Rebuilding an Apatani house after a fire
Given their building materials and construction--a bamboo roof over open hearths--Apatani houses frequently burn down : Fires also spread quickly because houses are packed closely together in compact villages : Sometimes an entire village, with several hundred houses, burns down : In this photograph...
| Full title: |
Rebuilding an Apatani house after a fire [electronic resource] English. |
|---|---|
| Format: | Photo |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
[S.l.] :
[s.n.],
1944.
|
| Series: |
SOAS Digital Library.
FURER. RSA. PHOTOS. |
| Subjects: |
Asia
-- India
-- Arunachal Pradesh
-- Lower Subansiri District
-- Ziro Tehsil
-- Hija
-- Apatani River valley.
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| Online access: |
Click here to view record |
| Summary: |
Given their building materials and construction--a bamboo roof over open hearths--Apatani houses frequently burn down : Fires also spread quickly because houses are packed closely together in compact villages : Sometimes an entire village, with several hundred houses, burns down : In this photograph, one of several destroyed houses is being rebuilt : Hardwood pillars and posts are needed : Dozens of long bamboo poles are used for the floor and railings, and when split and flattened, for the walls and roof : Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf described the fire that burnt down part of Hija village, near his own campsite: '10 pm : I heard peculiar and ominous shouts and cries and saw from my veranda the fields alive with torches moving towards our camp : then I saw that red smoke was rising from Haja and realised that the village was on fire : For a moment I was anxious, thinking that in the confusion we might be blamed for the fire, having threatened to burn granaries as punishment for non co-operation in supplying porters :, but I soon saw that the men with torches were running from other villages toward Haja : the fire grew, exploding bamboos cracked, and huge flames shot into the sky : I thought the village with its crowded streets doomed and had already the worst forebodings for the progress of our work if a village of 600 houses had to be rebuilt.' As he explained, however, the damage was limited to only three burned houses by the speed with which Apatanis cut down the surrounding houses and poured water on the ashes. |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
[S.l.] :
[s.n.],
1944.
|
| Subjects: | |
| Series: |
SOAS Digital Library.
FURER. RSA. PHOTOS. |
| Access: |
© 1944, The Estate of Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf. The Estate is currently (2015) represented by Nicholas Haimendorf, son of Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf. ----- Creative Commons (by-nc-nd). -- This image may be used in accord with Creative Commons license Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs. |
| Place of Publication: |
India -- Arunachal Pradesh -- Lower Subansiri District -- Hija -- Apatani River valley. |