Rabha Vernacular Architecture

The Rabhas are a distinct Indo-Mongoloid community living in the different part of Assam as well as in Meghalaya, West Bengal, and Bangladesh. The Rabhas ethnically belong to Mongoloid stock while linguistically they belong to the Tibeto Burman sub group of Sino-Tibetan family of languages. The legendary reference prevalent among the Rabha community holds that The Rabhas have migrated from the Tibetan region. The Rabhas are the earliest known inhabitants of Assam, West Bengal, and Meghalaya (Rabha &Kr.Rabha, 2009). The literary reference of the word “Rabha” first appears in the Baharistan-I-Ghaybi, a mid 17^th C. history in Persian language written by Ghaybi alias Mirza Nathan (Hakacham:2010). The Rabhas racially belong to the greater Bodo group of race and Waddell holds that the Rabha “is an offshoot of the Kachari tribe who has adopted a thin veneer of Hinduism, but thinner than the Koch” (Waddell:1975). According to Hodgson, Rabhas are the people of the greater Bodo community (Rabha:1974) while Dalton hold “the Rabhas and the Hajongs of Goalpara are branches of the Kachari race who are connected to the Garos” (Dalton:1973).

The Rabha is a generic term that refers to a number of socio-cultural and linguistic sub-groups of the community. Rajen Rabha holds that earlier, the Rabhas had no such groups or divisions, and the divisions or clans of the Rabhas originated from the worship of the Khokshi or the Baikho. The present names of the divisions correspond to the duties assigned to them in the Khokshi or the Baikho worship. He has mentioned altogether seven groups or clans viz. Rongdania, Maitoria, Dahori, Chunga, or Chonga, Pati, Bitalia, Konch (Rabha:1974). However, there are differences of opinion regarding the number of sub groups of the Rabhas and their names among different scholars.

1) Selection of Plot:

The Rabhas select the plot of their homestead through some traditional practices. H.K. Goswami described the procedure in detail:

In order to test the suitability of any homestead land, they used to perform some magical rites for which they first provisionally selected a place for the construction of a house. Then, either the head of the family, after consultation with a magic-man or the magic-man himself placed in the evening in each four corners of this plot of land the durba (a kind of grass), basil leaves and rice, each equall in number to the total number of members in the family. If all these were intact, this plot of land used to be considered as sacred and suitable for building a house. But if the materials in any of the corners were found disturbed, the site was usually abandoned. This belief is abandoned with the spread of enlightenment. At present, the enlightened and educated Rabhas are constructing their houses at any place considered to be suitable. (Goswami:1984:174)

2) Foundation Ceremony:

The Rabhas also ceremonially start the construction of a house. Thus, an auspicious day is selected (usually Thursday) to plant the first post. Usually the northeast corner post is planted first after offering a sharai (oblations) near the pit. There wraps a strip of red cloth or a new gamocha (traditional towel) and fastens a bamboo bow and arrow at the top end of the post.

In another system, mentioned by Goswami, sacrifice of a fowl is made in the name of Risi Bai and chants the following mantras:

He svirgini risi, Nango bati soy mane,
Nago ardia, ching jate name tonga mana,
Okobana nake nango ardita,
Jate ching sana mana,
Neme Tonga mana,
Okobana nango ardita, he svirgini risi,
Nango to mangsa rakhaita

(Meaning, O God Risi, we are propitiating you, with the sacrifice of the tender fowl, to get your blessings. Bless us, so that in this new house we can have peace and prosperity. Forgive us, if we have done something wrong to displease you) (ibid: 175-176).

3) Houses and Disposition:

The Rabhas in general show affinity with the non-tribal population in respect to the number of houses in a homestead, house construction technique, disposition, and layout of the houses in a homestead, and materials used in their vernacular architecture. Thus, they construct the houses around a courtyard. The main house, called Bar-ghar, is constructed towards the north of the courtyard in east-west direction. The other residential house called batghar or batchora, is constructed to the south of the courtyard, which is also used to accommodate a guest. The other houses are the byre, barn, kitchen, cages for domesticated animals etc.

Rabha (1974) mentions that previously, the families of a same barai used to live together in a place and the houses were constructed parallel in line around a central courtyard of 100 cubit size. Similarly, their byres were constructed in a different place in similar manner. The houses were constructed in east-west direction, measuring 75 cubits in length and 20 cubits in breadth. A veranda was attached to the houses if necessary. The house was partitioned to make different rooms of different name and function. The various rooms are: soja (room for son and daughter-in-law), bardam (fireplace for the married son), nokchunkkai (room for the main couple / parent), bardam (fireplace for the main couple), toklar (room for mature children), mai- jhamp (granary room), tograb (room to store wine pitcher), nok- pimung (kitchen), budabhabai (altar space / room for worship), rontak / rontuk (room to store pitchers of rice), rakhanok (firewood store), tonhor (coop for fowl, duck, pigeon), and dobbka (sty for pig, goat). The house used to have a vacant room in the middle, where guests were entertained (Rabha:1974:19-20). He further mentions that the Rabhas gave up such scheme of house after the attack of Rabha principality “Rongdan” ruled by King Parsuram by Tashlimakha, the General of Mirza Nathan in the 17^th century. During this attack, the houses of the Rabha people were burnt and the people, who fled to the jungles and hills, started temporary settlement and structures for residence, giving up the earlier traditional scheme.

According to Goswami (1984), the Rabha house is divided into different rooms like nokchung, nokpimung, moja, and tagrang. The nokchung is the biggest room of the house, which is used by the couple as their bedroom while the middle room (nokpimung) is the kitchen of the house. The house has another room called moja, which is the children’s room as well as the guest room. A corridor between the back wall of the house and kitchen (tagrang), which serves as a passage between the moja and nokchung. The house does not have any veranda either in the front or in the rear. The houses sometimes possess two fireplaces (bardam), which continue burning throughout the day. They construct a separate structure called guli at one end of the courtyard that houses the cattle. However, they do not construct a separate structure for granary, rather they store the agricultural products in bamboo made packets called maidop and store them on a bamboo platform.

4) Pati Rabha House:

The Pati Rabhas, as in Dhekiajuli area, construct separate structures of different name and function in a homestead. Thus, they construct a Bar-ghar to the north of the courtyard that faces the south or eastern cardinal direction. The kitchen possesses two rooms one of which is used for cooking while the other room is used as the bedroom of main couple. To the west or south of the Bar-ghar, they construct another structure called marghar. Another house called bahira- ghar / Chora-ghar is also constructed in the homestead to entertain and accommodate the guests. The granary (bhakhri) is constructed to the east of the Bar-ghar, in same line. The granary is sometimes divided into two parts, or two separate structures are constructed. In one of such structure, they keep demni or duli (a large bamboo container) to store varieties of rice while in other structure, the rice for daily consumption is stored.

5) Koch Rabha House:

The Koch Rabhas construct a main house called Bar-ghar, constructed in eastwest direction. The house is partitioned into two rooms. The eastern room is called noo or poursi while the western room is called nousour or jinou. The owner of the house resides in the noo, where guests are also entertained. Conversely, the nousour is regarded as very auspicious area and outsiders are not allowed to enter to this area. For the accommodation of the guests, they construct a separate house. Simultaneously, they construct separate structures for cattle, pig, goat, fowl and duck, pigeon etc. (Rabha:1974).

6) Totla Rabha House:

On the other hand, the house of the Totla Rabha is slightly different. Their main house is known as the Bar-ghar, which is constructed in north-south direction with its main door to the east. The house possesses two to three rooms. The main couple of the family uses one of the rooms while other rooms are used as bedroom for the children while guests are entertained in one of these rooms.

The kitchen is constructed to the north of the Bar-ghar in east-west direction and the door is kept to the south cardinal direction. The kitchen has two rooms, one of which is possesses the hearth, which also possesses an altar in the northeast corner. The other room is used as the dining room.

The affluent peoples construct two more houses known respectively as choraghar and udong-ghar. These two houses remain alternately to the eastern side of the Bar-ghar and to the southern side of the courtyard. Thus, if the chora-ghar is constructed to the eastern side of the bar-ghar, then the udong-ghar is constructed to the southern side of the courtyard or vice-versa. The chora-ghar is a spacious house comprising of two or more rooms. The other house called udong-ghar is an open house without any enclosing walls. The agricultural products are stored here temporarily for few days.

The Totlas construct the barn to the eastern side either in east-west or northsouth direction but the door faces the western cardinal direction. The byre is constructed to the southern side, which does not have any enclosing walls. The other subsidiary structures such as dheki-shal (husking peddle shed), tatshal (loom shed), khari-ghar (firewood store), cages are constructed to the backside of the house. Earlier, the dhekishal was established inside the bar-ghar, which used to have a fireplace too. Generally, an elevated shelf is constructed above the fireplace where different bamboo implements are kept (Rabha:2009).

7) Dahuri Rabha House:

The main house of the Dahuri Rabha is known as bar-ghar or danger-ghar. This house is constructed in either east-west or north-south direction and the main door faces the east or southern cardinal direction. The house is consists of number of rooms of different names. The first room of the house is known as the kamshali or xuwanikotha, where a guest is received. The next room is known as the moja or mojia, which is used as the bedroom by the principal couple of the house. This room possesses a fireplace at one of the corners of the room while there embed a post called bichi-khuta in the middle of the room, where worship is offered. The next room is called bhat-ghar or bhitar, which is internally partitioned at one side. The inner side of the partition is used as the kitchen, where hearth is established while the other half of is used for dining. A person of other community is not allowed to enter the bhitar room and one can enter the inner room only after taking bath. It is believed that if a person enters the cooking space without a bath then the “God of house” (Grihadevata) gets offended and in such case, the person suffers from eye problem. The Dahuri Rabhas construct another house called alga-ghar in their homestead. It is the second important architecture of the homestead. This house also possesses number of rooms, which are used by the children as the bedroom. The guests are also accommodated in this house (Rabha:2009).

8) Kocha Rabha House:

The Kocha, which is one of the groups of the Rabha, have their characteristic layout of vernacular architecture. They construct a main house in the homestead, known as the bar-ghar, which is constructed in east-west direction facing the south. The bar-ghar is partitioned into three rooms. The first or the easternmost room is called nog, which is the bedroom of main couple of the family. The middle room is the nogsur, used as the drawing room, where guests are received and entertained. The last room fankar is the kitchen, which houses the altar of the traditional deity Rontok in one corner. This room is regarded as a sacred area and so people of other community are not allowed to enter the kitchen. They construct the barn (maibook) to the south-east of the bar-ghar while the byre (muchugool) is constructed to the south-western side of the courtyard. Another room is annexed to the western side of the byre, to keep the firewood and other domesticated animals (Rabha:2009).