Why Houses In Assam Are Built On Stilts: 5 Reason You Probably Not Know
Assam is a place that is well known as the land of blue hills and red rivers. The house structure in Assam is different from the other place in India. Most houses in the rural area in Assam are not built on stilts. The Stilt Houses in Assam are called ‘Channg Ghor’ which is seen in the Tribal regions of the state of Assam. You can see stilt houses on Nagaland too. There are many reasons behind this. In this post, we will discuss the 5 Reason Why Houses In Assam Are Built On Stilts.
1. Frequent Occurrence of Floods And Earthquakes
Due to the blocking of the southwest monsoon winds by its hills, most parts of Assam receive heavy rainfall during the monsoon season. The rainfall begins in June and lasts until September. It is one of India's rainiest areas, and its annual rainfall ranges from 70 inches in the west to 120 inches in the east. Heavy rainfall also creates problems such as floods in various parts of the state and causes a lot of damage.
Also, another reason is that the RCC and Assam Type Houses are prone to earthquakes and floods.
2. Shed For Animals
In the village areas of Assam, the bottom portion is used as a shed for domestic animals. Since the village area of Assam is primarily agro-based, the use of cows for agriculture and many other purposes is a common sight.
3. Safe From Predators & Traditional Beliefs
Again traditional values are associated with the design of such buildings. There is a traditional sentry on a raised platform in addition to the main building. It is said by the elders of the Mising tribes that Brahmaputra's current river banks were tall forests and also had very dense reed vegetation leading to the favorite wild elephant game spot. They claim that elephants do not attack stilt houses and therefore do not even damage the granaries.
4. Cost of Construction
Also, the cost to build such kind of house is quite less than other forms of houses such as RCC or Modern houses and the poor and downtrodden usually find it very difficult to incur heavy expenditure on construction of houses, so stilt houses are constructed.
5. Landslides
the houses built in the Hil area face some natural disaster. One of them is landslides. Landslides are the movement of the mass of Rock or earth down a slope. It causes huge damage to the area where it happens. To prevent landslides and save the house many tribal people built their houses on stilts.
Hope you have got the answer to your question. If you want to know more and add another point please comment below.