Dimasa Kachari Vernacular Architecture

The Dimasa Kachari, known as the “Barmans” in Cachar District, is another important ethnic group, belonging to the great Bodo Kachari group of Indo-Mongoloid race. They regard themselves as the sons of the great river Brahmaputra. The Dimasas speak the language belonging to the Tibeto-Burman linguistic group. This tribe descended from the Western China near the Yang-te-Kiang and Howang-ho rivers and finally settled in the Brahmaputra Valley. They first settled in the hills and slopes of the upper course of Brahmaputra from where they gradually moved westward and settled in the central Assam and Mymensingh district of present Bangladesh.

The Dimasas once had their own kingdom, first established in the Dhansiri valley with capital at Dimapur. Subsequently, the kingdom was shifted to the Valley of Mahur River in North Cachar Hills establishing their new capital at Maibong. After the attack of Maibong by the Ahom king Rudrasimha in 1706, the then Kachari king Tamrawadhawaza fled to Barak valley, established a new kingdom there, and established the capital at Khaspur. Contemporaneously to this, King Meghanarayan, who constructed number of stone architectures as well as a gateway, established another Kachari kingdom in the Maibong of N.C. Hills.

Presently scattered in the districts of Nagaon, Karbi Anglong, Kachar, and different parts of Nagaland, Dimasa were earlier regarded as a branch of the Kachari but in 1961census, they were recognized as a separate tribe. According to geographic distribution, the Dimasas are divided into four distinct groups. Thus, the Dimasas living in the Nagaland are known as Dizowasa, those living in the Lanka and Hojai are known as Demrasa, the Dimasas of Cachar are known as Hawarsha while the Dimasas of the N.C. Hills are known as Hasausha (Duarah:1998).

The Dimasas possess distinctive cultural traditional as well as housing culture. They display certain individuality in the establishment of settlement and vernacular architecture. Like many other tribal counterparts, the Dimasas too have the tendency to live on riverbanks or on the slopes of a hill, nearby a stream. The houses are arranged in two rows on both side of the road and the cluster of houses is called “Nawlai” or nablai in Dimasa. The entire village with its population is called Raji (Duarah:1998). Each village erect a protective fencing all around with two entrance gates -one at the top and other at the bottom (Bordoloi:1972).

1) Architecture:

The Dimasas traditionally construct their houses (no) using natural materials. The earth-fast, gable roofed, east-facing, thatch roofed houses have timber or bamboo superstructure and bamboo woven walls which are usually un-plastered. The wellprotected typical homesteads possess different fruit bearing trees. Thus, the Dimasas erect a bamboo protective wall around the house to the height of the ridge of the house to protect the house from storm. This protective wall is called jelep or noksa- jelep, which is erected at a distance of three to four feet from the main house. It contains a door (jelep-derga) to enter into the campus.

During the time of celebration of Bushu festival, there construct a bamboo gate at the entrance of the village which is called phangsla. The construction and style of the phangsla is very complex and beautiful. In the construction of the gate, no nail or knot is used, and the members of the gate are connected through special joinery.

The Dimasas living in plains construct a number of functional houses in the homestead similar to an Assamese homestead. Thus, in such a homestead different structures such as residential house, granary, cowshed, pig sty (horongkho) along with a separate house for guest known as “mar’ are constructed. The loom is established in a separate shed (daofangkhepsa) or below the rear veranda. They also construct a transitory rest house in the jhum known as mandoo while a tree-house called nuju is constructed if there is threat of elephants attack.

The houses of the Dimasas living in the N.C. Hills (Hasao) are different from those living in the plains. In the hill settlements, the Dimasas construct their houses very close to each other. They used to construct a single residential house on ground that possesses the hearth as well as the granary inside. This house is hip-roofed and the main door (noswagang-derga) is kept in the gable side. Under the front hipped roof, a sizeable veranda is kept to receive the guests, which is known as maro. The house has a big room called noma, which is partitioned with internal wall (hajer-bardim) to divide the space for male and females. Thus, a sitting area (nokang) for the visitor is arranged at the initial area of the room that contains a hearth. Another wall to the rear of the house is added to make the cooking space called songkho. The room also contains a big bamboo container used as granary (maikho), to store the paddy. It contains a ladder inside the container called yao- khlem. The houses possess another door at the rear but do not have any window.

Inside the kitchen, different shelves are constructed for different purposes. Thus, they construct a hanging shelf known as gari above the hearth to season different items. Similarly, there construct a ledge known as dari to keep different household items, a shelf koprakho for storage of water, and another shelf called didik-bachang to keep the pitcher and utensils. The granary is established at the middle or at one corner of the long hall. The middle of the hall possesses a fireplace where guests are received and entertained. The Dimasas living in the hills do not rear fowl or pigs in the homesteads and therefore such subsidiary structures are absent in the homesteads.

Nowadays however, instead of one big house, there construct more than one small house (nousa) in a homestead. The homestead is constructed around a fenced campus. The fence of split bamboo, erected to the height of about 6 feet is called bari. The entrance possesses a gate and a low fence. Within the campus, there construct the residential house, the kitchen and other subsidiary structures.

2) Technique:

The Dimasas of the Hasao district generally do not follow any site selection or construction ritual traditionally. However, gradually the practice of east facing house or wrapping of red cloth in the post is gaining currency. The house is constructed of mainly three pairs of wooden posts (thong) that supports the purlins above. The purlins supports the beams above, usually made of wood. Then above the purlins, the common rafters (pherai) are placed and tied. The rafters of a side are tied to a bamboo member called hama, attached lengthwise from below. A bamboo member called galapsa, inserted through the rafters, holds the rafters in place. Then above the rafters, lengthwise bamboo splinters (galap) are tied over which put thatch (thiri) and tied using another set of bamboo splinter. They use fine bamboo strand (wah-tu) to secure the members.

Then the walls (bardim) are attached through inserting to a bamboo (kramtong) placed below, which rest on a wood (dimtong). For this, first there tie small bamboos (khramthung) horizontally to the posts. Then the walls, woven from flattened bamboo, are fastened to these bamboos. There also plant additional supporting post from the outside of the walls. In the gable area of house, a separate sparsely woven bamboo lattice called dau-khang-khra is attached . The houses do not have any window, and this wall as well as the opening between the walls and roofs provides the light and ventilation to the houses.

The door opening (derga kholai) of the house possesses a low wall of about two feet called sisa- baiglai, to restrict the entry of animals to the house. The door is generally kept at the gable wall. The roof and the side-walls generally protrude beyond the gable wall to form a front porch. In this porch, the husking peddle (thengi) and the loom are established. The door opening is framed with pairs of bamboo splinters or bamboo split from outside. The door is woven with bamboo splint and a bamboo (derga-praugong) is attached to it to lock the door. The walls of the houses are left unplastered.

3) Beliefs and Rituals:

Though there is prevalent no pre-construction ritual, certain rituals are followed after the completion of the construction. First, before the entry to the house, the auspiciousness of the constructed house is checked. For this, three bowls, filled with water are kept inside the completed house prior to the entry into the house. It is left there for the night and the water is checked next morning. If the water of the bowls evaporates and decreases, then it is regarded as ill-omened. In that case, proper corrective measures are taken. After this, the house warming ritual is observed where fowl sacrifice is made. In this ritual, one fowl is sacrificed in the courtyard and other four fouls are sacrificed inside the house, in the four corners of the house.

The Dimasas do not plant any thorny tree in their campus and regard it ominous. The house of the Nagahoja, the youth leader possesses a special feature and adorns with a decorative item called khim-jalai. Thus, two fine bamboo spikes to which colourful threads are tied and attach one of them in the fashion of an arch above the door of the house while the other horizontally below it during the time of Hangso Busu festival. On the death of a person, the house is moped and purged through sprinkling of tulsi dipped “holy” water. Similarly, the house is purged in similar manner after the birth of a child.