Classification of Vernacular Architecture of Assam

The material that the Assamese vernacular architecture encompasses is enormous, complex, and heterogeneous. As numerous castes, tribes, and communities constitute the Assamese race or their corresponding culture represents the Assamese culture, so is the vernacular architecture of the state. However, every such group possesses individual cultural identity as well as vernacular architecture tradition that constitute the cache of vernacular architecture of the state. The houses and architectures that the tribes and castes are using mainly for residence and other utilitarian and socio cultural purposes is a major constituent part of the culture. Simultaneously, the traditional architectures and the built environments demonstrate the cultural landscape of the state. This enormous body of the materials necessitate some kind of categorization for the convenience of discussion.

However, selection of typological parameters and classification of house types of the state turns a very strenuous job. In connection with classification, Pawar and Sharma aptly remarked:

A scientific classification of folk house is a challenging task requiring analytical imagination and discerning observation. House types are not biological phenomena, which can be classified into separate categories with so much exactitude. Kniffen has argued that neither houses nor other cultural forms can be classified in a manner exactly analogous to that used by the biologists. (Pawar & Sharma:2012:41-42)

The difficulty in classification becomes more conspicuous in a region like Assam where so many of racial and cultural variations are discerned, resulting in the variations in their traditional house type. Such a complex situation makes the job of systematic classification of the vernacular architecture of the state very challenging.

The presence of number of tribes and communities in the state with their own vernacular architecture form, style, and tradition as well as variations even within a tradition, makes it a difficult feat to categorize the vast array of the vernacular architecture of the state. It is because “folk buildings vary regionally and culturally than they vary chronologically” (Marshall:2011).

Rapoport’s following remark are appropriate and fits to the situation of state:

The differences between the types of buildings in different areas are evidence of differences in culture, rituals, ways of life, and social organization, climates and landscapes, and materials and technology available, while the similarities are evidence not only of areas where some or all of these factors have coincided, but also of some basic constancies in man’s need and desires. (Rapoport:1969:15) Within the Assamese vernacular architecture, the presence of a number of variety and variations mostly amongst the tribal population of the state enhances this complicacy.

Henry Glassie’s three-part approach using elements of “form”, “construction”, and “use” or Howard Marshall’s approach that adds elements of “decoration” to the previous for the categorization of the vernacular architecture is not fully functional for the materials of the state. Similarly, the possible segmentation based on race, religion, geographic distribution, form, or technique etc. is not fully pervasive or satisfactory. However, some kind of classification and segmentation of the vernacular architecture of Assam is very necessary for the convenience of discussion.