Residences

RESIDENCES_BLUE OR NOT BLUE

The Indian houses can assume various architectural forms depending on the caste of the owner, very often is the appearance of the house itself a way to affirm their membership to a specific community or to a particular social class. However there are some aspects in every Indian house which never change- the organization of the interior space, the level of privacy of different rooms and the presence of spatial elements with specific roles.

Beginning from the outside, each house has a stone element called OTTA ; it’s always placed in front of the main entrance and is an extension of the interior space of the house. For the social value that has can also be considered a semi-private space of the street as it used as a resting place that brings together members of various families living side by side. Once inside the element of the threshold called UMBARO represents the physical barrier between the inside and the outside. It is considered extremely rude to cross the threshold unless accompanied by the owner of the house who usually introduces guests in a room called DIWANKHANA: the only place in the house where he can stay without violating the privacy of the members of the house.

Subsequently, the house is equipped with a small kitchen; the RASODU. That’s the room of the house where women spends most of their time.

Advancing further the threshold of what the Indians call OSARI is crossed. That is the room in direct contact with the inner courtyard; the true heart of the Indian home. Each house has its own courtyard that serves as a source of light and ventilation. Usually the OSARI is an open porch where family members gather to talk and spend time together. It is therfore very private and here normally visitors are not allowed.

At the rear of the house there are the stairs leading to the upper floor or directly to the terrace there are also the bedrooms.Going up the stairs there is always a terrace, the AGASHI, which is very important from a symbolic point of view because it is the area of the house which is the closest to the sky.

Drawing by: Students of CEPT University and Universita degli Studi di Ferrara Space distribution of a typical residence in Jodhpur.

© Photograph by: Kevin Standage Courtyard- the heart of Indian traditional houses.

© Photograph by: Kevin Standage Elements of a traditional Jodhpur house in perspective.

POL_BOHRAN KI POL

The presence of this community within the walled city is due to an event that happened during the course of seventeenth century. They say in fact that a wealthy merchant named Shivji of the Bohran caste, native of Phalodi had provided the Maharajah a large sum of money to cover the costs of a military campaign and it seems that he, as a sign of gratitude and under the form of payment, had donated to the man’s family a land within the walls of Jodhpur. The descendants of Shivji still live in that area and with the growth of the family to protect the identity of the place given to them they took possession of the nearby houses creating a new community separated from the rest of the city to affirm their identity within the city they have placed a real gate that marks the entrance to the neighborhood.

Since the Bohran were part of a caste economically affluent (by profession they were money lenders) the houses of this area are richly decorated and are within a sort of private plaza inside the gate.

Even in this case the ommunity dimension of the area is very important: the Bohran Ki Pol complex counts, twenty-eight buildings within which there are about 35 families all belonging to the some caste. The public spaces are shared with the houses at coners.

Drawing by: Students of CEPT University and Universita degli Studi di Ferrara