The Toda community are a small tribal Dravidian ethnic community who live in the Nilgiri Mountains of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. They live on the upper plateau of the Nilgiri hills with an average elevation of 2300 ft. at the junction of the Eastern and the Western Ghats in the Tamil Nadu State of India. Before the 18th century and British colonization, the Toda coexisted locally with other ethnic communities, including the Kota, Badaga, and Kurumba. Toda people are not aborigines but came probably as conquerors or immigrants from the sea. The toda munds/ hamlets were organized in a radial pattern, with the temple being at the center. The huts are dispersed across the slopes of the pasture on which the Toda people keep domestic buffalo. Toda settlements do not have any enclosed barriers, gates, or fences. The variation of temperature throughout the year exhibits a cold climatic condition. Ooty enjoys a pleasant climate throughout the year. Due to the presence of high mountain ranges, the southwest monsoon is not very strong but the northeast monsoon causes heavy downpour during the months of October and November.
Diagrammatic representation of the settlement pattern
Among the hamlet, One of the huts is used exclusively for cattle, another is a storage room, and the rest are family dwellings. The building form is compact with very little open space. The longer walls are oriented in a north-south direction so the solar heat received is maximum. The houses are seated at a depth of 2 feet from ground level and is surrounded by a boundary wall of 3’ height to define the territory of each hut and also it acts as a windshield to prevent the vault from extreme wind at high altitude With a rectangular plans, they are usually 10 feet (3 m) high, 18 feet (5.5 m) long and 9 feet (2.7 m) wide. On each side of the doorway is a raised platform, which acts like a semi-private area similar to an otla. The hamlets have no openings other than the main entrance which faces in the eastern direction. The entrance is 3 feet wide and 3 feet tall as a means of protection from the weather as well as sudden attacks of wild animals. Openings were minimum to prevent heat loss. The roof is barrel-vaulted reaching down to the ground. It absorbs more solar radiation during the day and dissipates the heat during the night.
Construction process
Thicker bamboo canes are arched to give the hut its basic bent shape. Thinner bamboo canes (rattan) are tied close and parallel to each other over this frame. Dried grass is stacked over this as thatch it is closely constructed to minimize the infiltration.
Dried grass acts as an excellent insulator and minimizes both heat gain or heat loss.
Thicker stone walls or walls with high thermal mass stores heat during the day and it is radiated in the night.
These Traditional houses are incredibly warm even during the most frosty winter nights. Moreover, despite having no foundation, they can withstand the most fierce cyclonic storm as they are designed to act as natural wind breakers.
Plan and Section
The spatial organization of a typical Toda house reflects the principle of binary opposites with a strong axis created by entrance door and subsequent openings. With orientation of the viewer facing towards the front of a dwelling, if the entrance is slightly to the left between two sitting platforms within the front porch, inside there will be an earthen sleeping platform , 45 – 60cm high to the right and a working area to the left and vice versa
Binary opposite of the gender roles in the community are seen with an mortar distinguishing the more public male spaces in the front part of the house, where males churn sacred milk with the aid of a churn pole next to the front wall and the private female spaces in the back, where there is a fireplace, a storage platform, and often several shelves above it for the storage of a wide assortment of vessels which a Toda family likes to display. The most auspicious space of the house, the puja room is located adjacent to the entry.
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