Title of Dissertation: TANGKHUL SETTLEMENTS Name of Student: B Lenin Sharma Name of Guide: Ar. Smita Khan Email id.

: imafool24@gmail.com

Introduction:
The name Tangkhul (also Luhuppa or Luppa, espcially in older literature) refers to a Tibeto-Burman tribe and they are spread over a wide area including Manipur State, India, contiguous parts of Nagaland (another state of India) and Burma (Mayanmar). This is a community yet unexplored and its culture and tradition is sure to go extinct in the advent of rapid modernization. It goes without saying, that it is important to preserve such traditional and cultural heritage for the generations to come. At the same time, it is very necessary to understand the changes in lifestyle which will be more or less energy consuming. My study which happens at three levels: a) Regional level b) Village level and c) Household level, is an attempt to documenting the Tangkhul community with an intent towards keeping them self sufficient to an extent.

Regional level study:

The villages occur in isolated groups of small numbers on the hills due to the following factors: 1. Resources: Concentration of settlements at one point would cause depletion of resources. Whereas, isolated settlements with smaller population solves such a problem of depletion. 2. Topography: The Tangkhuls live in the hills running north to south from the Himalayas in a gentle arc, west of which lie the Brahmaputra basin in Indias North East and in its east, the Chindwin-Irrawaddy basins of Myanmar. So, it results in bad connectivity and also inability to settle in the valleys but only in the ridges or mounds due to large amount of runoff. 3. Political History: The Tangkhuls during the head hunting days had warriors for each village to protect as well as conquer territories. They were headed by the village chief. The village was just an extension of the family due to very low population. The logical reasoning behind such rivalries is that no one emperor who ruled these ethnic groups. They never came under a common hood. With such a history, it became a part of their tradition to settle in isolation.

Observations at regional level

It is within human settlements cities, towns and villages that virtually all consumption takes place. The level of consumption and the extent of environmental impacts vary according to the type of settlement. Cities are considered the centres of unsustainable consumption, but they cant be neglected too since todays economies are driven by them. So, the solution lies in judicious planning so as to reduce their consumptions as well as reliance on non renewable resources. The pattern of the Tangkhul settlements at regional level respects the importance of cities while keeping the villages self sufficient to a degree at the same time. In the above diagram, the city acts as a medium for economic activities which helps the villagers to earn so as to be able to procure quality products other than just sufficing themselves with their own products which could be of a lower quality. Hence, their living standard improves.

Village level study:

A Tangkhul village is usually made up of a small population of 100 to 400 no. and located in isolation. Like any another tribal community, they too are agrarian and they work during the daytime. Their day usually starts and ends very early due to lack of electricity. They produce for themselves and sell the rest for income. Men take up the responsibility for earning a livelihood while women usually stay back in the hut to cover other minor economic activities like weaving or poultry rearing for extra income. Like in any other society, women are the home makers. The hierarchy of the society is, a) The Village Head, b) Pastor & c) Common Man. With change in time, these patterns too are slowly changing. Especialy in the educational sector, the literacy rate is rising and more number of graduates or professionals have come up. Women have started to fight for their respectful place in the society with the involvement of NGOs and Self Help groups. These are effective developments which will help the villagers by providing equal oppurtunities to every individual and in turn lead towards a better society.

The village follow the following patterns: a. The pattern of the settlements follow the contour lines so as to increase the feasibility of constructing the buildings. b. The orientation of the buildings are usually such that the linear side is parallel to the contour lines. c. The church binds the whole village together visually by giving it the prime location, usually on a mound. d. The village heads house is ususally located at a higher place than the common people. This helps him control the people more effectively. e. The village settles in the ridges but avoids valleys as the runoff could damge the stability of the buildings.

Observations at village level

People are at the centre of the development. Its only when they work collectively with a common goal that an efficient society can be developed. With this goal in mind, their individual actions result into a large scale development. Every village already has a social system headed by the Chief and along with that their population is minimal. These two factors should make it easier to inject the values of Self Help. Thus the villages would progress on their own to a certain degree.

Household level study:

As soon as the sun rises, the morning activities begin with an early meal after which, they disperse for work. Other than just living, there are many other important activities that occur in the household. Cottage industries like handloom and handicraft thrive here and spaces for them are provided as add ons to the existing structure. They have large plot areas which are used for activities like kitchen gardening, livestock farming and storing agricultural products. They also sometimes use their house for selling tea, grocery and other food items. Their day ends as soon as the sun sets and dinner is cooked before sunset. This could be attributed to lack of electricity. But, some villages have started using electricity recently and so has the timings changed for them. The plan of the house is usually linear in shape designed for 4-6 people. The main door opens into the living space. This is the most important room where the family spends most of the time. It has a hearth (fire place) as shown in the plan, on top of which a loft is suspended. The heat from the hearth is used to dry firewoods kept on the loft. The bedroom (sankok) is next to the living hall and is mainly used only to sleep. This housing type has very limited openings and has only one entrance. Some of the tribes have a rear or side exit as well in their houses. Generally, the ventilation inside the huts is unconventional with inadequate no. of windows. The windows provided are very small (around 500 mm x 500 mm) making the house very dark inside. A typical house has about 2-5% openings in the surface area of its walls whereas an ideal house should have at least 10-20% openings in the faade. The main function of this building typology is single-family house. The structure is a simple timber or bamboo frame as shown below which are locally available in abundance. The plinth is raised high as shown especially when the structure stands on a slope since it is to tackle the problem of surface run off. High rainfall has led to steep sloping of roof. In recent years, some have given up this old structure for brick masonry and other new materials. Construction of this type of house generally takes place in the dry season / winters. Sourcing of construction materials like Figure: Typical plan of a hut thatch/timber/bamboo is collected during winters only. Bamboo/wooden posts are erected and then beams/logs are connected and rafters placed and tied up. The wider community participates in the construction, headed by the master builder who has more experience of this type of house. Indigenous/traditional tools are used in the construction. Generally nails or other steel materials are not used for making connections between various members. The construction of this type of housing takes place in a single phase. Typically, the building is originally not designed for its final constructed size. There mainly exist two types of houses according to the hierarchy: I) The village chiefs house: The only big difference is in the front faade. It is decorated with a collection of skulls of enemies, buffaloes, and other animals. But the skulls are now replaced by wooden carvings as shown below. II) Common mans house: The front faade is plainly decorated unlike that of the chiefs as shown below.

Self sufficiency and its relevance in Manipur

a. b. c. d. The population of each village is around 200 to 400 which is very feasible for a social network to flourish. These tribal settlements are still very backward and located in remote pockets hard to reach due to the hilly terrain. Moreover, the state of Manipur itself lacks infrastructure and cannot cater to the needs of all the people. Most importantly, these villages have been relying on themselves for sustenance since years. They at present have formed a network for improved economic activities as mentioned before (refer figure 4). Just developing this network further would do the job. Rapid depletion of forest cover and other natural resources due to unplanned use like shifting cultivation is the only problem at the present. But, such a problem could be solved easily through educating people in planning the use of resources watchfully.

e.

Conclusion
After having studied the Tangkhul settlements in the hills of dist. Ukhrul, Manipur, it has been observed that they settle in small groups consisting around 200 members in isolation. Each group behaves like a single family headed by the village chief. These settlements have the perfect ingredients to be able to sustain own their own to a certain degree, as I have already discussed at all the three levels of study.