Part 2_Defamiliarising the Dwelling Morphogenesis of Parvati Valley, HP

Fig 2.9 Madu Dev, where the steep climb towards Grahan starts (Source: Harsh Singh www.tripoto.com)

Fig 2.10 Glimpses of the Grahan through the barley fields (Source: Author)

Towards the last 20% of the hike, you will notice a fork in the trail which is known as thatch with two arrows pointing in perpendicular direction. One arrow indicates a short cut while the other is the easy trail to the village. The short cut is an extremely steep climb to the village and one which is more suitable only for the locals and their cattle, but now is also undertaken by the tourists. The thatch has a natural water drinking spout installed by the Grahanis before the steep winding climb starts. The final climb gets to another sacred spot named ‘Madu Dev’ (Fig 1.25) which marks the entrance into the spiritual territory of Grahan village. The final rest-point before you enter Grahan village is ‘Dabag’. A seasonal small makeshift chai-point at Dabag caters to the tourists with tea and light packed snacks in the peak tourist season in summers.

Around 150m from Dabad lies Grahan which reveals itself only towards the end of the hike with some views (Fig 1.26) of bright-coloured chadar roofs and walls sneaking in between the trees and the barley fields surrounding the village.

2.1.b Mapping Grahan The dwellings of Grahan village can only be spotted towards the last 150 metres of the 10 km hike from Kasol. Grahan (Longitude : 31o 58’ N, Latitude: 77o 21’ E) located at 7700 ft. above mean sea level, the life of the Grahanis is highly dictated by the seasonal variations in Grahan.

As it falls in the high hills and the wet region of Western Himalayas, the climate remains cold almost the entire year with the winter season from mid-September to mid-April, short summer season from mid-April to mid-June, almost plentiful rainfall throughout the entire year and around 3-4 feet of snowfall in the months of February and March. Accordingly, seasonal fields of mustard, jau, peas, and orchards of apple, walnuts fringed with wild flowers and herbs appear in the summer months as one reaches Grahan. The landscape of Grahan is in the process of synthesising new meanings from both historic and contemporary narratives and images: historic narratives in the form of folklores and contemporary narratives in the form of the images portrayed by the visual media among the tourists and the Grahanis.

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Legend of Origin Due to the lack of literature on the origin of remote villages like Grahan, their history is significantly propagated across generations through the medium of folklores. The local legend as told by Mangaldas Thakur (2018), the Masterjee of the village, goes that.

“Grahan was first located near the taboo village of Malana some 500 years ago. A demon that lived on the outskirts of Malana troubled these villagers. In order to keep him calm, they had to offer a sheep to him as a sacrifice on a daily basis. Realising that his flock of sheep would soon perish, an elderly man named Zulfi from a kul named Dumichhug set out along with his wife, daughter and the flock of sheep and goats in search of a new place to reside.

Crossing the mountains across Malana to Kasol, he reached the gradual sloping plains of the current-day Grahan village.After settling in this place, he realised the need for cultivating crops for his and his family’s sustenance. He sowed the a handful of jau that he was carrying along and very soon the jau had ripened and the entire fired had become golden yellow in the month of Jeth. Realising that this the new place was much more fertile than his land back there in Malana, he decided to settle in this new found place which he named Grahan as a remembrance to his earlier village.

Zulfi soon started taking his flock in the alpine regions across the Grahan nullah . The zareeu where he halted also saw another shepherd reach the same place with his son and a flock of sheep and goats. This shepherd was from a village named Manihar which was the last village in Gadsa valley. As the friendship blossomed between the two shepherds, Zulfi offered to make the other shepherd’s son as his son-in law and make him settle in Grahan by marrying his only daughter. Agreeing to this proposition, the shepherd from Manihar sent off his son with Zulfi to marry Zulfi’s daughter.

Soon, the family prospered both in its assets and also the number of people. Slowly and steadily, the word spread about the fertile land in Grahan village and there were more migrants from the two villages who settled here. In this way, Grahan also grew in the size wherein the two kuls: Manihari-chhug from Manihar and Dummichhug form Malana flourished together bringing along with them the local devata and their other beliefs that they followed in their earlier villages.

The settlement and its landscape Beyond the fields, Grahan reveals itself with a cluster of houses, with colourful walls, doors and roof made in the traditional katthkuni construction technique peeking through. As you wander through the narrow alleys between the houses, a couple or two smiling faces of the Grahani women greet you as their hands are busy in weaving a pattu on the ratchh . Also, the bright signboards suggesting the directions towards the guest-houses cannot be missed along the way. Around the house cluster, fields have been carved out of the mountainside and layered in immaculate terraces one above the other. These fields are filled with the seasonal crops thick and strong and they form such patterns that an artist might have sown their seeds. Beyond

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these fields are the dense coniferous forests of Kanawar Wildlife Sanctuary on the steep snowcapped mountain sides.

On entering the settlement you are welcomed by a house with a small makeshift shop run by a lady selling chocolates, packed junk-food items and packaged water luring the tourists who are exhausted by the final steep climb to Grahan village. The Grahanis avoid buying any items from here as the house is inhabited by Harijans. The couple of houses at the lower end of the village near the settlement entrance belong to the lower castes which house the village luhar and the mistri. Considered a taboo to eat from these houses and share a seat with them due to the caste practices, the craft artisans here ironically are a major part of the worship when the dwellings are constructed.

Further into the village interiors, friendly and unfrightened children come running towards the tourists asking and often spanking them for chocolates and Kurkure. In fact the children even lure the tourists by posing for their camera and in return forcing them to a nearby shop selling junk-food like Lays, Hide and Seek biscuits, Sneaker chocolates etc. Unloading the huge Kurkure box from his back Ramlal Thakur (age 56) says,

“I’m the shop-owner of the smallest shop in Grahan and having the biggest heart.

Kurkure and Munch makes these kids happy!� (2017) as he hands over a Munch to a kid who gets along a tourist.

Towards Thunja

E G ntry ra i ha nt n o

Durvasa

Yagya Valkya Rishi Yagya Valkya Rishi (old)

Towards Pulgi

Mahaamaya

Fig 2.11 Map showing the settlement of Grahan

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Fig 2.12 A typical Cluster-section of Grahan

Since half the population of Grahan are the descendants of the Malanese, the Grahanis have peculiar sharp physical features with straight noses, “thick lips and oblique eyes” (Rana, 2014).

The older women-folk cladded in their colourful pattu tightened at the waist by gaachi and at the shoulders with pichu and contrasting thipu covering their heads overlook the wooden balconies as they clean sarso leaves for the dinner. From another balcony another old man with a thousand wrinkles on his face and wearing a khuthi and a tara patterned Kulluvi cap waves a hand and asks, “Razzee bazzee thikk!?”(Everything fine with you?). Before you answer him, his grandson walks past dressed in an Adidas t-shirt and jeans with a JBL in his hand, its sound almost deafening his grand-dad. Once he rushes out of the balcony, he is joined by his friend who are equally looking hip and modern in their coloured hair and attire and glued to the downloaded videos on their mobile phones.

“Jio ka tower lagega Thunja mein jaldi hi!”(A new telecommunication tower is going to be installed in Thunja village) gleam their aspirations about being available on Facebook and Youtube as they walk past.

Fig 2.13 Grahanis involved in the daily tasks (Source: Author)

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Fig 2.14 ‘Main connecting spline of the village (Source: Author)

The narrow path that acts as a main spline connects the entire length of the almost 5 hectare village, with the main temple and village square at the centre of it and then further leading to Pulgi village across the Gharthi nal . From this main spline emerge several pathways connecting the dwellings along the breadth of the village. The places where the spline is devoid of houses on both sides is flanked by stone retaining wall on one side and the on the other the terrain slopes steeper where the non-degradable waste from the village and especially the guesthouses are dumped.

The main spline of village often opens out into wider areas which serve as a pause along the route, water spout for the washing activities, community spaces for the women folk and also for collective farming activities like husking, drying grains etc. Some women spin wool, talking cheerfully, some with red-tinge-cheeked babies at their breasts, and some on their throw-shuttle-frame looms weaving beautiful pattus to be worn during the Agastt ka mela . The men too occasionally spend their leisure hours here exchanging gossip and a hookah.

Fig 2.15 Pause points along the main spline of the village acting as minor- community spaces (Source: Author)

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Fig 2.16.a Old Krishna Guest-house - Grahan’s first house in RCC (Source: Author)

Fig 2.16.b Interiors of the Old Krishna house (Source: Author)

Fig 2.17 The upcoming New Krishna Guest-house in RCC (Source: Author)

It is at this point in the village where trance psychedelic music from two opposing ends fills the air. On one end towards the lower slopes of the village is the old Krishna guest-house which was the very first RCC house in Grahan and on the other end is Ghanshyam guest-house. Both theses guest-houses with their fenced territories and prominent promotional board in Israeli and English language direct the tourists from the main spline. They being very popular with the tourists are thronged by the Isarelis and the Indian hookers for getting their hands on good bhang from the valley. During the peak tourist seasons, the balconies of these guest-houses are filled to the brim with tourists high on bhang, listening to loud reggae music and often involved in intimate activities; much unlike the slowness of Pahadi culture.

While making a bhang joint for an Israeli in the lounge of old Krishna guest-house, Krishna Thakur (age 42) says,”The next time you come to Grahan, my two brand new guest-houses will be ready for you to stay in!” (2018) while pointing to the underconstruction guest-house, being made in concrete and steel, against a backdrop of the coniferous trees.

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Fig 2.18

Central village square along Yagya Valkya Rishi temple (Source: Author)

As you reach the centre of the village, the entire village square is dominated by the Valkya Rishi temple, which is the highest built-form in the settlement due to the idea of the relation between height and auspiciousness. It is from here, that you can get a panoramic view of the entire village settlement which houses around 65 families and their traditional dwellings, a majority (95%) of which are constructed in the katthkuni technique. The land for building being scarce, it isn’t wasted by providing any formal circulation system for the village. To utilise the natural contours for building the dwellings demands either cutting or filling of the land. Thus stepped terraces and platforms created with the help of retaining walls are the main areas of acquiring sites for the dwellings which are preferred to be chandrabhedi and not suryabhedi The village square being the thoroughfare for any part of the village is always active the entire day among all the age-groups of Grahan- Flock of small children playing everywhere with the boys imitating the devata rath processions with empty Kurkure boxes while the small girls entertaining themselves with ghor-ghor games, the elder boys viewing and sharing videos and songs on their mobile phones in one corner of the village square, the elder girls with a huge kilta filled with forest twigs passes by while glancing at the boys seated in the corner, the middle-aged folk resting for a while to discuss the village matters and the upcoming devata rituals as the they direct their sheep towards the grazing pastures near Thunja village and the older men folk sharing a hookah and playing cards.

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Fig 2.19.a Old Yagya Valkya Rishi temple (Source: Author)

Fig 2.19.b Mahamaya temple (Source: Author)

A secondary path from the village square leads towards the other two temples of the settlement i.e. the old Valkya Rishi temple (which is exclusively visited by the Manihari kul) and the Mahamaya temple (which was constructed by the Dummichhug kul). Both these temples too have a wider area around them for the processional activities of the devata. The Grahanis being the descendants from two kuls, it is mandatory that they marry only a member of the other kul.

They are not allowed to marry their own people from the same kul.

Eastwards from the central village square leads one the pathway towards the Gharthi nal across which Pulgi village. The surroundings of Gharthi nal has also become a dumping ground for all the waste generated from the guest-houses. An unused gharath lies in ruins in this dump of garbage. Further in Pulgi village the flat lands which were used primarily for agricultural activities are now slowly being converted to guest-houses and the leisure outdoor garden areas to complement the guest-houses. Supervising the construction labourers at work at the guest house in Pulgi, Pinky Thakur says, “Earlier we used to break our backs on farming on this land.

This new house will earn money for us when we start renting it out to tourists. They will love to stay here because of the beauty around.”

On being asked, who will farm and cultivate crops for you if farmers like you give up on agriculture, she said, “Punjab se aayega na gehu aur chabbal! Ab toh sadak bhi pohach rahi hai yahaan…” (2018) (The wheat and rice will come from Punjab! The road would also soon reach the village…)

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2.3 The dwelling that is…

Fig 2.20 The dwellings of Grahan in the katthkuni construction technique (Source: Author)

Offering me a mint-chai while his fellow mistris adjusted a daar in the katthkuni house under-construction in Pulgi, Narpatlal Thakur, the head-mistri says, ”Ye sab adjustment ka kaam hai. Ghar-malik ke saath ek basic naksha banate hai, phir humare dimaag me jo hai usi tarah se banate hai. Aajkal lakdi kam milti hai.

Toh jitna daar jitna mile usmein hum adjust karte hai, pathru jyada daalke.

Par yeh bheenth sakt hoti hai. Hum sakt banate hai… Koi bhukamp nahi gira sakti” (2018).

[All this is a play of adjustments. We make a basic plan with the house owner, then accordingly we make it on the basis of what we have in our mind. Today the wood available is less. So, how much ever beam we get, we adjust it accordingly and use more stones. But this wall becomes sturdy. We make it so sturdy that no earthquake can collapse it] With a pride and honour in the work he does which has been passed over to him from “generation to generation in mostly an oral and empirical tradition by working as an apprentice for a number of years” (Dave, Thakkar, & Shah, 2013). While the Gharthi nal and walking back to Grahan village, a loud shrill sound filled the entire landscape. Continuing for quite a while the sound became more intense and finally stopped after which there was a huge THUDDD that shook the landscape. Upon enquiring the men folk in the village about the sound, they said “Oh! Power chain ka awaj hai yeh! Ek aur ped ko giraya Gurkho ne!” [It is the power-chain’s sound. The Gurkhas have cut one more tree]

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In Grahan village, almost 95 % of the dwellings are two to three storeyed high and are constructed in the traditional katthkuni technique. The major components of the house are as follows: overhanging slate roof taala (attic floor) katthkuni walls

baudd (living area) khud (ground floor)

projecting wooden balconies Stone foundation and plinth

Fig 2.21 Major components of a dwelling constructed in katthkuni technique (Source: Author)

1. Stone foundation and plinth: A trench of around 3-4 ft is dug, with its depth relative to the height of the house. It is then packed with loose rubble till the ground level and then further up in dry stone masonry till the plinth level.

2. The katthkuni walls: The walls are “made by laying apart two square-sections wooden wall-beams longitudinally parallel to each other to define the width of the wall. In order to ensure proper bond between the two, these are dove-tailed or lap-jointed by the cross-joists suitably spaced along the length of the wall (...) The whole framework, so done is known as cheol in the vernacular parlance” (Handa, 2001). The dove-tail joints being known as the makhdi joints, the remaining empty space between the daar (wooden beams) is hand-packed with the locally available pathru. .

The cheol is then followed by a dry course of stone. This process repeats one after the other for gaining the height of the wall. Recently, to economise the use of wood in the katthkuni technique “the walls are raised with the cheols spaced apart vertically so that there are number of courses of stone between the cheols, Such walls are known as dhol-maide in Kullu.” (Handa, 2001).

3. Wooden balconies projecting on the upper levels: Built around the perimeter of the building in a ‘L’ or ‘C’ or just on one side or circumnavigating the building , these balconies are either narrow and cantilevered or wide and supported on wooden posts which further go up to support the roof structure.

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4. Over hanging slate roof fixed to the wooden frame: Usually in the gable roof or pent roof or pent-and-gable roof form, the roofs of these traditional houses are “constructed out of wooden beams followed by secondary purlins and rafters, topped with slate” (Dave, Thakkar, & Shah, 2013). Due to the difficulty in procuring slate from the surrounding areas, corrugated metal sheets which are known as chaddar and are easily available in the local markets of Jarri are used for the roofs.

These traditional houses were primarily supervised by the head-mistri and constructed by the Grahanis themselves as a communal ritual for their own domestic purposes, wherein even the children used to be involved in hand-packing the pathru. Due to the communal nature of the building process, it was highly based on the “mutual obligation to assist one’s neighbours and community; and they also involved construction at a much smaller scale” (Dave, Thakkar, & Shah, 2013). Also, the dominance of the traditional devata system which prevailed in Grahan village ensured the small-scale of the construction and the corresponding ecological management of the natural resources like- forests from where the wood was procured and the quarries from where the stone was procured. With respect to procuring wood from the forests, the devaban system was followed in Grahan which imposed various restrictions like complete restriction, end-use based restriction, quantity restriction, community based restriction etc. on the Grahanis. This devaban system thus allowed the “villagers to meet their livelihood needs while at the same time ensuring some degree of sustainability of the resources” (Vasan, 2002) Though these houses were uniformly constructed in the katthkuni technique, they have subtle differing designs and the sizes that are relative to the quality and size of the families living in them. “They are constructed around very simple rectangular plans, follow natural site contours” (Dave, Thakkar, & Shah, 2013) and most importantly are never suryabhedi so that they get in the maximum amount of heat and light from the sun throughout the day.

“Humara ghor yahi hai- tandoor wala, lakdi wala, pathru wala… garam hota hai yeh sardi mein, roz ki roti hum yahi khana pasand karte hai, aur mele ke time bhar jaata hai rishtedaaron se” (Thakur L. , 2016) [This is home for us- the one with the tandoor, the one made with wood and stones… in winters this home remains warm, we like to eat our daily bread here and during the village fair, it gets filled with relatives]

Primarily based on their occupations – agriculture, animal husbandry and weaving, the dwellings of the Grahanis have evolved over time. Internally, the smallest house can be seen as a stack of rooms one above the other as three or four storeys:

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- The ground floor known as khud used as animal shed, storage of fodder, firewood, agricultural tools etc. It is a single room without any openings and a single low-heighted main entrance and small vents.

-The first floor known as baudd used as the central living room where the tandoor is the focal point of the entire room. This is the heart of the dwelling where the family spends most of its time.

-The upper attic floor known as taala used as the kitchen. It has a chuhl that is made from mud makes the entire taala auspicious as it is the abode of the devata in the house.

ATTIC FLOOR PLAN

SECTION AA’

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

GROUND FLOOR PLAN Fig 2.22 A typical traditional dwelling in Grahan

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- If the house is large and the family needs additional storage space, there is an intermediate floor known as katthar between the khud and the baudd which is used for storage of fodder, grains and agricultural tools.

The size of each of these rooms is “on the basis of optimum space for various functions, size of timber and their measuring system derived empirically over many years” (Dave, Thakkar, & Shah, 2013). The different levels of the house are connected by means of straight-flight, quarterturn, and winder staircases based on the type of wood available and the comfort needed by the family. The staircase which has made of wooden planks is known as saggaa and the one which is chiseled from a single tree trunk is known as goedaa. The wider balconies having open sides are the areas where the ratchh is located at the level of either the khud, katthar or baudd. Also, the dwelling is more than just functional, with time devoted to the details of the fenestrations which are purely aesthetic. The details of the posts of the balconies, frames & panels of the windows are worked upon by the mistri and adorn the upper floors.

Families residing in these dwellings are closely knit. The families here being patriarchal, man by tradition is the head of the family. However, the women aren’t suppressed here and in fact possess a statue equal to the men in inhering the property; in fact a single daughter brings the son-in law home. The women in these families utilize the majority sections in the house owing to their house-hold chores of cleaning the entire house, maintaining it, chopping vegetables, cleaning wool, stitching clothes, weaving in the balconies, cooking in the kitchen, serving food to the family around the tandoor, washing clothes and utensils in the wash areas near the khud etc. While the men-folk in these families take over the seasonal labour intensive tasks in farming like ploughing, making slight structural changes in the house to accommodate the family needs, fire-wood collection from the forests, sheep-horses and cattle rearing, managing the village events with respect to the devata etc.

Thus through the processes of inhabiting the house- in keeping the house under repair, decorating it, manoeuvring around the house, making structural alterations in response to the dynamic domestic circumstances, the life of the Grahanis is constantly evolving an image of taskscape. Likewise, these traditional dwellings in Grahan are also building on their “lifehistories, which consist in the unfolding of their relations with both the humans and non-human components of their environments (…) Building, then, is a process that is continually going on, for as long as people dwell in an environment” (Ingold, 2011). Therefore, it can be said that in the process of dwelling in an environment, the task-scape gets imprinted on the memories of the Grahanis, which can be termed as a ‘memory-scape’. It is in this very process of producing a memory-scape, that the perceptions of the Grahanis have been shaped with respect to the dwellings that the dwell in.

However, ever since the Homestay Scheme 2008 has been levied on villages across Himachal Pradesh, these perceptions are again being reshaped due to the various new images that the Grahanis are being subjected to through the medium of its increasing popularity among tourists. Also, non-contextual Government policies like Himachal Pradesh (Timber Distribution

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Fig 2.23 Alien construction materials like concrete blocks & cement bags satcked in Grahan (Source: Author)

to Right Holders) Amendment Rules 2016 have further been instrumental in diluting the devaban systems which existed in the villages. This has thus resulted in the dominance of the Forest Department over the usage of wood from the forests around Grahan village. Throwing light on the rules levied, Rakesh Sharma (2018), the Forest guard at Kasol, said that according to new rules of TD 2016, “no green standing trees shall be granted” (HPGDF, 2016) for any construction activities. “Trees shall be given from salvage (fallen, dry standing) trees” (HPGDF, 2016) only to the Pahadis having cultivable land, which has been acquired only through inheritance for the purpose of “construction, repair and addition or alteration of residential house and cow shed for bonafide domestic use” (HPGDF, 2016).

Accordingly, in order to stay away from the long hassles and troubles of these Government procedures, there is a shift in the dwelling patterns found in the construction of the upcoming commercial guest-houses and home-stays in Grahan village. The Grahanis simply choose to use either: - Reinforced Cement Concrete Construction which turns out to be four times more expensive due to the carriage involved in transporting the materials like cement-steel-aggregates form Kasol. These houses poorly made due to the unskilled labour putting them at the risk of the high seismic activity that Parvati valley is subjected to. or - wIllegally procure wood with the help of the Gurkhas from the neighboring forests for building katthkuni houses and become victims of the illegal timber logging.

Therefore owing to Grahan’s new actors of the landscape and dwelling: - the new users: tourists, - the new controller: government, the Grahanis are constantly being bombarded with images from the new actors though different means and mediums. By constantly interacting with these new actors, and listening to the narratives they carry, the new images of the Grahanis gets shaped leading them to the habituations of their familiar images of landscape and dwelling. This thus puts the new image of Grahan on the pedestal as “the dominant visual image of the place” (Kumar, 2016) and leads to the neglection of the familiar “elements from memory-scape” (Kumar, 2016) of the Grahanis.

In order to look at the different elements of the memory-scape of the Grahanis, the next section deals with the rituals and the remembrances of the Grahanis in the process of inhabiting their landscape and dwellings.

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Reminiscing the Grahan that was and is‌ Rituals I Dwelling Processes

3.1 Identification of the leverage in Grahan village

Fig 3.1 Upcoming under-construction road towards Grahan (Source: Author)

“Jebbe Grahan sadak elliii; Toshasaahi Zurli dhelliii!� (Thakur L. R., 2015) [When the road will reach Grahan, our condition will be similar to Tosh!]

The patterns of development that reach the remote villages of Himachal Pradesh create similar patterns of symbolic images and aspirations in the wider landscape that is shaped by duplication. In comparison with the case of Tosh village, these two landscapes have many similarities in terms of the environmental and behavioral changes that Tosh went through when the road reached it and Grahan is going through in response to the upcoming road.

In earlier times, rural landscapes in the villages of Parvati valley in Himachal Pradesh were closely linked ecologically, culturally and economically to the natural resource base that sustained them and hence retained an important place in the social life of such rural societies.

Moreover, the landscapes here were shaped and sustained in such a way that, religion and belief systems were traditionally integrated with natural resource use and management. In her

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paper ‘Devaban Institutions in Kullu: Transformation, Adaptation and Potential’ Sudha Vasan sheds some light on this integration patterns in the devaban system. She says, “This complex of religion and natural resources often forms the core of social and cultural life. This integration is exemplified in the institution of devaban (…) Devaban is the local term used to refer to forests that are considered sacred in the Kullu region of Himachal Pradesh, India” (2002). Among the assets that the village deity owned as a property, “devabans are only one of the constituents of the asset portfolio of the devata” (Vasan, 2002).

The institution of devata in the villages of Parvati valley constituted “an institution which governs all social, cultural, moral economic, religious and political life of the village folk” (Thakur M. R., 1997). Earlier, devata were the land-owners in Kullu having the devabans under their control.

They were also involved in making the social decisions of the daily lives of the people like fixing the marriages, resolving the property disputes, conducting the village and household functions etc. This belief system in the devata “also performed the role of the police and forest department” (Vasan, 2002). Melas that are still held in honour of the devatas are an important economic and cultural space which become the occasions for social interactions. They still play a major role “in cementing the social relations within the community and between the neighbouring villages” (Vasan, 2002).

With the help of the karkuns the administration and the affairs of the deity are managed by a local committee that comprise of a kardar (manager), kayath (cashier), pujari (priest), goor (medium / oracle), bhandari (storekeeper), kathiala(granary-keeper), kahar (rath carrier), bajantris (band of musicians) and nashandars (paraphernalia carriers). Due to this, in the earlier times, “the influence of the state authority was weaker and governance was centered at the village or regional level” (Vasan, 2002). However, with the changing governance environment, livelihood patterns and lifestyles, this traditional institution of devata now has a nominal authority as opposed to the over-powering influence of the state-level and national-level authorities and laws.

Fig 3.2 Sleepers of deodar wood stacked for commercial use at the Forest Department Office at Kasol (Source: Author)

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Vasan further describes the current state of these institutions of devata and devaban in the rural landscapes of Himachal Pradesh. According to her, due to the linking of these remote villages to the broader and wider globalised markets, these institutions have been influenced and affected by the numerous resultant socio-economic-cultural changes in these regions. The conversion of devabans into a potential market commodity have seen the tremendous expansion in the monetary value of these forests. Further, with a single matured deodar tree valued well over Rs. 50,000, the awareness of the economic value of these devaban among the villagers has shot up its sale in both the legal and illegal markets resulting in the profit-seeking cultural values of the landscape (2002).

Moreover, “The messengers of development – tourists, advertisements, film images” (NorbergHodge, 1991)- have been implicitly telling the Pahadis the new meanings of the economic benefits from the devaban land converted for tourism activities. Tosh which too was a culturally strong landscape, “but is now devoid much of the natural and cultural layer” (Kumar, 2016), is now portrayed only as a tourist centre which provides the tourist with good bhang. This degradation patterns of elements and their associations could be observed evolving rapidly in Grahan, all the more now, because of the upcoming road and hence raises a major concern to be urgently acted on.

Fortunately, a recent move by the Chand Yuva Mandal, the youth-commune of Grahan, in the form of prohibition of alcohol has reinstated the changing meanings that the Grahanis were developing in their devata and the corresponding landscape. Describing the vision he had of the devata, Laganchand Thakur, the Goor of the village says, “We, the karkuns, got a vision of Yagya Valkya Rishi demanding everyone in the village to give up on alcohol the very same day and also prohibited the existence of alcohol in the village” (2016). This manner in which the Grahanis still have faith in the institution of devata stands testimony to the traditions and conventions that the institution of devata still governs in their day-to-day life. Unlike Tosh, this faith in the institution of devata that till date exists in Grahan can be attributed to its physical remoteness and its moderate popularity amongst tourists. Therefore, in this context it becomes important to understand the traditional underpinnings of the rituals associated with the institution of devata and devaban. It is also important to look at the adaptations of these institutions that have survived in remote villages like Grahan, since they provide the very leverage for using the tool of defamiliarisation on the dwelling morphogenesis of Grahan village.

Fig 3.3 No Alcohol warnings put up by the Chand Yuva Mandal of Grahan.

(Source: Author)

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3.2 Rituals and Processes of Dwelling in Grahan “The phases of change in lived (…) settlement is so slow that each of it becomes negligent with time and people start adapting to it” (Kumar, 2016). The elements of change that change the patterns of traditional institutions of devata and devaban in Grahan village are so subtle to notice that the Grahanis slowly start changing their patterns of interaction with environment and hence change their process of dwelling in the landscape. These processes of dwelling in the form of rituals become important prompts for “reading the landscape after the elements and patterns have degraded and faded off physically and in memories of people” (Kumar, 2016).

The narcotic dealers threatening the lives of the youth in Grahan on one hand while the Narcotics Control Bureau plying an eye an easy victim from the village; loans taken for the construction of a guest-house in the RCC technique which is four times more expensive than the house constructed in the local katthkuni technique; employing the Gurkhas for illegally timber logging and stone mining for earning profits from the natural resources.

This vile and vicious cycle repeats with the Grahanis ending in a trap, which is a significant underlying factor affecting the environmental, behavioral and economic patterns in the landscape. Thus in order to read the dwelling morphogenesis of the landscape, it is crucial to consider the religious factors that determine the rituals of dwelling in Grahan village. Therefore according to Kumar, in his thesis ‘Defragmenting patterns of an imagined landscape- case of Melukote, Karnataka’, “it is through this documentation of different associated rituals, the lived experience of momentary transformation” in the dwelling and landscape “ is studied, analysed and defamiliarized through writing” (2016).

3.2 a The rituals in landscape: then and now of the institution of devata and devaban The institution of village deities in Grahan comprises of devata like Yagya Valkya Rishi, Goddess Mahaamaya, Durvasa Rishi, Tharapeda & Naag Devata who have played an important role in holding the Grahanis together on the basis of shared beliefs. In today’s time, the major challenge involved in the process of building a traditional dwelling in Grahan is the procurement of timber which is required in excess for the katthkuni construction technique. Non-contextual restrictions in the form of TD 2016(as mentioned in chapter 2.2), have created a further difficulty in the procurement of wood from the neighboring forest of Kanawar sanctuary. Unlike these restrictions, in the earlier times the institution of devata and devaban ensured sustainable resource management through the implantation of a variety of use restrictions. These restrictions though strict, were dynamic in nature in response to the needs of the Grahanis.

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From the various memory-scapes of the older folk of the Grahanis, the following seven types of used-based restrictions have been identified: 1. Complete restrictions: Bearing close resemblance to today’s sanctuaries and national parks, all human action is prohibited in areas of complete restriction. Such a restriction is rare and is made possible only when there are enough substitute forests to meet the needs of the Grahanis. This restriction allows these forest to be used for the requirements of the devata.

2. End-use based restrictions: In these types of restrictions, uses are categorised on the basis of the final use of the products and hence distinguishes between user groups. “Wood for agricultural implements may be allowed but wood for fuel may be restricted. Wood for construction of houses may be allowed but not for sale” (Vasan, 2002).

3. Caste/gender based restrictions: Though these restrictions were prevalent for a long time in Grahan village, in today’s democratic age of equality this may not fit. The Harijans and women in Grahan weren’t permitted in the devabans as they were considered polluting. Since women are the majorly involved in forest-related tasks, levying such restrictions reduces their entry into the forests but further widens the inequalities in the village.

4. Geographical or social community based restrictions: In the earlier times, the Grahanis were well secluded from the outside world and hence they could control the ‘outsiders’ or anyone not a part of Grahan to not use the resources from the devaban. “However with the state taking over of forest management, their ability to exclude non-community members has been severely affected” (Vasan, 2002).

5. Species based restrictions: This type of restriction is enforced if the Grahanis could identify that a particular species as scarce or valuable. Thus giving them special status, the harvest of such species used to be ban. Adapting to this restriction, “the forest department also practices such practices species based restrictions, such as the periodical ban on the harvest of Taxis species” (Vasan, 2002).

6. Quantity based restrictions: In this restriction, the number of trees that can be harvested each year is decided by the devata committee on the basis of community needs and the state of the forest. If implanted properly, this practice can result in the sustainable and health growth of the forests.

7. Seasonality restrictions: Guidelines that regulate the harvesting of particular species depending on the seasons are imposed under these restrictions. This type of restriction allows the regeneration of biota and also eases monitoring of the devaban. “We used to cut the grass only for a few months after the rains so that fodder could be collected and stored for the winters” (Thakur L. R., 2018). Also in an another instance, “Timber harvesting was allowed only during the mela in August” (Thakur L. , 2016)

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These diversity in the restrictions imposed by the devata sustainably choreographed the taskscapes of the Grahanis to meet their livelihood needs, unlike the current rigid legal forest restrictions and the TD regulations in Grahan village. Moreover, the policies levied by the Forest department, nationalised forest management policies let outside contractors and majorly the Gurkhas to undertake the felling and marketing of trees, leaving only minimal profits to actually reach the Grahanis. With respect to such rigid non-contextual approaches of forest management- both the technical decisions and policing – are in hands of the state apparatus, Madhav Gadgil and Ramchandra Guha in the chapter ‘What are forests for?’ in their book ‘Ecology and Equity’ “ask three crucial questions: 1. Does this apparatus have at its disposal the information needed to make appropriate decisions?

2. Is this apparatus adequately motivated to maintain biodiversity?

3. Is this apparatus competent to carry out effectively the task of regulating human interventions in the interest of the maintenance of biodiversity?” (1995) Looking at the current trends in Grahan, livelihoods in the Grahan are comparatively less dependent on and associated with the vagaries of nature, but on the tourist influx and “the wider networks of state and national economy” (Vasan, 2002). The male youth of the village are aspire to either construct and start a guest-house in their farm-land or aspire to be employed in the hydro-project at Barsheni, the PWD works at the upcoming four-lane Chandigarh- Manali highway and other jobs based on the larger economy. “Now, the karkuns decide the date to conduct the functions of the devata in coordination with the public holidays so that we have good participation from the entire village” (Thakur M. , 2016).

This gradual waning of the system of the devata is also seen in the changed meanings of the August ka mela which is held in the village square adjoining the Yagya Valkya Rishi temple in the month of Bhadon.

Fig 3.4 Nati dance during the mela held in the village square (Source: Author)

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“A month before the mela, its preparation starts! There is an intense competition amongst the local political parties for collection of considerable funds” (Thakur M. , 2016). Sponsoring the mela partly is an upcoming “political activity that is closely interwoven with the electoral politics, state and national level political parties” (Vasan, 2002). A very enthusiast Sonam Thakur (age 17 yrs ) describes the previous year’s mela where she danced on a popular Bollywood song “Last year the Chand Yuva Mandal arranged a DJ night for us. The entire village shook with the music that we danced on” (2018). The traditional nati dance that is characterised by voluntary and spontaneous communal dancing still is performed for a short period of time, only to be replaced by the popular Bollywood songs mixed with the trance beats. Moreover, the set up stalls which sell winter garments made from synthetic materials, plastic Neelkamal kiltas, modern herb-based medicines produced by multinational companies as opposed to the earlier sold rough woollen pattus, woven Kiltas, Pahari women selling herbs collected from the high altitudinous regions etc. also contribute in adding commercial meanings in the memoryscape of the Grahanis. Thus the changing meaning in the rituals of the mela implants this changed meaning with the rituals associated with village square, which is the most prominent element of the landscape of Grahan.

All these elements of momentary transformations described above have been detrimental in the continuation of the institution of the devata and devaban system in its traditional and social meanings, form and functions. There is thus a speeding change in the culture and the value systems resulting in the gradual drift of the taskscape of these landscape of Grahan and the resultant memory-scapes of the Grahanis with respect to their landscape.

3.2.b The rituals in dwelling: the then and now of the dwelling process “Anu kheti ki karganu bassa” (Thakur L. R., 2015) [Live where the farm is] As implied in this Pahadi saying, the process of dwelling is in the ritual of living and farming which are the responses of the Grahanis to the environmental condition that sustain them.

However, this no more holds true in Grahan as the upcoming patterns of dwelling are seeing the living happening next to the guest-houses adjoining their domestic dwelling. . Ever since, Homestay Scheme 2008 has been passed on the villages of Himachal Pradesh to divert the tourists towards the remote villages like Grahan, its landscape has been going through a gradual transformations. Owing to its increasing popularity among the tourists, the past five years in Grahan has seen an alarming 120% rise in the number of guest-houses from 5 in 2014 to 12 in 2018, a couple of which are constructed in the RCC technique. The recent construction activities that Grahan has been going through caters to accommodate the floating tourist population and not for the domestic usage of the Grahanis Agriculture, animal husbandry, weaving, forest-based activities like fire-wood, herb collection etc. have been the occupations of the Grahanis which have sustained them across generations.

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In accordance with these variety of activities of practical engagement with their surroundings, the Grahanis have evolved their dwellings in the katthkuni construction technique to suit their relations with the surroundings.

In order to ensure that these dwellings bring in prosperity and peace to the inhabitants certain rituals are carried out at the crucial stages during the construction process. Describing these rituals, Lot Rama Thakur explains the auspiciousness with associated with every stage of the house construction. He says, “The months of Baisakh, Poh, Magh and Plalgun are considered to be the auspicious months to start the construction of the house� (2018). According to him, the rituals involved in the construction process are as follows: 1. Paathru laana [Foundation Ceremony]

Fig 3.5 Foundation stage of the dwelling

An auspicious time for laying the foundation is informed by the goor when he recites mantra over the earth brought from the construction site. A chanahara (an architect) or a thawi is involved by the house-owner and he digs the foundation running along the main walls of the house. On the morning of the specified auspicious date, the chanahara and the house owner get up before sunrise, take bath, prepare halwa, collect kungu, dori , a lamp with ghee and perform the puja at a certain place of the foundation. Applying tilak to a particular stone already selected, tie dori around it, offer it halwa and then lay it at the particular place. In the earlier times, a goat was sacrificed during this ceremony, however now this practice has faded and the goor through his mantra sanctifies certain mustard seeds and sprinkles them around the construction site.

Moreover, the construction is immediately started so that by dawn they finish one complete round of the foundation so that nobody knows the placement of the foundation stone. This ceremony is known as paathru laana. In the new dwellings constructed in RCC technique this ritual has a reduced scope as it is concerned with only the first column foundation unlike the circumambulatory elaborate ritual that is associated with paathru laana.

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2. Duar Sthapan [Door installation]

Fig 3.6 Installation of the door-frame in the katthkuni dwelling

This ritual is performed at the time of fixing the main door of the dwelling. Once the door-frame gets completed, a puja is performed and mustard seeds sanctified by the mantras of the goor are tied in a small cloth and then fastened into the lintel beam with a handspun wool-thread.

This ritual serves the purpose of bringing prosperity to the inhabitants and avoids any sort of calamity on them. After the ceremony jaggery is distributed to those who are present.

3. Bhanda laying ceremony [Main beam at the highest pitch of the roof]

Fig 3.7 Bhanda laying ceremony

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The main beam at the highest pitch of the roof is known as bhanda. It is a beam that is made from one entire deodar tree and holds together the entire roof and ceiling structure. Due to the hugeness of this beam, this ceremony requires around two-three dozen men to adjust it at its appropriate place. Before the bhanda is laid, a puja of Yagya Valkya Rishi is performed, following which the goor ties mustard and rice in a cloth and fastens the same to the bhanda with the mauli (handspun wool-thread.). The RCC lantern if installed as the roofing element doesn’t involve the communal nature of this ritual. In case of such lanterns, a small puja is performed to the village deity before the concrete is poured over the reinforcement.

4. Patdu laana [Slate laying Ceremony]

Fig 3.8 Patdu laana

In a traditional katthkuni house, the roof structure is covered with slates. If the construction has been made by the thawi, a unique ritual is performed. After the last skate has been placed, a puja is performed and then the thawi has to get down to the floor from inside the house. The moment the thawi gets down the stair, the last slate is covered Till the time, the last slate isn’t laid, the thawi can get down form any side he likes. Once he is down, he is paid his due fees and is not supposed to enter the house. The dearth of slate stone and the expenses involved in the carriage, this same process is repeated with the corrugated sheets chadar, when the last chadar is laid. However, in the case of RCC lantern, covering up the house, this ritual is not carried out.

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5. Chulh Banai [Hearth completion ceremony]

Fig 3.9 A traditional chulh in the attic

The hearth of the dwelling holds an important sacred place in the house as the taala where it is locate is considered to be the abode of the devata in the house. Therefore, women undergoing their menses aren’t allowed to go in the taala where the hearth is located to maintain the sanctity of the chulh. When the hearth is erected, the goor is again consulted to decide an auspicious time. At the specified time, he worships the village devata before fixing the girtha . On the completion of the hearth, a puja is again performed with a tilak applied on the newly constructed hearth. Later halwa is prepared and distributed to the deity and among the people present during the ceremony. In the upcoming guest houses the chulh has been shifted from the taala to the khud wherein a separate enclosure is made to accommodate the kitchen.

This relocated kitchen and the chulh is to ensure that the women of the house can cater to the food needs of the tourists even when she is menstruating. Thus it ensures maintaining the sanctity of the taala and still allows the women in Grahan to cook for the tourists during her menses, so that the business isn’t affected.

Fig 3.10 New guest-house with the relocation of the kitchen in the khud (ground floor) (Source: Author)

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6. Gharpeshi [Occupying the house Ceremony] This ritual is given significant importance in the villages like Grahan and performed only during the two months of Maghar and Phalgun. Here again the goor consults the village diety for fixing an auspicious date and time for the gharpeshi. Once decided, around five, seven or nine days before the date, the house-owner invites all the villagers and few of his relatives for informing them about his decision to perform the gharpeshi and they are entrusted the duties to invite all his friends and relatives for the gharpeshi. A day before the gharpeshi, the pujari conducts havan in the newly erected hearth. Once the sacred fire is lit, it is tended by the other wood.

Reciting the mantra, the fire is fed with all the havan samagri followed by an Ganesh puja for removing all obstacles, after which the puja is offered to Yagya Valkya Rishi.

On the day of the gharpeshi, the goor worships the village deity early in the morning and then takes along a ram or a goat to the top of the house. Accompanied the house-owner and a dozen persons, they form a circle leaving the goat or ram in the centre. The goor recites mantras on few grains and puts them into both the ears of the animal. This ritual known a pochi pana is then followed by the request of all men present to the devata to accept their offering.

Once the goat or ram shakes its head, it is slaughtered on the roof of the house and the horns are placed on the roof-top forever as an obligation to the house. The gathering for the gharpeshi is then offered the feast of the meat of the slaughtered goat and bhat. By this ritual, the dwelling becomes a “ghor-grih (a house –cum-temple). It is now, suchi grih (purest of the pure dwellings) and to be maintained with perfect sanctity and purity. One may not install an idol, the God has entered it and tala i.e the third or last storey is its abode� (Thakur M. R., 1997).

In the case of the guest-houses, once the ritual of gharpeshi is performed, it is ready to be inhabited by the tourists for which it is made. A majority of the tourists that throng Grahan village for the charas it offers, indulge in smoking bhang which is provided to them by the guest-house owner itself. They further play loud psychedelic music disrupting the peace and the sanctity that the dwelling is endowed with through the ritual of gharpeshi.

As seen above in certain rituals, the shift in the user group of the dwellings has led to the gradual transformations in the rituals associated with the traditional dwellings which were always for either domestic or religious purposes. This shift in the patterns of inhabiting dwellings by the new actors in Grahan- the tourists thus impose new images of the patterns of dwelling in the memory-scape of the Grahanis. Moreover, introduction of the new construction technique of RCC dulls the rituals that can be exclusively associated with the traditional katthkuni construction technique, thus resulting in its gradual fading of the traditional dwellings from the memory-scape of the Grahanis.

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Technologies I Defamiliarisation Theory I Application

4.1 Technologies of Defamiliarisation “…just as sex is estheticized in advertising, so all of culture and of course this includes architecture- is now estheticized, ‘xeroxized.’ Furthermore, the simultaneous presentation of these images leads to a reduction of history to simultaneous images…” (Tschumi, 1994).

According to Tschumi (1944), as architects, one should take the advantage of such dismantling of images, celebrate fragmentation by celebrating the culture of differences, by accelerating and intensifying the loss of certainty of a community’s historical pride. Further stating its importance in architecture especially, he says that the notion of defamiliarisation is a clear tool to view multiplicity and its influences on a culture.

Morphogenic landscapes which are dominated by multiplicity showcase certain typical patterns of behavior wherein one cause leads to many others. The leverage of this natural cycle are places within a complex system (a corporation, an economy, a living body, an ecosystem) where a small shift in one thing can produce big changes in everything. “Such a leverage lies in the actors breaking out of their bounded rationale behind their roles in the landscape” (Meadows, [n.d.] as cited in (Kumar, 2016)). In order to ensure this, it is necessary that the actors of the landscape leave aside their selfish growth and give importance to the over-all wellbeing of the landscape by reflecting on their dwelling processes. According to Aston (2012), this behavioral change in the actors of the landscape can be brought about by the introduction of ‘outsider’s perspective’.

Initially identified by the term ‘ostrananine’ then later reframed as ‘estrangement’, defamiliarisation as a term was first used by Victor Shklovsky. Associated with the Russian Formalism of the early twentieth century, Victor Shklovsky in his work ‘Theory of Prose’ presents idea of ‘Defamiliarisation’ derived from the disturbance of the established habituated meanings of a culture thus presenting an unfamiliar image to the audience. According to Shklovsky ‘technique of art is to make things ‘unfamiliar,’ to make forms obscure, so as to make the process of perception laborious thus increasing its duration of understanding and assimilation. In the field of literature this could be done through a treatment of words in a manner that the images and concepts are not seen as reflections of the world, but as a way of making the commonplace “strange”.

This is intentionally done by linguistically dislocating the true meaning of the element to be stressed upon.

Thus using Sklovosky’s ‘defamiliarisation’ as a tool of literature and arts, the Grahanis perceptions of their habituated dwelling processes are understood. Understanding the experience that the process of defamiliarisation creates, Tschumi cites Walter Benjamin’s ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’. When Benjamin discusses the reproducibility of images, the only thing that mattered in today’s age of pure information was the “shock” – the shock of images, their surprise factor. According to him the shock factor allowed the images to be distinguished

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for a long time and also characterise our contemporary scenarios and the dangers of life in a modernist society. In the de-growth conference at Leipzig for applying the defamiliarisation theory, Bukhart cited Hornborg saying, “To be able to defamiliarise, one has to be like a flying fish, jumping out of the water to be able to see what is normally invisible just as the water is for the fish. We must, in other words, both immerse ourselves in our life-worlds and see them from the outside.”

(Bukhart, 2014) Further, emphasizing on the events, practices and the rituals that could be hooked on to for the theory’s application, Kumar provides an insight in his paper ‘Defamiliarisation as a tool for preservation: Recording and documenting the ways of Seeing’. According to Kumar(2017), not only do the elements of space adapt to the human practices but also transform the practices.

In the contrary this also gives the opportunity to reflect on the practices through the elements.

Research has also shown that the perceptions, values, attitudes and emotions that form the meanings that were attributed to places were dependent on how people interacted with these actual and concrete places. Also the study of the practices at a given time can only help in the understanding of the familiarised elements. “The interrelationship between habitants and the elements that are in daily usage is a crucial part of Design Anthropology” (Kumar, 2017).

Therefore adapting to the process of defamiliarisation that Kumar adopts in the thesis ‘Defragmenting the Patterns of an Imagined Landscape- case of Melukote, Karnataka’ (2016) in the context of Grahan, the process intends to:

- Derive an anthropological framework of interaction with Grahanis, to validate the perception of what is the ‘image ‘of a cultural landscape for people.

- Interpret this image derived through visual tools of interaction which will enhance the perception of inhabitants towards their habituated dwelling processes.

According to Kumar, gradual changes of elements in the landscape are not as obvious to the locals as it is to the outsider. “If you see something often enough, it becomes embedded in your mind. If you don’t question it or examine it, it becomes the truth. The values associated with elements of landscape is directly proportionate to the priority for preservation” (Kumar, 2017). Therefore, using the defamiliarisation as a tool of preservation, it is possible to achieve an image reconstruction of the patterns in the dwelling processes of landscape and dwellings thus leading the actors of the landscape towards a self-driven change of perception.

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4.2 Defamiliarising the Dwelling Morphogenesis A fieldwork’s strategy according to Van Maanen “making the familiar strange rather that the strange familiar” [as cited in (Kumar, 2016)]. Accordingly for making the familiar strange through the tool of Shklosky’s defamiliarisation theory, it is necessary that the selection of the elements for the theory’s application should arise out of the familiar or the “common accepted image” (Kumar, 2016) of the Grahanis with respect to their dwelling processes. Also, it is very important that the tool is applied on a leverage that has the maximum potential and lies at the intersection of the natural, social and cultural layers of Grahan. The institution of devata and devaban ensures such an intersection of the various layers of the landscape of Grahan and if subjected to defamiliarisation ensures the sustenance of the traditional dwelling processes and hence the traditional dwellings. Accordingly, for defamiliarizing the dwelling morphogenesis in Grahan, the thesis adopts a methodology for this applied anthropological research. It uses defamiliarisation tool for triggering the habituated perceptions of the Grahanis and creates a shock to further heighten the sense of their perceptions in the following manner: A] Cross-cultural Juxtaposition

Fig 4.1.a The graphic novel ‘Voices from the Valley’

Fig 4.1.b Experimenting the usage of an visual intervention like a graphic novel with the Grahanis (Source: Author)

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Adopting Marcus and Fischer’s “defamiliarization by cross-cultural juxtaposition” (1999), the research used the tool of an ethnographic graphic novel ‘Voices from the Valley’ (As mentioned earlier in section 1.2b) for triggering the perceptions of the Grahanis. By using cross-cultural juxtaposition, examples were drawn from the neighboring villages who have fallen prey to the changed landscape and juxtaposed together to pose questions and drive attention about the cultural scene in the Grahan village. Also, the usage of a visual tool like a graphic novel for triggering the perceptions of the Grahanis was an experiment to know its efficiency with the Grahanis before the collaborative visual intervention could be undertaken with the community.

B] Collaborative Visual Intervention with the Grahanis The visual interventions designed with the Grahanis involved three stages. The first two stages were used for further triggering the perception of the Grahanis with respect to their own dwellings and landscape while the third stage attempted at creating a disturbance in their familiar perceptions through a visual medium.

Stage 1- Visual Exercises:

Fig 4.2 Visual Exercises being conducted with the Grahanis (Source: Author)

Without any prior implied instructions, middle school children and middle-aged folks of Grahan were asked to draw: - Their idea of dwelling or their idea of living in Grahan.(Figure 4.3.a) - Way-finding maps of their dwelling in the landscape of Grahan. (Figure 4.3.b)

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Fig 4.3.a Image building exercise for dwelling processes

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Fig 4.3.b Way-finding image building exercise for their idea of landscape

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Observations from the Image building exercises conducted: Interestingly, out of the 40 sketches produced by the Grahanis, everyone had sketched the coniferous forests surrounding the village. While more than 30 had mentioned of some reference to the institution of the devata either in the form of a temple, rath processions, trishul etc. Also, the sketches saw the different processes of dwelling like agriculture, goats, the nullah, tandoor of the house, wooden houses etc.

Stage 2- Development of a Participatory Visual Narrative of Grahan: Having established the popular perceptions of the Grahanis, a participatory visual narrative of the village was developed that focused on the narrating the lived experiences and the memories of the Grahanis in their landscape as seen in the figure below:

Fig 4.4 Participatory visual narrative of Grahan.

Stage 3- Illustrating the Disturbance of Familiar Adopting Mirzoeff’s (2015) understanding of visual culture, as a tactic to study and portray the functions of the world that is addressed through visualizations and images rather than texts and words, a visualization was created for disturbing the familiar perceptions of the Grahanis as seen in the illlustration alongside. The illustration was created as a reminder to enhance and add to the perceptions of the Grahanis about their habituated traditional dwelling processes and correspondingly their dwellings and landscape

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Fig 4.5 ‘Mera ghor khoke sa?’ - Disturbing the habituated through the medium of shock

C] Exhibition of the Perceptions – Mera ghor kokhe sa? (Where is my home) An exhibition named ‘Mera ghor khokhe sa?’ of all the visual interventions conducted was arranged in the central village square, which is the most prominent node of the entire settlement. The exhibition involved the juxtaposition of ‘Voices from the Valley’ along with the sketches done by the Grahanis on their idea of dwelling and landscape. This was further overlapped with the visualization of the landscape of Grahan attempting to create a visual shock among the Grahanis about their landscape. It was a surprising to know that this was the very first exhibition of Grahan to be held in the village square where the works(in this case, the findings of the building image exercises) of the Grahanis were exhibited.

Fig 4.6 Attempt at defamiliarising the habituated through the exhibition named ‘Mera ghor khokhe sa?’

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The entire process of conducting the visual exercises, to interacting with the Grahanis to exhibiting the findings of the interactions and exercises has enabled to initiate an engagement with the perceptions of the Grahanis with respect to their dwelling processes. This attempt has thus helped in triggering the cultural imaginations of the dwelling morphogenesis that they are being a part of. These triggered perceptions shall drive the Grahanis to initiate the process of reflecting back on the dwelling processes they chose to be a part of. This self-driven change in perception of the Grahanis thus shall lead to the preservation of the dwellings and landscape of ‘the Grahan as it is’. Further in order to assure that the change of perception has a long-term guarantee, a participatory implementation model for the resource-usage management for dwelling activities is developed for Grahanis to ensure a pragmatic support for the perception change which the next section deals with.

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The Grahan that could be‌ Inferences I Assurances

5.1 Inferences Grahan village is a sample in terms of its institution of devata and the corresponding dwelling morphogenesis, as found in many remote villages of Parvati valley. Owing significantly to its remoteness, the resilience of the Grahanis as a peculiar biological and cultural adaptation to the mountains is remarkable till date. With respect to its devaban the religious and social associations has totally faded off due to the impositions by the Forest Department, thus resulting in the total neglect of the natural associations with them. In terms of the religious association with the institution of devata, the associations might still be continued due to some external factors like political parties to feed their own interest. However, the social association have changed with time due to the current cultural current of Parvati valley that the village is being subjected to. The continuum of such institution of the devata is therefore definitely the need of the hour for the sustenance of the traditional dwelling processes. Hence it is necessary to invoke new meanings of the landscape by the triggering at the perceptions at the behavioral level.

Through the medium of this research, the various rituals associated with the devaban system and the process of building a dwelling have been identified. A majority of the rituals associated with the devaban in the form of the various restrictions imposed have lost their importance.

While some of rituals associated with the building of the dwelling are on the verge of losing their values among the Grahanis due to the introduction of alien construction materials and techniques in Grahan. Putting across these dwelling processes of inhabiting the landscape and dwelling in writing through the medium of this thesis is in itself an attempt of defamiliarising the conventional and habituated approaches towards the preservation of traditional dwellings across Himachal Pradesh. Also, through the means of the graphic novel and an exhibition of the perceptions, the thesis successfully implemented an unique form of public visual intervention for the village of Grahan. The defamiliarisation attempted through the medium of shock by showcasing the landscape of Grahan village minus the village devata, the landscape of Grahan minus the dwelling furnishes a possibility of a disturbance of their habituated perceptions regarding the village devata and their evolved meanings for the dwellings respectively.

Therefore, in today’s context of change in Parvati valley of Himachal Pradesh, defamiliarisation as a theory and its practical application on a remote village like Grahan becomes a crucial tool for the preservation of the traditional dwelling processes herein. Such an approach leads to encounter new contextual ways of preservation models for the remote villages of Parvati valley, which are being subjected to the morphogenetic mechanisms.

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5.2 Implemenation Model The institution of devata is a dominant entity amongst the social structures still relevant to the village of Grahan. However, it is only the religious aspect of it being propagated amongst the Grahanis, thus resulting in the neglect of the social and the natural aspects of this institution.

Taking into consideration the upcoming road and the further diversion of the various nodes and pause points along the Grahan trail is definitely leading to their fading in the “memoryscape (memory of the land-scape)� (Kumar, 2016) and hence the gradual loss of the association with the devaban that once existed and Kanawar sanctuary that now exists. Further, the hassles involved in the procurement of wood for building traditional dwellings are causing problems in the continuation of the patterns of traditional dwelling processes. Therefore it is important to introduce certain rituals associated with the forests which ensure the sustenance of the natural aspects of the devata system is needed. Accordingly, an implementation policy was developed with the Secretary of the Gram Panchayat of Kasol and a few representatives from Grahan, whose objectives can be listed as below: 1. Grahan should remain a living space for the permanent residents, spiritual seekers, and tourists visiting for peace and enjoying scenic beauty. Grahan being located in the Kanawar sanctuary it is important to regulate the number of tourists entering the village for scaling down the corresponding side-effects of tourism.

2. Resources should be used for the village self-sufficiency. Ban on the indiscriminate exploitation and export of resources (eg: stone mining for construction purposes, deforestation etc.)

3. Increase in the autonomy for the holistic development of the local institutions like the devata institution in Grahan should be made possible.

4. Maintaining the restriction on the liquor consumption in Grahan village.

5. Making the local community an important stake-holder in the decisions regarding the forests around Grahan village.

6. A ritual should be designed through the medium of the rath procession that takes the Grahanis through the nodal points along the Grahan trail which hold meanings with respect to the religious and natural aspects of the institution of the devata. However while designing this ritual care should also be taken to take into consideration the growing tourist influx and hence control regulations ought to be implemented.

The Grahan that could be... I 101

7. Before the road reaches Grahan village, proposing a physical documentation of Grahan village, enabling a digital re-construction of the current settlement.

8. Promoting the natural and social aspects of the institution of the devata among the Grahanis and ensuring their participation through various processes like focussed group discussions with activist organizations like Himdhara- Environment Research and Action Collective, exhibitions, theatre etc. It should specifically be taken care that there are no hidden capitalist interests of the participating externalities.

9. Proposing a learning resource centre which caters across all age-groups in Grahan and which ensures a holistic management of its cultural heritage. A prompt (Refer appendix 5) given to the mistri for designing a school without any given/implied instructions has initiated the process of developing a resource centre in Grahan for, of and by the self-driven Grahanis.

The Grahan that could be...

I

102

Fig 5.1 Old Kasol - New Kasol... with the advent of road... Old Grahan - New Grahan?

The Grahan that could be... I 103

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A

Glossary

Pahadi

native mountain dwellers

Devbhoomi

the land of Gods

Devabaan

forests that are considered sacred in the Kullu region of Himachal

Pradesh, India

Charas, ganja

high quality cannabis products, popularly known as ‘Malana cream’

Devata

God

Luhar

blacksmith

Kilta

basket

Bigha

measure of land which has a contextual variation. In Himachal Pradesh,1

bigha is approximately equivalent to 8712 square foot.

Sangam

river confluence River confluence

Nati

local Pahadi music

Dhaba

a roadside food stall

Masterjee

school teacher of the village

Nullah

tributary of Parvati river

Zzareeu

high-altitudinous region with toughened snow that remains throughout

the year.

Pattu

a woven woollen fabric which is enveloped around the body

Ratchh

a local throw shuttle frame loom found in the villages of Kullu

Gaach

a long soft cloth

Pichu

silver needles connected with chains and threads.

Thipu

square scarf worn as a headdress by the women folk of Kullu

Katthu

a local leafy vegetable frequently eaten by the Pahadis of Parvati valley

Khuthi

a local woollen coat worn by the Pahadi men

Tara

a pattern with star-type motifs used in the woven borders

Kulluvi

local to Kullu

Nal

a tributary of a nullah

August ka mela

a village fair that is happens annually in the Pahadi calendar month of

Bhadon

Glossary

I

104

Chandrabhedi

blocking the moon

Suryabhedi

blocking the sun.

Devata rath

the palanquin carrying the local village God

Ghor-ghor

games related to feminine house-hold functions like cooking,

taking care of babies, filling water etc.

Kilta

a basket to carry forest produce woven locally.

Gharath

a hydraulic flour-mill

Mistris

a carpenter who has the knowledge of building katthkuni houses.

Daar

a finished wooden log, usually 5� x 5� in dimension.

Gurkhas

the labourers from Nepal

Pathru

locally available mica-schist stones.

Tandoor

a black stove made out of wrought iron

Melas

village fairs

Karkuns

office-bearers of the deity

Girtha

main stone which forms the base of the hearth.

RCC lantern

local terminology for RCC slab

Appendix

I

105

30258

683761

TOTAL

16428

19401

41134

71746

99449

85653

92354

42354

78657

48698

23278

25157

I

101

267

251

216

168

202

597

692

908

319

151

81

F

Chamba

6325

6534

42512

11432

16874

12299

32421

24741

66572

22347

19368

18320

I

0

0

14

6

0

10

6

5

4

7

1

0

.. FOREIGNER

*F

110

211

1250

3541

4214

7937

1642

1152

597

97

14

8

F

79357

72162

174519

114368

99519

137671

390419

288465

296146

151237

105234

92577

I

F

3387

5344

11211

10916

9276

9650

17157

14264

13572

7912

5701

4520

Kullu

376736

9372697

147754 20773 2001674 112910

999

5247

4534

6237

8247

9553

35264

36892

30257

10524

0

0

97,49,433

70819

2278

4382

4521

6330

6325

8053

7982

8953

7230

7498

3450

I

Kinnaur

0

0

172931

874

4011

4264

10253

12367

17659

30451

44237

36278

12537

I

603086

19938

26428

40475

39338

31841

42285

51274

32113

87457

78237

111544

42156

I

F

134235

99354

113217

171395

106736

178620

406138

302465

187462

123114

102387

136416

I

4235

7496

12452

14338

14258

11254

7945

8048

10540

9417

6216

6718

F

Shimla

20981

49345

64114

51116

36544

40638

71214

52364

66357

34367

46283

42475

I

33

108

170

195

108

201

142

254

212

153

76

133

F

Sirmour

28367

32431

52241

38257

32931

34227

52438

47236

72479

38714

28436

22368

I

F

188

302

271

231

171

287

312

421

342

14

112

42

Solan

26364

30413

57534

32729

42511

38621

28376

29873

72537

29987

32533

25342

I

Una

9154 2061539 112917 575798 1785 480125 2693 446820

125

495

914

1732

1249

926

635

678

724

732

206

738

Mandi

Note:- The above estimates are inclusive of religious tourists.

41398

589

532

2256

11571

11625

10725

2594

1474

6

5

21

0

F

Lahaul & Spiti

Appendix 1 FinalEstimate of Domestic and Foreign Tourist Arrival For the year 2008 (Source: DTDO, Kullu)

Total

.. INDIAN

*I

1275155

42159

67648

128920

152735

72833

90188

132116

117627

189657

108459

93576

3817

F

Kangra

79237

F I

Hamirpur

190 644309 3953 279745 53

14

12

December

21

36868

58032

August

7

November

55152

July

24

October

72431

June

7

35

62476

May

6

11

20

82118

April

43142

62387

March

9

108106

38447

Februry

24

F

September

34344

I

Bilaspur

January

MONTH

FINAL ESTIMATE OF DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN TOURIST ARRIVAL FOR THE YEAR 2008

91

2

4

25

16

16

12

2

2

6

4

2

0

F

9372697

406285

449842

831570

742748

617884

742566

1394896

1080843

1265977

720608

601086

518392

I

F

376736

11062

19153

33370

49112

47431

49264

39038

35950

34152

26164

15959

16081

Total

B Appendix

Appendix

I

106

Appendix

I

107

0

12

16

147

84

446

135936

118055

105325

121768

235057

237958

98514

114942

1616925

May.

June

July

Aug

Sept

Oct

Nov

Dec

TOTAL

9

28

33

44

33

69447

238824

36

Apr.

72471

Feb.

4

F

Mar.

68628

I

Bilaspur

Jan.

MONTH

1180949

112119

110540

120111

105216

103664

107132

93160

88922

85246

84947

80453

89439

I

F

828

59

123

97

77

40

86

55

57

79

73

36

46

Chamba

980611

52582

59689

98706

86953

82112

75495

69857

78567

174608

74042

67642

60358

I

F

2

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

0

0

0

Hamirpur

2684948

85361

93438

319257

296058

240235

158914

332485

218611

322021

231899

237126

149543

I

F

Indian Foreigner Total

138341

4495

5428

19415

13425

13715

8109

14812

11680

18719

11612

8619

8312

Kangra

463771

15160

29270

48180

62170

63260

52150

62350

53725

47650

23256

4500

2100

I

93

12

3

4

F

2609

16

71

96

338

387

570

733

286

Kinnaur

9830

9320

4352

133057

2801

13768

12786

13706

16430

17602

14988

19130541 470992 19601533

3732044

112607

295645

272356

359012

324109

381903

497409

458560

374803

338108

139278

3954

F

13520

Kullu 178254

I

14275

2

131

787

1959

4503

4057

2478

332

2

10

12

2

F

Total increase

104645

25

940

3991

5943

22106

35009

31453

5063

30

30

35

20

I

Lahaul & Spiti

6.24%

1231968

72323

84868

158130

143862

104949

101799

116863

98068

88353

107866

91066

63821

I

764

937

1065

940

1075

822

1322

1388

701

486

378

194

F

10072

Mandi

162168

10597

9846

8382

14454

12814

14629

14617

16043

18143

17438

11208

13997

F

992352

79377

75383

93750

98523

66023

72478

83346

78399

96563

79377

75383

93750

I

F

2522

133

59

273

233

131

449

199

82

355

189

75

344

Sirmour

1225105

94401

73679

132545

143262

71636

101080

94913

76627

136428

94401

73679

132454

6454

501

416

418

457

221

758

753

583

543

717

560

527

F

Una

1598394

74566

76846

281431

189710

139577

129495

151417

116533

84835

185784

82961

85239

I

%age change

Solan

I

218

8

9

22

12

18

16

14

15

28

45

6

25

F

I

6.29%

19130541

1011577

1126049

1988229

2025711

1614940

1550578

2133665

1830820

1973971

1540801

1146506

F

19460

30935

43357

45610

49346

47098

49999

44019

48539

39935

25285

27409

4.02%

470992

Total 1187694

Note:- The above estimates are inclusive of religious tourists.

3318829

198114

127237

221814

299945

275501

229798

482357

421809

324610

251644

221912

264088

I

Shimla

ESTIMATE OF DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN TOURIST ARRIVAL FOR THE YEAR 2017 (Januanry to December)

Appendix

I

108

Appendix 3 Demographics of villages under Kasol Panchayat for the year 2017-2018 (Source: Kasol Panchayat)

Appendix 4 Grahan village in Kanawar wildlife sanctuare (Source: Forest Derpartment office, Kasol)

Appendix

I

109

Appendix 5 Sketch of the prompt for a proposed school in Grahan with the wood calculations (developed with head mistri Narpatraam Thakur, Lot Rama Thakur & village goor Laganchand Thakur)

Appendix

I

110

C

Bibliography

Bibliography

I

111

Bibliography

I

112

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