has been in
practice for more than 200 years
• A Bhunga consists of a single
cylindrically shaped room topped by a
conical roof.

7. Architectural features:
• Site: Typically found in flat terrain. They do not
share common walls with adjacent buildings, with a
typical distance of about 3m.
• Building Configuration: Bhunga is circular in plan,
with cylindrically shaped walls and topped with
conical roof
• Building typology: house (single family, 5-10
inhabitants). Bathroom and toilets are constructed
in a separate structure. Settlements of one whole
family- built on the plinth

8. • Building materials and construction: Traditional roof
consists of light-weight conical roof of thatch and
wooden supporting members. The mud walls are
simply extended into the ground for a foundation
(without footing).
• Clustering: arrangement of open spaces reflect their
life-styles and social structure. On a raised platform on
which circulation is carried out
…Architectural features:

9. Meena Tribe
• Meenas like to stay scattered
• Most of the hills have not
more than two or three
houses.
• A single room
• A single entrance.
• No windows,
• Door is the only source for
light

10. Garia Lohars

11. Bikaner
• Two types- khidrat and jalwali

12. Jalwali house
• smaller villages north of Bikaner
• main activity of the region- agriculture
• farmers produce millet and other grains
for their own consumption as well as to
sell.
• village of Jalwali is situated in a region
of an uneven terrain.
• the houses are compactly grouped
within a network of narrow meandering
paths.
• each of these houses has a private
inner courtyard and a semi- private
outer courtyard for the cattle.
• most significant and typical feature is
the entrance gate of these houses, and
also their unique grain and other
storage jars made of mud

13. • streets of the village are defined by the long
boundary walls or hedges of the outer courtyards of
the houses
• various sizes and shapes of these entrance gates
symbolize transition and proclaim individual
territory and identity
• mud walls of the boundary are heightened at this to
cover the doorway in shape of an arch, a triangle or
a square.
• A few niches may be provided for lamps.

14. • In the plan , the houses have an enveloping
quality with the inner courtyard as the nucleus.
• mud walls of the rooms and the encircling walls
with their numerous storage elements, are the
first envelope around their private open-to-sky
domain.
• outer envelope encloses the open space for
animals, the rooms for visitors, the storage area
for fuel-wood and areas for other, less private
activities.

15. • guest rooms are in one corner and are away
from the main house.
• indicate the need for privacy in line with social
custom.
• guest rooms have platforms in the front, these
might also be used for storage purposes or to
house animals during conditions of severe heat
or cold.
• floor of this court is left unfinished and is often
left in its natural condition.

16. • main house is entered through a small opening in a
low mud wall, separating the two courtyards.
• two rectangular rooms on the two sides and one
circular jhompa right across the entrance
surrounding the internal space which is open to sky.
• circular jhompa has conical thatched roof. And the
rectangular rooms have flat roof.
• Symmetrically placed rooms, emphasize the
entrance door of the circular jhompa when observed
from the gate.

17. • It is also the seat of the head male member of the
family
• The circular jhompa is the main living space while
the rectangular rooms are for children and members
of the family.
• On the two diagonal walls linking the rooms, are
seen grain storage units of various sizes, built of
mud
• A storage unit is never entered into. The conical top
is closed once the dried grain is placed within and it
is then locked

18. • these storage units stand out due to
their shapes and the architectural
composition of their forms.
• many units within one house, perhaps
due to the prosperity of the local
farmers or their need to protect
themselves from draught.
• The functional and sculptural storage
units have two openings, the larger
one near the top and the smaller one
at the bottom.

19. • The upper opening generally has
a lockable shutter ,lower opening
is small and used for the daily
quota of food grains.
• A cotton rag is used to plug it,
the walls of the storage jars are
15 to 20 centimeters thick, with
stone or wood on base, and the
jars are propped up from the
floor on fixed stilts.
• replastered every year before
new grains are stored.
• hand made storage units are
never identical, such variations of
detail add to the beauty of these
mud houses and give them a
highly personalized look within a
generic order.

20. Khidrat house
• Khidrat is a small village situated 60km
from Bikaner.
• main activity of these people was
agriculture
• after the damage caused by rain their
houses are repaired and the houses are re-
plastered with mud

21. • The village of Khidrat spreads over both
sides of road with mud jhompas and three
layer of thatch clearly being visible on one
side and other with tin and country tile
rectangular roofs .
• The later type of house shows an early
stage of contemporary house development.
• The older side of the village with its clusters
of circular jhompas has about 50 houses
loosely position

22. • Three kinds of plan formation are observed
in this village
• In the larger houses the the inner courts are
for the people and outer for the cattle
• In the second category the houses are
without courtyards for animals and the
animals rest outside the inner court wall
• The third category of houses has two
jhompas with ottas but without coutyards.
The inside and outside of the house are
strongly defined by an emphatic entrance.
• The most special element in these houses
are the conical thatched roof

23. • In unbearable summer days the jhompas with its 3
layered thatched roof keep the inside
environment cool.
• The materials used in making the thatch are the
main twigs from jowar , bajara or millet from their
agricultural production
• The gates of these houses are generally made of
natural logs. The log branch is often fixed to
another similar forked one so they are locked
together . These rough logs are about 15-20 cm in
diameter and are heavy to lift, a large stone bowl
filled with water is placed just outside the
entrance and the roof is constructed with hay.

24. • Typically, each house has open courtyard around
which 5-6 jhompas are posted.
• A low wall defines the court .The outer boundary
walls are defined with weed hedges on vertical
stone strips.
• Walls are mud platered .The personal rooms are
small where the courts are large the people built
only to the minimum extent so they wasted very
little .
• By scooping out depressions or adding
projections they created little thick plastered
niches which held oiled lamps for their deities.

25. • In the village the caste system is very much
prominent .
• Each sector of caste have their own specific
dwellings inside the village.
• Brahmins stayed together but away from harijans
and so on.
• The houses of lower caste people are comparitively
well maintained .Better designed and maintained
with paint

26. Bhills
Bhils are found in the mountain regions in the Indian states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,
Gujrat and Rajasthan.
Features
• An entrance without a door
• Mud and clay walls which are sometimes coated with cow-dung
• A window or two
• Dry grass roof
White walls with some artistic drawings

27. The refrigeration hut
• The base is drilled through and through to let the heat from the earth
escape, keeping the items inside cool.
• The walls of clay and cow-dung paste, (natural coolants)
• Roof- conical in shape to deflect the sunrays
• To stock curd, milk, butter milk or any item that needs refrigeration.

28. In the history of Rajasthan, Bhil people are depicted as
important warriors, as time passed by, they occupied
themselves in small scale agriculture, labor, manufacturing
and repairing machinery, leaving their famed profession of
archery behind. The Bhils are also skilled wall painters and
their paintings, known as Mandno, can be seen on the
walls of their houses and temples.

29. An important festival celebrated by the Bhils is Baneshwar fair,
dedicated to Lord Shiva
light bonfires and dance around it singing traditional folk songs.
Acrobatics, sumptuous feasts, and cultural shows are the centre of
attraction at this fair.
https://www.ohmyrajasthan.com/bhil-tribe-rajasthan
https://rajasthantourismbuzz.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/baneshwar-fair-2015.jpg

31. Where are we going?
Bhonga: variety of construction materials. These include the stone or burnt
brick masonry either in mud mortar or in cement mortar. heavy manglore
tiles on roofs. Some recent constructions have used circular strip footing
below the wall

32. • Gupta, V. Indigenous architecture and natural cooling. Energy and resources, 41. Retrieved from
http://space-design.com/upload/RS0005.pdf
• Gupta, V. (1985) . Natural cooling systems of Jaisalmer. Architectural science review, 58. Retrieved
from
http://www.space-design.com/upload/rs0007.pdf
• Agarwal, A. , Ahuja, R., & Jain, R. K., (2006) . Shekhawati: urbanism in the semi-desert of India A
climatic study . PLEA2006 - The 23rd Conference on Passive and Low Energy Architecture. Retrieved
from http://www.unige.ch/cuepe/html/plea2006/Vol1/PLEA2006_PAPER978.pdf
• Tipnis, A. , Sustainability and vernacular dwellings. Vernacular Traditions: Contemporary Architecture,
41-44.
• Rappoport, A. , House Form and Culture.

33. Questions?