Rural Dwellings and House Types of Chura Caste in Village Badli: A Clan Wise Analysis

INTRODUCTION

Dwellings are the universal and basic element of settlement geography. Many geographers have also studied the dwellings in different forms in India as well as abroad. The houses are the product of cultural traditions and natural conditions. (Kniffen, 1965). House is also a social concept; its nature and cognition are varying with caste, class, religion and region (Unni, 1965). While houses are generally kaccha and lack modern facilities, are being inhabited by poorer people, while Rapoport (1969) described that a house is the ―direct and unself-conscious translation into physical form of a culture, its needs and values as well as the desires, dreams and passions of a people. Here an attempt has been made to analyze the distribution of house types based on building materials, caste-wise house types based on building materials and dwellings based on shape and size. Chamar (2002) has described the distribution of rural dwellings, their types and distribution of house types based on shape and size, functional characteristics, building materials and house plan in Bhiwani District, a prominent part of desert land of Haryana. He observed that the general conditions and the architectural design of the houses are good and attractive because of prevailing prosperity of the local people. The word has been used as a synonym for census house (1991), which is defined as, ―a building or a part of a building having a separate main entrance from the road or common courtyard or staircase, etc., used or recognized as a separate unit. It may be occupied or vacant. It may be used for a residential or non-residential purpose or both. In a simplistic way, a house is a ‗shelter‘ to live in, but it is much more than that. It is one of the basic human entitlements which connect its occupant with the society (Singh, 1985). Chamar & Chamar (2013) has described the distribution of rural dwellings, and house types based on shape and size, functional characteristics, building materials and house plan of Julana Tahsil of Jind District, in Haryana. They observed that the socio-economic condition during

tied up with agricultural activities. This is also reflected in the distribution of dwellings classified size and caste. However, in terms of types of dwellings i.e. pacca and mixed a significant correspondence can be seen between position in the caste hierarchy and share of pacca houses.

METHODOLOGY

The study is based on primary data. The clan wise data of 97 households of chura caste has been collected on the basis of well-structured schedule and personal interview conducted with the head of the household. The Chura community is inhabited by ten clans like Bagri, Lauth, Tank, Gehlot, Kudala, Chavria, Sodha, Beniwal and Bidhlan. To describe the composition of households, dwellings based on size, and house types based on building materials and calculated into percentage for uniform pattern i.e. 100 per cent. Finally, clan wise data has been calculated and tabulated with the help of bar diagrams.

STUDY AREA

Location and boundaries The village Badli extends from 28° 34' 23" north latitude and 76° 48' 6‖ east longitude. It is away about 20 km south east from Jhajjar city. It is bounded by village Habibpur in the north, and Majra in the north east. Kheri Jat and Mohmadpur majra in the North West, Pelpa, Dariyapur, Asmailapur and Sondhi in the south and Lagarpur in the south east [Fig: 1]. Population and Area The village is fairly extensive one with area of 3239 hectares according to Census 2001. The village has three major scheduled Castes. The Chura community has about hundred household. The total population of Chura community in the village Badli is 576 persons comprising 299 (51.90 %) male and 277 (48.10 %) female as per field survey. The Chura community has average size of household is 5.9 person. The total literacy rate of Chura community is 70.48 % while male literacy is 75.00 % and female literacy is 65.70 per cent. The sex ratio is observed 926 female per thousand males in the village. The total worker of chura community is 35.42 per cent while male worker is 74.02 % and female worker is 25.98 per cent. The male population is mostly engaged in tertiary activities. The population characteristic is shown in the table [Table-1].

House Types Based on Building Materials In the study area, the building materials of houses in the village are classified into three categories. (i) Materials for floors: which include mud, burnt bricks, cement, tiles etc. (ii) Materials for walls: include un-burnt bricks, burnt bricks only. (iii) Materials for roofs: which include mud, burnt bricks, tiles, concrete, stones etc. Clan Wise House Types Based on Building Materials Materials for Floor: [Table No.3] shows that the Deeka clan 80 per cent and Tank clan 77 Per cent house floors are made up cement and it is followed by Lauth clan 55.17 is found that 31 per cent house floors are made up of mud. It is shown in the [Fig: 1]. Material for Roof: It is recorded that 58 per cent houses the roofs are made up mud & burnt bricks. It is found 31.03 per cent houses to Lauth made in concretes it is followed by Bagri clan 25 per cent, Deeka clan 20 per cent and Tank 15.38 per cent. It is observed that 69.23 per cent houses to Tank clan and 80 per cent houses to Deeka clan are made of mud, while Gehlot, Kudala, Chavria, Beniwal and Bidhlan clans have very small share of percentage in roofs materials of burnt bricks, tiles, concretes and stones [Table No. 4] and [Fig: 2].

[Table No.5] indicates that the 91.75 per cent houses walls are made of burnt bricks and 08.25 per cent walls of un- burnt bricks in the study area. It is recorded that the 41 houses (93.18 %) of Bagri clan wall made in burnt bricks it is followed by Tank clan 92.31 per cent, Lauth clan 90.00 per cent and Deeka clan 80 per centin the study area. While some house‘s walls are constructed to un-burnt bricks belong to 6.18 per cent to Bagri clan, 10.34 per cent to Lauth, and 7.70 per cent to Tank clan. It is recorded that the use of burnt bricks in walls is made by the people who have better economic level.

[Fig: 2]

[Fig: 3] Clan Wise Variation in House Types On the basis of building materials, three types of houses have been identified in the study area. (i) Kaccha House: (mud floors, mud walls, mud roofs),

(iii) Mixed House: (burnt bricks floors with burnt bricks walls and roofs, mud floor with mud). (i) Kaccha House: It is recorded that the 8.24 per cent kaccha houses in the study area. It is observed that highest share of kaccha houses in Deeka clan 20 per cent and it is followed by Bagri clan 10 per cent, Tank clan 08 percent and Lauth clan 07 per cent. Most of people of this caste depend upon the local building materials. It is shown in the table-6 and [Fig: 4]. (ii) Pacca House: Such type houses are occupied by those people who have better position as socially and economically in village. Only 30 houses (30.93 per cent) of the total rural houses are pacca and are made of floor, walls, roofs, tiles, cement, and concrete with burnt bricks. It is observed that the largest sharing of pacca houses in Lauth clans 34.48 per cent and it is followed by Bagri clan 34.09 per cent, Tank clan 23.08 per cent and deeka 20 per cent pacca houses in the study area. While other clans such as Gehlot, Kudala, Chavria, Sodha, Beniwal, and Bidhlan have very low share of percentage in pacca houses table-6 and [Fig: 4]. (iii) Mixed House: Approximate 60.82 per cent households have made of mud floors, mud roofs with burnt bricks wall. The sharing of percentage of other clans 70 per cent in Tank clan, 60 per cent in Deeka clan, 59 per cent in Lauth clan and 57 per cent in Bagri clan in the study area. While Kudala, Gehlot, Chavria Beniwal, and Bidhlan clans also in mixed house in the study area. It is found more occurrences of mixed houses in different clans of Chura community in the village. Clan Wise Dwellings Based on Size It is observed that the two room dwellings are fairly distributed in the village with highest per cent 29.90 of the rural households. Similarly one-room houses 11.34 per cent are generally owned by economically depressed households of the village. About 50 per cent of houses occupy in three or four rooms. It is observed that the largest sharing of the five and above dwellings have distributed in the village with low per cent 9.28. It is recorded that the most of houses of three or four room belong to Bagri and Lauth clans. It is also found that the highest share of the five and above rooms 20.00 per cent to Deeka clan it is followed by Tank clan 15.38 per cent and Bagri clan 11.36 per cent in the study area.

[Fig: 5]

CONCLUSION

It is concluded that most of pacca houses belong to Bagri and Lauth clans which are the good status as socially and economically of Chura community in the village. It has also been observed that only eight kaccha houses and socio economic condition are very poor in the study area. It is observed that the kaccha houses are diminishing day by day replacing by the pacca houses due to the improvement in economic conditions of the family. It has also been found that the dwellings of one and two-room represent the single family system while more than five room dwelling claim the jointly family system.

REFERENCES

Census of India (1991): District Census Handbook, Jind District, Series-8, Haryana. Chamar, K.V. (2002): ―Rural Dwelling and Types in Desert Land of Haryana: A Case Study of Bhiwani District‖, Trans. Inst. Indian Geographers, Vol. 24, No. 1 &2. Chamar, K.V. & S.K. Chamar (2013): ―Rural Dwelling and House Types in Village Sirsa Kheri- A Case Study of Jind District‖, Eastern Geographer, Vol. XIX, No. - 1, pp. 97-104. Finch, V.C. and Trewartha, G.T. (1946): Elements of Geography, Physical and Cultural, Mc Graw Hill, New York. Jacksion, J.B. (1952): ―Human, All too Human Geography‖, Landscape, vol. 2, pp. 2-7. Kniffen, F. (1965): ―Folk Housing: Key to Diffusion‖, AAAG, vol. 55, p. 549. Rapoport, A. (1969): House, Form and Culture, Englewood cliffs, Prentice Hall. Unni, K.R. (1965): Social Factors in Housing in the Rural Habitat, (Eds) David Oakley, et.al, New Delhi, p3.

Assistant Professor, G. C. Dubaldhan, Jhajjar rekhaberi86@gmail.com