Module 4 Unit 6:

Settlement Pattern and traditional dwellings of Angami and Sema Naga Tribes
of Nagaland.
The state of Nagaland is one of India's most colourful states located on the eastern margin of the Himalayan
range in Northeast India, and is home to a range of colourful tribes collectively termed as the Naga people.

There are 16 officially recognized tribes in Nagaland, and some of the prominent Naga tribes are Angami, Ao,
Chakhesang, Chang, Khiamniungan, Konyak, Lotha, Pochury, Phom, Poumai, Rengma, Rongmei, Sangtam,
Sema (Sumi), Mao (Memai), Zeliang, Yimchunger,. These tribes have similar cultures and traditions, and form
the majority ethnic group in the state of Nagaland.

Source: http://www.archinomy.com/case-studies/675/the-sema-naga-traditional-dwelling

Village layout and settlement pattern:

The Naga people traditionally are tribally organized, with a strong warrior tradition and this aspect reflects
greatly in their village layout and settlement pattern. Climate and site location are other factors which also
influence layout of villages.

Influence of social structure and customs: A Naga village is a well-defined entity with distinct land
demarcation from neighboring villages. Each has a dialect of its own and as such there is a strong sense of
social solidarity within it (Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naga_people). Villages are given names based
on peculiar features of the village site, the memory of an ancient settlement that once stood where the village
now stands (and which its Current occupants wish to commemorate), particular events in the history of the
village, or the whim of those living there.

They are usually divided into two or more khels (quarters, wards), depending upon the size of population.

Khel is a distinct Naga institution that brings together several clans within the village community. Membership
of a khel is either decided by birth or heredity. This is the most important and effective institution in village
governance. No village decision can be taken without a consensus from all Khels in the village.
An individual living in the village maintains a close attachment to the land of the village and to the family, clan,
or village quarter (the khel ). The khel (an Assamese word for an exogamous group that corresponds most
closely to the Angami word thino and the Ao word muphy ) is responsible for land cultivation, and each village
is divided into several khels. The division of a village into khels is based largely on geography, but speakers of
the same Language, members of the same clan, or groups of immigrants (whose migration to the village may
have taken place after the village's establishment) might occupy the same khel.

In some villages a khel is inhabited exclusively by members of a particular clan claiming descent from a
common ancestor and naming their khel accordingly. A clan inhabiting a certain khel was often closer to
another village than to its immediate neighbours. In general village attachments are strong, particularly towards
main or parent village, and generally people only live the latter when available land is insufficient for the
population.

The morung (dormitory, which serves as guardhouse and clubhouse for single men) is an important part of most
Naga villages. dormitories, for the youth that once functioned as centres of education, art and discipline.

There was no standard layout for a village and rarely were two villages exactly alike since the village size and
its layout pattern and differ from one tribal group to another. Number of houses varied from 50 to 250, and the
arrangement of houses ranged from grouped to dispersed, from terrace to linear. The size of Naga village also
varies Angami villages frequently run to 400 houses or more, Kohima village heading the list with more than
700. It is recorded to have had 900 houses formerly. Ao villages also run to large numbers. Ungma has more
than 700, Longsa and Nankam about 650 or more apiece. Seromi, probably the biggest Sema village, except
Lazemi, contains fewer than 300 houses.

In some villages, houses are grouped in a compact block and enclosed by a fence. In others, houses are
scattered, interspersed with vegetable plots and bamboo groves. Some time groups of dwellings stand at
different levels, even separated by gorges and broken ground. For example:

Ao and Lhota arrange their houses along regular streets.

Tuensang with its four village quarters is built along winding, stone-paved lanes.
Konyak villages feature of some unique Stone paths, constructed for the monsoon period. They
divide village quarters, or lead to important village sites and often have magic symbolic associations.
Tagas build their houses on hill slopes, one above the other in an orderly manner.
Angami and Chakhesang houses, though irregular, are generally built in two rows, the fronts facing
east, the gable ends of each row of houses projecting towards a street. This is prompted by the
traditional belief that after death the soul wanders westwards to the land of dead.
Among the Zeliangrong of Cachar, it was a common practice to move village every four or five
years because of difficult terrain and limited workable land.
In many southern villages houses are surrounded by stonewalls forming compounds where cattle are
kept at night.

There are also roads leading from the village to the terraced fields and jhum land that the Naga use as farmland.
Jhum is land cultivated by the clearing and burning of an area of Jungle, which is then farmed for two years and
subsequently allowed to return to jungle.

Settlement pattern of a Naga group could also be said as a result of the custom of head hunting, a favourite sport
formerly prevalent throughout the Naga cultural realm. Since inter-clan rivalries were frequent Nagas located
their villages and dwellings on hill slopes or the highest possible points along a hill slope making their
settlements highly inaccessible for their rival groups. Naga tribes practiced headhunting and preserved the heads
of enemies as trophies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naga_people - cite_note-0as they believed that a person has
several different 'souls'; one 'soul' travel to the realm of the dead, while another remains associated with man's
head, or skull.

Thus Naga villages were defensively situated out of reach of raiding parties and were fortified. Village
fortifications included a ceremonial and imposing gateway - the traditional entrance to all Naga villages. large
wooden doors (latched from the inside of the village and hewn from a single piece of wood), pitfalls, and
ditches filled with panjis (sharply pointed bamboo stakes of varying lengths and widths) and stone walls (whose
thickness may reach some 3 meters). Such walls surround Angami villages and Ao villages are surrounded by
fences composed of wooden stakes and reinforced with panjis. Villages are usually approached by narrow paths
overhung with thorny growth and are constructed so that they must be traversed by walking single file.
Previously during time of war, roads leading to Angami villages would be studded with pegs (driven into the
ground) to prevent attack. Paths leading to Ao villages were often paved with rough stones near the village gate.

However the norms for construction varied somewhat within the constituent Naga tribes, yet a few general
observations could be made. Villages have one or more entrances that were once guarded heavily and, at times,
booby-trapped. However, with the cessation of both intertribal conflict and outside interference (chiefly from
British and Indian forces), the need for security and the degree of village fortification has lessened considerably.

Also materials used in house construction vary somewhat among the Naga tribes but generally Naga houses
have upright crossed horns crowning the gable, carved mithun, ox heads to indicate the status of the owners, a
huge basket granery in the verandah, and a trough used to make rice beer. The Nagas carve objects in teak,
gaman khasu, and bonsurai wood, procured from nearby forests. These objects are associated with religious
beliefs and practices, especially carvings of Mithun, hornbills and human figures, on the morungs.

Influence of Climate: Climate is another factor which has influenced the Naga settlement pattern. Below 500
m the climate is hot and unhealthy; above 1500 m it is unpleasant cold in winter and during monsoon, cloud is
perpetual. Abundant springs are infrequent above 1500 m and water tends to be scare. Due to these climatic
factors most of the Naga villages are located along the hill slope.

(Source: http://www.everyculture.com/South-Asia/Nagas-Settlements.html).
Angami Naga Village and House:
Angami Nagas are hill people depending basically on cultivation and livestock-rearing. Angamis are one of the
only two groups of Nagas out of the seventeen who practice wet rice cultivation on terraces made on the hill
slopes. This allows them to cultivate the same plot year after year. They depend, to a very small extent, on
slash-and-burn cultivation. Angamis were traditionally warriors, the Angami men spent majority of their time in
warfare with hostile villages and taking heads. Houses are irregularly arranged in an Angami village, though
there is a supposition that the Angami house should face east.
Each house has an open space in front of it and houses are connected by irregular paths. Small gardens
are frequently made near houses and may contain maize or mustard.
Nearly every Angami village has an open space that serves as a meeting place and ceremonial locus for
all of the village inhabitants.
This area may also contain plinths for sitting made of stone masonry or wood.
These stations (which often surmounted village walls or other high points in the village and could rise as
high as 9 meters) may have originally been used as posts for watchers whose purpose was to warn of
impending enemy attack.
Morung does not assume a place of prominence in Angami villages, some of which have no morung in
the traditional sense; the house so designated is occupied by a family while simultaneously being
recognized as the village morung.

Angami House:
The house is usually home to no more than five persons.
A typical Angami house is a one-story structure with leveled earth used as flooring.
It is from 10 to 20 meters in length and from 6 to 12 meters in width.
Material used in home roofing is determined by individual status in the village, and there are four such
degrees. A first-degree house may be roofed with thatching grass, a second-degree house with
bargeboards, a third-degree house with bargeboards and kika (house horns), and a fourth-degree house
with wooden shingles and kika (which differ at times in shape and placement on the house).

Interior arrangement of Angami house:

The interior of each house contains three compartments: kiloh, mipu-bu, kinutse.
The front room (kiloh) is half the length of the house. Paddy is stored here in baskets along one or both
walls and the room is furnished with a bench ( pikeh ) for rice pounding.
The second compartment (mipu-bu) is separated by a plank partition containing a doorway. It is here
that the hearth is located (consisting of three stones embedded in the ground to form a stand for cooking
containers). The Angamis traditionally built a fireplace with three stones. Before building a new house,
the man of the house builds a fireplace. When the construction of the home is complete and only
thatching is left, the fire is to be brought from the house of a Kika Kepfuma, that is, a man who has
performed the Lesu ritual and has thus earned a higher social status and the right to put horns on his
house. If there is no such person in the clan of the house builder then fire is brought from the house of
any person none of whose children have died. This fire is taken inside the new house by the owner who
wears a ceremonial dress and carries a spear. It was considered a serious offence to put out a mans fire.
Even now, in Angami villages the fire in the hearth is not allowed to go out completely.
 This room also serves as sleeping quarters, and beds (raised or 1 meter from the ground) are found
here.
The third compartment, 1 meter or so in depth and extending the entire width of the house, is the kinutse,
where the liquor vat is located. This room also contains the rear entrance to the house.

Picture: Traditional Angami house in Bara Basti, Kohima with horn shaped gables.

Source:

The walls of the Angami Naga house are decorated with stylized mithun, ox, heads. The number of ox heads are
attributed to the person`s wealth, indicating the number of feasts given.
Sema Naga village and traditional dwellings:

Sema village:
Sema Naga is one of the major Naga tribes mainly inhabiting the Zunheboto districtin of Nagaland, India,

LIFESTYLE

Life revolved around agriculture.

The majority of each day would be spent in the fields.
The Semas were head hunters they captured enemy trespassers would be beheaded and their heads hung
up.

Villagers carrying home a load of harvest from the field.

 Harvesting in the field.

A woman weaving a shawl

An old woman spinning thread.

GEOGRAPHICAL SETTING

Almost all Sema villages existed in the hilly regions in Nagaland.

The Sema village is usually built either on the summit of a hill or on the shoulder of a spur.
 Down, near the valley of where the climate is hot, a summit is usually chosen, but in the higher and
colder regions, a shoulder below the ridge of a range of hills is a common site for a village.
All the houses within the same village had the same style.
This was to ensure that one would immediately be able to identify which tribe a particular village
belonged to from a safe distance.

Village Layout
Sema villages being as a rule very much smaller, a village of 100 houses is quite large for a Sema
villagealso the cultivated lands are nearer to the village and the fighting men more easily assembled
in case of a raid.
The approach to a Sema village is always over land consisting largely of open jhum, and in part of very
thick low jungle, in which the movement of an enemy would be most difficult.
The precipitous approaches and the narrow lanes leading to Angami villages do not seem to be sought
after, and though Angami influences may be clearly seen in some of the southern villages, these are
exceptions to the general rule. The paths and communications between Sema villages, while generally
much more open than those in the Angami village, are far less elaborate. The broad graded paths of the
Angamis to their fields do not exist, for the Sema has no permanent cultivation like the Angami terraces,
and the field-paths vary yearly with the jhums.
The arrangement of the houses in a Sema village is looser and more open than in an Angami village, and
the scattering of the houses is conducive to greater cleanliness and decreased danger from fire. A Sema
village is on the whole much cleaner than an Angami village, partly because there is much more room,
but largely because the Sema is not as filthy as the Angami
The graves of the dead may often be seen in front of the houses they inhabited during life, a slight
mound surrounded, in the case of men, but not of women, by a low fence with a little thatched roof
above it, and the deceaseds ornaments hung up on it with the heads of cattle slaughtered at his funeral.

Little fenced-in patches of garden, where vegetables are grown, are scattered here and there among the
houses.

There are several noticeable features of the Sema village not found in Angami villages.
One is the separate collection of granaries, little huts in rows raised from the ground and usually
placed at a short distance from the inhabited houses to secure them against fire.

Another is the bamboo plantations which surround the village with clumps of a great bamboo and are
the most picturesque at a distance.

In place of the stone monoliths of the Angami village the Sema villagers erect trees and tall bamboos
covered with leaves to celebrate their gennas, while the houses of chiefs and rich men are
surrounded with massive carved forked posts to which mithan have been tied when slaughtered at
festivals.

The sitting places of a Sema village consist of simple platforms, generally of bamboo, and in front of
the houses of important persons.
Also the cattle are kept outside the village, which remains comparatively clean.
Morung in Sema Naga Village:
In almost all Naga tribes the morung or Bachelors' Hall is a principal feature and plays a great part in
village life, but the Sema tribe is an exception to the general rule.

The morung," or young men's house, is practically non-existent among the Semas.

It is occasionally found in a miniature form. Such a model is often built in times of scarcity, the under-
lying idea apparently being that the scarcity may be due to the village having neglected to conform to a
custom which has been abandoned. A miniature morung of this sort is always built when a new village
is made.

As a general rule, the chief's house serves all the purposes of a morung, both as a centre for gennas and
as a bachelor's sleeping-place, the young men of his village sleeping in his outer room on the dhan-
pounding tables.

Morung in Philimi (1916)

Sema Traditional House:

The house of a Sema is on the average smaller than an Angami house and much less substantial in
construction.
Where the Angami uses wooden planks the Sema employs bamboos, so that his house never has the
solidity typical of an Angami house.

The house of the ordinary Sema villager is about 12 to 15 paces long by 5 to 6 wide, but the houses of
chiefs are considerably larger and sometimes very large indeed.

The posts supporting the house are set in hues of three, a small house needing three such hues, a large
house four, and a very large house still more. The eaves are brought down to within 3 or 4 feet of the
 ground, and an apse-like addition is often made to the front or back of the house, or both, the roof of it
being low and semicircular.

The two bamboos forming the front of the gable are pro-longed beyond the roof to form horns, called
tenhahu-hi (i.e., " snail-horns "), sometimes embellished with imitation birds of wood fastened on to
them, and with ornaments of gourds and bamboo tassels hung to the ends to rattle in the wind.
Occasionally barge-boards, pierced at the ends in imitation of the Angami house-horns, may be seen
replacing the ordinary bamboo tenhaku-hi, but these are rare. In any case, horns may only be added to
the front gable by persons who have performed the requisite social gennas. Thatch is the only sort of
roofing employed by Semas. In building a house, or any building, it is genna to plant a post with the
upper end downwards, as this would cause suffering to the tree. On the other hand, should a post once
planted take root and sprout, it must be cut down; otherwise, having overcome the man who cut it, and it
will look upon his death.

Though there is no lack of fleas and kindred vermin in the Sema house, it is far cleaner than that of the
Angami.

Interior arrangement of the Sema house:

The interior of the Sema house is ordinarily divided into four rooms : The interior of the Sema house
was ordinarily divided into four parts
o The Akishekhoh - or front room where the rice pounding tables were kept.
o The Abidelabo - a narrow room between the Akishekhoh and the Amiphokiboh (hearth room)
where the unmarried girls of the household sleep.
o The Akuzu-Abo - where the head of the family (father) and his wife sleeps.
o The Azhi-Bo - the liquor room where rice beer is stored in bamboo jugs.
THE AKISHEKHOH

View of the rice pounding table

This is where they keep the rice pounding tables.

The Akishekhoh is an apse like addition to the front of the house, semicircular in plan with the eaves
brought down to within 3 or 4 feet from the ground.
Grain collected from the field is stored in large bamboo woven baskets.
The grain is pounded in the large wooden rice pounding tables (apas) as and when required.
The grain is pounded mainly by the women of the household in the mornings or in the evenings, after
returning from the fields.
Animals - dogs, pigs, chicken are also kept here.
The unmarried boys of the household sleep in here.

THE ABIDELABO

This is where the unmarried girls of the household sleep.

Firewood for the fireplace (Amiphokiboh) is also stored in this room.
THE AKZ - ABO

The head of the family - the father , in this case chief of the village and his wife or wives sleep here.
Inside the Akz abo is the Amiphokiboh (hearth room).
The fathers bed is nearest to the fireplace and the wifes bed has a separate, smaller fireplace near her
bed.

THE AMIPHOKIBOH - Ami - fire, Pho - smoke, kiboh- cover

The fireplace consists of three stones on which a pot can be placed and the fire lit between the stones.
Extra stones are often added in big houses, so that two or three pots can be kept on the fire together.
At the four corners of the fireplace, are four bamboo posts which support a bamboo shelf. This serves
the double purpose of preventing sparks to reach the roof and an excellent place to dry meat or keep
utensils.
The family eats the morning and evening meals around the fireplace.
In common houses, guests may be entertained here as well.
Near the fireplace, a large window, almost the size of a door is made - the trash door.
Waste from the cooking is thrown out this window and collected outside which is cleared regularly.

THE AZHI - BO - Azhi - liquor, Bo - place or room

This room is located right at the back of the house.

Rice beer is stored in liquor vats in this room.
At the back of the house is a backdoor which usually leads to a small kitchen garden.
 PLAN

BUILDING MATERIALS

The primary construction materials were:

o TIMBER for structural elements, like the posts
o BAMBOO for walls and other structural elements
o THATCH as the roofing material.
 Chief Inatos Hut
Village Lumitsami - Nagaland

SECTIONAL - 3D VIEW
 SECTION OF THE HUT

The Akishekhoh & Apas - abo

The Akishekhoh is usually where the rice pounding tables are kept.
In this house, however, the rice pounding tables are kept inside the house, in a room called the apas
abo (rice pounding table - room).
All the functions of the Akishekhoh in Chief Sakhalus hut are now shifted to this room.
The rest of the house is divided into similar divisions as in Chief Sakhalus hut.

ORNAMENTATION

There is very little decoration about the Sema house.

The centre post of the front gable is often carved with mithan heads, and the outside wall of the front
gable and the wall of the front room facing the front door are hung with the heads of game killed and
mithan slaughtered by the owner of the house.
The two bamboos forming the gable were prolonged beyond the roof to form horns called the tenhaku -
ki (snail horns).
These were sometimes decorated with lines in parallel waves, bamboo tassels and imitations of birds.
Sometimes, in the chiefs house, human heads were also hung as trophies.
Beds are made from single slabs of wood hewn out of the tree and raised 2 feet or so from the ground,
either on wooden props or on legs hewn out of the wood in the same piece as the slab itself.
The great bed of a Sema chief is often an enormous table about 6 inches thick, with great legs at each
corner, 2 feet or more long, hewn out of the tree all in one piece, and is perhaps more than 5 feet long
by about 4 feet wide.
 It is usually higher at the head than at the foot, and sometimes has a ledge at the bottom, against which
the feet may rest, and a wooden pillow for the head raised slightly from the level of the rest of the bed.

REQUIREMENT vs RESPONSE

These dwellings, located mainly in the hilly regions came under the Cold and cloudy climatic category.
The houses did protect them from the cold winds that blew but did little to retain heat within the house.
Openings were kept to a minimum to retain as much heat within the house as possible.
The fireplace was situated in the living quarters which helped in raising comfort levels within these
spaces.
The scale of the private spaces was also smaller which meant that a smaller heat source was required to
heat the room.
The sloped roofs worked beautifully in keeping the interiors dry.
The steep slope of the roof ensured that no water could seep in through the gaps between the thatch and
enter the house.
The openness of the people did not require such a high degree of privacy.
As a result the overall design of the house was kept simple, yet completely functional.
Its function not just extending to its activity space relation but its social and climatic context.

Source: This is a result of the research documentation done by Inato Sema a 2nd year students of SPA college
on vernacular architecture.

Analyze the impact of the culture on the built environment of Angami Naga community

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