TOWNS AND VILLAGES IN NEPAL
Most settlements and villages are comprised of loosely clustered groups of houses surrounded by agricultural land. Some are built on hill tops of hillsides for traditional defensive reasons or because no other land was available. Other are situated near rivers, streams or springs. They are usually connected to other villages and places by footpaths or, if it is not so hilly, roads.. [Source: Alfred Pach III, “Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 3: South Asia,” edited by Paul Hockings, 1992 |~|]
Villages are often organized around a pipal or banyan tree, which is surrounded by a stone platform and some kind of seating structure (chautara ). This has traditionally served as a rest place for travelers, a gathering place for the community and a meeting place for village councils.
Most small villages and hamlets are occupied by a single farming community that belongs to a particular ethnic group or caste. Larger villages are generally occupied by a single ethnic group but have different castes as well as a school or clinic and some shops. The houses are often tightly clustered and some houses share a wall. Courtyards, the front of houses and central paths are sometimes paved with stones.
Towns spring up around major religious centers or centrally-situated market centers. These are where the first roads appear. Alfred Pach III wrote in the “Encyclopedia of World Cultures”: “Most hamlets consist of a few clans (thar ) of a particular group (e.g., Magar, Gurung) and often one or more households of artisan castes (e.g., metalworkers) . There are also more densely compact settlements among the Brahmans and Chhetris, Sherpa, Newari, and others that may consist of over fifty households.”
Homes and Housing in Nepal
According to the “Encyclopedia of World Cultures”: ““Brahmans and Chhetris live in villages, hamlets, and isolated homesteads. The walls of their small houses are constructed from stone or mud brick, painted red ocher around the base, whitewashed above, and topped with a thatched roof. The floors and interior walls are made from a mixture of cow dung and mud, which dries to a clean, hard surface. The houses of those living in towns, such as Kathmandu, the capital, are larger and are made of brick and cement. [Source: Alfred Pach III, “Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 3: South Asia,” edited by Paul Hockings, 1992 |~|]
According to the “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Nations”: Most of the population lives in rural villages where houses are made of stone or mud bricks, with thatched roofs and raised eaves. Bamboo and reed huts are also prevalent. Most houses have two stories, but some contain only two rooms, a sleeping room and a room for cooking. In slum areas, wood, straw, paper, and plastic sheeting are used for temporary shelters. The well-constructed houses of the Sherpas are generally built of stone and timber, roofed with wooden slats. [Source: “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Nations”, Thomson Gale, 2007]
“In 2001, there were about 3,598,212 dwellings serving about 4,174,372 households. The average household size is 5.4 members. About 49.7 percent of all households live in temporary housing, those made with bamboo, reeds, mud, or other nondurable materials. About 23.5 percent live in permanent structures made of concrete, brick, stone, tile, and other durable materials. About 88.3 percent of all dwellings are owner occupied. About 93 percent of rural dwellings are owner occupied; compared to 60 percent of urban dwellings. A little over 53 percent of all households have access to piped water and only 46 percent have toilet facilities. Wood is the most commonly used fuel for cooking. Only about 39.8 percent of households have electric lighting.
Urban Houses in Nepal
In the Kathmandu Valley, houses are made of stone or mud bricks, with thatched roofs and raised eaves. In Kathmandu and the neighboring cities of Patan and Bhaktapur you can find multistory brick houses with elaborately carved wooden door frames and screened windows. Although the largest and most famous buildings are well maintained, older residential buildings are falling into disrepair.Housing shortages in urban areas have resulted in an increase of squatter villages, or slum areas. [Source: Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations, Thomson Gale, 2007; [Source: “Countries and Their Cultures”, The Gale Group Inc., 2001]
According to the “Encyclopedia of World Cultures”: “The most common houses in the middle hills are two-story, mud-brick houses with thatch — or, recently, tin — roofs. The bottom of each house is painted in red-clay ocher and the top half is whitewashed. The floor is cleaned regularly with a newly applied mixture of wet cow dung and clay. The kitchen must be kept pure, so it is often located on the second floor of the house in order to avoid the pollution of stray animals that might wander into it. Most houses have a veranda and a courtyard where people socialize and work on weaving, corn husking, and other chores. [Source: Alfred Pach III, “Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 3: South Asia,” edited by Paul Hockings, 1992 |~|]
In Newari towns and cities, houses are more elaborate three-story dwellings of stone or baked brick with tin or slate roofs, and they may have carved windows and courtyards in the middle of the house. Simplified versions of these houses are being made of cement or brick throughout the Kathmandu Valley to accommodate its current population boom.
Rural Houses in Nepal
Rural housing is generally very basic, reflecting the building styles of different caste and ethnic groups. They are usually made of materials that available locally, with climate conditions taken into consideration. Rural houses generally have one or two stories and are made of mud brick with a thatched roof. Village houses tend to be clustered in river valleys or along ridge tops. [Source: “Countries and Their Cultures”, The Gale Group Inc., 2001]
A typical house found in the Himalayan foothills has two stories, mud brick walls and a thatch or metal roof. The first story serves as storage area and a place to keep animals. The second story is where people live. The bottom floor is often covered with red clay and the top story is whitewashed. In many villages roofs are constructed from thatch grass placed over a latticework of heavy cane and the floors are a composite of mud and cow dung. The floor and walls are regularly cleaned and maintained by applying a mixture of wet cow dung and clay.
The kitchen is generally on the second floor. Most houses have a veranda or courtyard where people gather to socialize and do chores and activities. Often there is no electricity, running water, toilet or even an outhouse. In mountainous regions such as Dolpo and the area around Mt. Everest houses are often made of stone because that us the most readily-available material. In the southern lowland region, houses often made of bamboo matting, plastered with mud and cow dung, and covered by a thatch roof. [Source: Alfred Pach III, “Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 3: South Asia,” edited by Paul Hockings, 1992 |~|]
Newari Homes and Settlements
The Newars are an ethnic group associated with the Kathmandu Valley. Regarded by some as the earliest inhabitants of the valley, they are both Buddhists and Hindus. The Newar are the sixth largest ethnic group in Nepal. According to the CIA Factbook in 2020 they make up 5 percent of the population of Nepal.
Newars are perhaps the most urbanized of Nepal’s ethnic groups. Even farmers live in tightly-packed communities and walk some distance to their fields. In urban areas they have traditionally lived in rows of brick buildings, three or more stories high, organized around a courtyard. In rural areas, Newari settlements consist of clusters of houses built on raised areas surrounded by agricultural fields. Newar communities generally are filled with religious buildings and are divided into different parts: upper and lower parts and male and female halves.
Newai houses are made of stone or baked brick and have slate or tin roofs and carved windows and a courtyard with a stupa in the middle of the house. A typical three-story Newar house squeezes in 30 people and has a kitchen on the top floor. The house is entered by a small door facing the outside. The bottom floor is occupied by animal stalls and granaries. On the roof is a terrace used for performing chores and drying foodstuffs.
The Newars make unique monasteries, palaces and temples. They are often decorated with wood carvings and have metal or stone sculptures Newar homes are famed for their wooden balconies and elaborately carved windows. Their temples are a jumble of stone monuments placed there by the wealthy to earn merit. Around the monuments and alters with offerings of mustard oil, butter and yoghurt. [Source: John Scofield, "Kathmandu's Remarkable Newars", National Geographic, February 1979]
Hiroshi Ishii wrote in the “Encyclopedia of World Cultures”: “Newari settlements often surround paved courtyards or border on narrow lanes. Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur (48,000) stand out politicoeconomically and in terms of population. The populations of typical Newari settlements range from about one thousand to several thousand, though Kirtipur and Thimi are smaller. Newari settlements abound with temples and other religious places that form a sacred microcosm. [Source: Hiroshi Ishii, “Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 3: South Asia,” edited by Paul Hockings, 1992 |~|]
“Major settlements have politicoreligious centers and are protected not only by surrounding walls but also by the temples of eight goddesses and other religious structures placed in proper directions. The agricultural population forms the majority in most of the Newar settlements except for modern Kathmandu and commercial towns outside the valley. A considerable commercial population can also be found in many settlements near the hills such as Sankhu, Capagaon, Lubhu, Banepa, and Dhulikhel, which are trade centers connecting the valley with points outside. Villages Between these and the central cities are more agricultural. In some rural settlements, the Jyapu (farmer) caste forms the overwhelming majority. Others have a multicaste structure.
Magar Houses and Villages
Magar are the third largest ethnic group in Nepal. According to the CIA Factbook in 2020 they make up 7.1 percent of the population of Nepal. They are a Hindu people who live in the middle Himalayas and Terai and west-central and southern Nepal.
John T. Hitchcock wrote in the “Encyclopedia of World Cultures”: “Banyan Hill lies in the heart of long-settled Magar territory. Other Magar hamlets elsewhere — particularly those in the harsher northern areas, where food resources are both more limited and widely scattered and where Brahman influence is less — differ from Banyan Hill in various ways. The rapid changes of the last thirty years throughout Nepal have affected all Magar hamlets. Banyan Hill is one of seventeen hamlets comprising a traditional administrative district called Kihun Thum. Prior to the Gurkha conquest the Thum apparently was part of a petty kingdom ruled by the raja of Bhirkot. Like other Thums, Kihun had a fortification called a kot. Kihun's kot, now important solely as a ceremonial center, lies at the crest of the 1,500-meter ridge behind Banyan Hill. [Source: John T. Hitchcock, “Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 3: South Asia,” edited by Paul Hockings, 1992 |~|]
“In Kihun Thum there were about 600 households in the 1960s, and if one estimates 5 persons per household, the Population as a whole numbered about 3,000. Brahmans were the most numerous caste and their 243 households comprised approximately 40 percent of the total number of houses. Magars' households numbered about 190, or approximately 32 percent. Caste groups such as the metalworkers (60 households), leatherworkers (36 households), ex-Slaves (36 households), and tailors (17 households) were less Numerous. Other castes accounted for the remaining 18 Households including seven Newars who were shopkeepers in the local bazaar. |~|
“The caste groups at that time tended to concentrate in separate hamlets. Practically all households in Banyan Hill were Magars, and Magars predominated in five other hamlets in Kihun Thum. Banyan Hill consists of two house clusters, one dominated by a founding patrilineage and the second dominated by their wife receivers. Houses vary in size. Some are oval, and some rectangular. Most have two stories; a few have three. Despite variation in size and shape, the method of construction and basic layout are much the same. Walls are built up using stones and mud mortar. Next they are plastered with mud. The final coat that is applied dries to a warm reddish orange. Roofs are thatched. All houses have verandas. Interior ground floor plans, which may symbolically reflect the tripartite social system, consist of two side rooms flanking a Comparatively large central room containing the fire pit. The single door of the house opens into the left-hand flanking room, making it an entrance hall. A notched pole ladder leads from the right-hand flanking room to the upper floor where clothing and valuables are stored in boxes and grain is stored in circular bins made of woven bamboo. |Other buildings and structures that are almost invariable parts of the farmstead include a thatched cattle shed, usually open on three sides, and a tall rack for storing ears of maize. The amount of maize on display is an indication of family wealth.
Sherpa Homes and Villages
Sherpas are a Tibetan Buddhist people that are essentially Tibetans who have lived in Nepal long enough to develop some of their own unique traits and characteristics. They are quite different from Hindu Nepalese. The Sherpas of the Khumbu valley near Mt. Everest are famous mountaineers and guides.
Sherpa villages can range in size from three or four households to large villages and towns such as Khumjung and Namche Bazar. In higher elevations houses are surrounded by fields and demarcated by stone walls. In lower elevations the houses are clustered together and also surrounded by fields. Many villages have a temple or chorten (stupa), communal mill, school and clinic.
A traditional Sherpa wooden houses has two stories. The bottom floor is used to keep animals and store things like yak dung and stocks of potatoes. A ladder-like set of stairs, often made of logs, leads to the top floor living area, often a single long room. The house is made of stone, covered with plaster and supported by wood beams. Wood is used for shingles and the flooring and walls on the interior.
The center of the Sherpa home is the “thap,” an open hearth found at the top of the log stairs. The master bed — piles of Tibetan rugs — is here. A guest's importance is determined by how close he is seated to the thap. Benches are arranged around the walls for sitting and sleeping. Shelves are used to store cooking utensils and family heirlooms. Some houses get electricity from hydroelectric project built the area. Many Sherpas don’t use the electricity much because it is expensive. Many don’t have a clock but they have a calender that shows the phases of the moon. The possession of typical household include a few acres of terraced fields, three cows, three zopkios (male yak-cow crossbreed) and 10 sheep.
Nyinba Daily Life and Houses
The Nyinda are a small Tibetan ethnic group that lives in Humal Karnali, a rugged area between 2,850 and 3,300 meters in elevation in Nepal near the Tibetan border. There are only a few thousand of them. They have traditionally raised high elevation crops like buckwheat and millet and were involved in the Tibetan salt trade. They are also known as Barthapalya (in Nepali), Bhotia, Bhutia and Tamang.
According to the “Encyclopedia of World Cultures”: “All four Nyinba villages include a main settlement at the center of village territory plus one or more small hamlets located nearer its borders. The largest village includes fifty-eight households, the smallest twenty-seven households (the constituent hamlets are two to seven households in size). The settlement pattern is nucleated; the houses are tightly clustered, with adjoining walls and roofs in the larger and older settlements. [Source: Nancy E. Levine, “Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 3: South Asia,” edited by Paul Hockings, 1992 |~|]
“These houses are large and three stories tall; they are solidly built of fashioned stone and timber, often covered with a layer of mud plaster. At ground level is the barn, which is subdivided into compartments for different domestic animals. On the second story is the family's main quarters. This typically consists of a kitchen-cum-living room, a windowless storage room for valuables, another storage room also used for sleeping, and a long outer corridor, where a small, second hearth is placed. On the top story stand a number of storage sheds. The main living rooms have plank floors and carved pillars, while the other rooms have earthen floors and roughly cut pillars. Windows are small and closed by shutters; glass remains exceedingly rare.
“Villages and hamlets are surrounded by agricultural land, with the hamlets located adjacent to more recently reclaimed lands on the margins of village Territory. Each village has rights to specific forest and grazing lands. Each village also includes its own gompa, the temple and domestic establishment of a noncelibate Buddhist lama. These buildings are set apart from the houses of lay people, typically located above village settlements and in a "pure" place.
Gurung and Mustang Houses and Villages
Mustang (pronounced moo Stong) is a remote, semi-autonomous kingdom in northern Nepal, where Tibetan Buddhism is practiced in one of its purest forms. Situated between the Annapurna range and Tibet, it is an isolated place where some people still believe the earth is flat, noblemen still keep serfs, sheep skulls are kept outside houses to keep out bad spirits and nomads sleep in yak hair tents. For a long time there were no telephones, no cars, roads, no airport, no banks. The post offices was often closed because there were no stamps. What Mustang does have is wonderful temples untouched since the 15th century.
A typical home in Mustang is a two-story, mud-brick structure with storerooms for grain and stalls for animals in the first floor and living area for people on the second floor with a kitchen, dining room and bedroom all in one dank, windowless chamber. A sheep skull pierced by twigs blessed by a monk is placed on the front of the house to keep demons away. An altar with statues of Buddha and other deities is kept in the house. The entrance to a village is usually marked with a long wall of carved prayer stones and chortens,
The Gurung is an ethnic group that live primarily the Himalayan foothills of central Nepal around Pokhara and the Annapurna, Lamjung and Himalchuli regions. They speak Gurung — a tonal language related to Tibetan — and have traditionally been Tibetan Buddhists but have been strongly influenced by Hinduism. Gurung are the 11th largest ethnic group in Nepal. According to the CIA Factbook in 2020 they make up 2 percent of the population.
According to the “Encyclopedia of World Cultures”: “Gurung villages are built high on ridges and consist of closely clustered groups of whitewashed houses with slate roofs. Houses of lineage members tend to be built alongside one another. While most Gurungs remain in rural villages, since the mid-1970s many more prosperous Gurung families have chosen to move to Pokhara, the nearest urban center, because of the greater comfort of urban living and improved access to educational facilities and medical care. [Source: Ernestine L. McHugh, “Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 3: South Asia,” edited by Paul Hockings, 1992 |~|]
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons
Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Lonely Planet Guides, Library of Congress, Nepal Tourism Board (ntb.gov.np), Nepal Government National Portal (nepal.gov.np), The Guardian, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Wikipedia and various books, websites and other publications.
Last updated February 2022